Michael Todd - Don't Fail This Test
Well, get out your Bibles, get out your smartphones, get out your tablets. Today, we are in week two of a series we’re calling «Wicked,» and this series is about the worship of wealth. Last week, God really challenged us to view the categories of what He calls wicked. He said in His word that the worship of wealth is wicked. Some of y’all said, «Obviously, yeah,» like obviously, greedy people, people who won’t obey what God says to do, and people who are stingy. But the other thing that He explicitly calls wicked is people who waste their wealth. I know there are a lot of people, especially if you’re in church, who won’t necessarily claim to be wicked because they’re actually worshiping wealth. «No, I worship God! I worship God! I only worship God!» But God thought it so important that He put it in His word so plainly.
Only one place in the Bible does He compare Himself to anything, 'cause He just knows He’s Him and doesn’t have to compare Himself to nobody. But there was only one place He said you cannot serve both God and money, He said because He knows you’ll never call it this, but you’ll make it your idol or your god. So if you waste it or you worship it, it’s—everybody say wicked. And the word, y’all ain’t even said it—say wicked. Yeah, 'cause the truth of the matter is some of y’all have been living a wicked life when it comes to finances. Nobody’s saying it, but go through your budget and see how much you wasted last month. Come on, let’s think about it. Some of y’all don’t even return stuff that doesn’t fit anymore. Yes, sir.
Oh, come on, let’s be honest. You don’t like the process of returning it, so you buy three sizes. Oh, I’m in somebody’s business. You get the one that works and leave the other two in a dirty bag on the side. Then one day you’ll give it away to Goodwill or something, and God said you could even get your money back if you would just be intentional, but you’re wasteful. Yet you’re going to be praying, «God, make a way! Just make a way, God, just make a way!» He said, «I did; it’s on your floor!» Some of us are paying for subscriptions. They got us with one TV show. You ain’t opened up Peacock in nine months. Come on, you haven’t opened it up in nine months, but they’re taking $12 from you every month! But you can’t honor God; they’re taking it from you, not even asking for it, and you gave them permission. I’m just saying that is wicked when it comes down to you standing before God and Him tallying up all the resources He gave you.
«Hello, John. I’m so grateful that you made it here! In your lifetime, you had $7,672. Seventeen of them went to the church. Seven hundred went to the church. Seventeen thousand in the seven million… Seventeen thousand—that’s not even a comparison. It’s not even a tithe!» Pastor Mike, why are you telling me this? It’s because for many years of my life, I was in the dark or ignorant of what God’s word said about wealth. If you don’t know, you don’t even have to act like you know. Come on, when you know better, you do better! Some of y’all do, 'cause some of us know, but you get to abdicate yourself. You get to act dumb; you get to not even try if you don’t know. So if you came to church today or you’re watching online, you’re in trouble 'cause by the end of this sermon, you’ll know, and then what you do with what you know—that’s on you.
Watch this: you can go to heaven and never give anything. I want to be very clear because a lot of people think that when you talk about money or tithing or generosity, they feel like it’s a condemnation message. If anybody has ever done that to you, I want to apologize as a pastor on a platform: your money is not sending you to hell. Let me be very clear about that. Once you put your faith in Jesus Christ, He is now your Lord and Savior; you will be in heaven. I want you to know that. But you do not become more like Jesus if you don’t give. So if the goal is not just to get a «Get out of hell free» card but to actually be transformed into the image of our Lord and Savior—if that’s the actual goal to represent Him on earth, we can never look more like Jesus if we never give anything. Amen? And the crazy thing about it is giving shows up in everything. Yes, sir!
When you’re selfish with God, you’re selfish with your wife. Oh gosh! When you’re selfish with God, you’re selfish with people you don’t know. Do you know how many times God told you to do something or asked you to give an extra tip or do something you said, «They don’t look like they need it»? You ain’t never seen them before in your life, but you’re just summing up the whole situation. Today, I’m asking us not to be wicked because we worship wealth or be wicked because we waste it; I want us to walk in—say this word with me—wisdom! Wisdom! When you have wisdom with wealth, you can look at Solomon as an example and see what God does when people ask for wisdom. I want you to go read it later, but I just need to let you know the wisest man the Bible declares that ever lived, when God gave him a choice, he said, «You can ask me for anything you want.»
Most of us would have been like, «Could you please let me hit that lottery in Texas? What is it, $250?» Like, he said, «I don’t want riches. I don’t want wealth. I don’t want my name.» He said, «Would you please—watch this—give me wisdom to govern your people.» And God liked the answer so much that He said, «You know what, boy? I don’t know where you found that answer at, but because you asked for wisdom, I’m going to give you all the money you could ask for because now, watch this, you have the mindset to handle more.»
That’s it! Most of us that are sitting here today listening to me do not have the mindset for more. If God gave you more, it would destroy you! If God gave you more, you wouldn’t come to church no more! If God gave you more, you wouldn’t pray no more! If God gave you more, you’d be making it rain! Oh come on! If God gave you more, you’d spread those substances to other people 'cause you weren’t greedy no more, and you’d spread death to others 'cause you had more to give. You would be generous with the wrong thing. Okay, come on, y’all! And God said, «I need to give you My heart and My mind about wealth, resources, stewardship, and generosity, because if you get that, I can trust you with—everybody say—more!»
More! That’s all God wants to trust us all with—yes, more! Ain’t that what every parent wants for their kids? I want to be able to trust you with more! Right now, I can’t trust you to not take the cookies out the cookie jar; that’s why I got to put them up. Okay? I can’t place the Oreos or the chocolate chips where the kids can get them because they do not have the mindset or the heart to obey you to stay out of it. As soon as you turn your back… but one day as a parent, I would hope that my word would be able to keep them out of the cookie jar, not the placement. At some point, I want to be able to leave something right there for them to get, and they desire to obey my word, so it doesn’t take me putting a booby trap and a mouse trap and a camera! I’m watching!
Some of our parenting is not actually parenting; it’s surveillance! Okay, let me stop. All I’m saying is there’s nothing wrong with cameras. We got cameras! I’m just saying we scare them into knowing we’re watching instead of giving them the ability to grow, so we can trust them with—everybody say—more! So today, I’m going to try to give you a principle that has changed my life. One of my friends came up to me on the side and just said, «Testify, Mike! You live this!» So today, I just want to testify of what happens when you focus on what Jesus says about money. When you focus on what Jesus says, somebody say «Focus!» Hebrews 12:1, I’m reading it every week. It says, «Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.»
I just want somebody to know that the race marked out for you is not supposed to be one that is just filled with broke ideas, struggling situations, and needing and begging. How do you know, Pastor Mike? God says it is in His will that you be the lender and not the borrower. He said, «I want to use you!» So first off, you just got to believe that how you were raised, what you grew up in, or even all that you’ve measured as a burden on how to handle it—I need you to know there’s another race marked out for us—fixing our eyes on Jesus! Somebody say «Focus!» The pioneer and perfecter of our faith, for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Fixing your eyes on Jesus gives you the faith to focus! So today, I’m going to focus us on some scriptures that you’re going to have to feast on beyond this meal.
If today was your only day of eating for the rest of the week, y’all would show up here next week hangry, malnourished, dehydrated. Some of y’all wouldn’t show up because you’d be in jail from the things that you did mentally! So I want you to feast on the word of God when it comes to us honoring God with what He gives us. Proverbs 3:9, this is one of the greatest scriptures of wisdom and wealth. It says, «Honor the Lord—not your pastor, not your church, not your bishop—honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of your crops.»
So what I need everybody to do is understand that God has put a principle in place where He’s saying, «I’m going to bless you. The only way that I know that you honor Me is not by your lip service, not by y’all shouting, y’all dancing.» Some of y’all are like, «I gave God 10% of my praise today!» Come on! Some of us think that! Well, He said, «Honor Me with your wealth.» And then He’s more specific with the first fruits. I want the first of it 'cause it doesn’t take faith to give the last; it takes faith to give the first! That’s good! And then it says—watch this—He makes a promise: «Then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.»
What God’s saying is if you ever try Me at this principle, He said, «I’m going to make your life an example of abundance.» Most people who fight with this, it’s their fear to believe that God is a man of His word. So today, I want you to know that honoring God with our wealth is the way that we get overflow! We sing the song «Overflow,» but most of us have never experienced it, especially in the area of finance! God says, «Do it My way, and I will present overflow to you.» So I was thinking of this time when I was 15 years old. I think this is a good way to get right into this series and this message. My now wife, but then girlfriend, and I had this wild idea to go get our driver’s licenses together.
Natalie is a very safe and cautious person; she’s one who read the whole driver’s ed manual. She actually went to a class. Me, on the other hand, I got the gist of it. You know what I’m saying? I know the basics. I can drive, though it doesn’t really make sense to go through all that work. So we went to get our driver’s licenses. Her sister drove us to the North Side DMV, and we went to take our driving test. They were like, «Who wants to go first?» I’m sitting there like, «Uh, shivers, ladies first.» Natalie goes out and takes her driver’s test. She’s out there for about 15 minutes; she turns back in. I’m watching from the window like, «There’s my girl! Look at that, look at the backing up! U-Turn, go girl!» She comes back in, and I’m like, «Yo, how was it? Was it scary?»
Was there anything? She was like, «No, that was simple; that was easy!» And she got her little passing certificate. So I got real confident. I was like, «If she got her license that easy—» Well, I had this little thought in my head: «What if I fail this test? How embarrassing would that be for me to fail this test with this woman that I’m her strong, mighty, strapping 15-year-old man?» But I threw it to the back of my head. The lady said, «All right, start the car! Start the car! Go out!» She says, «Turn onto the street! Turn onto the street!» Then there was a car next to me acting like, you know those people who don’t know if they want to get in front of you or go behind? So I’m like, «Uh, I’m not playing with this…»
So I—Just speed up a little bit, just a little bit—speed up! I mean, normally get in front, so do what you’re going to do. If you’re going to have an issue with throwing a temper tantrum, I’m going to get right here. That woman said, «Okay.» She said, «Okay, right here at the light, why don’t you turn left, okay? And then turn back into the parking lot.» It didn’t even register to me that I was out for exactly one minute and 45 seconds, and she asked me to turn the car off. Heat rose from my feet all the way to my head; I instantly started sweating, and I was like, «What happened? What happened?» She was like, «Well, that was not appropriate driving, specifically for a driving test.» She said, «I’m going to have to ask you to come back.»
Nat was standing at the window, but she knew the time was too short, and I am sad to say that I failed my first driving test. Natalie got her picture and her license, and she had to drive me home that day. I failed the test. Now, I thought about that as a good entry story because it was my pride that kept me from taking seriously the opportunity I had, and I failed the test because I didn’t actually do what was asked of me. Today, I want to title this message «Don’t Fail This Test.» As a big brother, as a pastor, as a leader, I’m just asking everybody in this room who gets paid some type of way: How many people get paid twice a month? Hands up, twice a month, okay?
How many people get paid once a month? Hands lifted; some of y’all aren’t even lifting your hands! Y’all don’t get paid? Well, maybe that’s what we need to pray for—an increase for you. Cool? But the mindset comes before the motion. Every time you get paid, people don’t know this: God is giving you a test. Today, I came to tell everybody, «Don’t fail this test,» because the test that God gives is an open book test. He has, in His Word, so many places where He says, «Yo, if I give you something, I need you to return 10% of it so that I know that you know who all of this comes from.» That’s good, and I’m telling you it’s the fourth month, or the third month of the year, and some of y’all have failed this test six to eight times. Today, I’m just coming to you as your big brother and saying, «Don’t fail this test, because this test can actually change your life.»
Malachi 3:6, and I’m about to bring some clarity to this that the church has messed up for years: «For I am the Lord,» who’s talking? The Lord. «I am the Lord, I do not change.» Tap in with me right here. «Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob; yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from my ordinances,» or that means ordinary behavior. This is ordinary behavior for people who call themselves Christians, and you have not kept them. «Return to me,» or come back to the way I meant for it to be, «and I will return to you,» says the Lord of hosts. But you say, «In what way shall we return to you, God?» «Will a man rob God?» Yet you have robbed me. Think about how strong that language is.
If God is saying, «You’re robbing me,» He’s not simply talking about a son or daughter; He’s saying you keep robbing me. Think about it! And you say, «Hold on, God, in what way have I robbed you exactly?» He said, «Let me be very specific: You have robbed me in tithes and offerings.» A pastor didn’t make this up; a church didn’t make this up. This wasn’t a board of directors that was like, «Yo, we need money somehow.» This is God, the Lord of Hosts, and He keeps saying it. He says, «You’ve robbed me in tithes and offerings, and you are cursed with the curse; for you have robbed me; even this whole nation is robbing me.» So what do you want me to do, God? «Bring all the tithes into the storehouse.» That’s the house of God, «that there may be food in my house, and try—ah, this is my part—try me now in this,» test me, says the Lord of hosts, «and see if I will not open for you the windows.»
Who is He talking to? He’s talking to us! The windows of heaven and pour out for you. I think people, when they read this, think it’s about the church or think it’s about a group of people. God says, «Everybody’s not going to get this, but for those who do—yes sir! This ain’t for everybody, but this is for the ones who do.» He says, «See if I won’t open up the windows of heaven.» How big could that be? «And pour you out such a blessing,» oh, I love this, «that there will not be room enough to receive it.» On top of that, «I’ll rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground.» He’s going to protect your stuff, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field, says who? The Lord of hosts. «And all nations will look at you and say, 'They are blessed, ' for you will be, oh I like this, a delightful land,» says the Lord of hosts.
Many people mess this up because of two things: they get hung up at the curse, and they get hung up on, «How did I rob God?» So let me bring clarity to it right now. «Pastor Mike, how am I cursed? How can I rob God?» Watch this: write this down. If you give your life to Jesus Christ, the curse is broken. Let me be very clear; this is an Old Testament passage about God saying, «Because you didn’t do it my way.» Y’all remember all the laws He gave, all the commandments He gave? People were having to sacrifice everything. God said, «You know what? This was not probably the best idea. I’m going to send Jesus now because they’re not going to get it. I made a whole bunch of rules, a whole bunch of regulations, spelled out everything for them, they’re not going to get this, so I’m going to take away the curse if they believe in Jesus.»
So I just need everybody to say, 'Cause a lot of people get up here, «You’re cursed when you don’t tithe.» You’re cursed if you believe in Jesus. Yeah, the curse that was on your life because you did not put your faith in Jesus is broken. Somebody should shout right there! Okay, this is good; this is why the grace and mercy of God. So, I want to relieve you. Everybody take a deep breath in, and release it out. Relax; you don’t have to wake up tomorrow and be like, «Oh God, I’m cursed! I’m cursed!» No, if your faith is in Jesus, the curse is broken. Galatians 3:13, and so I can give you scripture to back this up: «Christ has redeemed all of us from the curse of the law, having become the curse for us.»
Come on, I love the Bible! «For it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.'» He said, «I went to the tree and took every curse that would be put upon you, and all you’ve got to do is believe and receive me.» So the curse is broken. Okay, good. Does everybody get that? So if anybody ever tries to play you with that, «If you don’t give your curse,» tell them, «I have a scripture right here. Galatians 3:13, curse is broken.» This is why I want you to study to show yourself approved. But watch this: If you don’t obey Jesus Christ, consequences still continue. When you put your faith in Jesus, the curse is broken, but if you don’t obey Him, the consequences continue.
Oh God, I just need you to hear me say this: If you slap somebody and they punch you in the face, no, I just need you to hear me. At that point, they can say, «I’m sorry,» and there can be no charges pressed, but your mouth, nose, and cranium are still under the consequence of being punched! Do you understand what I’m saying? «Man, I’m sorry, bro; that was a mistake! I didn’t mean to do it like that.» «Bro, bow!» You are still experiencing the consequences! Yes, sir! Wow! And some of us are living paycheck to paycheck, getting increased, and still feeling broke, not knowing what to do with our resources, fighting over finances—husbands and wives, oh, we know there’s a big wedge between a lot of people’s beds: husband on this side, wife on this side, money in the middle. The problem is that most people are still suffering under the consequences because they won’t do it God’s way. Let me tell you the difference: the difference between a curse and your consequences is your choice.
Deuteronomy 30:19: «This day I call on heaven and earth as witnesses against you, that I have set before you life and death.» Doing it my way, doing it your way, doing it how the Bible says, doing it how culture says—I’m setting it before you. Now, you get to choose! I love the open book test; God is so good! He asks you a question and then gives you the answer. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a class where you didn’t study for the test, and you come in and you’re scared. Then the teacher says, «It’s an open book test, and you can share answers with a partner.» How do you fail that test? Somebody said, «What school do you go to?» I’m saying, the truth of the matter is, when God gives you an open book test, I’m just saying to you, «Don’t fail this one! Don’t fail this test of tithing, of returning back to God.» He says, «Choose life so that your children may live.» Choose life! If you can’t do it for you, do it for those who come after you. If you don’t feel that it’s good enough for you to actually set this pattern and these principles in place, do it for those kids you prayed for to bring into this world and show them what it looks like to have a parent that honors God.
So, Pastor Mike, what’s the big revelation on that Malachi scripture? The Holy Spirit showed it to me this way, and I’m so proud of everybody because I feel you locked in right now! I’m telling you, this principle is going to change everything if you just allow God to work it into your heart. When I saw that the curse was—hold up, we just solved that! Nobody’s cursed, but you can still get consequences when you put your faith in Jesus Christ. The second thing is, «How do I rob God?» This is what the Holy Spirit told me. He said, «Michael, every time you don’t do it my way by returning that tenth, you rob me of an opportunity to bless you.» And today I’m telling you, tithe, give whatever He tells you, because if you don’t, you’re robbing our God, who owns everything, of the opportunity to bless you in the way that He wants.
«Pastor Mike, He can bless me the way that He wants.» He just won’t go against His Word to do it. I need everybody to hear me say this: Well, God can bless me; He won’t violate His own Word to bless you. Some of y’all are sitting here like, «Oh, it’s not that.» That $100 is not worth you not having God’s blessing! That $1,200 is not worth you; that $10,000 is not worth you not having God’s blessing! I promise you! I am telling you I’ve sat where you’ve sat, and I’ve reasoned, and done the numbers, and crunched and tried to make things make sense. «Maybe God will accept this!» And it’s 90% with God’s blessing, which is better than 100% without it! Did you hear what I just said? 90% is better with God’s blessing than 100% without!
Okay, so watch this. Many things God asks us to do aren’t easy, but they are simple. Don’t overcomplicate it! Tithing is not easy, but it is definitely simple. It’s one penny out of every dime! It’s ten cents out of every dollar! It’s $10 out of every hundred! Does anybody know what the tithe of a million is? I like it—a hundred thousand! I want you to know because some of y’all need to stop praying for money, and you need to start praying for an amount to tithe! You missed it; y’all missed it! I got to talk! Do I need to do a different…some of y’all, if you would start praying, «Lord, let my tithe be $50,000 this year,» it would change the way! I got goosebumps saying that!
«Lord, I thank you that my tithe is $6,500! I made that last year in my business, but I thank you that my tithe…I thank you that my tithe of the month is $15,000! God, I thank you that with glee, with gratefulness, I will give you everything!» But you won’t—if you’re not faithful with $15, you will not get $15,000! If you are not faithful with $15! I’m trying to give you the principles that create crazy faith! Everybody wants to write stuff down on a paper about a building. I’m going to tell you what I wrote down on the paper—I put the number I wanted to tithe! Oh God, I’m sharing too much! Okay, here we go! Bring me that real quick, 'cause some of them are not going to get it. Some of them are hungry because we had long worship today. Last week, I roasted Krispy Kreme donuts, so I had to go support them. This was $24! Though, who likes donuts in here? That’s the loudest you’ve been all service! That’s ridiculous! Okay, somebody—somebody likes donuts! Anyone like donuts?
Okay, my right there in the Nike hoodie, yeah, right there. You in the gray Nike? No? Yeah, right there, come here! All right, real quick, real fast, real quick. All I want you to do is know that this represents a gift that I’m giving you. This is an increase of calories and sugar, okay? There are 10 donuts in here; all I’m asking for is one of them. You can have this no matter what, but as the one who gave it to you, who paid for it, who gave you the ability to take it out of my hand, go on, take it. All I’m asking is for one. Are you going to give me one? Yeah, that’s easy.
Give me one. You give me more than one, but all I’m asking for is… Did you see the heart? 30 seconds ago, I had none, and now all you’re asking for is one. She said, «I’ll give you more than one.» But this is what I’m going to ask you to do: I’m not greedy, even though the economy prices are going up and the stock market and the value menu—it’s like $2.99; it used to be 99 cents. It’s not even 99 cents anymore. Everybody’s going up in price, but my principle is the same: for every 10, all I want is one. Now, if you walk over there to your friends and family in your section and you feel compelled to give them one, you can do that, but I’m not going to require more than what I already told you. Enjoy those; God bless you.
Now, watch, sweetheart. What’s your name? Taran? Taran, would you hand that to the sweet lady with the hat on right there? Yeah, blonde hair. Just hand it to her now, now, now! You took your hands off of it; I need you to come back to the Father because you took your hands off of what I gave you, and that person may not even know the principle we’re teaching. But when you heard my voice, you obeyed and gave it to where I told you to give it, and all of that came because you obeyed and you gave me one. Could you bring out…? See, what you didn’t understand is that in the back the whole time, my plan wasn’t to give you one. Come on, give them to me first. My plan wasn’t to give you one; my plan was to give you ten.
Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever carried this many donuts before; I don’t know if you’ve ever overflowed like this before. Y’all got to hear what I’m saying. But what God wanted to do for you is see if you would trust—oh look, there’s sharing going on in the section over there. Now, sweetheart, how many donuts are left in there? It’s four. What’s your name? In the hat? Ka? One of those belongs to God. See, the problem is we will get blessed, and we will think the blessing had something to do with us, and we’ll forget to return. So, I’m going to keep blessing the one who’s blessing right now. You’ve got 10 boxes. Now, hold on. If you’ve got 10 boxes, I almost can’t see you.
Now, if that’s the 10 I blessed you with, not one donut is mine. One of those boxes is mine, Ka. Hey, girlfriend, eat your donut and return one to God. I see she’s got tears in her eyes. Y’all, something is happening right now; God’s revealing Himself. See, what you didn’t know—bring them out, please—what you didn’t know is I had plenty of donuts ready. What you didn’t know is I got so—come here, Ka. Come here! She’s like, «I don’t even want this many.» Go, give them out. Be a conduit, be a blessing. Thank you so much. I think this is what the scripture means: «Well, I’ll pour you out a blessing that you don’t have room enough to receive.» She looked like she needs some help; look, somebody come and help her. I need them. Hold on; I’ll get some. I’ll get some. But she needs a friend. Does Ka have any friends now? Yeah, go, y’all got to help; this baby’s about to… oh, they’re about to fall! Don’t have room enough to receive! Don’t have room enough to receive! Don’t have room enough to receive! He said, «I got room to receive!» Don’t have room enough to receive!
Now watch! Now watch! Now watch! Now watch! Hold on, wait, wait, wait—no, wait, wait, just wait. Now, look what happens; the whole room is standing up and calling her blessed because of one step of obedience. Hear what I’m saying? Now, everybody with a box, everybody with a box. I can’t open my box! She said, «I can’t even open my box; I got too much to go!» Everybody with a box. Now hear what I’m saying; this is an easy example. Thank all of y’all for—y’all give it up for everybody that’s down here, okay? Don’t stop stealing her stuff; let her give it to you. Y’all go back to your seat, go back to your seat! You got yours, God! Man, he said, «I’mma tithe; I’m tithing off of this.» She said, «Let me get that donut. I’m tithing; let me—yeah, come on, let me get one!»
Come on, here we go! Here we go! Here we go! Here we go! No, I just, I want you to see this! Yeah, y’all stay right there, I want y’all to see this. Thank y’all, look at her; she’s convincing people to give them a box. Take the box! The girl giving you a box—take the box for your station, but don’t leave without tithing. Give it for your section—but where—uh, you—you worried about them, but you ain’t worried about me. You know we got… we all right! Here we go! Here we go! Here we go! Listen, watch this! Watch this! All right? We do—we good? Y’all good? Y’all go eat them donuts, share with other people up there; amen! Hear what I’m saying, hear what I’m saying. There’s still boxes in the back. Did y’all hear what I just said? There are still boxes in the back! I got my daughter up; oh, you done got something; you said, «I got to get…»
You got blessed by somebody, and you got to come and be—oh Lord, it’s okay; you don’t got to pick it up! No, no, no, no, no, no! This is what God does; He’s got more than yours here! This is what God—if you get around God, you can eat; you can pick up the crumb like… Okay, okay, I’mma just leave these right here! Y’all, nobody got to come get these donuts! This was an example; everybody calm down! The truth of the matter is, my daughter now has just seen a picture of—oh, you had a donut? You had to give me a piece? Come on, God wanted that! Yeah, I appreciate that! Okay, listen, I didn’t ask none of these people to come up here. I didn’t have to beg them to return what was not theirs in the first place. Does everybody hear what I’m saying?
My daughter is watching her father practice a principle that has created provision for her. That’s right; she may not understand fully what’s going on, but the principle—the one thing she did understand this morning is I had a bunch of donuts, and she took a whole box and she hid it. Ava, did you hide a box of donuts? There is another box that’s supposed to be out here, and she did what that third person did in the story of the talents. This my baby, smart girl; I love her, but she hid what I entrusted her with. And right now, I’mma go to the back, and I’mma find her donuts and she’s going to give her daddy one. But what does it look like for us to have all of this resource? This is all the 10% of all the donuts I gave out; that doesn’t look like nothing compared to what just—it was just this off of all of that. Maybe this is a picture that God wants you to see.
Thank y’all; you can give those donuts out to—huh? You want to give it to people? You feeling generous? Go on over there and give some to people! All right, here we go! Is this helping y’all? No? Come on, help me! Is this helping, guys? Okay, so watch this: tithing is a test. Write it down: tithing is a test. Tithing is a test. Don’t fail this test; it’s a biblical principle. This is tithing in practice, established by God of returning. See that? I’m not saying giving; we’re returning it—the first 10% of your increase back to God through the local church. God chose this percentage and that’s why we obey it, okay? And if you go through the Bible, 10 is a term of testing anyway, okay? I want you to answer me when I ask these questions, okay? Some Bible trivia for you: how many plagues were there in Egypt? 10! Somebody said seven; we need to read the Bible again! It’s 10! Okay?
And this is what I’m saying: I could have asked it a different way. I could have said, «How many times did God test Pharaoh’s heart?» He was telling him, «Let my people go.» And He gave him 10 opportunities. Okay, there’s a pattern here! How many commandments are there? How many times does God test Israel in the wilderness? 10! Again, there is a pattern here! Everybody answer out loud, okay? How many times were Jacob’s wages changed? How many days was Daniel tested? How many of days are mentioned in Revelation? 10! How many disciples were there? There were 12 disciples. Thank God for y’all, 'cause y’all—that was a test! Somebody like, «10?» But the thing about tithing—watch this—it’s a two-way test! When you tithe, you get to go big dog on God and say, «Hey, did what you said, and you said I could test you at this.»
This is the confidence we have in our God: bring the whole tithe, not part of it, not some of it, not some now, some later. It takes faith. He says, «Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse,» which is whatever house that God resides in—what church you belong to. So I want you to bring that into the storehouse that there may be food in my house; test me in this. It’s like almost like God saying, «I dare you to do it! I dare you to every time you get increase.» Well, God is so tight; He said, «You want it to expand? Test me!» Well, God, I don’t know how it’s going to play; I’m going to lose! Test me! He says, «Test me and see if I won’t open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing you don’t have room enough to receive!» Somebody’s catching this revelation! Testing—tithing is a test! Second thing: tithing is biblical.
Leviticus 27:30—Old Testament and New Testament! I’m going to give it to you 'cause some people like, «That’s the Old Testament.» I’m going to give it to you in the New Testament, and it’s Jesus saying it, okay? Here we go: Leviticus 27:30. «And all the tithe"—how much of the tithe? All! How much? Okay, all the tithe of the land! He’s not just talking about the money; he’s saying the tithe of the land. I want everybody to hear the language: bring all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land—this was their currency at the time—or the fruit of the tree is the Lord’s. It is holy, set apart! That’s what holy means; it’s the holy portion to the Lord. He’s saying if your tree makes 10 lemons, bring me one; that’s all He’s saying. He said it’s holy and set apart.
And I know even as I’m sitting here, I need you to hear me; I am fighting the enemy’s plan to keep you in bondage. That’s why some of you, even as you’re hearing me, everything’s starting to distract you now; everything’s trying to get your attention now. You need to even pray and focus a little more because the enemy doesn’t have to set a new trap if he’s got you wound up in one already. So for some of you, your life can be going good, and there’s always a money problem—always! You can look back at the last decade of your life, and every time it feels like you get momentum and you trust in God, there’s always something attached to money that comes to trip you up. The enemy hasn’t had to mess with you in a decade and a half 'cause he knows there’s going to come one moment or something that’s going to mess you up. And I’m trying to show you right here this principle is what Jesus wants us to do.
Jesus is talking in the New Testament, Matthew 23:23: «Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you pay tithe on mint and anise and cumin,» which were spices, «and you have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone.» What is Jesus saying? He was like, you tithe on all your increase, but you don’t do the mercy, justice, and faith. He said, «Both of them you ought to do.» Jesus said, «Tithe and love people.» He’s saying, «Give of your increase and show people mercy.»
That’s Jesus talking! And the crazy thing is, right now, if Jesus came to you and said, «You should tithe,» some of you would still have to think about it! Last thing: tithing is practical. It’s a test, it’s biblical, and it’s practical! Hebrews 7:8—'cause some of y’all are like, «Okay, I’m tithing; I’m giving 10% of my income; I’m doing all of this. How does God get it?» Watch this; He confronts it here on this earth—mortal men receive tithes! The church, the people that govern this, the board, they manage it; but there, He receives them. He said «This whole thing is by faith.» He’s like, «It’s practical for there to be lights, tissue, and the little soap in the soap dispenser. Salaries staff these tubs, people getting free baptism shirts—somebody has to give to it.» And you know the crazy thing is, less than 5% of all Christians tithe. Did you hear what I just said?
All of the transformation that has happened because of the church—from hospitals to people’s homes being saved to people being rescued—has happened with not even a tithe of Christians. What would happen? What could we do? How could we change a city? How could we change an industry? We can’t do anything because we don’t have resources, because people are paying wicked individuals. Somehow, you trust a wicked man with your resources. I get it; there have been some bootleg preachers. Come on, y’all, the building fund has never gotten done, everything is leaking, but we’ve given all to the building fund. I get it, but the fruit will speak. I don’t know if you’ve ever been part of a church that has been more generous than Transformation Church. Hear me when I say this: I’m not saying this to boast. We made a decision to represent what it means to live generously, and in the 10 years we have been the senior pastors of this church, thanks to the great foundation Bishop and Pastor Debbie laid for us, we’ve given away over $34 million. Y’all don’t know when to clap!
The truth of the matter is I get that you don’t get it. It’s hard when you’ve never actually applied the principle in your life. For any business or company to set aside that much money to give to other churches and people would seem insane to most. It’s the only reason we’re blessed. But it started at home; it started with me, it started with Natalie, it started with us actually taking this test. And yes, I failed my driver’s test, but since I understood this principle, I have never failed this one, because giving is a practical practice that proves my faith. Every 15 days, don’t tell me you trust God—show me you trust Him. Some of y’all thankfully, the Holy Spirit’s not backdating you like the government does. Oh, come on, let’s be honest. Some of y’all are in tax evasion right now. I see y’all. I shouldn’t have said that. Can I have 10 minutes? I’m going to share this last principle, and it’s going to change everything, and then we’re going home.
I started to think with some of my friends who are pastors at the church earlier, what really keeps people from giving? I’ve said all these scriptures before; I live them in my own life. I’ve seen God do crazy stuff! But I want everyone else to get it! It’s not cool for you to be one of the few people who gets the principle while everybody thinks you get it because you’re the pastor. Some people think, «I bet you do get it,» but hold on! When you give, I don’t get the money. I don’t touch the money. I get a paycheck just like everybody else. It’s not the same; I have to trust God with everything that comes to my house, the same way you have to trust Him with everything that comes to yours. I’ve been doing this since I made $29,000 a year. I want to be very clear with you: my whole tithe check for the year was $2,900, and I was faithful. I have friends who know, «Yo, I can’t go to that because I’ve got some things to handle.» The only thing to handle was keeping my word to God. And it changed in me before it changed for me. Once it changed in me, God was like, «Thank you, Lord, now I can trust him.»
The amount of increase that God has done would make most men turn into different people. I only can say this because I’ve lived through it. I see how celebrities go from broke to getting all this money doing all kinds of wild stuff; it’s because money just exposes what’s on the inside and brings it out. That’s why I had to change in me first. When I think about the progression of giving, I want to present it like this: it starts with your thinking. If you think tithing is foolishness, that’s the first category most people are in when they don’t understand.
There may be some people watching online, a part of this service, or in this room who think everything I’m saying right now is foolishness. You may not say it out loud like that, but that’s how you actually think about it—it’s foolishness! That doesn’t make sense, that doesn’t make practical sense; I don’t believe in it. Right now, if you think it’s foolishness, I want to let you know what your responses will be if anyone—the Word, God, the Bible—ever asks you to give. You have one of two responses: if you think it’s foolishness, you’re either going to number one, fight it, or you’re going to fear it. If these are your motivations right now, you may not say it like this, but you think this principle is foolishness. Don’t take it up with me; take it up with Him! If I say, «Hey, this next pay period, you got paid this week, give it, honor God, give Him 10% at the beginning,» there’s a part of you right now that wants to fight it or fears it.
God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind. He’s saying, «Test me; don’t fail this test!» If you’re here, you’re a good person. Yeah, if you’re here, you’re not mean or crazy. It doesn’t make sense outside of God, but in the kingdom, it’s a command. Are you fighting, or are you fearing? If you’re past that and you’ve progressed to this next place, this is a fun one. Some of y’all are wrestling through this message in this series, and there’s friction. What’s happening right now is this is rubbing against your ideas about how you’re going to live your life. This is rubbing against how you’ve lived up until this point. This rubs you the wrong way—"Why you gotta talk so long about it though? We get it!» Okay, okay, Ty, Todd, we get it! If you’re bothered by stuff like that, and aren’t they going to be up there wearing pink pants with a flare? Just watch the things that make you frustrated right now. The service is going to run long and you… Yeah, a lot of times there’s friction. I want to say that friction is a progression from thinking it’s foolishness to actually being rubbed the wrong way by it.
I should have come after Easter; I thought it was different, but if you get to this place of friction, you get two responses: this is where everything either clicks or goes back. Many of you right now, after hearing this clear call to honor God with the tithe, many of you are going to freeze. If you freeze, you rob God of the opportunity to bless you at the same level you’re willing to release. It’s at the same level He’s willing to release. When that girl was willing to release, I was willing to release. If she had held on to that one box, she would have lost out. We would have never known. The scariest thing to me is not doing the principle of God and not knowing what could have happened. Everybody got excited. Sister was crying, eating a donut; have you ever cried while eating a donut? She was crying while eating a donut, and God was working on her. There were people coming from my man, taking enough for his family for the week. All kinds of stuff was happening, but the only reason it happened is that someone took a leap of faith.
What would have happened if she had frozen right here? So, everyone, when I tell you you’re about to get tested, when God increases you—don’t freeze! What I’m going to tell you is do what every mama eagle tells their child to do: fly! I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a bird teach their kids to fly—they do it, they come back, they do it, they come back, and then guess what they do? At some point, they’re going to have to try. That’s why I’m challenging you right now: let this be the last time you hear a message about tithing and generosity, and you’re questioning what to do. Anytime I get into a message like this now, and several of y’all are in here, when you hear a message, it’s like «That’s right! Preach it, pastor!» Because you know, when it comes to this thing, I’ve already decided I’m not going to fail this test. There’s a lot of stuff I can’t control, but this one thing I can control. If you think it’s foolishness today, I just want you to move from foolishness to at least friction.
Once you get past friction, this is where it gets fun. You go from friction to now thinking, «When it comes to tithing, this is fundamental. This is what I’m supposed to do.» I don’t get it; I don’t like it all the time. Oh, can we be real? This ain’t always… I really wish I could do something else with this money. God’s fine with that; obedience with an attitude is still obedience. He’ll change the attitude. Okay, you’ve never been a kid? You don’t say it loud to your parents but you scream into a pillow? Some of y’all aren’t as crazy as I was! What I’m saying is the parent will even excuse that because they know you’re maturing, but they still want the obedience. For many people in this room, I’m proud of you. You’ve heard a message, «I can’t wait till I get my money right,» or «Ducks in a row,» or «Paper chasers,» and you’ve said, «I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna test God.»
Now when you get to fundamental, watch this, it’s spiritual formation. That’s the first thing: this is what God told me to do; it’s going to make me more like Him. The other thing you know is your faith in action. I’m praying, everyone listen to me. I’m praying that after this series, after this message, at least 90% of our church would be in this place. I don’t know a church in the world that has over 50% of people who tithe—not one in the world. But we’re called to represent. What would happen if everybody watching online, everybody in this room decided, «10% of my income I’m returning back to God through the local church»? What if we started praying that God increases our tithe? I’m giving y’all practical things right now. What if you started praying, «God, show me where to make wealth»? You give me the ability to produce it; it’s my job. My job won’t… Do y’all know that there’s a side hustle that God can give you to replace your job? I just don’t want you to miss out without getting out of your purpose. Some of you are called to be a teacher, and that salary is never… It’s sad, but God can give you one idea, one thing, one system, one course. He can do something that changes the trajectory, but you’re so fixed on something that’s not your Father. So I’m praying that everybody gets tithing is fundamental, but then you take the mental off of it. You know what? I’m about to go to Mama Chloe, and it becomes fun.
If you don’t ever get here in your life, I’m sorry, but I have crossed over into a place of giving where it’s fun. I’ve been making plans years in advance—no, y’all don’t hear what I’m saying! I can’t even tell you some of them right now because they’re about to happen. It excites me to do things God has just placed on my heart. You see a need and be like, «Oh, don’t even talk to the people about it.» You go up to a waitress and can tell she’s struggling, and it was bad service. Oh no! If God blessed you according to your service! Okay, uh-oh, let me stop. All I’m saying is we don’t get what we deserve. I’m talking about bad service, and we’re about to bless their socks off. They don’t deserve that; neither did I. It gets fun! And watch this: when it gets fun, you realize you’re favored by God. Not that anybody’s not favored, but there are some people who do what He says.
You can be like, «Oh, I already know I can give this away, and God’s about to replenish me.» No, that’s easy! I’m favored! I walk into every room knowing there’s favor on my life. My wife gets so annoyed, because she’s a rule follower. When I tell you Natalie Diane Todd is a rule follower, she’s like, «What seats did we pay for?» We paid for ZZ, uh, ZZ Todd only. Thank you, Carl, for getting us in Ros at the top. Okay, but I walk in knowing I’ll see somebody—somebody’s going to like my outfit. Y’all don’t—y’all be getting dressed, I be getting dressed. No, somebody’s going to know one of my brothers; somebody’s going to have seen me. So I walk in knowing I’m favored because I do what my Father tells me to do. I don’t have to question it; I don’t have to try to make it happen. I know that everywhere I go, He goes before me. Some people say this is prosperity gospel; no, these are the principles of God. Once you are favored by God, you can give stuff because you know it’s always coming back. I’m not stingy with anything.
People around me, people that know me, I’m not stingy with anything. Go ahead, take it, girl. Why? Because I’ve believed the principle and worked it too long. I’ve never, watch this, seen God fail this test. You’re missing the point: the goal is for me not to fail the test because God never fails this test. So once you figure out that you’re favored, then watch this—once you realize that your faith is fixed, right now, for the rest of my life, I will give and I will get. Hear me say this: when I am not the pastor of this church, I will give more than I have given as the pastor of this church. Here I am; I want everybody to look at me and see, look, look at me—bags under my eyes for spring break.
Look at this; that is not a break for all parents; that’s spring work. But I have prayed, and I have sworn to be able to give more when I’m no longer on this platform than I ever did while I was because I just want to prove that God’s Word is not a respecter of persons or platforms. He’s looking for His children to obey His Word. This whole thing for me is fixed in my heart. Do you know what? This is such a universal principle. I’m proud of y’all for sticking in here with me. I’m so grateful for you all. We are almost done. This is such a universal principle that people who don’t even believe in God practice these principles. How much more should God’s children, who actually want to see His kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven?
Last part, because I was going to stop at fun, and then honestly, if it were two years ago, I couldn’t even put this last one up here. That’s why, as your pastor, I like to go and try everything. I’mma jump off the cliff and believe God, then yell back, «It’s good!» Because I can’t lead you to somewhere I’ve never been. I want to be honest; I have not perfected everything. I promise you I’m going to be doing that today, and I’ll tell y’all the truth: I don’t know anything about this yet, but this is what the Bible says, so I’m going to tell you what it says. This last piece, when you start understanding that when you tithe, it makes you free, guys. It goes from foolishness to friction, friction to fundamental, fundamental to fun. It goes from fun to free.
Just to be clear for everybody that thinks your $5 went to paying for those donuts, I paid for them personally. I’m saying that because I didn’t even think about when the example came to my mind, and I told y’all those donuts were $24. Last week, my mind didn’t start doing what it would have done two years ago. I can’t do that example because if I do one, then I have to do ten, and then you tent. Hold on; wait a minute. I was free to carry out what God showed me in my head in the back. Did y’all hear what I’m saying? I got goosebumps saying this because now there are certain things I don’t even think about—I don’t even think about it. Like, oh God, what would happen if you never thought about your car payment?
I remember a season where my life was hinged around my rent payment and my car payment—that’s it; nothing else mattered. I may not eat; you know what I’m saying, I got to make this payment. I’m mad at people for the car I chose. It’s your birthday again. Like, hold on; it happens once a year. Pastor Mike, why are you telling us this? I just want you to know it’s possible. I only boast in what God has done, but He did it because I chose His principles. Somebody’s going to try to clip this up and make it seem like I’m trying to get money from somebody. I don’t care. At the end of the day, we’re not asking for anything. Next week, we’re going to give one of the largest offerings we’ve ever given, and we’re going to bless other people. You can clap right now, y’all; it’s huge. But we’re free to give, and when you’re free to give, watch this: you understand you’re a funnel.
I’m just a pass-through; I’m just a manager. I’m just the one God chose that He knows if He says, «Them,» I’m not going to be like, «Why them?» I’m them. Okay, God! I can’t tell you how many times I’m walking in the mall just trying to get something my wife sent me for, and the Holy Spirit will tell me to ask somebody their shoe size. I’ll just walk in, «What size shoe do you wear, bro?» Everybody will tell you what size shoe they wear, I promise you. Watch it! You don’t have to worry about anything, but like, «Yo, what size shoe you wear?» Ten and a half? And the Holy Spirit says, «Buy him three pairs of shoes.» God, I came in here for some Bath and Body Works lotion, but since I’m just a funnel, since that young man came up here with no money but was just coming to dream, I’mma bless him through you guys. I’m giving you real examples because I want you to dream. I can’t wait till—okay, I’m going to go ahead and say it. When we first started giving, I was like, «Man, I want to do what churches have never done. I want to give houses and cars and all that other stuff.»
So we did it. Then I found out that it’s not the best thing to do when it comes to the IRS and all these other things, and we learned. A lot of it is because I’m the guy who wants to meet people’s needs. I don’t want it to be like, «Give it to such and such organizations.» They will never see; I’m like, «Shannon, we’re buying you a house.» That’s my energy! Okay? That’s the energy I want. But we’ve had to do certain things differently and all that other stuff, and then the Holy Spirit—last year, I got bummed because I wanted to do stuff like that. Tammy knows; all the team knows. It’s like I want to buy people cars. I want to, like, I want to Oprah these mugs like, «You get a car! You get a car! Take that devil!» Like, I just like that. Sorry. And the Holy Spirit said, «You do it and believe that you’ll raise up a hundred other people in the church that you lead.»
Because peer-to-peer, it don’t mean nothing. What would it take for us to buy somebody a $250,000 house and change their life? I thought there would be more claps than that. Woo! I hope you get it. There’s over two thousand people in here; there are tens of thousands of people watching online. What would it take? The truth of the matter is, one of y’all can do it. What would it take if there were a group of people in this church that were like, «Yeah, whenever God asks for it.» Whenever the pastor says, «We’re about to bless somebody; let’s go!» Who needs a car? No, no, no—yeah, how much? $35,000? Y’all—hold on, on this one. Y’all don’t have to do this one. I got it. What would it look like—what would it look like for instead of us taking all of our cars to CarMax to get $6,000 on the trade-in? Y’all know what I’m talking about.
What if it became a common practice that when we get a new car, we’re coming to the church and asking, «Who needs a vehicle?» I can’t even get amens from the church; that’s crazy. All right, well, it’ll just be me and my few little people, okay? But where is the church that will embrace God’s principles to the place where there’s not room enough to receive? Pastor Mike, what are you saying? When you get free, you know you’re a funnel. But this is the second thing: you start forgetting how much you give. Y’all, this is the place I pray this church gets to—not as a whole; I’m talking about individually. When you’re in that fundamental place, you remember everything you give. «No, I gave $13 there; I gave $36 there; they owe me $6,» right? But there’s a place you get to where it’s like, «Did I? Oh, I did give it to them.» Snap! «Oh wow, they gave it to somebody else. Wow, is that my jacket? That is my jacket! Dang! That’s a tight jacket. Is that? Yeah, no baby. How do you know this house? We used to live there, but we, God blessed us to be able to bless them with that.»
I forgot. I forgot! I’m sorry, baby. Exodus 13:14; this is where we end. «In the days to come, when your sons or daughters ask you, 'What does this mean? ' say to them, 'With a mighty hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.' When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. The tithe—this is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of the firstborn sons.» Let me break it down. What ends up happening is a spent child comes to him and says, «Dad, why do you keep sacrificing the first of our cattle? Because they’re in a cattle industry.» He says, «God delivered me, and so I freely give 10%, the first of mine, back to God.» The Bible says, «One day, your sons and daughters will come and ask you.»
The crazy thing about it is I’ve been using her a lot, but she’s my road dog. Ava came last week, and as I was writing a check from our family to this church, she saw it, and she said, «Dad, why are you giving that much money to the church?» I remembered this Deuteronomy scripture where it said, «One day your sons and daughters are going to ask you, 'Why would you honor God like that? '» I was able to tell her, «Baby, Daddy used to be addicted to some bad things, had very selfish ways, but with a mighty hand, God rescued Daddy; God transformed Daddy’s life, and God has blessed us with everything that we have. So it’s Daddy’s honor to obey God and give back to Him.»
Many of you know that Ava started a business last week selling bracelets. Ava last week made $210! That’s powerful! Let’s give it up for a seven-year-old entrepreneur! After she heard the message last week, and I told her what Mommy and Daddy were doing, she handed me this—this morning—$21. This right here means more to me because at 7 years old, she’s developing the principles that will change her life. And it was so funny; Scott, as my witness, we’re standing there, and she said, «Take it now!» She said, «Take it now; I’mma lose it or forget.» She made it a priority because she didn’t want to forget, and she didn’t want to make it not a priority. Am I going to have to reteach her in another season? Probably! But the fact that a seven-year-old didn’t fail the test means that each of us don’t have to fail this test. Will everybody stand all over this building?
What I’m going to ask, guys, before you leave, I have one thing: I have a gift for you. I have what we’re calling a tithing commitment card. You’re not about to sign over your life or do anything; I just felt like we were supposed to make an actual physical representation of a commitment that all of us need to make in our hearts and in our lives. If the ushers are available and have them right now, I need everybody to get one of these, please. Please do not leave without one. If you’re online right now, there’s a QR code that’s coming up on the screen. It really just says, on one side, «I won’t fail this test.» Somebody say, «I won’t fail this test.» Come on, say it in faith: «I won’t fail this test.» On the back, it says, «I,» and I want you to put your name. «Choose to honor God with the first 10% of my increase as an act of faith and obedience to God’s Word.»
You can put your name and your email and your phone number down there, and we’re going to help encourage you. Ain’t going to be no hassling because the Bible tells us to be cheerful givers. That’s why I want it to get fun for you, because once it gets fun, you can actually be a cheerful giver. I want you to take this. You need to put it somewhere everyone can see. Salvation has not happened yet. I know you’re ready to go, but eternity is still calling. We’re about to leave, but I want you to put this somewhere—in your car, in your mirror. Take a picture of it, make Siri remind you, hit the QR code; we’ll help you. I think God wants to do something special in all of us. I’m asking for a 90-day commitment, whether you go to this church or somewhere else. Make a 90-day commitment and see if God will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that you don’t have room enough to receive. I don’t care how many millions you make; give Him 10%.
Do you know I had to argue with a financial adviser about what I did with my money? Because everybody won’t understand this, and they don’t have to, because everything we have belongs to God. Would everybody just lift your hands all over this place? I want to pray for you. I want to pray that God moves you in the progression of giving, and as we take this commitment, God will do exceedingly abundantly above.
Father, I pray for the people that are under the sound of my voice. God, I thank you for the transformation that has happened in our minds and our hearts today. For those, Father God, who are listening live or on rebroadcast, for those who even try to ignore this message, God, I thank you that there has been such a unique spirit of love all over this that they will hear your voice today. I’m praying that you would increase my brothers and sisters, you would increase this house, increase my life, increase our community. Father God, let us be an example to the world of what it looks like when a small body of believers goes all in. I pray that, Father, we will never fail this test again; that we will return to you everything that belongs to you, God, and you will do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think. Father God, for those who may be in fear or fighting it right now, God, I thank you that you will give them a new testimony. I thank you that by this time next year, there will be a total transformation in their lives, and today, God, I thank you—thank you that your spirit is speaking. Father, I pray for husbands and wives who have different views on this; would you unify them, Father? Where this has been a source of contention and argument, God, I thank you for unity; bless their households in the name of Jesus. I thank you, Father, that we will take the test and we will believe you. You are not a man that you should lie, neither the son of man that has to repent. God, you don’t care about amounts; you care, Father, about obedience. So if it’s two mites like the woman that was giving, I thank you that you honor that because it’s the obedience. Today, increase our trust and our faith in you. I trust you, God.
There’s a deep burden in my heart for some people who are stuck in addictions. My pornography addiction was broken with a seed, and I say this to people like, «What happened? What made you stop?» Oh, I’m getting emotional thinking about it because I was a Christian. I was believing I was saved, I was serving, I was doing all these things, but God still didn’t have my whole heart. We read last week that wherever your treasure is, your heart will be also. When I started giving God my small little salary, making little money, producing for people and stuff like that, I made it a priority.
Every time I got $500, I gave 50. I made it a priority; I was consistent with it. I was intentional with it. It was the last piece of my heart that God needed to help change my habits, because when God gets your heart, He can help change your habits. But I was holding back a piece of my heart because I wasn’t giving Him my treasure. Where my treasure is, there’s my heart. Where my heart is, my habits change, and I get to live a blessed life. I just feel pressed to say to somebody that maybe this is deeper than just giving money. How much would you give to be free from that thing that wakes you up at night and actually steals your money and creates the environment you don’t want to raise your kids in? I’m just saying, how much?
And I’m telling you, as sure as I’m standing here, that when I made a decision, the reason I don’t miss tithing is that I don’t want to ever withhold a piece of my heart from Him again. Because withholding my heart changes my habits back to where they were, and then I destroy everything I say I love. Today, I just felt like I’m not taking an offering; I’m not doing anything. I’m just putting it out here for you—that maybe this is deeper than just money today. God, I thank you for those who need heart transformation, and I thank you that it starts with us receiving you. If you’re in this room and you’ve never received Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, I know the service went long today, but I think it was worth it. Y’all hear me? Hear me, hear me, hear me. If you’re under the sound of my voice today and you’ve never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, today we’re talking about tithing and all this other stuff, but you’re saying, «I just need to surrender. I’m sick of carrying all this weight. I’m sick of lying; I’m sick of secrets. I just need to get free.»
If you’re under the sound of my voice, the church is beginning to pray right now, because life and death are saying, «Choose life.» If you’re in this room and you want to make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior today, I want to pray for you. On the count of three, I just want you to lift your hands, and all you’re saying is, «Pastor, I want to be included in that prayer.» One, you’re making the greatest decision of your life. Two, I’m proud of you, but your name is about to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. I see you, my brother. Three, would you just lift your hands if you want to? I see you, my brother, right there. I see you, my brother, yes sir. I see a whole family right there. I see you, my sister. I see you up there, and more than that, God sees you at home. Come on, church; I see you. I see you, my man at TC. We’re a family; nobody prays alone. Let’s pray this prayer together. Just lift your hands and say:
God, thank you for sending Jesus just for me. Today, I give you my life. I surrender everything. Use me. I believe you lived, you died, and you rose again with all power so I may live. Today, I make you my Lord and Savior. In Jesus' name, amen.