[SPEAKER_01]: Haggai chapter 1, we're going to read verses 1 through 9, Haggai chapter 1, verses 1 through 9.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says this, it says in the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the 6 month the Word of the Lord, came through Haggai the prophet, to Zerubabel, son of Sheetil, the governor of Judah and to Joshua, son of Jehozak,
[SPEAKER_01]: the high priest.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord of hosts says these people say that time has not come for the House of the Lord to be rebuilt.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yikes, now the Lord of hosts says this, now my eyes are at the right place, think carefully about your ways, verse 6, you have planted much but harvested little, you eat but you are never satisfied, you drink but you never have enough to be drunk, you put on clothes but never enough to get warm.
[SPEAKER_01]: The wage earner puts his wages into a bag with a hole in it,
[SPEAKER_01]: verse 7, the Lord of hosts says this, think carefully about your ways.
[SPEAKER_01]: Go up into the hills, bring down lumber and build the house.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they say, build the house.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then I will be pleased with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And be glorified, says the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: You expect it much, but then it amounted to little.
[SPEAKER_01]: When you brought the harvest to your house, I ruined it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the declaration of the Lord of hosts,
[SPEAKER_01]: And still lies in ruins while each of you is busy with your own house.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yikes, but it's good.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a good yikes, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you're taking notes this morning, the title of this first message today is open up the windows.
[SPEAKER_01]: Open up the windows.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, somebody.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everybody say open up the windows.
[SPEAKER_01]: Open up the windows.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's pray, Father, we thank you, Lord, for your Word this morning.
[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you, God, for just what you're going to teach us, Lord, and what you're going to impart into us today.
[SPEAKER_01]: We receive your wisdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: We receive the wisdom of your Word, the truth, and the revelation of your Word.
[SPEAKER_01]: We thank you, Father, God, Lord, for speaking to us today.
[SPEAKER_01]: May we be transformed by the power of your Word today.
[SPEAKER_01]: In Jesus name, I've been said,
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to say this right off the bat, and I know you all know this, but it's, it needs to be said, but it's not the responsibility of the pastor solely or it's not the responsibility of the church leadership to build the church.
[SPEAKER_01]: It should have been allowed, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the church's responsibility, can the church say amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think a lot of times we think, well, you know, it's the pastor's job to build the church.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the pastor's job to make sure that people are coming.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the pastor's job to make sure that seats are filled and people are, it's on the pastor and I want to tell you it's not on the pastor, it's on all of us.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's on every single one of us.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have a responsibility as a people of God, as believers, to build His house.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it doesn't fall on the shoulders of one, but it falls on the shoulders of many.
[SPEAKER_01]: And here, me, one of the most important things you can ever do in your life, especially as a believer, is get serious about the house of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: get serious about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Be serious about what God is doing in His church and what He is building and what He is creating and to get serious about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because when we're serious about our in His house, let me tell you, He'll get serious about yours.
[SPEAKER_01]: And oftentimes we have that flipped.
[SPEAKER_01]: We think if I can put my focus and attention on my house first, on my needs, on my this and my that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I can focus on God's house.
[SPEAKER_01]: God will take care of me.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, no, it's actually quite the opposite.
[SPEAKER_01]: You take care of my house first.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you take care of my house, guess what?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll bless you, and I'll take care of yours.
[SPEAKER_01]: You all have to do much to take care of yours.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll take care of yours if you just trust me and you take care of my house, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so in Haggai chapter one, let me just kind of give you some history and some context to what's happening here.
[SPEAKER_01]: At this point of time, the people of Israel had been an exile for many years.
[SPEAKER_01]: And when they came back from exile, they had one simple assignment from the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was simple.
[SPEAKER_01]: We just read it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He said, build my house, build my house.
[SPEAKER_01]: At first, they did that very thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they worked really hard.
[SPEAKER_01]: They laid down the foundation and were really off to a very good start.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then life happened.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hello.
[SPEAKER_01]: Life happened.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we all
[SPEAKER_01]: when life happens.
[SPEAKER_01]: And here the people of God, they're instructed to build God's house and life begins to take place.
[SPEAKER_01]: They've got pressures, they get distracted, they begin to lose their focus which kind of led them off mission.
[SPEAKER_01]: They no longer were focused about God's house and now they were more focused about the busyness of life and the concerns of their own home and all of the things that they needed to do and I can really bet and say that we've all been there before.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've all been in a place where life hit us and we kind of got our focus a little bit off kilter and we begin to do things that wasn't necessarily in God's order and in God's direction, but we just thought we'll just do what we can do, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And it much like the Israelites often times we start out real strong.
[SPEAKER_01]: We put God first but then distractions come in.
[SPEAKER_01]: or we have a focus issue or things go south and the people of Israel literally went on being focused on their assignment building God's house to being distracted in building their own lives.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I want to tell you there's nothing wrong with building your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's nothing wrong with focusing on your home and focusing on your life and making sure
[SPEAKER_01]: So then God raises up.
[SPEAKER_01]: He sees what's happening.
[SPEAKER_01]: He tells them, you're on mission here to build my house and God sees all the things that are happening.
[SPEAKER_01]: He sees the distraction, the lack of focus, the lack of awareness, the retracting from building his house, the retracting of the assignment, and he raises up a profit name, Haggai.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he raises up this prophet specifically for one reason and one purpose to reinstate God's priorities, to get the people of God straightened up in the area of their priorities.
[SPEAKER_01]: So much like how the Lord spoke to Haggai and began to speak to Him to straighten them up and get their priorities straight so that they could focus on the house of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe the Lord would do that for us today.
[SPEAKER_01]: that the Lord would say, I love you so much, and I'm so gracious enough to speak to you, to urge you, to warn you, to challenge you, to make sure that you are keeping my house first.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so to speak to Church of the City today,
[SPEAKER_01]: Specifically, I believe that God is calling us to straighten up our priorities.
[SPEAKER_01]: Much like Haggai was used in that time to speak to the people of God to tell them, hey, I don't want you just focusing on your home, but I want you focusing on the house of God because while you're busy with life and all of the things that you've got going on and your jobs and your careers and your families and your vacations and all of this, the house of the Lord lies in ruins.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I believe God would speak to us today in such a loving graceful way that we can closely be examining our hearts.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we can really find out where our attention lies most, where we're putting the most energy, where we're putting the most focus.
[SPEAKER_01]: And while there's nothing wrong with making sure we're good and our personal life is an order here in me church, we cannot focus so much on us where we lose sight of the assignment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't focus on you so much that you lose sight of the assignment.
[SPEAKER_01]: People say, I'm trying to work on me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: Work on you, but don't lose sight of the assignment.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't put you before God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't put your priorities and your desires, and you're this, and you're that before God's house.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the assignment of the Lord is to build his house.
[SPEAKER_01]: And with that, you are building his kingdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: So building God's house is something that's beyond ourselves.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's bigger than us.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's something that I can tell you has eternal value.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it has eternal reward.
[SPEAKER_01]: The things that we often do for ourselves to set us up for success and to make money and to do this and do that, we ain't taking none of that to heaven with us.
[SPEAKER_01]: We ain't.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not taking our money.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not taking our businesses, we're not taking our opportunities, we're not taking all of the nice things that we have and the things that we have purchased and all that kind of stuff.
[SPEAKER_01]: None of that is going to heaven with us.
[SPEAKER_01]: But why do we put so much focus on it?
[SPEAKER_01]: God says the only thing that's eternal is my kingdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the number one thing that we should be focused on is building his kingdom.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in order for us to build his kingdom, we first have to build his house.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're gonna really dive deep over the next few weeks and specifically talk about one of the biggest ways that you and I can build the house of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's something that a lot of people don't like to hear.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's something that I don't really enjoy necessarily preaching often, but I know it's important in that we've got to hear it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the biggest way, the biggest opportunity, the most important way that you can build his house is through your giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's through your giving, is giving unto the Lord, sowing into the house of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And in your walk with the Lord, there are some amazing things like worship and praise and prayer, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit and prophecy and preaching and teaching and so on and so forth.
[SPEAKER_01]: And all of those things are amazing, and we focus on all those things, and we should, all of those things are good,
[SPEAKER_01]: But the biggest thing that we can do to build the house of the Lord is to give, is to give time, money, and talent.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we give unto God's house.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's important that we serve the house of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's important that we do so, and we do a really good job around here of doing that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Making sure that we're serving God's house.
[SPEAKER_01]: But we've got to be able to put attention and focus on that one area that we like to withhold sometimes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me say no, my wallet staying in my back pocket.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, my money's staying right in my person ain't coming out.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we neglect the house of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I believe that we're going to be challenged in these next couple of weeks, and that the Lord is going to really speak to us in a powerful way in the area of giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I believe that if you don't understand giving, if you don't understand the heart of generosity and sowing into the kingdom of God and giving and offering and giving of your
[SPEAKER_01]: Because we know this, we say this.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't need your money.
[SPEAKER_01]: The church doesn't need your money.
[SPEAKER_01]: God just needs your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: He needs your willingness to say yes to him in the area of finances.
[SPEAKER_01]: So many people struggle in struggle and struggle in the area of their finances, but once all of a sudden they start giving their finances to the Lord, then they start becoming more blessed than they've ever become before.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's where I want us to be, church.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not focused on who gives and who doesn't and who's tithing and who's not and who's sowing and who's not and who gives of an offering and who's not.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not focused on the fact that that several months ago we had a miracle offering Sunday and everybody made pledges to the Lord, not to the church, but to the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: To sow into this year, the $25,000 that we're believing for.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not up to me, or anybody to stay on top of anybody and say, hey, hey, what about this?
[SPEAKER_01]: What about that?
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, no, no, that's not our job.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the heart's desire, the willingness, the sacrifice and obedience that we need to say to the Lord God.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're challenging me, if you're provoking me in the heart of giving, I'm going to be obedient to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you want me to give God, which I know you do, I will.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so there's three major things that help us build the kingdom of God, specifically help us build his house.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to put this on the screen there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number one is serving.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number two is giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: And number three is making disciples.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a slide for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll throw it up there.
[SPEAKER_01]: These are the three major things that we can do to help build his house.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can give, and we make disciples.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's all comes out of the Word of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not something that I made up, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: Serving is important.
[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about that already.
[SPEAKER_01]: Giving is very, very important.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we're gonna be talking about.
[SPEAKER_01]: And making disciples, it's not just the pastor.
[SPEAKER_01]: Once again, that builds the church and the sense of the pastor goes out and leads everybody to the Lord and brings them into the church.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not how this thing works right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do I should I and and do I need to do my part and making disciples a hundred percent But you should be too, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: You should be you should be you know pouring into people and and making disciples and winning people You know that are lost over to Jesus and praying for people and all that kind of stuff like that's so important
[SPEAKER_01]: that we carry that heart and we be an evangelist for the Lord and we lead people to Jesus and all that, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So what I've come to discover and what I think all of us would say, yeah, I've discovered this too and even maybe admittedly in my life, I could admit this, but that we're really good at serving.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're good at making disciples, but I'm not so sure if I'm good at giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: kind of place often where we say yeah I'll serve.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll serve in whatever area I can and whatever capacity I'll serve the church I'll show up to the events.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll do all these things.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll make disciples.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll eat a group if I need to.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll encourage people.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll speak at a men's group or a women's group.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll do this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll do that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll do all these things to make disciples.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then when we say oh don't forget about giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: not giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to hear about giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to come to church and be preached about in the area of giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to hear about ties, you know, and we're really good at two out of three.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want us to be great at all three.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on somebody, I want us to be great at all three of these things, where we aren't just serving the house, we aren't just making disciples, but we are giving, we are giving, because it's so important.
[SPEAKER_01]: So listen church, if we could get each person that attends this house to serve, give, and make disciples, we could absolutely build the kingdom of God and his house rapidly.
[SPEAKER_01]: We could, and I'll tell you this, probably the most important one of those three is actually giving, because without our heart of generosity and without giving, we can't even be open.
[SPEAKER_01]: right I mean think about it like that's in any business but we couldn't even have our doors open or the lights on if we didn't have generosity and the hearts of people that so into this thing right and you know listen you know I want us to be in a place where we say where we say no matter what is going on in my life right now especially in my finances I am going to give
[SPEAKER_01]: Not everyone is willing and passionate about giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's an area of building God's house that's super challenging.
[SPEAKER_01]: I get it, it's challenging.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the benefit and reward is supernatural.
[SPEAKER_01]: And let me tell you, it's totally worth it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's totally worth it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You will always have lack in the area of your finances if you don't follow biblical principles for your finances.
[SPEAKER_01]: You will always find yourself constantly having to work harder and harder and harder.
[SPEAKER_01]: You will find yourself constantly having to look for money and try to make money and try to make ends meet.
[SPEAKER_01]: All of these kind of things when you don't follow the biblical principles of giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's just reality of the truth of the Word of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: This, again, this is not me.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the Lord's Word.
[SPEAKER_01]: So over the next couple of weeks, I wanted to discuss that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I genuinely believe that over the next few weeks, we will be literally experiencing Cairo's weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: Meaning, it will be a Cairo's moment for some of you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Somebody say, well, what's Cairo's?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, in the original Greek, it means the right time, the opportune time, that we will literally have the right time.
[SPEAKER_01]: This will be the right time.
[SPEAKER_01]: The right space, well, God will show up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, he'll speak to us in a supernatural way and he'll help us in this area of giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because let me tell you, he doesn't want you to struggle in this area.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he doesn't want you to focus on all of the other things.
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe all of the word of God, pastor, I'm in it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I believe it, but I don't know about giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, well, then you don't believe in me.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't believe in giving, then you don't believe in me.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's as simple as that, because you cannot trust God with everything else in your life and not your finances.
[SPEAKER_01]: It makes it zero sense.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because the only way you can survive is with what?
[SPEAKER_01]: Money.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he gives you everything that you have.
[SPEAKER_01]: He gave you your job.
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, he gave you your job.
[SPEAKER_01]: He gave you the money that you make.
[SPEAKER_01]: The money that comes into your house.
[SPEAKER_01]: He gave that to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not by coincidence or a chance that you have the job you have, or you make the money that you make, or whatever it may be.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, that is all because of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so it came from him, first and foremost, and he says, I just asked for a small portion back.
[SPEAKER_01]: If he's blessed us such a tremendous way, why wouldn't we be obedient in the area of our finances?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so one of the biggest things that I'm gonna talk about next week that I have never preached on, and you all be praying for me this week as I'm thinking about this and it's starting to brew within me is breaking off the poverty spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I think a lot of times we don't even realize that there is a poverty spirit over our homes and over our households and over our finances So I'm like, I can come into church next week if we're gonna hear that kind of no, I'm telling you We need to be here
[SPEAKER_01]: Come on, we need to be here, amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the eyes of your understanding, concerning your generosity, I believe, over the next few weeks is going to be enlightened.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you're going to begin to experience things that will literally blow your mind.
[SPEAKER_01]: For some people, you have believed the lie that God is trying to take something from you.
[SPEAKER_01]: That tithing is God taking something from you, giving to the church is God taking something from you.
[SPEAKER_01]: When in reality, when it comes to giving God
[SPEAKER_01]: He is never trying to take something from you.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's trying to get something to you.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the days of keeping what you should be giving, I believe are over because you don't want to hinder yourself for what God is trying to place within you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so hear me, if you don't learn to let go of what's in your hand, God will not let go of what's in his hand.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that's harsh, pastor.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, it's not.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't know how to let go, what's in your hand, that by the way he put in your hand to begin with.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't know how to let go, he can't let go for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, God is too good and he's too loving and he's too gracious to do that to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wouldn't do that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Really?
[SPEAKER_01]: He said there's one area.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's one area in the Word of God where he says to test me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Try me.
[SPEAKER_01]: See me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Test me out.
[SPEAKER_01]: See.
[SPEAKER_01]: If I will not open up the windows of heaven and pour out my blessings upon you.
[SPEAKER_01]: Test me in this one way.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't talk about testing him in any other way than in the area of giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because he knew that we would struggle in this area.
[SPEAKER_01]: He knew that we would believe the lies and the deception of the enemy that tells us we don't need to give.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have enough to give.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can't afford to give all of these things.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's a lie from the enemy.
[SPEAKER_01]: He knew we would struggle in it.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he says, Test me and watch what I do.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the first thing that I want to tell you about today,
[SPEAKER_01]: is number one is this, is that giving is not just Old Testament.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to break that lie right now, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to destroy it and crumble it, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's on, if you put it on the screen, David, that giving is not just Old Testament.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have heard this preached many times before.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have heard people talk about this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've heard pastors preach it, that that tithing and giving was only for the Old Law.
[SPEAKER_01]: was only for the Old Testament, only for before Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: When Jesus came, He broke the law, and you don't have to give.
[SPEAKER_01]: No?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's partial truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, one of the lies of the enemy that we have got to really squash as believers in the area of giving and tithing is that the Old Testament law doesn't apply to us today.
[SPEAKER_01]: And with all love in my heart, let me tell you, that's deception.
[SPEAKER_01]: Some would say that the things mentioned in the Old Testament, such as Malachi Chapter 3, which we'll read in just a few minutes, are under the Old Law, they're under the Old Covenant, so it doesn't apply to us today, but that's not entirely true.
[SPEAKER_01]: How many of you know that Satan does his best work in partial truth?
[SPEAKER_01]: He does his best work in partial truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: So yes, Malikai, when it talks about tithing specifically, is in the Old Testament.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the mistake is to say that everything in the Old Testament doesn't apply to us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because then we have to look at second Timothy chapter 3 verse 16, put it on the screen.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says this.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, all scripture will wait a second.
[SPEAKER_01]: That doesn't say just New Testament.
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't say New Testament Scripture.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, all Scripture has old, new, everything in between, old covenant, new covenant, all of the things.
[SPEAKER_01]: All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training, in righteousness.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to become the righteousness of God, therefore I need to believe and follow all Scripture because all Scripture is inspired by God, all Scripture is God-breathed.
[SPEAKER_01]: He breathed upon his word.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's Old Testament and New Testament.
[SPEAKER_01]: In all Scripture would include books like Malachi.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the question is not does this apply to us?
[SPEAKER_01]: Does this apply to me?
[SPEAKER_01]: The question now is, how does this apply now through Christ?
[SPEAKER_01]: because Jesus came and He broke the curse and He broke the law.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we're under a new covenant now and we're under the law of grace.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the question would be, is the things in the Old Testament, how do they still apply to my life at today?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not the question.
[SPEAKER_01]: How do they apply to my life today?
[SPEAKER_01]: It is, how do they apply through Christ today?
[SPEAKER_01]: So when we speak of the Old Testament law, you need to understand this.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm giving you a breakdown of scripture today, because I want us to really be mindful and really be aware of what God is teaching us.
[SPEAKER_01]: That when we speak of the Old Testament law, the Old Testament law is divided up into three categories.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you put it on the screen for us, moral law, ceremonial law, and civil law.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the law divided up into three major parts that we find in the Old Testament.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, moral law, I'll just leave it up here for a little while, moral law is still binding today.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's still binding today.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's what we call universal principles, OK?
[SPEAKER_01]: Moral law.
[SPEAKER_01]: Meaning that the character of God does not change
[SPEAKER_01]: He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So moral law has to do with how we honor God, how we put God first, how we depend on his truth and the truth of who he is.
[SPEAKER_01]: So in the Old Testament, I'll give you a prime example, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: This would be moral law.
[SPEAKER_01]: In the Old Testament, it says thou shall not murder,
[SPEAKER_01]: That is not something that we question today, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a truth that was established in the Word of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: We kept on to it because it's moral law.
[SPEAKER_01]: We understand that we should not kill people, that we should not murder.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has become the laws of the land.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has followed us all through time that started in the Word of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: It is moral law.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is still relevant.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's still part of God's character.
[SPEAKER_01]: It hurts the heart of God when we kill, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's terrible thing, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a binding law that still exists beyond the Old Testament.
[SPEAKER_01]: So do not murder was first in the Old Testament.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so for us to say, well, that part of the law of do not murder is definitely relevant to us today, but not giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: See what I'm saying?
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, now we got ourselves all tripped up because we say, well, you know, a Malachi chapter three is in the Old Testament.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's under the Old Law.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a part of, you know, the old things.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus came, we're under the law of grace now.
[SPEAKER_01]: So therefore, the moral law no longer applies to us today.
[SPEAKER_01]: That means you can go a murder anybody you want right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you can get away with it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that true?
[SPEAKER_01]: No, we know that.
[SPEAKER_01]: So why do we make that true about the area of giving?
[SPEAKER_01]: So moral laws made up of principles that do not change, pre-cross or post-cross.
[SPEAKER_01]: They do not change as we step into the new law and we step into a law of grace.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing changes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Moral law stays the same.
[SPEAKER_01]: Then we have ceremonial laws.
[SPEAKER_01]: And these are things that are now fulfilled in Christ, thank you, Jesus, meeting that.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have to make sacrifices and do ritualistic temple rules and regulations and sacrifice goats and lambs and all these kind of things to get God's attention.
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't have to shed innocent blood any more to be able to have the presence of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Jesus, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: So the ceremonial laws when Jesus came, he fulfilled that, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm thankful that we don't have to
[SPEAKER_01]: get his attention in that way that we don't have to shed blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because we know that the innocent blood of Jesus Christ was shed on the cross 2,000 plus years ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he broke the ceremonial laws of the land.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he said, now my blood atones for the sins of the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: You no longer have to shed blood, but my blood has been applied for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it has been applied to your account.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so we no longer need animal blood and rituals and all of these things to cover our sin.
[SPEAKER_01]: The praise God we have Jesus who took that on for us.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then we have civil law.
[SPEAKER_01]: And these civil laws were national laws for the nation of Israel.
[SPEAKER_01]: These were things that applied to Israel specifically.
[SPEAKER_01]: They discussed government structure and land laws and things that pertain to the nation of Israel that still actually follow them all the way to this day, which is why many other surrounding countries can't stand
[SPEAKER_01]: The nation of Israel, I want to do everything and everything they can to take them out and have claimed that they stole the land and all of these million things, but it all goes back to the Word of God into the law that was created, the civil law that was established and all of the rules and government structures that God established for the nation of Israel.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so the question is, if we have moral law, ceremonial law, and civil law, where does the law of tithing apply?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it's not ceremonial law, because it doesn't have anything to do with shedding a blood.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not civil law because that only has to do with the nation of Israel and the land laws for them, even all the way to today.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the only place that tithing, the law of tithing that can be applied is moral law.
[SPEAKER_01]: And did you know that in Genesis chapter 14,
[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible says in Genesis chapter 14 that Abram the mighty Abraham, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Abram, tithe to Melchizedek 400 years, let me tell you before this law was ever established.
[SPEAKER_01]: 400 years before the moral ceremonia and civil law were ever created, were ever established,
[SPEAKER_01]: There was no command to do so, but Abraham did it out of honor.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, why would he tie to Melchizedek?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, Melchizedek was a high priest.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Bible explains to us and teaches us that Melchizedek was a shadow of Jesus Christ, that he was the manifestation of Jesus in the Old Testament.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Bible says that Melchizedek had no father and he had no mother, and it said that he had no beginning of his days and he had no end of his days.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he was a foreshadow of the coming Christ, Jesus, that would later come.
[SPEAKER_01]: Melchizedek was, Abram understood, I got a tithe, 10% of all of my spoils to Melchizedek.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was something that nobody taught him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody told him, God didn't instruct him.
[SPEAKER_01]: He just did it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And why did he do it?
[SPEAKER_01]: He did it out of honor for Melchizedek.
[SPEAKER_01]: God's not commanding you.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not striking you.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not hitting you upside the head and the area of tithing.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not taking you out.
[SPEAKER_01]: If he would've already done it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, I'm just looking for your honor.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not just can you come in here and lift up your hands and worship me, but do you honor me in the area of your giving?
[SPEAKER_01]: And much like Abram honored the man of God, who was the foreshadow of Jesus Christ to come, and gave him a tenth of all of his spoils to the high priest.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is our high priest.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says the same thing for us today.
[SPEAKER_01]: If Abram can do it for Mount Kesidek, our responsibility is doing unto the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, tithing is not something that we have to do, tithing is something that we get to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not something we have to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, the Bible says, if you don't, you live under the curse, I don't want to live under the curse.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's not demonic.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not, oh, that's the enemy saying that.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, that was Jesus saying that, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: So, in Jesus don't curse us, he don't want to curse us, but he says, hey, look, I told you,
[SPEAKER_01]: Yikes, so I don't want to live under a curse, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So I need to be mindful of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be obedient to the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to struggle.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't want to have lack.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to, you know, all those things in my life.
[SPEAKER_01]: So what do I have to do?
[SPEAKER_01]: I've got to honor the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the first fruits, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So tithing is not something that we have to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not, if you don't tie that doesn't mean that you're not going to heaven, you're going to go to heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you love Jesus, you've accepted him as your savior, you're going to go to heaven.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I could tell you life would be so much better for you and so much easier for you if you just follow this biblical principle, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's not something that we have to do and something that we get to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: I get to tie, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Just like I get to come in here and worship Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have to do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody forces me to do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I get to do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody forces me to preach.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody forces anybody to serve the house of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't want to serve, you don't have to serve.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody forces you to do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: You get to do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a privilege.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a honor of a lifetime to serve the house of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And let me tell you, it's a honor of a lifetime to give into the kingdom of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hallelujah!
[SPEAKER_01]: So the first thing I wanted to lay down for you is that giving is not just an Old Testament thing, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: And the second one is this, is that giving is a condition of the heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a condition of the heart, meaning this.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is not a matter of whatever you want to make up.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just simply a matter of your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where is your heart in the area of your finances, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: So, that's all that it comes down to.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's your heart.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is my heart, posture in the right place where I believe what the Word of God says and I will give unto the Lord in that way, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: So, now, let's go to Malachi Chapter 3.
[SPEAKER_01]: Malachi Chapter 3, verse 7 through 12.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, since of days of your fathers, you have turned from my statutes.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have not kept them.
[SPEAKER_01]: Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
[SPEAKER_01]: But you ask, well, how can we return?
[SPEAKER_01]: Will a man rob God?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you are robbing me.
[SPEAKER_01]: You ask, how do we rob you by not making the payments of the 10th and the contributions?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yet you, the whole nation, are still robbing me.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's it right there.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the key.
[SPEAKER_01]: How do we rob from God?
[SPEAKER_01]: We rob from God in the area of our giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the Book of Malachi,
[SPEAKER_01]: is written around 430 to 400 BC.
[SPEAKER_01]: After the Israelites returned from exile.
[SPEAKER_01]: And at this point of time, where we were in Haggai chapter one, where God was saying, hey, I need you to rebuild my house, focus on my house, build my house, hold up, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Now we skip ahead in a Malachi chapter three, the temple has been built.
[SPEAKER_01]: The house of the Lord is established.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now remember in Haggai, they were charged to rebuild the temple.
[SPEAKER_01]: So now in Malachi 3, the temple has been built, but unfortunately we see again for the second time that the people of God are beginning to drift away.
[SPEAKER_01]: They begin to once again lose sight of the assignment.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's all kinds of stuff happening in Malachi chapter 1 in Malachi chapter 2 that if you go back and read it, it would make sense to you
[SPEAKER_01]: all kinds of life is taking place, all kinds of things are happening.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's it's crazy.
[SPEAKER_01]: But they become off, they get off their assignment.
[SPEAKER_01]: And the condition of their hearts led them to a place where they weren't giving to God anymore.
[SPEAKER_01]: Their hearts became hardened and they were no longer giving to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the reason why some people don't give to God is not because they don't have the money,
[SPEAKER_01]: God says in Malachi 37, you have turned from my statues.
[SPEAKER_01]: But then the people respond by saying, well, how can we return?
[SPEAKER_01]: If we have turned from your statutes, how can we return?
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't say this because they want to return.
[SPEAKER_01]: So they're asking how to.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, they're saying this like, what are you even talking about, God?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you have turned from my statues.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, how do we return?
[SPEAKER_01]: And God responds back to them and says, you're robbing me in this one area, entire than offering.
[SPEAKER_01]: In other words, they don't even realize the condition of their hearts.
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't even realize that their hearts have been hardened in the area of giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: They had become completely blind to the fact that God gave them something that they were supposed to take, a portion back to him as an active obedience, as an active love, as an active trust for God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now we know that Scripture teaches us that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen?
[SPEAKER_01]: He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's simple.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you diligently seek Him, you will get the rewards of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He rewards those who diligently seek Him.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want the rewards of God, you have to what?
[SPEAKER_01]: Diligently seek Him.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you diligently seek Him, what do you get?
[SPEAKER_01]: The rewards of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he follows up in Malachi three by saying this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Test me in this and see if I will not open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if any, so watch this, the reward, taking that scripture, understanding the heart of the Father, and understanding how God operates.
[SPEAKER_01]: The reward is the windows of heaven being poured out on us.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the reward.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the diligently seeking him part is giving the tenth.
[SPEAKER_01]: He rewards those who diligently seek him, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: If I want the reward, what is the reward in Malachi Chapter 3?
[SPEAKER_01]: The reward is he will open up the windows of heaven over my life.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh man, yes, I want the blessings of God, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: I want that reward, what do I need to do?
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I got to go back to what it says before that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I got to give my 10th.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Listen, God doesn't just do things just to do them.
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't just say things just to say them.
[SPEAKER_01]: God wants to partner with you, and he says, if you help build my house, I'll help build yours.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you help build my house, I'll help build yours.
[SPEAKER_01]: And here, me church, the windows of heaven, being opened over your life, doesn't just come by you getting saved.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the start.
[SPEAKER_01]: It comes by you choosing to lay down your flesh, to lay down your pride, to lay down what you think is right in your heart's desire and all that kind of stuff and just give it to the Lord and say,
[SPEAKER_01]: And it comes by choosing to giving, to being, to being generous in the area of your tie than offering.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the Bible says the windows of heaven are opened out over our lives.
[SPEAKER_01]: So when I said, when I, when I started this morning and I said, the title of today's message is open up to heaven, said, if I was like, woo, woo, yeah, open up the heavens.
[SPEAKER_01]: But now you're like, that means I have to do something for God to open up the heavens.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you do.
[SPEAKER_01]: We play as much as an equal rule as God does in this thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, yeah, the wind doesn't have an hour about to open up for you if you just trust me in the area of giving.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know about you, but I want the windows that have been opened up over my life.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to struggle, I don't want to have lack.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to have to just work, work, work, work, work, to get, get, get, get, and then it goes right back out, out, out, out.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to live that way.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be blessed.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be blessed, come on.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be blessed in the area of my finances.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he got wants to do that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Or else he wouldn't have talked about none of this.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to bless you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not talking about, he wants to give you cars and mansions and all this kind of stuff, because that's where we get way off, kill, turn people like, oh, people just give so that they can have all of this and they can have that.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, no, no, no, no, that's not why we give.
[SPEAKER_01]: We give because we honor God.
[SPEAKER_01]: We give because we love God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's as simple as that.
[SPEAKER_01]: You said, can you trust me in the area of your finances?
[SPEAKER_00]: For more information about Church of the City, head on over to www.cotcdfw.com.
[SPEAKER_00]: And until next time, remember this, the best is yet to come.