God Owns It-We Steward It | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

Stand to your feet with me. Thank you. To all of our singers and all of our musicians that got here early to prepare to lead us in the worship. Aren't you thankful tonight? Come on, I said aren't you thankful tonight? Yeah, that's right. Put your hands together. Thank you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Want to welcome Pastor Hammon. Already said it. Want to welcome all of our guests we have >> >> in the house. And it's so it's so awesome to have guests even on a midweek Bible study. Thank you for making your way out to the house of the Lord. To our Azusa Street Riders, we always love to see you. Always love to have you in service with us and uh man, I'm telling you what. That's a that's a fun ministry to be a part of. And so thankful what God is doing. Uh give honor to Bishop and Sister Carpenter. And uh don't we love our senior pastor around here? Aren't they awesome? Our first lady. >> >> So appreciative of what they what they have put into each one of us and have discipled us. Amen. In this church for over 40 years and give them honor tonight. Turn on your Bible with me to Luke chapter 12 and verse 42. >> >> And I do want to say I'm just going to be teaching from the word of the Lord. This is Bible study. This is Wednesday night Bible study. Uh please keep your Bibles open. >> >> Uh we're going to be moving moving quickly through scripture. And um might not give you a ton of time to turn there, but do the best you can. And if you don't quite get there in time, they will be on the screen for you to read. Bible says in Luke 12:42, "And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful >> >> and wise steward whom his lord shall make ruler over his household to give them their portion of meat in due season? I like this. Blessed is that servant whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. Kind of goes downhill from here. But and if that servant say in his heart, 'Mm, my lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to beat the men servants and maidens and to eat and drink >> >> and to be drunk, and the lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.' Um I really want to focus on the first half of that passage and not the second half. Um I just I I I just believe tonight that if we get the right kind of stewardship taking place in this house, we're not going to have to worry about punishment. All right? Or cut in the sunder. I don't even know 100% what that means. I did not even look that up because I'm not even interested in that part of the verse. I'm interested in making sure that we're all wise servants. We're all wise stewards. And I don't even think I have to explain being cut in the sunder and all that good stuff. But then Matthew 6:21 simply says, and you know this scripture by heart, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Or I kind of like to flip that around and I like to say, "Where your heart is, that's where your treasure's going to be." That's where your wallet. That's where you look at your credit card receipts and you're going to find out quickly where your heart is. Amen. Amen. I want my heart to be here. I want my treasure to be here. My My title tonight, I'm going to just talk and and speak on the topic of stewardship, biblical stewardship. My title is God owns it and we steward it. Simple thought. God owns it and we steward it. Let's put our Bibles down. Let's pray together before we get started. Father, I love you. Lord, I'm so thankful for this opportunity to stand before the greatest people in all of the world. God, I I believe we are in the greatest church of givers, of of missionary lovers of here in America and overseas. Lord, I believe, Lord God, we've given offerings in the past month or two that are astronomical. Lord God, they were mind-blowing. But God, it's because we have people in the house that understand, Lord, that it's more blessed to give than to receive. And they understand, Lord God, there's such a beautiful blessing, Lord God, in giving unto others and seeing your kingdom Oh God, at its greatest and adding value to your kingdom. Won't you just continue to bless them? Open up hearts. Open up minds tonight, God. We got to understand stewardship. Teach us. Help us. Empower us in your word tonight. We ask all this in Jesus' name we pray. And the church said, "Amen." Amen. You may be seated. God owns it. We steward it. The scripture teaches us that as Christians we are stewards or caretakers of the resources that God has placed into our lives. And as stewards, we are responsible to utilize and manage Here it is right here. Our time, our talent, our treasure, and our testimony to the glory of God. Again, a lot of times we think of stewardship just as in treasure. Um but there's a lot of stewardship when it comes to our time. And giving God our first fruits in time. Giving God Let me tell you something. All of us have 24 hours a day, but all of us are not successful time managers. But I believe I believe we can be um successful in time and talents. And again, all talent is not on the platform. There's a lot of talent in the pews tonight that if it wasn't for your talent, for your skill set, the church would not be where it is today. This beautiful building would not look like it looks today. A lot of things happened. Now, we hired out some companies to to help build this building, but a lot of the finish work was done by people right here in this sanctuary. And I thank God for the many talents. You You might be a a a barista. And to you I say, "Thank you for using your talent for the kingdom of God." Everybody that's ever made me a peanut butter coffee, thank you. Haha. Anybody that's ever My My God, I If I get started, I'm not going to stop on this talent thing. But there's people who are talented in baking and talented in cooking. And again, I say, "Thank you." Thank you for blessing the kingdom of God. Thank you for blessing those with so many talents that you have stewarded in a way to say, "God, I'm giving you my first fruits." But Here's what I want to tell you. I just got out of our our Disciples Makers course upstairs in our Midweek University. Um and I already covered I already covered time, talent, and testimony. Um And And let me say this. If you have never taken our our our course on disciple making, I promise you it is one of the most unbelievable classes you can attend. It's about a 22-week uh session, which that sounds like it's a lot, but I promise you we keep our classes the whole entire time. From from week 1 to week 22, the same people are showing up, which tells me something. You enjoy being discipled and you enjoy the fact that you're going to be able to disciple other people. So, if you've not been a part of that, get involved. Get Get a part of it. Matter of fact, if you've ever attended uh Disciples Makers, if you've ever attended in the last We've been doing it for I don't know, 10, 15 years, however long it is. Would you stand to your feet? If you've ever attended or if you're in the class right now, I want you to stand to your feet. Ooh, this is so awesome. This is so awesome. Thank you. You may be seated. Thank you. Uh this shows the majority. This is not just for Uh this class is not just for new converts. Although if you're a new convert and you're new around here, we'd love to get you a part of it. This is for anyone that wants to make disciples. And I hope I sure hope that's all of us. So, I will apologize and say that that that our our class has already heard a a small part of this. Um however, um I will get to some some some new stuff very quickly here. But what exactly Let's talk about this. What exactly is stewardship? In ancient times, it was common for wealthy households, for wealthy families, to assign the management of their household and their finances to the care of a trustworthy steward. Um good example of this. We all know the story of Joseph. He was in Potiphar's house not not as not not as an Egyptian, but he was there as an Israelite. He was there as a slave. He was there as a servant to Potiphar. But we understand that Potiphar probably had a whole lot of servants in his house. But there's something about different. I can trust this guy with my wealth. I can trust him with the food that comes in and out of my house that not only feeds my family, but feed feeds my servants. Any bit of money amount of money that comes in the house, I don't have to worry about Joseph because Joseph is a good steward. Matter of fact, Adam Clarke in his commentary says, "The steward was the master's deputy in regulating the concerns of the family, providing food for the household, seeing it served out in proper times and seasons, and in proper quantities. He received all the cash, he expended what was necessary to support the family, and kept exact accounts." Watch this right here. "Which he was obligated obliged at certain times to present for examination before the master." And that's what this next story is about because God is always looking for stewards that are trustworthy, and stewards that are faithful to manage his affairs. And while they reward there's a reward obviously for good stewardship, there's also going to be something that takes place where if you mismanage what is God's, there's going to be the Bible talks about severe punishment. We read it in our opening text. Servants were entrusted with managing and caring for things that were This is it right here. They were not their own. 1 Corinthians 10:26 says, "For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." And the simple interpretation of that is everything belongs to God. Everything is the Lord's. Even in 1 Corinthians 6:19, it says, "What? Know ye not that even your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is inside of you? You are God's. You are not your own. For you are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit." Just in case you didn't catch it earlier, it says it again, "Which are God's." Everything belongs to God. The hills, the cattle on the hills. Everything belongs to God. The cities, the the towns, the villages, everything belongs to God. Our own bodies belong to God. I know there's a movement out there. There's a it's my body and I'll do what I want with my body. And you know what? That's okay. They can do what they want their body because they don't have the spirit of God living in their body, obviously. However, if you're an apostolic Pentecostal filled with the Holy Ghost, our body is no longer ours. We've been purchased. We've been bought with a price. We are not our own. We are God's. We are God's property. But speaking of this me movement, we read about the parable of the rich man. Look Look with me in Luke chapter 12 verse 16. Again, before we talk about stewarding our finances, we got to first understand what is true stewardship. Bible says, "And Jesus spake a parable unto them." And obviously, Jesus felt like he had to speak parables because either they were not mature enough to receive the word direct, or they just needed to hear something that they can understand. And apparently, this was something that they could get. And he said, "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do? Now, if you will, I don't know if you want to in your Bibles. If you want to If you mark up your Bibles, circle every I, my, myself. Circle all these and just just see what you come up with. See if we come up with the same number. He said, "Within himself." You can circle that. Saying, "What shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, "This will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say unto my soul, soul, thou That's that He's also talking about himself. Thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine." Talking about himself. "Ease, eat, drink, be merry." Oh, but God said unto him, "Thou fool. This night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then those shall Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?" Watch this right here. "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." Now, it's not talking about being rich. It's talk It's saying not rich toward God. So, the the first three verses I I I don't know if you count the same way I did. I I counted six times where he says I. I counted the word my five times. And God is never mentioned one time. Yet God called the rich man into account, saying, "This night your soul is required of you. And all these things you prepared, whose will they be?" This treasure held by the rich man didn't belong to him. They belonged to God. And we must understand this fundamental principle if we're going to fulfill our role as faithful stewards of God's heritage. God is going to one day say, "I want you to open the books." And I I want you to open our book. And And I've got to open my book that I'm keeping an account. And he's going to look over and say, "How did you fulfill my will through what I gave you to work with? I blessed you. I gave you talent. I gave you a skill set. I gave you I blessed you with finances. I blessed you with a good family. I blessed you with a good school to put your kids in. I blessed you with a good church to go to. Open up the book and show me what you did with what I blessed you with." Because all things are his. Everything belongs to him. I'm just a steward of what is his. And if we're going to fulfill the role of the faithful steward of God's heritage, we got to be able to prove to God what he's given us has been used to empower and to better his kingdom. Christian Christian stewardship is is using temporal goods to accomplish eternal purpose. Right? It's using what what just temporal. Money is temporal. It'll come. It'll go. You'll make it. You'll lose it. Put in the stock market. Lately, haven't been doing real good. Shh. Man, I'm telling you what. I got some stories about that. Thank God I don't have a lot of money. I didn't lose a lot of money. If I would have had a lot of money, I would have lost a lot of money. But those things come and go. But here in 1 Timothy 6:17, I want you to see this. Those are temporal things. But if we use them for the correct purposes, it's an eternal it's eternal good. Bible says, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded or be arrogant. Nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. That they do good, watch this right here, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, that's give, willing to communicate, that's giving with an open hand, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that that may lay hold on They may lay hold on eternal life." This is simply saying, "You ought to be rich." But we're not talking about living in a castle or living in a in a mansion on a hill. We're talking about being rich in good works. But in so doing, being rich in good works, if you're ready to give, if you're ready to distribute, if you're ready to communicate to have an open hand, God says you're laying up eternal things. It's so much more. I told the class earlier, and I don't know I I probably have students in here. I say students, you're probably getting older by now. You're probably in your 30s by now. But I I remember years ago down at the old school up up the hill, I remember we were we were in I can I can see the classroom. I can see students in the chairs. And I was talking to the students about biblical finances. I was talking about biblical stewardship. And I told them I said, "I need three students to come up here." And I had three students. And this is probably I don't know. Brandon Johnson, you might have been one of them. I This This was years ago. This was years and years ago. But I I had three students come up. And I said, "I need you to open your hands." And I had a I had a bowl. I had one of those big mixing bowls. One of those big silver those big steel looking mixing bowls. Stainless steel. And I had filled it with four or five of those big jumbo party size bags of M&M's. And I had this big I I remember having this big stainless steel bowl. And And to each one of them, I walked up. And I just began. And it was messy. It was messy. Man, I just started dumping out that bowl and watching their hands fill up with M&M's until they were overflowing and they were bouncing all over the tile floors. Some of y'all y'all remember this? Man, I I had kids diving for M&M's. I'm like, "You filthy animals. Those are on the floor. Leave them on the floor." Man, kids laughing, screaming. I We had M&M's hundreds of M&M's just falling on the floor. M&M's everywhere. But I told them I said, "Just stand there with those hands open. Stand there with the hands open." They had piles of M&M's in their hand. I said, "Now, what I want you to do is I want you to close your hand as tight as you can." And that milk chocolate with the candy shell that's not supposed to melt in your hand, but only in your mouth. I said, "Now, open your hands for me." And they opened their hand. And their hand was gooey and brown and looked nasty. It didn't look like the the pretty colored M&M's with the hard candy shell that they had earlier. Now Now they were ugly. And most most of the M&M's had to fall out of their hand in order for them to close their hand. And I said, "Here. Watch this now." And I took that same bowl. And I began to dump those M&M's on their closed fists. And they watched as all those M&M's just bounced off their fist onto the ground. And I said, "Now, open your hand again and look." And there again was just just ugliness in their hand. I said, "What happens with giving and stewarding what is God's? As long as we keep our hands open, God will allow us to keep what's in the hands." And it's a beautiful thing. And it keeps on it keeps on come The more you give, the more you get. That's just what happens. It's it's it's the principle of good stewardship in finances. You just open your hand and allow God to bless others through you. You say, "Well, I can only hold so much." Well, that's okay cuz that's all God meant for you to hold. He might have given you small hands for a reason. But that's THAT'S ALL I DON'T BELIEVE FOR A SECOND THAT GOD expected all of us to become millionaires and billionaires. And he just said, "Listen, just have an open hand and allow me to speak to you and allow you to bless other people that need to be blessed and to bless works that need to be blessed and bless missionaries and missions works that need to be blessed. Bless Rome. Thank God for all of you that just kept your hand open and allowed and allowed those finances to come out of your hand and to go to the country of Italy and to the city of Rome. Thank God there's a church right now being renovated. I've seen pictures. I can't wait to show you the final pictures of the church. THE FALLONS IN CLEVELAND. THANK GOD THAT YOU JUST KEPT YOUR HANDS OPEN BECAUSE I guarantee the same people that gave to those offerings are watching God bless him in miraculous ways. Listen, if you're like me and if if you're like my wife we got our tax return and blew our minds. WAS NOT EXPECTING HALF OF WHAT CAME IN. But I I I just got to thinking, "Well," I said, "Baby, we've been having our hand open. We just been giving. We've been letting that money just come through our hands. It doesn't surprise me that God double blessed us with our with our tax return. It does not surprise me." Because that's just what God does. That's what this verse is simply saying. It's saying if we are ready to distribute if we keep our hand open Oh my God. Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that may lay hold on eternal life. I want to be rich, but it's not the kind of rich that Hollywood's looking for. I want to be rich toward God. I WANT TO be rich in my distribution and in my giving. OH MY GOD. I WANT to be a blessing to others and the only way to be a blessing to others is to be rich unto the Lord. First Corinthians 4:2 says, "Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful." Let's talk about faithfulness cuz a lot of times we don't think of faithfulness in these terms, but faithfulness is the first requirement of stewards. The American Heritage Dictionary defines faithful as adhering strictly to the person the cause or idea to which one is bound dutiful and loyal, worthy of trust or credence. Right here, watch this. Consistently reliable. There's a difference between, you know, between being reliable and consistently reliable. There's a lot of people that, you know, in the good and if it's the right day and the right time, boy, they're they're there and they're reliable. They're on time. They're they're faithful, but there's another person that says, "I don't care what's going on. I'm going to be consistently reliable. I want to be faithful steward unto God." It means being trustworthy and a responsibility to utilize the things that God has loaned to us for the benefit of his kingdom. Proverbs 28:20 says, "A faithful man shall abound with blessings. Thank God. But he that maketh haste to be rich." If you're if you're in a hurry to be rich it says, "You shall not be innocent or you shall not be unpunished." And what this is simply saying is if it's all about you, kind of like that that that rich man we heard about who who said, "You know what? I'm so blessed. I'm not going to give. I'm going to build bigger barns. I'm going to buy a bigger house. I I I I I'm sure not going to give to missions. I'm going to do something with myself. I need a fifth or sixth car. I'm going to go back and get that collector's car. I'm going to get that brand new that brand new sports car. I'm sure not going to give it into Rome. I'm sure not going to give it to Cleveland." But it says, "A faithful man shall abound with blessings." God sees it and God says, "I will reward faithfulness, a faithful steward." Listen, as for me and my house, I declare we will be faithful stewards of what belongs to God. What belongs to God. So, let's go into stewardship of our treasure. I'm only going to be about 15 more minutes. But stewardship OF OUR TREASURE TREASURE involves three distinct areas. And I'm going to go and tell you I'm only going to have time to get to one of them. So, let me tell you what they are. The first one is tithing. First and foremost, we'll spend some time there. But then there's also giving. But then there's also the giving of alms. So, you got the giving of offerings, but then you also have alms. And we're going to we don't touch that one very often, so I want to make sure we hit a little bit of alms at least. But let's START WITH WITH TITHING because this is the first fruits. This is the Lord's. Bible talks about the Lord's portion. Tithe literally means a tenth. That's what tithe means. It simply it's it's the greatest way for every person in this place to give equally. No matter if you make $100 a week or 10,000 a week, if you give a tenth of your income, you're giving the exact same amount. Now, I was I was watching a YouTube video of Dave Ramsey. And he was he was talking about tithing. And he told me or he told us a story about a pastor, a brand new pastor of a church that they called him up and said, "Hey, uh hey Dave, um I told my church it's okay to tithe 7% instead of 10%." And Dave Ramsey was like that's not tithe. Cuz tithe is 10%. You can't you can't like like that it doesn't work that way. Tithe means 10%. You can't change percentages. Now, obviously you can you can over tithe and you can give more than tithe, but tithe is 10%. And the principle of tithing or or the Lord's portion is first seen. This is good right here. In the Garden of Eden. One tree in the garden was reserved for the exclusive use of the Lord. One tree. Now now we understand that Adam was assigned to care for that tree to dress it and to keep it. But it was not a tree that he was allowed to eat of. He was just he was to be a steward of the whole garden which was all God's. And God said "Do not eat of the fruit of that tree. That is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That is my tree." He said he said, "That is mine. That is God's." And he said it was tithe. And it was man it was it was the very first mention. The very first the very first time that we see where God says "I'm giving you something to take care of, to steward, but that doesn't mean it's yours." Do you understand? And obviously sin entered into the world because they did not let God have what was God's. They partook of what was God's. So, let's talk about the the the term tithe and the principle of tithing. It's first mentioned in Genesis 14. In in Abram's encounter with Melchizedek Melchizedek, the king of Salem, the priest of the most high God. Look with me in Genesis 14:20. Um cuz there's there's there's some there's some beliefs out there about tithing that we're going to kind of we're going to kind of talk about and we're going to kind of debunk a little bit. But the Bible says, "And blessed be the most high God which hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand." And he Abram, which we know becomes Abraham, Abram gave him Melchizedek tithes of all. And so, what is this referring to? Um so so we remember the story where where um Abraham came to his nephew Lot and said, "Lot, you know, our our servants are striving with one another. Our cattle our livestock it's it's it's getting it's just getting too much for all of us to stay together." And he said, "You you can choose the mountains. You can choose the valleys." And Abram gave his nephew the choice. And then and his nephew said, "I I'll take the well watered plains of Sodom and Gomorrah." And the the green grass. And course who else would wouldn't want to have that for their cattle. And so, Abram said, "Okay, go ahead." Well, he goes down into Sodom. Sodom, a very wicked city. A city of of of major debauchery. And um in in living there, there's other kings and other other nations in the valley. And the Bible says they came and and they overtook Sodom and Gomorrah. And and they took everything that was in Sodom and Gomorrah. And not only every possession, but they also took the people which obviously included Lot, his wife, and his daughters. And when Abraham found out about it, Abraham and this this tells you a little bit about Abraham. He takes his servants. And these guys must have been incredible because his servants Abram and his servants go and defeat all these armies and all these kings who have gathered together and come together against these nations in the valley. And and and defeated them. And so, here he's coming back and Abram is coming back. And on his way back, he takes all these spoils of all these kings and everything that they have that they have have ransacked from all these cities. And the first thing that Abram does is he brings tithe, which means how many percent? 10% of everything that he had taken in from all of these wicked kings. And he pays tithe to Melchizedek the priest. And this is the first mention of the word tithe, but then 100 years later tithing is still in practice and and I wanted to debunk this because a lot of people they say, "Oh, tithing is just a it's a mosaic. It's of the law of Moses and and and and and that's all been fulfilled and and and no longer all these laws have been fulfilled by the grace of God and Jesus on the cross and and and again, yes, everything was fulfilled, but this was not a part of it because this took place before the law was even given to the people. The only reason it was given to the people is because it was already working so good that they just moved it into the law of Moses. But over 100 years after Abraham and after this instance, we have Jacob, which is Abraham's grandson. In Genesis 28, he has his encounter with the Lord at Bethel and and verse 22 says, "And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house and of all that shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth, a tithe, unto thee." Surely I will give the tenth This is again, this is Abraham's grandson who is still paying tithe unto God. He says, "This stone, this is going to be God's house. I'm going to bring my tithe to this altar, to this pillar, to this stone." Again, tithing did not begin with the law and it was not eliminated with the law. The Pulpit Commentary states that the practice of paying tithes, primarily a tax for the service of the sanctuary, appears to have obtained its origin from the remotest ancient times. However, when the law was later given to Moses on Mount Sinai, the principle of tithing was specifically incorporated into it. Again, it was already taking place, they just incorporated it into the law. So, Leviticus 27:30 says, "And all that the tithe of the land and all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's. It is holy unto the Lord." Again, in Deuteronomy 14:22, "Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed in the field bringeth forth year by year." And then of course, even Jesus himself, he didn't criticize the Pharisees for paying tithes. He actually commended them. Look with me in Matthew 23:23. Matthew 23:23, we have once again, Jesus is trying to help these religious leaders not be so religious. And he says, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law." Let me just tell you what that means. When he says pay tithe of mint and pay tithe of They were not Let's say if they were were were were wheat harvesters, yet they grew some mint in their personal garden in order to flavor their food. They not only paid tithe. These were These were very religious people. They didn't only pay tithe on their wheat harvest, they paid tithe on the little bit of mint that they were growing in their garden. They were serious. And he said, "Here you are, you pay tithe on the smallest, most insignificant things, but you've omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought ye have to done you have done and not leave the other undone." So, he's simply saying, okay, right here, he's saying you you there's some weightier matters of the law and judgment, mercy, and faith that you should be doing, but at the same time, you still got to pay your tithe. That's what he's saying. He's He's condoning them for paying their tithe. And this word ought, where it says you ought to have done, it expresses an obligation or a duty. Jesus is is saying that paying of tithes is something that ought to be done. It's a duty, no doubt, but in Jesus Christ, this mosaic order of priesthood, Aaronic order of priesthood, it was fulfilled and made obsolete, but the priesthood of Melchizedek was then reestablished. So again, yes, this law, no doubt, there was a time when the law was no more. However, at that same time, this priesthood of Melchizedek was reestablished. This same priest that you heard about that Abraham paid tithe to the very first time, the first mention of the word tithe. In the New Testament, it teaches us that Jesus Christ is our high priest after the order of Melchizedek and that we are the children of Abraham through faith. Therefore, just as our father Abraham paid tithes unto his high priest Melchizedek, we, the children the spiritual children of Abraham, we pay tithes unto Jesus Christ, our high priest, after the same order that Abraham paid unto Melchizedek. Let let let's look at this in scripture. Look at Hebrews chapter 7 verse 15 cuz some people probably here tonight are like, "What are you talking about? Who is Melchizedek? Why are you calling Jesus Melchizedek?" Let let's let's get look at see what what Hebrews says here. It says, "And it is yet far more evident for that after the similitude of Melchizedek, there ariseth another priest." And this is talking about Jesus, who is made not after the law of carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, "Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." Again, in Galatians 3:7, this is written to the New Testament church. It says, "Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." So now we're we're seeing this connection where we are we're the New Testament bride. We're the New Testament church. We are the children the spiritual children of Abraham. So here we have we have the children of Abraham, you have the order of Melchizedek. This is all coming together in Galatians 3:29, "And if ye be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise." John 8:39, this is good word, all about Melchizedek, all about Abraham, all about faith, all about huh Jesus being the same order. They answered and said unto him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said unto them, "If ye were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham." This writer of Hebrew confirms that it is Jesus Christ, our high priest, who receives and acknowledges our tithe in heaven. Hebrews 7:8, "And here men that die receive tithes, but there he receiveth them of whom it is witnessed that he liveth." It's important to understand that Jesus Christ, he receives, he is the one who receives our tithe. He accepts them for the use of his ministers. When we bring our tithe, let's talk about this right here. We bring our tithe into the storehouse, we are not giving to a man. We're not giving to a pastor. We're not giving to Kenneth Carpenter. Don't put his name on your check, it ain't going to him. We're we're not going we're not even giving to a church or to a ministry. We're not giving to Strong Tower Youth Ministries. We're not giving to a ministry. We are paying tithe to our high priest Jesus Christ, which is already it's already rightfully his. We're just bringing back to God what is his. The prophet Malachi, we read this This this this preaches good. He's talking about withholding tithes and offerings as being it's grand larceny against God. In Malachi 3:8, "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me." But you say, "Wherein have you have we robbed thee?" The the people the they're saying, "How how God, how is it that we robbed you?" He said, "In tithes and offerings." He said, "You're cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation." He said, "Bring ye all the tithe into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house." And I love this, it gets good from here. "And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Listen, you cannot rob someone of something that doesn't already belong to them. When it says, "Bring ye the tithe into the storehouse," that's not you being a good person and saying, "God, I just feel like you're worthy of 10%." It's not yours. It's not mine. We're just a steward. You say, "Well, my name's on the paycheck." And I say, "Well, it doesn't have to be." Let me tell you something, God does not need our money. We stop bringing our tithe into the storehouse, I promise you the storehouse is not going to go empty. But but tithing is simply God's management training for mankind. Got a question for you. What What percentage of our income belongs to God? It's a trick question. 100%. It all belongs to him. So what percent belongs to us? Zero. Man, got us some mathematicians in here. If 100% is his, that means 0% is ours. Which when you start to think about it, you start to see how blessed you are, how blessed I am, when God turns around and gives us 90%? So, that's why we got to have a little paradigm shift. Instead of us thinking that we're good people and I'm such a good Christian cuz I bring my I bring my tithe in the storehouse. No, you don't. You're bringing God his tithe. And he's turned around and saying, "Hey, I've got 90% of the job that I let you work, the career that I let you obtain, that business that you started that that I blessed." And God is so good. He's saying, "I'm going to give you 90% back. Go crazy." Give a perception. I I want this This is the perception I want. Listen, even a a waiter that takes your order and brings your food to the table, we have no problem. 18 20% Sign your name. Hand it over to him. The US government takes 25 to 30% of the average American income. God said, "Listen, just bring 10%. Bring it to the storehouse. And he said, "I'll give you the 90% to be blessed with." We're not just great givers parting with 10%. We are being blessed with the 90. Amen. Now, I can promise you this, the 90% is going to go much further than the 100%. How many know that to be true? Oh. The biggest lie our flesh can tell you, and I don't even think it's the devil. I'll be honest with you, I think it's just our flesh. The biggest lie our flesh says is we can't afford to bring God what's his. And some people look at it like almost like a tax like like Well, I might cheat on this I I hope I hope nobody cheats on their taxes. Guys, I don't want to visit y'all in jail, I don't. But that's not what this is about. This is not a tax. It's a test of trust. Tithing isn't isn't God just taking a 10%. He's saying, "I will give you the 90% if you trust me with your 10%." And and tithing is also a way that God trains us to order our priorities. It's been said that no man really trusts God until he trusts him with money. When we tithe unto the Lord, it establishes God's order in our financial lives, and it teaches us that the first and the best belong to God. We don't give him our leftovers. We don't We don't pay everything and and pay ahead on stuff and then look and say, "Oh, I I got $100 left, God. I'm going to give you some of that." No, no, no, it's it's our first fruit. It's the very first we get our paycheck. I get my paycheck on Friday Sunday morning, I make sure I write out my tithe check. I make sure I write out my offerings. Why? Because I want to give the very first fruit before I spend it on anything else. The first fruits belong to God. The best belongs to God, not the leftovers. Only after we have paid what we already owe can God actually begin to give back. But let's just talk, and I'm almost finished. But the blessings received from tithing, it's not always financial. I want you to think about this cuz I know we hear this this uh Oh. This this get rich this this doctrine is being pushed by television evangelists. You give $10 and you're going to get $100 in the mail. It's prosperity message. The more you give, the more you get as if Huh. As if God's just up in heaven writing checks and putting people's mailboxes. But there's more valuable blessings than money. We can be blessed with a new friend. Been feeling a little lonely, and all of a sudden God puts somebody in your life that you say, "Oh my goodness, I couldn't have made it without them." What about wisdom? Joy. These are all blessings from God. Peace, happiness, better physical health. Come on, we can't look at Don't just look at what car you're driving, what kind of house you're living in, what kind of shoes you're wearing, what what kind of suit you're wearing. Look Look beyond material things and realize that God gives all kinds of blessings. When the windows of heaven open up, it's not just about getting financial blessings and and and and getting rich overnight. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. But what about a feeling of renewed purpose in life or or maybe even going to bed at night and feeling rested when you wake up in the morning? Come on, those are all blessings. I I'M TALKING WHAT ABOUT BEING CONTENT? Feeling content about your life, feeling content ABOUT YOUR MINISTRY. MAYBE GOD GIVES COURAGE OR GOD HEALS RELATIONSHIPS. Blessings are not always going to be financial. Listen, I'll take a good marriage over riches any day. I I'll I'll take THREE DAUGHTERS LIVING FOR GOD and loving God and honoring God over riches any day. Listen, I'll take health and sanity in my body and my mind over riches ANY DAY. WE GOT to look beyond the idea of getting monetary blessing. Because I look around at a church full of people. God's blessed us in so many ways. I've I've heard your testimonies. I've heard what you've come out of. God's delivered you from. I I know your your testimonies of healing. Should have been dead and gone. And you might want to look back and think to yourself, "You know what? I've been faithful in my tithes, my offerings. And thank God he's brought me through this way and this long, and he's going to keep on bringing me through." God, help us to respect and understand that there's riches that go far beyond just monetary riches. But here's what I want to do in my closing, I want to challenge somebody here tonight. Maybe you've not exactly been a good steward of God's treasure. But let me tell you something, there's more to Christianity and calling ourselves a Christian than just hearing and understanding and even believing the word of God. We got to have We got to have faith in it. And not only have faith in it, we've got to obey it. And then that's where this this comes in because a lot of people understand tithing. They agree with it. They see it in scripture. But they just lack the stewardship skills of stewarding it. But I challenge you. Listen, try this. Try bringing God's tithe into the storehouse for a full month and see what God does for you. And now I know I know I might just be talking to just a few here tonight. Listen, I know just by I watched my parents every January stand out in this lobby with boxes stuffed with envelopes of the giving statements from this church. So, I know this church is filled with awesome givers. There's no doubt about it. So, I know this may not be for everybody, but if there's just one person in this place tonight who would take my challenge and say, "You know what? Man, I've been meaning to start tithing. I I've been meaning to start bringing God what is his. And it just it just it just left my mind. I forgot about it. I I it just it just something I haven't heard preached on yet or haven't heard taught on yet. I just I haven't done it yet." Let me Let me tell you something. I believe that God is going to give you notable blessings. I'm talking about blessings that you can you can see for yourself. Just Just give God 1 month. And if you don't feel blessed, if you don't feel like God is doing something in your life. Now, again, I'm not promising a new house. I'm not promising a new car. I'm not saying if you tithe for a month, all of a sudden all your bills will be paid when you call on Jesus' name. I know that's a line to a song. And I wish it was that easy. But just see what happens. See what happens in your life if if there's a not notable miracles and blessings that take place in your life. And I believe Malachi, I read it earlier, 3:10, "Bring ye all the tithes in the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house." And God said, "Prove me now herewith." He said, "I want you I dare you to prove me." Sayeth the Lord of hosts, "If I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out" It does not say money. It does not say that a money tree is going to sprout up in your backyard. It doesn't say there's going to be a check in your mailbox. It says, "If I'm not pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." You say, "Well, if it's talking about receiving, then then it's obviously talking about money." No, that's not what it means. You might be so blessed, you don't know what to do with yourself. Man, I don't know about you, but I I want I want blessings to flow through my hands where I say, "God, you've been so good to me. I I hope Pastor Carpenter gets up here next week and tells me about another missionary that needs something." I I hope Pastor Erickson gets up and starts talking about the training center and starts talking ABOUT THAT THAT WE NEED sheetrock for the training center or we need some new windows or new doors in the training CENTER BECAUSE GOD'S BEEN SO GOOD to me. I don't even know what to do with all this. Is that how you want ME BLESSED? THAT'S HOW I WANT TO BE BLESSED. THE BIBLE SPEAKS SPECIFICALLY it's more blessed to give than to receive. And I know the immature mind would say, "Well, that doesn't make sense." My God, I want to receive. But what that's what that's talking about there's two types of people. There's a type of person that's so blessed they're always looking to give. And there's also a person that's cursed that all they can do is say, "I hope somebody will give to me." I don't know about you, I'd much rather be a giver than a receiver. I don't want to have to pinch pennies to to make ends meet. Listen, I remember living on ramen noodles. I don't want to go back to that. So I say, "God, if I can steward the 100% and realize, God, you own it. I'm just stewarding what is already yours. If I can If I can understand, oh God, my family, we're just stewards, oh God, of what you've given us every bit of time, talent, treasure, testimony. What is All we are is we're just stewards. And again, I I wish I could move in cuz once you understand and once you get the concept of tithing, tithing tithing opens up the windows of heaven. But then it's offerings that determine what kind of blessing you'll receive. Oh, yes, it is. I could I could begin to read if I had time I could read scripture that talks about man if if you're stingy with your giving, God's going to be stingy with his blessing. Oh, yes, he will. If you want If you really want to receive, you better you better you better be pressed down, shaken together, and running over. If you truly want to receive, you better be willing to give in that manner. But once we get into tithing, we're talking about giving and and giving offerings and and thank God for our missionaries and thank God we can bless our missionaries and oh, I'm so thankful for the missionaries that attend church here. I'm so thankful Sunday night we're going to have a missionary in the house and and you're going to hear about the Watts and everything they're doing in Africa and the amazing revival going on. Thank God that we have a missions program to give to because it's more than just bringing God the tenth, but it's saying, "God, with the 90 that I have left over, I'm going to look for ways to give." And then and then alms and I'm done. I'm done right here. But giving in alms I'm going to come back to this. I'm going to hit these I'm very soon I'm going to pick this back up again. But alms goes further than just giving offerings. Alms now is talking about giving to people that are in need. To the widows, to the orphans. To those that that that should have but maybe life has caused them where they just don't have anymore. And it's us seeing and us opening our eyes to the needs of of those around us and those in the community and thank God for a church that cares about the community. When we go to Second Harvest, when we go to soup kitchens, when when we when we give up our time and we give up our talent and our treasure to add value to our community, that makes the name of Jesus look beautiful to our community. That makes the Oneness Apostolic believer look beautiful to our community. Get involved in giving in alms. Now Now, let me say you this because a lot of times people people want to throw off on on on the local church today and say, "Well, the I had a need and the local church didn't give or I I I had a need and nobody cared about me." Now, let let me tell you something. Let me let me just explain something to you. There is what is called taxation to the American people. And we are giving in taxes that is paying to help support those that are in need. Do we understand that? Do Do we understand that our paycheck each week we have taxes coming out that is that's help for government housing and it's help for food stamps and and for helping those that have legitimate needs and thank God we can be a part of that. So we are all I don't I don't want to say for a minute that I'm expecting all of you to go out and start handing out $20 bills. You're already handing out $20 bills, you know what I'm saying? However, God give us this ministry inside of us. Now, we have to do that. Again, we're going to end up in jail if we don't do that. Right? It's not our choice. We're going to give. Now, you understand that back in Bible times there was no taxation that helped the poor. If the people of God if the Christian if the church didn't do it, the widow starved, the orphan starved. However, thank God we have programs all over our city that we support and we help both through taxes and this church supports these programs. So so don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about that that we ought to give more, but there ought to be where we're looking around trying to help, trying to find. Pastor called me today and he said he said we we have the the sweetest woman a widow woman called me a elderly woman called me and said she wants to attend our church so bad, but she's trying she's found an apartment that's closer closer to church than where she currently lives. She said, "But but I'm so I'm so weak, Pastor." She said, "Would there be anybody from the church that could I've got a one-bedroom apartment that could help me move from from where I'm at to the to the apartment that I need to need to move into?" Pastor Carpenter, he he could have said, "Sister, I'm sorry, but we are not a moving company. But I can give you a phone number to a moving company." He could have said that. But he said, "No." He said, "I guarantee we have people from the church that are willing to give their time and maybe some of their treasure and definitely some of their talent to come help you move from your apartment." That That's the giving of alms. When you realize there's a need and you say, "I want to do everything that I can to empower others, to add value to others." Stand to your feet. I've gone too long. Stand to your feet. I just want to pray over you and I want to believe that God is opening hearts and opening minds to stewardship tonight. Come on, let's pray together. Father, I love you and I'm so grateful, Lord God, for the great people that stand before me. I I've already thanked you for them, Lord, in prayer today, Lord God. I began to question you, Lord. I said, "God, these people don't need to be preached to about tithing." But Lord, you kept on instilling in my heart. And Lord God, I'm thankful, Lord God, for every person that brings what is yours into the storehouse. But to the one person or the two people OR OR THE FIVE PEOPLE IN THIS house tonight, Lord God, that maybe we haven't stewarded what is yours the way you would want us to steward it. God, I just believe that you have a special blessing in store for them if they will line up to your word. understand, Lord God, that they're bringing the tithe to you, Lord, not to a person, not to a a ministry or a church, but God, they're bringing their tithe to you, to our high priest, oh God, that you can then in turn help to save souls through their finances. Lord, I'm just going to believe, Lord, that you're GOING TO CAUSE SOMEBODY TO WANT TO TAKE MY challenge that I've challenged. Lord, that for 1 month they're going to say, "God, I'm going to trust in you enough that you're going to take care of the 90% if I bring you your 10%." You're going to allow the 90% to go far enough to cover my bills, oh God. You're going to cause that 90% enough to cover the things and my needs. AND LORD GOD, I BELIEVE, LORD GOD, THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN are going to open up and people are going to get new jobs, oh God, and they're going to get pay raises and AND THEIR FAMILIES, OH GOD, ARE GOING TO BE reconciled back together again. There's going to be peace within families in Jesus' name. There's going to be hope, OH GOD. I BELIEVE THERE'S GOING TO BE MINISTRIES and callings are going to be fulfilled because people are going to begin to steward what is yours and you're going to bless them, oh God, in Jesus' name. Touch every heart, touch every mind as we leave this place. Lord, I pray that everything I said came across in the right way. I believe my motive was pure, Lord. I just want to see your people blessed. I WANT TO SEE YOUR PEOPLE succeed and I want to see you be pleased WITH YOUR PEOPLE. HELP US TO BE pleasing to you in Jesus' name we pray. Come on, every hand lifted. Let's lift up our voices and let's bless him because he's such a good God. Lord, I thank you for the 90% that you give me week after week. I thank you for the blessings, OH GOD, THAT YOU PUT UPON MY FAMILY. I THANK YOU FOR HEALTH, OH GOD. I THANK YOU FOR a sound mind and oh God, I just believe you're a good God. You're a great God and you want to see your people succeed in your kingdom. Let it be done in Jesus' name we pray. Clap your hands and love him in this house. Oh, we love you, Lord, because you're wonderful. Oh, because you're so good. And in Jesus' name we pray. Everyone say amen. Amen. You're dismissed. Make sure you're here Friday night. You do not want to miss spring program. God bless you in Jesus' name.