Breaking The Spirit Of Mammon

So, we're going to end this series with one that I think is very important, and if you're not here with us today, and you're just tuning in on a couch, or later on, or you're at home right now, you probably need to save this one. This is a message for Christians, not for people who aren't followers of Christ today. So, if you're a Christian, you're off the hook, okay? But this might do some good for you. And this is a message that it can make people angry, or it can make people happy.

It can make people frustrated with me. Or, and just remember this, if you're frustrated with me, you're frustrated with God, because I'm speaking for God, okay? And maybe there's some personal conviction taking place. And the message is on financial giving, generosity today. We're going to talk about generosity.

I don't speak on this a lot during the year. I usually do it about two times a year. And this is one of those times I just felt God place on my heart to speak today. And I think this is a very, very significant, important message. A lot of people don't understand this part, especially if you're a new Christian, or if you're not a believer.

And even Christians don't understand these principles. And so, today I want to talk about breaking the spirit of mammon. Mammon. Hold on to that word, mammon. Mammon is mentioned four times in the entire Bible, and they're all by Jesus.

Jesus talks about mammon in the New Testament, and Luke, and Matthew. And if you're with me today, if you want to turn to your Bibles or go to the Bible app and pull up our events, and you can find all of our scripture there in the Bible app. You just go to Bible events, find Salt Church, click on that. That'll pull up the notes. Or if you're just a hand note taker and want to have your Bible, pull that open and turn with me to Luke 16, beginning with verse 9.

And follow along with me here. And it says, And I say to you, my friends, this is Jesus speaking, for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, that is, when you die, they may receive you into an everlasting home. He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also. In much. And he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Verse 11, therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, there's that word mammon there. If you're following another version, you'll see money there, or you'll see riches there. But in the King James and New King James, you'll see mammon. Who will commit to your trust that the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?

No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve, you cannot serve God and mammon. Now, it's no mistaking that Jesus is talking about stewardship here. This is a stewardship. Before he even goes into the scripture, just to give you some context, he's talking about a steward who's managing money, and how to do it wrongly, and how to do it rightly.

And then he flows right into this, and he says, Hey, listen, my friends, listen, my brothers and sisters, I've got something to share with you here. And he begins this talk on mammon. So, we do have a confused financial system in the world. The world's financial system is very confused. Just look at our government for a second, and you know that the financial system is skirted a bit.

It's something about it. It's just confused. We make $50,000 a year, perhaps. We spend $80,000, and we borrow $200,000, okay? And that's usually how we operate as individuals.

So, finances were important to Jesus. So, the question is, what is mammon? What is mammon? Mammon is an Aramaic word for riches, but it means so much more than just riches. In fact, if you dig a little deeper, you'll learn that there is a Syrian name of a god, a god of riches.

So, he's talking about the influence of some type of spirit, although in that particular passage, there might not have been a god of mammon in that particular time. When people heard him say mammon, they understood. A God Of Riches. In fact, even some commentators date it all the way back to the Babylonians. If you remember back in Genesis, in chapter 11 of Genesis, we learn about the Tower of Babel.

Babel. What does that mean to you, Babel? It's confusion. Babbling on. Babel on, right?

Babel on. They were babbling. When the men and women of that day, they were trying to build a tower to God and usurp God's power. They thought they had authority over God, and they were arrogant. And it was the idea that man didn't need God.

And what happened? It was sown in confusion. The word Babel means sown in confusion. And Mammon is the spirit of this world. Mammon is the spirit of this world.

It's a spirit that rests on money, not submitted to God. That's what Jesus, he's going deeper than just talking about money, talking about riches. He's talking about a spirit of a spirit that is a spirit that is over money. God blesses money that has been submitted to him and doesn't try to replace God. That's what Jesus is getting at here.

Mammon is a spirit that rests on money, not submitted to God. And God's spirit rests on money. Now, a spirit in general rests on money. There's always a spirit on money. It's either a God spirit, the spirit of God that's on your money, or it's the spirit of of the world that's on the world that's on your money.

And God said, you can't serve both God and Mammon. Jesus was getting really serious about this. You will be loyal to one, and you will despise the other. This is why people get mad at God, you know, about their money. It's because there's a spirit that's over their finances, over their money.

It's my money. It's what I earned. It's what I did. It's putting themselves over God. And even some would relate it to the spirit of the Antichrist.

Go to the book of Revelation, and we're not going to get into an eschatology talk today about end times. But in the end, what does it say? Those who wear the mark of the beast will be allowed to buy and sell. If you don't wear the mark of the beast, you are not allowed to buy and sell. So there is a financial stronghold over that situation.

There's a financial stronghold. There's a spirit. The Spirit of Mammon that we are dealing with in this world. With that being said, the question is, is money evil? Is money evil?

No, money isn't evil. Nothing's wrong with having money. It's about the Spirit that's on the money that you have. In fact, it's the love of money that's the root of all evil. Not money that's the root of all evil.

We like to use that. Money is the root of all evil. No, no. Under God's submission, it's a great thing. It's a good thing.

It's what makes things happen in our world. It's what changes lives in the local church. But under another spirit, the Spirit of Mammon, it can be used for evil. And Jesus talked more about money than he talked about hell. Why?

Because Jesus was concerned about money? No, Jesus wasn't concerned about money. You're concerned about money. That's why Jesus had to talk about money so much because he realized that that was one of the major strongholds that that would be in the Christian life even as the church grew and developed. And over and over again, Paul had to talk about money and Timothy and the rest of the church because it was such a stronghold.

And again, there is a Spirit over all money. And it's either the Spirit of God or it's the Spirit of Mammon. Here's what Mammon does. Mammon lies. In fact, Mammon speaks.

Let's just say that. Mammon speaks to us. Because if I were to say right now, we're going to take up a special offering, some whispering would be going on in your head, right? Mmm, offering. Where is this going?

What's going on with it? You know, like, because that's what Mammon does. Mammon lies to us. So I'm going to give you a few things that Mammon says. First of all, Mammon lies and says, if I have money, I have fulfillment.

If I have money, I'm fulfilled. If I have money, I'm I could conquer the world. It brings me happiness. My life would be better. My marriage would be better.

I would just live a better life. Or it brings security. If I have enough money, I have security. And not all the money in the world can make someone completely secure, right? I mean, if you have a terminal illness, you can hire the greatest, you can hire the greatest researchers in the world.

And not all the money in the world would make you secure. It brings me identity. People think that money, that's what Mammon says, it brings me identity. If I have the right clothes, if I have the right car, if I, if I gain more. I'll be popular and mammon will fulfill me with identity.

Or it brings hope. Or it brings peace. And these lies are spoken to us. And mammon is a spirit. It talks.

But money promises what only God can give. Mammon promises. Money promises only what God can give. God's the only one that can give happiness. God's the only one that can bring security in your life.

God's the only one that can bring hope in your life. That's why Paul told Timothy to share with the church. Command those who are rich in this present world to not be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth. Which is uncertain, but to put their hope in God. Well, some of you are like, well, you know, I'm not rich, you know.

So, you know, he's talking about rich people. Okay. Let me just put this in perspective for a second. You may not think that you are rich, but did you know that if you are a joint income earner of $33,000K or higher, you are in the top 1% of income earners in the world? Did you know that?

We are rich people. We are blessed to live in a place where we find out even the poorest people in our country. Thank God that we were born in this nation where we can actually live healthy lives, even if we don't have a lot. Because we are wealthy and we are rich. And he says, don't put your hope in wealth, which is so uncertain.

It is. It can be there today and gone tomorrow. Don't put your hope in mammon. But to put your hope in God. People who serve money have a full garage, but an empty heart.

People who serve money. You need to write that down. Put that in the comment section online, church. People who serve money have a full garage, but an empty heart. People have empty hearts.

I've seen them. I have very wealthy friends that know the Lord and don't know the Lord. And I can tell you the ones that don't know the Lord, that aren't serving Him and aren't giving to Him. And those even who know the Lord, who aren't serving Him and aren't giving to Him, there's an emptiness in their eyes. There's an emptiness in their heart.

There's something they're missing. They say, I've got everything, but I don't have the one thing that brings fulfillment. I don't know the Lord. I don't know the Lord. I don't know the Lord.

I don't know the Lord. I don't know the Lord. I don't know the Lord. Because they have full garages, they have full houses, they have everything they ever wanted, but they have emptiness in their heart. Number two, Mammon says, I never have enough.

What is the line for enough, anyway? Like, what does it mean to have enough? Because it seems like the more we have, the more we need, right? We never have enough. I don't have enough.

Some of you are like, I don't even have enough to give right now. If you don't have enough to give right now, if you don't have enough to be generous with, then you'll never have enough. Because you'll always be aiming for enough. So whoever loves money never has enough, according to Ecclesiastes, the wealthiest man in the Bible. Solomon says this, and he knew money.

He knew money well. He knew what money did. He says, whoever loves money never has enough, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. He never satisfied with their income. So what I'll say, you said, I can't afford to tithe.

I can't afford to give. I can't afford to... I'll say you can't afford not to. You can't afford not to. Because if you have that pattern, you'll never have enough.

You'll never have enough in your life. In fact, it goes on to say, God can't trust you with more if you can't handle what you have now. And I'll talk about that in just a second. Because here's the philosophy. Here's the philosophy.

If we cheat and steal with a little, God will not give us more to cheat and steal with, right? And that's what he talks about in the Scripture. That's the precursor to this particular passage. So how can God expect you to do well with what he gives you if he requires you to give? See, Jesus never said the answer to anyone's problems was money.

He never said, oh, if you have more money, if I have more money, you would do better. That's a lie. And people say, well, if I had more money, and I've heard this over, if I had more money, I'd help more people. Or if I had more money, I'd help people. If I had money, I would help.

But I don't have the money. If you are not helping people now with what you have, then he's not going to grant you more to help more people. Money has a spirit on it, the spirit of mammon. And if we believe that most of our problems could be solved, if we have... The Spirit of Mammon has influenced us.

Three, Mammon says, I can do better with my money than God. Okay? That's what Mammon says. You can do better with your money. When God puts something, a principle in place, or puts a law in place, or puts some kind of overarching idea in place, philosophy in place, whatever you want to call it, whatever tag you want to put on it.

When God gives us something, what do we often do? I know better. And we know where that goes, right? In fact, if I take you to Malachi, and I've always been quiet on this, because I don't believe in those preachers that use the robbing God thing to try to get people to give money, but I'm going to be straight up with you by giving you this scripture. And honestly, I wanted to build your trust.

So, over the last few years, for many of you, I've been building trust with you. And we talk about money. We give messages about money, but we're always careful how we want to handle it, because I realize that you're just, and some of you new here are just learning me and learning the church. But we have to teach the whole counsel of God. And in Malachi 3, beginning with verse 6, he talks about giving and tithing.

And he says, I the Lord do not change. There you go. I the Lord do not change. Okay? So, did he change from the New Testament to the Old Testament?

I'll get that to there in a minute, because I know some of you are asking, is that an Old Testament principle? But let me just say this. I the Lord do not change. Does God change? Does God change?

Has he ever changed? No, of course not. He is the same. And here's what he says. So, you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed, because he's worried about the people.

It's not necessarily about there being a big bank account. It's about what's going on in the people's lives. He says, ever since the time of your ancestors, you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty. But you ask, how are we to return?

He's asking them to return. They don't even know how to return. They don't even know what they're doing wrong. And what does he say? Will a mere mortal rob God?

Yet, you rob me. But you ask, how are we robbing you? And he straight up says, tithes and offerings. Tithes and offerings. Tithes is 10%, and offerings is anything over that.

Tithes are given to you long enough. Tithes, and offerings. Tithes, has been shortly returned. Memories. Tithes.

Tithes! Tithes, tesith, sites, top of this. You are robbing me. And I don't want you to see this as a preachy point. I think this is God just in his tender heart saying, you're robbing me.

You're not giving me trust. You're not putting your faith in me. You're robbing me of this. I can just hear God's heart right now just bleeding. You're robbing me.

He says this, he says, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. You may have food in your house, basically. So bring it to the local church. Bring it into the midst. Bring it in.

Bring the tithe in. And then he says, test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I do not throw open the floodgates of heaven. This is the one place he actually says to test him on. Everything else he says, do not test the Lord. Do not test the Lord all through scripture.

Do not test the Lord at this. Do not test the Lord at that, right? But this right here, he says, I'm telling you, test me at this. And see that I don't throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so many blessings on you that there will not be room enough for you to store it. That's how powerful this principle is.

And I will prevent, and this is what he says, and I will prevent pests from devouring your crops because many of your crops are devouring right now. I will, and the vines of your field will not drop their fruit before it is ripe, okay? Fruit's going to come from this. And then all the nations will call you blessed. And yours will be a delightful land, says the Lord Almighty.

With his heart, just bleeding for the people, test me at this, test me at this. And he says, bring, and going back, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. He says, bring it into the storehouse. And I think that's significant, too, because he asked us to bring it into, that's basically a local church principle. Bring your tithe.

What we believe as a church is that the first 10% comes into the storehouse, and the rest go to wherever. Here's why we believe that, because some of you are like, well, I tithe to this cause, or I tithe to that cause. And I'm not going to question that, and I don't look up financial reports. Honestly, I don't know who gives in here. I see big reports, and I see our giving every month, and whether it's down or whether it's up.

And I'm not focused on the individual. I'm focused on the percentage of the church giving. And see what's going on. And so I don't know what's going on, but I will say as a philosophy in our church and as a principle in our church, we believe we follow the scripture that the first 10% comes into the storehouse. Here's why.

And our professor kind of shared this with me in the School of Divinity when I was working on my master's degree. And somebody asked, well, you know, third day has this cause going on and I tied the third day and I do this the third day. And she kind of stopped for a minute and she said, so is third day going to come to the hospital when you're sick? Is third day going to go and feed you when you're down and out or you lost your job or whatever's happened? Is third day going to minister to you?

Are they going to show up at your house? And they're like, no, of course not. The church is. The church is. And we bring into the storehouse so it's abundant so that everybody's blessed.

And if everybody tithes, right now I think we're at about 20% of our people tithe in our church. We have 20% tithers and that's a big number, guys. Somebody say, what? That's actually a big number and I'm like proud of that. One of the highest tithing church in the nation is 60%.

Nobody tithes 100% because people simply do not trust God. Imagine if Salt Church was 100% tithers. What we could do in our community. What we could do in our world. What we could do.

It's just amazing what would happen. And just on 20% of giving, we've been able to do a lot. And I'm proud of that 20% giving because I know I have a generous church, but I want to see 100% giving. And my goal is 100% giving. I may not ever arrive there, but my vision is to see a church so generous and so healthy and so well.

I mean, we can just pour out into our city, our community, our world. We can send missionaries out. We can train pastors. We can build churches. We can plant more churches.

Our church would grow. It would be amazing if we do it together and nobody would be hurting. So how do we break the spirit of mammon? It really does start with the 10%. It does start with tithing.

It will break the spirit of mammon. It's the training wheels of giving, guys. It's the training wheels of giving. It really starts our giving. Just 10% of the 100%.

And the 90% is yours. That's the start. And I believe this will really change things, guys. If you start operating and doing this, it will begin to change things. Now, let me just make two arguments here that people make.

Well, Is it tithing an Old Testament law that has been relegated? It was a law, but it's also a principle. And here's why I will tell you you're wrong if you use the Old Testament law as an argument for not tithing. Because I know some of you do it. I've heard it even in divinity school circles and things like that.

One went back and forth on this because it predates to law. Cain and Abel tithed. There was no law written. Abraham tithed, the Melchizedek. There was no law written.

And it also is confirmed by Jesus himself in the New Testament. He confirms that tithing is a good thing with the Pharisees, although he was focused on the heart of the Pharisees and why they weren't tithing. In fact, he saw the lady with the widow's mite and he says she's given more than all of you because she's given everything. She's given her heart and given more. And he says it's out of the abundance of your heart.

If you understood that principle for one second, Jesus was very serious about this. He said you wouldn't just give your 10%, which is good. You would give all of you. You would give 20, 30. You would give everything you have because it's mine anyway.

See, you're missing. Don't warp God's scripture when you read those things. Don't use arguments and pretenses that you've put in place to argue yourself out of giving because that's the spirit of mammon. That's what mammon does, guys. And I know this is a hard message because people don't like me to talk about their money.

And people don't like God to talk about their money. But God talks about our money all through the Bible. And we need to understand that money is a very serious thing. And if you want to be blessed, if you want to be financially blessed, if you want to be blessed in many ways, you're blessed. Now, on the other hand, I want us to argue against this false teaching called the prosperity gospel.

This give to get. Some people believe if I give, I get back. And they give and they manipulate people to give to get. We are not a prosperity church. We do not believe in the prosperity gospel.

We don't believe in give to get. We believe in get to give. We get to give. Nor do we believe in the poverty gospel. Okay?

That everybody is to be poor and out. And the right gospel for us is the provision gospel. We believe in the provision gospel that God will provide if we honor his principles. Amen? That he honor the creed that he put out.

Out from the beginning of time, even that predates the law. So we believe that. And we hold on to that, the provision gospel. And here's another statement. You can write this down, you can underline this.

Prosperity and poverty will bring out the real you. If you have too much, or abundant, let's just say you have an abundance, not too much, but abundance of, and what you do with that money talks about the real you. And when you have nothing, it exposes the real you. What are you still willing to do when you have nothing? We believe in the provision gospel.

So why do we tithe? Real quick, tithing says we trust God. Tithing says we do trust God. I trust you, God. I surrender my money to you.

Whoever can be trusted with very little can be also trusted with much. And whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? See, there's a bondage when there's a lack of trust and insecurity in how we handle our money. That's what Mammon does.

It locks you down. And he's saying, if you can't trust me, and if you're saying you can't trust me, how can I trust you? I mean, that's a serious statement by God. If you can't trust me, I can't trust. He even says, test me.

Just test me at this. Put it in. And that's when he says, bring the whole tithe. That's why I say you can't afford not to tithe, God, because there is a curse. And he says this breaks the curse.

And I've always, as a young person, been taught this 10% giving principle, and I've stood by it. Miranda and I even tithe more than 10%. I mean, we go above and beyond what we're tithing and giving and offering. And we help missionaries, and we do a lot of things. But we always give our first fruits to the church.

And I'm telling you, we have never been without, even when it seemed like we were without, even when the bank account was low, even when we thought there was nothing there. Somehow, God provided. I can't even tell you the miracle from the beginning when we started Salt Church. And all we had, we didn't, either one, both of us lost our jobs at the same time when we started the church. I left a job, and she ended up, something happened in her company, and they dissolved everybody.

And we were like, we're starting a church, and we don't even have jobs. And we have children. And somehow, God came through, and even in that particular period of time, we still tithe. We still gave. We still believed.

We still trusted. And we need to trust God. The second thing is tithing recognizes God's ownership. And that's why it says in verse 12, and if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? And I like how he uses property in this particular NIV version because it shows ownership.

How will God entrust you with anything else if you can't even handle what he's given you because it's all God's? It shows his ownership. Think about it this way. Now, say some wealthy person in the area says, you know what? I've got a Mercedes G-Class off-road vehicle, $150,000, $60,000 vehicle.

And I've got it sitting here. It's paid for. Insurance is taken care of. Leon, why don't you just take it? You just use it.

And it's yours. I'll take care of the rest. It's yours. You just have it. But all I require is the hubcap.

All I want is the hubcap. You want the hubcap? Sure, I'm going to give them the hubcap, right? I mean, I could probably go and find another hubcap or whatever it is. It's a very expensive vehicle.

It probably doesn't have hubcaps on it. But you understand the principle here is that this is how we are with our money. I'm just telling you, give me that. That's all I care about. You can have the rest.

It's that principle. And he says, bring it. He doesn't say, give it. Bring it in because it's already his. He's blessed you.

So bring it in to the house so that we can take care of the ministry. So we can take care of the people. So we can take care of Israel in ways that God ordained. And we can bless the world in ways. And we will see the promises of God flow through our life.

The third thing is tithing shows loyalty to God. It shows loyalty to God. No one can serve two masters. I don't have to say this again. My friends, it says either you will hate one and be devoted to one or despise the other.

It's basically what it says. You'll hate one and put all your effort in the other, right? You can't serve two spirits. You can't serve two gods. And Jesus was very clear on that distinction.

And then the fourth thing is tithing shares the heart of God. This is my last point. The tithing, and I'm going to really lean into this one. This is my last point. You can't take care of yourself in a living house.

Okay. As we close here in a second, tithing shares the heart of God, and that's when I get back to this scripture, and a lot of this doesn't make sense unless you understand it. It says, and I say to you, make friends for yourself by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting kingdom. Well, when they fail, what are you talking about? When you die, when you go to heaven, when you're there with people who have received Jesus, who are with Jesus, who have given their lives to Jesus on this earth, and they come up to you, and they say to you, and they look at you and say, because you gave, because you had the financial resources, because you had the ability to make a difference in my community, because you were there, I found Jesus, and I am here today because of what you did.

I am here today because you made a contribution. I am here today because you gave money. I am here today because you tithed to that church and that community, and they were able to do something, and I was able to find Christ through that ministry, or they poured out into my life, and I was able to do something in that ministry. You know what true riches are? You know what true riches are?

They're people. People are true riches. We put our money in riches that don't get us anywhere, but true riches are people. So why do we give? We give to save souls because we care about the heart of God.

We give money so that people can find hope in Jesus, and Satan knows that the more money we give as a church, the more people that will be saved. So mammon's going to try to talk you out of it. Mammon's going to try to speak to you and say, this doesn't make a lot of sense. Mammon's going to try to do that. But I love how Robert Morris puts it, and some of this stuff comes from his teachings, and I love his book, The Blessed Life.

In fact, coming up in November, I'm going to play one of his videos about tithing, and he's just a very anointed guy in that area. But he makes a statement all the time. Heaven is populated, and hell is plundered by your giving. Heaven is populated and hell is plundered by your giving. Your giving makes a difference.

You're not just somebody who's giving to nothing. You're not just a simple giver or whatever. You know, your little bit makes a big impression. That's true riches. That's God's heart.

God is all about people. John 3.16, For God so loved the world that He gave His Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. You know what He did? He gave His first.

His first. Jesus. And we have a hard time giving our first. I have a hard time. You have a hard time.

We have a hard time with the spirit of mammon, with the spirit of money. And some of you today, some of you in this room are alive today. Some of you have come to life today. Some of you have changed lives today because of a giver. Because of somebody who gave.

Not everything, but something. 10% which meant to God everything. And you gave the first. They gave the first. And you know as well as I, you would not be here today.

You would not have a church home. You would have not found Christ unless somebody gave. Somebody stood up and gave. Somebody dedicated. Somebody believed in what God had to say about it.

They were blessed. And in the process, you were blessed. And this community is blessed. And everyone is blessed. Because they tithe into the storehouse.

So let me just give you three things real quick. And we'll end if we bring the music up. So, three things real quick. Return first. Return to the first.

God said, return to me. And I'm not just talking about financial giving, guys. That's definitely what He was saying in that scripture. Return to me and tithe. Then I'm talking about in everything.

Return to first. You need to make it a commitment to be at church on Sunday. The first of the week. To fellowship and worship. And connect with Him.

That's the first principle. You need to give the first part of your day. You need to give the first book. You need to make it a commitment to be. You need to make it a commitment to be.

And I'll see you next time. To the Lord, to give Him, just say a prayer to Him. A few weeks ago, I talked about a system you can do that in, just to say, I love You, Lord, and I'm thinking of You, and I worship You, and I'm praying to You, and I'm reading Your Bible, and I'm giving the first. You need to give the first. And that's why we do, at the beginning of every year here in our church, we do 21 days of prayer and fasting because we believe in the first.

That's why we give messages like this, of giving the first 10%, because we believe in giving the first, because God desires the first. In Deuteronomy, he says, set aside a tenth of all your fields. And in 1 Corinthians 16, he says, lay aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, meaning that it's percentage giving, guys. As your income goes up, it's percentage giving. That's what we believe.

Like, if you never stop your amount of giving based on your income, then you're not giving what everybody else is giving. And this is a teaching by Paul. So we need to return to, and you know, God spoke to me this morning about this. And we do this every year, usually around, we do this usually in February. But I believe so much in giving, and I believe so much in God's blessings and the floodgates of heaven pouring out over your life, because I don't want this curse on you.

The reason I teach this is not so that we have a big bank account, okay? It's not that we have a big bank account, because we get rid of that bank account anyway. We're investing it. We don't hold on to it. We do things with that, okay?

We don't sit on, like, lots of money and just say, oh, yeah, that money's there. Look at us. We're rich. We don't do that. We don't do that.

We bless others. We bless our community. When you give, we're blessing others. You're getting ready to see that this coming up season. We're going to start giving out a lot of money.

We're going to start doing a lot of outreach events. You're going to have, we're going to have even prizes in this church and giving out outreach stuff here in this church to people who are guests that want to come in. We do all kinds of things in our church, outside our church. We bless families at Christmas that don't have money. I mean, we do all kinds of things in this church.

Hampton Roadshow wants us to come on next week and talk about all these outreach, because we did such a great job with our outreaches last year. The city wants to know about what Salt Church is doing. We do this, but the biggest reason I share this is for you. We do this, but the biggest reason I share this is for you. Because there's a curse on us.

There's a curse on society. There's a spirit called Mammon. And the way to break that is to give. So with that, we're going to have a commitment card next week available for you. And I believe so much in this, and I've never done it this time of the year, that if you tithe, if you fill out that and sign that card, I'm agreeing to tithe from now until the end of the year.

That'll be four months of tithing, okay, four months of tithing. It'll start in September, October, November, December. So you can start in September if you want. And if something doesn't happen in your life, if you don't notice the blessings, and I'm not just talking about financial blessings, I'm talking about blessings blessings. It's better than financial blessings.

We will give you all that money back. I'll cut you a check at the end of the year. Pastor, I'll have those available for you next week in a seat. If you want to fill that out, and I would have had it this week, but that was something that God laid on my heart this morning. Because I believe in it so much that I'm willing to give you back what you've given so that you can experience, so you can test it yourself.

So, you know, money back guarantee. It really is because I want this off your life. And then the second thing is steward the rest. Steward the rest. Make a budget.

Budge out the next 90%. Take 10% out. Budget 90%. 90% of people in the United States don't budget 90%. They don't budget at all, right?

They don't. They don't budget. That's why Proverbs says the plans of a diligent, the diligent leads to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. And then lastly, focus on true riches. We need to focus on people in heaven.

Eternal things, not temple things. You can't take it with you. God blesses us in this season of eternity so that we can bless others, that we can reach more people for Jesus. Everything we do, every dollar you give is sowing into the kingdom. It's sowing into the kingdom.

It's making it possible to reach more people for Jesus. It's making it possible to do more for others. It's making it possible for the kingdom of God to be present in this world and the church to be a force to be reckoned with and to the gates of hell. That the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, the greatest way we can do that is to be givers, to be generous, generous, generous people, to be generous people. Let's focus on true riches.

To bow your heads. Father, there's not a lot of amens and messages like this. There's not a lot of hallelujahs, I feel great, unless we understand what this truly means and how it really affects us. And the only way we can really know, Lord, is by giving us a heart to test it and see what happens. So, God, I pray that you would just really challenge our hearts today, all across this room, no matter what our income level, no matter where we are, no matter our financial difficulties.

If people even make $5,000 a year, that they would make that $500 happen for you, Lord, just to show their loyalty to you. If they make a million dollars, praise God for that, for Salt Church or whoever church, blessing that too. But I just pray that you would just really just challenge our hearts today, God, no matter where we are. That you would show us that heaven is available to us. The kingdom of God and things can expand and things can change and it changes our hearts.

But in another breath, Lord, God has given us a house. He's given us these bodies. We know that you just want our hearts. That's all you want is our heart. That of these bodies, the little 10% you want, which connects to all of us, is our heart.

So today, God, perhaps the spirit is moving across this room right now and touching some hearts in this place. Because they have not yet. They don't understand these principles. How are they going to be a educaciónlot? Go to mind?

They don't understand these laws. They don't understand these things that God has laid out. Perhaps, God, but you don't care about any of that right now. All you care about is that laws don't get us into heaven, rules don't get us into heaven, but our hearts connected to yours gets us into heaven. So if that's you today, if you would say a prayer with me, if you would commit your life to Jesus today, and I promise you that little decision that you make today would change your life forever.

So pray this with me, Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God, that you died on the cross for my sin, because I was so far from you. Even before I walked in today, I felt so far from you, but today I surrender my life to you. I bring myself close to you. I invite you in, Lord. Change me from the inside out and make me new.

In Jesus' name. Give him a shout of praise. We thank you, Jesus, for your word. We thank you, Jesus, for your message. We thank you, Jesus, that you make all things new and all things well, no matter what we are or where we're going in this life.

Amen.