Sermon
My Mode Just Changed: Need, Greed and Seed // Six Figures ( Pt 5 )// Pastor Michael Todd
Publisher transcript
Transcript
-
Welcome to Transformation Church Podcast, where we represent God to
-
the lost and found for transformation in Christ. We're so
-
glad you're here and wherever you're listening from, we believe
-
God will transform your life. Did today's message.
-
Today?
-
I have an assignment to help you understand. Really, my
-
favorite part about generosity giving sewing last week was the
-
one that everybody takes a big gop on when I
-
start talking about the tide, and I think last week
-
everybody got it. It was like, Yeah, God's gonna give
-
me a test. I'm gonna pass the test because I'm
-
prepared for the test. I already know every time I
-
get increased ten percent, it belongs to God.
-
So I'm not gonna hoard what is mine.
-
I had somebody I really love, just Is in her
-
sophomore year at college, came up to me after church
-
out the side of the car and he was like,
-
pass a by.
-
I was like what. She was like, I tied for the.
-
First time, and I mean her family was around, everybody
-
was hooping and hollering, and I just went up to
-
her and I was like, I am so proud of you,
-
and I just started just because at that age the
-
principle that got into her heart at this level is
-
gonna unleash this next level that I'm about to talk
-
about today.
-
See look at your neighbor and say, there's levels to this.
-
And a lot of us spend our time fighting with
-
the basement of blessing. Oh gosh, should I tie? Should
-
I give? Should I do this?
-
The church just want my money? Dah da dah. You
-
are on the basement floor.
-
Of what God wants to do in the area of
-
blessing your life. Today. I want to show you the
-
future as you surrender to God and give him what
-
you watch. This may not understand fully, but you will
-
get an understanding.
-
As you walk in it.
-
The whole journey of trusting God is a faith walk,
-
and most people want a planned to walk.
-
There's nowhere in the Bible.
-
That you find God saying do all of these steps
-
and then I'll I'll show you everything, and then it
-
will be fine because you know the outcome. He told
-
Abraham go to the land. I'm gonna show you. Hold on, wait,
-
I'm gonna make you to father many nations. I ain't
-
got no kids, Hey, go there, leave these people. It's
-
always like somebody's gotta take a step of faith. And
-
so today I want to give you when it comes
-
to your finance's generosity, giving being abundant. I want to
-
give you what I'm calling the best way to go
-
about walking into this level of life. And I'm gonna
-
start with scripture two Corinthians, chapter nine, verse six. TEWO Corinthians,
-
Chapter nine, verse six. It says, remember this, what are
-
we supposed to do?
-
Come on, help me preach. We're supposed to remember this.
-
Whoever sows or gives sparingly or a little, will also
-
reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will read generously.
-
Each of you should give. Each of you should.
-
Give what you have decided in your heart to give,
-
not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver,
-
and God is able to bless you abundantly, so that
-
in all things, at all times, having all that you need,
-
you will abound in every good work.
-
Somebody say, amen.
-
Now, most people who've been in church your whole life
-
have never heard that scripture.
-
Outside of offering time.
-
Nobody's actually gonna preach.
-
On this scripture.
-
So I am today so that you can get an
-
understanding so that you will never be played by not
-
knowing what the Word of God is talking about. So
-
we're gonna jump right in verse chapter six, Verse one.
-
Remember whoever so sparingly will reap sparingly? Could you underline
-
circle in your Bible the word whoever? Because I just
-
need to know. I need to ask you a question.
-
I need you to pick up the context clues. Who's
-
the Bible talking to in this scripture?
-
Whoever?
-
He literally says, whoever. How many people in this room
-
qualify as a whoever? If I said, whoever gets to
-
this stage first gets a thousand dollars, but no, I
-
did sit down.
-
What I'm saying is.
-
At the moment I said whoever, that would literally be
-
based on your ability to believe.
-
If I said all men, that would segregate.
-
Or if I said all short people depending on the height,
-
that would segregate other people. If I said, but the
-
Lord really wants everybody to get that, the principle he's
-
about to share is for.
-
Whoever.
-
So this is the point I want you to put down.
-
Whoever can sow whatever? Today I have to focus on
-
the thing that distracts many believers from giving because a
-
lot of people don't give because you said, there are
-
people who don't serve God and go against God, and
-
people who do debauchery and they live on the world,
-
And why are they so blessed because they picked up
-
the principle there are Whoever, the reason I'm telling you
-
this is because this principle.
-
Even if you are not connected to God.
-
Oh my gosh, the reason I have to tell you
-
this is because people have used the Bible to fear
-
you into serving God. And today I want to extract
-
all fear out of giving. God literally says about this
-
one principle on giving. I don't care who you are,
-
and I don't care what you do. If you put
-
this principle into play, it'll work in your life. And
-
the crazy thing is, people who don't believe in God
-
work a principle made for his children, and we still
-
appear fighting about the semantics of things, and we're not
-
walking in the abundant life that he put out.
-
Here for you.
-
But he said, whoever believed this, whoever walks in this,
-
whoever gets this, they get the promise. Look at your
-
neighborh and say you're a Whoever whoever gets this principle
-
gets the promise. So I want you to get this please.
-
Whoever includes Joe haters, whoever includes people who hurt you,
-
Whoever gets this principle includes the people that live like hell.
-
It does not matter somebody shot at me.
-
Whoever, so why not you?
-
If whoever can work this principle, why not you? So
-
the first thing God's telling us is, whoever sows like
-
this is gonna reap like this? What is the way
-
that they sold? If they sow a little, they're getting
-
a little. Bad newsflash, it works even if you do
-
it at the smallest level. Whoever so sparingly still gets
-
back sparingly, but they still.
-
Got something back.
-
And whoever sows generously or largely, they get back at
-
the same level. What I'm trying to tell you is
-
if sowing works, if seed works, why don't you do it?
-
And I can't be the one to qualify if you
-
do or not. But what I'm saying is a farmer
-
never has to prove he sold seed. A farmer never
-
has to convince you. All he has to do is
-
show you the harvest. There's so many believers like I
-
promise I sold it to you. I promise, I'll promise
-
I sold good things. I promise, oh God it And
-
it's like, where is your harvest? Where is the trees?
-
Where is the fruit? Where is where is it? And
-
the truth of the matter is many people have not
-
fully believed in the word of God and the Prince.
-
And so what I wanted to tell you is I
-
don't want God to make a principle for his kids
-
that his kids don't work. And then people who don't
-
even know our father work the principle and they're living
-
in the blessing.
-
That we should have.
-
Because whoever works this principle gets the promise of the principle. Okay,
-
So then it goes to verse seven. It says each
-
of you should could you just put.
-
It on the screen?
-
It said, each of you should give. Let's stop right there,
-
write this point down. Giving is a duh to God?
-
Did y'all hear what I just said? Given is a duh?
-
Yeah?
-
Y'all got it? Yours?
-
Like, what are you telling? Given is a duh? He's
-
watched this. He's assuming that you already know as a believer,
-
this is what we do. So he's telling you each
-
of you should give, oh what you've already decided to give?
-
Because he's not trying to convince you to do what
-
the normal practice is of people who do what we do.
-
That would be like a basketball player being like, do
-
we dribble.
-
Duh?
-
Do we shoot the ball?
-
Duh?
-
Do we play in pants?
-
Are shorts? Put your shorts on and come. The only
-
people would who would ask those type of questions are
-
people who were unfamiliar with the pattern of whatever we're
-
talking about. There are too many people that when God
-
tells us that we're supposed to give, we act shocked.
-
What me, God, you.
-
Know what I'm dealing with.
-
He's like, hold on, wait, wait.
-
Wait wait.
-
If you're a believer, you should already get it.
-
In your mind.
-
Give.
-
I'm not just talking about money, time, treasure, connections, energy, effort, encouragement.
-
What is your giving record this past week. I'm not
-
talking about to a church, a nonprofit or organization. I'm
-
just talking about your giving. What's your giving record this week.
-
The reason why I'm saying this is because the natural
-
watch this, the natural state of a believer should be
-
one of generosity. Me and my friend was talking before
-
service and the comment came out this, I need people
-
to stop saying they serve God, and they love God
-
and they'll do anything for God, and they never give.
-
You can You can't, You can't have. You have to
-
for God's love the world that he It's one of
-
his natural characteristics. And people, I'll do anything for God
-
except what He did for all of us. The reason
-
I'm saying this is it sounds elementary. Watch this, but
-
it's affecting people's eternity because people are here trying to
-
figure out why would God ask me to do this?
-
And I'm trying to tell you. When God tells you
-
to give, he tells you to give a certain way. Paw,
-
somebody break it down to me just a little more.
-
He said, verse seven, each of you should give. Watch
-
this what you have decided in your heart to give,
-
not reluctantly or under compulsion.
-
For God loves what type of giver? A cheerful giver.
-
This is why giving is supposed to be a duh.
-
Because in Matthew you can go read it chapter six.
-
I think it starts in verse two, but you gotta
-
read the whole thing.
-
It says.
-
Jesus is talking. He says, when you give, when you pray,
-
when you fast, these are three things. If the giving's
-
taking you off too much. I need to let you know.
-
God expects every one of his children to at some
-
point fast, pray, and give.
-
Not if you give, if you pray, or if you
-
fast when you do.
-
Okay, self, evaluate when's the last time you fasted, you prayed,
-
and you gave. There are not many things that God
-
is saying. This is a prerequisite for you walking in
-
the way that I have called you to walk.
-
And so I need you to understand.
-
Church, we have to get it into our minds that
-
my disposition is generosity. That's who I am.
-
I'm generous.
-
I don't have a lot to give right now, but
-
I'm what generous. I can give what I got. All
-
I have is all I need. I'm out here about
-
to bless somebody sucks off, and by sucks I mean
-
this five dollars, about to really turn somebody's day upside down. No,
-
I'm because generosity is not about an amount. Generosity is
-
about a heart posture. It's about hold on, what can
-
I do?
-
How can I do it? Where am I at?
-
What do I got in my closet? How many of
-
these pins do I have? How many of these sandals
-
do I have?
-
How much time could I give to somebody That.
-
Lady's yard that you've been complaining about needs to be
-
mowed for six weeks? Go mow it, somebody. I'm about
-
to call the people on him, you know, to call
-
the people on a person you've never even talked to yet.
-
The Bible tells us we're supposed to love our neighbor.
-
Take your dusty lawnmower.
-
Over to that.
-
Don't ask them.
-
There's never been in the history.
-
Ever that somebody that you just start more on their
-
line and they gonna cuss you out, never in the history.
-
Well, is there a line?
-
I don't want a trustpath? They will let you trust
-
paths to mow they lawn. Yeah, but watch it. But
-
if your heart is not set on giving, you won't
-
give your time to that, you won't give your sweat
-
to that, you won't give And God saying I need
-
you to be like me and watch this. I need
-
you to decide before it's time to give.
-
Uh.
-
Oh, this is where people get in trouble. Right here,
-
write this down. You can't be manipulated when your mind's
-
already made up. Me and my wife decided a long
-
time ago. I showed you y'all that gray book that
-
I talked about our finances being able to change as
-
we honored God and put out our budget and wrote
-
everything down and put our tithe there and all this
-
other stuff. God has continued to increase us in different ways.
-
But one of the things that me and my wife
-
had to learn is like our disposition on giving, because
-
we have now become so generous in our giving that
-
we got to check with each other because sometimes it
-
gets reckless.
-
And when I say reckless, I.
-
Mean it's reckless, Like it's like at the moment, she'll
-
look at somebody or see something or feel something in
-
her spirit and she was like, I think we're supposed
-
to do this for such and such.
-
And I was like, whoo, that's crazy.
-
Because God told me we're supposed to do this for
-
such and such. And she was like, whoa did he
-
tell us at the same time, we're supposed to do this.
-
And why I'm saying this is we've already decided, talked about,
-
prayed through, started to wade through, looked at our budget
-
before it's time. The reason why people get manipulated and
-
feel like people are trying to get something from them
-
is because they're unders and a double minded man is
-
unstable in all of his ways. But you can't be
-
decided on something you've never thought about, and most people
-
don't think about giving. So when it comes to your thing,
-
God's like, Hey, one of the things I need you
-
to pray for is what you're supposed to give, and
-
I need you to pray it before you're supposed to give,
-
because when you know what God said before, you're not swayed.
-
My question to you today, I got a lot of questions.
-
When's the last time you ask God? What am I
-
supposed to give.
-
Before?
-
Before offering before somebody has a need before. There are
-
things that I have planned for, things that I currently have,
-
like I currently have them.
-
Moh, you already noticed.
-
I've told the people close to me, and it's like, yeah,
-
when I'm done with this, I'm giving this a certain
-
soul done.
-
I've already planned it in.
-
I'm still using it right now and I'm taking good
-
care of it right now. But when I'm done with this,
-
I've already watched this scent. My seed, my seed is
-
like a missile. My seed has to be directed. My
-
seed is something that I place in places for a
-
future so even though I'm here right now, I'm sending
-
my seed somewhere. My question is, when's the last time
-
you prayed? God? Where am I supposed to send this seed?
-
When I'm done with these shoes? When am I supposed
-
to Well? Who's supposed to wear these? When I'm doing
-
with this house?
-
Who I'm I supposed to give it to.
-
God? When I'm done driving this car? Who am I
-
supposed to sol this into God? God?
-
What am I supposed to do with what You've placed
-
in my hand?
-
And listen to me.
-
I'm trying to give you the secrets.
-
If you don't pray about it before, you have two
-
responses to clinch up in fear or to give frivolously.
-
And I have to say this because there are people
-
who have given what they needed to keep because.
-
They were poor Stuarts.
-
I gotta say this because there's some churches you go
-
to and be like, give the light, deal the thing,
-
get the thing, and get the thing, and now that
-
person is destituo on the street, nowhere to go. And
-
they felt like they were doing it in faith, but
-
what they were doing it was an out of order.
-
There was no priority to what was happening.
-
Now. This is where you got to check your priorities.
-
Because some of the things that we're calling essential are
-
actually luxuries. So if God is calling you and asking
-
you to do something, you have to evaluate. God, what
-
are you asking me to do? What are you asking
-
me to cut off? What are you asking me to
-
give up for a season so that I can honor you.
-
The reason I'm saying this is because God will require
-
what you have, but he will never require what you don't.
-
Oh God. And there are people that think maybe this
-
is what God wants from me is just to be
-
broken white around the mouth and begging no. But He
-
does want you to figure out your budget, and he
-
does want you to know how much debt you have,
-
and he does want you to stop doing dashing when
-
you could get up.
-
And go pick up that top. Gobail. Oh, come on, y'all.
-
Okay, I see the resistance, gos I Mike, Why are
-
you saying this?
-
Because if you never think about what.
-
You're gonna give watch, it's hard to see it come
-
out in your hand if it hasn't started being thought
-
about in your head. Cause the progression is it goes
-
to my head. Maybe I can't give this, then it
-
drops to my heart. God, is this what you're asking
-
me to give? Then it comes out in my hand.
-
Here it is God. Most people want to start with
-
their hand. Well I got it, uh huh. And your
-
head is like, why did we do that?
-
We don't have.
-
Enough money to do that. Where in the world is
-
that coming from? And God says, He's not a god
-
that just wants you to do think about it. Think
-
about it and I'll show you and it'll drop to
-
your heart and then you will move by faith and
-
it'll come out in your hand. So this is where
-
I need everybody to understand. This scripture is giving us
-
the playbook. Don't give under manipulation. Do not give if
-
you feel like your arm is being twisted. Do you
-
You ain't never heard no pass to say this I'm
-
trying to do. Not give anything if you feel like
-
somebody's trying to lean on you emotionally, even your family. Oh,
-
you thought I was talking about the church, because the
-
problem is most of you are in financial ruin because
-
you're helping somebody that won't help themselves. Okay, He's giving
-
you principles that are supposed to help your whole life,
-
not just everybody want to use it when it comes
-
to the church, but you don't use it concerning babe.
-
You paying for this young man's stuff, or you paying
-
for this young lady's stuff.
-
You flying somebody out, You.
-
Paying for this thirst trap on Instagram.
-
You paying for all of these different things, and you
-
don't ever have no pressure.
-
Or no problem giving to them. You look so strong,
-
big daddy. What you mean ain't worked out in ten years?
-
What you mean, Oh, this whole thing stop, I'm trying.
-
I'm trying to teach you. Don't you give to that
-
with manipulation? If you know somebody's praying on your weakness
-
right now, If you know that, oh I just have
-
a guard. Dad. Some of us are suckers for sad stories.
-
Y'all know, y'all, y'all know who y'are.
-
Y'all know that y'all always give to them little puppies
-
that come on like with the eyes of the age,
-
and all they put is them sick dogs on there,
-
and you're like nine nine, y'all know that's manipulation. They
-
know they don't put no healthy dogs on there. Autumn dollar,
-
every dog, every dog ain't been giving no water, get a.
-
Dog some water. But they do that on purpose.
-
Why Because if I can prey on their emotions for
-
a second, maybe I can get something out of God's
-
telling you, I don't care if it's at church, if
-
it's at your house, if it's at the family reunion,
-
if your cousin is in jail, do not give if
-
there's a manipulation involved. I'm trying to give you a
-
principle that will work.
-
Whether you believe or not. Okay, what does it say
-
to give?
-
You should already decided you got a brother, cousin or
-
son in jail. You should decide this how much money
-
I'm gonna give them till they get out before they
-
start asking, oh God, I'm trying to save your family.
-
You should decide, I'm gonna put five hundred dollars, so
-
I can do it at fifty dollars the increment.
-
I can do it at one dollar increment.
-
I can do.
-
But you should decide and don't.
-
Tell them wisdom. I'm saying that decide howsin Mike, Why
-
are you going so hard on this? Because when you
-
give to the wrong thing out of the wrong motive,
-
you don't have what you need to give to the
-
right thing when God asks you. I'm trying to save
-
you from not being ready to sew when God.
-
Tells you to Okay, all right, here we go.
-
So so write this down. You shouldn't make up your
-
mind in the moment when it comes to giving. You
-
should never make up your mind in the moment at
-
the end of the year. Every year we give an offering.
-
We call it a crazy faith offering, and we give.
-
I'm telling you right now you should start praying in May, God,
-
what is the gift that me and my family are
-
supposed to give in December? So you don't have to think, oh, shoot,
-
this December's Christmas time.
-
It's visit.
-
No no, no, no, no, no, no, no no. I'm telling
-
you in May. I'm gonna tell you again in October.
-
I'm gonna tell you because I don't want anybody in
-
this church to ever feel that there is an ounce
-
of pressure when it comes to give. Why, Because God
-
wants us all to give cheerfully. This is the attitude.
-
Write this down. The attitude is greater than the amount.
-
The attitude of giving is more valuable to God than
-
the amount of your giving. And most people usually give
-
with an attitude okay here God finally, and God was like,
-
I don't want that. I would rather you give and
-
be excited, skipping cheerful about it, knowing my character as
-
a good father, than to feel like I'm taking something
-
from you. And today I need you to understand there
-
was a woman in the Bible that gave two mites,
-
and Jesus is there. All the big ballers is out dropping,
-
they making it rain and throwing stacks, and God calls
-
the disciples over and you say, you see that woman.
-
Right there, she just gave two mites.
-
And they're like, so, He's like, but the attitude in
-
what she's given, this is sacrificial. This ain't about amounts,
-
he said. Anywhere the Gospel has talked about this woman
-
is going to be remembered.
-
Why it was.
-
Because of her attitude of getting giving, not the amount
-
of giving.
-
Today, what I'm trying to do is.
-
Teach you that God wants your attitude to be one
-
that is cheerful. But we have to get into the
-
right idea and thought process is about giving. I'm just
-
a giver.
-
This is what I do.
-
It's how I show up, it's how I wake up,
-
it's how I go to sleep every day, and y'all saying,
-
cousdent Mike, that's so easy for you to say. I
-
got proof when I was younger and didn't have nothing.
-
I've always been I decided, watch it, I decided to
-
be a giver. Cousin, Mike, how do you decide? Decide?
-
Y'all try to make stuff so spiritual.
-
But the truth of the matter is, today you could decide,
-
I'm gonna be the most generous person I know.
-
Think about it.
-
Who's the most generous person?
-
You know? Think about it in your head?
-
Somebody said me, would anybody else say that? The question is,
-
would anybody else say you're the most generous person? If
-
you have multiple people bragging on you that they're like
-
that when you're not in the room, they're so generous
-
they Wow, you're starting to get into the territory. Watch this.
-
That speaks Jesus no matter what room you're in. Okay, okay,
-
all right, some of y'all want to go in there.
-
Bless that head.
-
App I'll called skin tailor bed skoshki Taya. And you're selfish,
-
and every time you come into the room, you suck
-
all the energy.
-
You give nothing.
-
Y'all know them people that I'm talking about. What would
-
happen if everywhere you go you've been filled up so much.
-
That you gotta give it out.
-
That there's so much abundance on the inside of you
-
that some of it has got to fall off of me,
-
because I don't even need all of this. Okay. The
-
last part of this verse EIGHTA says, and God is
-
able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things,
-
I love this language, at all times, having all that
-
you need, you will abound or be abundant in every
-
good work.
-
That's the promise of a sewer.
-
If you sow all things, all times, all needs men,
-
there's not a better deal on the market when you
-
look at the word of God. He says, this is
-
how I want my children to live. This is the
-
point that I want you to get from right here.
-
The reason why it's sowing interrupts every atmosphere. Swing interrupts
-
every atmosphere.
-
Right now.
-
If I was a farmer and I showed you barren Land,
-
barren Land, if you got a picture of that, just
-
throw it up on the screen. If I showed you
-
barren Land right now, most people would look at this
-
and see nothing but a farmer with faith would a
-
bag of seed sees nothing but space and opportunity. Why?
-
Because all I need is some land if I have seed.
-
All I need is soil if I have seed. Some
-
of you are looking at a situation that looks like
-
this right now, and God's saying what we gonna do?
-
And you let God send the rain even if I
-
send it. You ain't got no seed in the ground. Okay,
-
let me come over here. The seed will only be
-
activated when it's in the ground.
-
That's when he has to sit in the rain.
-
But some God do a miracle.
-
You ain't sawing nothing. Now.
-
I wasn't great at math, but anything times zero seven
-
hundred and sixty five million, six hundred and seventy thousand
-
times zero is zero. I got it a on that test.
-
When we did zero times stable killed it.
-
Killed it.
-
That's the multiplication many of us are doing right now.
-
We're saying, God, multiply it. And he said, you have
-
not sown any seed. But a farmer with faith, a
-
person like you were crazy faith, all you got to
-
do is have some seed some time and guess what
-
there will be put up? What a harvest looks like
-
in this same place. I need you to see what
-
your life is about to look like. Somebody by faith
-
needs to see this. You've been sowing seeds for such
-
a long time.
-
You've made up your mind.
-
I'm gonna keep giving even if I.
-
Don't see anything.
-
The seasons have not fully changed yet. But this is
-
about to be my lifestyle. Go back to the other one.
-
But at one point that looked like this. It takes
-
faith to show seed when it looks like this. Genesis
-
eight and twenty two says, as long as the earth remains,
-
there will be seed.
-
Time, and then what harvest? So to seed?
-
Just to side on a soap pastor, Michael, you making
-
me a promise. I'm not making you a promise. God's
-
making you a promise. I ain't got nothing. I'm trying
-
to do this myself. I don't got nothing for you
-
except to tell you what the word says. And then
-
me and Natalie and our four kids gonna try to
-
live this out.
-
And we have been.
-
Living it out, and I'm telling you it works. I
-
have empirical data that my life used to look dry
-
like this.
-
I need everybody to help me.
-
I need to help you understand it didn't happen. Sometimes
-
I hate being a pastor because people think the things
-
work in my life because of my position. There are
-
people that think.
-
Well, I guess you got it because.
-
You're the pastor. No, you don't understand. I don't have
-
a special access point to obeying God that gets me
-
ahead of the line. I gotta actually do this stuff,
-
and it's more pressure because if I'm telling you it
-
work and it ain't working on my life, it's really
-
a lie.
-
I can't preach nothing that ain't real.
-
So I learned this from myself, and today I just
-
see so many people that are trying to figure out
-
does God really honor his word? And I'm trying to
-
tell you he does. If your life looks like this. So,
-
if you've hit a plateau, so whatever area you're in,
-
you might have a lot. But if you hit a
-
plateau so and your situation changes, Okay, this is this
-
is this is how we're gonna end this. I need
-
to acknowledge something. It's hard to sew when you're in
-
the wrong mode. Okay, just everybody hear me. A lot
-
of us are in modes that make it hard for
-
us to do what God has told us to do.
-
In my car.
-
Recently, I found a different mode there. I was looking
-
at my car and it has this button that says
-
off road mode and it and it looked like it's
-
going up a hill. And I just hit it one
-
day and I was on the regular street and it
-
started driving differently.
-
All the wheels started doing something.
-
And then I saw there was a fast mode, and
-
then then I saw there was a cruise mode.
-
And then I just start hitting all the modes.
-
And what I realized is that the modes were a
-
one button touch of one button decision to change my
-
car into a totally different way of maneuvering the terrain.
-
And I said, could it be that a lot of
-
believers are just in the wrong mode when it comes
-
to giving? And today, I'm gonna give you three modes
-
that you may be in today that I need you
-
to potentially shift or change your mode in three sol modes, okay,
-
identify yourself. The first one is need mode. If you're
-
in need mode, welcome to human. You're born needing things.
-
Need mode is our default setting watch this and need
-
mode is defined watch this by survival. If everything in
-
your life you're trying to survive right now, you're always
-
in need mode. Think about it. It's hard to be
-
able to give when you're always in need mode.
-
And that mindset thrives on fear.
-
When you're in need mode. Maybe we're gonna run out
-
need mode. Who's gonna help me? If need mode? It
-
didn't work last time? So how are we going to
-
When you're thinking like this, you literally limit what God
-
can do through you. But if all you ever do
-
is need, watch this you become one that is a
-
consumer mindset. Everywhere you walk into you're trying to see
-
what can I get? What you gonna do for me?
-
How is this gonna benefit from me? And then it
-
starts to affect your relationships. Your relationship to become what
-
can you do for me? Your faith becomes how does
-
this benefit me? And right now I need everybody to
-
switch modes. If you're in a need mode, I need
-
you to switch modes because this mode ends up in
-
greed mode.
-
I don't know where you're at.
-
You may be in need mode. And if you're in
-
need mode, the international sign of need mode is.
-
You give me sign. This also is the sign that children.
-
Make all the time because when you come out when
-
you're in a place where you don't understand. You always
-
are looking up for somebody to give something more to you.
-
So when you come into rooms, give me more, I
-
need something. What I'm saying is it's okay. If you're there,
-
you don't have to stay there. A seed can interrupt
-
that cycle, and if you don't check this right here,
-
it turns into greed mode.
-
Let me tell you what greed mode is. Greed mode is.
-
And mode that thrives on scarcity. So a lot of
-
people think greedy is about rich people, because if I
-
say who's greedy, you would think of probably somebody that
-
got a lot of money. The truth of matters, you
-
can be greedy with barely a little bit because it's
-
all about me being in control with what I got,
-
and it thrives on scarcity. And I know there are
-
people in here that's like paws. I'm like, you don't
-
know my story. What I'm telling you is you can
-
change it. You can change your relationship with money. You
-
can change your relationship with finances, you can change your
-
relationship with stewardship. You can change your relationship with generosity.
-
By just switching modes, you don't have to live in
-
need mode. You don't have to live in greed mode.
-
What I want you to live in is seed mode.
-
One switch seed mode, PA's of Mike. What's seed mode? Oh?
-
Seed mode?
-
It thrives on faith.
-
It looks at what you have and says, what can
-
I do with this? Do you know you don't need
-
any more than you have right now? To live in
-
seed mode.
-
Today?
-
You could flip right now, sitting in this chair seed mode.
-
I'm going to give something away every day this week.
-
I dare you to try it. I dare you to
-
give one thing away every day this week.
-
It doesn't even have to be an actual object.
-
You could say, I'm giving thirty minutes to help somebody
-
do a task they are having trouble doing it every
-
day this week, and just at the thought of it
-
right now, some of y'all just got.
-
Mad at me, my week, my day, pastor.
-
Need mode, greed mode or what seed mode? Once you
-
get in seed mode, there's beautiful things that happen.
-
The Bible says God.
-
Gives seed to the soul. Hold on wait, So the
-
prerequisite for more seed is a decision to already sew.
-
So right now you could qualify for more seed by
-
just sitting in your chair and saying, God, I'm gonna sew.
-
And God's like.
-
All right, send them seed.
-
I saw that they've decided to sew.
-
Do you know how powerful that is that right now?
-
I'm gonna bring it to a really natural example. If
-
you decided I want olive garden in your heart right now,
-
and at the moment you decided, somebody came from the
-
back and handed you olive garden, you would be thinking
-
all kinds of thoughts, I want ice cream, and then
-
at the moment you thought somebody brought you ice cream,
-
I want abs, and then somebody brought from the back.
-
Think but think about the power of what.
-
God is saying.
-
All you would have to do is decide, I really
-
want to bless that family before they go back to school.
-
Before that family goes back to school, I really want
-
to be able to buy all their kids' supplies and
-
buy them kids backpacks and shoes. That's three months away. God,
-
I would really even if I can't do the whole thing, God,
-
I really like to be a part of blessing his
-
family before they go back to school. At the moment
-
you decided that in your heart, guess what starts happening.
-
Send the seed because they've decided to sew.
-
Church.
-
When you get this, it changes everything. It removes idols.
-
Thats why are you saying that? Because the only other
-
place that God compared himself to anything was when it
-
came to money. He said, I just need to let
-
y'all know something real quick. This is why I gotta
-
deal with this. You can't serve me and serve money
-
because he knew the human heart would be in tension
-
to believe God or believe money. Because some of y'all
-
have said either God needs to come through or I
-
just need some more money. You still need God to
-
come through if you got all the money in the world.
-
Do y'all hear what I'm saying.
-
Passing Mike, You've been on this because I want you
-
to get it. Don't live in need mode, don't live
-
in greed mode, live in seed mode. And I'm just
-
gonna get this to all the real crazy people. There's
-
one more level that wasn't in the notes. It's beast mode.
-
Now I'm now don't tell nobody, but this is for
-
the people who to tithe. They know that's the basement,
-
and when they get in the offerings, like, yeah, I
-
live in seed mode. I give, but then there's another
-
level of giving. Because there's levels to this. It's called
-
sacrificial offerings.
-
And I'm just telling you about it. You can read
-
through it all in the Bible.
-
One of the greatest places that it's seen is with
-
Solomon in Ecclesiastes or No, No, no no. This was in
-
First Kings when God it was customary for there to
-
be one bull sacrifice to God. And at the moment
-
that it was time to sacrifice the bull, everybody else
-
did one. Solomon did a thousand. The requirement was one.
-
His offering was a thousand. This moved God so much
-
that he came to Solomon and the dream that night
-
is like, what you want, bro, I was really expecting
-
you to do one, two, five?
-
What you want?
-
One of the only places in the Bible where we
-
see God literally coming to somebody say tell me what
-
you want.
-
Because I saw my heart.
-
I saw a heart that could handle abundance.
-
I saw a heart that was not.
-
Just trying to give the basic I saw a heart
-
that looked like mine, what do you want? And then
-
watch how gangster Solomon is. He says, God, all I
-
need is wisdom.
-
To govern your people.
-
God was like, no, you didn't, No, you didn't just
-
ask for wisdom.
-
No you didn't. He got excited again.
-
Because he could have used that moment to be greedy.
-
He could have if God comes to you and says,
-
what do you want? Okay, I'm so glad you asked.
-
Let's star you upset. Come on, y'all, let's be honest.
-
I am so glad you asked lists like.
-
What was Solomon's request? What I need need to help them?
-
Give me wisdom to govern your people. It was an
-
act of generosity. I'm not gonna use this moment to
-
hoard something to me. I need to get what I
-
need so I can give them what they need. And
-
God was like, you know what, because I see my
-
reflection in you, I'm not begging you, I'm not taking
-
them from you really want this because you want to
-
be generous. He said, Now I'm gonna bless you with
-
the wisdom and I'm gonna give you all the resources.
-
There's a beast mode to sewing that has nothing to
-
do with what God requires. It has everything to do
-
with you trying to respond to God's goodness.
-
And one day I'll do.
-
A whole series on it, because it's gonna have to
-
be people who are ready for this level. But there
-
is a level that you get to where the harvest
-
overtakes the sewing, where you start telling other people, somebody,
-
come and get some of this, Dad. There's a level
-
that you can get to where you're saying, my boat's
-
sinking too many fish. If I keep getting this type
-
of load, I'm gonna drown with all of this.
-
Some my competition, come get some of this.
-
Some of y'all businesses is gonna be so blessed you're
-
gonna be able to call your competition, y'all, don't hear me.
-
Some of y'all are about to walk in abundance where
-
you're gonna be able to tell your neighbors, Hey, I
-
can't deal with all of I don't eat.
-
I can't manage all of this.
-
Oh God, I just decided I want to be accused
-
of abundance. If I'm guilty, that's something I want to
-
be guilty of giving. That's why I want to be
-
blasted for blessing people. You want to blast me for
-
something always blessing somebody. What if that was the disposition
-
of God's people that's what we were known for. Forget everybody,
-
that's what you was known for. Today I asked all
-
these spirits how I was supposed to end this message,
-
and something really awesome came and fell into my lap.
-
This right here is somebody's faith from prison. Many of
-
you know that we have a partnership with God behind bars,
-
and we have put a significant investment in providing inmates
-
all over the world who the Bible many times calls
-
the least of these, those who are forgotten about. We
-
want them to have a way to connect with God
-
and people on the outside. And so we've bought hundreds,
-
if not thousands of tablets through the generosity and giving
-
of people in this church, and it's going into prisons
-
all over the country. I was gonna call with the
-
people from God behind bars, and they were telling us
-
all the stats, and these beautiful people who made bad
-
mistakes and ended up in jail, some of them for life,
-
are still souls that God cares about. I thought I
-
was gonna get more amens than that. And these people
-
write in send us letters, tell us how the messages
-
transformed their life. And I got this. I'm gonna not
-
say the name, but a young man that was in
-
prison heard a message similar to this and decided to
-
start honoring God with a tithe and the offering off
-
of the money that was coming in from his family
-
for a commissary. Now, listen to me say this to you.
-
Listen to me say this to you. So impacted by
-
the revelation and how many years he just didn't know.
-
His whole thing is, I just didn't know. Nobody told me.
-
And he saw the.
-
Scriptures and went through. He was like, I'm gonna honor God.
-
And now if you.
-
Don't know what commissary is, this is where people literally
-
send you money and then you can get like twinkies
-
and Ramen noodles and all that stuff. It's their only
-
exciting thing that they can do. And some people it's
-
like this, what'd you say, bricks, ritz, crackers, Okay, bricks whatever.
-
That was some prison talk.
-
I don't know what he said, Uh, text me later,
-
But what I'm saying is people, people, people, this is
-
their enjoyment in prison. This is two dollars and fifty
-
cent here here here, hear what I'm saying. And this
-
person wrote the letter and basically said, I want to
-
live how God asked me to live and this is
-
my faith. Step in walking this out and put this
-
in an envelope and sent a letter to the church
-
with two dollars and fifty cents to this brother lives
-
in seed mode because it wasn't about an amount. This
-
was his faith. And today this is going on the
-
ground and for somebody else, you're gonna be able to
-
give two thousand dollars and twenty five hundred dollars and
-
it wouldn't even matter. But what if we all got
-
into seed mode and said, God, I'm gonna honor you
-
at the top that's yours already, but I'm gonna ask
-
you beforehand, what do you want me to give? How
-
often do you want me to give? What you want
-
me to do? God, open my eyes to see like
-
a farmer, to know that every seed that goes in
-
has to produce fruit. It interrupts every atmosphere. I have
-
gone into places where I know I was hated, and
-
I sold a seed and it changed the whole atmosphere.
-
In that room where you know your coworkers don't like
-
you bring coffee every Thursday, just bring it. I'm just saying,
-
maybe you could interrupt the things that are happening in
-
that atmosphere, if you thought more like God standing all
-
over this building. This morning, I was reminded of I
-
fly a lot, and when I fly, one of the
-
most one of the most troubling things about flying is
-
going through the security checkpoint. And I don't know if
-
you've ever flown there, but part of it is you
-
have to think about what.
-
You have on.
-
You gotta think about if your shoes got metal in it,
-
you gotta think about it, if you had a surgery
-
and your knee gotta screw in it. You gotta think
-
about all the other things. And to bypass all of that,
-
there's this thing called TSA pre check, And if you
-
get TSA pre check, what you do basically is you
-
send all your information ahead and they know where to
-
find you if anything is wrong. And the goal of
-
actually going through TSA is to be able to go
-
through it without getting stopped. My friend and I were
-
talking earlier, and he said, the goal in heaven is
-
to go through the TSA before you get to heaven
-
and not get stopped because you've already emptied everything out.
-
Think about it, think about it. The thing is going
-
to be deep in heaven for many of us. Deep
-
de deep, oh, you got so much still b beep
-
beep you. I'm like, I'm coming and it's still. He said,
-
that can't come in here. Don't store up for yourselves
-
on this earth. Some of y'all are trying to take stuff.
-
When you get to heaven, you can't take it through.
-
So the goal is to sow as much. The international
-
sign for those who are in need? Is this the
-
ones who are in greed? Is this the ones who
-
are in seed? Because when we get to heaven, he said,
-
what did you do with what I gave you? How
-
many families did you help? How many lives did you transform?
-
How many people did you send on missions trips? How
-
many churches did you build? How many neighbors did you help?
-
I want to be found guilty of giving. That means
-
that I might need to switch my mode. If you're
-
in this room, and you might need to switch your
-
mode from need mode or greed mode into seed mode
-
or even beast mode. I want you to lift your
-
hands all over this place, and all of us have
-
a place that we can grow in journey to Father
-
in the name of Jesus. You see us, you know us,
-
you made us. And today, God, I thank you that
-
there was some revelation shared that could help all of
-
us move into another level of generosity. Father, there is
-
no pressure, there is no offering, There is no moment
-
right now that we're asking for anything. God, I'm asking
-
that you would speak to us clearly and move us
-
out of a fear mindset or a scarcity mindset into abundance. God,
-
I thank you that we can start living by faith
-
when it comes to our finances right now, with those
-
bills on the table, with that student loan, lingering, with
-
all the things that you already know. Father, God, thank
-
you that we're moving into a mindset that switches. So
-
we will be just like you. We will be ones
-
who give over and over and over and over again.
-
Give us like a farmer.
-
Let us be able to see dry and barren land
-
and be able to see the future because of the
-
seed that we possess in our hand. And God, I
-
thank you that your children know your voice and a stranger,
-
they will not listen to make us abundant, not for
-
a show, not for people to be drawn to us,
-
but so people can be drawn to you. Father God,
-
Today we're asking you to do a work in our
-
hearts so that we can be made more like you
-
Jesus' name. Even in this same mode, I want you
-
to know that God never ask you for anything without
-
giving to you first. So if you're in this room
-
and you've never received Jesus, I want you to know
-
that He already gave his son so that you could
-
have everlasting life. If you want to know what it's
-
like to experience overwhelming generosity, all you have to do
-
is receive Jesus by faith. It's the thing that took
-
me from being a manipulator, addicted to pornography, a liar,
-
a manipulator. All of those things is who I was.
-
That was my natural state. And God said, come on,
-
give me your heart and I'll help you change your habits.
-
And today I want to give you the same invitation.
-
I don't care if you're watching. I don't care if
-
you was at the club last night. I don't care
-
what you're planning to do tomorrow. I don't care if
-
you have tons of secrets. Right now, God wants your
-
heart and I need the church to begin to pray
-
because somebody's life is.
-
In the balance.
-
Whether you're watching this on the pandor app or you're
-
watching this on a rebroadcast, or you're watching it six
-
years from now, and somebody just sent you this message.
-
Today is your day of salvation, and today I believe
-
that God wants to introduce you to his son Jesus.
-
If that's you and you want to make Jesus Christ
-
your personal Lord and savior, I'm telling you it's gonna
-
set you on a journey of progression that will change
-
your life forever. But it starts with one choice, and
-
the choice is Jesus. If you're saying, pastor, I want
-
to be added into that prayer on account of three,
-
I just want you to slip your hand in the air.
-
Whether you're in the room or you're watching online, I
-
just want you to say, pastor.
-
I want to be a part of that prayer. I
-
want to make Jesus my Lord and savior. I see you.
-
Since already one, you're making the greatest decision of your life.
-
I see you, my brother.
-
Two, your name is gonna be written in the Lamb's
-
Book of Life. Three, just shuit your hand up all
-
over this place. I see you. I see you, come
-
on TC. More than I see you, God sees you.
-
Glory to God. I see you, my brother. You can
-
put your hand down. We're not gonna make you confess. Hopefully,
-
one day you'll get with some community that you trust
-
and you can be able to share what God's doing
-
in your life. But today we're gonna make a confession together.
-
Because at TC we're a family. Nobody prays alone. So
-
I want everybody just to lift your hands and say, God,
-
thank you for giving Jesus just for me. Today. I
-
admit I'm a sinner and I need a savior, and
-
I turn to you. I repent and I ask you
-
to redeem my life. I believe you lived, you died,
-
and you rose again with all power just for me.
-
Here's my life. Change me, renew me, transform me. I'm
-
yours forever in Jesus' name. Amen. Oh can we celebrate
-
with all of those Oh, come on TC.
-
That should be the loudest shout of the day. Holley
-
Jui j'a