Jesus, the Embodiment of Abundance: A Palm Sunday Reflection

Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today, as we look into God's word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us.

If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com, that's citylightnyc.com.

Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds.

As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace, and that He has a real hope and a future for you.

Happy Palm Sunday, everybody!

Next Sunday's Easter, today, of course, we celebrate Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, where He came in victoriously, went into Jerusalem, taught, preached, performed mighty signs and wonders and miracles.

And for all of that was put on a cross and punished, but that was always the plan of God and in the heart of God since the foundations of the world, because when Jesus was up on that cross, He was our substitute, and He received in Himself the penalty that you and I deserve for the sin that we carried.

Even us here who weren't even, obviously, born yet, yet He just took the whole sin problem out of the way.

He who knew no sin was made sin, that we might be made into the very righteousness of God in Christ, the great exchange.

And of course, on the third day, He was resurrected, showing God's approval and the confirmation of what had happened on the cross, and showing that Jesus had conquered death, hell, and the grave for us.

And Jesus' words just echo, he who believes in me shall never die, but will live forever.

Amen.

Let's begin this morning in Psalm 118, verse 24.

Psalms 118:24

It's a prophetic Psalm, and it was pointing towards today, Palm Sunday, and Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Save now, I pray, O Lord, O Lord, I pray, say this with me, church, send now prosperity.

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

This is what they said, as He wrote that cult into Jerusalem and as they laid palm branches before Him.

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Can you see how this is echoed on Palm Sunday?

Now just go back to the one verse before that, I believe it's verse 25.

There's something powerful here.

Speaking of the Messiah, speaking of Jesus, the Christ, Lord, I pray, send now prosperity.

What is the Scripture saying here?

What does the Lord want to reveal to us?

It's this that Jesus is the embodiment of prosperity.

That Jesus is the embodiment of the abundance of God and that when Jesus rolls into town, when He rolls into your life,

what does He bring?

Abundance, prosperity, wholeness, restoration, even the very palm branches that they laid before Him are a symbol of prosperity.

Did you know that palm branches are a symbol of prosperity and victory?

In ancient times, they would put wreaths from palm branches and athletes on the victor's heads.

The palm tree itself is a symbol of prosperity because of its extensive root system.

It can grow even in a desert place.

It can survive hurricanes and a hundred mile per hour winds.

And they laid those as a sign.

And the king of kings and the Lord of lords came in.

And the cry is, Lord, bring us prosperity.

I want you to know that there's nothing wrong with asking the Lord to bring prosperity.

I want you to know that prosperity is His will, it's His way, and it's who He is.

It's not something foreign to Him or outside of Him, something He has to pull out of His pocket and bring to you.

He just has to show up.

It's who He is.

One of the ways that God revealed Himself in the Scriptures is through His name El Shaddai, which means all sufficient one.

It also means the God of more than enough, the too much God, the surplus God, the God of prosperity.

In case you have a notice, we're going to talk about biblical abundance today and the God of more than enough. Amen.

Hallelujah.

Let's read Proverbs 10-22.

One of the greatest needs that we have when it comes to abundance, when it comes to prosperity is a transformation of the mind.

It's renewing our heads because I've just found no matter where you come from in the world, including right here in America,

no matter how you've been raised, more often than not, you were brought up with a lack mindset, a scarcity mindset,

a poverty mindset as opposed to a prosperity mindset or an abundance mindset.

It can happen if you're not even in a Christian home just the way we're raised.

Again, maybe not everybody, but more often than not.

We're immediately introduced into this world with limitations, with parents saying, I can't afford this, we can't afford this.

Finish everything on your plate. There's starving children and other side of the world.

It doesn't help them if you don't finish what's on your plate.

I'm going to think you shouldn't finish what's on your plate, but there's just a scarcity.

One thing that I committed with Emily was to never tell our kids that we can't afford something.

You can phrase it in different ways, and of course you have to be with kids because they don't understand money yet.

So if you remember that old film, Rainman, with Tom Cruise, I'm always reminded when Rainman is sitting in that psychiatrist's office,

and the doctor asks him, how much is a candy burn? He says about $100, and then he goes, how much is a new car? He was about $100.

That's kids. Like, get me this toy. Can we do it? It's like $3. Sure.

Get me that laptop. It's $1,500. Well, it's not that we can't afford it.

But you can say things like, I don't think this is the best use of our finances right now.

Hey, man.

Because it genuinely probably isn't.

But anything to prevent them from getting that lack, that scarcity mindset that can be such a limiting factor in people's lives.

And this includes Christian folk as well, because people who are raised in the church somehow, it just creeps in.

And it's not biblical, but the thought creeps in. The mindset, the mentality creeps in.

That poverty is noble, and that prosperity is evil.

And if you read the scriptures, you won't see anything like that.

And some scriptures have taken out a context, for example, a favorite amongst people who just love their poverty,

is pointing out to how Jesus rebuked the rich young ruler. Remember the rich young ruler?

And Jesus said to him, sell all that you have, and people say, see, Jesus was a communist,

and he told them, sell everything.

And they just neglect to point out that that's the only person that Jesus said that to.

There were many other wealthy people that Jesus met. He didn't tell them sell everything you have.

There was Zacchaeus who was rich. He didn't tell Zacchaeus sell all that you have.

There was Joseph of Arimathea who was wealthy. He's the one who gave Jesus his tomb to Jesus,

because Jesus was buried in a rich man's tomb.

Jesus passed by Joseph of Arimathea, on his way to the cross.

He never once said as he was going to the cross, by the way, sell all that you have, and follow me.

The rich young ruler was a special case, because he was so proud,

and he came to Jesus with his resume, talking about all that he does for God.

But Jesus knew he hadn't given his entire heart to God, so he put his finger on the one thing

that he hadn't handed over to God, and he said, sell all that you have, and come follow me.

The rich young ruler went away very sorrowful.

Jesus was a master at using the law to expose people, and remember Jesus didn't minister under a covenant of grace.

Grace wasn't established until after his resurrection when the church was birthed under the appendacos,

when we officially entered into the new covenant.

Jesus ministered under the law, and what's the point of the law? It's to show us up.

It's to expose us. It's to point out the thing that we are lacking, so that we wouldn't realize our need for a Savior.

Amen.

So Jesus put his finger using the law, expertly, like a doctor, put his finger in exactly that one area

that the rich young ruler hadn't given over to God yet. Amen.

The Apostle Paul wrote Timothy, and said, charge those who were rich in this world, and he gave instructions.

He didn't say, tell the rich people in your church because the Apostle Paul was writing past your Timothy,

and giving him pastoral counsel on how he would run the church there.

And he didn't say, tell everybody who's rich in your church that they're in sin, and they need to still sell everything that they have.

No, he gave instruction on how to walk with Godly integrity and character, and how to be generous with the blessing of the Lord. Amen.

Hallelujah.

God is for you.

His very nature is abundance.

He's the too much, the else should die, the all-sufficient, more than enough God.

Proverbs 10-22, one of the greatest things we need is a mind renewal, and I encourage you, this is important.

This is so important, because the Scripture says, you know, money answers everything.

Did you know that's in the Word?

Money answers everything.

Why do we as Christians seem to fall on away from that?

You know, much good we can do with money.

We're blessed as a church. We're blessed, prosperous church. We're at completely debt-free church.

We're able, in Guatemala, just in the last 14 years, to build over 40 churches and community centers.

They double as community centers in various villages around the Ischial region where the indigenous Mayan live.

Isn't that beautiful?

We couldn't do that if we were struggling.

You know, just a few weeks ago, we had Bonnie Andrews with Live Jam in, and we blessed them with 10,000.

But I really wanted to give Live Jam 25,000, and I just opened it up to the church.

And 24 or 23, 8, I forget the number that came in, and then we just rounded it up to 25,000, and we're able to bless Live Jam with what we initially had in our hearts.

Thanks to the generosity of people.

If you're not walking, listen, you're blessed to be a blessing. Amen.

And the blessing of the Lord makes one rich.

And the good news is, you won't be miserable when he makes you rich.

He adds no sorrow with it. In the world, you can strive and white knuckle and stress.

And maybe then you get a little bit of money, but you're miserable.

But the blessing of the Lord comes with his peace, and he adds no sorrow with it.

So I want to just take you on a journey, because I know that we all could use a healthy mind renewing.

And just exploring the ministry of Jesus and examining the nature and the character of God, as seen through the person of Jesus as he walked this earth and as he ministered.

And we need a continuous healthy mind renewing, because just by nature, being out in the world, we're constantly subjected to the opposite.

If you're not renewing your mind with God's word, and renewing your own faith in biblical abundance, you can quickly just move out of faith, and now all you're looking at is the limitations around you.

And God has a better way.

There's a better way for you.

Amen.

John 10-10.

The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy.

I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more, shout it abundantly in the Greek that were abundantly perisos.

It's just fun. It just rolls off the tongue.

Perisos, it means listen to this, because it demonstrates God's way of doing things.

Super abundance, excessive, overflowing, surplus, over and above, more than enough.

All should I, refuse, extraordinary, above the ordinary, more than sufficient.

Listen to this, superior in quality and overflowing in quantity, superior in quality and overflowing in quantity.

I try not to do the call back thing too often, but I just feel like we have to, because your mind will actually change when it hears the words that come out of your mouth.

So say this out loud, God's way is abundance, superior in quality, overflowing in quantity.

Amen.

Let's look at this in the ministry of Jesus because he did various things from healing the sick, miraculous deliverances, casting out evil spirits, but something you also see in his miracle ministry is miracles of provision.

And I just want you to pay attention to his nature, his character, his style, how he gives provision, to what degree he gives provision.

And let the truth of God's word when you are mind. Amen.

John chapter 2 verse 6.

John 2:6

We're starting at his first miracle, and it's not by accident that the very first miracle of Jesus after his baptism was a miracle of supernatural provision.

He's communicating something there. He's communicating that I care for you. I care for your needs.

I care for something that may even be called frivolous. Surely, I mean, it wasn't going to be a life or death situation, whether they were going to have enough wine at a wedding feast.

But he's saying, I care. And my nature is excessive. My nature is super abundant.

And you see it all throughout the scriptures, by the way.

We read the blessing of the Lord makes one rich. What happened to Abraham? The moment God blessed him in Genesis 17.

The moment God blessed him, and you read 17, Genesis 18, 19, 20, and you see the results of that blessing.

You see the fruit of that blessing. You see the blessing working, and it produced seeing in Abraham multiplication, increase, his livestock begins multiplying, multiplying to such a degree that the grass couldn't even sustain all of the animals that he now had.

A high-class problem. Amen. And now we find ourselves in John 2. Jesus' first miracle. The Bible says there was six water pots of stone according to the manner of purification of the Jews containing 20 or 30 gallons apiece.

We seem to always miss that 20 to 30 gallons apiece part. Why is this important? Because that's what was turned to wine. Have you ever seen paintings of this miracle? It's usually like a picture of water.

And then, right? And Jesus turns it into wine. It wasn't a picture of water. It wasn't a punch bowl. There were water pots, 20 to 30 gallons, six of them.

That means at the very least, 120 gallons, at the most, 150 gallons. Why? It seems too much. It seems peri source. It seems super abundant, excessive, wasteful.

How many people wear that wedding anyway, 2000? No. It's a village wedding. Maybe there's 100 people there, 200 people. What does that give everybody like a gallon? What?

Why? That's his way. Amen. Let's keep reading. Jesus said to them, fill the water pots with water. And they fill them up and not halfway to the brim.

And he said to them, draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast and they took it. And when the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and did not know where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew, the master of the feast called the bridegroom and he said to him, every man.

At the beginning sets out the good wine and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior, you have kept the good wine until now. It's his nature. It's his style. Will you receive it for yourself?

I just want to present the word to you this morning. Please don't make me fight to see you blessed. Please don't make me wrestle with you so you can be blessed.

I have to preach this. I have to preach it because it's in the word of God. And I'm going to face him one day. Amen.

I'm going to have to look at my lord and savior and I'm going to have to give an account with what I did to the ministry he entrusted to me. And I don't want him to point in my church and say, all these people, they didn't know what my heart was.

They didn't know what was available to them because I understand whenever you touch on this topic, it becomes very weird.

Like if I was talking about grace, Bani Andrews come to talk about so many evangelism. Any topic, somehow you touch prosperity and it's like, and then I find myself, this is not going to turn into a building fun campaign.

I want to see you blessed. Amen. I'm saying this and taking the risk of the reproach that comes with it because I want to see you blessed. And because I don't know if you're paying attention, it seems like there's a shaking happening.

Listen, you don't have to be following the new six hours a day every day to know that we as a nation are being shaken, that the whole world is being shaken, that financial systems are crumbling all around us, that you better know the God of perisose.

You better know how else should I? You better know him in your heart and be convinced in your spirit that he's the God of all provision and that he's the too much God. Amen.

Let's read Matthew 14, 20. This is the feeding of the 5,000, which was really more like 15 or 20,000.

So they all ate and were filled and they took up 12 baskets full of the fragments that remained. He didn't give them just enough.

They all ate and were full, satiated, satisfied, and then on top of that there was leftovers. I'm just showing you his style from the scriptures. His style is super abundance, superior in quality and overflowing in quantity.

And so they had leftovers. If you're going from check to check, week to week, if you're barely making it and scraping by, God has a better way for you, so that there are leftovers, so that you would be so blessed that you can be a blessing.

Psalm 23, by the way, it's not a funeral song. Psalm 23 is a prosperity song. Fresh tender juicy green pastures. Still refreshing cool water and a cup that overflows. Why does the cup overflow? The world calls that waste. God says, no, that's my abundance. That's my perisose. And then others can come and drink from the cup of yours that I've made to overflow.

And by the way, just like salvation, just because it's true doesn't mean it's true for everyone. You have to appropriate it by faith. You have to be convinced of it in your spirit. You have to speak it out your mouth.

I know the journey God took me on. And like anything, like anything, there's going to come a point. I remember this so clearly.

There comes a point where everything in your life seems to be exactly the opposite of what his words says it should be. If you've been saved longer than five minutes, you're going to run into that.

That doesn't mean it's broken. That's how it works. You then have to make a decision. I'm going to believe the word until my outward circumstances begin to reflect the truth of God's word.

And that's the other way around. I'm not going to change the holy word of God. I'm not going to change holy doctrine to accommodate what's happening out in the world. No, the world is going to bend and shape and mold itself to the word of God. Hallelujah.

So the turning of the water to wine, we see Jesus's style, his nature, his character, too much wine. We see the feeding of the 20,000 leftovers, too much bread and fish.

Do you know when Peter came to him with an IRS problem? Jesus said, go fishing. And that fish, there was a gold coin in its mouth, but it wasn't just for Peter. He gave too much.

Jesus then said, Peter, go pay your taxes and mine. In other words, I've blessed you now and now you have an overflow and you can even bless me back. Hallelujah. It's his way.

Some of you need to change your prayer life. This is very important. You need to change your thought life. You need to change the way you see yourself a year from now, two years from now, five years from now. You need to see yourself as somebody who is blessing, who is giving.

They're a great way to see yourself. They're ways to begin right now where you're at. As a man, think if in his heart, so is he. And now you understand why the enemy comes to you on a daily basis to fill you with worry, to fill you with anxiety.

Do you ever get just random thoughts of your own demise? And you think you are the only one? No, that's what he does. He's trying to fill your head with his wish list for you.

What's not going to happen? When I think about some of the things I worried about, like the truth is, exactly 100% of the things I ever worried about never ever happened.

The bad things that did happen, I never thought of, they never entered my mind. Do I have anybody that can relate? The stuff that I obsessed over never happened.

Amen. Let's go to Luke 5, verse 5. But Simon answered and said to him, master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing.

Luke 5:5

Nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking. That's bad. Breaking net.

Terrible. What happened? Too many fish, perisos, super abundance, more than enough. So they signaled to their partners and the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats.

So now we have another problem. The boats begin to sink. He just overdoes it. He's too much. You got to take this for yourself. I was saying before, just because it's a truth and God's word doesn't mean it'll just come on you and fall on you like ripe cherries falling off a tree. It doesn't work that way.

You know the whole world is saved. The whole world has been forgiven, but those who haven't appropriated that by faith and received Jesus Christ in the Lord and Savior are going to go to hell unnecessarily.

Because nobody told them all your sins are already forgiven you. There's people suffering financially because nobody told them, hey, God paid the price for you to be blessed, for you to have a cup that overflows, for you to have all your needs met.

And out of debt and plenty more to put in store. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

That's cool.

Everything moves every week. You got me on that one. Let's read Romans. I want to show you the very payment for our sin. I'm going to read it out of the amplified Romans 515.

I want you to see that even our debt payment of sin, Jesus overpaid it on the cross. Why perisos? That's his style. He always gives more than is necessary.

When you really get this, you realize that stinginess and cheapness is so ungodly. I'm not talking about frugality. Frugality is godly, but there's a difference between being frugal and being a cheap skate and being stingy.

Frugality is blessed. But being a miser and being in fear. It's actually diametrically opposed to the very nature of God.

We had a sin that was way more than we could ever hope to pay. Jesus overpaid it. Let's read together. It's a lot. I know it looks like a newspaper article that I clipped out and put up there.

But this will bless you. But God's free gift is not at all to be compared. It's incomparable to the trespass. The gift, the payments for our sin can't even be compared to the cost of the sin. His grace is out of all proportion to the fall of man.

I mean the fall of man was bad. But the gift of Jesus was infinitely greater. For if many died through one man's falling away, his laps, his offense, much more profusely did God's grace and the free gift that comes through the undeserved favor of the one man Jesus Christ,

abound and overflow to and for the benefit of many. Nor is the free gift at all to be compared to the effect of that one man sin.

For the sentence following the trespass of one man brought condemnation, whereas the free gift following many transgressions brings justification and act of righteousness.

For if because of one man's trespass, lapse of fence, death, rain through that one much more surely will those who receive God's overflowing grace, his unmerited favor, and the free gift of righteousness, putting them into right standing with himself, rain as kings in life through the one man Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one.

The cross was an overpayment for our sin. It's like if we owed a billion dollars which is an amount that we could never ever pay, Jesus paid it with a trillion dollar check and said keep the change.

It's his way. It's his nature. And it's for you.

If you're resisting this in your heart, I say this with love, you are in a place of selfishness. If you're imagining that it's holy to say look not so much just enough just for me, my for no more, that is one of the most selfish things, one of the most selfish mindsets you can have because you're only keeping your eyes on yourself and you're not looking at the hurt that you have.

It's in the world. When you realize the need that's in the world, you realize that it is every Christian's responsibility to receive God's blessing that makes one rich so that they could do even greater good in the world.

It's a responsibility. It's a blessing, but it's our responsibility to contend for it, to give towards that, to believe for it, to see and manifest it in our lives. Amen.

Hallelujah.

Psalm 105 37.

This is speaking of the children of Israel.

When he brought him out of Egypt, he didn't bring him out with nothing.

By the way, this is a picture of us coming in to the new birth, us coming into the new creation reality, the coming out of Egypt and into the promised land.

And the Bible says when he took him out, he took him out with silver and gold. They had silver and gold.

Sure, it belonged to the Egyptians, but it was theirs now.

It's silver and gold, and it was not a sickle feeble one among their tribes. It's his way.

And so I'm just giving you these scriptures because number one, there has to be a mental transformation.

And not a passive acquiescence, but a mind transformation where you can actually say prosperity without feeling ashamed, without feeling embarrassed.

The devil would love to make prosperity a dirty word in the church, and it's a holy word.

One of the first ways that God revealed himself was as Jehovah Jaira, the one who provides.

And as Al Shaddai, a God who's more than enough, the all-sufficient one.

So there has to be a transforming of our lives through the renewing of our mind, a contending for faith.

And of course, then of praying and asking, Lord, what can I change in my life that will put me in a position where I can receive more of your blessing that I can do more good in the world?

Are you hearing me right now?

This is something that I feel like should be preached even more. Get some books on finances. Read.

Take some risks on the Lord. Fail once or twice. It's okay. Get up and do it again. Hallelujah.

And then of course, because there is a connection between money and the anointing. Jesus established that when he said, if you can't be trusted with money, if you're unfaithable with money, who will entrust you the true riches?

The true riches is the anointing, the kingdom of God, the power of God.

So if you can't be faithful and a good steward of Maman, he said, how will I entrust you the real power of the kingdom?

But he made that connection because money is the power of this world.

You can even say money is the carnal anointing of this world. It's how people get stuff done. God gets stuff done in the spirit by his anointing.

In the natural people get stuff done apart from God with money only.

And so we have to be found faithful. We have to be good stewards.

So that means we need to submit and yield to him and be found faithful with what we have now so that he could trust us.

Every time we give, every time we give him the first tenth, what we're demonstrating is we're trustworthy to get more.

Maybe I'm fighting this morning. I'm wrestling hard.

I made this decision when I was 16 years old, never regretted it.

And I don't say this as a religious pat on my back or to score points, but I never ever missed a tie.

Ever in my life since I was 16. I just made that commitment. There's others here like me. I know that there are.

I can't get saved and I realize this is holy. This is right. This is scriptural.

And I'm going to do it. And then consequently he's blessed us. He's blessed us as a church. He's blessed my family.

Hallelujah.

Jesus said where your treasure is, there your heart is also. Now he's making connection between our treasure or material possession and our heart.

And when we show him that he has our entire heart by showing him that he has our treasure as well, then our trustworthiness increases.

There's people who are believing God. They'll hear a message like this and they'll go, woo!

And they want to believe God for abundance, but it's never going to come because they couldn't even handle luck.

Oh, I'll give when my ship comes in. Wrong. You never sent a ship out. And you're waiting for one to come in.

All right. There's no better way than to close this sermon out than by going to Malachi 3. Hallelujah.

This is the crown. Hallelujah. Praise God.

Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say in what way have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings.

Now under the old covenant, you are cursed with a curse. You know what's beautiful? I've never preached this because under the old, under the new covenant.

If you're a believer in Jesus, you yourself, you can't be cursed. You. It's just impossible. How can you be saved?

How can you be blessed with believing? The Bible says you were blessed with believing Abraham.

You yourself can't be cursed under the new covenant. You're either blessed and saved or cursed and lost.

You can't be saved and simultaneously carrying a curse in your spirit.

And this is what I've preached for 15 plus years. And do you know what's so beautiful is that our giving, when I started preaching this, our giving didn't go down, our giving actually went up.

Which showed me that God's people can be trusted with the truth. Some pastors can't get to this place because they don't trust the people.

And they feel the people will only give if there's a threat hanging over their head. God is the God father, not the father, God. And he's up in heaven.

And if you don't pay protection money, he's going to sell. He's going to send his two angels, Vinnie and Angelo. And they're going to break your kneecaps.

But if he gets his 10% protection money, you're good for another week. Now, under the old covenant, they had that threat over them. We don't.

We're blessed. We're blessed. But I don't just want to be blessed. I want my finances to be blessed.

You yourself can be blessed and your finances not. You can't hear me. The Bible says that if the first fruits are holy, then the lump also is holy.

That means when we give up the first fruits, the first fruits sanctify the lump. That's the whole purpose of the tithe. The Bible says the tithe is holy. What does that mean? It's separate.

In other words, it doesn't even belong to me. It doesn't belong to you. From any increase that I get, it's holy. It belongs to God. And so then if I consume that, then I'm robbing God.

But when I tithe under the new covenant, when I tithe under the new covenant, I am now positioning myself to see the 90% blessed and to see him multiply and increase the 90%.

So I just made a decision when I was 16 years old. I'd rather have a blessed multiplying 90% than a cursed 100%.

Because either way, and really one tenth of the Lord Almighty who saved my soul is not unreasonable to require of me.

For goodness sake, you get a coffee and they flip around an iPad to you and 135%. They didn't do anything but turn around. Sorry to any baristas out there.

Good Lord. Let's keep reading.

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and try me now in this says the Lord of hosts.

If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing, there will not be room enough to receive it. Hallelujah.

I want the worship team to come on up. We're going to receive communion together and then we're going to honor the Lord with our tithes and our offerings and we're going to speak a special declaration over our giving.

I encourage you to, if you're not experiencing the abundance of God, I encourage you to make it a priority.

Never a priority above your intimacy with him. Never a priority above your relationship with him, but a priority in getting your mind aligned with the Word of God.

The devil is not afraid of a broke struggling Christian, but a Christian that can go in and build churches and bless ministries and launch other believers, that makes him tremble.

Thank you, Jesus. Let's go ahead and hand the communion elements out.

Everybody say this with me. Parisos. Let's read Proverbs 11, 24, 25 as you receive your communion elements. Won't you just hang on to them please and we'll all receive communion together.

There is one who scatters a generous person who distributes freely and yet that person increases more and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty.

The generous soul will be made rich and he who waters will also be watered himself.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.

To get the job done that God has called us to do in New York City, the people of God are going to have to seize this truth. There's some of you, the Lord wants to elevate you, the Lord wants to bring you up.

I want you to contend for those things. I want you to agree with His Word. Link with Him.

When we need to do New York City and the building we need to purchase the land we need to get, how is it going to happen? I'm not soliciting other churches in other cities and other states.

The wealthiest churches in America are in Texas. I don't know them. I just heard. How's the Lord going to do it? It's going to come from within here.

And every church with an amazing story of how the Lord did it, it always comes with a Lord demonstrating His power and touching the people who have shown themselves faithful and He touches them and brings them up and raises them up.

Hallelujah.

Take the communion elements in your hand and we're going to pray and partake of Jesus. We celebrate what happened 2,000 years ago on Palm Sunday.

He went into Jerusalem joyfully knowing what was waiting for Him and He gave His life as a ransom for us.

And on the cross He paid the penalty for sin, delivering us from sin, but delivering us in every way, spiritually, soulically, physically.

Father, as we partake of communion, I thank you that all of the benefits of the cross and the resurrection come upon your people.

Your people are blessed, your people are highly favored. They're the head and not the tail above and not beneath.

Blessed in the city, blessed in the field, blessed coming in, blessed going out.

Thank you that our sins are forgiven. And if you're here right now and you're holding communion elements and you've never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, do it right now.

Say this, just under your breath, say, Lord Jesus, I believe in you. I do believe. I believe. You thought of me on the cross. Your blood was shed for me.

I receive you as my Lord and Savior and I turn my back on the world. I repent of my sin. I receive your forgiveness.

And I'll put a new spirit within you. Go ahead and partake of the body of Jesus right now.

Go ahead and partake of the blood that was shed for you.

Hallelujah. I want to just put up this giver's confession. We haven't done this in way too long.

When you give, you can't do it automatically. Even if you set up automatic tithing, don't do it automatically.

Every time release faith, and Paul said, if you believe it in your heart, you'll speak it out your mouth. So let's say this out loud. But can you say it with your whole chest? Can you say it with faith?

Things happen when you speak.

Definitely not boring. You talk about God's nature and God's style. Part of God's nature and his style and his way of doing things is that the darker it gets out there, the more the light in his church will shine brighter. Amen.

So let's say this together. Everybody say this out loud because I am a tither and a giver. The windows of heaven are open to me. And God rebukes the devour for my sake. I am blessed financially and receive a blessing that I cannot contain.

I do not worry about lack. Knowing God supplies all my needs. Richly and abundantly. Therefore I am able to sow freely and liberally.

And I choose to sow cheerfully, generously and bountifully. Knowing I will reap bountifully. I have an abundance every favor.

An earthly blessing. All my needs are met. And I abound in every good work. Because I obey him. The Lord blesses everything I put my hand to.

He grants me abundant prosperity. Keep saying there's things now I sense a right in my spirit. There's things shifting and moving right now. He grants me abundant prosperity.

He makes me the head and not the tail above and not beneath the blessings of God are chasing me and overtaking me.

Because God loves to see me prosper. I am believing him for jobs and better jobs, advancements, raises and bonuses, sales and commissions, God ideas and strategies.

Deaths paid off. Expenses decrease. Blessings and increase. Financial freedom and breakthroughs.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord.

Father in 2023 may you come and overtake people. Come, Lord. You're the one who opens the door which no man can close. I thank you, man. Thank you, Lord.

2023 will be the year of the greatest testimonies we've ever had at City like Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus.

I want to invite the ministry team to come forward. If you want prayer for anything, anything at all, please come up to the front and our ministry team will pray with you and for you.

But I want you to just stick around and sing one or two songs with us. Sing with your heart. Allow the Lord to speak to you.

When you hear a message like this, he'll often speak to you and just give you a few words or show you a picture, a vision in your spirit, some adjustments that he wants to bring to you. He wants to align you with his will.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

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