Matters of the Heart

This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason and Liz Burns in Access Church in Lakeland and Bartow, Florida.

For more information, visit Access.tv.

Oh man, it is good to be back here.

How many of you all know that God loves Lakeland?

I got three people that agree with.

I said God loves Lakeland.

Now listen, I'm a preacher, so I do better when you say amen.

Do we need to practice?

Everybody say amen.

If it gets real good, you can stand up and just throw your hat at me or something.

It'd be good.

But man, it's always good to be here.

You guys have really one of the best churches on the planet.

Um, I'm Pastor Ken.

I pastor a live church, okay?

And so um been married to a gal named Tabitha for 26 years.

26 years.

It has been the best 24 years of my life.

You do the math.

The first two years was absolutely horrible.

But now Tabitha, she got herself together, and things are much better.

Much better.

She's not here, so I can say whatever I want to say.

But no, our marriage was headed for divorce.

But how many of you all know our God is a God of divine turnarounds?

And um, you know, I always say this: God didn't fix our marriage, he helped us fix our marriage because he gave us tools, and we work those tools, and now we're best friends, okay?

And so, out of the humor of God, he's given us a marriage podcast, and we help people around the world, help, you know, help them with their relationships.

And really, all we help them do is not be ratchet like we used to be.

But um, it's called Doing Life with Ken and Tabitha.

And so anytime you need some uh marriage help, check us out.

Um, also, there's a picture of my family.

Um, my children, I have three children.

My oldest is Hannah, she is 20 years old, and then I have a 16-year-old named Charity and Kenny, he's 14 years old.

And uh, we're the clayers.

Can you give it up for my family?

Just honored to be able to be here, serve you guys.

We love access church, we really do.

Like Pastor Jason says, I'm I'm family now.

You can just call me Uncle Ken.

Everybody say what's up, Uncle What's up, Unc.

What's up, Uncle?

And um, you know, I've been in ministry for 24 some years, and I've traveled the world.

I've been in thousands of churches, and I know a good church when I'm in one.

You guys have a great church here.

You really do.

Um, the presence of the Lord is here.

You're mission-minded, it's diverse, it's um it's a place where you have a theological depth, but also the presence of the Lord in this place.

Thank God for a good church.

But good churches don't grow on trees.

They usually have good leaders.

And you know, um today, this this month, y'all know what this month is?

It's breast cancer awareness month, okay?

My my wife just celebrated four years of being cancer free, four years.

Breast cancer free, four years.

Okay.

To God be the glory.

But it's also pastors appreciation month.

Did y'all know that?

Same of y'all had no clue.

All right?

It's Pastor's Appreciation Month.

And the Bible says, let the elder who rules well be counted worthy of double honor.

Don't take the gifts that God has given you and Pastor Jason and Liz for granted.

Love on them, man.

Cherish them, appreciate them.

They're one in a million.

Can you give them double honor today?

Just let them know we love you guys.

We love you.

We love you guys.

And so, are y'all ready for the word of God today?

I got a book.

It's called As It Is in Heaven.

If you want to check it out, it's in the lobby, maybe.

I'm not sure.

I didn't check it, but I hope it's out there.

And um, but I want to get into the word today, all right?

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for the power and your presence in this place.

Thank you for there being no distance in the spirit, same God here at this campus as also in Bartow and also North Lakeland and online.

So, Holy Spirit, have your way in our hearts today.

Let me teach the Word of God in practicality and simplicity, but also open the eyes of our understanding.

Let it not just be good preaching, but let it be an impartation of the spirit of faith.

Uh-huh.

I thank you that we will not leave this place the same way that we've come, but you will open the eyes of our understanding and cause us to be more extravagant lovers of you.

That we don't just come to church, but we leave this place to be the church.

We declare that Lakeland will never be the same.

We declare our generation will be a generation that walk in the light and not in the darkness.

And so, God, we give you praise.

If you agree with that, would somebody say amen.

Today's message is entitled Matters of the Heart.

Everybody say matter of the heart.

If you have a Bible, go with me over to Matthew chapter 6, verse 19.

Matthew 6:19

Matthew 6, verse 19.

Matthew 6:19

We're gonna like dissect Matthew 6, 19, unfold.

We're gonna lean into Matthew 6, 19.

And I'm old school, so I want us to read it together.

So when I say ready, read, we all read together, like everybody.

If you can read, let's read.

Are you ready?

Ready, read?

Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

But what?

Store for yourselves treasure in heaven where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

This is the most important part.

Ready to read?

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew's chapter 5 through 7 is what we call Jesus' infamous Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus is on the hill right outside of his hometown, Capernaum.

He begins to teach the crowd.

The Sermon on the Mount is considered by many to be the greatest moral teachings of all time.

Inside of chapter 5, 6, and 7, study it when you go home.

Jesus addresses prayer and fasting.

He addresses trusting the Lord and not worrying.

He talks about not judging others before you judge yourself.

He talks about how we can identify false and true prophets, and he says, you will know a tree by its fruit.

So the Sermon on the Mount has a lot to do with morality.

Everybody say morality.

What we should do and should not do as believers, how we should behave, how we should not behave as followers of Christ.

But the focus of the Sermon on the Mount has to do with our hearts.

Everybody say our hearts.

And this is what I believe today.

I don't believe that you came to church just to check off a box.

I believe that you're here to say, God, I want to give you my heart.

I want you to do something in my heart.

So in the scripture, the heart refers to the core of a person's being.

That's why it says, guard your heart above all else, for out of it flows the issues of life.

The heart is not just the organ that's pumping the blood, it's the source of decision making.

How you choose and act, it's the center of intention.

It has to do with what motivates you.

It's the seat of affection.

It has to do with what you love and also what you value.

So, simply put, the heart contains, your spirit, so to say, contains what you really care about.

And God wants us to care about him.

Would somebody say amen?

Your heart has to do with what you're really passionate about, and God wants us to be passionate about him.

It also contains what you really love, and how many of you all know God really wants us to love him?

Matter of fact, it's called the first and the greatest commandment.

Every other commandment hinges upon our ability to love God.

And I don't know about you, I want to make sure that I'm really following that commandment.

I want to be good at loving God.

I'm not good at a lot of stuff in my life, but this is the one that I want to maximize.

Would somebody say amen?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was after the hearts of the listeners.

And I believe that Jesus is still after our hearts today.

And so what we see happening in Matthew 6, 21, he's after our heart.

And this is the principle in verse 21.

It says, For where your treasure is, that's where your heart will be also.

Your heart, everybody say, my heart.

Your heart, your passions, your priorities, your love, your desire.

All right.

And so there's a divine connection between your treasure and how you steward material things in your life, how you steward what God gives you and what you really love.

I don't know about you, but my number one desire is to really be closer to Jesus.

Anyone with me today?

That's my number one goal.

That's my number one goal.

I want to hear him say, Well done.

I don't want to just start well, I want to finish well.

How many of y'all are with me today?

You don't want to start well, you want to finish well.

And I got all kinds of goals in my life.

I got some relationship goals, and maybe you have some retirement goals, maybe you have some investment goals.

Many of us have all kinds of goals, but my number one goal in my life right now is to hear him say, Well done.

Is anybody with me?

I want to hear Jesus say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.

All right.

And so I want to make sure that my heart is right with God.

All right.

So when the scripture says where man's treasure is, that's where his heart is, also, it really gets my attention.

Now, I want to be as transparent with you as I can today.

If you do not learn to honor God with your money, you will not be as close to Jesus as you have been designed to be.

Are y'all with me today?

Now, people don't like the way that sounds, but it does not change the fact that that's a biblical principle.

Okay?

That's the essence of what Matthew 6, 21 is saying.

You can say you love me, but what you say doesn't matter.

It's what you do that really matters.

How many of y'all know talk is cheap?

People can say things all the time.

I don't care what you say.

I want to see what are your behaviors like.

And I've learned over the years that the love language of God is obedience.

But the love language of God is also generosity.

Did you know that?

So we all have love languages.

Y'all remember the love languages of serving and gifts and all these different things?

The love language of God, first and foremost, is obedience.

First John chapter 4, it says, if you love me, keep my commandments.

1 John 4 · chapter mention

I lived as a Christian atheist for about 10 years of my life.

I define that as a person who believes in God but lives like he doesn't exist.

Ever been there before?

Okay, I have.

I was the kind of person owned the Bible that I never read.

I would go to church if it was convenient for me.

Matter of fact, if you put me in a lineup with 10 of my closest unsaved friends, you couldn't see a difference between them and me.

I drank like they drank, I partied like they partied, I slept around like they slept around.

And that's not an indictment towards my friends.

That's the reality of where I was.

They didn't say they were saved.

I said that I believed in God.

But I was a Christian atheist.

I believed in God, but I lived like he didn't exist.

And it doesn't matter that I said, Well, I love God and I believed in God, because if you love me, keep my commandments.

So the love language of God was not my lip service, it was my lifestyle.

So the love language of God is obedience, but you also know what it is?

The love language of God is also generosity.

And that's why Matthew 6.21 might be one of the most important scriptures for us to get hold of.

Because where a man's treasure is, that's where his heart is.

That's where his passion is.

That's where his priority is.

Are y'all with me today?

That's where his love is.

All right.

And so I kind of want to talk to you today about generosity.

And I want to come through the front door because I think it's so important to what God is doing in Access Church.

I believe that you all haven't seen nothing yet of how many lives God wants to reach through this house.

I believe you personally as well, when you understand the principles that our whole Christian faith is founded off generosity, God so loved the world that he what?

Gave.

And if we don't get this giving part, we're not gonna be as close to Jesus as we need to be.

And so I want to come through the front door with you today because I don't like side doors.

And I want to talk to you about generosity.

And really, when it comes down to generosity, the Bible talks about tithes and offering.

And for some of you all who are here today, this would just be confirmation to keep on doing what you're doing.

For others of you all, this is gonna be new information.

But I believe it's gonna be really good for you today because this is like one of the most important principles that I learned years ago when I first started walking with the Lord.

It has been the most transformable principle from Scripture for my life.

All right.

And so when Tabitha and I we first got married, we had all kinds of financial problems.

You know, we had six figures of debt, and I'm not talking about like appreciating loans like homes or anything like that.

I'm talking about like credit cards, student loans, and my wife, she just owes people things.

That's why you gotta be careful who you marry, you gotta check their credit score, right?

And so I remember financially things were so tough for us.

In the beginning of our marriage, we had a 1993 Toyota Camry.

It was the only car that we had, and this car was tore from the flow up.

I had accidentally ran the car into the side of our garage or a garage and knocked the side view mirror off of it, and then had the audacity to go to the junkyard, find another Toyota Camry that did not match my Toyota Camry in color, take the side view mirror off of that car, put it on my car, and me and my dad, we hotwired it and we accidentally messed up because when you put it to the left, it went to the right, and when you pushed it up, it went down.

This is just where we were.

I remember I had to park the car on a slant, like an upward slant, because if you parked it flat or downhill, if it rained, rainwater would come into the moon roof and it would be like two inches of water in the floor, and I had to drive around like Fred Flintstone.

All right?

This is just this is where we were.

I remember the first um job my wife had, we graduated from West Virginia University and then moved over to Washington, D.C.

And the first job she had was selling postage machines commercially, door to door, all commissioned.

She did this for months.

You know how much money she made?

Zero.

The woman stole all of her money, all right?

We were so broke we couldn't even spell it.

And so I remember the first uh house that we had, it was a rental house as a married couple, the first place we lived in together.

The rent was$350 a month.

Now that's dating myself.

That was a long time ago.

Everybody say long time ago.

And I struggled to pay it.

Okay.

I'm just painting a picture of where we were, okay.

Now, everything changed for us, and this is actually October 2001.

So this is 24 years to ago this month, October, right after 9-11.

We're living in DC right after 9-11.

Something happened in our nation, my heart was open, I came to church, all right?

And actually, how I got to church, I had some real estate clients, they invited me to church, and they made me a cake when they invited me.

And I really like cake.

So I came.

This is a true story.

It was on a Tuesday night, and there was all these, there was thousands of people there on a Tuesday night.

I had no clue people even went to church.

I was a Christian atheist.

I didn't even know people would go to church on a Tuesday night, but I like I like cake.

So there I was, right?

And I remember there was a guest preacher that was there that night, and after the guest preacher sat down, the senior pastor came up, all right, and he said something that marked me in the moment because I allowed the Holy Spirit to speak to me.

Now, how many of you all know that it's not good just to come and hear messages, but you don't hear God on the inside of the message?

That's why the scripture says, let he who has ears to hear, because not everybody who hears actually hear what the Lord is saying.

But for whatever reason, 24 years ago, my wife had been diagnosed depressed for 10 years at that point.

Our marriage was headed for divorce, and we had$100,000 of debt, and I heard the pastor say something that changed my life.

I heard God in it.

And whenever I preach on generosity, I love to pay it forward and just say what thus saith the Lord that changed my life.

And wherever I go around the world, I like to say it because I just believe there's an anointing on what was said.

All right.

So I'm sitting in church 24 years ago, just like you are today, and at the end of the message, the pastor gets up, and this is what he says He says, Tithing is the one place in the Bible that God gives you the opportunity as a believer to test him to see if his word won't work.

With$100,000 of debt, a marriage headed for divorce, I said, I'm gonna try to, I'm gonna try God.

I'm gonna test God.

Now, if you know me at all, my personality is over the top.

That's just the do I have any other over the top?

Like, I'm either hot or cold.

I'm not a lukewarm person.

I don't understand you lukewarm people.

Revelations 3 says, when you're lukewarm, he's spewing you out of it.

I don't understand.

Like when I was in the world, I was in the world.

I mean, we partied on Tuesday was chicken bones, Wednesdays was hip hop night, Thursday was a ladies' night, Fridays was the elements, Saturdays was was another party, Sunday we rested on the Sabbath, then we started back on Monday.

You hear what I'm saying?

When I was in the world, I was in the world.

I'm not gonna come to church and be halfway in the world.

That just ain't my style.

Like, I'm an all-in kind of guy.

Do I got any other all-in people?

Like, I'm not, I'm not gonna be lukewarm, all right?

So when I heard he say, I heard him say, you can test God in this area.

Do you know what I did?

I went home, I said, sweetheart, we're we're gonna start giving 20%.

We started giving it 20%.

I'm not some of y'all nervous, I'm not telling you to do that.

What I'm saying is, this is my story.

We started giving it 20%.

So I went from tipping to past tithing overnight, just with a word.

Just like, okay, God, if that's what you want me to do, that's what I'm doing.

Do you know what happened when I start giving God 20%?

It was the worst six months of my life.

I felt like I was attacked by the devil, Lucifer, fallen angels, demons, all the bad guys in the Bible.

And that's what the scripture says that when the sower sows the word, immediately the enemy comes to try to take that which is sown.

That is he who received seed by the wayside.

I wonder how many of you all get a good word on Sunday, but you lose it on Monday.

Because you don't know how to fight with the sword of the Spirit in the full armor of God.

Now, I ain't got a lot of sense, but 24 years ago I knew this that I wasn't gonna let the devil steal the word of God from me.

I said, Listen, you can come get my apartment, you can come get my car, that raggedy car, you can come get all of my clothes, but you ain't gonna get my faith.

There comes a place where you gotta draw a line in the sand and say, For God I live and for God I die.

My way don't work, his way is gonna be better than my way.

And I don't care what you take from me, you just ain't gonna take my obedience another day.

Do I got any faith-filled people in the house today?

And so I could give you so many stories about what that moment meant to us.

I'll I'll say this six months it was hard, but after six months breakthrough began, and for the last 23 and a half years, it don't matter who's in office, it don't matter where the economy is, I've never seen the righteous forsaken or the seed begging bread.

Now, I got so much to this story, but for the sake of time, our the first year of our marriage, Tabitha and I, my wife, our combined income was about$10,000 for the year.

By the fourth year of our marriage, tithing, giving, living holy, putting God first, our combined income was about$750,000 for the year.

You can give God praise.

I'm praising on the inside right now.

Praise God.

But here's the deal.

Um, to you guys, that might not be a lot of money, but for this boy from the mountains of West Virginia and this mixed chick from the projects of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, you might as well say we hit the lotto.

I could not understand why anybody who would love Jesus wouldn't give to the God that owns the thousand cattle upon a thousand hill.

And he says, if you give, it shall be given back to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.

And all of his, he, he, all of the, all of the universe hangs on his word.

I just I just couldn't understand that.

So it almost like became my life mission to let people know that our God's good.

And when you give to him, good things happen.

Would somebody say, Man?

I want to share with you the scripture that was given to me, Malachi chapter three.

So not only did the pastor say this was the area that you could test God in, he showed it to us in the Bible, and it actually became one of my favorite passages.

It's the principle found in Malachi chapter 3, verse 10.

Malachi 3:10

And it says this bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be what?

Food in my house.

Not chicken, not steak, but provision in his house.

So he says, bring the whole tithe, and not 5%, not 6%, not what you feel like giving.

The tithe is 10% by definition.

That's what it means.

It's a tenth in the Hebrew, and it also has a location.

It's not just give it wherever you want to give it.

There's supposed to be a house, a place where you get fed the Word of God.

Why do we bring the tithe into the local church so that there can be provision in this house?

So we can have better served Saturdays, so we can serve our community, so we can actually hire staff to take care of your spiritual needs even more, so we can have more campuses and reach more people.

Is anybody still interested in those things?

That's what it means.

And then he says, watch this, test me in this.

This is the one place in the scripture where God says, test me and see if I won't do what I say I'm gonna do.

He says, See if I won't throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much what?

Blessing that there won't be room enough to what?

Store it.

I will prevent the pests from devouring your crops, and your vines in the fields won't drop their fruit before it's ripe, says the Lord Almighty.

And all nations will call you what?

Blessed, for yours will be a what?

Delightsome land, says the Lord Almighty.

Now I've heard some people say this is not for us today, this is Old Testament, this is the priest, to all that.

I say, wonk, wonk, wonk.

If you ever have to use the Bible to convince yourself to give less more than more, I think you're going the wrong way.

I'm preaching better than you saying, Amen.

If you say you love God and you go and say, Well, I don't I want to find a scripture where I don't have to give 10%.

10%'s not a lot.

Think about it for a second.

10%, if you went to the mall and Macy's had a 10% off sale, would you go in?

No, that ain't a big deal, right?

But why when it comes to giving to God, 10% is a big deal, but he gave his life on a bloody cross.

See, the truth of generosity is that 100% of what we have belongs to the Lord.

We are not owners, we're stewards.

So it's not 10%, it's 100%.

But because he loves me, he gives me 90 back to see how I'm going to steward it.

Would somebody say amen?

And so this is what I believe.

If we're going to the Bible to try to figure out how to give less, we're going the wrong way.

The scripture says this it's more blessed to give than it is to receive.

That if you give bountifully, you shall receive what?

Bountifully.

That God gives seed to the what?

Sower.

That when you give, it shall be given back to you.

How?

Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, right?

And don't forget, where your treasure is, that's where your what heart is also.

And so God doesn't want your money, He wants your heart.

Churches, pastors, preachers, we don't want your money, we want your heart.

I have a skill set that for me, and this is just the honest truth, pastoring is the fastest way to go broke for me.

I'm a real estate investor.

I owned a real estate brokerage outside of Washington, D.C.

that was doing very well.

When God called me into ministry, I had to take a significant pay cut.

What am I saying?

Don't believe YouTube.

Pastors, preachers, churches, we don't want your money.

We want your heart.

We want your soul to be connected to your high priest.

We want you to love God in a tangible way.

Because we've seen something in the scripture that will, we don't want, we don't, we don't desire a gift.

We want fruit that abounds towards your account.

I'm preaching and you saying amen.

Would somebody give God praise if you receive this?

There's four things that I want you to know today.

Four things, and if you're taking notes, please write these down.

Four things that I believe God wants us to know today.

Number one is that money is not the root to all evil.

It's the love.

Everybody say the love.

It's the love of money that's the root to all evil.

Be honest, by show of hands, all campuses.

How many of you all, if you were honest, could use a little bit more money in this economy?

Okay?

We got some truthful people.

Everybody else should either sleep or lie.

That's not a bad thing that you want more money, right?

It's not necessarily a bad thing, but you got to make up your mind.

How are you going to get it?

Okay?

You can either do it your way or God's way.

Now, your way is gonna be keep, save, grind, hustle.

God's way is gonna be tithe, give, trust, and obey.

Your way is gonna burn you out.

God's way is gonna help you shake nations.

Which way do you want to do this?

All right?

Now, Tabbit and I, right now, we start our giving at 16%.

That's where we start.

That's a 10% tithe, a 6% offering.

The tithe is set by God, 10%.

The offering is anything over and above the tithe.

That's where we start.

Now, when I look at all of my giving, typically it's around 19.5%, still to this day.

All right.

And you say, Pastor, why would you do that?

Because I love God.

And where my treasure is, that's where my love is.

And so I'm I'm right now praying about going to 17%.

Are you with me today?

So I'm only sharing this with you, and this is private information because I want you to know that I don't preach this.

I live this.

I've lived this for 24 years.

Are you with me today?

All right.

Number two, I want you to know this.

Write this down.

There's no such thing as tithing your time.

Somebody say amen.

Tithing has to do with finances.

That's why it's a percentage.

Some people say, Well, I tithe my time.

Well, I'm sure that's a great principle.

Go ahead with your bad self.

But that ain't what the Bible's talking about.

You know, when it's talking about the tithe, it's a financial thing.

You know, some people say, Well, I just I don't give financially.

I don't tithe.

But I run a small group, I help the elderly, I take care of my relatives, I come to all three services, and I'm good.

No, you're not good.

I hear the Lord saying this, this one thing you lack.

It's like what he said to the rich young ruler.

Like the rich young ruler said, I kept all these commandments from my youth.

I mean, I ain't even done that.

That's a bad man.

You kept all the commandments?

And Jesus is like, but this one thing you lack.

It's amazing to me, especially in the modern church world, that sometimes we can know Bible eschatology, Bible prophecy, we deepen revelations, we know how to cast out demons, we got all, but you don't give.

And it's still that one thing, it's that one idol that we keep bowing the knee to, making excuses all around us, and God is like in this season, let's get that one thing right.

Because it has to do with our heart.

I'm preaching better than they say and Amen.

Here's number three.

Tithing is not an Old Testament principle, it's a believer principle.

Are you with me today?

Y'all getting this?

I need you to teach people in your small group, the church.

Now, this is one of the fastest growing churches in America, statistically.

I've seen what's been happening, okay?

As new people come, you gotta share this with them because people don't know.

I really feel like when people get saved, one of the first things they need to learn how to do is give to God because it has to do with their heart.

So people say that tithing is an Old Testament thing.

No, it's a believer thing.

Let me help.

The Old Testament is just as much God's word as the new, which somebody say amen.

Jesus didn't come to do away with the law, he came to fulfill it.

Somebody say amen.

Secondarily, Abraham, who is considered a father in the faith, he tithed 400 years before the law of Moses.

Not only that, Abraham tithed to Melchizedek.

Do you know who Melchizedek was?

Okay.

Melchizedek was an Old Testament shadow of Jesus.

The Bible says that he didn't have a mother or a father, and he abided a priest continually.

He was an Old Testament shadow to Jesus.

So when Abraham tithed, he tithed under grace.

And he was showing us how to bring a tenth of whatever we get in battle to our high priest.

And that's exactly what believers in the New Testament should do.

Stick with me.

So the tithe was a principle.

This is not what you have to do, this is what you get to do.

It doesn't earn you salvation.

This is what we get to do when we win in battle.

Now notice this.

Whenever you get a paycheck, you have one in battle.

Whenever you expand that business, you have one in battle.

You should take the first and the best and bring it to your high priest.

So the tithe was before the law, it was a part of the Levitical law, but it was also affirmed in the New Testament, in Hebrews chapter 7, and also Matthew 23, 23, there is not one scripture in the Bible that says tithing has ever stopped.

Hebrews 7 · chapter mention

So if for some reason you're going to the Bible to prove that you're going the wrong way.

Matter of fact, the only time that Jesus, watch this, spoke about the tithe, the one time Jesus spoke about the tithe, you know what he said to do?

He said, Keep on tithing.

Can I show it to you?

Matthew 23, 23 says this.

He says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anis and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith.

He says, These you ought to have done without what?

Leaving the others undone, without leaving tithing undone.

Now Jesus was a master pivoter.

He would say, You've heard it been said this, but now I say unto you this.

If he wanted to change the tithe, he would have said it in Matthew 23, 23.

But instead of pivoting, what did he see, what did he do?

He re-fortified it.

Keep on doing that.

Alright?

Don't neglect the weightier matters of the law, but when it comes to tithing, you need to keep on doing that.

Are you with me today?

And so this is a principle that Jesus Himself affirms.

This is the fourth thing I want you to know today.

Number four, is that tithing has tremendous benefits.

And if you really understood it and you had faith for it, there is nobody who is a Christian on the planet earth that wouldn't give God the first and the best.

What does it do?

It helps guard us from the improper relationship of money.

Do you know that the Bible never says don't have money?

You know what it says?

Don't love money, trust money, serve money, be haughty after money, trusting uncertain riches, right?

So how do we get over loving money, trusting money, serving money?

And making money an idol.

We give money.

Because generosity is the lax of the soul that pushes out greed.

And it pushes out the wrong relationship with money.

So if you don't give, you have to place that money as an idol.

So God says, I want you to give it back to me.

I don't mind you having it, I just don't want it to have you.

It's a tremendous blessing.

Another benefit, it connects us to the promises of God.

He says, Test me.

What am I gonna do?

I'm gonna give you the windows of heaven blessing.

I declare you're under the windows of heaven in Jesus' name.

He says, I'm gonna rebuke the devourer.

So whatever is trying to steal and attack, God steps in for the tither.

He says, No, stop it right there.

He says, All nations will call you blessed, meaning that even people that don't believe in Jesus are gonna look at you and say, You're blessed.

Are you with me today?

But here's a very important benefit of the tithe it provides the resources for the local church to continue to reach more people and change more lives.

Would somebody say amen?

Right?

Now, this is what I know, prophetically speaking, there's revivals happening around the world.

And there is government shutdowns, wars, rumors of wars, and all kinds of division.

That is a smoke screen so that you start to focus on the problems more than the promise.

Don't get focused on all the pain and the problems, and you miss the revival.

I was praying and the Lord spoke awakening to me, and I began to study about the first great awakening, 1700s, and the second great awakening, 1800s.

Could it be we're coming into a third great awakening?

Last week we had an atheist never been to church, never had a Bible.

They bought a Bible, came to church, and stood in worship and says, I won't help reading this.

I need help with this.

There's revival.

When you give to the local house, we go make more stories like that happen.

We go reach more people.

This is what I say.

It's my job as a pastor to give the vision.

It's the generosity of the people that determines the pace.

We are to usher in an end-time harvest of souls.

And when you give, it shall be given back to you.

It's all about your heart.

Are you with me today?

And so here's a few things that I want you to know.

People say, How?

I believe there are some of you all who are like, okay, Pastor, that's me.

I have not been consistent in my generosity, but I want to be.

Here's a few things of how do you become a consistent tither?

Where do you start?

Number one, you got to put this in your heart.

Twenty-four years ago, I said, I'm done with my way.

God, your way is in my heart.

Number two, you got to put God at the top of your budget.

Everybody say at the top.

This is the most important practical key.

If you're here today, you're not a tither, but you want to be, you got to take God off the bottom of your budget and you got to put them at the what?

Top.

God doesn't want to be second, third, fourth, or fifth.

Now, what a lot of people say is that I just can't afford to tithe right now, and that's not true.

My name is Ken and I'm your friend, but that's not true.

It's not true.

People say, Well, I can't afford to tithe, and you got your hair done, you got your nails done, you at the you're getting a massage, you got a new Tesla, you got an iPhone 17, you got your kids in public school, you got a Planet Fitness membership, and then you overspend and then say, you can't afford to tithe.

And that's why it's a percentage.

There's a law of the first fruits that when you give God the first, the rest is gonna be blessed.

Time after time, I hear people say, I can do more with 90% with the blessing than I ever could with 100% out of my own willpower.

God doesn't wanna be at the bottom of your budget.

You gotta take them off the bottom of your budget and you gotta put them at the top.

For 24 years, when God gives to me, the first thing I do is I go online and I give back to him.

He gives to me, I give back to him.

Not because I have to, but because I get to.

I don't give to get.

I give because I love God, but because God loves me, he gives it back to me.

Good measure, pressed down, shaking together, and running over.

And I say, Oh my God, I want to love you some more.

And he says, No, son, I want to love you some more.

And I say, No, God, I want to love you some more.

And we got this love contest going on, me and God, and I want you to be able to be a part of that.

Are you with me today?

So it's very important.

A lot of people say, Well, I can't afford the top.

No, you gotta go home.

So, what's that mean?

That things that are lower in your budget, you might have to go without for a season.

Okay, you might have to do your own hair.

Go to YouTube University, figure it out.

Gotta do your own nails.

That's why you got kids.

Come do my nails, you know what I'm saying?

Maybe you can't have a gym membership.

Get in the garage, run in place, do some jumping jacks.

It's gonna be all right.

I would rather do it God's way.

Are you with me today?

See, fire falls on sacrifice.

There's just something about the believer that sacrifice, come on, y'all, he gave his life on a cross for us in what we call a sacrifice.

We can say, God, I'm gonna sacrifice some convenience for what you've called me to do.

And number three, is this is the last one, is that you gotta take a stand.

Everybody say, take a stand.

Twor years ago, I drew a line in the sand and I took a stand.

I just said, I'm gonna do it your way, God.

We live in a day and time, people of God.

You're gonna have to take a stand.

In many areas, you're gonna have to take a stand.

I'm identified with Jesus.

I'm taking a stand for my faith.

I'm right now thinking about canceling my Netflix.

You go home and study that.

I'm taking a stand.

We need some, we need a generation to take a stand.

Just know I'm standing for righteousness.

I love you, but I don't agree with you.

I'm standing for righteousness.

When it comes to generosity, you gotta take a stand.

There's four kinds of people who are here today that are hearing this.

Number one, those of you all who have been tithers, you know who you are.

You've been a person that's sacrificed and you've been giving.

Um we just want to say thank you, first of all, for your generosity.

Thank you for obeying God even when it's tough.

Yours is the kingdom.

I want you to pray about what is God asking you to do as it relates to the offering.

Every year I say, God, okay, what's next?

Do you want me to go?

Do you want me to go higher?

What do you want me to do?

Second kind of person who is here is a person that you tie every once in a while.

That's not a tie.

You've been inconsistent.

Sometimes you do it, sometimes you don't.

You start and you stop.

Okay.

The third kind of person who's here is a person who's like, well, I don't care what you preach, curly head man, I'm not gonna do that.

And my word to you would be, it's okay, I love you.

We love you.

Just keep coming to church.

Because what we want you to do is grow your love for God and grow your faith in God with the hopes at some point you'll obey God.

Okay.

Because your giving don't stop me.

Your giving is stopping you.

It's hurting you.

Okay.

So if those of you all who are like, I don't know, and you're mad, don't give.

That's just me.

That's not pat that's me.

I tell people all the time.

I don't want you giving grudgingly or out of necessity.

For God loves a cheerful giver.

My job is to raise your love and to raise your faith in God.

But then there's a fourth kind of person who's here and you're honest, like I was 24 years ago, and you're like, I'm not a tither.

I tip God here and there, but I want to be a tithe.

Is anybody here like that?

Like, I want to be a tither.

Like, oh my God, I want to test God in this area.

Here's my challenge.

Take a 90-day tithing challenge based upon Malachi 3.

Test God for 90 days.

This is a great time to do it.

October, November, December.

End the year off, saying, God, I'm gonna test you for 90 days.

Not with the heart, like at the 90 days on day 91, I'm gonna quit.

No, over 90 days, let me put you at the top of my budget, even though it's hard, and let me believe by faith that you're gonna provide for me and I'm gonna be closer to you, that I gained so much revelation in 90 days that I want to do it for the next 90 years.

At some place, you just gotta take a test.

And if that bears witness with you, it's not for everybody, but I know it's for somebody, and you say, Pastor, I want to take a stand.

I don't even know how I'm gonna do it, but I got the faith to do it right now.

And for the next 90 days at least, I want to put God first and I don't want to be a tither.

If that bears witness with you, I want to pray over you.

Could you just, on the count of three, just stand for me so I can pray so I know who I'm praying for all over the building.

One, two, three.

You say, Pastor, I'm not a tither, but I want to be.

I want to take a would you give them a big round of applause all over the building?

Bartow, North Lake.

You can stand as well.

You can just wave at us.

God bless you.

God bless you.

Thank you for your obedience.

Thank you for your faith.

Stand up for a minute because I remain standing because I want to pray over you.

All right.

Everyone, do your hands like this because I want to declare the blessing of the Lord.

Because God, He's seeing your heart.

It took guts to stand, but God's gonna bless you.

So, Father, in Jesus' name, I just pray favor over them.

I declare that the windows of heaven is opening over them now.

I pray in the name of Jesus that what you did in me 24 years ago, you will do it in a multiplied fashion.

I thank you, God, that the resumes go from the bottom to the top.

I pray for debt being counseled.

I pray for supernatural doors of opportunity, that the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous.

And I also pray in this season they'll be closer to you than what they've ever been.

There will be such an intimacy between them and their high priest.

I pray that they'll hear your voice.

And this 90 days will change the next 90 years of their life.

We declare it over you.

Windows of heaven open over you in Jesus' mighty name.

Somebody say amen.

You all can be seated.

All right.

Now, what I would love you to do is on your connection cards, just put down who you are and say, I'm taking the 90-day tithing challenge.

Because at least if we could send them to you, we know we could have people just pray over them at the very least.

So on your way out, please do that if you can.

Just say, I'm taking the 90-day tithing challenge so we know who you are, okay?

But I want to pray for you because the most important part of all of our church services is what you do with Jesus.

You know, God doesn't want you to give anything until He first gives something to you.

He wants to give you eternal life, he wants to give you freedom and healing and deliverance, he wants to give you salvation.

And so, with every head bowed and every eye closed at all of our campuses, if you're here today and you can humbly admit that you've ever sinned, the Bible says that we've all sinned, fallen short of the glory of God.

So we're all in need of a savior, and his name is Jesus.

You being nice, you being a good person is not what saves you.

You putting your trust fully and completely in Jesus is the only thing that saves you.

And so if you're here today and you say, Pastor, I've sinned and I want to be forgiven of my sins.

I want to turn away from my sins.

I want to put my faith in Jesus.

I want Jesus to be the Lord of my life.

Today is your day of salvation.

And so with every head bowed and every eye closed, if you're here and you say, Pastor, when you pray, could you pray this prayer?

God wants to give you eternal life today.

Don't reject it.

God wants to give you the gift of salvation today.

Don't reject it.

It's yours just to be received because he loves you.

So with every head bowed and every eye closed, if that's you, and you say, Pastor, when you pray, please pray for me.

Please lift up your hand on the count of three.

One, two, three.

Just lift up a hand and say, Pastor, when you pray, please pray for me.

I see your hand, I see your hand, your hand, your hand, your hand, your hand, your hand, your hand, your hand, your hand.

Hands are going up online at all of our other locations.

God sees you can put your hand down.

And we're gonna pray together.

Nobody prays alone.

Say, Jesus, come into my heart today.

Forgive me of my sins.

From this day forward, I surrender all of me for all of you.

Lord Jesus, be the Lord of my life, the savior of my soul.

From this day forward, I'm saved.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you guys.