What Test? // Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems (Part 3) // Robert Morris

In the third week of our series Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems, we had the incredible opportunity to hear from Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. His practical example on the importance of tithing made for a powerful message. We learned that tithing is a test, it’s biblical and it’s personal! If you’re looking for wisdom and insight on tithing, this is the message for you.

[Music]

thank you

thank you thank you thank you

you can’t can’t be introduced by anyone

more special than pastor mike that’s for

sure so thank you very much i am very

very very honored to be here we love

pastors mike and natalie they’ve been in

our home

uh we’ve spent time together we just

love each other so much

you

you

probably realize this but if you don’t

you are

so blessed to have pastors mike and

natalie todd you are

so blessed to have them

so

so i’m i’m honored to be here

um if i if you don’t know debbie and i

uh this may

we’ll have been married 42 years

so

uh

we got we got married young uh it was

the biggest event in the sixth grade and

so um

but i brought a picture of my family we

have three grown and married children

and nine

grandchildren so

there you go there’s a picture of our

family right there you can see

and uh so two sons and a daughter

and uh we just love them and again nine

grandchildren if you don’t know this by

the way

grandchildren

are god’s reward for not killing your

children

so uh if you’ll just hang on uh it gets

a lot better just trust me so when you

can get the moochers out of your house

and um

and then just have the grandchildren

come and go

come and go

uh

someone asked me one time what are your

favorite christmas lights i said tail

lights

that’s that’s horrible i know i’m sorry

i’m sorry but

great grandchildren the only people in

the world you love to see gum

and you love to see go when it’s time

because we don’t have that much energy

anymore so

um

i’m i’m really glad to be uh the third

week of this series uh mo money

mo problems

and i love the the first two weeks i

also love that you got dave ramsey’s

material

uh last weekend if you didn’t get it

if you still got some left over get it

um

but i’ll actually be with dave this

wednesday doing a television show

together dave wrote the forward

to my book that follow up the blessed

life there you’ve heard of the blessed

life but then i wrote a book called

beyond blessed on stewardship and dave

wrote the forward so he and i he and

i’ll be together this wednesday

uh taping the show together um

so i just was thinking about mo

mo mo money mo problems there’s a lady

in our church

that um when she had her fourth child

her her first first three were named

eenie meenie and miney

and she named her fourth child george

and i asked her why didn’t you name your

fourth child george she said cause there

ain’t gonna be no mo

so

[Applause]

some of you that didn’t that didn’t

happen that’s not

that’s not truthful that’s just an old

joke all right

so um

what i want to share with you today is

something that happened to me a lot in

school

and it might have happened to you

uh so this is the title of the message

and i’ll get to it but let me tell you

what used to happen a lot in school

see if this ever happened to you you

walk into class

and everybody’s got their books out and

they’re studying

and they say

to you when you walk in this is before

class starts they say

are you ready

and i would always say

for what

and they would say

the test yeah and then i would respond

what test okay

i didn’t do that well uh in school um

but i’m proud of myself i graduated in

the

top 10

of the lower one-third of my class

so

but so that’s the title of the message

day what test

and most believers

don’t know

that you take a test

every time you get paid

and god wrote the test

no preacher came up with this test god

did

every time you get paid you take a test

so let me just take a little poll here

and online and all the campuses everyone

watching all right so uh how many of you

get paid once a month

because i see your hands okay got a few

how many of you get paid

twice a month that’s what most people

most people okay how many of you get

paid every week

okay how many of you never get paid okay

all right

i’m sorry

but every time you get paid

you take a test

the test

is whom

are you going to thank

for your paycheck

are you going to thank visa

because the way to pass the test

is where does the first check go

out of your account

and that bless you and that tells you

that tells god

whom you are worshiping

for your income

and you tell god

who you think is in charge

of your income

so here’s the test so we’re going to

start in malachi 3. i know malachi’s in

the old testament’s the last book in the

old testament but we’re going to talk

about how we take things that are in the

old testament and kind of

disregard them and we shouldn’t because

this whole book is from god

the whole thing

so malachi 3 verse 6 says for i am the

lord

i do

not

change

that’s pretty important because the

whole bible talks about tithing

and god says i don’t change

and yet he’s the one who invented this

thing

i don’t change and then this next part

to me is kind of funny he says therefore

you are not consumed oh sons of jacob in

other words because i don’t change i

haven’t killed you yet

i’m a good god

yet from the days of your fathers you

have gone away from my ordinances now

let’s stop for a minute i don’t know if

you know the meaning of the word

ordinance because many times we don’t

think about the original meaning of

words or where a word comes from but

ordinance comes from the word ordinary

and what it means

is a principle of ordinary behavior

so here’s what god is saying this is a

principle of ordinary

behavior for my children and you’re

going to hear what that principle is in

a minute

yet from the days of your fathers you’ve

gone away from my ordinances have not

kept them return to me

and i will return to you

says the lord of hosts but you said in

what way shall we return

now the next part we’re going to read is

god speaking not malachi not a preacher

malachi just pinned it this is god

speaking they said how do you want us to

return watch what god says in verse 8

will a man

rob

god

yet you have robbed me

in what way

you say have we robbed you

here’s god’s answer

in tithes

and offerings

you are cursed

with a curse now just once you notice he

doesn’t say i’m cursing you

because god wants to bless see we live

in a cursed world

and the way we come out from under the

curse

is by obeying this book and if we want

to bring our finances out from under the

curse then we return the first 10 to god

and then we are not under the curse

anymore but he says because you’re

robbing me you’re not giving me the

tithe

you’re i’m just letting you know you’re

under a curse

[Music]

you’re under a curse

for you have robbed me even this whole

nation

i you know i got to say something else

here too i just have to i’ve read this

for years

and you know the tithe belongs to god i

agree with that but it all belongs to

god

so when it says you have robbed me

but it all belongs to god

i thought

lord what are you talking about please

hear me

you are robbing him

of the opportunity to bless you

he’s not he doesn’t need your money to

pay the light bill in heaven

he doesn’t need your money to buy more

heavenly asphalt which by the way is

gold

that’s what the streets are made of gold

that’s that’s heavenly asphalt

he needs you to give to him

so that you’ll have faith in him so that

he can bless you

so when he says you’re robbing me he’s

saying you’re robbing me of the

opportunity to bless you

i’d like to bless you i’d like to bring

you out from under the world system of a

curse but you won’t let me do it you’re

robbing me

verse 10 bring all the tithes into the

storehouse

that there may be food

in my house okay i gotta stop there too

this church

every weekend

you have great

food

would you agree with that

pastor mike delivers

great food i know because we’ve had him

at gateway

i know how good the food he delivers

this

in my opinion he’s the second best in

the world

this says bring the tithe

in the storehouse that there may be food

in my house

do you know why you have such good food

because transformation is a giving

church

[Music]

it’s a generous church

that’s why you have such great food so

many other churches don’t have great

food but look at their tithing records

too that this is just it’s amazing what

tithing does

and we just don’t understand it

that there may be food in my house and

try this word try means to test or to

prove like when you prove gold to be

true

test me now in this says the lord of

hosts and see if i will not open for you

the windows of heaven and pour out for

you such blessing

there will not be room enough to receive

it and

and

i will rebuke the devourer for your

sakes

wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have

to rebuke satan yourself

wouldn’t it be okay with you if god

actually rebuked the devil for your sake

it’s ten percent

that’s what it’s that’s what it is

i’ll rebuke the devourer for your sakes

so he will not destroy the fruit of your

ground nor shall the vine fail to bear

fruit for you in the field says the lord

and all

nations will call you

blessed

for you will be a delightful land says

the lord of hosts so

this is in malachi

3.

there are about six verses after this

and then there are six verses in chapter

four and then you get to matthew 1.

the number one

argument i hear against tithing is

that’s old testament

now it’s not just old testament it’s new

testament too and i’ll show you some new

testament verses but i hear that all the

time so i’m talking to the lord one time

and i said to him lord

this is one of the best passages on

tithing in the bible

but it

missed the new testament by just 12

verses

couldn’t you have just waited

12 verses

i mean it would have made my job as a

pastor a lot easier

and i felt like the lord just spoke to

my heart and said

i put it right where i wanted it

because tithing is a two-way test

god says you can test me

it’s the only place in the bible god

says you can test him

you can test me but what you need to

understand is he’s testing you

you can stand all day in worship and say

i give it all to you

but when your heart says but not ten

percent

i give you everything but not ten

percent

you’re lying

that’s very hypocritical

if you’ll give him everything you do now

people who don’t tithe they’re not bad

people they’re not bad people many of

them just simply don’t believe that it’s

biblical

or they believe it’s old testament

they’re under the law and we’re not

under the law so i’m going to address

some of those things because if if you

don’t tithe you’re not a bad person okay

i want you to understand that but i do

want to show you that it’s all through

the bible and that it wasn’t just under

the law and that even if it was under

the law

it doesn’t mean that it’s bad now

so let me show you a couple of things

number one tithing is a test

it is a test

we can test god but god tests us

uh i don’t know why god chose 10

but i think it’s because it’s even for

everybody

it doesn’t matter how much you make or

how little you make it’s still a penny

on every diet

it’s the same for everybody

but i do know this when you study

numbers throughout the bible the number

10 represents testing

when you see the number 10 in the bible

it’s always talking about a test

let me just show you a few all right i’m

going to ask you some questions

and you’re going to respond with the

answer and they’re really easy some of

them you might not know but you’ll

you’ll figure it out all right so let me

just show you how 10 represents testing

here’s first question how many plagues

were there in egypt

10. now what i could have said was how

many times did god test pharaoh’s heart

because that’s what it says i will test

his heart 10 times

but the best well we all know there were

10 plagues all right here’s an easy one

how many commandments are there

10

10 commandments right because what’s god

doing he was testing israel’s heart

okay now you might not know this answer

but there’s a pattern here

okay all right

how many times did god test israel in

the wilderness

10. you can go back and read it if you

want to how many times were jacob’s

wages changed

10 and he said god said i tested him i

tested jacob okay how many days was

daniel tested

10 okay now you’re starting to get

softer i need you to say it louder okay

all right

how many virgins were tested in matthew

25.

all right how many days of testing are

mentioned in revelation

10 how many disciples were there no

there were 12 okay so

you got it right so i was just testing

you i was just testing you okay

here’s what gets me

we say all these things it was old

testament or it was under the law

what you need to understand is that

behind the law is a principle

and the principle is for your good.

so what we ought to be asking is

what’s the principle

behind giving ten percent to the church

see for instance

here here are some laws that you’ve got

to understand

no we’re not in the law as christians

but they’re principles that go all

through scripture

the bible says not to commit adultery

well are you going to tell me now

because you’re a christian that’s okay

well that’s not okay because there’s a

principle that it’s going to hurt your

family and it’s going to hurt your

friends and it’s going to hurt you it’s

going to hurt people he doesn’t want

people the bible says not to lie

but you’re going to tell me well you

know i’m not i’m not under the law so

it’s okay to lie now

let me give you an example all right i’m

just going gonna give an example uh mike

come here uh this is mike briskey he

works with me uh give me your water give

me your wallet i want your wallet okay

and you can wait right there mike mike

by the way works with me now he but

before uh he worked with me uh he was a

professional golfer 15 years played on

the pga tour and and beat tiger by the

way at doral so his self so all right

that’s why i asked for his wallet and

not charles because i wanted

he got a ranch in texas i mean you know

so there you go

so uh anyway all right so what i’m gonna

do though is i’m gonna keep this

because thou shalt not steal was under

the law and i’m not under the law

anymore

[Music]

right

that’s foodless shouldn’t it all right

okay so i’m not going to keep it i’m

going to

there’s not any money

there’s not even any money in it i may

mean

it’s crazy i took his wallet i didn’t

want any money

[Applause]

what did you do

what

you took your money out

[Music]

i told him on the plane this morning i

told listen i’m going to do this

illustration i want you to give me your

wallet

and he takes his money out before he

gives it to me

that’s just wrong that’s wrong okay all

right

here’s the second thing i want to tell

you tithing is biblical

most people don’t believe tithing is

biblical so they don’t do it i just want

you to know it’s biblical and it wasn’t

just under the law it was before the law

and after the law

look genesis 14 verse 18 then

melchizedek king of salem brought out

bread and wine by the way don’t have

time to go into all this that’s the

first communion right there

he was the priest the most high god of

god most high and he blessed him and

said blessed be abram of god most high

possessor of heaven and earth and

blessed be god most high who has

delivered your enemies into your hand

and he that’s abraham gave him

melchizedek who’s the type of jesus a

tithe

of all

okay here’s what you might not know this

is 500

years before the law

and galatians 3 says those of us who are

our faith are of abraham’s seat

where abraham’s kids so here’s our

spiritual father

500

years

before the law here’s why you need to

know that murder was wrong before the

law

[Music]

when cain murdered abel

2500 years before the law it was still

wrong

adultery was still wrong before the law

and what i’m telling you is tithing was

right before the law

this is 500 years before the law

look at this scripture this is 400 years

before the law genesis 28 22 this is

jacob speaking and this stone which i’ve

set as a pillar shall be

god’s house and of all that you give me

i will surely give a tenth to you

400 years before it was in the laws

tell me how you explain that if this

isn’t a principle

before the law and it’s a principle

after the law

deuteronomy 26 verse 1 it shall be when

you come into the land which the lord

your god is giving you as an inheritance

and you possess it and dwell in it that

you shall take some of the first of all

the produce of the ground i’m going to

show you in a minute that’s time at the

tithe which you shall bring into your

land that the lord your god is giving

you and put it in a basket and go to a

place he’s talking about church in

essence where the lord your god chooses

to make his name abide look at verse 13

then you shall say before the lord your

god i have removed the holy tithe from

my house and given them to the levite

the stranger the fathers and the widow

that’s the a church distributed the

funds at that time according to all your

commandments which you have commanded me

i’ve not transgressed your commandments

nor have i forgotten them i’ve not eaten

any of it when in mourning in other

words when i was sad i didn’t go spend

some nor have i removed any of it for

any unclean use then use it for

pornography or anything else nor giving

any of it for the dead for any type of

spiritism or anything i have obeyed the

voice of the lord my god and i’ve done

according to all that you in me now

here’s the prayer you can pray if you’re

a tither look down from your holy

habitation from heaven and bless

your people

right there

okay now now i have a question for you

if jesus

himself

said to you

you ought to tithe

would you tithe

i only got like three yeses out of that

did y’all get did y’all did someone else

did buddha save you

or was it jesus that saved you

so i just asked you a question

that if the one that saved you

asked you to tithe and some of you had

to think about it

so can i ask the question again

i’d like to get a response

if jesus himself said see because some

of you know okay he’s setting me up yeah

i am if jesus himself said

that you ought to tithe would you tithe

[Applause]

matthew

this is new testament by the way

and it’s in red

in other words this is jesus talking

matthew 23 23 that’s how you can

remember it’s real easy matthew 23 23

jesus said woe to you scribes and

pharisees hypocrites for you pay tithe

of mint

and an ice or knee some say and coming

and have neglected the weightier matters

of the law

justice and mercy and faith

jesus still targeted

these you ought to have done

without leaving the others

undone

he said you pay tithe you give ten

percent the word tithe means a tenth you

give 10

of the spices that you put on your food

but you neglect justice mercy and faith

then he says

these

giving tithe of even the spices

you ought to do

you ought

to tithe

but don’t neglect justice mercy and

faith

i shared this one time with our church

and a man came and he was sincere and he

was a good guy he said i think these you

ought to have done

refer to justice mercy and faith

and i said to him you know i’m not

trying to be a smart aleck here but in

the greek it doesn’t but that’s okay

that’s okay i said let’s just say it

does

let’s just say these you ought to have

done refers to justice mercy and faith

what does the rest of the verse say

without leaving the other

undone

i got you either way

that was

jesus

are you off

of jesus okay and hear me again

he’s not telling you to tithe because he

needs the money

he’s not even telling you tight because

transformation needs some money because

he could send ravens from heaven and he

could bring water out of the rock

he does not need you to provide for the

church he needs you

to be a be obedient to him so he can

bless you

it’s all for your good amen

give you one more new testament

scripture hebrews 7 8 here

mortal men receive tithes but their

capital h

he

receives them of whom it is witness that

he

lives

that one really gets me because you know

what it means when i tithe here mortal

men collect the offering but there

jesus himself

receives my tithes

jesus receives my tithe

point three

tithing is

a blessing

it’s a blessing

again let me show you scripture second

chronicles 31 4

moreover he commanded the people who

dwelt in jerusalem to contribute support

for the priests and the levites that

they might devote themselves to the law

of the lord

so he’s reading along in the bible one

day the king

and he makes a command

everybody needs to and and what it was

was tithing he’s really not talking

because i’m gonna go down and read it to

you all right

so second chronicles now 31 same chapter

verse 5.

as soon as the commandment was

circulated the children of in israel

brought in abundance the first fruits of

graying and wine oil and honey and of

all the produce of the field and they

brought in abundantly the tithe

of everything

and the children of israel and judah who

dwelt in the cities of judah brought the

tithe of oxen and sheep also the tithe

of holy things which were consecrated to

the lord their god and lady and heaves

in the third month they began laying

them in heaps and they finished in the

seventh month and when hezekiah that’s

the king and the leaders came and saw

the heaps they blessed the lord and his

people israel then hezekiah questioned

the priests and the levites concerning

the heaves and azerite the chief priests

from the house of zadok answered him and

said since the people began to bring the

offerings into the house of the lord we

have had enough to eat and plenty left

for the lord watch has blessed his

people and what is left

is this great abundance this is just 10

here’s what happened the hezekiah comes

in and he sees heaps

just heaps and he says

are the people okay

look how much the people gave

and the priest said oh king

this is just ten percent

since the people began

to tithe

the lord has blessed the people

and this is just what’s left over

they got 90 they got nine times this

much

you usually you i know you’re worried as

a leader if the people are blessed i’m

telling you they are really blessed

because this is just the tithe

i’ve been in ministry

over 40 years

uh the bible says let every word be

established by two or three witnesses in

other words don’t once you hear

something over and over and over again

you think okay i’m starting to get it

now

so i’ve heard two testimonies about

tithing

for 40 years now

people who tithe

say this

i am so blessed

pastor i am so blessed once i started

tithing i’m so blessed doesn’t mean that

we don’t go through problems

difficulties yes we all do that but i

have been so blessed since i’ve begun to

tithe people who don’t tithe also give

me this testimony i can’t afford to

tithe

i’ve heard it over and over and over

again please hear me please hear my

heart you will never

be able to afford

to tithe

until you tithe

because tithing is what breaks the curse

and rebukes the devourer

every time you start to get ahead

something else is going to break if

you’re not a tither

i promise you

and you’ll keep thinking as soon as i

get ahead i’m going to start tithing no

start tithing then you can get that this

is the same thing with getting saved

people like soon as i straighten my life

up i’m going to give my life jesus no

give your life to jesus he’ll straighten

it up for you

[Applause]

so here’s number four this last one

tithing

is personal

tithing is personal

it’s personal to god

and i’m going to give you an

illustration

that hopefully you never forget how

personal

god takes it whether you tithe or not

so i gotta ask three guys i asked don

and will and charles to help me with

this so if you guys will come up here

i just i just want to give you an

illustration that

hopefully sticks in your mind all right

of how personal this is so

i got don will and charles here all

right

so

let’s just say that i say to you three

guys

i’m i’ve got to go away for a while

and um i want

i want to funnel channel some resources

through you

to my wife now i’m taking care of my

wife but i would like to bless you in

the process

so what i’m going to do

is give each of you

10 000 a month

[Applause]

okay this is just an illustration

we’ve already said that will just just

settle down all right all right okay

but all i’m asking you to do

is give my wife 10

that’s it

you can do anything you want with the 90

percent it’s yours

just give my wife 10

okay

so after a few months debbie and i are

talking on the phone and i say to her

um

hey

how has don do it and you know and she

says don’s doing great

uh thousand dollars first of the month i

mean send you know january first

february first march first thousand

dollars every month that’s great

i say how will how’s will doing she says

wilson in 2 000 a month

i say 2 000 a month i only asked him

seven thousand shy i know but he sends 2

000 every month

so i said well how’s charles doing she

says when you talk about charles

[Applause]

this is fun

i said what do you mean we need to talk

about she said well the first month he

sent 700

the second month three month 300 a month

and the third month he hadn’t said

anything

now let me ask you something

how do you think i feel about charles

i’m giving him the money

it’s my money

and it’s my

wife does the bible doesn’t the bible

say

that the church is the bride of christ

[Applause]

didn’t jesus say i’m going away

but i’m coming back

okay you guys can i’m sorry carl

okay

as a husband what do you think i’m gonna

do

i’ll tell you what i’m gonna do i’m

gonna keep giving don

the the ten thousand a month

but i’m going to take the ten thousand i

was giving charles

and i’m gonna give

some more to don and i’m gonna give a

lot more to will

but i’m cutting charles off

you know why

because i found out

that he doesn’t actually love me

and he doesn’t care about my wife

and i care about my wife

this is personal to me

this is personal

now one other thing when i say this is

personal i told you we got three grown

and married children

and nine grandchildren all of our

children and grandchildren serving the

lord

all of them

i was telling the church one time an

illustration

and it was about me but i didn’t want to

tell them it was about me

i didn’t want to emphasize that i wanted

to emphasize another part i had preached

on tithing

and there was a single mother in our

church

and she made a thousand dollars a week

and so she thought i’ve never done this

but i’m going to do this i see it’s in

the bible i see it’s in the new

testament i see jesus said it i’m going

to do this

so she started to write the check out

for a hundred dollars and the lord said

write it out for 120.

and she said lord

this is going to be a challenge

i don’t know how i’m going to make it

and the lord told her trust me

trust me

give the tithe and give an offering also

120.

so she put it in the offering box and

she’s walking across the parking lot

afterwards

and i told the church and i said there’s

a man in our church

that gives away hundred dollar bills

when the lord tells them to

now that i know there’s probably many

but i was talking about me that was that

i carry hundred dollar bills with me to

just give them away when the lord tells

me to and i share christ with people

so i’m walking to my car and i see this

lady walking across the parking lot and

the lord says to me

go give her a hundred dollar bill

so i open up my wallet

and right beside it is a 20.

and the lord said

give her 120.

and i said

lord um i give 100 bills

i don’t give 120 i give 100.

and the lord said to me

you obey.

and if you want me to i’ll find someone

else to funnel my funds through

you do what i tell you to do

so i walked up and i told her i said you

know sometimes the lord tells me you

have 100 bills to people but today

i don’t know why he told me to give you

120

you will never

convince me in a million years that was

a coincidence

the exact amount she had just written

the lord tells me to give her the exact

amount

so i share that with our church

but i didn’t say

i did it i just said there’s a man in

our church

and

i’m a man and i’m in our church it was

true okay

but i just did i wanted the instance to

be on this lady’s obedience okay

so we go home

my daughter from 16 to 19 lived a double

life

you saw a picture of a moment ago with

her husband and she and her husband

planted a gateway church in houston

uh two years ago and they’re they’re

right now buying their first building

they’ve already bought it and they’re

remodeled they’re moving in easter

so she’s serving the lord but from 16 to

19 she lived a double life

we didn’t know it she’d go to church and

then she would go do other things you

know

but she had just come back to the lord

she’s just given really truly given her

life to the lord

and she was sitting out there listening

and we were about to have lunch and she

said to me can i talk to you a minute

and i said yeah

and we went my office and

she said to me

you’re the man aren’t you

you’re the man that gave that one

without money aren’t you

and i said how do you know that

she said because when you said it i had

all these memories flash back from

childhood

of how you would go and you would shake

a

server’s hand at a restaurant

and you tell her something that she

looked down she’d start crying

and the man holding the sign

will work for food how you’d always stop

and give him something

she said today for the first time about

ten of those pictures flashed through my

mind and i could see it was a hundred

dollar bill

she said you’re the man aren’t you

i said yeah sugar i’m the man

and this is what my daughter said who

just come back to christ

she said i want to be like you daddy

i want to be like you

that’s worth every 100 bill that i’ve

ever given away right there

that’s worth all the money we’ve ever

given

[Applause]

i’m telling you this will change your

life

this will change your family

it’s biblical

it’s new testament

and jesus himself said you ought to do

it

i want you to bow your heads and close

your eyes

and i want you to just

ask the holy spirit what are you saying

to me through this message

just ask him

and i know tithing is a big step i

understand that

and maybe

you’ve thought well it’s not in the

bible

or it’s not in the new testament

there have been so many

why do you think satan has built up such

an argument against this

other than it can completely and totally

change your life

so would you just commit to the lord

today just say by your grace just in

your heart just say lord by your grace

i’m going to be a tither

and just you take the first step and

watch what god does

i want to pray for you lord i want to

tell you thank you

i want to tell you thank you lord that

you showed me this truth as a new

believer

almost 40 years ago

and i looked at what you’ve done in my

life and what you’ve done in my family’s

life

[Music]

and god

there’s no way to tell you thank you

enough and i pray for my brothers and

sisters now

i pray lord

that they’ll take that step of faith and

i pray lord for the people who’ve been

tithing for years that this will just

cement this truth in their hearts

so holy spirit i pray you bless

them

open the windows of heaven

and bless them and rebuke the devourer

in jesus name

amen

i love you guys

can you give it up for pastor robert

morris today

hey listen

if you would just stay in an attitude of

prayer and worship all around the world

we got a special moment right now um i’m

asking everybody in the room to bow your

heads and close your eyes

and we just spent a couple of moments

talking about

honoring god with our finances

giving him the first 10 of our income

some of you are going to take the step

to do that today you’re going to decide

that me and my family

maybe by yourself as a single person

you’re going to decide to tithe today

and that’s amazing and we’re so proud of

you some of you this cemented in your

heart that you’re going to

continue to tithe for me i was sitting

next to abby and it challenged me it’s

like i want to sit down today and talk

to my son about like the all of you

there’s different steps that are

happening in your heart

but we’re sitting here talking about

giving

god and returning our finances but

i want some of you to know today that

this message is really for people who

have already decided to give jesus their

life

i was sitting there thinking i literally

got emotional thinking is we’re talking

about giving money but god he doesn’t

really want your money

like that’s not that’s not his end goal

and part of representing today and

showing you a new version of god is some

of you why you’ve been so turned off

even to tithing and giving money it’s

you thought that god wanted your money

that god just wanted to get something

from you my friend that is not the case

at all the bible says where your

treasure is there your heart will be

also god does not want your money he

wants your heart he wants all of you he

wants to be there with you in every

single moment my friend the greatest

gift you could give god is not 10 of

your income the greatest gift you could

give to god is your life

there are some of you who are watching

that the decision you need to make

before you decide the tithe

is to say god i’m not just gonna give

you ten percent of my life i’m gonna

give you a hundred percent of my life

right now around the world

in a moment of just reflection of where

you are in your relationship with jesus

there are some of you watching and as

you’re watching this message you’re

realizing that maybe you don’t have the

relationship with jesus that you thought

you had

maybe you were with god and walking with

him at some point but you’ve walked away

maybe you’ve never heard about the

gospel the gospel we talk about in

scriptures they’re they’re we refer to

them as books of the bible they’re the

gospels there’s four of them but the

gospel the word means good news there’s

a lot of news in the world today that

could cause fear that could cause

anxiety that could cause worry but

friend i have good news there is more

good news than there is bad news don’t

let any news channel or social media

platform make you think that there’s not

good news there is good news and the

good news is 2 000 years ago god came

and he put on skin and bone and he

stepped down into human history and he

laid down his life and he died on a

cross for you and for me why did he do

this because sin

sin is when we miss the mark it’s an

archery term it means when you miss the

mark every single one of us in some area

of our life we have missed the mark it

doesn’t make you a horrible person it

means you’re imperfect we were born into

an imperfect world and sin separates us

from god

but the beautiful news is god sent his

only son

this is why this is good news he didn’t

have 10 sons and just say yeah let me

pick the one i don’t like and send them

down there he had one son and he said

just in case

they would ever think

about wanting a relationship with me i’m

going to send my son he sent jesus to

this earth he lived a perfect and

sinless life he was the perfect

sacrifice we’re talking about the old

and new testament in the old testament

there had to be a sacrifice jesus lived

this out and was the ultimate sacrifice

in the new testament he was sent he died

on a cross there was shedding of blood

just like they used to have to shed

blood in the tabernacle in exodus 40

jesus shed his blood except for this

blood did not have to be shed over and

over and over again the bible says that

when jesus died on the cross that the

veil was torn what veil is it talking

about there was a veil that separated

bad people from the presence of god but

when jesus died the separation was torn

what does that mean that means you don’t

have to be a good person or not do bad

things that means when you make one

decision

to accept jesus into your life you can

walk freely into the presence of god and

where the presence of the lord is there

is freedom

today if you’re watching you won’t

accept jesus into your life you don’t

have to stop doing bad things you don’t

have to get your life together when you

come to jesus broken when you come to

him high when you come to him addicted

when you come to him worrying god says

that’s the perfect place i can meet you

at i can deal with you at the place you

really are

see if you want to accept jesus in your

life today i’m going to pray a prayer

i’m going to ask you to pray it with me

the bible says that when you believe in

your heart and confess with your mouth

that jesus is lord you shall be saved

around the world in this room i’m going

to ask everybody we don’t pray alone but

we pray as a family because we are come

there are people who are giving their

life to jesus today the greatest

decision you could ever make there’s no

shame there’s no fear there’s no worry

you can surrender you are safe when you

surrender to him i’m going to ask

everybody in this room if you want to

accept jesus in your life here and then

online would you pray this prayer aloud

with me everybody say dear god

thank you for loving me

dear jesus

thank you

for laying down your life

to save mine

i admit

i’ve made mistakes

save me

change me

transform me

in jesus name i pray

amen

transformation church can we celebrate

people who just made the decision to

accept jesus as their lord and savior

hey listen if you just made that

decision we’re so proud of you the bible

says that heaven stops everything and

rejoices when one person when one person

decides to accept jesus and i believe in

their thousands of you all around the

world listen if you made that choice

today as a church we would love the

opportunity to support you the

opportunity to come alongside you and

walk with you on this journey of

following jesus i need to need to let

you know it’s a process it’s not about

perfection but it’s about progression

and today you made a step that we’re so

proud of we’d love to support you in

this way if you would text the word

saved to the number that’s on your

screen our team would reach out to you

and send you some resources and just

help you on this journey another thing

you need to do is you need to get in

community listen we do not jesus there

is anybody in the world who had an

excuse to say i really don’t need

anybody it was the person who created

everybody but jesus himself

lived his life in community listen

transformation starts on a sunday but i

need to tell you the truth if you’re

just living sunday to sunday you’re

missing out

honestly the messages are amazing and

they can change your life but if you do

not get in community with other people

some people say it’s just me and jesus

just me that is great jesus is always

there but with jesus it wasn’t just him

and god

we don’t think about it he cho there was

even one friend he knew when he asked

him to be his friend on facebook he knew

you’re going to betray me judah but he

still took the risk of community to set

an example that you don’t get to go

through life by yourself talking about i

don’t need nobody

jesus was fully god and fully man and he

lived in community if you’re not in a

belong group if you don’t have people

around you that you can be real with i

want to challenge you to get in

community it would be the best gift to

your journey with jesus is to have

people with you in this process listen

we’re so proud and grateful for you

again that you made that decision and

also we’re so so proud the team wrote in

about literally i think it’s over 23 000

families have downloaded the tools at

dave ramsey and been a part of that

listen you can still do that on our app

our website but listen here’s the thing

some of the data that we got in um is

literally over 97 of the people who

signed up are still in a process of

living paycheck to paycheck

people filled out the form they

submitted their their budget what

they’re doing how the 97 percent over 23

000 families they said i’m still living

paycheck to paycheck i am telling you as

a witness

the the principle of honoring god with

your tithe could change everything

this is not a means of us saying we’re

just gonna give you these tools and then

ask you to type no i’m telling you for

your own sake

so you can have freedom so you can be

the blessing that god wants you to get

so you can give without even thinking

about it and having to move money so you

can just be a blessing i’m telling you

if you get this principle it’ll change

your life

hey listen we’ve got two more weeks left

in this series

and i want to encourage you to invite

somebody back next week and uh listen we

love you we are so grateful for you and

on behalf of our lead pastors thank you

so much for being with us this sunday we

love you and as we always say y’all got

to help me say it go out and live

[Applause]

we’ll see you guys have a great rest of

your sunday