 Our Lord is good. Our Lord is good. I mean it's always good to be in the presence of of God It is good to be in the presence of wonderful happy people in this place We know that this is a season of giving and this is a season of Leaving a lot of people. This is the moment they leave their city go to other place Go to visit their families spend time with families and spend time with all of these things and it's all great But today you made a good decision to come to church You made a good decision to come to the house of God and you made a good decision to come and Worship the name of Jesus Christ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Amen. Amen. I was really hoping we're gonna sing us a Christmas song or something I got my my moves on by well next time. Amen next time next year No, this Wednesday we have a service. We're gonna celebrate Christmas a Service in the morning. We welcome everybody to it Also in a week from now They're deciding whether we should have should we have a service at 10 or 11? Everybody for 11 raise your hands Everybody for 10 raise your hands Okay, we'll have a service at 11 anything else. We want to vote at the same time while we're here Amen, so the service will be at 11 o'clock on Wednesday the church has decided now Make sure you come for the church that you've decided amen and so because usually people bail out on Christmas morning and then a week from now we'll have our last service of the year on Tuesday night New Year's service where we're gonna pray for the New Year We encourage all of you to come next Sunday. Everybody say next Sunday Everybody say next Sunday We're gonna have a prayer with the anointing water from Prophet to be Joshua Next Sunday, so we have people coming and we're really really excited It might be a little bit smaller in size But it's not gonna be smaller in the presence of God. Amen a prophet to be Joshua specifically After I asked him if we should continue to pray with anointing water. He specifically instructed and Well with a little attitude. He said how dare you ask that question whether you should pray with anointing water? or not and felt like a foolish boy and He gave us probably the most anointing water this time that we've ever received before to pray for the people in the United States and Also, he gave us this contact number We're gonna really pray that we'll be able to reach him next Sunday because the first time I remember before the prayer the Prophet to be Joshua prayed for us upstairs on the phone I mean, it was crazy things that were happening here were beyond amazing a lot of People are coming. There's a lot of people who will give millions of dollars Who will sell their home and sell their car and give everything they have just to get their health Just to be able to live without pain not emotional pain physical pain and let's believe that next Sunday It's gonna be the Sunday where we're gonna see people receive Their answers from Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Please be praying for this coming prayer line Please show up. Let's come early. Our service most likely is gonna be at 9 30 again next Sunday And so let's give Jesus a round of applause for all the prayer lines We've had this year and for all the good things God has done Our time is gonna come to have children in just a little bit But before that we're gonna have a time for offering and I'm gonna read a very famous verse That if money is the issue in church this verse really really Makes people afraid But it's a good verse It's in Malachi the last chapter last book of the Bible in Malachi chapter 3 and verse 10 it says 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 for you such a blessing that there will be no room and Enough to receive and I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes that 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 of hosts and all the nations Will call you blessed how many of you like that? Blessed how many of you would say I know what that that would not be bad for me. Amen. Can you say blessed? Can you say blessed? Amen, amen, you know, we may be a smaller congregation this morning, but it doesn't mean we have to be quiet congregation this morning. Amen This is the verse that describes a privilege and discipline as Christians that we have to tithe there's four different levels of Financial Contribution that we have in the kingdom of God the basic one is the tithing were tithing intent So if you're giving 1% of the income you can't say that tithing because it's not 10th tithe is 10th. That means if you make $500 that 10% of 500 is what? 50 right, so if you give five you're not tithing. It's called tipping now. It's not in the Bible It's only in the restaurants, but we use that in the church as well So tithing is 10% of what you make now the Bible here says to bring all the tithes To the house of God it doesn't say to give the tithes to the house of God What is the difference between bringing and giving see giving is what's yours? bringing is what's God's When I left to Africa and I gave my car Well, I lend my car to my sister She dropped me off at the airport and then went to pick us up from the airport now Imagine I come back from you know Ukraine and my sister would come and says Vlad I have a gift for you, and she would hand me the keys from my Camry And I would say excuse me. That's not a gift You're not giving me Camry. You are bringing me Camry Tithing is not what you give. It's God's So when we come and we say well, I'm giving God this and God looks at it says excuse me That's mine. It wasn't yours That's why it says here to bring it doesn't say it's the same thing as Lillia bringing a car to the airport It's not her car though. She's been not sure whether she's what driving or not But though she's been driving that car. She's bringing it and she's not coming with the gift She's coming with well It's his and this is what it says in here God says bring all the tithes He doesn't say give the tithes because tithes are not yours They belong to God now a lot of Bible theologians They immediately get offensive because they said tithing is Old Testament. It's under the law But we those who read the Bible know that Father Abraham who's an example of faith Tithe and there was no law Law has nothing to do tithing has nothing to do with the law and our Lord Jesus Christ when he rebuked Pharisees for being tithing out of their leaves in their garden But forgetting justice mercy and judgment and Jesus says these you ought to have done These means tithing out of the leaves in your garden These you ought to have done without leaving others undone The Lord never canceled it because it's something that belongs to God not to you I've heard a story that really kind of incurs me with that Adam in the garden when Adam ate of the forbidden fruit It was same thing as Adam eating his tithe Because if you think about it in the garden Adam was allowed to eat out of every tree But there was one tree God says don't touch this It's mine Don't that's not for you to eat of it and the Bible says well Adam went and ate of the tree He wasn't supposed to eat that's exactly what happens as Christians 10% of your income is not for you to eat of him It's not for you to buy new socks new underwears or new diapers or new food And I understand many people say I can't afford to tie I don't have enough now basic math If you don't have enough to live on 90% most likely you won't have enough to live on 100 So why don't you just go ahead not have enough to live on 90 with God and do not have enough with 100 Like one preacher said he says it's better to be blessed with 90 than cursed with 100 Somebody say man It will be the same thing as Lilia coming to the airport and says well, I cannot afford to give you this car Because I don't have a car You cannot afford not to give me this car Because you're gonna be in trouble Every person who doesn't tithe always says I can't afford to and people who do tithe They always say I can't afford not to And sooner or later you will begin to see God will begin to move on your behalf God will begin to be involved and that's exactly what it says in here It says that God begins to open doors and God begins to rebuke the devourer as a Christian for you. This is a test And this is exactly where God says test me in this now and try me And I really encourage each one of you if you're a Christian To begin to make a decision To give to God to bring to God What's already his And God will honor and God will help and encourage you the second financial thing that we do as Christians is after tithing God moves us higher where we begin to give offering Offering is anything you give to the house of God above tithing Let me mention one more thing about tithing in here. It says to bring tithing to the house of God It's not tithing when you brought tithing and you dropped it into the salvation army by walmart Or at the geesa bank they have a little Over there a little thing that you can give a dollar for supporting some kind of a child. You're like, well, I tithe Geesa is not where you go to church at And nor is walmart unless salvation army is your church You give tithing not to immanuel tv not to tbn and not to not to your grandma and not to yourself You give tithing to the house of god The house of god that you attend to the church that you belong to unless immanuel tv or tbn is your church That's where you give you don't give where you want to give you give where you belong to somebody say man Offering is second thing is offering is anything we give above our tithe after we tithe many times We come to church and we're like, you know what god has blessed me this week I just want to give the third thing that we as christians do with our finances in the kingdom of god is we give To charity means we give to people who are in need We give to people who don't have enough money to get to come to church Because no gas we give to people who want to visit their family for holidays They have not seen for 10 years and you purchase them a ticket You give to people who cannot pay rent this month and on christmas you decide to do that Charity is when you have tenants and on christmas you decide to give them a month free Charity is for example, like tomorrow We're going to be distributing gifts for families 20 families interest cities who are a below below poverty line Some of these families have lost everything in fire and have literally nothing to eat And tomorrow our church is organizing 20 baskets And we're going to be purchasing some purchasing some gifts to give to their to their children and give to those families that is called charity And we all need to be involved in that giving to people who are in need today can somebody say man But tithing offering and charity now the last thing the fourth thing Is sacrifice is when we sacrificially give A sacrifice or some people call it sowing the seed Now sacrifice Is something different than tithing something different than giving to the poor and is something different than offering My wife shared a few months ago a story about difference between sacrifice and offering when a pig And the chicken or walking by and decided to give a farmer a breakfast And the chicken says I have a brilliant idea I give eggs to this farmer you give some bacon to this farmer and this farmer will have breakfast The pig turned to the chicken and says the problem is this if I give egg if you give eggs It's going to be an offering for you if I give bacon. It's going to be a sacrifice And that's exactly what sacrifice is sacrifice is when you give something to god That it hurts Do you remember the woman who came to jesus and poured the whole year income on his feet? That's called a sacrifice. It wasn't a tithe. It wasn't giving to the poor and it was not an offering It was a whole year's wage. So if you make 25 000 a year Imagine how many years she had to save that probably at least four years She had to save that she'd take four years of savings because you know after you make 25 000 a year You don't really save 25 000 because you spend all of your expenses and then you save a small portion A saving for years and then she takes that money She doesn't give it to the poor She doesn't give it to the temple She pours it on the feet of jesus And everybody around her says crazy woman Give it to the poor instead But she gave to the poor She gave her tithes She went something further She gave a sacrifice And that sacrifice did something to her life that god answered to her and said Everywhere this gospel is going to be preached Your name Is going to be mentioned Jesus did not rebuke her and says that's not wise woman You wasted all of your savings on my feet and then three days later. They crucify me Except when jesus was hanging on the cross the smell From the oil reminded him somebody loved me so much that was willing to give all of his money While he was suffering in pain. He was also reminded somebody loved money so much that was willing to see me die named judas And we either gonna be judas or mary And both are in the church sometimes because both were in the same place mary is pouring out and judas over there is thinking for the poor And if he would really care for the poor he would stop stealing and give money for the poor And many people who would come and say you know instead of buying the nice projector instead of buying this We should really give money to the poor Well instead of buying 50th pair of shoes you should sell all of them and give money to the poor If you're really concerned for the poor then you would really care for the poor But the problem many times is we agree we covered our greed With an excuse for the poor can somebody say man I've experienced the the issue of sacrifice Sacrifice is something that when you make it you'll never forget in your life Like pastor montan teaches and I remember three years ago Three and a half years ago. I've discovered the power of sacrifice for the first time We were fasting with our church for 21 days in january And during the fasting there's this famous book that came out by francis chant called crazy love And I give you a warning the book will make you crazy Because it's crazy love and it's going to make you crazy. I read the book during fasting. It's about radical love for god and as I was Reading the book and we were praying and fasting at that moment I actually just met lana and some of you don't know I actually broke up with her Uh at at the new years, which is not a good way to start a year And well things didn't didn't feel in my heart and my problem was that anytime I would come to a relationship Indecisiveness would come upon me so strong I would quit and well some of you know my story That's my that was my problem and I was fasting really to break that demon over my life Because I'm like the problem is now with the girls the problem is with me I'm either I think I'm too too great or something something is wrong with me And during the prayer and fasting is I really start to press into god And at that point I had all money saved up to get married for the ring for the wedding for everything I had everything everything saved the only problem is I couldn't find a woman that I could come into And during 17th or 18th day of fasting I remember driving to church and I hear this still small voice that says to me you have too much money in your account And you need to give it away And I just like every time you hear voices. I rebuked it And I said okay behind me satan Dave ramsey would never do that and Dave ramsey would never recommend that okay And so and I'm a dem Renzi disciple So I rebuked this and I kept reading the book the crazy love and I'm like francis chen does not know Dave Ramsey And I am not going to do that. I am not going to give nothing away I saved all this money. I just need to find a perfect person and everything's going to be fine But you know that thing where it doesn't leave you And I kept praying kept praying kept praying and one thing Holy Spirit placed is that I have to give away A big amount of money The number when that number came to my mind and I'm not going to tell you because that number was for me I thought I have a heart attack I thought I'm going to go crazy. I thought if somebody will find out they think I am going nuts I decided to do that actually I'm like, you know what who cares I already fasted for 19 days I'm reading crazy book. I'm becoming crazy. I can't get married. Nothing can get worse And so I took a big amount of money and I started to pray for next two weeks. What should I do with that money? And it was so amazing the presence of God filled me out with tears like God I feel like I'm closer to you I am more like you now because I'm giving and and everything and after I gave gave all of that away in two weeks I remember this like yesterday driving on the high of a 182 and literally thinking I lost my mind Literally thinking I took all that money and drain it in the toilet And I'm like what the heck just happened to me reading crazy book fasting not eating enough. It's messing with my mind I gave a big sum of money away And I was like if somebody comes up, I'm not going to be able to get married because I don't have enough money This is not going to work. The funny part Is exactly to the day Eight months later. I was married in this suit I'm wearing in the purpose. That's why it looks bigger than me For the testimony eight months later. I was married In decisiveness the some of you people who close to me knew in decisiveness was so crazy in my life I couldn't break it and I did not give that money to get married. I gave that money because I couldn't get married I gave that money because holy spirit led me not to tie. It wasn't to tie. It wasn't give to the poor It was to sacrifice Something broke in my life during that year Something changed The funny part is when we came back from our honeymoon and I did the calculation I did not go one dollar into debt to cover for the wedding for the ring and trust me My wife, she has a taste and the taste cost money And all of that stuff was satisfied and she was happy and I was not in debt And today when I look back at that point of my life I am reminded of one thing as a Christian you can't do that every month make those sacrifices But sooner or later after tithing you will go to offering and you will go to helping the poor But after that there will be times in your life like in the life of Solomon He becomes a king and he kills 900 bulls It kills hundreds hundreds of bulls to offer a sacrifice to god There will be a time in your life like in the day of Elijah before the fire comes He kills a sacrifice animals are rare commodity in those days when there was a famine He brings a sacrifice there will be a time in your life like a wise man who bring gold and mirth They're not bringing washington's and laying at the feet of jesus This was a sacrifice and you and I need to have those In your life that you look back in your life and you said there was a point What I died there was a point a bacon was cut off So that god's kingdom can be prolonged for the glory of god because somebody say amen You may not be at that point right now, but I really ask you this coming year Let the lord lead you. What do you do with the sacrifice? Who do you give it to? You don't give it to your uncle your auntie or your bank account You give a sacrifice to a soil that's fruitile You don't give a sacrifice to anybody You give a sacrifice to a ministry That is honored by the holy spirit. You give a sacrifice to a place where god has his stamp of approval You don't just give a sacrifices. I'm just gonna give it away That's like same thing is taking a seed and says i'm on a sow and you went on a highway and you sow the seed Now you can feel really good about sowing But you're not gonna reap nothing because the soil you sowed into cannot produce And with the sacrifice what we must do is we must with the sacrifice find a soil. I'll give you a hint Emmanuel tv is a very good soil Some good things grow out of that People can sow into that. There's a lot of wonderful god honoring humble loving the poor holy ghost filled Soils that you can sow into but you and I must understand in order to move further with god You must go above tithing into offering above giving the poor into Sooner or later at least once a year once in two years make a sacrifice as the lord leads you A sacrifice that could bring the fire of god into your life and bring the change into your life in jesus name That's why i'm optimistic optimistic about next year I can't help but be optimistic about next year because I know that a sacrifice draws the fire of god It becomes god's responsibility to take care of our future in jesus name amen And god is on our side amen god is not gonna ever let us go and we are going to be the people who will tithe Who will give who will help the poor and who will when the spirit leads us To sacrifice Can somebody say amen with that said I want you to take your tithing I want you to take your offering if you never tithe before and you thought it was your church trying to manipulate you out of your money I ask you that you repent of your greed and your pride And that today you make a decision you will start tithing if you never helped the poor before I ask you that you start helping the poor for the glory of god. We're gonna pray for our offering father god We thank you right now for your grace. I thank you that you gave jesus christ on the cross for us I thank you father that you always love the poor and you want us to love the poor through us god And I pray right now for every person even from hearing the small exhortation Who got challenged that today is their day to help the poor Today is their day god to begin to sacrifice and not to live just to become rich But to live to be rich spiritually and to be rich eternally god I pray that you give them the grace to do what you're leading them to do in jesus mighty name We pray and everybody said amen amen