So, 1, 2. Hallelujah. You guys can have a seat. We're going to read the Bible tonight.
So I figured if we're going to do that might as well start in 2 Corinthians, chapter 10. So why don't you pull out your phones, your iPads, your Bibles? Or for those of you who have memorized, we're going to start in 2 Corinthians 10. So pull that up in your mind.
Verse 3 through 6 is where we're going to hang out. Very famous, very popular passage. How many have heard that we're not waging organs flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers? What kind of war are we in?
I thought Jesus already won the war. Is there still a war? Well, apparently there's one against demons. So what kind of war is this?
Let's read. Verse 3. We do walk in the flesh in the physical here, but we don't war in the physical. The weapons of our warfare are not physical and carnal, but boy are they mighty.
For the pulling down of strongholds in our mind, casting down arguments in our mind, casting down every high thing in our mind that exalts itself against what's true, bringing every thought into captivity and obedience to Jesus. Does that give you a picture of what kind of war we're in? Jesus already fought and won the war. He did all the heavy lifting, and now it's up to you and I.
Do we believe it? Do we take hold of what he said and what he accomplished? That's the war. The war is in our soul, our mind will in emotions.
Does that make sense to you guys? So if I missed, if you're a Vikings fan and you miss a game, if you're a big enough fan, you might teavill it and record it ahead of time. Okay? So if you tell your buddies, hey, I'm going to be watching the game later.
I'm recording it. Don't text me. Don't tell me anything about the score. I want to watch it.
I want to experience it, right? I want to say that somebody didn't get that memo and you got a group text. You were a part of some group text that says Vikings won, we won in the fourth quarter and we won by one. Sweet game.
They're like, oh man. Well, I still want to watch the game. So you turn it on. You know the outcome.
See where I'm going with this? You know the outcome. And notice how on the inside of you, you're not blown in toss by all the circumstances that might not look like the outcome. Picture it.
There's a rest on the inside of you. You're not like, oh my goodness, another interception. How are we going to win this game? It wouldn't matter if you threw 15 interceptions because you know where this is headed.
There's something on the inside of sons and daughters that know the outcome of the battles that they were fighting because the main battles already been fought and won and now you and I are just enforcing the thing. And we're enforcing it in our minds and in our souls. And then what happens in our minds and our souls is that it actually comes through and manifests in behavior. It manifests in actual life change.
Does that make sense to you? What I believe about our mindsets and the Bible is so clear on this thing. We just read one that says take thoughts captive because that's where the war is. Set your mind on things above.
Think on things that appear in lovely. As a man thinks in his heart so is he. There are so many verses that say mind, mind, mind, mind, mind, think, think, think, think, believe, believe, believe because Jesus did all the heavy lifting and now this is your part. Set your mind.
Set your gaze and believe and take hold of what he accomplished. But what I believe actually about our mindsets, we talked about this maybe a year ago. Some of you will remember it. The picture I always think of is that if some roadkill on the side of the road, a rotting carcass starts releasing fragrance into the atmosphere, it's going to start attracting beings to its smell of death, flies, scavengers, crows, right?
Right? I believe that when you and I agree with a lie, we start to actually release a fragrance into the atmosphere that attracts unseen beings, unseen realities, unseen powers to give life to and empower the thing that we're agreeing with. And your choice is do you believe what's true, you know the outcome. Or do you believe maybe what you're seeing in front of your eyes that doesn't look like the outcome.
Your choice is do you believe what's written or not? And according to your belief, be it unto you. As a man thinks in his heart, it's kind of manifest. Do you remember we talked about like a year ago on how there's two examples of crazy atmosphere change resulting in stuff that made the news.
There was a Starbucks in Florida, you can Google this, pay it forward to Starbucks, Florida, and you'll see all about it. Here three, four years ago, somebody decided to change the atmosphere through radical generosity to simply pay for something behind them. And people end up driving into an atmosphere that makes a draw on the love of God, a draw on generosity, and a draw on kindness that they had nothing to do with. Ten hours guys, ten hours unbroken, over 300 people consecutively paying it forward, paying it forward, paying it forward.
But you can actually shift the atmosphere in which you are by attracting. Do you realize that if you're a complainer, you're going to attract complainer? Do you realize that if you're a generous person, if you're a stingy person, if you complain about politics, if you believe a certain thing and think a certain way, you're going to attract people to you, let alone what's going on in the spirit realm. It so matters what we think and believe.
And my concern is we sing songs about, you know, sin is broken. It's so true. Sin's broken. But unless we actually believe it and take hold of it, it's wasted.
I'm concerned about a new wine, which is the goodness of the gospel, being poured into mindsets called old wineskins that cannot handle the goodness of the gospel. And the wine spills all over the place and it's wasted. So our privilege tonight is to wage war every time we gather, actually. We're waging war against mindsets and arguments and high and lofty, haughty ideas that are railing against what's true.
And this isn't hard work, guys. This isn't hard work. This is agreeing with what he said about you. Agreeing with what he's accomplished and taking hold of it.
Do you realize how violent it is to release Thanksgiving into an atmosphere? Do you realize how violent it is to forgive? Do you realize how violent generosity is? It changes atmospheres around you, let alone just changing your own neural pathways in your brain.
We're going to talk about money tonight. What's so funny is anytime a preacher says that, instantly 99% of the room is silent. Why is that? Why do people's hackles go up and their defenses go up when they hear money?
My belief system about this is that there's a lot of old wineskins on the topic. When's the last time you actually sat in a church service and heard a preacher preach about money and didn't walk away feeling some level of guilt, shame, or condemnation or robbing God and that curse is going to come on you if you don't pay up. I remember I was in a small group probably seven or eight years ago, just a bunch of guys. An older guy in the group was explaining circumstances of his life saying, hey, this is going on.
I have medical issues and my medical bills are piling up. In fact, my car just broke down last week and that was X, Y, Z, hundreds of dollars. There's a sobriety on the inside of him. He was basically saying, you know what, I know what it's from.
I'm just being honest with you guys. I haven't been paying my tithes. So God won't be mocked. Notice how the scripture is being quoted but taken out of context.
God won't be mocked. I've been robbing from him and he's just getting back with his. Okay, so the old says you have to give a tenth. That's what a tithes, right?
You got to give a tenth, a specific amount at a specific time. It was called the first roots. Preachers today will say, that means that's the first check you write. A specific amount at a specific time and you got to give it to the storehouse or the Levites in the old.
Preachers today will say, you got to give it to your church. Specific amount, specific time, specific place. And if you do, you can't even hold all the blessings that God will give you according to the Mount Kethry. But if you don't, you're under a curse.
My Bible says that Jesus didn't know curses. He who knew no curse actually became one. But there was a purpose for that. So that you and I wouldn't be under any curses.
So how can a preacher say, some of the New Testament giving looks like giving generously and without compulsion, yet bring a sledgehammer and say, if you don't, I'm going to hit you with this. In fact, God's going to hit you with this. And it looks more like extortion. Like instead of him being God the Father, he looks more like the Godfather.
Then he's some mobster knocking on your door and saying, if you pay up every month, I'll give you protection. We believe some weird stuff about God. And so we, out of compulsion, will end up giving. So that's one side of the spectrum.
I see another side of the spectrum where you got a televangelist getting on in front of the TV and saying, listen, you need breakthrough in your life. And I just happen to be selling breakthrough. What kind of breakthrough do you want? There's a dollar amount attached to each breakthrough.
Send your best seed and you'll get your best breakthrough. I kid you not. Some of you heard Rebecca and I story a couple months ago about miscarriages and trying to have kids. I had an evangelist from a different country reach out to me over Facebook inbox messenger and tell me to send him his best seed.
He'd grab the horns of the altar and make sure that that next baby would make it full term. So of course our hackles go up when we start talking about money because either God's going to curse you if you do it the right time, right way and right amount to the right place. Or you got people trying to sell stuff that Jesus already bought and paid for. And we have a prosperity gospel that gets teach done that isolates people that aren't seeing blessing and says, what's wrong with you?
Where's your faith? And there's this hyper focus on blessing and favor and ignoring so much of the gospel. There is no prosperity gospel. There's one gospel.
That's the gospel of Jesus. It does involve prosperity, but that is not the sole focus and we don't bring condemnation of people who aren't experiencing it. So of course there's hackles that go up. I asked the media team to prepare two slides in which I will show you now.
Let's put the first slide up. Last week Mark preached on we're free from the law. Can you do the other slide? Yes.
On how we're free from the law. If you want to take out your phone and take a picture of this because it means something you do it. Otherwise I think it's pretty self explanatory. There are several verses that say the same thing.
You're dead to the law. We're not under the law. We're free from the law. We're not supervised by the law.
We don't serve in the old way of the law. Are you getting the point? But guess what? We live in the freedom and the newness of the spirit.
Hallelujah. Next slide. So how Scott are you proposing that we give? You can take a picture of this one too.
It's pretty nice. If you're listening to the recording and you can't see it, I'll try and explain what's on there. But we get very confused on what New Testament giving actually is. And what's interesting to me is that if a percentage, the tithe, if a percentage was important, why didn't we hear about it in the New?
If that's the thing, if we're going to preach a percentage because you'll hear even some gospel preachers saying that the tithe is God's but an offering is yours, that God owns it. They're still preaching some law. I don't know why. Last time I checked, the two have become one.
Those who are in Christ are one's spirit with him. It's no longer me and him. It's us. Guys, covenant is everything that's mine is yours.
And everything that's yours is mine. So it's not about God's tithe than our offerings. It's the whole thing is ours. It's chorul, chorane, partnership.
Rule number one, your money is not yours. Let that break something off you. When you feel like God's wanting you to give to something, you're like, well, that's my money. No, it's not.
Who told you that? All right. Old covenant tithe on the left side. Again, if you're listening to this recording, we have a chart left and right side.
Left side it says, we gave under law. On the right side, New Covenant giving, we've been delivered from the law, Hallelujah. Left side, give a 10%, not a percentage point, more or less. And it's got to be the first roots.
Well, on the New Covenant giving, rigid percentages and specific timing no longer apply. Give according to the need. That doesn't sound like 10%. What if it's more or less?
Well, give sacrificially. Give according to how you have prospered. That doesn't sound like a flat percentage. Well, under old covenant tithing, we gave to Levites in the storehouse.
We'll check out New Covenant. Give to any man who asks. On the left side, give out a compulsion. You have to.
Well, now we give voluntarily, cheerfully. And when it's time for you to do like a go fund me, there's a button you can check that says, give anonymous. Do you check it? Or do you want to know?
Do you want people to know when you give? You heard me. Give out a fear of being cursed on the left side. On the right side, Jesus became one so that we'd be free from the curse.
And now we give expectantly. What are you expecting when you give? What are you expecting for the ministry or the person or whatever that you're sowing into? What are you expecting for yourself in return?
We're going to talk about that. Give so you can earn a blessing on the left side. Pretty sure now we already are a blessing. We already are blessed and we give freely because we receive freely.
Did everybody get their picture? Great. You can take that slide down so people focus. There's a verse in the New Testament on the topic of giving that talks about sowing and reaping.
You're so sparingly. Well, that's what you're going to see. Reaping, sparingly. You're so generous.
You're going to reach generously. Rebecca and I started at a specific percentage. And over the course of our marriage, every time we have increased the amount that we give, there is a principle called multiplication that happens. This is a tricky thing for me to talk about because all that matters tonight is a motive in your heart health.
It's all that matters. Like the amount is done. It's no longer about this specific amount, a specific place. It's all about your heart.
So I'm telling you that for some reason, there's a principle that when a seed goes into the ground, multiplication happens. That when a whole bunch of people need to eat, Jesus took a couple of loaves and fish and multiplied them to meet needs. There's a principle that some sow, some water, but God does the increase. And the people who gave those loaves and fishes, guys, they left with more than they gave.
It just is a principle. Why it's risky for me to even say, do you realize that multiplication for you happens when you give financially is because I do not want to turn giving into investing, that you're expecting some rate of return. If you're giving to get, we're missing it. But a question I had to ask myself because a lot of us, we can sit down with our spouses or sit down with a financial planner and maybe they're going to start asking us, hey, what are your goals?
What are your financial goals? And we talk about, well, I'd like to own a home. I'd like to have this much saved up. Here's a question I have.
Everybody's attention. Here's a question I have. When's the last time you said here's my giving goal? I want to start changing.
Maybe how we see money because for some reason how we see money has resulted in really, really unhealthy mindsets. I wrote down some ideas to talk about. Let's see what we got here. God wants me poor.
We're going after the tithe. Are we good that that cow is done? Okay. Next one is God wants me poor.
And fundamentally, like you might not even be aware of this. But if subconsciously or deep on the inside of you, you actually believe that God does not want you to have money, you'll never have money. According to your belief beyond you, the problem that I'm seeing in the church, Christians, sons and daughters, is that mindsets are blocking what God's trying to do even economically. Where do we get the idea that God wants us to be poor?
I wrote down some things. Luke 18, rich man, eye of the needle. Okay. It's impossible for a rich guy to get into heaven.
In fact, it would be easier for camel to go through the eye of the needle. And we think, see, you're not supposed to be rich. Where this is saying, see, you can't buy salvation. Do you think it's impossible for a rich man to go to heaven?
Well, that's what it says, right? No, it's impossible for a rich man to buy salvation. It's impossible to serve both God and man and money. That's what's impossible.
Next one, for Timothy 6, the love of money is evil. For some reason we think money is evil. We're all about the heart. Philippians 3 and 1 Peter 4 talk about the fellowship of the sufferings with Jesus.
We're writing the fellowship of his sufferings. We've been here things about like Paul's, or Paul's thorn. And we think that, yeah, his grace was perfected in Paul's weakness. That was sickness.
What do you mean that was sickness? Well, see, he had a sick thing going on. Who said that Paul's thorn was sickness? Well, everybody says that.
Where does everybody get that? I don't know. Well, let's look at the context. Oh, it's persecution, not sickness.
Okay. And you read about the fellowship of the sufferings and you're like, yeah, I should be poor and suffer like Jesus. It's persecution friends. It has nothing to do with sickness.
Some people are like, I'm not fighting my sickness because I'm pretty sure God's strength's perfected in my weakness. And this is probably my thorn anyway. And you stop railing against the works of the devil in your life because you think it's the work of God. The same thing with your pocketbook.
Is this too sharp? Are we good? No. Pastor Josh will clean up my mess later.
2 Corinthians 8, I wrote down that whole chapter is talking about money and giving. There's actually a verse that says, Jesus became poor so that we could become rich. It's talking about money. I feel like I'm making a solid point there.
So here's what I want to get to. My concern is that we're actually in bondage to mindsets that have money being our identity and our God. And we don't even know it. I'm concerned that we're actually in these bizarre prison cells or that we're slaves to something and no one's ever told us anything different.
We don't even know it. And then as sons and daughters, we're living so far below the line of our privilege that it's like we're eating the pig slop instead of feasting at a banquet table. That's my concern. So if the Bible's clear that you can't serve God and money, how do you know that you're serving money?
I think the easiest way is if in your heart of hearts, which is a weird x, I don't know why I use that phrase, if deep on the inside of you, you believe that money is your provider. If I'm talking about nobody's looking, it's not like you're handed a microphone in front of a group of people and you're supposed to say the right thing. No, I'm saying you're on your bed at night and no one's around. You actually trust God to be your provider.
Because here's what I believe. That money, man, right, is a God small G that's offering you protection, security, health, influence, control. So if you had something offering you all of those things and then you had God, which we can't see with our eyes and feel, and you can see how there is a very strong pull to something that you can see. Paul says everything that's carnal is death, but things of the spirit are life and peace.
We have fear about money. Why is that? Why are we anxious about paying bills? I think that there's, for some reason, there's this wine skin or there's this mindset of scarcity.
You guys heard that word before? Scarcity is like there's not enough for everybody. There's just not. And since I believe that, I'm going to get everything I can and control it and hoard it and you can't see my stuff because I'm not sure there's enough for everyone.
I'm going to make sure I get mine. Does that even sound like the heart of God? It sounds exactly like the devil. Then there's this poverty mentality.
This is different but equally important. If you walked up to a slave and you said, let's say you're a reporter. You walk up to a slave and you're like, if you could have anything in the world, if you could have something to that, anything, what would it be? A poverty mentality.
For that slave would say, it would be nice to have a hot meal today. That when all that you know is all that you know, you can't even think big because hope has been sucked out of you. Instead of saying, I want freedom and whatever you're dreaming about, I want to be the best in the world at whatever passionate thing you have, right? Instead of thinking that way, instead of thinking big, hope has been sucked out because maybe God wants you for.
Maybe you haven't been tithing as much and you don't have confidence. Maybe you don't believe there's enough for everybody and all of a sudden now we have problems to where we're serving and slaving something and it's actually, here's where it gets weird. It becomes our identity. Here's how you know it.
What you're wearing, what you're driving and where you're living is a reflection of you. If you believe that, there's room for improvement. Here's how else you know it. If I were to tell you about money, it would be as if I'm taking off all of my clothes and being naked in front of you because it's me.
Ask anybody who does financial planning or help. People get very weird and private and secretive about money because it's a reflection of who they are, how they manage it, how much they have. Money is not you. Holy Spirit, Jesus and the Father, all three of them are very passionate about the issue of identity because it costs them dearly to give you an identity that would never change no matter what's going on in your life and how much money is in your account and what house you own.
They're telling you the end of the story so you can watch the whole game and be like this on the inside. Immovable and unshakeable. Selfishness is getting ripped out because you've got now a new heart of love and you're not even thinking fear of man wondering what people think of me. I'm here to love and give.
I'm not thinking me. I'm thinking people. That's the shift for us as sons and daughters. Here's something that's helped me.
If you were in DNA a couple of years ago, you remember this. In our city, maybe in your neighborhood, there are people that sit or stand on a corner block and say, I have literally hit rock bottom. I'm in bondage to the most ridiculous mindsets and behaviors. Is there anything you can do to help me?
And most of us drive by because of what we believe about money. If I were to thought about this ahead of time, I probably would have some money in my pocket to do an example. But let's say I'm going to skip to the punch line. Go to an ATM machine and I don't mean do this once.
I mean, make this a part of your rhythm of life. Pull out money. People call it money to you and I. It's just rectangular green paper.
In the book of Acts, there's this concept that we see called a prayer cloth to where you can actually somehow, through faith, impart onto an inanimate object the kingdom of God. John G. Lake in the early 1900s, he's ministering in South Africa. He's about to catch a boat to head back to the States.
And there was a line as long as the eye could see of people wanting to get prayed for for healing so the dude knows about the prayer cloth concept and he turns to the post behind him and says that I released the kingdom into this. And every person who touches this will get healed in their body. And he says, guys, you got to catch a boat. But if you touch the post, it's as if we touched.
See you later. And you read the accounts of his life, the complete teachings of John G. Lake. You read that.
You'll be like, whoa, every single person in that line, as long as I could see, got healed. So what we do, you and I, we go to an ATM. We put in our debit card. We put in our pen and we pick a dollar amount and out comes this green stuff.
And what we do is we head back to our car. We don't start the car. We don't have music on it. We're not talking anybody.
And we say, God, I thank you so much. Right now I release the life of God into these pieces of paper. I say that the moment that they come into contact with any person that every sickness and disease leaves their body, I say that in Jesus' name, literal visions and dreams of the man Jesus start happening that same day. I speak breakthrough into their life.
And I say that every demonic spirit on assignment against them vacates the premises the moment they come into contact. Guys, it's not about the money. It's about the people. You want to get a heart of God about money and about giving?
It's not about the money. It never was. It's about the person on the corner. And if you're going to hand them a dollar bill, you got all these 20s and you pick out one because the rest are yours and you hand it to them and this is an example I was thinking of.
If I handed it to the homeless guy and he takes hold of it too and we're holding on to it together at the same time, I'm not letting go. Well, wait a second. How are you going to spend my money? Since when is that a qualification for freely giving?
Well, I want to know how this church or this ministry or this guy is going to spend my money. Who said it's your money? Well, I don't like paying taxes. It's because you think it's your money.
Why not do the same concept of the prayer cloth for the government? And I'm not talking about speaking in some weird political agenda that you have, but you get your pace up or you get your W2 or it's April 15th and you're writing a check however you're set up. What if you started believing for breakthrough an increase on whoever comes into contact with that money? Encounter.
So it's not believing for a political agenda, but it's actually believing that the kingdom's advanced even through your taxes. People with poverty mentality can't even think that. But you and I don't have poverty mentality. We've been delivered from slavery, from servanthood and now we're sons and daughters and we still get to serve but not as servants as sons and daughters.
Our identity has completely changed. So don't be weird and secretive about your money. It's not you. You need help with money?
Go ask for help with someone who's smart. Are you in fear at all about your next paycheck? I'm just concerned that everything I have is someday going to crumble. Consider serving God instead of man.
That's sharp. I don't mean to be this sharp, but I hope that I'm being clear. I'm going to invite the band up. Why don't you guys stand to?
You know if you don't believe that there's enough? It's probably because our faith and hope is actually in this thing called money. That doesn't love us. Doesn't know us.
It didn't die for us, right? How do we react when other people succeed? It goes beyond keeping up with the Jonesism and just trying to like get as far as other people. But how about in business?
For those of you in business? You didn't get the account but your competitor did. What if we started feeling so happy, overjoyed and excited for our competition? I can tell you right now, in business, I'm competing against one competitor for the biggest deal in my life.
I want you to learn from things that I've learned. My language, when I'm talking to the Trinity and no one's around, is Lord, if this customer doesn't pick my competitor, I just speak such increase in my competitor's business that they won't even feel the sting of it. You speak over your customer. I asked that they have wisdom that they actually choose which one is going to best serve their company and I speak increase over their company regardless of if I get the deal.
You see one of your friends, win the lottery, get a promotion or raise or whatever and instead of looking at your situation, you're so thrilled because it's not never about money. It's about the people. So I do challenge you. I challenge you to give more because you're going to see an increase in your own life.
Guys, a seed reproduces after its own kind. It is impossible to put money into the ground and get a healing. You're just never going to. But what's crazy is that multiplication happens so that you can increase your giving goal.
Pastor Josh talked two weeks ago, that's what we'll close with, on deliverance. You and I are about to get some deliverance from some really crappy mentalities. So here's what we're going to do. You're welcome to sit back down.
You're welcome to spread out. You're welcome to stand. You're welcome to pace. Just do something that works for you.
The band is going to be playing over you. But we're going to ask Holy Spirit unless you prefer to talk to Father or Jesus, whatever works for you. You're going to ask someone in the family, what lie am I believing about you as it relates to money? What lie am I believing about money itself?
Maybe it's that poverty or scarcity thing. Maybe it's an identity thing. They loved you and they will tell you the lie. The friend that sees us lies if it's plural, that you're believing.
Question number one, what lie am I believing? This is what Pastor Josh taught us. Question number two, okay, so then what's true? And we replace the truth in the place that the lie once was.
Boom, deliverance. Here's what you do then. And this works for sin. You're struggling with pornography, Holy Spirit, what lie am I believing?
You can rank a whole list. Then you make the list of what's true and you start obsessing over what's true. You don't wait until the temptation knocks. You just obsess over what's true.
So that when the temptation knocks to be anxious about money or to feel jealousy or to serve manment, all it does is remind you of what's true and you start thinking the Lord again. You're delivered from the lie because now you know what's true and the lie sounds strange and never makes sense to begin with. So here's what we're going to do. The band's going to play.
What lie am I believing? Write in your notes app what's true and then breaking the next giving for what's true. I want us to continue to stay in this mode and just do what Scott had just shared. Maybe some of us are hitting up against the wall or you're kind of going I'm not hearing anything.
I just I don't know what the Lord is saying. Sometimes that happens. I just ask him the question again. I just re-ask him the question and then I listen and the first thing that pops in my mind is often the Holy Spirit if it lines up with scripture.
And so let's ask let's it's okay if you haven't heard anything or just not getting clarity. Ask him again. Holy Spirit what's a lie that I'm believing about money and let's be faithful to ask him the follow up question of truth. Lord what are you saying?
What's the truth to replace this lie? Yes we're just going to continue to pause on this and continue to be engaging with him in conversation okay. Let's not just go into worship and sing songs. Let's actually apply this to our lives.
There's a life transformation that can happen right now so let's continue to engage.