First Ain’t Second // How to put God First In Your Life // Paper Chasers // Michael Todd

good morning transformation church let all of god's people give him a shout of praise lord we honor you we bless you we thank you and we're grateful for who you are hands lifted all over the world god today we're grateful for who you are thank you for rebuking everything that tried to stop us this week even though weapons formed they did not prosper we made it and god today i thank you for a hedge of protection i just feel this so strongly i'm praying a hedge of protection over every person under the sound of my voice watching this today or on rebroadcast or whenever they see this i pray a hedge of protection the car will not connect with yours the thing that was trying to take you out or distract you or throw you into another class will not make its connection i pray for every child in the name of jesus i need y'all to pray with me i pray that the sickness that is aimed for children it now disintegrates in the name of jesus i need us to pray with faith right now god we pray that everything that comes to suck and to take away we tear down those strongholds right now in the name of jesus you said that we could loose things on earth and we could bind things on earth so today at the start of this message we stand in our kingdom authority and we lose peace and joy and protection and healing and faith i need y'all to help me right now we lose father god the favor of god the mind of christ father god the ability to walk into impossible situations and see miracles and we bind hurts we bind disease come on we tie it up right now we bind negative thinking we bind depression we bind every sickness and infirmity we bind every stronghold and cycle we bind it in the name of jesus and we say jesus you reign reign lord may it be evident that we love you we spend time with you we put you first and i just declare father god if nothing else happens today we will make sure that we give you the glory the honor and the praise don't just say it go ahead and do it why don't you lift your voice why don't you lift your hands hallelujah let's give god a shout of praise come on in your home on the track watching right now from wherever in your bed lift your hands and give him glory or feel the presence of god in the room glory to god don't it feel better when you just give god praise see the whole thing that we're trying to do while we come to church is to magnify god it doesn't mean your situation is not real it's just been too big all week you looked at your bank account and it was too big all week you looked at your relationship and the things that are going wrong and it was too big when you come in with praise and worship the reason why we sing so many songs and we try to make sure you're interactive in what's happening and we don't want you to just sit back and spectate this is not watching service this is a worship experience if you're not experiencing anything or doing anything this is the same thing as a netflix movie you sit and consume but you don't sit and participate what god is asking for you is when you lift up your voice when you magnify him with your hands when you give what you're doing is magnifying or you're making him bigger and what happens is whatever's biggest in your life is the thing that you give the most attention to you remember in science class if they wanted to um show you like ants you couldn't see ants good with the naked eye so what did they give you a magnifying glass and you're sitting in a room but when you focus on the ant you get to see what's happening because you made the ant bigger the problem is there are things in our life that can affect us like that ant that we've magnified well my friends they're not even gonna be your friend six years from now don't magnify that don't don't don't well i feel lonely no you're separated for consecration right now god's making you into something right now but many times we magnify it and god says today in worship could you just magnify me i've been good i've been faithful i've been consistent when you turned away from me i turned to you could you just lift your hands right now and it's easy all you got to do is focus on the goodness of god father we thank you if you don't do another thing for us you've been so good god i know we got other things that we put the magnifying glass on but today we put it on your grace if it had not been for jesus on our side where would we be so today we're grateful and we thank you in jesus name somebody say amen amen let's give god one shot of praise all over the world all right y'all i came locked and loaded ready to preach today okay so i need everybody right now to to to get out your notepads and get out your smartphone get out your dumb phone i don't actually care how you got here today i think it's on purpose that you're here and i believe that god has a word for you because we are in week four of a series we'll call it help me paper chase and we decided about three weeks ago that we would not be paper chasers we would be purpose chasers do i got any paper chasers in the room oh see i tricked you everybody's like ah no no no because honestly at the end of the day that's what culture teaches us to be paper chasers to grind to hustle the bible does not have any of those words in it like if you look in original greek or hebrew the word hustle is not in there and i know those are the things that you have to do to get ahead when you're doing it without god without god yeah you do got to do more than everybody else without god you got to try to make stuff happen and network your way to the top and become this and put other people down and and hold back your resources because it makes you like you do have to do all that when you're not with god but when you're walking in kingdom principles you understand that what god wants to do with you is not make you chase paper he wants you to chase everybody say it with me purpose see there is a reason why each one of you is born and there is a specific design that god has for you and on this life with christ you are going to be uncovering or peeling back the layers of who god has called you to be chase that if it takes you an entire year of being in the word of god with no time going out but you find your purpose at the end of that was it worth missing the movies yeah was it worth not having a bomb birthday party i'm turning 29 and i'm about to turn up and all that what if god for the gift he wanted to give you this year was purpose clarity of what he called you to do the problem that i see in our generation is that is that we keep going through cycles of what feels good but not moving forward anywhere the original idea of paper chasers were people that were on a treadmill doing all of the exercise and the energy like they were going somewhere but when you look up they're standing in the same place the problem with us today even sadly to say in the church is that god is a sunday thing and then we get on the treadmill every monday and every monday we just out here hustling just grinding just trying to provide for and god said if you get off of that you could walk into what others are running for yikes some of us need to go back to 2017 and find our stride again to find the pace of grace and the reason that i keep bringing this up is because it is my passion that there would be about 30 000 of us that would get off of the treadmill of paper chasing and do this thing god's way and begin to be a purpose chaser everybody say purpose over paper say it like you mean it purpose over paper now if you're broke right now it doesn't mean anything when this will make sense is when god offers you something good that's not god if you've never been offered something that looked real good but it ain't god for you that's when you scream purpose over paper some of y'all in the bedroom y'all need to scream that too purpose [Music] i'll let you fill in the p-word but i i didn't come to play with him today you need to be going after purpose more than you're going after anything else purpose [Applause] let me i'm doing too much right now let me just go ahead and pull all the way back somebody in the crowd just turned completely pink like my turtleneck it's the truth i dare you to start to your purpose when temptation comes you scrolling on instagram you're going to get a phone call from somebody ah purpose somebody shot at me purpose because when you get purpose the paper follows watch this the platform follows nobody be brought watching me right now had i not gotten into purpose when nobody was looking the purpose bought the platform and many of us especially in the social media age and climbing the corporate ladder and this thing we're going after platforms that were not built to hold us the saddest part about getting to a platform that wasn't built for your weight is that depending on how high it is it could cause you your life and i just see too many people on a platform that was manufactured instead of on a platform that was given by god and if you got to keep it up and you got to make sure to keep it oiled and it's not something that's being supplied by god it might mean you didn't chase purpose we might have to do a whole nother series purpose over a platform that might that might be a whole nother situation all right let me get to the word none of that was my message but when the holy spirit starts speaking to me up here there's somebody in the audience that needed to be able to see that god wants you to follow everybody shout at me one more time purpose it's funny you talk about purpose because i was watching march madness uh this week and um uh here in tulsa uh something kind of extraordinary happened um oru shout out to the golden eagles um they beat i believe it was ohio at ohio state and upset about 98 percent of people's brackets and and there's some people that don't uh like sports so don't watch into like march madness anyway basically somebody who wasn't supposed to win david beat goliath and it just messed up everything for a lot of people um but as i was watching that i went back you know you have a dream about yahoo dreams now i know some of y'all didn't have hoop dreams but your boy had hope dreams they were short-lived you understand let's be very clear but i started to think about every level of basketball and what is necessary at each one of those levels and i found some principles and some things in there that i think would be powerful for you to understand when you play ymca or elementary basketball you know the kids out there that pick up the ball they run all the way to the net throw it up there's no coordination they just all wear the same colored jerseys like in elementary the idea that they're trying to get you is an idea of participation we just want you to be apart like at the end when it's the championship this is why i can't coach any of my kids um uh little league situations because at the end they give everybody a trophy do you mean i came here every day with these kids not listening and everybody get the same medal but it's it's because the goal is what participation but then when you go up and you get to middle school it changes a little bit it goes from just participation and they start delineating okay you kind of good and you not that good and they start putting you on the a team and the b team and if you school got a c team you just need to go back to class that's what that means but but they start going to different things but i found out the goal in middle school is different it's preparation so in elementary it's participation we just want everybody to be a part but in middle school it's preparation because they know there's only three years until it gets serious because when it comes to high school ball high school ball the the thing that separates them is dedication it's the people who don't just play on the team but they play aau in the summer they show up to the training facility they get a coach to help them dribble like so you could be bomb in middle school y'all know charles said that was me you could be bomb in middle school but when you hit into high school it changes cause the goal is not for everybody to participate the goal is not for everybody to get prepared you should have been prepared and starting in ninth grade that's why they chop them up to um junior varsity and freshman junior varsity and varsity why because they are all about who's dedicated to this thing so it's about dedication but then when you get to college college different y'all know how many high school teams there are they're everywhere and everybody was a baller on a high school team but why didn't you go to college one word in college it's all about separation everybody gets to participate at a low level then i'm going to give you time to prepare and then i'm going to see if you're actually dedicated but this is the line where there's separation today's message is a message of separation see i know many of you have been coming here and i was like i like dc i like you know the colors and he got richie rich on the screen and and the person like he funny uh yeah yeah yeah participation and some of y'all have heard a few of these messages and you're like you know what one day i'm a you know what one day i really do think i'm gonna do this tithing thing and this giving thing in this general preparation and then some of y'all last week and i want to thank you transformation church because you are a generous church and i saw like physical evidence of the number of people who actually gave it didn't matter about amounts it mattered about the heart posture because giving is all about the heart and and you did it and so as your pastor as a proud parent i'm saying good job because what you showed is what you show when you start maturing dedication but today what i'm about to talk about is separation this what changes people from players to fans you know the people on the sideline to be like he should have dunked it but you can't do a layup see see there's a lot of people in this christianity thing that's not the bible it's tithing it's giving it's this and there's a lot of fans but only real players know what it takes to actually live the thing they know what they have to deny in the off season they know what they have to give up they know what's required of them and this is what i'm trying to provide to our church a word of separation not a word that you're better than because as soon as the game is over you're the same as everybody else but in this sting of christianity and what god has called us to and kingdom god does call for separation who actually ride with me and who just wear the t-shirt who has the cross tattooed on their heart and who just wears it as a chain there's a lot of people repping the team ain't never played the game [Applause] and i just believe that transformation church i'm talking to some players some people that's lacing up their sneakers they're saying we're not gonna sit on the sideline of this walk of faith but we gonna lace it up and we go get in the game somebody shout at me get in the game [Applause] it's time out for us to play video game christianity i don't care what you can do on the 2k of christianity see it's a season of separation and the reason that i would do this message here is and go five weeks yeah i could teach something way sexier generosity and stewardship they don't even sound sexy to say stewardship that's an ugly word but at the end of the day these principles have the opportunity to transform not just your life if this was about you it wouldn't even be worth it but if it's about the generations that are running around your house right now and then the seeds that are on the inside of them and when you're long gone from now your impact influence and your decision could actually be impacting the next generation the bible says a good man a good woman leaves an inheritance for their children's children that's not just money it's mindsets and there's so many people leaving a house but no holiness they're leaving accounts but no anointing i am on one today [Applause] they're leaving passive income great but no principles do you know that's why heirs and heiresses are some of the most um um um uh what do they call them wasteful because they didn't have the principles that got their parents the the actual resources and so as soon as they get the inheritance as soon as they get um what was laid up for them and prepared for them because they didn't have the mindset or the principles they squander it today i don't want us as a church to squander the principles that god is trying to give us through this series see because the difference between a college player y'all know that's not the last level because there's a difference between a college player and the nba can i tell you what that word is it's not just preparation and it's not just participation it's not just dedication and it's not even separation it's concentration the difference between college players and mba is what do you concentrate on what do you know how many times somebody sits in the gym and practices the same shot i was watching the documentary and i was i was i was watching steph curry arguably one of the greatest in my opinion the greatest three-point shooter in the nba and we can argue that later but but um i was looking at how he automatically does the same thing over and over and over and over and you're sick of me saying over but this is over and oh it's not uh oh i've already won a championship nope over yeah i won another one and over i got hurt i got to nurse nurse myself back but i over the same thing over and over it's because he's concentrated on what he has been given i'm asking everybody in this paper chaser series what are you concentrating on when it comes to your generosity and your financial stewardship most of us are magnifying or concentrating on what we don't have and if you keep rehearsing what you don't have guess what you will get more of nothing i can i can't do it man you know i can't do that tithing thing but do you know the new jordans just came out you mean the ones they released 10 years ago and that they're going to release again and that they're going to oh but oh i forgot you're chasing identity so the new jays gave you more of a boost than being consistent with the principles that god says to do and all the ladies like that's right but your wig [Applause] [Music] and your dye and your cut and your nails many of you are more concentrated on the aesthetics of your nails i just have to do it because i see you every week every friday and at the end of the day when god asks what did you do with your purpose he's not gonna ask you what color what length and how the edges were rounded he's going to say hey you weren't concentrated on what i told you to be concentrated on and so your hands look good but nothing's in them they look good but they empty because i can't trust you with being concentrated oh my god i ain't even got to my first okay here we go the difference between going to the league and winning the championship though is still a difference how many teams are in the nba 30 32 36 one of those and and all of the teams have people on the team that are concentrated but the thing that makes you win the championship is not participation not preparation not dedication not even separation not even consecration it's maturation it's maturity that's why they always want veterans on the team even if they don't play they've been there before that's that brings up scriptures like like like i was young but now i'm old and i've never seen the righteous forsaken i see veterans like bishop and pastor debbie and pastor tommy and brenda the generals in the faith people like pastor robert they still stand in here and i'm like how are you standing here didn't you go through trouble didn't the enemy try to come after you didn't all these things happen he said yeah but we've been around this way before we're mature enough to know that when you come down to the last second and you're down and it looks like you're not gonna win there's a victor on the inside of you and his name is jesus and wherever you are he's the one that will always get a buzzer beater i'm preaching in this place it is time for us as a church to everybody say the customer with me mature we gotta mature and i told y'all at the beginning of 2020 this is not the series or the pastor or the church for people who want to stay on the milk i'm going to give you the meat i know that people think all of this is for a show and me having the mask and all that i'm just trying to draw the fringe people in because i'm about to give you steak [Applause] and the steak is found in the word of god and the thing that we have to do when we're maturing maturing is something that that i've i've studied a lot because i was given a lot of responsibility at a young age and jesus was given a lot of responsibility at a young age and the reason that he was given the responsibility was not because of his age or stage it was because of his maturity do y'all remember when he was 12 and he was in the synagogue and he was mature in one area but not mature in another area and that's why god is trying to mature us in every area like you may be mature in how you communicate emotionally but you're immature in your finances you may be mature in your relationship but you may be immature and being a person of your word and jesus at 12 was in the synagogue schooling all the priests and rabbis he was mature in the things of god because he was god made flesh like but he had one problem he didn't tell his mama so it shows us that you can be mature in one area and forget to communicate with the pers his mary said jesus jesus he's like um does doubts hear us something jesus said he got scared he said mama huh she said where you been and he tried to use his maturity in one area woman don't you know that i'm about my father's business that was the last words we heard from jesus for 18 years got no go check the bible he was 12 it's like one mission oh god and jesus came back at 30 years old but that's how life slaps you in the face a lot of time because you're mature in one area but god said let me work on your attitude and you think because you're good at business that you're ah and god says let me work on your communication and you think because that people know you and you're talented and god's saying can i mature you in the area of generosity and stewardship okay can i can i teach today i said can i teach today i'm gonna give you a one-word definition for maturity sacrifice all maturity is is somebody that has decided that they are going to sacrifice can i put it in a point what you are willing to part with or sacrifice proves what you are willing to be a part of i'ma say it again because that's nasty what you are willing to be a part what you are willing to part with proves what you are willing to be a part of how you're going to mature is not by gaining more it's about letting go of things that you already have that when you're younger you're selfish when you mature it's like i can't get up whenever i want to i gotta take these kids i head to school it's sacrifice it's like oh god do they brush their teeth today or do i just let them go and just kill the whole class with halitosis no i'm mature so i gotta get up five minutes early because they don't know how to brush their tongue and i put your tongue out ava why she's not mature enough to do that on her own but because i am responsible i have to sacrifice to be able i'm trying to make this apply to your life i i need to to let you know the immature in all of us doesn't want to let go of things we don't want to sacrifice things we don't want to give things up and this is going to help you i'm going to give you the elsa equation the elsa equation y'all remember elsa from the disney movie she had a little phrase three words they were very prophetic what were they let it go and i've been inundated with this movie song and the spiritual context that comes with it because my daughters yell let it go all the time they sing it but the holy spirit started to speak to me as we were watching that this week he said the only way you mature michael is if you let something go and i said god explain it to me he said this is the elsa equation and i'm going to give it to you because this is going to help a lot of people okay i want to travel right now and i know covet has come to really uh put a damper on all of our vacation plans and all those different things but if you could how many people right now would take a vacation tomorrow like if you were hands in the chat now tell me where you would go come on shout out where you would go if you could go anywhere cali italy florida cali where else come on put it in the chat okay hawaii bahamas if i could go anywhere right now all right stop this it's not happening but if you could if i if somebody asked me that question i would go to the maldives have you ever seen or been to the mall just type in the maldives and just lift your hands and tell them thank you i would go to the maldives i have a desire everybody say desire to travel but if i have a desire to travel i gotta evaluate my current location so my current location is where tulsa oklahoma dang the maldives is somewhere across the ocean and and we would have to be able to to to get over the indian ocean i believe is where it's at and and and to go there my current location is very important because i would navigate from here but if i was going to be a part of the maldives i would have to let go of the ground yeah solid ground there's no road to the maldives i would have to sacrifice the security of this to be a part of the maldives that means i would have to part with something or sacrifice it to be a part of something greater and this takes maturity i would either have to submit to the the laws of buoyancy and get on a boat or i would have to defy the laws of gravity and fly but i could not get and be a part of this amazing place if i don't part with or sacrifice something what are you trying to say pastor mike there is a place that god has for you that you want to be a part of that has everything that you've ever wanted and more but it requires it is mandatory that you part with something or sacrifice it to get there and what if today god is saying part with it or let it go so i can let go of what i have for you there are so many of us like god when are you gonna and god said when you let go of him then i'm going to there's only space for one of y'all well god when are you going to he said when you write it down give me some time part with some of your time but i got to make sure you only have 17 followers part shut it down for a month so that god can give you a vision but what are you willing to part with some of y'all that example that didn't hit you the right way because you're just sitting there so so let me let me use myself i desire to be fit i desire to be fit your pastor's on a journey okay the beginning of the year i decided yeah i'm gonna do it i'm gonna be consistent i'm gonna be concentrating i'm gonna do all this other stuff and your pastor's lost 22 pounds since the beginning of the year this suit would have been covered yeah anyway i can hold on hold on i can button it now i can't stay there because i won't be able to breathe the whole service but i can button it okay and i'm on a journey but what happens is my location right now is 240 245 ish okay just keep the ish you know when you don't want to be too specific-ish but do you know what i gotta part with see uh-oh because this is where we lose it because everybody want to be fit until you got to sacrifice something until you got to let it go this is the elsa equation this means you're maturing i gotta part with junk food i got a sonic just came out with a yeah she know sonic sonic just came out with this like oreo shake something thingy about she ted [Applause] and you know how you see a picture and you can taste it i gotta i gotta part with the late night inning i gotta part with the bread and the pasta i gotta part with and maybe more than the actual food i gotta part with procrastination i gotta part with uh come on y'all like i gotta part with being lazy and when i part with it that means i become a part of a healthy lifestyle uh one more one more there's some there's some people that really want to be in a relationship you have a desire to be in a loving amazing sexy marriage you want to be in that and god wants you to be in yeah you want to be in a sexy don't you don't want to be in no stagnant relations you want to be in a sexy one like man that ain't me and that is in a sexy that's why she pregnant anyway and your location right now for many of you is you belong to the streets [Applause] somebody was like sally you belong to the streets just ask somebody like 30 or younger you belong to the streets you and everybody's dm you just hippity-hopping hippity you go out places just looking for hookups in one night stands and for somebody to stroke your ego or somebody to speak life into you or to be able to make you feel loved and yes we know that's why you bought the dress and yes we know that's why you wore the tight pants and yes we know that's why you bought that car sir and yes we know that's why you got the gold grill and yes that's why we know you went to that expensive restaurant we know [Music] you belong to the streets but what do you have to part with or sacrifice while now and for some of us that's hard because now it's become a habit of your heart remember when we talked a few weeks ago about giving is all about the heart because once god gets your heart then he can actually once he gets your treasure you he has your heart and once he has your heart he can change your habits and once you change your habits he can make you live whole the problem is many of us are wilding out because it's a habit of our heart now you started doing it when you were young and now it's the thing that you do it's more comfortable to do it than it is to do anything else and you desire something else do you know how many people desire to be in a relationship with one person the problem is they belong to the streets and they have to part with wilding out to be a part of what i like this word this is the new word that everybody needs to not just want a relationship they need to be a part of covenant th this is the for ritual poor this right here covenant is the only thing jesus talks about that's why it's so easy for our generation this ain't my message but i feel led to say it's so easy for you to get in a relationship because you think it's so easy to get out i heard about celebrities this week that everybody thought was to last so broke up why because he wasn't really to give up the wild out and now there's no chance for covenant in the same way when i bring it to this series about stewardship and generosity what god is saying to us is you desire to live a blessed life that's what you desire well let's identify your location and many of us before this series had a negative view of tithing and giving like like we had a negative view of it negative thinking they just want my money the pastor just wants to blame with my stuff everything i bought i didn't buy with church money this ain't y'all didn't buy this like and that's because i'm not trying to get anything from you i want to get something to you but what does that mean it means you got to locate where you are and some of you are a never nate neville i ain't never given to god i ain't never doing anything someone's you are sometimes sarah like i mean you know sometimes i give some of y'all are if i had it travis or others of you are not my money sonny not my money and some of y'all are greedy stevie but others of you through the past three weeks of this series and if you haven't watched it you need to go back and watch it some of you are now finding out that you are i didn't know joe i didn't know this was that important nobody ever taught me nobody ever showed me or maybe you're uh now i care clear i care now and what does that mean that means you're going to have to part with the tithe see how little amen's like yeah okay if if you desire to live the blessed life i'm just telling you and you're in any of these negative view thinkings god says time for you to mature time for you to make a sacrifice part with the tithe give 10 to me return it to me before you do anything else make me first and then what happens you get to be a part of kingdom stewardship and generosity does everybody understand what you are willing to part with proves what you're willing to be a part of don't tell me god's first and you are all about the kingdom and you're not willing to part with the increase that god's placed in your hand and he don't want all of it 10 what business deal ever is you give 10 and and i'll let you keep 90. but i'll bless multiply protect and give you more with the 90 than you could ever do with the 10. i need somebody to understand this very clearly 90 with god's blessing is better than a hundred percent without it i'm gonna say it one more time because some of y'all are just getting it 90 of our increase with god's blessing is better than a hundred percent without it okay so so so so let me help you because i always mess up and it is my bad honestly i always try to add people and and like put them in places they're not actually at because i understand the value of what this principle uh is i should have gave a disclaimer at the beginning of this series because what i've realized is that um the principle of tithing is for anybody but not everybody let me say it again it's for anybody anybody can participate in this but everybody will not because honestly the principle of tithing is only for a select group of people watch this it's for people who consider god first in their life that's the only people who actually tithe if god is everybody shot at me first if he's first in your life then you type if he's not first i don't have no expectations for you like i just want to be out because i needed to give a disclaimer because a lot of people like you know i want to give honor and thank god no you that was just the speech that wasn't your real life you didn't actually put him first in your life i just want to thank the big man upstairs who's the big man upstairs you mean god jehovah yeshua jesus he has the name the holy spirit like is he actually first because you can tune this message out if he's not first but if he's first this is the most important message that i will speak in this series for anybody who is a believer let me give you the title of my message today and i want you to write it down big first ain't second like don't tell me he's first but he ain't first first ain't i know it's not is not second no no no first ain't second and a lot of people think that if god's close to the top of your life it's good oh y'all know like you know i'm saying it's my relationship it's my job it's god it's the family he ain't first he's around the top y'all remember um um t-mobile had this thing your fave five some of y'all too young to remember that but basically before you had unlimited calling on everything they would have you pick five of your favorite people and with those five people you could call them unlimited and then some of the other people like yeah i remember that boy i used to be calling jerome all the time but like like and and with everybody else it charged you now we got unlimited calling but i i started to think about it if i look at your favorites in your call log i can tell who's first in your life like if you go to my cell phone right now you got my phone if you go to my phone right now here just pass it to me if you go to my phone and and you look up my favorites real quick come in here cameraman i just want them to see real quick okay i put up my favorites what is the first name on my favorites zoom in that's my wife with a heart kissy lips wedding ring stilettos pumps in the church y'all said the club i know what y'all doing like some more lips hundred why and then it's bree and then it's charles then it's tim ross then it's scott then it's my mom that's my dad then it's miss tim this shows me who's first in my life everybody knows on my staff i don't care what we talking about if natalie diane todd calls i answer the phone not because i want to be disrespectful to you not because what we're not talking about is important but in this realm of relationship she is first now y'all missed it i know cause so many people are optional for you but in my phone in my heart in my life as it comes to human she is first the same way how we have favorites move that to your finances if i came to your favorites in finances and we pulled up your bank account and we pulled up your credit card statement and all your other stuff who would be first for some of y'all be amazon you love coming home to a new package headed home headed home hit it huh oh you ordered it don't act surprised they told you when it was coming you all what a gift no for some of you the mortgage company is first well i gotta have a house yeah but who gave you the ability now the only reason i'm being this strong i understand is strong language i understand and listen this is what i want you to understand if you are a part of a different church and transformation church is supplemental um content and vitamins for you and we're feeding you i'm not asking you to tie to us go tithe to the church that you belong to be consistent be mature even if they don't have all the things but god has called you to that church you are supposed to be an aaron in her holding up that ministry and that's where your blessing is do not sow in this form and miss your blessing in the place that god has called you to the truth still is no matter what church you belong to the question is who is first why because first ain't second and and in this message series i've studied the scriptures 16 out of the 38 parables spoken of are about finances and possessions 288 um times in the new testament jesus talks about possessions and finances 500 scriptures in the bible are about prayer and how many know prayer is important okay 500 scriptures but there's 2 350 about possessions and finances why would god speak about it that many times because he knew he would have trouble in this area he knew we would be like oh no god not this time and so what he said is i need to keep talking about it so that they can understand that wherever their treasure is that's where their heart is wherever their heart is if it's with me i'll change their habits and if i get their habits i'll make them whole that is what living a blessed life is all about if you put god i'm gonna say something very strong if you put god first in everything you do in your life everything will come into order if you put god forth everything will come into order now that doesn't mean you won't have trouble that doesn't mean the bible tells us you'll have trouble and there'll be stuff that's going on and all that other stuff but would you rather go through trouble in with god having everything in order or everything out of order even when i think about the principle of first that's what we're really talking about the word prince which is the root word for principle means first in line so god's saying don't just live by an idea live by something that comes in first live by a principle and this means that we have to get this principle in us look at exodus 13. um let's go to verse one it says the lord spoke to moses saying consecrate to me all the firstborn of whatever opens the womb among the children of israel both man and beast look at the emphatic language right here it says it is mine this is god talking he said everything that comes out first whatever is first whether it's a baby whether it's a calf whether it's a lamb the first one it is mine then drop down to verse 12 it says that you shall set apart to the lord all that opens the womb he's being very very thorough that in that is every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have the male shall be the lords but every firstborn of a donkey this is going to make sense in just a second stay with me you shall redeem with the lamb and if you will not redeem it then you gotta break its neck and all of the firstborn of man among your sons shall be redeemed look at the point the firstborn must be sacrificed or redeemed either you're gonna sacrifice it or it's going to be redeemed now he how do you know which one to do look at it it gives us two examples and i'm going to teach you today and this is why i need you to understand and check in lock in with me right now it gives an example of two animals did you catch it a donkey and a lamb in the bible days a donkey was considered an unclean animal and today it's considered an unclean animal and and a lamb was considered a clean animal what it said in there is that if you have a donkey i ain't accepting the donkey cause that's unclean so i need you to redeem the donkey by getting a lamb and if you have a lamb the first one is mine so the first of everything must be sacrificed or redeemed now let me ask you a question and this is very serious i need you to understand this were you and i born spiritually clean or unclean answer me we were all unclean now i want you to think about this because we can ask all the experts in the room you didn't have to teach your kids how to be bad i was born unclean we have a sin nature on the inside mama was i bad when i was young she said very bad i was back why because i was born with a sin nature and some of us act out differently but we all have some type of thing that is lower we're born unclean now let me ask you this question and i want you to be very very thoughtful of this what's jesus born clean or unclean does it make sense to you now what jesus did was take the donkey and he redeemed it he had to be sacrificed on a cross so that the unclean god i'm about to preach this could be redeemed the only reason you're standing here and i'm standing here after being addicted to pornography after every scene that i made after every lie that i told is that the spotless lamb of god the clean one the one without a blemish he said i'll take the donkey's place and two thousand years ago he climbed up on the cloth and he redeemed the unclean somebody needs to stop and give god praise right there for jesus being our sacrificial lamb that's why we celebrate easter that's why in two weeks we bout to turn up cause every stain that i had [Music] [Applause] the lamb was sacrificed to make me clean and this is a principle of tithing that jesus ah watch this i love the bible jesus is god's tithe he gave his first son so that the other children could be redeemed [Music] so you thought it was about money but he took his only son he didn't have ten sons and say yeah i'm gonna send jesus see that's why we give our tithe or return our tithe by faith it doesn't take faith to give the tenth one it takes faith to give the first one do you know god sent his only son for a maybe maybe you would accept him maybe you would keep wilding out maybe you would come to church one time a year and he said still i know the principle of first that if i want all of humanity to be reconciled back to me i got to give my son everybody shout at me first write this point down it takes faith to give the first it doesn't take faith to give one of them and that's what many of us do that's what i used to do and i'm telling myself when it came to the tithe i would try to do everything else and then whatever i had left over i would give to god like i'd try to try to make sure this was good my house was good my fits was good that i took care of my bills and my debt and all that other stuff and then oh yeah i got something to give god and i would throw god the the the second or the last or one of them but first thing second and if god is first it takes faith to give the first this is one thing that changed my life and i hope you get it right now it's not the 10 percent that enacts the blessing it's the faith that enacts the blessing he wasn't saying oh i need 10 percent he said i need their faith so when they give it first they prove they trust me when they do it before anything else comes it proves their they trust me when jesus was given by god he was given the bible tells us when we were mocking him and spitting on him when we when we were making fun of jesus god didn't wait and see if we would change or repent or become worthy he gave it everybody shot at me first okay so um when the children of israel i think about another example and i'm just trying to teach you today because i know i'm going against mindsets and strongholds but when the children of israel came into the promised land but the bible says that he said bring all the silver and gold of jericho into to my house and the my house is the church or the place that god resides and the reason he said it's bring all of it is because it's simple that jericho was the first city he said out of every all the cities he said i need you to bring the first the first ten percent and i will bless every other thing if you would just have faith to trust me with the tithe what i'm telling you today emphatically is don't give the portion that has the opportunity to bless everything else don't give it away don't give it to the mortgage company don't give it to amazon prime don't give it to the subscriptions you keep you don't even know all of the subscriptions that you have anymore but they're taking the blessed portion of your resources and this is time for us to concentrate so that we can understand that the mortgage company does not have the power to bless our finances god does and that's why we honor god say it with me first and that's why the bible talks about first fruits write this point down the first fruits must be offered write that down the first fruits must be offered proverbs 3 verse 9 it says honor the lord with your possessions that's everything that you got all your increase and with the first fruits of all everybody say all all your increase so every time you increase financially anything that happens with you financially somebody just gave me 150 of all my increases did my bank account just increase did my net worth just increase i'm gonna take all of that and 10 of that the tithe belongs to god it says so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with nuance god's saying i'm trying to give you the cheat code that you never run out honor me more than enough honor me more than enough say it with me honor me more than enough just one more time honor me oh we forgot a word first see cause a lot of people like i did it but dang you did it second third fourth fifth he can't accept that honor me first more than enough exodus 23 19. the first of the first fruits i love that because it reiterates it's like first the first of the first fruits of your land you shall bring and i love this word underline bring into the house of the lord your god into the church house he didn't say give he said bring and the reason i need you to notice that is be because we can't give something that doesn't belong to us you only can bring it when people like i need to give my tithes no you're never giving your tithes it already is designated for god either you're going to bring it or you're going to steal it according to the word and some of you are eating your blessing some of you are wearing your blessing some of you are living in your blessing some of us just came off of a trip that was the money that was supposed to bless us you only can bring it or steal it and that's why we give our first fruits can i show you this example bring the tables out real quick this is the easiest way for you to understand this either you're going to be a purpose chaser or you're going to be a paper chaser those are the two options that you have and all god is saying is out of ten bring me one just bring me one so i can bless the others bring me one out of ten bring me a hundred out of a thousand bring me a hundred thousand out of a million and the other nine will be so blessed you won't even miss what you brought back to me ah let me show you how it works this is the testimony of people who are purpose chasers they come they drop one drop one and then all the other ones god says you can do whatever you want to do with them yeah yeah yeah go to the movies yeah start a 401k yeah go ahead and start a new plan come on just and god said i'm good with just this one all this proved is that you had faith and then when you get more increase come on you just put that i don't need i don't need anybody i just need you to put one right here yeah yeah just go ahead and put it right there that's all i need and then i need you to lay all of those yeah yeah go bless your family members yeah take them out for vacation yes set up for the next generation yeah all nine of those you keep doing it and god is saying this is the principle when you drop one for me it proves that you believe in me and that i'm the one that can do this thing and i am first can you start looking at what god is doing and the contrast of what is on your table as opposed to what's on god's table god's not trying to keep something from you he's trying to teach you a principle my god that will give something to you do you look at the blessings of the lord oh yeah i know some of it's gonna fall off because the blessings of the lord make it rich and added no sorrow you thought this was something that god was trying to take more from you i need you to get the picture god says every first and fifteen honor me with one take all nine of them come on i want you to see what the next 12 months is about to look like in your family i want you to see what god is trying to prepare for you oh yeah and it keeps going yup and then he's going to bless you with another business venture and then he's going to give you a witty invention and idea and when he blesses the fruit of your hand just put one right here just for one the rest of y'all go ahead god is not looking to hoard what he's given you he's looking oh i feel the presence of god because somebody's getting a picture come on go wide screen on them they need to see god's table is not about having more than enough his table is about being honored everybody shout at me first are we going to let him keep going because when you do it god's way he says that he will open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that you do not have room enough to receive i see what's going to end up happening is they're going to keep putting stuff up here and eventually it's gonna begin to fall off of this table because there's so much oh one of them already fell off it's so crazy that when god starts blessing you because you honored him it's easy yeah it's easy it's easy come on keep it coming oh i'm not rushing this because some of y'all need to see that god wants to be first in your life and all he needs you to do yeah let it fall let it fall oh that's how you're gonna be blessing people this year it ain't even you not even gonna miss it it's just gonna fall off it's gonna be the overflow of what yeah yeah no keep putting it in front yeah keep putting it in front yeah just keep putting it front and it's okay if it fall off i want you to see the blessing of the lord [Music] this is the testimony of people who put god shouted at me first and please remember first thing second it's just falling off everywhere yeah try to try to get it out yep yep this is what living a blessed life looks like i'm gonna put the letters and make a little curtsy you know put a little curtain chief out here huh yeah yeah this is a prophetic sign of what god's about to do no no somebody say i receive it say it like you mean and say i'll receive it yeah this is a prophetic sign of transformation nation this is what your bank accounts is going to look like somebody needs to lift your hands and receive it this is what your endowments are gonna look like this is what the fruit of your hands are gonna look like there's gonna be so much like after you give them one you're just gonna start putting it down here because they're gonna be so much i don't even have room enough to put it back i don't have room enough to receive it can you see the scripture right now can you see the scripture coming to life right now in your hands yeah just start coming and coming in front of me just come in front of me just start dropping it off on me start dropping it off on me yeah just start start dropping it off on me this is what the church will look like in the coming days this is what your family will look like in the coming days this is what god wants to do yeah i'm out here looking like chiquita banana ain't that what her name is yeah yeah yeah that's where we had these days yeah somebody's getting a praise right now somebody's praise is beginning to raise up on the inside of him because years of generational lack and generational poverty and generational cycles of selfishness are being broken because you're gonna honor god first yeah i dare you to just begin to praise god for your future right now yeah yeah this is where you lift your head oh his blessing is knocking me over the blessing is coming over hold on i need people to help me because the blessing is chasing me down oh remember when you're a purpose chaser and you honor god say it with me first now now now watch this [Music] this is a product of maturity this is a product of what i was willing to part with and it made me a part of something else can can you can you pan out just a second and i just want to see the two tables just just get the two tables that's all god wanted that's it what my three-year-old could come in here and i say which one do you want ava and she say i want this one and god says if you just give me that this is what you get to live in but it means you have to honor god say it loud first i got so much blessing i don't i don't actually need all of this oh that's when god says now when i tell you to give extra charles let me bless you with a couple bags of potatoes that i didn't this is just an offering that's just an all i i don't if i don't use it it spoils if i don't if i don't start blessing somebody i need some of y'all to come get some of this because if i don't start blessing somebody with it i don't have enough room to eat all this by myself if i don't leave something for the next generation if i don't give something to a missing organization like convoy of hope if i don't if i don't if i don't get it it will split and this is what ends up happening there's so much that now i become a dispensary god where do you want me to give easy who do you want me to bless easy can i tell you a personal testimony i told y'all at the beginning of this series that i didn't really know how to live the blessed life when god gave me the principles and so i knew my church needed to hear this message but i wasn't living it and the one thing your pastor will never do is get up here and fake we live hot humble open and transparent we'll we'll we'll do something else for you to get it to but i'm not going to get up here and act like i know it so the first two years the holy spirit would not let me preach this message but i remember sitting there on the first year of doing the blessed life and the holy spirit said do you want to live the blessed life michael i said yes sir he said you're going to have to give your land rover away i said i got i wouldn't really i mean i really do want the best life but i wasn't really mean in like my only car i didn't i didn't know you were going to require me to part with something to become part of something else he said yeah so um i talked to my wife and she was like mike that means we won't have a car and and husbands this is why it's so important that you hear from god and you model hearing the voice it's hard for a woman to submit to a man that's not submitted and because my wife saw me pray and saw me fast and saw me do what my flesh didn't want to do she knew i was under some other type of control not that wasn't mike that was god doing something in mike and she said baby if you think it's god let's go and i there were people that that are in here that were there when i did it and i took my land rover keys with no backup plan and i gave them to a young man that was doing graphics in our church and the holy spirit was like good job good job how am i getting to i'm the pastor of transformation church no car god's going to come through next week i know he is hey bri um could you come pick me up for service it's real story she can't pick me up from service one week two weeks two months five months hey god um thought you were a man of your word oh can i be honest i thought you said if i honored you and i obeyed you like you would like why am i walking to church i had church members driving by asking did i need a ride and the answer was yes like it wasn't it wasn't even like nah nah just trying to exercise no i needed a ride and then there was a lady that found out about our situation and let us use her car and i was like oh man god thank you you're all you always provide do you know what kind of car it was it was a 15 passenger white van y'all remember that i was pulling up to transformation church with enough room to bring the block with me when me and nat would go on date night and that's why she's a real one that's why she get everything that she wants cause she would have me i'd be ashamed she's like no no baby pull up to the front and she get out now she a real one baby you know i love cause she would not be ashamed she's like my man she would have me come over the door and i'd be looking ducky i mean that mug was long it was like a limousine of vans and and it would just be me and her for another five months y'all i almost did not have a car for almost a year and then a man in our church heard about what was happening and he had a car dealership mom you remember this and and he said uh i want to take you to my car dealership i want to i want to show you some cars i have he's like how much you want to spend i was like oh i got like like four g's like i just need some a to b you know what i'm saying just need i just really not going nowhere these days like because oh i forgot to tell you the woman with the band she asked for back and so uh now imagine my pride i'm telling people let's live the blessed life and hitchhiking to the house of god but god refined me in that place he said that it don't matter if you have a car or not he said you're called and you hear me and you just proved to me you were willing to part with your only car to become a part of this blessed life i'm about to let you have i said that sound good but i'm still walking this man came he said i'm gonna take you to my car dealership i said cool and this is the most embarrassing moment he's like yeah just come around three i was like could you come get me i had to ask the man to come get me he pulled up in this fire mercedes black on black had black rims it was clean and so he came out the house he was like i'm here and i came out the house and i was like whoa that's fresh i was like this your car he's like nah i said whose car is it he said it's yours and threw me the keys to the car and said that god told me before i came here that i was supposed to take the car i was driving and give it to you in the middle of my driveway i broke down and god said you can never beat me given and at that moment the holy spirit i'm i'm crying i'm like oh my god he's like yeah get in you don't owe me nothing this is your car this is i'm literally sitting there i'm crying i go find that i'm like baby somebody just gave us a car and as i was pulling up to to be able to bring it back to the house the holy spirit said you're going to give this car away too he said you want to live the blessed life right i say yeah he said you're just a funnel he said i'll let you use it for a while and then you're gonna get this one away too i was like okay but i was excited in the moment so i was just like okay and then i thought he would forget y'all know how y'all think god forgets something he did we came to another time of giving and i was me and natalie were gonna show the largest gift cause we believed in putting god first and god had blessed us and god said hey not only are you gonna give the finances you're going to give your car away now too and i was like what and he said yep and uh there was a young man in our church who needed a car and the holy spirit said give him your car walked up to him gave him a dap and handed him the keys to my car and paid the insurance for a year that hurt but it qualified me for what god was gonna do next so a year goes by now at this point we've been living the blessed life for three years and i've given away two cars no strings attached so last year i had a a family member that was in need and we came to a time of giving and the holy spirit said do you want to live this or do you want to talk to people about it i said god i want to live it he said cool so this is what you're going to do you're going to buy a car hold on the last ones were given listen god you messing up the formula like i didn't have to pay nothing for it and then you kind of he said no no you're going to buy it and you're going to spend ten thousand dollars on it ten that god i don't have ten thousand he said yeah you do look i began to look and i was mad that i found it you know what i'm saying how you looking like he said you're gonna buy it so i called a person who had a car dealership and i said man i'm looking for a reliable car for a single mother who has three kids um i just know i'm supposed to bless her i don't want to no strings attached anything like that i just want to bless her and then he's like yeah i got this minivan 2 000. i was like that'll work i was like how much is it is like 9 000. i was like cool and then i can take okay cool and me and natalie were sitting there i was like we're gonna do this like we said we wanted to live the blessed life we're gonna live this thing out and um hung up the phone dude calls me back says man um for some reason i'll never do this but my i had you on speakerphone when i was talking to you and my daughter overheard the conversation and she just got a brand new 2010 acura da da da da starts going on and she said while you were talking god said that she was supposed to give that car to the person in need so we taking it to the detail place right now you don't have to pay anything for the car she's actually going to give it to y'all to give to them and at that moment god says see michael i didn't need your money i needed your heart when you decided in your heart [Applause] that you were gonna obey me i sent provision and i don't know who i'm talking to today but when i'm talking about putting god first it's not even about the resources god is the source he has everything he owns a cow on a thousand heels he owns the world he doesn't need it from you he just needs to know does he have the place that he could have it from you first ain't second and if i could get anything to this generation if you put god first the rest is blessed if you put god first in everything not just in finances if you put him first in your relationship if you put him first in your day before you wake up and scroll on instagram just pray just put him first just just actually look at your bible read a scripture put him first worship him magnify him put him first if he's first he'll bless the rest i said begin to think about this in every aspect of my life the first thing god blessed in my ministry was youtube and for some reason relationship goals took off in 2017 or something like that and people everywhere begin to watch youtube now there's something y'all know i'm transparent there's something that happens when them little ads pop up on youtube they pay money to be on your youtube videos so millions of people watch transformation church and watch my preaching on youtube and every time the little ads come up every time you skip them thank you because the church is being blessed by not a offering or a tithe over time that's equated to a lot of money and the holy spirit said don't you take a dime because the first thing i bless is mine it's mine all of it goes back to the church i said well lord you know that could really help me do a couple of things he said it i'll still send provision i just gotta be first so from that day until this not one cent from youtube has touched my account it has all gone back to transformation church but when i tell you that god dug up some blessings no no no stuff i wasn't going after [Music] stuff that didn't take no more work for me stuff that didn't make me some of y'all in the room know what i'm talking about it came and found me and when the blessing hit my account god said the only reason i could do that is cause you honored me say it with me first church i'm telling you today that there is a blessing on the other side of putting god first above the bills above the mortgage above our fashion above everything that we've considered awesome when you put god first he blesses everything else can you imagine what it looks like when god sees his children saying oh god's more more important than that do you know there is no feeling like my daughter having an invitation to go spend the night at one of her cousin's house and all that other stuff but she said daddy i don't really want to spend the night i want to go over and play but then i want to come back and snuggle with you yo that isabella is something different that baby told me she said daddy i don't want to me i would always want to go spend the night at somebody i just want to be gone that baby told me daddy can you come pick me up around 10 cause i don't want to sleep there i want to snuggle with you and watch a movie with you what she was essentially saying is daddy i want to put you so on the way home from picking her up when she asks for a slushie i mean why not you put your daddy fir when when you say god i'd love a house houses i got houses vehicles i got vehicles i got vehicle calls he said because you put me first the last thing that i want to tell you and this is so important as we continue to journey down this road is the tithe must be first i've been saying it in different ways but i just want to plainly put it out there the tithe must be first bring me those um treats this is ten boxes of krispy kreme donuts which one of these is the tithe you said the first one it's the first one that leaves his hand that's good because it's not necessarily this one it's whichever one i leave first [Music] see it's not that i can have all of these but it's whichever one i decide to take and open thank you now i got the tithe but now there's a tithe of the tie there's ten donuts in here which one's the tithe it's not this one or this one because we all look at it differently yeah yeah bring come here cause somebody like the middle one's the tide the first one's the tide this one's the type it doesn't matter it's the first one brent picks up takes off his mask gonna take off your mask i got ghost and takes a bite off that good now beautiful watch this come with me jay look all of these i get to do whatever i want to do with because the first one that left me was the tithe but now everybody in the audience blessing share those around no no go ahead just take them take them bless other people bless other people with like i i need everybody to see oh snap there's nine others bring the whole nine that because i trusted god with the first one see there's some people that didn't get blessed on that one but because i trusted god with the first one now the other nine go and give them to everybody in the audience the audience just started shouting some of them hey [Applause] which one is the tithe the first look the people on the other side like bring some over here and i know the people at home now you looking for the the light to be on at krispy kremes tonight krispy kremes we need actual endorsement now that we've just increased your business no i'm just fine hear what i'm saying to you hear what i'm saying everybody hear what i'm saying what god wants to do he wants to do in your life but it has to be first why did god accept abel's offering and not cain's do y'all remember in the bible where they both brought an offering it was in genesis these are the first brothers genesis chapter four verse three i'm just trying to give you bible i know this is it's taking a minute but i hope this principle and these images never leave you genesis chapter 4 verse 3 it says and in the process of time it came to pass that came cain brought an offering this wasn't priority it wasn't what he was um decided to do he brought an offering of the first fruit and of the ground of the lord but abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock of their fat and the lord watch this respected or accepted abel's offering but he did not respect or accept cain's offer why because he didn't put him first this may be very strong language but um god's first no matter if he's first to you like even if you don't honor god you didn't change his order in the universe the whole cosmos is still in place by one word he spoke okay but when you put god first you invite him in to bless everything in your life and this is the truth of the matter it's not that god just won't accept seconds he can't accept seconds he only accepts the best and are first today i hope this principle is stuck in your mind forever when i read this last scripture i'm going to tell you it changed me forever when it comes to returning not giving because we can't give it because it already belongs to god when when i get paid on the first and the 15th it automatically comes out i'm not going to pay anybody else and now this is not legalistic like i need everybody giving is all about the heart okay like this is not legalistic so if i if i do something and and it's the first and nat decides to go to her favorite store target and purchase some things for the house and all that other stuff and then i look on the account and i see that target had some money i don't come home and be like thanks nat we're cursed you gave target the fir this is not legalistic god knows your heart he knows my heart he knows your heart and what happens is a lot of people try to make this legalistic it's really about what god wants to do on the inside of you look at exodus chapter 13 verse 14 it says so it shall be when your sons when your children ask you in time to come saying what is this that you shall say to him by the strength of the hand of the lord he brought us out of egypt out of the house of bondage and it came to pass when pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go when poverty had our minds trapped when selfishness had us all wrapped up that the lord killed all of the first born in the land of egypt both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast therefore i sacrifice to the lord all the males that open up the womb but all the force borns of my son i redeem can i explain that to you he said um the reason it's easy for me to give god my first is because i used to be a slave i was in bondage and one day your son's gonna come and ask you dad why do you [Music] why do you keep giving so much to the church dang dad do you know how many meals that can make do you know you could buy a car with that do you know we could have had the house paid off sooner your sons and daughters are going to ask you why do you keep doing this and he said is the time for you to witness about where you came from the reason it's easy for me to do this is because i was a slave and the crazy thing about it this happened to me as we were preparing for crazy faith offering this year i was sitting there and i had money that i was to electronically deposit and i had cash that i've been saving up i'm an old-school gangster so don't even come at me you understand and i had and my daughter was like dang that's a lot of money and i came it could have been forty dollars it looked like a lot of money but it wasn't but she came to me and this scripture came to my mind said michael it's time explain to her why you give to me and i sat there with ava and bella at our kitchen table and they were looking at me and i said daddy used to be a bad person i was in bondage i had all type of lies and evil intentions and manipulation in my heart and god with a mighty hand he came down and he rescued daddy and he gave us things we didn't deserve so when god asks daddy for anything daddy will give it to you and do you know what my daughter's response was is daddy can i give to god and she ran to get her piggy bank [Applause] and she said daddy i want to give to god too i pray for every person under the sound of my voice that this scripture in exodus comes to pass in your life that you will honor god first and because you do god will bless you so much i'm praying that some people's time checks would be a hundred thousand dollars you missed it if on this table is a hundred thousand what does it have to be on this table i'm praying that your business oh would increase to so much that what you do for god's house would just be a small portion of what he does for i'm not teaching prosperity i'm teaching principles and if you get this principle more than having resource you'll have legacy what i'm raising right now in isabella mj and ava and this new baby to come it will never be hard for them to give to god it will be a part of their dna because they watch their mother and father stand in faith and honor god help me first ain't second [Music] right now would you just lift your hands i want to pray and at the end of every service we ask holy spirit what are you trying to say to me in this message i don't have no big punch line or anything but what i'm praying to you is something dropped in your heart and maybe there was just a little sign of maturity some of you are going to take that step today you're going to put god first you're going to remove the tithe from your bank account and from your house and you're going to give it to the storehouse the place that partners with people like convoy of hope and and inner cities and schools and we like that's all god's saying he said i just want there to be food in my house so that i can bless others he said but the blessing that comes on you when you honor me first it will pale in comparison eyes have not seen and ears have not heard neither has it entered into your heart or in mind the things that god has prepared for those who love him not in talk in action today father would you speak to us holy spirit would you show us the areas that maybe we haven't been submitted and surrendered to you would you show us the areas father that we've been walking and operating in fear instead of faith god do something on the inside of us yeah just let him work right now [Music] yeah right now god's moving in somebody's heart come on just hands lift it just get focused on him god do surgery on us father where we've been so fearful or trying to make it happen for ourselves or grinding or hustling or trying to provide father for our children but not knowing that if we want to provide for our children how much more do you want to provide for us god change us from the inside out give us something lord yeah the blessing yeah yeah yep that's what happens when we honor god first the blessing ah this is a blessed life his favor is on our business on our children yeah i feel that thing it's coming something's unlocking in our hearts god's not trying to get something from you he's trying to get something to you enact this principle in your life and there's a blessed life more than enough he wants to bless generationally legacy he wants to take over your heart he wants to change your habits he wants to make you whole come on lift that up i dare you right now to begin to magnify god he's changing your heart lift it up come on sing that whoa and a thousand come on we worship you god we praise you come on in your house lift your hands and enacts the blessing it's faith it's putting god first inside i feel the presence of god somebody's making a decision to put god's first kabul god we honor you we put you first not just in speech but in action god we trust you we won't be paper chasers we will be purpose chasers god bless us indeed can we say oh man can we say so be it somebody say oh man somebody say [Music] god we agree with you [Music] we trust you god let us live in the blessing god we honor you [Music] when you put god first you can start to play pray audacious prayers [Music] you can start praying stuff like jabez prayed enlarge my territory watch this prayer don't just bless me but bless me indeed do something so great enlarge the stakes of my tent god go back and read the prayer of jabez it's because he put god first that he could pray for audacious things and some of you take the step of faith to put god first not second not third not after but first everybody shout at me first when you put them first watch your prayer life go to another level hold on god i did what you said so i i'm not asking you to just bless me no no no that would be for somebody who who who didn't put you first i'm asking you to bless me indeed enlarge my territory enlarge my business enlarge my network enlarge what you want to do in my influence because it's all for your glory we sing our man just say that one more time say say uh so be it i agree with you god it is so i declare and i decree that people are not just making a decision for a series but this is a new season that this is a new normal that we would tithe and honor you god you heard me say it earlier but jesus was god's tithe and the reason he gave jesus the reason why he sent the lamb was for the goats and he redeemed us but the lamb had to be sacrificed today i'm asking you if you're walking in this life without god forgive money forget stewardship forget generosity your salvation is more important than anything else your eternity and today i want to let you know the bill's already been paid [Music] like ain't nothing like eating a meal and then the waiter comes and says it's already taken care of everything you would ever do god already took care of the bill and he prayed it with jesus but all you have to do now is receive it it is the best decision i ever made i was somebody who was a liar a manipulator i was addicted to pornography i had a lot of evil thoughts in my heart i did things i sinned i manipulated and god said yeah with all of that just give me your life and i'll transform you i won't make you perfect because none of y'all are that but i'll make you start on a journey of progression that will transform your life and i gave my life to christ and today i want you to give your life to christ because when you do that it changes everything the crazy thing about this series is we're talking about money we're talking about stewardship and generosity but it really is talking about the heart because generosity is all about the do you know over 2 000 people have given their life to christ in this series y'all missed it it means god's doing heart surgery on people over 2 000 people have given their life and today ain't gonna be no different hundreds more of you this is the moment god's saying salvation is not for tomorrow or next week today is the day of salvation if you want me to include you in the prayer that we're about to pray whether you're watching this live or on rebroadcast the spirit of god is right there with you in your room and he wants to come into your life and help transform everything if you want to pray that prayer on the count of three i want you to lift your hands it doesn't matter who's around you it doesn't matter what you did last night who you was with last night what you have in front of you and the smoke that's going on around you no matter what you planned after this everything changes right here one you're making the greatest decision of your life two i'm proud of you but more than that your name will be written in the lamb's book of life for all of eternity three shoot your hand up all over the world right now if you want to give your life to christ so proud of you in transformation nation we're about to pray and you know how we do all of us going to pray for the benefit of those who are coming to christ right now would you just all lift your hands and just say god thank you for taking my stains just think about your stains for a second everything you did everything you said [Music] don't just don't rush past that thank you lord i say god thank you for sending jesus just for me [Music] i believe he lived he died and he rose again just for me and today i give you my life change me renew me transform me i'm yours in jesus name amen i believe hundreds if not thousands of people just got added to the family we all turn up in the chat and turn up in the room the bible says heaven turns up over one let's give god a shout of praise hallelujah now make god your favorite put him at the top of the list i want to let you know our church wants to walk with you would you text the number on the bottom of the screen text saved and we're going to send you some information me and pastor natalie have a message we want to give to you we want to help you in resources go and watch some of the series that we've done go watch forgiveness university go watch relationship goals go watch marked planet not buried we have so many resources that will help feed your spirit get it around other believers if you're somewhere that you feel isolated go to a church and say hey i just gave my life to christ i need to know what to do like i'm telling you this will be your best year ever if it's your best year spiritually and i'm telling you this is a mark of your change forever you will live a blessed life in jesus name can we give god praise for everything he's done today oh y'all playing right now can we give god praise for everything he's done today we got one more week of paper chasers new energy and next week you don't want to miss we're going to end this series with a bang like it's the week before easter we gonna lock and load and we're gonna end this mug with a bang i want you to know we love you we're praying for you share this message with everybody there are principles in this message that go past paper and it will change your life i believe this will be the best week of your life that god is going to do things do you want to receive that right now god's going to do things that you weren't expecting that are going to bring blessing that you need in this week there will be joy there will be favor and you will walk living not just in a blessed moment but you will have a blessed life in jesus name we agree somebody say amen go out and live a blessed life

Channel: Transformation Church

Views: 597,772

Rating: 4.9231243 out of 5

Keywords: Transformation Church, Represent, Michael Todd, Mike Todd, Transformation Church live, Transformation Church Worship, Charles Metcalf, Sunday Service, Holy Spirit, Faith, God, Jesus Christ, transformchurchtv, representtv, paper chaser, How to put god first in your life?, First aint second, tithe, how to tithe, why should I tithe?, is tithing biblical, does the church want my money

Id: M1ce34Cel4E

Length: 109min 5sec (6545 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 21 2021