#theEncounter Worship Experience

praise the lord everybody come on lift your voice lift your hands give god praise give him glory come on continue to worship him worship him in the beauty of his holiness give him wonder give him praise thank him our god is great and greatly to be praised come on put your hands together shout for joy right where you are the presence of the lord is with you he deserves your hallelujah he deserves your thanksgiving he deserves all the glory and all the honor come on lift up the name of jesus because our god is god is great and greatly to be praised the bible says from the rising of the sun and to the going down of the same the lord's name is worthy to be praised this is the day that the lord has made we will rejoice and we'll be glad in it god allowed you to wake up this morning to see a brand new day to worship him to glorify him to honor him and to live for him we thank you for joining us again for our virtual experience here at bethany church the transformation church if you haven't done so please uh share with somebody let them know that we're on this morning as we go into praise be going to worship and be going to the word of god we're getting ready to pray for you praying for your transformation for needs being met things being supplied that you need god says keep me first seek my kingdom all those things all that provisions you're worried about will be added unto you and we're getting ready to pray for that to pray to the father through the son the power of the spirit believing god's presence believing god's glory will make a difference come on let's pray father i thank you again for this moment we appreciate you for this time we thank you for allowing us to come to you through your son thank you that we can come to you praying and believing with thanksgiving that you are god and you're still sovereign you are enthroned and you're still seated in heavenly places you are still seated and you still rain on the throne and we give you praise for that you let us know in your word that while the earth may go through changes and go through tribulations that you are unmovable and your kingdom remains the same i appreciate you for making the citizens of your kingdom that while we exist here on this earth we are not of this earth we are citizens of the greater kingdom and now god i pray that you would help us to follow kingdom principles to live a kingdom life teach us today how to continue to pursue that kingdom and all the things that we're worried about will be added unto us i give you praise today for each person that's watching i pray in jesus name that you would begin to reveal yourself show yourself strong heal deliver most of all save bring someone back home connect someone to this church we thank you for what you're going to do holy spirit rise up in the service have your way in jesus name amen so glad again you can join us please share we're getting ready to go into some worship god is getting ready to move praise god sing to the lord clap your hands and watch god move in your life god bless you the late great timothy wright y'all remember him he was a baptist church choir's dream and he put this one out right here so all of you old schools that know this one you can jump up on your feet and sing it with us y'all ready [Music] your time is [Music] [Music] i wanted to [Music] [Music] come on side [Music] [Applause] [Music] running for a long time your time is winding up you better make up your mind [Music] this come on [Music] [Applause] i like it come on everybody i can just see all of the choir the choir members doing right i don't know why you do it [Music] y'all remember that kathleen help me tell them they better work while they're safe [Music] [Music] oh will you do what will you do tell me [Music] i feel real good in here right now and i want you to tell them these words get up [Music] hello [Applause] [Music] break it down right here now i know y'all singing parts at home you singing along with us i just want to make sure that you're singing the right words so that we can send this all over the world can we do it i want all the tenors to just teach all the tenors your part can we do it 10 as you all ready right y'all got your tinder right now we're gonna take it on over to the alto and help you do that all right the altos don't teach you and then you run with it can we do it altos teach it [Music] break it down right here now all of the closet sopranos can only sing high when you're in the shower i want you to bring that worship right here holler it out because can't nobody hear you but you and god so do your best work y'all ready to do it soprano say this come on [Applause] [Music] [Music] like this if you're on the long time one more time y'all ready [Applause] i wish somebody would get excited in here [Music] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] hey bethany family desiree here deacon antoine here and we want to remind you all that this is our transforming lives month right now in the month of january so what that is we've been talking to you guys throughout the week so far we want to make sure that we are including people encouraging people pulling people in to join in to service and not only join into service but join in on the word of god join into membership become connected with this church so we have the challenge of inviting three people we have a few different things going on where we want to make sure that everyone is getting fed the word of god as much as they can right yeah and this is usually the time where bishop and pastor nick are talking about this is evangelism on steroids okay but we can still have that same effect but have it socially you can blow up your instagram you can blow up your facebook you blow up the twitter you can even share as many as the youtube links as you can with everything that we got going on from the panels to impact to sunday services we want you to share with three people tag three people in the comments because this is the time this is the season where we celebrate our transformation and we share jesus cause we're all in the same boat and we're called to be the fishes of men this is the time this is the season to pull as many people as we can in right that's right and we transform lives one at a time bethany family as you guys know we always get fed every sunday with the encounter services but we also get fed with our midweek service on wednesday word impact i want to invite you guys to come on back and join us for word impact this wednesday as we get a word from pastor nick and bishop as we're starting this new series about prayer all right we want you guys to invite someone remember it's still transformer lives month so tag someone and let someone know that we're on midweek service word impact all right bethany family i'll see you in the comments praise the lord everybody this is deacon antoine here i wanted to let you know that we have a harvest bookstore here right here on campus in that bookstore we have bibles we have books we have things for the children we have apparel i know you saw me i mean with the apparel pre-order sermons and we have cds and dvds and all kinds of products there for you to enjoy we want to see you there you can pre-order now it is open even during covet times just make sure you're wearing your mask and we'll see you around the place we are celebrating such an amazing month this month january is bishop's birthday it's transforming lives month we don't want to forget that but it's also the man of god's birthday month so we want to make sure that we are showing him how much we appreciate him so if you have any if you have time to make a video of just saying happy birthday bishop letting him know how much you love him letting him know how much you appreciate him especially during these times he has kept us afloat god has kept him afloat and he has kept this building this ministry afloat throughout these trying times so we just want to honor him and encourage him and let him know that we see him and we love what he does and also another way besides sending that video is you can also give him a little love offering so what we're doing is giving him one dollar for each year of his life so he's going to be 69 this year so that's 69 if you have the means to if not do whatever is on your heart we want to make sure that we are just loving on him and showing him how much he means to us so happy birthday bishop this thursday we have a business panel for all of our business people our entrepreneurs our startup anybody wants to start a business anyone that's in business that wants their business to succeed more this panel is for you it is this thursday at seven on facebook and on youtube you can catch us there ask your questions get engaged with the panelists and you never never know what connections that god may have for you that night we'll see you there because we know long as we keep our eyes on jesus through the storm we'll make it out all right we'll be all right in the storm we're all right in 2020 and we're happy to go into 2021. [Music] say he'll make it [Music] all right [Music] whatever you [Music] [Music] whatever is broken [Music] [Music] so he'll make it all right everybody [Music] everybody [Music] whatever you pray whatever you [Music] he's in control [Music] [Music] everybody put your hands together if you got peace come on now we're gonna do this next part we're gonna break it down we're gonna say here he will [Music] he will [Music] [Music] [Music] part y'all [Music] [Applause] [Music] right [Music] hey [Music] he'll make it all right [Applause] [Music] everybody [Music] yo let's take it back to the chorus thank you [Music] [Music] wherever you are he's listening [Music] whatever you pray whenever you pray he knows me [Music] he's in control [Music] all right all right one more time say all right he'll make it all right [Music] you make it all right [Music] say [Music] make it all right [Music] so glad that he makes it all right we don't have anything to worry about in the storm [Music] because as long as i've got jesus on my side i already know but i'll make it all right he will be there he will be he'll make it all right praise the lord bethany uh our scripture reading for today is found in the book of ephesians chapter three and we're going to read from verse 17 to verse 21 and it reads that christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of christ which passes knowledge that ye may be filled with all the fullness of god now unto him that is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we can ask or think according to the power that worketh in us unto him be glory in the church by jesus christ throughout all ages world without end amen i want you to remember and get ready for manifestation say it right now manifestation believe god for it as we go into worship about manifestation all of us we want to become what god has called us to be [Music] the atmosphere is pregnant with possibilities and i don't know about you but i want to be what he called me to be if that's how you feel about it this song is for you [Music] ah for it must and i call it in the spirit [Music] your promises [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] what he wanted to do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i see it [Applause] [Applause] [Music] is yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] encourage the people [Music] is praise the lord i'm so glad you've taken the opportunity to join us today for the encounter worship experience here at bethany church we've already had an incredible prayer by pastor nick and gone into phenomenal worship and now hopefully it's time for us your hearts and your minds are prepared it's time for us to receive what i believe is going to be another life-changing message in a revelation i believe i've gotten straight from god called shift the needle imperative that you understand that in this season of restoration and i need you to claim this for yourself by faith restoration reversal and revival in this season it is my assignment to shift you from merely being an observer to being a participator from hearing god's word to actually experiencing those three biblical themes that the lord prophetically laid on my heart for you coming out of 2020. so as the waters of time called 2020 have receded and the mountains of turn around called 2021 are starting to appear it is important that you adopt that you possess that you begin to confess believe that this year based upon the trials of last year is going to be your year of restoration your year where things are reversed and your year where the life god promised you is revived but at the top of all of that in this new year there must be some new decisions if you don't know the lord for yourself it's really important that you enter a relationship with god through jesus christ led by the spirit of god it's not a complicated thing it's not complex it's very simple if anybody any individual be in christ they are a new creation old things pass away behold all things are becoming new if you know within your heart that what you need is a restart a restoration if you know you need a reversal if you know you need a revival it begins with a relationship with god through jesus christ now this is important because this is the first month of the year this is the first fruit of the year in the kingdom of god first things dictate what comes after so the decisions we make this year are going to have prophetic weight and leverage about what the rest of our year will look like so for those of you who don't know the lord for yourselves i'm so glad you've joined us today i'm glad someone referred you i'm so glad the spirit of god led you to watch us today as we instruct you over the past two weeks this is the third i believe installment of shift the needle as we instruct you how to move from where you are to where god wants you to be i need those of you who have never given your life to the lord that once i've prayed for you even while i'm praying and could be during the time that i'm teaching you decide to give your life to the lord secondarily but just as importantly many of you know the lord and perhaps the stresses of 2020 cause you to lose focus lose your way in your relationship and fellowship with god but yet god in his mercy has you sitting in front of your device your television wherever you might be listening to this preacher from new jersey encouraging you that it is time to come back to god time to bring back your time to him your talent to him your treasure to him time for you to focus once again your heart on him we can't do anything about what happened before but a new you in a new year begins a new life come back to god today say yes lord i'm coming back and i just be thankful because he's taking you back last but not least you love the lord you're saved you've been following us during the pandemic and you realize you know what i need to be connected to this ministry and you live somewhere in the region people travel about an hour to get to us on sundays and wednesdays when the churches are open but perhaps you're you know further than that perhaps you're in carolina like many of our uh connections church members are texas california africa india perhaps you're in a place where you just can't get here i'm talking to those of you who are in geographic proximity talking to those of you who may be you know geographically disconnected but you know that you need to be connected with this house with this word with this teaching with the type of ministry you've been receiving virtually for the past eight months i'm going to suggest to you that you say yes today and you make that decision position yourself by becoming a part of who we are either knowing you can get to the geographic church become a part of that today and then when we open you can experience all the joy and all the power that we do every time we come together in our classes in our seminars and our worship services and our convocations you can be a part you can be plugged in if you will but then those of you that are on the outskirts in geographic locations where you just can't get here connect through our connections church all right let me pray for all of you father i thank you right now for this tremendous opportunity once again you provided those who don't know you at all those that know you but perhaps got distracted and those that know you but are looking for a place to plant themselves put down roots to grow to bear fruit to watch their destiny begin to happen in real time i pray right now lord by your spirit that you would speak to the mind and the heart of those who don't know you and remind them that if they would just call upon your name you will save them lord give them the strength not to think their way out but think their way in it is not god how good you've been how good they've been god is how bad i've been and that's who the lord is looking for people that need help people that have messed up people that have made mistakes but have a desire to change their lives give your life to the lord today say yes if you know the lord but you've gotten distracted by whatever during the last year two years maybe more lord i pray for them right now that they say yes in their minds their hearts that they come back reconnect with you reignite their passion and their love for you come back to you father i'm coming back today i know i've done wrong please take me back forgive me for my sin last but not least i pray for those that are saved and love the lord and know i need a definitive connection going forward in my life some of you say well you're about 45 lord tell them they drove further they get into trouble before they got saved i pray right now those that know you but need a church home make that decision say yes today and i thank you holy spirit for what you're doing right now i thank you jesus for partnering with me in this prayer i thank you god for receiving this prayer on this day in jesus name amen now if you decided to get saved you decided to come back to the lord you decided always if you got saved you want to connect to the church you came back to the lord you want to reconnect to the church if you're already saved and you know i need this connection write us on the site our workers will get to you as soon as possible we would love for you to start taking classes with us on monday night from part of our embrace class ministers classes all those things will be available to you so i want you to get on board right now and let's start talking about how to shift the needle all right turn with me to exodus chapter 13. i want to show you a few things we want to have this conversation around shifting the needle and how to live the blessed life exodus 13 go down the voice verse 14. now this is a conversation between a father and a son regarding the spiritual habits that the father has 14 says and when it shall and it shall be it shall be when thy son ask thee in time come your son asks you a question what is this exactly why what are you doing why do you do it that you shall say unto him by strength of the hand of the lord brought us out from egypt and from the house of bondage and it came to pass when pharaoh would hardly let us go that the lord slew all the firstborn in the land of egypt both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beasts therefore i sacrifice to the lord all that open up the matrix all that is born being males but all the firstborn of my children i redeem and it shall be for a token upon thine hand and for frontlets between thy eyes for by the strength of the hand the lord brought us forth out of egypt the blessed life now a couple fundamental principles i want us to lay down in this conversation right from the beginning so that as we build your understanding in this message along with the other two if you haven't had parts one and two get those two as we teach you how to shift the needle in your life in the kingdom of god the first thing i want to share with you is that i need you to understand that faith is not just foundational to your life in the kingdom of god let me say that again faith is not just foundational to your life in the kingdom of god faith is both foundational and practice in other words faith is not just a foundation i believed back 20 years ago and that's good enough but faith is a habit a lifestyle or what we're going to call a practice so faith is not merely foundational faith is foundational and practice or habit or lifestyle for you and i it is the practice or if i can use this word the revelation of faith is my habits in the kingdom they are my habits in the kingdom the bible tells me the just live by faith that makes perfect sense now so it's not just foundational not just practice it's foundational and practice because the just live by faith so faith transforms thoughts and thoughts create an identity faith transforms my thoughts and thoughts create identity proverbs 23 7 tells us thinking is creative as an individual thinks so is he thinking is creative because thinking creates watch how i'm saying this now a thought position or a mindset and my mindset has everything to do with my identity god says watch this in jeremiah god says i know the thoughts i think towards you now there are several seeds of thought i know the thoughts i think i know what i've been thinking what i've been my process of contemplation concerning you i know the thoughts the conclusions i've come to i think concerning you now in order to understand thinking a little better we have to understand there are several seeds of thought there are spiritual seeds there are scriptural seeds there are what i call self seeds there are seeds from culture and of course there are satanic seeds let me say it again scriptural spiritual self cultural satanic one more time scriptural spiritual self cultural satanic these are if you will five types of seed these can why do i call this this these what i call the what i just called it the these can initiate thinking all of these that i've mentioned to you can initiate a thought process and produce a conclusion or a thought so i can be influenced by any of these scripturally spirituality myself the culture that i dwell in satan himself and i need to remember these initiate my thinking and produce a conclusion of what you and i call a thought so thinking is to formulate a thing in my mind thinking is a deliberation you think through a thing we've all done it so i look at abraham's life and it's a life of transformed thinking if you think about the story of abraham right from the beginning it's a life not only of transformed location transform devotion but transform thinking let me explain it to you when we meet abraham in genesis chapter 11 the latter part of 11 going into 12 his name is abram that name means father or first father he talks to god has this relationship with god this revelational relationship with god that reveals not only god to him but abraham's destiny to himself and suddenly god says i've got to give you a new name because i have a covenant with you so your covenant name abraham your contractual name is going to be abraham now because sarah is with you she's going to have a contractual name too so should we shift from sarai to sarah in each case the ah is added to the name which simply means that jehovah is now firmly embedded in their name which means jehovah is federally thoroughly embedded in their destiny so when abram speaks his new name abraham he's gone from first father just wanting to have a son to the father of many people or many nations it was not until abraham spoke his new name of promise and faith that there was a shift in his life now he had to say what god said to him call himself what god called him and he had to be able to do that before there was ever any evidence that the covenant or the contract would produce the results that god has promised him this is one of the reasons that abraham is the father of the faith he called those things which be not as though they were he called himself the father of many nations after he and sarah were in their 90s and had not yet produced a child so he's calling those things which be not as though they were he was confessing what he believed was his provision from god and he said watch this he began to answer not to his old name which had limitations but his new name which gave him a destiny watch this the the number of people that he would be responsible for were greater than the stars in the sky so he goes from nothing and giving up hope to having to believe by faith what god was promising him even in the midst of a situation looking the same his confession changed he started calling her sarah she started calling him abraham watch what happens so i need to align myself with god's mind concerning me when you read philippians 4 8 i don't want you to miss the subtle revelation in the text philippians 4 8 the bible says think on these things wow intentionally purposely with conviction consistently thinking on the things that god tells you to think upon why because the repetition of these things the habit-forming nature of these things will cause us to have a mind that is closer to god we'll begin to think in what i call a higher dimension of thinking but like abraham there's a problem abraham had a revelation and a visitation from god had a revelation and a visitation from god and still tried watch what i'm going to say to do it his way hagar ishmael was all about he and sarah abraham and sarah trying to do things their way even though they had a revelation and a visitation and began to confess to one another their destiny names ishmael is evidence of the attempt the ultimate test of faith is this will you make a heart decision based on a made up mind that will convince god you are ready to shift the needle and receive and live the blessed life are you ready to convince god that the blessed life is the one you want to live so abraham continually spoke his new name by faith no ishmael no isaac sarah's 90 something he's almost a hundred still speaking his new name abraham abraham father of many nations his future was in his new name isaac was in his future the blessed life is confessing that which god has promised you part of the blessed life is you saying what god has said about you his confession of his promises accelerated watch this the transformation of his mind the confession of the promises of god that god has given you will accelerate the transformation of your mind so confession saying the same thing god says speeds up my transformation your confession watch this and your choices will reveal your expectations and your desired possibilities let me say that one more time your confession and your choices reveal your expectation and your desired possibilities my words and my actions always reveal not just my faith but who i have faith in remember things sown seeds are your bridges and my bridges from the natural to the supernatural now one of the reasons people of god have so much trouble with the seed concept is because a seed is not a spectacular thing and the mistake you and i make is missing this major revelation in the bible most of the supernatural things that god performs are simple most of the things that god uses to do supernatural things are simple moses exactly what is that in your hand disciples come walk on the water with me simple commands simple things to do spectacular things in the spirit we miss the supernatural looking for something spectacular when it usually begins with something very simple and very elementary now we know from genesis chapter 3 verse 9 this is really going to make sense to you we know eden is a creation creation is a system eden is a creation genesis chapter 3 verse 9 and creation is a system that god created so he creates everything systematically then he created eden eden if you will is a system in creation adam made some choices he and eve moved out of the system so adam moved out of the system with eve now i'm not talking about being evicted from the garden i'm talking about touching the tree that they were admonished instructed watch this not to touch watch this now watch how human human nature is it had been working for them but curiosity often leads to sin so they decide to break the law not realizing they broke god's system called eden what else did they break they broke god's rest oh my god they broke god's system genesis 3 9 and they broke god's rest because god had finished creation and he was at rest so why did satan and this question is asked often would you know the answer i'll just highlight it to you why did satan out of everything he could approach why did he focus on eve get ready amazing revelation about the drop in your spirit why did the devil focus on eve now eve is a symbol of the church because eve comes out of the side of adam the first christ and we know when christ was on the cross they pierced him in his side and the great ordinances of the church came out blood and water communion and baptism so he focuses on this woman because she is the physical symbol of the spiritual church that will come she is if you will he focuses on her because the woman is the developer of seed amazing revelation and she being the developer of seed she became the focus of satan's attention the believer is a developer of the seed that they receive so because we have this new understanding we are the we are the developer of the seed of the word we have to guard by faith our spiritual womb needle has to shift in this year from simply germination being pregnant to gestation to manifestation from germination to gestation to manifestation be careful a word does not become stagnant in you be careful that you don't if you will shelf a word that you receive potential and possibility revealed by the word of god can become seeds on a shelf in your life we must shift the needle from the shelf of potential to the soil of active faith let me say it again we must shift the needle from the shelf of potential one day i hope i wish gonna do getting ready to do to the soil of act of faith can't just hear the word in this coming season we must do what the word is saying now repeat after me all i am i was all i am i was watch this principle trees are in seeds all i am i was an acorn is a concealed tree all i am i was an oak tree is a seed revealed all the oak tree is all the oak tree was now why do i tell you this opportunity this is going to blow your mind does not produce you opportunity does not produce you you produce opportunity god has by the holy ghost and the word of god and the will of god with the measure of faith you all have been given has given us all potential all possibility and embedded us with all possibility so you have potential possibility and opportunity that dwells inside of you every moment of the day why how can i say this with such certainty because the kingdom of god and all its potential all its opportunities and all its possibilities dwells within each of us who know jesus christ the needle shifts when we shift from knowing to believing to doing when we shift from knowing to believing to doing now i've got to ask you a critical question is god first and do you really love it let me ask you again is he first and do you really love him the proof of a spirit to that life is to be led by the spirit the proof of love for god is obeying his word it's cut and dry let me say it again the proof of a spirit that life is being led by the spirit the proof according to the bible of love for god is obeying his word jesus said if you love me keep my commandments so this love is talking about not just some peripheral superficial relationship but a kingdom relationship is one that is empowered by love gratitude appreciation the fruit of love is honor and the fruit of love is faith i don't know anyone that i love that i don't have faith in i don't know anyone that i love that i have not initially placed my faith in so honor and faith dwell in the same continuum you see honor is not merely a concept it's also an activity you don't know i honor you unless i behave as though i do because to honor means to prefer and to treat with preference based on the character of the lord and the value that i place upon the lord along with honor love is faith trusting god with all that concerns you and believing him for the outcome of all of his promises now let's take a look at proverbs chapter three i want to show you something and we'll be done very soon i want you to i know i'm over feeding you but i like doing that go to proverbs chapter three i'm gonna break down something that you've seen before but perhaps haven't seen it this way go to proverbs chapter three let's start at verse five i want to show you a couple principles maybe eight principles to help you shift the needle verse five says in proverbs chapter three trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not unto thy known understanding so you can have a seasonal trust for god there must be a consistent heartfelt trust that's the first point second point watch this now be led into understanding by the word and the holy ghost trust in the lord with all your heart lean not unto thine own understanding well whose understanding has to be god's how do i get his understanding through his word led by his spirit third principle watch the next verse in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths so god has to be first in my decision process what would god desire for me to do watch this now and all that way is acknowledge them and he will direct your past seven be not wise in thy own eyes fear the lord and depart from evil watch this down demonstrate your love and your relationship by being led by the spirit and by the word of god next point desire his wisdom desire to be led by his wisdom and not by my own wisdom watch how this works make a right decision based on his word let's look at the next verse why is this important it shall the word shall be be not wise in this in unknown eyes verse seven fear the lord and depart from evil fear the lord and depart from evil show the reality of your relationship with god by walking away from evil this shall be held to thy navel and marrow to thy bone strength make a right decision based on his word watch this receive the supernatural strength of his word and his spirit that's that's the one i want you to get receive the supernatural strength of his word and of a spirit it shall be health to thy navel marrow or strength life to your bones watch the next one honor the lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase this is amazing to me honor the lord the true test of love is not just with prayer praise worship but the needle shifts us to the blessed life when we honor the lord with our substance now when i when i research this word and and and it's it's a promise in the word substance because the word substance in the old testament means wealth i was surprised its primary definition is wealth so there is watch this a connection between honoring god and the wealth that being blessed promises watch what the word says now honor the lord with thy substance and with the first fruit watch the words of all our increase the tithe of all your substance the first fruit of all your substance watch the result look at the next verse so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine now let's reverse it so shall thy presses burst out with new wine so the place where the revenue is produced god says i'm going to bless it and i'm going to bless it with increase the barns the place where things are stored saved invested i'm going to increase that but he says the only way i can do this is if you understand i want the first fruit of all that comes in so that kills all that is produced god says i want the first fruit of it so that destroys the argument net or gross because the net is what's left over the gross is the first fruit i'm going to tell you something amazing about that leviticus 29 30 says the tithe or the first fruit belongs to the lord leviticus 29 30 the tithe or the first fruit belongs to the lord exodus 23 19 tells us bring it to the lord's house now what's amazing about this concept this first thing as it relates to our substance is god never uses the word give when he's teaching this concept never and here's why he does not say give because you can't give him what he already claims to be his own in other words if i can do it like this i lend you my car you say i came back to give you a car you can't give me my automobile all you can do is bring it back to me because i gave it to you and it belongs to me so the lord said this thing is mine you have to bring it to me and if you don't bring it to me god attaches another word the only other word he attaches is thief so the tithe and the first fruit must be first it's the lord watch this it's holy to him which means it's consecrated to him he lays claim to it now this is not legalism i hear some of your your lack of faith jumping up looking for the exit ramp listen to me trust me when i tell you this this is not legalism this is relationship how can you say that bishop because it is not until the 23rd chapter of exodus that the commandments that the law is given to moses this one i'm teaching you right now in exodus chapter 13 is 500 years before the law so that blows the legalism out this is not legalism this is about relationship watch where we go turn with me to exodus chapter 13 and we're almost done exodus chapter 13. we're almost done today i hope you're getting this and i'm feeling god shifting the needle in your life exodus chapter 13. let's start now let's take a look at verse 2. watch this well let's go do one or two and the lord spoke unto moses saying sanctify unto me set apart unto me all the firstborn whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of israel people both man and a beast watch this it is mine god says i'm claiming for myself the firstborn of every person every man every man and of every beast belongs to me now first question is why why should watch god's mind why did god choose exodus to teach us this example because first corinthians chapter 10 tells us that the old testament is there for our examples first corinthians 10 11. these are our examples in the old testament so the new testament tells me what a thing is and the old testament shows me how it works and watch this and the ordinances or the ordinary behavior for a child of god i know you're getting this he says not only are the old testament examples but they are admonitions they are patterns they are principles they position you because they create are designed to create a mindset and admonition is the teacher teaching the student to prepare them and position them for something the teacher knows the student will one day receive i need you to hear me so he says very definitively that the first is mine now let's go down to verse 12 because i've got a i got to finish this for you so he goes down to verse 12 and it says that thou shalt set apart unto the lord all that open up the matrix that's everything that's born and every every not a first thing every first thing that cometh of a beast which thou has the males shall be the lords watch this and every firstly but consecrate everything that's first born god says it's mine i'm claiming it it's mine all your firsts are mine thirteen and every first sling of an ash thou shalt of a donkey i've been asked thou shalt redeem with a lamb all right stay with me right here and it shall be watch this and every first sling every first thing of an ass that all the donkeys thou shalt redeem with a lamb and if thou will not redeem it then thou shalt break his neck the donkey and all the firstborn of men among thy children shalt thou redeem firstborn of everything must be consecrated so it must be sacrificed watch this or redeemed so watch watch how god looks at things the donkey is unclean but the donkey has hope because if the lamb is sacrificed the donkey is redeemed now the word redeemed means to rescue from a bad position you need to hear me redeem the unclean with the clean so the firstborn is sacrifice that's to clean and the firstborn unclean is redeemed by the clean we were born unclean sin is a natural thing for us jesus was born clean here it comes they call him the lamb of god the clean will sacrifice jesus so the unclean you and i could be redeemed that is rescued from a bad position so that born is the first fruit or if you will the tithe corinthians tells us jesus is the first fruit the firstborn of god so jesus is god's tithe his first fruit not from leftovers but first god gave jesus to us first because first redeems the rest so we'll be instructed by exodus to give your first to god and he'll redeem or bless the rest who's first the bible says your treasure is the focus of your heart what leaves our accounts first come on talk to me what leaves our hand first what leaves our account first your decision tells god who is first we are in exodus 13. i hear you saying but in this isn't this i heard somebody say this was all legalism that was somebody with no faith that did not want to believe the word of god this can't be legalism because there's another 500 years before the commandments are given this is relational this is not being told what to do this is based on your heart and because of your appreciation for what god has done you do this gladly so one day as we read in exodus chapter 15 the son of this of this farmer this this this owner who has been a slave comes in and say look dad we're in the sheep herding business and i can't understand why in the world every time a male sheep is born which you and i both know we need plenty of males around there's so many female sheep the males are in short supply that's another thing you need to know the males were special rare goat the rams were not born every day i need to know dad why in the world when we finally get a ram a first born male that you sacrifice him to god i can see the father looking at his son having enjoyed the wealth of ownership having enjoyed the security of them being delivered not having to go through he has never seen his father's back he has not seen the the stripes from the whips he has not seen the the permanent bruises from the injuries that he uh experienced in captivity in egypt he has no idea what they've been through how far god has brought them and he says what you don't know is that the blessed life we're living right now gives you no evidence of where we've come from he said i need to tell you something i do this because god with a mighty hand brought us out of bondage and brought us out of egypt brought us out of the control of bondage and brought us out of egypt and this i do gladly i redeem my children by dedicating them to god and i redeem our flocks by dedicating what god said give him what i would rather keep for myself god will not bless leftover son we've got to give him first i can't decide like cain to give him something he hasn't asked for but dad do you know how many generations of sheep are locked up in the loins of those that you sacrifice yeah that's the whole point son i'm giving god what appears to have our future locked up in it our future if you will is locked up in the loins of those that we sacrifice he doesn't ask for a firstborn he asks for all the firstborn all thine increase gross not net then we get to the famous malachi 6 verse 10 and it says bring all of it into the house it is nothing but a test of gratitude for how far the lord has brought us there's a test each time we get paid or receive some type of increase it's a test will god be left be first or i'm going to give god something from the leftovers who are you going to thank who are you going to worship you need to understand that provision is not a test of god it's a test of the believer the unchanging god watch this created this test the unchanging god created this test this is an ordinance this is a principle for ordinary behavior for a believer and god says if you'll do this a dimension that has not been opened to you will open you'll enter a realm of the spirit that has been restricted from you because you've not placed me first in this one key area what does it do automatic watch what happens rebuke the devil it means you enter spiritual warfare victoriously with the first fruit all the time well i asked myself the question why not wait if you're in malachi chapter 6 and you end up that discussion around verse 10 or 11 why not wait just 12 more verses and put it in the new testament that would have settled all our questions in the new testament women no old testament he said why not just go 12 more verses boom put it in matthew and settle the argument because first fruit and tithe in the exodus context is an old testament example to produce a mindset in you and i and that mindset positions you and i under an open heaven open windows broken curses curses removed devour rebuked and blessings restored it's time to shift the needle and time to start living the blessed life so provision is a test where our heart is focused if i am walking in the will and the way of god obeying his word if i'm proving my love and my honor for him now the test has come time for us to give time for us to decide who's first am i going to do what i think i should do am i going to do what god has commanded me to do by faith am i ready to shift from really observing this dimension of the spirit i've been teaching you about where curses are broken where windows are opened where the enemy is defeated on your behalf am i going to shift from being simply an observer of the word of god to being a participant in this kingdom dimension it's all up to us am i going to position myself under the open windows or do i continue to live thinking about one day he's getting ready i'll tell you something i got about two minutes when this revelation hit me and i began to give god not a first sling but all the first links of everything that came in when i stopped looking uh waiting until after this was taken out and that was taken out and whatever the net figure was i gave god a tenth of that when i realized what i was giving god was leftovers and shifted to giving him the actual first portion if i had a 10 100 bills on this table and the first one is here and i choose to give god the fifth or sixth one down here i am not giving him first i'm giving him what's left over he refuses to be second so when i began to to to adhere to this spiritual principle there was a realm in the spirit that opened to me that was there but i never saw it before it was a revelation i began to see the rapid response of god i began to see god defeating enemies on every front i began to see him moving like he promised in his word it actually activated that malachi 6 in my life malachi 3 in my life it it shifted my life in a tremendous way the exodus blessing hit me so when i got to exodus 23 and started doing this first fruit and this time thing and bringing it to the house of the lord just untold blessings the blessed life that god had promised abraham began to happen to me i need for you to step into this realm of the spirit that god has already prepared for you need you to step into the place in the spirit by not just talking about it but showing god in this key place in his mind that you lord this is yours and i'm going to bring it to you go to the icon think about what you need to do for the lord don't hesitate don't wait it's time to release that tithe those of you who did not do your first fruit which is just an additional time time for you to do that tithe and that offering that god has called for redeem the first sacrifice into god and redeem the rest i say it like this the bible says if you don't redeem the donkey you might as well break his neck i look at the donkey as the burden-bearing part of what the shepherd had to do so what is god saying when i redeem the first part then the burden-bearing part of my resources will be blessed and multiplied i need you to go to the icon do what god has constructed us to do what i've shared with you in this conversation some of you will have to increase from the left over the neck to the gross to give him the first slings plural of what comes in all the time of all things and watch god move by faith like he did in mind and like he does in mind on such a consistent basis and it's so amazing that each time he moves in response sometimes it's the same day sometimes it's two or three days later but it's always in a significant way like he was just waiting for me to do this so he could do that and it's always appropriate and the timing is always amazing well i'm out of time but i'm certainly not out of word i want to thank you for joining me on this encounter worship experience here at bethany church in lindenwald new jersey for those of you that made the decision to unite with the lord today for the first time come back to the lord and connect with this house i want to welcome you into the kingdom welcome you into bethany church now remember stay connected and remember this faith acts like a thing is so even when it's not so that it might be so god bless you and i'll see you real soon you

Channel: Bethany Baptist Church

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Length: 81min 15sec (4875 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 17 2021