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Feb. 21, 2025
Manifested Abundance – Part 4
Uncover how trust and a kingdom-first mindset pave the way to supernatural increase in part four of the Manifested Abundance series! Join guest minister Nathaniel Saint-Eloi as he delves into the power of aligning your finances with God’s principles, illustrating how an open heart and a willingness to honor God first, can turn scarcity into overflow. Drawing from the story of the widow’s oil in 2 Kings 4, Nathaniel reveals why honoring God—especially when resources seem limited—can lead to miraculous multiplications and unexpected blessings.
(00:00) Put God First
(07:36) Give God First in Faith
(16:32) Seed of Faith
(29:46) Putting God First in Giving
(38:18) Heart-Centered Giving for Blessings
(50:38) Blessings Through Faithful Giving
www.citylightnyc.com
Chapters
00:00 - Put God First
07:36:00 - Give God First in Faith
16:32:00 - Seed of Faith
29:46:00 - Putting God First in Giving
38:18:00 - Heart-Centered Giving for Blessings
50:38:00 - Blessings Through Faithful Giving
Transcript
00:00 - Speaker 1
By faith able offered. Giving God first takes faith. It takes faith to say I don't have enough to pay my bills this month. It's gonna take 100% of my money, but I believe that God will bless my 90. If I give to him first. It takes faith when the ends are not meeting up and you're saying, god, I'm gonna put you first anyway.
00:26 - Speaker 2
Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyccom. That's citylightnyccom. Pastor Boyan Jancic and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you.
01:05 - Speaker 1
Put your hands together for our guest minister today, Nathaniel St Deloy.
01:15
Hallelujah. How many blessed people in the house. That sounded kind of weak. How many blessed people are in the house? Man, I am blessed. I'm blessed in the city, I'm blessed. You know, that's not just words, that's scripture. When you're singing that song, you're making a confession over yourself, no matter where I go, no matter where I live. It's not based on my geography, it's based off my revelation I'm blessed. It doesn't matter you can put me in the worst situation, I'll be blessed there. It don't matter how bad things are. Once you put me there, the blessing of the Lord has to be there because I'm blessed. How many blessed people are in the house? All right, let's go. Let's get into this word. I'm excited. Okay, can I say something?
02:00
Pastor Mo is so nimble on his feet. For a big guy, this is insane. The way he moves. He moves like he's 135 pounds. It is the scariest. He's like yo, I'm like bro, this is crazy. Nimble, nimble with heinz. Oh, he With Heinz feet. Oh, he got Heinz feet. Genesis, chapter four Got Heinz feet. You jumping over the walls. Yes, if you don't know that, you got to read your word. Some people didn't get the joke. They're like Heinz feet. I don't understand. Those are for like the super safe people joke. They're like Heinz feet. I don't understand. Those are for like the super safe people. Genesis, chapter 4.
02:49
I'm excited to be here for this series talking about abundance. It's something I love talking about. It's something that I believe in. I don't believe it because, like like Pastor Mo said it's, it didn't come from a televangelist or from some preacher, it's in the scriptures. And here's the problem church people don't like when you step on their feet. Talk about what makes me comfortable. Let's not get into the areas that are uncomfortable. But these type of areas are a little bit uncomfortable when God is demanding us to give and he's saying, bring the tithes into the storehouse. Oh, that hurts. Oh, maybe it's just the church doing this as a manipulation play. No, it's the scriptures. All right, y'all ready to go into the word? You sure they don't sound as ready as first service? Okay, yes, I like that.
03:44
Genesis, chapter four. Let's do it. Oh man, this is good. So I want to talk about something a little bit different.
03:49
I think for the first few weeks we talked about God wanting to bless us, god's desire, his will. I think it helped build your faith to know that God wants to bless you. He wants you to be blessed, he wants you to have abundance, he wants you to be in harvest, he wants open doors for you, he wants opportunities. He wants supernatural things to come your way. He wants like that Jeremiah, chapter 17, where it doesn't matter what season you are your leaves are going to be green, you won't wither, you're going to be by the river and everything you do is going to prosper. I believe that's what we've been learning these last few weeks. But I want to challenge you on your responsibility in walking in the blessing, because Jesus already died for you to be blessed amen. He already rose from the grave so you could be blessed. Amen, he did. He did his part, he did everything he had to do. It is finished. Your blessing is already here, it's in store. But there are things that the Holy Spirit is expecting you to do and requiring you to do so that you can walk out in that blessing. Do you believe that? All right, let's talk about it.
05:03
Genesis, chapter four, verse three. And I want to talk about the first fruit. I want to talk about the first fruit. Let's call it the first things first. First things first. I like that title. First things first, all right. Genesis four, verse three here's what it says. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of fruit of the fruit of the ground to the Lord, verse four Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and their fat. And the Lord respected Cable Abel's offering but did not respect Cain and his offering, and Cain was very angry and his countenance felt. We can read later on he kills his brother. But I don't want to talk about that, I just want to stop right there.
05:55
I look at this verse and I see something really important and I see something really valuable, because in order to understand Genesis chapter 4, you have to read Genesis chapter 3, and Genesis chapter 3,. The serpent comes and he tricks and deceives Adam and Eve and they get kicked out of the garden and God puts these fancy clothes on them and they have children. And the two children that they have at first are Cain and Abel. They're the first children that were born of a woman on the earth and I'm thinking that if you're writing about the first children, you should write about their childhood, you should write about their lives, you should write about how they grew up, you should write about the circumstances that they had to go through, knowing that their parents messed everything up for the world. Nope, none of that is written about.
06:42
The first thing we hear about when we hear about Cain and Abel was how they gave. I see this as very important because for the Holy Spirit to emphasize, for the first people born of human beings and the first thing he wants to talk about in their lives is how they gave, the importance of their giving. I thought that God would have talked about something that was more significant, but obviously the Holy Spirit sees this as such an important aspect that he puts it right at the front center. I want to talk about Cain and Abel and the first thing I want to mention is their giving, and he wants to list down their resume and giving and he doesn't hear in Genesis, chapter 4, so clearly it says time went by and finally Cain and Abel were able to offer, give, an offering to the Lord.
07:36
Listen to this and you can see the difference between these two in their giving. You know, in Sunday school I was always taught, like you know, when you do those like little coloring things in Sunday school, and there's the picture of Cain and Abel and you would see Abel's um sacrifice and offering and it looked, uh, really amazing and beautiful. And then you saw, you saw Cain's fruit that he brought to the Lord because Cain was a tiller of the ground and Abel was a herdsman. He had his flock, so his flock would always look very beautiful in the pictures. And then Cain's fruit would always look rotten and decrepit, like it was disgusting, and you're like, oh my gosh, why would he give that to the Lord? But that's not the context of this verse. It never says anything about Cain's offering being decrepit or looking rotten. There's a major difference between these two people and their offering and it's clear in the text. You can see it clear in the text.
08:40
Let's go back to verse four. Here's what it says Abel also brought of his firstborn, of the flock. Okay, you can see the major difference. And the Lord respected Abel in his offering. Go back to verse three and you're going to see Cain's. You're going to see the major difference. In the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering, so he brought an offering. But you'll see, the difference is that the Bible says Abel brought an offering, but he brought an offering. But you'll see, the difference is that the Bible says Abel brought an offering, but he brought an offering of the firstborn. The difference wasn't that Abel's offering looked better.
09:16
The difference was the order in which he gave it. This is really good right here. It was the order in which he gave it that made it completely different than Cain. It was the order that God respected. It was saying I'm going to give you first God, before I give the mortgage company. I'm going to give you first before I go to Nordstrom's. I'm going to give you first before I pay my kids tuition.
09:49
What God respected with the offering was not the offering per se, it was the order of the offering. It was saying God, I'm going to put you as primary and first in my life. While Cain goes God, I'll just give you whatever's left over. And God says I don't respect it. I don't respect when you decide to put everything else before me and you put me second. Ooh, this is good, but they ain't saying amen. It's tight, but it's right. I'm looking at this and I see two different people.
10:37
Abel goes God, I'm going to give you the firstborn of my flock. A flock was at least 20 to 200 animals, so every time a female in the flock would give birth. Here's what Abel would do. He would take that animal and he would say this is for the Lord. Then the next female that had a baby, this is for the Lord. Then the next one this is for the Lord. And when I read that I realized that took faith. Why would that take faith? Because imagine that female in the flock may never give birth again. That could be the only child. And he took the future away and said I'm going to give it to the Lord. First. It took faith to give that away and believe that God is going to bless me, even though I give him what's first. All right, let me say it like this. It's like saying God, I believe that 90 is better than 100. Oh my God, I knew they were going to get quiet.
11:38
God, you know, the president of Chick-fil-A came to my Bible college and he preached. And he preached a message. He said six is better than seven. That was his sermon Six is better than seven. And I'm like what does that mean? No, seven, I went to school, right, I went to school. Seven is greater than six, nope. But for him he understands a kingdom principle. The kingdom principle is you give God what he requires the six days and guess what he does? He will bless your business as if you were open seven days. And so Chick-fil-A now is the fastest growing fast food company, and the reason why is because he made a decision that he was going to dedicate his day the rest day, the Sabbath day to the Lord. And the Lord now has blessed him. I dare you to begin to give God first and watch him open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing you don't have room to receive. I dare you to put him first in your giving, put him first in your life, put him first in your situation and watch the windows of heaven open for you and your family and abundance come.
12:50
The difference was the order. I always read the story and thought, man, maybe his offering was more exceptional. No, it wasn't more exceptional, it just took more faith. It took faith because it said, god, if you don't bless me after I do this, I'll have nothing left. You know you got to make a decision. Who's your God? Is it the ability to be able to pay your bills? Are feeling comfortable enough? Ooh, because the Holy Spirit wants to challenge your comfort level, because some of you are so comfortable. Yeah, I have enough to pay my bills and then maybe I can give something to God at the end of the month, and that's not what God's requiring. He goes. I don't accept one person's offering. And I accept the other person's offering because in the order that they gave it, not the amount, you may not be as rich as someone else and guess what? You're blessed and they're not blessed. Yes, lord, because it's the order that matters.
14:00
All right, let's go to hebrews, chapter 11, verse 4, because you're saying this is old testament. But here's what I like about this, because even though it's Old Testament, it predates the law. So it shows me something. It shows me that this was God's desire from the beginning. Being put first was always God's desire, and what the law did was the law just confirmed what Abel did in his sacrifice. Right, look at this.
14:24
Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 11. Y'all with me second service. They're very cerebral too. They're very, they're chilling. They had a late night. All these young people it's all these young people, all the older folk. They're like I went to sleep at nine o'clock, got ready for church. All these, all these young people went to sleep two o'clock in the morning and now they're trying to get a coffee. Jump. Y'all can laugh. I'm joking, I'm also serious.
14:55
But Hebrews 11, 4, here's what it says by faith, able, offered by faith, by faith, by faith, giving God first takes faith. It takes faith to say I don't have enough to pay my bills this month. It's going to take 100% of my money, but I believe that God will bless my 90. If I give to him first. It takes faith when the ends are not meeting up and you're saying, god, I'm gonna put you first anyway. There may not even be a sign of provision for me, but I'll still put you first. I don't see how the doors are gonna open, but I'm still gonna put you first. I don't see how things are gonna turn around in my life, but I'm still gonna put you first, je, I don't see how things are going to turn around in my life, but I'm still going to put you first. Jehovah, jireh, if you don't come through, I have no other options. I came up here with my child and I came up here to sacrifice, and all I have left is your provision, and if you don't come through, we're dead out here Now. That's the type of faith the Lord's looking for. If you've never given like that, you've never given by faith. Oh, that's good. Some of you give based on how much you have. You haven't ever given by faith. Giving by faith looks like God. I barely have enough for myself and God goes all right. Cool, now give me everything.
16:32
I remember I had my nice, beautiful car. I had a Nissan Altima. No, it was a Maxima. My first car was an Altima. Second car was a Maxima. I called her Maxine. I'll tell you I loved Maxine. Oh, she was a beaut. She was red. Oh, she's a whoo Maxine, maxine. And I remember I'm in church. My hands are lifted up. I look over and the Lord says give that person your car. I said the devil is a liar. God is exalted, but I knew it was the Lord. Listen, give him Maxine. I said not Maxine, god. So give him Maxine. I'm like all right.
17:24
So I go and I'm like all right, I want this car to be at 100%. I brought it to my mechanic. I said all right, um, how was the car he's like your car's like at 80%. It's really good. You know you need to change this. There's a few things. It can cost you like a thousand dollars for your car to get to a hundred percent like it's drivable, it's really good, but to get it to a hundred percent you need to spend $1,000. I said, all right, cool, spent the $1,000.
17:47
And then I called him. I just got back from Vietnam. I went on a trip to Vietnam. I called him. I said, hey, you need to come to my house. He was like, oh okay. I was like no, you got to come like now, because when you got faith for something, just do it. Don't wait six months. Some of you be waiting too long. God be like give that $10,000 seed, okay, I'll do it next month, god. And then the faith is gone for it. Once I got faith for something, let's do it now. That's why I got in trouble the other day.
18:21
I was trying to give my money right at that moment because I don't want to give it after I preach. And then Pastor Barnes was like come up and preach, oh, y'all weren't here for first service. Oh y'all second service people. And then I'm giving it and he's like our preacher's texting. I was like no, I'm giving, I promise. And I showed him the screen and he believed me. So look at this. I'm like all right, god, I'm gonna give this.
18:44
So I called him. I said come over my house. He comes over and we're talking and I was like, oh yeah, we just came back from Vietnam. And he's like kind of like, why did you ask me to come to your house? This is weird.
18:56
I said, um, you know, god told me to do something for you and he was like, okay. I said the Lord told me to give you, um, my car. And he's like, oh no, but I don't have money for it. I was like I didn't say anything about money. I said the Lord said to give you the car. I'm not exaggerating, I give him the car. He starts crying, he goes yo, I start a job in three days. He said I didn't know how I was gonna get there because it's an hour away from my house. He said you giving me the car is exactly the prayer. God. This job is an hour away. It's two and a half hours away through the bus and public transportation. I don't know how I was going to be able to do it.
19:38
And the lord answered my prayer and I said all right, god's gonna bless you. I get a phone call two weeks later someone's like hey, I just want to bless you. I get a phone call two weeks later Someone's like hey, I just want to bless you with a car Three years newer, 30,000 miles less. Come on somebody by faith. See, there's some stuff you don't see. I had to drive my wife's Nissan. No, not Nissan, what does she have? What does she have? She had a Hyundai Elantra at that time. Do you know? I don't want to be driving no, hyundai Elantra. We had to share a car for a few weeks and I promise you I'm like God, you about to bless me Because I didn't give that. Because I didn't give that because I had it. I gave it by faith. Look what happened.
20:28
By faith, abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, which shows me Cain's sacrifice wasn't shabby. A more excellent, which means it was a cool sacrifice, but it wasn't what God required, because God doesn't require a cool offering, a decent offering he requires first, and anything that's not first is not God's will. Anytime you look at your bills and you put your bills before God, that means you love money more than you love God. Quiet, you can say ouch. That means you love your house more than you love God. You love your comfort more than you love God. You love your stuff more than you love God, because he always requires being first. He is preeminent, he's first, no matter if you put him first. I know you're like man. Well, you know I got responsibilities. Well, you can stay broke. I'm serious, because the way the blessing is putting him first, you seek him first. The kingdom of God. All right, let's look at this by faith.
21:38
Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts and through it, being dead still speaks. Can I just stop right there where it says God testifying of his gifts. I looked up that word. Testifying it literally means to preach. Testifying of his gifts. I looked up that word. Testifying, it literally means to preach.
22:05
God started preaching about how good Abel's offering was. I was like this is powerful. God started becoming a messenger. Abel, your offering's amazing. He started preaching about Abel and this is the part that really messed me up and through it, being dead still speaks.
22:23
So Abel, even though he was dead, his offering still had a voice. Can I tell you your offering has a voice, your seed has a voice that even though you may not be alive, your seed's still gonna speak for your children. Ooh, this is good, your seed is gonna speak for your children's children. Ooh, this is good, your seed is going to speak for your children's children. Do you know that when you give, your seed literally has a voice and starts speaking? It says things. It says this person can't be broke. They're a giver. No, no, no, no. They can never fall into poverty because they're a giver.
22:58
The Bible says I've never seen the righteous forsaken, neither his seed, begging for bread. No, no, you're blessed in the city. You're blessed in the field. You're blessed when you come. The blessing of the Lord makes you rich and, as no sorrow, you have to prosper. You must prosper and be in health. Even as your soul prospers, you must be blessed.
23:22
So his offering started speaking because he put God first. His offering had a voice. Hey, hey, children, children, children have to be blessed. All right, let's go to the next verse. Y'all here with me? Can I just go to another verse? This is not even in my in my notes, but I think we need to hear this. Uh, first king, chapter 17. Look at this. I told you I had a lot of verses in the first service. I didn't use all of them, because if I do, we won't go home. So 1 Kings 17, and I'm going to read verse 13. So this is Elijah.
24:11
Elijah goes to this widow who's not even part of the covenant. She's not a Jew, she's a Gentile, she's a pagan, she's an idol worshiper. She doesn't know God, but the principle works for anyone. All right, because there's a principle that works, even if you're an unbeliever. That's why all these billionaires want to give away 90% of their wealth, even before they die, and the more they give is the more they get rich. All right, they understand the principle of giving. That's my point. All right, look at this. First Kings 17, verse 13.
24:49
Here's what Elijah said to the widow. This seems very insensitive. She's saying I'm going to make my last meal, and then me and my kids are going to die. Look what Elijah says, and it's the same thing. Then me and my kids are going to die. Look what Elijah says, and it's the same thing. Heaven says to us and God says to us when you're at your least. Here's what God's still saying to you. And Elijah said to her do not fear, go, do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it First. That seems mean, that seems insensitive. Why would I give you first when I have a need?
25:29
If you give God the seed, he'll take care of your need. I'm going to say it again If you give God the seed, he will take care of your need. The problem is, we think if we take care of the need, then God gives us seed. The Bible says he only gives seed to the. He gives seed to the sower, not to the person in need. He gives seed to the person who sows. So if you sow, just know you'll always have seed. My God, I feel this in my spirit If you sow, you'll never be without the ability to give more. Oh God, I want to fund your kingdom. Start now. If you start sowing now, you will always have more than enough to be a giver. Givers become givers because they start giving and when they start giving, god gives them seed to become givers and even more opportunities and territory. You want to be a bigger giver. Start giving what you have and watch God increase it. He'll take that small amount and then he'll give you more seed and more seed, and more seed and more seed. All right, look at this, do not fear. Go. Do as I said make a small cake from it I'm talking about the first fruit and bring it to me and afterward make some for yourself and your son.
26:54
Look at what verse 14 says, for thus saith the Lord of Israelrael. She doesn't know the god of israel. See, this is how god is proving to her that he's god. It's through provision. He's saying unlike the other gods who, during a famine, can't provide for you, unlike the other pagan gods who, they can't do anything for you during a famine, baal you know what Baal was? Baal was supposed to be the god of rain. Ashtoreth was supposed to be the god of rain. Those gods can't provide for you and they're supposed to be the god of rain. But I'm going to prove to you why the god of Israel is not like your gods, because, even though they can't provide for you, the god of Israel will make sure that the bent of flour will not be used up, nor the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth. So I'm going to bless you, even in the midst of famine, because you gave first.
28:10
I don't care how bad things get in America. I don't care how bad things get in this nation. I don't care how challenging things get, if you give God first. This is the promise for you that in the midst of famine, god will make sure you have divine provision. Somebody say amen. All right, that was a detour because I didn't even share that in the first service. So when you put, when you give god first your first fruit, you open the door for abundance and blessing. You know, you know Jericho right.
28:43
When God told the children of Israel go into Jericho, the walls fell down. Joshua, chapter 6. You know, that was the first land that he told them to go and to conquer and to conquest. And compared to all the other lands, he gave them a command that was completely different from all the other lands. He said because this is the first place you conquer and conquest, I want you to get all the gold, I want you to get all the silver, I want you to get all the possessions and I want you to bring it to me as an offering, because it was the first place they conquered. And guess what happened when they gave that first? That's what set them on course to win, because they gave God first in their conquest. God was like all right, I'll set the lane easy for you to win the rest of the battles. When you give God first, you set yourself on course to prosper. You set yourself on course that no matter what you have to do and what you have to overcome, you can overcome it because you gave God first.
29:46
It's interesting. You know what's interesting? God never commanded that with any other place they want to. It was only in the first place they want to. If you give me the first fruit, I'll bless you. If, if you give me first, I'll bless you. All right, let's go.
30:01
Matthew, chapter 6, verse 33. I want you to see this and if you've been saved for more than five seconds, you know this verse, but we got to know it. Verse 33. Let's look at 33. I want you to see it in the context. Someone's kid is giving trouble. You better go get your kid. Y'all can laugh. Thank god, it's not my kid. But seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Oh yeah, if I pray if I pray, god's gonna bless me. If I fast, god's gonna bless me. That's not what this verse is saying. You got to read verses in the context. This verse is talking about money. All right, let me prove it. Let's go back to verse 31. Let's go to 31. Here's what it says.
30:53
Therefore, do not worry, saying what shall we eat, what shall we drink or what shall we wear. So people are worrying about things, possessions, and God's saying don't worry about that kind of stuff, don't worry about what you're going to eat, don't worry about what you're going to drink, don't worry about what you're going to wear. Verse 32, he's going to tell you who does that? People who don't know God. For after all these things, the Gentiles seek Pagans. They don't know God, so they're worried about clothes, they're worried about food, they're worried about the roof over their heads, they're worried about all their possessions because they don't know God. People who know God are not supposed to worry about this stuff. Unbelievers worry about what they're going to have and what they're going to eat and how much money is in their account. You don't have to worry about that. Here's why.
31:56
Because when you seek first, why? Because when you seek first, anytime you put God first, you put yourself in position that all of these things shall be added to you. I'm thinking this has to do with prayer and fasting and seeking the presence of God. No, it had to do with giving. When you put God first and you put his kingdom principles, his kingdom initiative, his kingdom perspective, when it comes to giving first, he goes. Everything that they're worried about you'll have, let's go. Everything they're concerned with it won't concern you, don't worry, because when you seek first his way, everything else is going to be provided for.
32:51
Oh man, I feel this for someone who may be struggling right now and you don't know even how you're going to pay your bills. I dare you, I double dog, dare you to put God first and watch. He said prove me in this. If I would not open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing, you won't have room to receive. I double dog, dare you. Even God double dog dares you. He says prove me in this, test me in this, that I would not open the windows of heaven. I believe that if you would put him first, you would put his kingdom first, you would put giving first, you'll see heaven open up for you in a way like you've never seen it before. The grass will definitely never wither. Where you are, the favor of God will follow you in every aspect of your life. Where are those who say God, I'm ready to put you first. I'm ready to put you first.
33:49
All right, let's go to the first John, chapter two. First John two. I was trying not to preach, I'm trying to do like some more teaching, but I couldn't help myself. Look at this first, can't first? Uh, first John, let's open up that. That. That one first John. I want you to see this. Okay. I think, oh sorry. First John three. I want you to see this. Okay. I think, oh sorry, 1 John 3. I said two, I'm sorry. Look at 1 John 3. All right, look at this. What does it say? We must not be like Amen. I am bringing it back to the story. We must not be like Amen.
34:40
It says who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. He aligned himself with the devil and he killed his brother. And then it's going to show you what happened to Cain and why did he kill him. Because Cain had been doing what was. What was Cain doing before he killed his brother? He was putting God second. Evil equals putting God second. His brother had been doing what was righteous Righteous equals putting God. Y'all are smart.
35:33
I read this and I couldn't believe it, because it's the New Testament, it's not the Old Testament. It's bringing up an Old Testament reference, but it's the New Testament. It's not the Old Testament. It's bringing up an Old Testament reference, but it's the New Testament saying because of his posture, the posture of his heart in giving, it opened the door for him to align himself with the devil and kill his brother. You know what will reveal your heart. You know how you can see where someone is. You can look at their checkbook and I guarantee you can determine.
36:06
You know what's funny when church people get offended at the pastor or the leader, you know the first thing they do they stop giving because they think, oh, I'm gonna hurt the church, I'm in such offense. It shows me, you got the spirit of cain. Because they think, oh, I'm going to hurt the church, I'm in such offense. It shows me, you got the spirit of Cain, god. This is good, because what did God? Equate Cain's evil to what he was doing? And what was he doing? He was giving an offering, but he was giving God. Second, see, this is this is not just about money some of you like man that he really wants people to give. I really want people to be blessed and I know what the scripture requires, but I really want you to see that this is more of an issue of the heart than anything else.
36:56
There's an issue with God's challenging your heart and challenging the preconceived notions of your heart, or even challenging some of the toxic things that happened in the past with churches you were a part of before and saying that doesn't matter. What matters is doing what God tells you to do. I know you were hurt by the past. I know things happened in your last ministry, in your last church, and you're like you're kind of disillusioned about giving. But giving was not a principle instituted by man. So your feelings can't come in the middle of your giving, because if it was instituted by emotions and feelings, you could give based on how you feel. And one day you feel like giving a lot and in other days you feel like giving a little bit. Some days you feel like putting God first and in other days let me take care of all my other expenses and my other bills and then whatever is left over I'll give it to God. But faith says God. I trust you with the 90, that the 90 will be blessed more than a hundred. That's cursed because kane had been doing what was evil and his brother had been doing what was righteous putting god first.
38:18
We just read iteking first the kingdom of God and his Two more verses, and then we're done. Is that cool with everyone? Some people put on their jackets already. My God, talk about putting God first. Like we can't even give an hour and a half in church. I am done with this loud black man. Oh my gosh. It has to come from the heart first. That's where it starts. It starts to come from the heart first. That's where it starts. It starts at the place of the heart. Giving starts at the place of the heart. That's where it starts.
39:08
All right, let's do Proverbs, chapter 3. Let's look at verse 9 and 10. I want you to see this Proverbs 3. Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruit of all, your increase, verse 10. So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. I want to show you something that, before we can even get to this place, the first thing that the writer of Proverbs does is that he deals with the heart issue and he gets right to the heart of the issue and then he starts talking about honoring the Lord with your giving, because the word honor is completely different than respect.
39:42
Right, respect is something that's lost and gained. It's lost and earned. That's why the Bible doesn't tell you to respect your mother and your father, because your parents are going to do stuff that's going to make you lose their, your respect for them. It never said respect them. Oh, they got quiet. Oh, the daddy issues started coming up. Oh, I felt it. I felt it because they're like oh, I don't respect my. The bible never said respect them. It said to honor them. Honor means no matter what they do, no matter what they say, no matter how they act, no matter how they treat you, no matter what they've done. I'm not saying you put up with toxic behavior, but you still should have a position where you place them that, no matter what they do, that position cannot leave because they're your parents. They got quiet. I got itchy because they started making me feel weird. Honor is different than respect, right? Weird honor is different than respect, right, it's a position of the all.
40:47
Right, let's go to proverbs, chapter three, verse one. I'm going to show you over and over this. You know the proverbs is a father writing to his son and giving him wisdom principles, telling him this is what you should do. This is how you should live. This is how you should treat people. These are the type of women to stay away from. Some of you who got problems with with these jezebels need to start reading proverbs. They'll tell you don't walk by her house, go around the block. That's what the problem said. I know I I didn't say it like he said, but he said don't walk by her house because she will pull you in. Make sure you go around. Don't follow her on Instagram, don't like her pictures. Well, I'm preaching better than they saying amen, I believe she could get saved. No, no, no, we ain't doing no missionary dating out here. Well, they got quiet.
42:01
My son, do not forget my law, but let your. I told you this is an issue of the Giving's, always an issue of the heart, because the Bible says where your treasure is, that's where your Giving, and money's always an issue. That starts right here, and God always wants to attack it here. A lot of people want to attack it here. That's how you lose man, but it doesn't make sense. Why does the church need blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah? That's not coming from here. God, you said it All right, I want to live according to what your word says. Someone told me they're like man but preachers. Still I want to live according to what your word says. Someone told me they're like man but preacher. Still. I don't care. It doesn't change my giving, no matter what anyone else does. I know what the principle says and I know what God's word says.
42:52
I don't want to get into too much tangents. My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commandments. Heart verse two. Look what happens. Let your heart keep my commandments. Heart, verse 2. Look what happens when his heart keeps the commandments For a length of days and a long life and peace. I talked about the word peace last week, the word shalom. It doesn't mean just peace, it means prosperity in every area of your life. Hey, if your heart's in the right place, if your heart's in the place of my commandments, I'm going to allow you to prosper in every area and I'm going to allow you to live a long blessed life.
43:30
Look at this, verse 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake. You Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. I told you it has everything to do with the heart, look. Look at verse four and so find favor. Who attracted favor? The person who wrote grace and truth on their heart. They attract favor and not only favor. Favor in the sight of God and man. That means God ain't only looking out for you. God's going to allow people to start looking out for you and to give you opportunities. You weren't even qualified for that. You didn't have the skill or the pedigree to get. God says I'm gonna make sure you get it because you wrote it on your heart. All right, verse five. I tell you it's all about the heart. Trust in the Lord with all your. This is an issue of the heart. Giving has to start here. And it's so interesting.
44:46
The father could have started with the best verse. To me, the best verse was honor the Lord with your first fruit. I would have started at verse one. That would have been verse one for me. Verse nine would have been verse one hey, that's the best part. My vats overflow. I get wine all over. Been verse one hey, that's the best part. My vats overflow. I get wine all over that. To me that's the best verse. I'm putting that as number one.
45:05
But but this father, this writer, was so wise. He was like I can't put that first without putting the heart first. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your path so you can go to the next one. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the lord and depart from evil, which has to do with the heart. Right, it will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. Verse nine honor the Lord. See, now this verse makes more sense. It's not just a weird verse, misplaced because it seems like it's a verse that's misplaced. It's not misplaced because every time it talks about the heart, it talks about favor, it talks about blessing, it talks about you having favor with God and man. So it talks about getting to the heart, and then it finally brings you to this place. Here's the place. When you get your heart right with God, what happens? Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits, the way to get to being able to give God your first fruits is dealing with the heart. It says with all of your increase. And look what happens when you do that.
46:20
Verse 10 so your barns will be filled with plenty. How many people want their barns to be filled with plenty? All right, y'all are like I don't have a barn? All right, let me. How many people want their bank accounts to be filled with plenty? Okay, three people said amen. How many people want their bank accounts to be filled with plenty? How many people want their vats to overflow with new wine? That means God giving you strategic ideas for wealth, creativity for wealth, business ideas for wealth, promotion for wealth. I believe it's yours, but the Bible says first fruits. Once you give him first, he'll open all of that up for you. Oh, I want to live in overflow.
47:09
I'm going to share one testimony, one verse. I want to share more than one, but do I have 10 minutes? Do I have 10 minutes? I have about three and a half. Can I get 10 minutes just to share this? I know I'm family, but please, all right. So two verses and a testimony, is that okay, all right, don't get me in trouble now.
47:39
I was preaching for my spiritual father, apostle Ryan Lestrange and I was talking about the $1,000 seed because I've sold at least five or $6,000 seeds. That broke stuff open in the atmosphere for me. That shifted stuff in my life. And it's not a gimmick, I just was like God at one point in my life $1,000 seed was the number Like I gave that every time I gave it the Lord would just open something up for me. And so I'm talking about the thousand dollar seed and one of my friends in ministry she was sitting out there and she's like the Lord is telling me to sow this thousand dollar seed. But I don't know, I'm just up there and I'm like sharing about it and I'm like, all right, we're to sow this $1,000 seed. But I don't know, I'm just up there and I'm like sharing about it and I'm like, all right, we're going to give and I'm sharing about the power of the $1,000 seed and she's like I got to give the seed, I got to give the seed, I got to give the seed and she's like all right. She looked over at her husband like no, we just we gave our tithe, we, we, we paid all of our bills. We don't got it. She's like man, I feel in my spirit, god saying to give. She's like all right, what should I do? So she's like let me look at my accounts. So she looks at her accounts no money. So she looks at Venmo no money. She looks at Venmo no money. She looks at Cash App no, she's white.
48:59
White people don't use Cash App. I'm sorry, I've never seen a white person use Cash App before. White people use Venmo and PayPal, that's it and Zelle and Zelle. I've never seen a white person use Cash App. That is black people. All the way I came here one time I was selling my books, every black person was like you got cash app. Every white person was like do you take Venmo? It's like yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
49:37
Write the letters to Pastor Boy, or not to me. Write him the emails. Don't write me the emails. Um, now I forgot where I was. Oh, cash app. So yeah, she didn't check her cash because she don't got a cash app. Why people don't use cash app? So she checked her um venmo. She checked her zelle and then she checked paypal. And when she checked paypal, she she checked her Zelle and then she checked PayPal and when she checked PayPal, she realized she had $1,000 in her PayPal account. Someone had sent her the money earlier and she didn't realize it.
50:08
And she's like I have need, but I believe this is seed. So you got to know the difference, because the problem with some of us is we eat our seed and we wonder why we're hungry next week. See, I'm not eating my seed. Oh yeah, yeah, let's go out to eat. Let's do this. No, that's called seed. I plant that. I don't eat it. This is good.
50:38
So she's like man, this is seed, I'm gonna, I'm gonna sow it. So she takes a thousand dollars. She's like she sows it. Then she comes to me. She says man, god, I sowed a thousand. I believe in the lord's gonna bring increase to my business. I said yes, in jesus name, lord's gonna do it for you. She said I was starting an online business the next week. She said me.
50:56
She said made, she's a pastor in Arkansas, in Jonesboro, arkansas, and she said my salary at the church was $29,000. Y'all think pastors is rich. $29,000. She goes. I started this online business believing the Lord was going to bring me into another level of wealth. She said I sowed that seed by faith. $1,000 seed for someone who makes $29,000. That's major. So she's like I'm believing the Lord's going to bring me into increase. She said I started my online business. She said in one week I made $40,000. One week, I made $40,000. I'm on her church's board. She said.
51:46
I spoke to her the other day. We were in a board meeting. She's like, yeah, you know, now I'm about to step into millionaire status. She said you know what I needed to do, though. I had to sow first and believe that if I gave God first, he'll do the rest. I give God my best, he'll do the rest.
52:09
One more verse. I'm not gonna do the last verse. One more verse, and I'm not going to do the last verse. One more verse, and I want you to see this because this is very valuable. Philippians, do that. Philippians verse. I want you to see this, philippians 4. Look at this Now.
52:33
You Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving, but only you. No other church, no other church wanted to give to Paul's ministry. There was only one church who was willing to give to Paul's ministry. It's to the point where Paul talks about this church and fawns over this church so much that he talks about them in a different book, second Corinthians, chapter 8. He starts talking about the church in Macedonia.
53:00
He's talking about the Philippians church and he's like, yay, no, corinthians, y'all didn't want to give to me, but the Philippians gave to me. Hey, hey, corinthians, y'all didn't want to sow, but the Philippians, they were so generous, they didn't even have any money and they gave. They were at the point of poverty because of persecution and they still gave. And he's boasting about how much they gave. And then he's writing a letter to them years later, a year later, and then he's like hey, guys, thank you so much for your giving. And it is what he says to them, verse 16.
53:38
For even Thessalonica, you sent aid once and again for my necessities. I was preaching at another church, I was out there in another city and you wanted to bless me so much. You brought seed to where I was and you gave. Oh, that's serious. This is what he says to this church. Keep going, verse 18. Oh, sorry, go back to verse 17 for a second. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account, verse 18. Indeed, I have all and abound. I am full and receiving from Epaphroditus, the things sent from you, a sweet, smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. Look at verse 19.
54:29
We always quote this out of context. We always quote this out of context. We don't put God first, we don't give God first, and then we quote this verse. This was a church that put God first. We don't give God first, and then we quote this verse. This was a church that put God first. It's a church that sold to God first. Even when you read in 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, it says they gave themselves to the Lord first and then gave to us. In giving, they were always the people who gave first. And look what the promise was for them. And my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory. By Christ Jesus. Philippians, you gave to the kingdom of God. You sold to the kingdom of God, like my friend.
55:16
Hey, I'm starting this business and before I start the business, what I want to do is I want to give to God first. Here's the first fruit God here. I want to give to you first because I believe if I give to you first, you're going to bless me. And here's the promise for every single person who's saying who got that disposition in their heart who, from this day forward, god, I'm not going to put my mortgage before I put you. I'm not going to put my bills before I put you. I'm not going to put my needs before. I'm not going to put my kids' tuition before I put you. I'm not going to put the things that I want before you. I'm not going to put Macy's and Nordstrom's before you. I'm going to put you first. And look at what happens when you do that. My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches. God ain't broke. He owns cattle on a thousand hills. He ain't broke. Broke according to his riches and glory, by Christ Jesus.
56:26
You know there's different ways to seal words. You know how we're going to seal this word with our giving, sometimes some words. You seal it with praise. You seal it at the altar. You seal it by going home and be like I gotta throw everything out. Oh, I'm deleting her number, I'm deleting his number, I'm getting rid of this toxic thing. You know how we're gonna seal this word by putting into practice amen, god, I haven't put you first, but I'm gonna put you first. I'm gonna give you first and believe that you're the God of provision. So let's get prepared to give. They're gonna put the giving information up on the screen. There's four ways to give and they're gonna show you all the ways that you can give, and they're going to put it up for a few seconds, a lot longer than it was when I tried to do it the other day. Four ways that PO box is for. You know people give them the PO box. That means they really love the Lord For you to have to get a stamp, an envelope, instead of just going like this online, that's some serious dedication.
57:53
If you want to give, you can scan the QR code. You can give online at citylightnyccom slash give. You can text citylight to 4577. You can mail in your check money order. However you want to give and there's some offering boxes in the back for those who aren't going to give digitally.
58:15
I'm going to give you just a few seconds to get your seed ready. And I understand for those who want to give right now, because I don't like giving at home. I like when I'm in church. I feel like my faith is activated and I'd like to give here. So, if that's you, I'm going to give you just another minute or so to give and then here's what we're going to do we're all going to stand together and I'm going to have you lift up your seed. So it might be your phone. If you're giving digitally, it might be an envelope. Whatever it is, I want you to lift up your offering, your tithe, and I want you to speak over it and make the declaration I'm blessed, I'm blessed, I'm blessed, I'm blessed, I'm blessed, I'm blessed. I declare the blessing of the Lord's overtaking. You. Did everyone have a chance to give amen. All right, let's stand to our feet and I want you to get your phone, your check, your money order.
59:21
Some of you gave during the first service. Thank you, you can just symbolically lift up your hand or lift up your phone. Some of you gave throughout the week. Some of you. The Lord is impressing on you. I want you to put me first in your giving. Make sure I'm first. I'll bless the 90 if you put me first. All right, let's lift it up. Let's make this declaration. I declare and I decree I am blessed. In the city, in the field, when I come, when I go, everything I touch by faith increases. Now, favor, favor follows me and I am abundantly blessed in Jesus' name. If you believe it. Give God a shout of praise. Come on, give Him a shout of praise.
01:00:31 - Speaker 2
This is the City Light Church podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jancic and City Light Church, visit us at citylightnyccom. That's citylightnyccom. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.
By faith able offered. Giving God first takes faith. It takes faith to say I don't have enough to pay my bills this month. It's gonna take 100% of my money, but I believe that God will bless my 90. If I give to him first. It takes faith when the ends are not meeting up and you're saying, god, I'm gonna put you first anyway.
00:26 - Speaker 2
Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyccom. That's citylightnyccom. Pastor Boyan Jancic and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you.
01:05 - Speaker 1
Put your hands together for our guest minister today, Nathaniel St Deloy.
01:15
Hallelujah. How many blessed people in the house. That sounded kind of weak. How many blessed people are in the house? Man, I am blessed. I'm blessed in the city, I'm blessed. You know, that's not just words, that's scripture. When you're singing that song, you're making a confession over yourself, no matter where I go, no matter where I live. It's not based on my geography, it's based off my revelation I'm blessed. It doesn't matter you can put me in the worst situation, I'll be blessed there. It don't matter how bad things are. Once you put me there, the blessing of the Lord has to be there because I'm blessed. How many blessed people are in the house? All right, let's go. Let's get into this word. I'm excited. Okay, can I say something?
02:00
Pastor Mo is so nimble on his feet. For a big guy, this is insane. The way he moves. He moves like he's 135 pounds. It is the scariest. He's like yo, I'm like bro, this is crazy. Nimble, nimble with heinz. Oh, he With Heinz feet. Oh, he got Heinz feet. Genesis, chapter four Got Heinz feet. You jumping over the walls. Yes, if you don't know that, you got to read your word. Some people didn't get the joke. They're like Heinz feet. I don't understand. Those are for like the super safe people joke. They're like Heinz feet. I don't understand. Those are for like the super safe people. Genesis, chapter 4.
02:49
I'm excited to be here for this series talking about abundance. It's something I love talking about. It's something that I believe in. I don't believe it because, like like Pastor Mo said it's, it didn't come from a televangelist or from some preacher, it's in the scriptures. And here's the problem church people don't like when you step on their feet. Talk about what makes me comfortable. Let's not get into the areas that are uncomfortable. But these type of areas are a little bit uncomfortable when God is demanding us to give and he's saying, bring the tithes into the storehouse. Oh, that hurts. Oh, maybe it's just the church doing this as a manipulation play. No, it's the scriptures. All right, y'all ready to go into the word? You sure they don't sound as ready as first service? Okay, yes, I like that.
03:44
Genesis, chapter four. Let's do it. Oh man, this is good. So I want to talk about something a little bit different.
03:49
I think for the first few weeks we talked about God wanting to bless us, god's desire, his will. I think it helped build your faith to know that God wants to bless you. He wants you to be blessed, he wants you to have abundance, he wants you to be in harvest, he wants open doors for you, he wants opportunities. He wants supernatural things to come your way. He wants like that Jeremiah, chapter 17, where it doesn't matter what season you are your leaves are going to be green, you won't wither, you're going to be by the river and everything you do is going to prosper. I believe that's what we've been learning these last few weeks. But I want to challenge you on your responsibility in walking in the blessing, because Jesus already died for you to be blessed amen. He already rose from the grave so you could be blessed. Amen, he did. He did his part, he did everything he had to do. It is finished. Your blessing is already here, it's in store. But there are things that the Holy Spirit is expecting you to do and requiring you to do so that you can walk out in that blessing. Do you believe that? All right, let's talk about it.
05:03
Genesis, chapter four, verse three. And I want to talk about the first fruit. I want to talk about the first fruit. Let's call it the first things first. First things first. I like that title. First things first, all right. Genesis four, verse three here's what it says. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of fruit of the fruit of the ground to the Lord, verse four Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and their fat. And the Lord respected Cable Abel's offering but did not respect Cain and his offering, and Cain was very angry and his countenance felt. We can read later on he kills his brother. But I don't want to talk about that, I just want to stop right there.
05:55
I look at this verse and I see something really important and I see something really valuable, because in order to understand Genesis chapter 4, you have to read Genesis chapter 3, and Genesis chapter 3,. The serpent comes and he tricks and deceives Adam and Eve and they get kicked out of the garden and God puts these fancy clothes on them and they have children. And the two children that they have at first are Cain and Abel. They're the first children that were born of a woman on the earth and I'm thinking that if you're writing about the first children, you should write about their childhood, you should write about their lives, you should write about how they grew up, you should write about the circumstances that they had to go through, knowing that their parents messed everything up for the world. Nope, none of that is written about.
06:42
The first thing we hear about when we hear about Cain and Abel was how they gave. I see this as very important because for the Holy Spirit to emphasize, for the first people born of human beings and the first thing he wants to talk about in their lives is how they gave, the importance of their giving. I thought that God would have talked about something that was more significant, but obviously the Holy Spirit sees this as such an important aspect that he puts it right at the front center. I want to talk about Cain and Abel and the first thing I want to mention is their giving, and he wants to list down their resume and giving and he doesn't hear in Genesis, chapter 4, so clearly it says time went by and finally Cain and Abel were able to offer, give, an offering to the Lord.
07:36
Listen to this and you can see the difference between these two in their giving. You know, in Sunday school I was always taught, like you know, when you do those like little coloring things in Sunday school, and there's the picture of Cain and Abel and you would see Abel's um sacrifice and offering and it looked, uh, really amazing and beautiful. And then you saw, you saw Cain's fruit that he brought to the Lord because Cain was a tiller of the ground and Abel was a herdsman. He had his flock, so his flock would always look very beautiful in the pictures. And then Cain's fruit would always look rotten and decrepit, like it was disgusting, and you're like, oh my gosh, why would he give that to the Lord? But that's not the context of this verse. It never says anything about Cain's offering being decrepit or looking rotten. There's a major difference between these two people and their offering and it's clear in the text. You can see it clear in the text.
08:40
Let's go back to verse four. Here's what it says Abel also brought of his firstborn, of the flock. Okay, you can see the major difference. And the Lord respected Abel in his offering. Go back to verse three and you're going to see Cain's. You're going to see the major difference. In the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering, so he brought an offering. But you'll see, the difference is that the Bible says Abel brought an offering, but he brought an offering. But you'll see, the difference is that the Bible says Abel brought an offering, but he brought an offering of the firstborn. The difference wasn't that Abel's offering looked better.
09:16
The difference was the order in which he gave it. This is really good right here. It was the order in which he gave it that made it completely different than Cain. It was the order that God respected. It was saying I'm going to give you first God, before I give the mortgage company. I'm going to give you first before I go to Nordstrom's. I'm going to give you first before I pay my kids tuition.
09:49
What God respected with the offering was not the offering per se, it was the order of the offering. It was saying God, I'm going to put you as primary and first in my life. While Cain goes God, I'll just give you whatever's left over. And God says I don't respect it. I don't respect when you decide to put everything else before me and you put me second. Ooh, this is good, but they ain't saying amen. It's tight, but it's right. I'm looking at this and I see two different people.
10:37
Abel goes God, I'm going to give you the firstborn of my flock. A flock was at least 20 to 200 animals, so every time a female in the flock would give birth. Here's what Abel would do. He would take that animal and he would say this is for the Lord. Then the next female that had a baby, this is for the Lord. Then the next one this is for the Lord. And when I read that I realized that took faith. Why would that take faith? Because imagine that female in the flock may never give birth again. That could be the only child. And he took the future away and said I'm going to give it to the Lord. First. It took faith to give that away and believe that God is going to bless me, even though I give him what's first. All right, let me say it like this. It's like saying God, I believe that 90 is better than 100. Oh my God, I knew they were going to get quiet.
11:38
God, you know, the president of Chick-fil-A came to my Bible college and he preached. And he preached a message. He said six is better than seven. That was his sermon Six is better than seven. And I'm like what does that mean? No, seven, I went to school, right, I went to school. Seven is greater than six, nope. But for him he understands a kingdom principle. The kingdom principle is you give God what he requires the six days and guess what he does? He will bless your business as if you were open seven days. And so Chick-fil-A now is the fastest growing fast food company, and the reason why is because he made a decision that he was going to dedicate his day the rest day, the Sabbath day to the Lord. And the Lord now has blessed him. I dare you to begin to give God first and watch him open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing you don't have room to receive. I dare you to put him first in your giving, put him first in your life, put him first in your situation and watch the windows of heaven open for you and your family and abundance come.
12:50
The difference was the order. I always read the story and thought, man, maybe his offering was more exceptional. No, it wasn't more exceptional, it just took more faith. It took faith because it said, god, if you don't bless me after I do this, I'll have nothing left. You know you got to make a decision. Who's your God? Is it the ability to be able to pay your bills? Are feeling comfortable enough? Ooh, because the Holy Spirit wants to challenge your comfort level, because some of you are so comfortable. Yeah, I have enough to pay my bills and then maybe I can give something to God at the end of the month, and that's not what God's requiring. He goes. I don't accept one person's offering. And I accept the other person's offering because in the order that they gave it, not the amount, you may not be as rich as someone else and guess what? You're blessed and they're not blessed. Yes, lord, because it's the order that matters.
14:00
All right, let's go to hebrews, chapter 11, verse 4, because you're saying this is old testament. But here's what I like about this, because even though it's Old Testament, it predates the law. So it shows me something. It shows me that this was God's desire from the beginning. Being put first was always God's desire, and what the law did was the law just confirmed what Abel did in his sacrifice. Right, look at this.
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Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 11. Y'all with me second service. They're very cerebral too. They're very, they're chilling. They had a late night. All these young people it's all these young people, all the older folk. They're like I went to sleep at nine o'clock, got ready for church. All these, all these young people went to sleep two o'clock in the morning and now they're trying to get a coffee. Jump. Y'all can laugh. I'm joking, I'm also serious.
14:55
But Hebrews 11, 4, here's what it says by faith, able, offered by faith, by faith, by faith, giving God first takes faith. It takes faith to say I don't have enough to pay my bills this month. It's going to take 100% of my money, but I believe that God will bless my 90. If I give to him first. It takes faith when the ends are not meeting up and you're saying, god, I'm gonna put you first anyway. There may not even be a sign of provision for me, but I'll still put you first. I don't see how the doors are gonna open, but I'm still gonna put you first. I don't see how things are gonna turn around in my life, but I'm still gonna put you first, je, I don't see how things are going to turn around in my life, but I'm still going to put you first. Jehovah, jireh, if you don't come through, I have no other options. I came up here with my child and I came up here to sacrifice, and all I have left is your provision, and if you don't come through, we're dead out here Now. That's the type of faith the Lord's looking for. If you've never given like that, you've never given by faith. Oh, that's good. Some of you give based on how much you have. You haven't ever given by faith. Giving by faith looks like God. I barely have enough for myself and God goes all right. Cool, now give me everything.
16:32
I remember I had my nice, beautiful car. I had a Nissan Altima. No, it was a Maxima. My first car was an Altima. Second car was a Maxima. I called her Maxine. I'll tell you I loved Maxine. Oh, she was a beaut. She was red. Oh, she's a whoo Maxine, maxine. And I remember I'm in church. My hands are lifted up. I look over and the Lord says give that person your car. I said the devil is a liar. God is exalted, but I knew it was the Lord. Listen, give him Maxine. I said not Maxine, god. So give him Maxine. I'm like all right.
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So I go and I'm like all right, I want this car to be at 100%. I brought it to my mechanic. I said all right, um, how was the car he's like your car's like at 80%. It's really good. You know you need to change this. There's a few things. It can cost you like a thousand dollars for your car to get to a hundred percent like it's drivable, it's really good, but to get it to a hundred percent you need to spend $1,000. I said, all right, cool, spent the $1,000.
17:47
And then I called him. I just got back from Vietnam. I went on a trip to Vietnam. I called him. I said, hey, you need to come to my house. He was like, oh okay. I was like no, you got to come like now, because when you got faith for something, just do it. Don't wait six months. Some of you be waiting too long. God be like give that $10,000 seed, okay, I'll do it next month, god. And then the faith is gone for it. Once I got faith for something, let's do it now. That's why I got in trouble the other day.
18:21
I was trying to give my money right at that moment because I don't want to give it after I preach. And then Pastor Barnes was like come up and preach, oh, y'all weren't here for first service. Oh y'all second service people. And then I'm giving it and he's like our preacher's texting. I was like no, I'm giving, I promise. And I showed him the screen and he believed me. So look at this. I'm like all right, god, I'm gonna give this.
18:44
So I called him. I said come over my house. He comes over and we're talking and I was like, oh yeah, we just came back from Vietnam. And he's like kind of like, why did you ask me to come to your house? This is weird.
18:56
I said, um, you know, god told me to do something for you and he was like, okay. I said the Lord told me to give you, um, my car. And he's like, oh no, but I don't have money for it. I was like I didn't say anything about money. I said the Lord said to give you the car. I'm not exaggerating, I give him the car. He starts crying, he goes yo, I start a job in three days. He said I didn't know how I was gonna get there because it's an hour away from my house. He said you giving me the car is exactly the prayer. God. This job is an hour away. It's two and a half hours away through the bus and public transportation. I don't know how I was going to be able to do it.
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And the lord answered my prayer and I said all right, god's gonna bless you. I get a phone call two weeks later someone's like hey, I just want to bless you. I get a phone call two weeks later Someone's like hey, I just want to bless you with a car Three years newer, 30,000 miles less. Come on somebody by faith. See, there's some stuff you don't see. I had to drive my wife's Nissan. No, not Nissan, what does she have? What does she have? She had a Hyundai Elantra at that time. Do you know? I don't want to be driving no, hyundai Elantra. We had to share a car for a few weeks and I promise you I'm like God, you about to bless me Because I didn't give that. Because I didn't give that because I had it. I gave it by faith. Look what happened.
20:28
By faith, abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, which shows me Cain's sacrifice wasn't shabby. A more excellent, which means it was a cool sacrifice, but it wasn't what God required, because God doesn't require a cool offering, a decent offering he requires first, and anything that's not first is not God's will. Anytime you look at your bills and you put your bills before God, that means you love money more than you love God. Quiet, you can say ouch. That means you love your house more than you love God. You love your comfort more than you love God. You love your stuff more than you love God, because he always requires being first. He is preeminent, he's first, no matter if you put him first. I know you're like man. Well, you know I got responsibilities. Well, you can stay broke. I'm serious, because the way the blessing is putting him first, you seek him first. The kingdom of God. All right, let's look at this by faith.
21:38
Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts and through it, being dead still speaks. Can I just stop right there where it says God testifying of his gifts. I looked up that word. Testifying it literally means to preach. Testifying of his gifts. I looked up that word. Testifying, it literally means to preach.
22:05
God started preaching about how good Abel's offering was. I was like this is powerful. God started becoming a messenger. Abel, your offering's amazing. He started preaching about Abel and this is the part that really messed me up and through it, being dead still speaks.
22:23
So Abel, even though he was dead, his offering still had a voice. Can I tell you your offering has a voice, your seed has a voice that even though you may not be alive, your seed's still gonna speak for your children. Ooh, this is good, your seed is gonna speak for your children's children. Ooh, this is good, your seed is going to speak for your children's children. Do you know that when you give, your seed literally has a voice and starts speaking? It says things. It says this person can't be broke. They're a giver. No, no, no, no. They can never fall into poverty because they're a giver.
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The Bible says I've never seen the righteous forsaken, neither his seed, begging for bread. No, no, you're blessed in the city. You're blessed in the field. You're blessed when you come. The blessing of the Lord makes you rich and, as no sorrow, you have to prosper. You must prosper and be in health. Even as your soul prospers, you must be blessed.
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So his offering started speaking because he put God first. His offering had a voice. Hey, hey, children, children, children have to be blessed. All right, let's go to the next verse. Y'all here with me? Can I just go to another verse? This is not even in my in my notes, but I think we need to hear this. Uh, first king, chapter 17. Look at this. I told you I had a lot of verses in the first service. I didn't use all of them, because if I do, we won't go home. So 1 Kings 17, and I'm going to read verse 13. So this is Elijah.
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Elijah goes to this widow who's not even part of the covenant. She's not a Jew, she's a Gentile, she's a pagan, she's an idol worshiper. She doesn't know God, but the principle works for anyone. All right, because there's a principle that works, even if you're an unbeliever. That's why all these billionaires want to give away 90% of their wealth, even before they die, and the more they give is the more they get rich. All right, they understand the principle of giving. That's my point. All right, look at this. First Kings 17, verse 13.
24:49
Here's what Elijah said to the widow. This seems very insensitive. She's saying I'm going to make my last meal, and then me and my kids are going to die. Look what Elijah says, and it's the same thing. Then me and my kids are going to die. Look what Elijah says, and it's the same thing. Heaven says to us and God says to us when you're at your least. Here's what God's still saying to you. And Elijah said to her do not fear, go, do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it First. That seems mean, that seems insensitive. Why would I give you first when I have a need?
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If you give God the seed, he'll take care of your need. I'm going to say it again If you give God the seed, he will take care of your need. The problem is, we think if we take care of the need, then God gives us seed. The Bible says he only gives seed to the. He gives seed to the sower, not to the person in need. He gives seed to the person who sows. So if you sow, just know you'll always have seed. My God, I feel this in my spirit If you sow, you'll never be without the ability to give more. Oh God, I want to fund your kingdom. Start now. If you start sowing now, you will always have more than enough to be a giver. Givers become givers because they start giving and when they start giving, god gives them seed to become givers and even more opportunities and territory. You want to be a bigger giver. Start giving what you have and watch God increase it. He'll take that small amount and then he'll give you more seed and more seed, and more seed and more seed. All right, look at this, do not fear. Go. Do as I said make a small cake from it I'm talking about the first fruit and bring it to me and afterward make some for yourself and your son.
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Look at what verse 14 says, for thus saith the Lord of Israelrael. She doesn't know the god of israel. See, this is how god is proving to her that he's god. It's through provision. He's saying unlike the other gods who, during a famine, can't provide for you, unlike the other pagan gods who, they can't do anything for you during a famine, baal you know what Baal was? Baal was supposed to be the god of rain. Ashtoreth was supposed to be the god of rain. Those gods can't provide for you and they're supposed to be the god of rain. But I'm going to prove to you why the god of Israel is not like your gods, because, even though they can't provide for you, the god of Israel will make sure that the bent of flour will not be used up, nor the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth. So I'm going to bless you, even in the midst of famine, because you gave first.
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I don't care how bad things get in America. I don't care how bad things get in this nation. I don't care how challenging things get, if you give God first. This is the promise for you that in the midst of famine, god will make sure you have divine provision. Somebody say amen. All right, that was a detour because I didn't even share that in the first service. So when you put, when you give god first your first fruit, you open the door for abundance and blessing. You know, you know Jericho right.
28:43
When God told the children of Israel go into Jericho, the walls fell down. Joshua, chapter 6. You know, that was the first land that he told them to go and to conquer and to conquest. And compared to all the other lands, he gave them a command that was completely different from all the other lands. He said because this is the first place you conquer and conquest, I want you to get all the gold, I want you to get all the silver, I want you to get all the possessions and I want you to bring it to me as an offering, because it was the first place they conquered. And guess what happened when they gave that first? That's what set them on course to win, because they gave God first in their conquest. God was like all right, I'll set the lane easy for you to win the rest of the battles. When you give God first, you set yourself on course to prosper. You set yourself on course that no matter what you have to do and what you have to overcome, you can overcome it because you gave God first.
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It's interesting. You know what's interesting? God never commanded that with any other place they want to. It was only in the first place they want to. If you give me the first fruit, I'll bless you. If, if you give me first, I'll bless you. All right, let's go.
30:01
Matthew, chapter 6, verse 33. I want you to see this and if you've been saved for more than five seconds, you know this verse, but we got to know it. Verse 33. Let's look at 33. I want you to see it in the context. Someone's kid is giving trouble. You better go get your kid. Y'all can laugh. Thank god, it's not my kid. But seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Oh yeah, if I pray if I pray, god's gonna bless me. If I fast, god's gonna bless me. That's not what this verse is saying. You got to read verses in the context. This verse is talking about money. All right, let me prove it. Let's go back to verse 31. Let's go to 31. Here's what it says.
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Therefore, do not worry, saying what shall we eat, what shall we drink or what shall we wear. So people are worrying about things, possessions, and God's saying don't worry about that kind of stuff, don't worry about what you're going to eat, don't worry about what you're going to drink, don't worry about what you're going to wear. Verse 32, he's going to tell you who does that? People who don't know God. For after all these things, the Gentiles seek Pagans. They don't know God, so they're worried about clothes, they're worried about food, they're worried about the roof over their heads, they're worried about all their possessions because they don't know God. People who know God are not supposed to worry about this stuff. Unbelievers worry about what they're going to have and what they're going to eat and how much money is in their account. You don't have to worry about that. Here's why.
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Because when you seek first, why? Because when you seek first, anytime you put God first, you put yourself in position that all of these things shall be added to you. I'm thinking this has to do with prayer and fasting and seeking the presence of God. No, it had to do with giving. When you put God first and you put his kingdom principles, his kingdom initiative, his kingdom perspective, when it comes to giving first, he goes. Everything that they're worried about you'll have, let's go. Everything they're concerned with it won't concern you, don't worry, because when you seek first his way, everything else is going to be provided for.
32:51
Oh man, I feel this for someone who may be struggling right now and you don't know even how you're going to pay your bills. I dare you, I double dog, dare you to put God first and watch. He said prove me in this. If I would not open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing, you won't have room to receive. I double dog, dare you. Even God double dog dares you. He says prove me in this, test me in this, that I would not open the windows of heaven. I believe that if you would put him first, you would put his kingdom first, you would put giving first, you'll see heaven open up for you in a way like you've never seen it before. The grass will definitely never wither. Where you are, the favor of God will follow you in every aspect of your life. Where are those who say God, I'm ready to put you first. I'm ready to put you first.
33:49
All right, let's go to the first John, chapter two. First John two. I was trying not to preach, I'm trying to do like some more teaching, but I couldn't help myself. Look at this first, can't first? Uh, first John, let's open up that. That. That one first John. I want you to see this. Okay. I think, oh sorry. First John three. I want you to see this. Okay. I think, oh sorry, 1 John 3. I said two, I'm sorry. Look at 1 John 3. All right, look at this. What does it say? We must not be like Amen. I am bringing it back to the story. We must not be like Amen.
34:40
It says who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. He aligned himself with the devil and he killed his brother. And then it's going to show you what happened to Cain and why did he kill him. Because Cain had been doing what was. What was Cain doing before he killed his brother? He was putting God second. Evil equals putting God second. His brother had been doing what was righteous Righteous equals putting God. Y'all are smart.
35:33
I read this and I couldn't believe it, because it's the New Testament, it's not the Old Testament. It's bringing up an Old Testament reference, but it's the New Testament. It's not the Old Testament. It's bringing up an Old Testament reference, but it's the New Testament saying because of his posture, the posture of his heart in giving, it opened the door for him to align himself with the devil and kill his brother. You know what will reveal your heart. You know how you can see where someone is. You can look at their checkbook and I guarantee you can determine.
36:06
You know what's funny when church people get offended at the pastor or the leader, you know the first thing they do they stop giving because they think, oh, I'm gonna hurt the church, I'm in such offense. It shows me, you got the spirit of cain. Because they think, oh, I'm going to hurt the church, I'm in such offense. It shows me, you got the spirit of Cain, god. This is good, because what did God? Equate Cain's evil to what he was doing? And what was he doing? He was giving an offering, but he was giving God. Second, see, this is this is not just about money some of you like man that he really wants people to give. I really want people to be blessed and I know what the scripture requires, but I really want you to see that this is more of an issue of the heart than anything else.
36:56
There's an issue with God's challenging your heart and challenging the preconceived notions of your heart, or even challenging some of the toxic things that happened in the past with churches you were a part of before and saying that doesn't matter. What matters is doing what God tells you to do. I know you were hurt by the past. I know things happened in your last ministry, in your last church, and you're like you're kind of disillusioned about giving. But giving was not a principle instituted by man. So your feelings can't come in the middle of your giving, because if it was instituted by emotions and feelings, you could give based on how you feel. And one day you feel like giving a lot and in other days you feel like giving a little bit. Some days you feel like putting God first and in other days let me take care of all my other expenses and my other bills and then whatever is left over I'll give it to God. But faith says God. I trust you with the 90, that the 90 will be blessed more than a hundred. That's cursed because kane had been doing what was evil and his brother had been doing what was righteous putting god first.
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We just read iteking first the kingdom of God and his Two more verses, and then we're done. Is that cool with everyone? Some people put on their jackets already. My God, talk about putting God first. Like we can't even give an hour and a half in church. I am done with this loud black man. Oh my gosh. It has to come from the heart first. That's where it starts. It starts to come from the heart first. That's where it starts. It starts at the place of the heart. Giving starts at the place of the heart. That's where it starts.
39:08
All right, let's do Proverbs, chapter 3. Let's look at verse 9 and 10. I want you to see this Proverbs 3. Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruit of all, your increase, verse 10. So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. I want to show you something that, before we can even get to this place, the first thing that the writer of Proverbs does is that he deals with the heart issue and he gets right to the heart of the issue and then he starts talking about honoring the Lord with your giving, because the word honor is completely different than respect.
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Right, respect is something that's lost and gained. It's lost and earned. That's why the Bible doesn't tell you to respect your mother and your father, because your parents are going to do stuff that's going to make you lose their, your respect for them. It never said respect them. Oh, they got quiet. Oh, the daddy issues started coming up. Oh, I felt it. I felt it because they're like oh, I don't respect my. The bible never said respect them. It said to honor them. Honor means no matter what they do, no matter what they say, no matter how they act, no matter how they treat you, no matter what they've done. I'm not saying you put up with toxic behavior, but you still should have a position where you place them that, no matter what they do, that position cannot leave because they're your parents. They got quiet. I got itchy because they started making me feel weird. Honor is different than respect, right? Weird honor is different than respect, right, it's a position of the all.
40:47
Right, let's go to proverbs, chapter three, verse one. I'm going to show you over and over this. You know the proverbs is a father writing to his son and giving him wisdom principles, telling him this is what you should do. This is how you should live. This is how you should treat people. These are the type of women to stay away from. Some of you who got problems with with these jezebels need to start reading proverbs. They'll tell you don't walk by her house, go around the block. That's what the problem said. I know I I didn't say it like he said, but he said don't walk by her house because she will pull you in. Make sure you go around. Don't follow her on Instagram, don't like her pictures. Well, I'm preaching better than they saying amen, I believe she could get saved. No, no, no, we ain't doing no missionary dating out here. Well, they got quiet.
42:01
My son, do not forget my law, but let your. I told you this is an issue of the Giving's, always an issue of the heart, because the Bible says where your treasure is, that's where your Giving, and money's always an issue. That starts right here, and God always wants to attack it here. A lot of people want to attack it here. That's how you lose man, but it doesn't make sense. Why does the church need blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah? That's not coming from here. God, you said it All right, I want to live according to what your word says. Someone told me they're like man but preachers. Still I want to live according to what your word says. Someone told me they're like man but preacher. Still. I don't care. It doesn't change my giving, no matter what anyone else does. I know what the principle says and I know what God's word says.
42:52
I don't want to get into too much tangents. My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commandments. Heart verse two. Look what happens. Let your heart keep my commandments. Heart, verse 2. Look what happens when his heart keeps the commandments For a length of days and a long life and peace. I talked about the word peace last week, the word shalom. It doesn't mean just peace, it means prosperity in every area of your life. Hey, if your heart's in the right place, if your heart's in the place of my commandments, I'm going to allow you to prosper in every area and I'm going to allow you to live a long blessed life.
43:30
Look at this, verse 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake. You Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. I told you it has everything to do with the heart, look. Look at verse four and so find favor. Who attracted favor? The person who wrote grace and truth on their heart. They attract favor and not only favor. Favor in the sight of God and man. That means God ain't only looking out for you. God's going to allow people to start looking out for you and to give you opportunities. You weren't even qualified for that. You didn't have the skill or the pedigree to get. God says I'm gonna make sure you get it because you wrote it on your heart. All right, verse five. I tell you it's all about the heart. Trust in the Lord with all your. This is an issue of the heart. Giving has to start here. And it's so interesting.
44:46
The father could have started with the best verse. To me, the best verse was honor the Lord with your first fruit. I would have started at verse one. That would have been verse one for me. Verse nine would have been verse one hey, that's the best part. My vats overflow. I get wine all over. Been verse one hey, that's the best part. My vats overflow. I get wine all over that. To me that's the best verse. I'm putting that as number one.
45:05
But but this father, this writer, was so wise. He was like I can't put that first without putting the heart first. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your path so you can go to the next one. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the lord and depart from evil, which has to do with the heart. Right, it will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. Verse nine honor the Lord. See, now this verse makes more sense. It's not just a weird verse, misplaced because it seems like it's a verse that's misplaced. It's not misplaced because every time it talks about the heart, it talks about favor, it talks about blessing, it talks about you having favor with God and man. So it talks about getting to the heart, and then it finally brings you to this place. Here's the place. When you get your heart right with God, what happens? Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits, the way to get to being able to give God your first fruits is dealing with the heart. It says with all of your increase. And look what happens when you do that.
46:20
Verse 10 so your barns will be filled with plenty. How many people want their barns to be filled with plenty? All right, y'all are like I don't have a barn? All right, let me. How many people want their bank accounts to be filled with plenty? Okay, three people said amen. How many people want their bank accounts to be filled with plenty? How many people want their vats to overflow with new wine? That means God giving you strategic ideas for wealth, creativity for wealth, business ideas for wealth, promotion for wealth. I believe it's yours, but the Bible says first fruits. Once you give him first, he'll open all of that up for you. Oh, I want to live in overflow.
47:09
I'm going to share one testimony, one verse. I want to share more than one, but do I have 10 minutes? Do I have 10 minutes? I have about three and a half. Can I get 10 minutes just to share this? I know I'm family, but please, all right. So two verses and a testimony, is that okay, all right, don't get me in trouble now.
47:39
I was preaching for my spiritual father, apostle Ryan Lestrange and I was talking about the $1,000 seed because I've sold at least five or $6,000 seeds. That broke stuff open in the atmosphere for me. That shifted stuff in my life. And it's not a gimmick, I just was like God at one point in my life $1,000 seed was the number Like I gave that every time I gave it the Lord would just open something up for me. And so I'm talking about the thousand dollar seed and one of my friends in ministry she was sitting out there and she's like the Lord is telling me to sow this thousand dollar seed. But I don't know, I'm just up there and I'm like sharing about it and I'm like, all right, we're to sow this $1,000 seed. But I don't know, I'm just up there and I'm like sharing about it and I'm like, all right, we're going to give and I'm sharing about the power of the $1,000 seed and she's like I got to give the seed, I got to give the seed, I got to give the seed and she's like all right. She looked over at her husband like no, we just we gave our tithe, we, we, we paid all of our bills. We don't got it. She's like man, I feel in my spirit, god saying to give. She's like all right, what should I do? So she's like let me look at my accounts. So she looks at her accounts no money. So she looks at Venmo no money. She looks at Venmo no money. She looks at Cash App no, she's white.
48:59
White people don't use Cash App. I'm sorry, I've never seen a white person use Cash App before. White people use Venmo and PayPal, that's it and Zelle and Zelle. I've never seen a white person use Cash App. That is black people. All the way I came here one time I was selling my books, every black person was like you got cash app. Every white person was like do you take Venmo? It's like yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
49:37
Write the letters to Pastor Boy, or not to me. Write him the emails. Don't write me the emails. Um, now I forgot where I was. Oh, cash app. So yeah, she didn't check her cash because she don't got a cash app. Why people don't use cash app? So she checked her um venmo. She checked her zelle and then she checked paypal. And when she checked paypal, she she checked her Zelle and then she checked PayPal and when she checked PayPal, she realized she had $1,000 in her PayPal account. Someone had sent her the money earlier and she didn't realize it.
50:08
And she's like I have need, but I believe this is seed. So you got to know the difference, because the problem with some of us is we eat our seed and we wonder why we're hungry next week. See, I'm not eating my seed. Oh yeah, yeah, let's go out to eat. Let's do this. No, that's called seed. I plant that. I don't eat it. This is good.
50:38
So she's like man, this is seed, I'm gonna, I'm gonna sow it. So she takes a thousand dollars. She's like she sows it. Then she comes to me. She says man, god, I sowed a thousand. I believe in the lord's gonna bring increase to my business. I said yes, in jesus name, lord's gonna do it for you. She said I was starting an online business the next week. She said me.
50:56
She said made, she's a pastor in Arkansas, in Jonesboro, arkansas, and she said my salary at the church was $29,000. Y'all think pastors is rich. $29,000. She goes. I started this online business believing the Lord was going to bring me into another level of wealth. She said I sowed that seed by faith. $1,000 seed for someone who makes $29,000. That's major. So she's like I'm believing the Lord's going to bring me into increase. She said I started my online business. She said in one week I made $40,000. One week, I made $40,000. I'm on her church's board. She said.
51:46
I spoke to her the other day. We were in a board meeting. She's like, yeah, you know, now I'm about to step into millionaire status. She said you know what I needed to do, though. I had to sow first and believe that if I gave God first, he'll do the rest. I give God my best, he'll do the rest.
52:09
One more verse. I'm not gonna do the last verse. One more verse, and I'm not going to do the last verse. One more verse, and I want you to see this because this is very valuable. Philippians, do that. Philippians verse. I want you to see this, philippians 4. Look at this Now.
52:33
You Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving, but only you. No other church, no other church wanted to give to Paul's ministry. There was only one church who was willing to give to Paul's ministry. It's to the point where Paul talks about this church and fawns over this church so much that he talks about them in a different book, second Corinthians, chapter 8. He starts talking about the church in Macedonia.
53:00
He's talking about the Philippians church and he's like, yay, no, corinthians, y'all didn't want to give to me, but the Philippians gave to me. Hey, hey, corinthians, y'all didn't want to sow, but the Philippians, they were so generous, they didn't even have any money and they gave. They were at the point of poverty because of persecution and they still gave. And he's boasting about how much they gave. And then he's writing a letter to them years later, a year later, and then he's like hey, guys, thank you so much for your giving. And it is what he says to them, verse 16.
53:38
For even Thessalonica, you sent aid once and again for my necessities. I was preaching at another church, I was out there in another city and you wanted to bless me so much. You brought seed to where I was and you gave. Oh, that's serious. This is what he says to this church. Keep going, verse 18. Oh, sorry, go back to verse 17 for a second. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account, verse 18. Indeed, I have all and abound. I am full and receiving from Epaphroditus, the things sent from you, a sweet, smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. Look at verse 19.
54:29
We always quote this out of context. We always quote this out of context. We don't put God first, we don't give God first, and then we quote this verse. This was a church that put God first. We don't give God first, and then we quote this verse. This was a church that put God first. It's a church that sold to God first. Even when you read in 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, it says they gave themselves to the Lord first and then gave to us. In giving, they were always the people who gave first. And look what the promise was for them. And my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory. By Christ Jesus. Philippians, you gave to the kingdom of God. You sold to the kingdom of God, like my friend.
55:16
Hey, I'm starting this business and before I start the business, what I want to do is I want to give to God first. Here's the first fruit God here. I want to give to you first because I believe if I give to you first, you're going to bless me. And here's the promise for every single person who's saying who got that disposition in their heart who, from this day forward, god, I'm not going to put my mortgage before I put you. I'm not going to put my bills before I put you. I'm not going to put my needs before. I'm not going to put my kids' tuition before I put you. I'm not going to put the things that I want before you. I'm not going to put Macy's and Nordstrom's before you. I'm going to put you first. And look at what happens when you do that. My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches. God ain't broke. He owns cattle on a thousand hills. He ain't broke. Broke according to his riches and glory, by Christ Jesus.
56:26
You know there's different ways to seal words. You know how we're going to seal this word with our giving, sometimes some words. You seal it with praise. You seal it at the altar. You seal it by going home and be like I gotta throw everything out. Oh, I'm deleting her number, I'm deleting his number, I'm getting rid of this toxic thing. You know how we're gonna seal this word by putting into practice amen, god, I haven't put you first, but I'm gonna put you first. I'm gonna give you first and believe that you're the God of provision. So let's get prepared to give. They're gonna put the giving information up on the screen. There's four ways to give and they're gonna show you all the ways that you can give, and they're going to put it up for a few seconds, a lot longer than it was when I tried to do it the other day. Four ways that PO box is for. You know people give them the PO box. That means they really love the Lord For you to have to get a stamp, an envelope, instead of just going like this online, that's some serious dedication.
57:53
If you want to give, you can scan the QR code. You can give online at citylightnyccom slash give. You can text citylight to 4577. You can mail in your check money order. However you want to give and there's some offering boxes in the back for those who aren't going to give digitally.
58:15
I'm going to give you just a few seconds to get your seed ready. And I understand for those who want to give right now, because I don't like giving at home. I like when I'm in church. I feel like my faith is activated and I'd like to give here. So, if that's you, I'm going to give you just another minute or so to give and then here's what we're going to do we're all going to stand together and I'm going to have you lift up your seed. So it might be your phone. If you're giving digitally, it might be an envelope. Whatever it is, I want you to lift up your offering, your tithe, and I want you to speak over it and make the declaration I'm blessed, I'm blessed, I'm blessed, I'm blessed, I'm blessed, I'm blessed. I declare the blessing of the Lord's overtaking. You. Did everyone have a chance to give amen. All right, let's stand to our feet and I want you to get your phone, your check, your money order.
59:21
Some of you gave during the first service. Thank you, you can just symbolically lift up your hand or lift up your phone. Some of you gave throughout the week. Some of you. The Lord is impressing on you. I want you to put me first in your giving. Make sure I'm first. I'll bless the 90 if you put me first. All right, let's lift it up. Let's make this declaration. I declare and I decree I am blessed. In the city, in the field, when I come, when I go, everything I touch by faith increases. Now, favor, favor follows me and I am abundantly blessed in Jesus' name. If you believe it. Give God a shout of praise. Come on, give Him a shout of praise.
01:00:31 - Speaker 2
This is the City Light Church podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jancic and City Light Church, visit us at citylightnyccom. That's citylightnyccom. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.
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