DIYSalvation
Welcome to DIYSalvation—the podcast where you take charge of your faith journey. Join Pst. Esther Obele, as she simplifies God’s Word and tackles tough topics to help you live Kingdom-first.
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DIYSalvation
HOW TO SERVICE YOUR COVENANT WITH GOD -COSMIC ED #17
Why does your Christian walk sometimes feel like an endless cycle of ups and downs?
The key may lie in how you’re maintaining your covenant with God. In this episode, we uncover the four essential practices that keep your covenant strong.
Discover how to unlock the steady flow of heaven’s resources already within you.
Your covenant isn’t just with God—it’s meant to transform your life and relationships as you walk as His representative on earth.
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How to service your covenant with God. I've seen many Christians failing in their work just because they do not understand the implications of a covenant. You have to realize that Christianity is a covenant. That means that you have to do what the covenant requires. In a marriage, a husband must fulfill his vow to his wife and the wife must fulfill her vows to her husband. Otherwise the marriage will fail and it will no longer benefit the parties. As long as a contract or a covenant is no longer benefiting the parties, then the covenant has failed. And if it is a covenant that was cut in blood in the olden days, right. The party that has failed to fulfill these obligations deserves to die. Because it's a blood covenant, right. So, but then we see that there are a lot of believers who are unfaithful in their covenant Right and they do not realize that it is the reason why their life is going up and down. It's okay to just say I'm sorry when you are unfaithful in character. Tell God I'm sorry, lord, and that's the solution to all their disobedience. But if you think about it, does I'm sorry solve a case of infidelity, for example, in a marriage? Of course not. Proper work has to be done by both parties if they are to stay together and to renew their vows. So that's how it is. The same way it is with Christianity.
Speaker 1:Unfaithfulness to the covenant will not benefit you as a believer, because it will cut you off of God's covenant supply. Now, god is merciful and he's kind, but you see, god is not a pushover. He's a loving father, but yet he's also firm. What he will do is to gently nudge you or push you, you know, in the direction that you're supposed to be, in the path of success and victory, of success and victory. Right. But if you insist on straying, god will let you be. The psalmist said in Psalm 119, verse 67, he said before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept my word? See, god will not encourage you in your sin, but he will watch you as you take the detour. He's not going to stop you. He's a perfect gentleman. So your own job is to try as much as possible to heed to the words of the Father or to heed to the nudging of the Spirit of God, because unfaithfulness will cause delays and unnecessary detours which really you can avoid. On the other hand, faithfulness to the covenant can make you steadily, steadily, steadily victorious. And great.
Speaker 1:Deuteronomy, chapter 28, verse 1 and verse 7, says If you fully obey the Lord, your God, and you carefully follow all his commands. He says that the Lord, your God, will set you high above all the nations on the earth, and the Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you, even unbelievers, when they enter into a covenant with demons. You know, and all this half-breeds, they understand faithfulness. An unbeliever will do whatever it takes. You know, whatever the covenant requires, all right and the same thing with God. Righteousness, or what we call right, standing with God, means that you are doing everything that God prescribes in the covenant, and the great thing about this New Testament, or this new covenant in the blood of Jesus, is that it's easy. It's nothing out of the ordinary, it's not stuff that is outside of your personality. In fact, doing the requirements of the covenant in this New Testament is staying true to who you are in Christ. You know, it builds your character in Christ. It builds you to be a just and faithful person. It builds you to be God on the earth. Let's jump right into it to tell us what the requirements or how to service your covenant with God. What are the requirements of this covenant with God and how you're supposed to service it?
Speaker 1:Number one abide daily in prayer, in word, in worship. And we're talking. Daily is daily, not like on and off. Like I said, if you do not, if you're not faithful to the covenant, you find yourself going up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down, and before you know what's happening, 20 years has gone by. So you have to abide daily. Set a time in every single day that you meet with God in prayer, in word and in worship. Set your morning sacrifice, set your evening sacrifice, set your feet washing in between, maybe at noon. So have a time in the morning you meet with God, have a time at night, when you're back home, when you meet with God, and also have a time, a feet washing period in between, maybe at noon or in the middle of the day or midday, kind of you know where. You just do a feet washing, check up on how you know the Lord is and I mean it's always fine anyways but just check on the state of your heart Also. It benefits you more than it would benefit the Lord. But then the Lord wants to spend time with you. All right, so abide daily. A marriage without consummation is null and void.
Speaker 1:In the same way, worship is your way of adoring the father. In worship, this is what you do. You have to visualize and intentionally mean what you're singing or mean what you're saying to God, until you feel his presence envelop you like a warm blanket. Well, that's the way I can explain. That's how I feel, that's the cue that I get when I know that I've gotten in right. So you worship until you're filled. There's a way you can worship and then you know. You know how you drink water and you're full. Right, yes, that's how it is. You worship and then you're full. You know that. Yes, you know. Like you just know you can't have any more. You know what I mean. So worship until you're filled. You worship because you love God. Do you get? So your songs should be songs of adoration. It should be songs of love, of just simply adoring him and loving on him. That's what worship is.
Speaker 1:But then we also pair worship with praise, and praises is more about praising God for his works, for his deeds, for everything that he has done and or even yet to do. That's what praise is. Pair them together and do not miss it daily. And I recommend again a morning sacrifice and an evening sacrifice. The only sacrifice that we give in this dispensation or New Testament is the sacrifice of our lips. So anything that has to do with you saying something lovely and something nice to God, go for it Daily. Also, there should be a period of prayer.
Speaker 1:Now I oftentimes pair prayer and fasting together. Like Ken Higgins would say live the fasted life. So you could decide every single day I'm going to fast from a particular time. So that means your meals coming a little bit later. You don't just wake up in the morning and just munch on, don't eat food, so that your spirit will be able to absorb more from the realm of the spirit even as the day progresses. Ok, so you can decide. Ok, maybe henceforth I start to eat at 3 PM. Well, do a medical check first If that's not something you can do. Some people pick a day out of the entire week to fast. So you can pick a particular day to fast out of the entire week, or you can do a daily kind of fast. But prayer must be daily. All right, now, you do not pray to earn points with God.
Speaker 1:Prayer is not just asking God for things, because I've heard people say what am I going to be doing? Praying for one hour, praying for two hours? What would I? What am I asking God for? No Prayer.
Speaker 1:When I talk about prayer, we're talking about praying in tongues. Yes, you can pray a little bit in your understanding, but mostly pray in tongues and pray the word. You need to get the word of God. Get your Bible reading for the day. If it's something that blesses, you, extract your confessions for the day from that Bible reading and pray through it. Pray the word. Pray in tongues, okay. Like I said, through it. Pray the word. Pray in tongues, okay.
Speaker 1:Like I said, prayer is not merely asking for things. Rather, praying in tongues is for you to generate spiritual power and then, when you speak the word of god, what you're doing is that you're enforcing that word. All right, the rivers of living water are within you. So you're like a dam. You're generating electricity to bring heaven's reality down into your life and in your world. So you pray to redeem the time, because the days are evil. You pray because you are in a relationship with your father and you are committed to doing his work on this earth. You look beyond yourself. There's so much to pray about. I'm telling you so much, so much. If you start your prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to pray, you'll be amazed at the things you would be praying about on a daily basis.
Speaker 1:Why do you fast? You fast because God is a spirit and you are also a spirit, and that means that your real life is spiritual and it is not physical. Fasting will position you to be more in tune with your spiritual self and with God, who is spiritual, so that you'll be able to hear him clearly and so that you'll be able to discover your true self. Fasting will help you to avoid detours in life and align with God's purpose for your destiny. The more you fast, the more aware spiritually you will become.
Speaker 1:Spiritual growth is impossible without fasting. I'm telling you, it is impossible without fasting. When I want to write and God is telling me, has already been giving me the title of a book, and then he's giving me some information I cannot write that book without spending long periods of time praying and fasting. I'm telling you. I pray and fast, I pray and fast, and then it starts to flow. It flows, I write onto you. Wherever I stop, I stop, I go back in again. Wherever I stop, I stop, I go back in again. So there is no advancement. There is no spiritual advancement that you're going to be able to make in this life without praying and fasting. They go together.
Speaker 1:The third thing is that you have to do what? Learn the word of God when you abide daily. We're talking about prayer, word and worship. Learn the word of God. Diy Salvation is designed to teach you the word of God. Learn the word of God. The word of God contains the benefits, the details and the history of the covenant that you're operating under. So you have to be proactive in understanding the terms and the conditions of this covenant so you can live fully in its reality.
Speaker 1:Having talked about abiding daily, the second thing that will help you to service your covenant with God is giving generously. You have to give generously. Now, this is really dicey because there's been a lot of I mean back and forth about this, mainly because Satan wants to attack the work of the kingdom. The kingdom of God needs money, of course, but that's not the reason why we give generously, so I'm going to break down all of that's not not the reason why we give generously, so I'm going to break down all of that's not the only reason why we give generously, so I'm going to be breaking down. You know all of these types of giving in the New Testament, new Testament and also their rewards. So number one type of giving under the New Testament is that you have to give to the poor. You know it's important we break this down so that you know all the types of giving. They all have their different rewards and you want to know the benefits that you get from every one of them. So you give to the poor.
Speaker 1:I mean, this is something that I have experienced so many times over. Sometimes if I feel as if like I've done everything, like maybe I've given here, given there and all of that, but then I feel as if maybe I'm not really getting the results that I want, I I always have somebody that I give, like someone who it's you know, someone you can say to the poor, maybe someone that you know who is not so well to do, maybe a struggling mother, you know, or a blind man close to you. There are always people like that, you know, for me personally. I don't spread it to everybody. What I do is I pick someone that I make sure that I'm always trying to meet their needs. One or two. Anyone your hands can reach, just go ahead and do it. This really helps me because the moment I give to them, for some reason doors begin to open. This is something that is a given and I'm going to show you in the Bible that God really loves it when we do this.
Speaker 1:Giving to the poor is very, very important In the Bible, matthew, chapter 6, from verse 1 to 4, the Bible tells us that when we give to the poor, our Father, who is in secret, himself, shall do what Reward us openly. So the reward is openly when we give to the poor. In Acts, chapter 10, we see a devout man who fears God. He gave alms, often Cornelius, and in fact his prayers and his alms came up before God as a memorial. So there's a way you will give to the poor that your alms will come up to God as a memorial, something that will always remind God of blessing you. Glory to God.
Speaker 1:Also, we see in Galatians, chapter 2, verse 10, that Paul was admonishing the people that they must remember the poor Proverbs. Chapter 19, verse 17, says that he that has pity upon the poor lends to the Lord. So when you give to the poor, you lend to God, and that which he had given will he repay him again. This is scripture I was talking about earlier, that this is in the Bible. When you give to the poor, you are actually lending to God. The money did not go away, you are lending to God and God is going to repay you. So it's like you know, you just kept money somewhere. Just keep giving, god will repay you. Blessed is he. Psalm 41, verse 1 to 3, says blessed is he. Psalm 41, verse 1 to 3, says blessed is he that considers the poor, for the lord will deliver him in time of trouble. Are you in trouble? That looks as if it's very difficult sometimes. Just giving to the poor can be that thing.
Speaker 1:The key in all of this is that you have to be led by the holy spirit, because in the new we have the Holy Spirit and under this new covenant we don't move, we don't take any decision without the Holy Spirit telling us go ahead. The Lord will preserve you if you give to the poor and keep you alive and you will be blessed upon the earth. So in summary, the rewards for giving alms to the poor is that God himself will repay you your prayers and your alms will rise up as a memorial before God. You know you will be delivered and troubled and you would have preservation of life and you have an open reward from the father. The second type of giving that we can give under the new Testament is the prophet's offering. This means giving to ministers of the gospel, to your pastor, to your leaders in ministry, you know, to anyone that you feel you know feeds you spiritually.
Speaker 1:Matthew, chapter 10, verse 41, says he that receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. This is a very powerful scripture, because this is how I would explain it. So if you and I were friends, right, I'm a pastor and I have the anointing of God upon me, but I'm your friend also. So I decide I come to your house to visit you. So when I come to visit you, and you know, because we're friends, you receive me as your friend. So you're like, oh, and then we Jesus and all of that, and then you give me whatever it is, I will just with you. I came in with the presence of God, I came in with the anointing of God. I came in, came in with spiritual essence, that could have been yours. But as long as you receive me as your friend, you would only get a friend's reward, which will be, you know, the gisting, the enjoying each other's company, you know, maybe eating together, having lunch together, laughter, and all of that, and then I'm gone. That is the friendship reward right Now. If, even if I am your friend now and you recognize that I'm a pastor, and then you give me that honor as a pastor, so when I come in, you know, oh, pastor, e welcome, and all of that, and then you, you welcome me as a prophet and I'm talking about intentionally, in your heart, with that kind of honor, and then you decide you're going to give me an offering based on that, do you understand? Then you would also receive a prophet's reward.
Speaker 1:What is a prophet's reward? A prophet's reward is not a tangible gift. Sometimes it can translate into tangible gifts in your life, but when it is given, it is given straight from god. It's not the prophet that gives you. The prophet can only bless you, but it is given from God. That's the reason why it has to be from your heart. Okay, it's something between you and God. So it's given from God. And what is the prophet's reward. A prophet's reward is the reward that God would normally give the prophet for laboring in the vineyard. So I'm working for God. God will necessarily give me a gift, but when you sow a seed into my life, you have a short cut of partaking of that same gift that God has given to me and it becomes yours as well, even if you did not labor with me in the vineyard. Such a tricky thing, but it's such a powerful thing. Out of all the rewards given to the types of giving, this particular type of giving is very unique because it is a spiritual gift that you get.
Speaker 1:When it comes to the prophet's reward, or the prophet's offering, 1 Corinthians chapter 9, from verse 11 to 14, says that if we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? As I'm teaching you the word, it is not such a great thing for me to rip your carnal things, and carnal things here is your material things. It's not such a big deal if you send me money. It's not such a big deal if you decide that you buy me a house or you buy me a car or any of it's not such a big deal deal. It's not the, because it can't even be compared. A spiritual gift and a physical gift can't even be compared. No matter how you know this world, we tend to be so materialistic that we look at things in terms of how much it costs. If it costs some thousands of millions of dollars, oh, that's very big and all of that. But, you see, can never. No matter the amount of dollars that you have, it can never be compared. You can't buy a spiritual gift with that God has ordained.
Speaker 1:That same scripture tells us that God has ordained that the people who preach the gospel should leave off the gospel. If people in the kingdom understood this more, more ministers of the gospel would actually be focused and I'm talking about genuine ones on doing the work, and the work of God will advance even faster than how it is advancing right now. But what ministers of the gospel have done is that they have decided to make God their source and they live by faith or walk by faith. I'm speaking for people like me. Okay, so we live by faith and we walk by faith, and we do not put any hope on the pockets of anybody. If they bless us, good and fine. If they don't, that's it. But the Bible is telling us that God ordained it, that people who work, you know, as they preach the gospel, as they labor in the vineyard of the kingdom, ideally they should live off of the gospel. That means it's the responsibility of the people who are their hearers, to take care of their pastors. It's their responsibility.
Speaker 1:Again, this is a New Testament, so it's not like maybe they're hitting you over the head with it. You must do it or you must not do it. You have to grow for you to be able to enter into these things. You have to understand these things for you to be able to enter into. But when you enter into it, you'll, you will, you would. Just it's, it's massive, like the results are massive for you.
Speaker 1:Galatians, chapter 6, verse 6, says let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all things. So, yes, give to your pastor is important. Philippians, chapter 1, verse 7 ye, all are partakers of my grace. So that means when you give to your pastor, you are partakers of his grace. So that means when you give to your pastor, you are partakers of his grace. Again, do it intentionally, don't just do it because they said or said, okay, now we're going to give a seed for pastor's birthday, you have to do it intentionally. Don't let the opportunity pass you by without you doing it intentionally.
Speaker 1:Philippians 4, verse 17 says it's not because I desire a gift. This is Paul telling them. Listen. It's not because I desire a gift of you, but I desire fruit that may abound to your accounts. That means if you give to me, you would have fruit that abounds to your account. But people nowadays will say, oh, the man of God just wants to eat the money and story, story, story, whatever. Well, understand that the rewards you receive. You receive the prophet's reward. You share in the grace upon the minister. You even have spiritual impartation and eternal fruits. That is credited to your account because it will show that you worked in the gospel. So you can be working in an office right, or doing business or doing any kind of thing, making money, and you're not even preaching the gospel. But you pick a particular minister who blesses you so much and you decide you know what I'm going to support this particular minister, and the more I support, I'm just going to support this minister. I'm going to make sure I put my money in this particular minister to promote the work that he's doing all right, and the more you do that, what this Bible is the word of God, is saying is that you are going to receive the same reward that that minister receives for doing the work. So in heaven's eyes, you are actually doing the exact same work the minister is doing. Glory to God.
Speaker 1:The next one is parental giving. That means giving to your parents, your mother and your father. It is what we'll call an honor seed. You honor them not because they deserve it, but because you need to honor them because through them you came to the world. Basically, that's what it is. So you don't honor them because maybe yesterday they were nice to you, maybe they did not take care of you the entire of your you know childhood, or whatever it is you know to you. They may not not deserve it, but what I'm saying is that just for the fact that you came through them, that's okay. That's enough for this honesty.
Speaker 1:Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 2 to 3, says honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment, with a promise that. What is that promise? That it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth. So long life is attached to honoring your mother and your father and that thou mayest live long on the earth, so long life is attached to honoring your mother and your father, and that it will also be well with you. 1 Timothy 5, verse 4 says If any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home and to requite their parents, for that is good and acceptable before God. So honoring your parents is good and acceptable before God. So honoring your parents is good and acceptable before God, because the rewards includes long life and well-being. It pleases God, it brings blessings. It preserves from curses that are tied to dishonor.
Speaker 1:The next one is for you to give to apostolic work or to give to kingdom work. This is very separate from giving to your minister or giving to your pastor. The one you give to the pastor goes to the pastor's pocket. The one you give to the kingdom goes to the kingdom Kingdom. Specify it. This is very different. Giving to apostolic work or giving to the kingdom work is advancing the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1:2 Corinthians 9, verse 6 to 12. But this I say he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he that sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully. And God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that ye always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. So the rewards here is that God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory. You find that in Philippians, chapter four, from verse 15 to 19, where Paul started at praising the church, telling them listen, no church communicated with me concerning giving and receiving, but only you. You are the only ones that supplied my needs, that brought things for my sustenance. Now, I'm saying this not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. And so he says but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory, by Christ Jesus. So we often quote that scripture without adding the fact that the reason why that scripture came in was because people were given. They gave to the work of the kingdom, all right. So eternal rewards will be accredited to your heavenly account when you do this. Abounding grace will be available for every good work that you embark upon, and God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory.
Speaker 1:Next is the freewill offering, or the sacrificial offering, which is seems to be the only one that people tend to do or take note of every single time. This is also very important in giving free will offerings or in giving sacrificially. Three things you must take notes. You have to give your first, give your best and give from your heart. Give your first, give your best and give from your heart. Your heart Give your first, give your best and give from your heart. Always try as much as possible. Of course, your best when you um five years ago may not be your best today, so, but at every given point in time, as you're giving to God, that's your free will offering coming from your heart. Always give your best, give your first and make sure you're giving from your heart.
Speaker 1:Second Corinthians, chapter nine, from verse 6 to 7, says every man according as he proposes in his heart. This is a freewill offering you propose in your heart. So check your heart. So let him give, not grudgingly. If your heart is telling you to give a particular sum of money, why do you want to reduce it? Don't give it grudgingly or of necessity, because God loves a cheerful giver. So the reward is that God loves a cheerful giver. When God loves something, you know, he's going to reward you. If you sow bountifully, you're going to reap bountifully, and this also brings abundance, thanksgiving and a multiplied harvest.
Speaker 1:All right, the new Testament mentions first fruits given, so that means that the general rules about first fruits will apply. It could be the first week of the month you give your first fruit. It could be just maybe just first week of the month. It could be the first month of every year you give your first fruits. Whichever it is, always check with the Lord and according to how your monies are coming, according to your income, all right, so always, always, ask the lord, walk with the spirit. The principle of the first fruit is that once you give the first fruit and if the first fruit is holy, belongs to god now, then it makes the rest of it holy. The lump also becomes holy. If the root is holy, so are the branches. So your first fruit is a way for you to sanctify all of your income before God. That's the way to do it.
Speaker 1:In 1 Corinthians, chapter 16, verse 2, we see Paul telling them that upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him. So Paul was telling them give your first fruit like take every day of the first day of the week. That's when you can set something aside for God. Right Proverbs, chapter three, from verse nine to 10, says honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase, so shall thy bands be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. So the reward is that the rest of your resources will be sanctified and blessed. You will have overflowing bands and vats and it will establish that God is the priority in your finances. When you make God a priority, you understand that God will also make you the priority. The next one is hospitality given you give to the priority. The next one is hospitality given you give to the saints. That means your brother in Christ, anybody who needs distributing to the necessity of saints given to hospitality.
Speaker 1:Romans, chapter 12, verse 13. Hebrews 13 2 says do not be forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Acts, chapter 16, verse 15. And when she was baptized and her household should be sort of saying if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. So you see, this is a lady who is trying to give to the needs of the apostles.
Speaker 1:Luke, chapter 14, verse 13 to 14, says when, when you make a feast, sometimes you can just have a party, call the poor, call the maimed, call the lame, call the blind, and as you are blessed, and then feed them and thou shall be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee, for thou shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. So you can just decide to just cook food and go give, do soup kitchen, do whatever it is, and give to the poor, whoever it is that you feel that needs, you can give. Give to the church, give to your friends, give to your family If they ask you and you have, and you know that it will cost you nothing. To give, please do. If somebody asks you for finances and you do not have, or the one that you have, you're going to use it. You are not under obligation to give unless the holy spirit speaks to you. Sometimes the holy spirit can tell you give all that you have currently, all right, so you have to do that. The rewards for hospitality giving is that sometimes you may even entertain angels unawares. You will bring salvation or blessing into other people's homes and god himself will repay you generously.
Speaker 1:The next one is that you have to also make vows or special pledges. Many times, churches call for these. And yes, the Bible says go ahead and do it. If you have a vow and your special pledges, please go ahead and pay it. The Bible frowns at people who make a vow and don't pay it. And if your question is should I make a vow? Yes, but remember, let your yes be yes and let your nay be nay. If you make a vow, pay it. The reward is that your fulfilled vows. When you fulfill your vows, it brings God's favor and intervention and God will answer in the day of trouble. When your vows are paid and you also are given protection from the snare of broken promises. And sometimes your vow is a step of faith. If you're expecting a large sum of money coming in, you can make a vow, you know, and as the money comes in, you find out that you'll be able to redeem all your vows. It shows that God indeed has blessed you.
Speaker 1:Now you notice that I have not mentioned tithing in all of these things, the when it comes to giving under the New Testament. That's because tithing is not under the new covenant. Tithing is actually 10% of all your income under the old covenant, but under the new covenant it is no longer a mandatory requirement. Instead, because of our relationship with God now, your entire income now belongs to him and he can require it of you at any given time. You have to keep this in your heart, do you understand? Settle it in your heart. Your entire income now belongs to God and he can require it of you at any given point in time. So you have to be prepared Now. Even if God doesn't directly require it of you, based on relationship with him, you still must decide how much of your income you'll be giving to god. That's the reason why I've, you know, laid out all of these types of giving for you, put a structure to your giving.
Speaker 1:This is the reason why you know churches will have to call for certain kinds of offerings. Your church ought not to. If we knew what to do, do you understand? If all believers were doing what they're supposed to do, churches don't need to call for offering. You should be able to just give as you are led, because the Holy Spirit, if he's the Holy Spirit, leads all of us, and if he leads all of us, there will not be anyone in need in the church. I'm telling you, there will not be a need in the ministry. There will not be any need for calling for certain kinds of seeds, especially when we have to do like big meetings or big projects and things like that, because the resources will be available. But again, it is not a bad thing for churches to call for that. So stop judging churches for calling for support and things like that. Let's break up. We're still talking about tith that. So stop judging churches for calling for support and things like that. Let's break up. We're still talking about tithing. So I just want to explain it some more for you so you understand.
Speaker 1:I found out that if you have a set structure for your giving, just like everything else in your life, it makes you more consistent and productive. So it can be 20%, it can be 30%, it can be 90%. 10% was what Old Testament folks were, what God required of the Old Testament folks. But the minimum, judging by biblical standards, should be 10%, because that's what the Old Testament folks that didn't have the Holy Spirit they did. If under the Old Covenantants built on inferior sacrifices and lesser promises, they gave 10%, how much more should we under the new covenants with all its amazing blessings and the excellent work of Christ?
Speaker 1:So go figure, my senior pastor of blessed memory, he used to give God 90% of all his income. When he found out that God only wanted 10%, even he didn't even know that. I mean, it's the New Testament. He operated the tithing principle in the Old Testament. But then he felt like, why would God ask for only 10%? What would God do with 10%? It's not even enough for the work of the gospel. So he decided on his own that he was going to give 90% of all his income and I'm telling you, god multiplied him so much that even his remaining 10% was very great. He was so great that he supported so many missionaries around the world, paying monthly salaries just for them to take the gospel to the nations.
Speaker 1:If you are already giving 10% and you're hearing this message and you're like, oh no, okay, so maybe I shouldn't do it anymore. No, if you're already giving 10% and you're hearing this message and you're like, oh no, okay, so maybe I shouldn't do it anymore. No, if you're already giving 10% and you're consistent with it and you do not want to go above 10%, it is wise for you to continue giving your 10%, because tithing will help you to discipline your giving. That's the reason why people that have reported tithing faithfully. 10% have always reported great increase, you know, and blessings in their finances, because tithing has helped to discipline their giving. They have a structure around their giving so they are able to see consistent results.
Speaker 1:So, like I said, ideally 10% should be the minimum that a New Testament believer would give to service their covenant with God. But in reality the whole lot now belongs to him. Let God tell you what he needs to use to promote you. You know, ask God is 10% okay? What about 20%? Please don't ask him if 5% is okay because, like forehand, now, no now. So let God tell you what he needs to use to promote you. It's no longer about how much you give, but more about your obedience level. If God gives you an instruction concerning your finances, you have to obey immediately and exactly. The same applies to every other area of your life. The same applies to every other area of your life. When God tells you something, you must train yourself to obey God exactly and immediately, so that your life doesn't become full of stories that touch.
Speaker 1:The reason the doctrine of tithing is obsolete in the New Testament is because the blessings that are associated with tithing under the old covenant, they have all already been fulfilled in Christ. In the Old Testament, the have all already been fulfilled in Christ. In the Old Testament, the heavens were shut to them. So when they tithed the heavens, which is the firmament I've taught you about that, the firmament you know were shut to them so they couldn't get the blessings of God. But right now, in Christ the heavens, which is the firmament, they are no longer something that you are waiting to be opened to you. Now, through Christ, the heavens flow within you. The river of life is in you. Do you see? If the river of life is in you, you are not tithing for the windows of heaven to open. The river of life is in you. So that means you can give your all. While there is an abundant supply, the river of life in your spirit, you can just reach in and draw out whatever you need. So you're not going to be arguing whether 90%, 10%, if God asks for all of it, give it all already, because there is an abundant supply.
Speaker 1:You are already blessed. The blood has been shed for you. Let me tell you this Like. This just reminded me of something. Did you know that the original meaning of the word bless comes from blood? The old English word for bless is bloodsion Literally meant to take, to make sacred or to make holy with blood, to consecrate by sacrifice, to mark with blood so as to render something inviolable or untouchable by profane use or by evil men or by demons. So when the Bible says that you are already blessed, it means, in other words, you have been marked by the blood of Jesus. Do you see? So the true etymology of bless is therefore to mark with blood. That's why the heavens are no longer shut against you. You know, you have been marked by the blood of Jesus.
Speaker 1:Say this with me. Say I am blessed, I am made holy, I am rich, I am successful, I am untouchable by the blood of Jesus. I am marked by blood, just as the lintels in the Old Testament the lintels, you know, were marked by the blood of the Passover lamb and the angel of death passed over the children of Israel while they were in Egypt. That's the same way. The wood of the cross has been marked with the blood of the lamb who suffered there, in our place, do you understand? In our place, in your place, by his blood, through faith in christ jesus, we are washed and cleansed of all sin. We are marked by blood and because of that we now have the heavens inside of us.
Speaker 1:The bible says heaven is in your heart. Why? Because the river of life flows through you. Back then, under the tithe, only the windows of heaven were open, and even back then the blessings were very great. But how much more now that we have full access to the river of life in Christ. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9 says For you know the grace of our Lord, jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, that ye, through his poverty, might be rich.
Speaker 1:So giving under the new covenant is not about buying blessings. It's an act of worship, it's an act of gratitude and trust in God as your source. And, like I said, ideally you should already have systems in place through which you support the advancement of the kingdom of God. Nobody should cajole you to give. You should just know that it is part of your obligation and the requirement of your covenant. It's a requirement that you need to service the covenant.
Speaker 1:The third point is that you have to renew the covenant regularly In the table of the Lord. We have to call to mind the great saving event of the cross when you're having communion. Call to mind the great saving event of the cross and by faith you must lay hold of all the benefits and the blessings. You have to have the covenant renewal regularly. That means you have to do communion daily, if possible, weekly, if possible twice daily, you know, three times in a week if possible. Set a date, set a time, set a system and do this because when you're doing it you're renewing your covenant as often as possible. That's what Jesus said.
Speaker 1:I love the message translation of the verse in 1 Corinthians, chapter 11, from verse 23 to 26. Let me read it for you. He says let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord's supper and why this is so centrally important. Paul was speaking. He said I received my instructions from the master himself and passed them on to you.
Speaker 1:The master Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said this is my body broken for you. Do this to remember me. And after supper he did the same thing with a cup bread. And every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt. Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of remembrance you want to be a part of? Examine your motives, test your heart and come to this meal in holy awe. If you give no thought or, worse, don't care about the broken body of the master when you eat and drink, you're running the risk of serious consequences. That's the reason why so many of you are now listless and sick and others have gone to an early grave. If we set this straight now, we won't have to be straightened out later on. Better to be confronted by the master now than to face a fiery confrontation later.
Speaker 1:So from this scripture we can see that through the communion table, we are reenacting the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross Instead of repeating the sacrifice yearly. Instead we repeat the communion table daily, remembering the blood, renewing our vows and reaffirming our identity in Christ and finally, practice justice, mercy and humility. Listen, christianity is not a private holiness bubble, and you say it's between you and God alone. No, it is a river of life that flows out in how we treat others. Under the new covenant, god still requires his people to reflect his nature in how they live and how they relate to others. So when we're talking about covenant faithfulness, it's not only expressed in worship, but also in how we treat one another. Are you consistently treating people with justice or injustice? What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. This is Micah, chapter 6, verse 8. See, these are not optional virtues, but they are evidence of a spirit-led life.
Speaker 1:Under the new covenant, believers are commanded to live out the character of Jesus. We have to show fairness, we have to extend mercy. We have to walk humbly with God. Justice is threefold you have to love God, love yourself and love your neighbor. So that means justice is justice towards God when you do all the other things that I've told you about. You know being generous and prayer, fasting the word, studying of the Bible, giving all these things I've mentioned. They are all justice towards God. But then there's also justice towards yourself. You have to love yourself. You love yourself by accepting to be everything that God says you are and living it out boldly. Then you have to love your neighbor. So there's also justice towards your neighbor.
Speaker 1:Matthew, chapter 7, verse 12, says In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. For this sums up the law and the prophets you can be a Christian in covenant with God, and if you step on the feet of another Christian, be a Christian in covenant with God. And if you step on the feet of another Christian who is also in covenant with God, and that Christian calls God to judge between both of you, you will go to court. Right, and every form of consequences will apply to you. Until you know what is the right thing, that you know how to defend yourself or you know how to be able to wriggle yourself out of that situation, you will go to court.
Speaker 1:You have to do to others what you would have them do to you. Then also, you must bear with each other and forgive with each other. This is mercy. You are not perfect. Nobody is perfect. I'm bound to step on your toes. You're also bound to step on mine when it happens. Have mercy upon me, just as I would have mercy upon you. Do you understand? We have to bear with each other and forgive one another. Forgive one another, right Forgive, as the Lord forgave you. If the Lord has forgiven you a great deal, you will forgive others a great deal, because you could never forgive up to what God has forgiven you.
Speaker 1:Then humility, which is, you know, lowliness of spirit before God and others, humble yourself before the Lord. Humility shows. Your humility before God shows in your obedience to God. Don't always show as if you know something too much. And because you can have a conversation with God, you always want to prove to him that you are over-savvy. Humble yourself before the Lord. He will lift you up. Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another, because God opposes the proud but he shows favor to the humble. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourself. This covenant of grace in christ. It demands a lifestyle of justice, of mercy and of humility.
