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Covenant Relationsips: Week 4
Matthew Johnson
March 26, 2017

be disciples
make disciples

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

  • Holy Spirit - Body of Christ (Church)
  • What’s BEST for ME is BEST for the BODY
  • What’s BEST for the BODY, is BEST for ME


INVEST

-“Oh no, he’s talking about money!”

-“I knew it…all churches care about is money!”

-“I love it when Matthew teaches on money because I love the Word of God…and Matthew!”

Matthew 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

21 For WHERE your TREASURE IS, there your HEART WILL BE ALSO.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

  • Wherever you invest your money is where you invest your heart.
  • What you focus on determines the health of your “body.”
  • Either God or money will be your master.

Money determines:

  • Identity
  • Security
  • Happiness
  • Power/influence
  • Comfort
  • Desires / Goals
    • Whatever (whomever) controls these things, controls your heart.
      • Jesus wants your HEART.


Give to God FIRST

Exodus 12:17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.

Exodus 13:1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”

11 “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, 12 you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord’s.

14 And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.

Exodus 23:19 “The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.


Give to God the TITHE (10%)

Leviticus 27:30 “Every TITHE of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord. 31 If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. 32 And every TITHE of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord.

  • A God who can speak everything out of nothing will never be in need of anything.

  • Why did a God who needed nothing, ever demand anything from anyone?

Malachi 3:6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. RETURN TO ME, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.

  • Return to me
    But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 8 Will man rob God? YET YOU ARE ROBBING ME. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your TITHES and CONRTIBUTIONS.

  • They Left the Relationship by Robbing God of the Tithe
    9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby PUT ME TO THE TEST, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. 11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

  • Test God By Tithing

  • Tithing grows our faith:
    • It stretches us in faith of our giving
    • It confirms our faith because of God’s blessing


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