Andrew Wommack Minister’s Conference day 4(am) – Making Disciples

Today was just wonderful from beginning to end. After a very powerful time of worship from tbe student band – it was so powerful in fact, Andrew asked for an extra song! Praise God for leaders who can flow in worship and lead worship in the services.

Then it was the turn of one of my favourite speakers, Wendell Parr. Wendell shared some of his testimonies of his journey, and shared how he has never pushed a door open but always trusted God to open the door at the right time. In an age where so many aspiring ministers are pushing and pushing for a pulpit, this was so refreshing.

He shared how before he came to work for Andrew Wommack he had to settle in his heart that he would be faithful to Andrew’s vision over his own. Such a powerful moment, and again something all of us need to learn in this independent generation. The way to fruit is to be faithful in that which is anothers.

Wendell then taught us how to encourage ourselves when problems come. He told us to first look back and remind yourself of all the good things God has already done for us.

Then we need to look forward to God’s promises and what He had told us will happen in our future and remind ourselves of God’s future goodness.

Then we need to look up at Jesus and think about how awesome He is, finally we need to look inside and see how awesome Jesus has made us.

What glorious advice for anyone facing a problem. Take your eyes off your problem!

Then Dave Hinton reminded us to smile!

Andrew then took the offering from Haggai 1, which many of you will know is an integral part of our offering declarations, so that was awesome to hear him speak on honouring the Lord first. And it’s so true, we have to honour God with our finances.

Then Billy Epperhart got up and spoken one of the clearest messages to pastors I have ever heard. He compared pastoring to childbirth, in that if you have never done it, you don’t know what it is like, and said many pastors are discoursed because they didn’t know what it is like. What I was thinking was times when Amanda and I have raised up pastors, often our biggest piece of advice is just telling them… Yes, that’s what it is like.

Billy said we are called to make disciples, not just to babysit. He pointed out that soil just not provide food for the seed, but resistance. It is by pushing through the soil a plant is strong enough to survive on its own. We should not as pastors let anyone in our church just do what they want, but provide a vision that causes people to walk in step, and indeed that resistance to people is what causes growth.

He reminded us that Jesus sent us out as sheep among wolves, that although we must never be cynical and assume everyone is a wolf, we must also never be naive and assume no one is. Billy shared that the greatest challenge of ministry is leading people out of superficiality.

Certainly a lot of food for thought. I think I provide that resistance fairly instinctively and Tree of Life has never had an “anything goes” mentality and certainly we are seeing many people growing and becoming disciples, I also believe there is a lot of room for improvement and deliberately challenging people to step up and do God’s will not their own. I will be taking a lot of thought about this in the future.

Billy finished by reminding us we must be willing to be rejected by people to truly help them. I have certainly experienced that as I have discipled certain people suddenly they feel the need to go to another church, or suddenly feel the call to Bible College! True honour starts with respect, and if leaders “interpret” what you are sharing as vision rather than reflect it, they are not honouring you.

Food for thought indeed!

Just as an aside, today after the meeting, Amanda and I had a meeting with a couple who will be helping us take our media ministry into a major upgrade. It’s really exciting. Then we had dinner with Greg and Janice Mohr and discussed plans to take our family of churches into a major upgrade, which is even more exciting.

Praise God. Today has been one of the most fruitful I have ever had. And I had chicken fried steak too. Thank you all for your prayers and cares. The future is so bright.

Andrew Wommack Minister’s Conference day 3(pm) – the Sanctity of Life

Tonight, rather than the usual praise and worship, we saw a dramatisation of the overturning of Roe vs Wade.

The issue of abortion is a very emotional and divisive one, but this dramatisation was clear, powerful and personal, showing us how an abortion does not just affect an unborn baby but the mother and the rest of the family, indeed all of society.

But, as to be expected through Andrew Wommack Ministries, there was a thread of grace throughout the whole presentation. Jesus Christ can bring freedom and peace to anyone who has had an abortion, and bring them to a place of no condemnation. There is always love and always redemption.

After the drama, Andrew shared how his pregnancy crisis centres have helped soamy women make a better choice. It was powerful and challenging. Andrew then challenged us to put action to our prayers and do seething similar or support people who are doing this kind of work.

Then in the middle of a pastor’s conference, Andrew gave an altar call. There is no service inappropriate for an altar call!

Then Andrew turned the service over to our precious friend Greg Mohr to lead us into some prayer ministry time. Greg has a passion for the Spirit of the Lord to lead us and speak to us. He called up all the ARMI ministers in the US to get up and pray, and it was powerful.

One of the most powerful things in a good pastors conference is deep fellowship. In any career or vocation, when you meet someone in the same career, with the same struggles, the same problems, the same joys, you have an instant connection. Being ministered to by people who have started churches, grown churches, loved God and loved people and fed sheep for decades with no thought of reward, no secret agenda, is wonderful.

Mark Machen (who will be with us in February 2024) started to share about how God delivered him from a thirty year addiction, and shared how God wanted to set people free from addictions. He reminded us that God loves us as much in the addiction, as when we are free; but we need to believe we are dead to sin and crucified with Christ.

The presence of God was so strong as people got set free to be good examples for their churches. How glorious!

Greg Mohr then had a word about freedom from grief, and again many were set free. Glorious to watch!

Next, another precious friend, Dennis Capra started speaking forgiveness over people who felt condemned and afraid. That inspired Chris Barhorst to share that unforgiveness gives satan a road into our lives, and led people to very specifically forgive themselves, we themselves as forgiven, and to see the blood of Jesus as greater than their sin. You know we all have selfish moments and all sin, and leaders are often sensitive of heart, and that had such powerful ripples in the room, and indeed in my heart.

Then Dave Metcalfe started to share that God wanted us to have joy, and take all the encouragement we can from this time of prayer and prophetic words.

Grant Thigpen then gave a strong and clear word about love. Don’t complicate ministry… Love God and love people. Trust God, have big expectations, stay in the Word, stop worrying, and love people.

Greg then said to ask for houses and homes. Ask for buildings. There is building grace. There is business grace. There is grace, so ask and ask. God asks us to ask, so ask. Ask for what you are sure about, seek for what you at not. It is time to ask largely. Take the limits off God.

Of course I stood for that, as did Amanda and Richard, and tbe grace and glory of God hit me so hard, it was awesome. It hit me on the arm and shot into my chest. I have buildings and houses inside me now. I don’t know how else to explain it.

Then John Essy started moving in words of knowledge for healing.

I love watching pastors minister. I love how all the ARMI directors have decades of experience pastoring churches. It’s so important to have pastors minister to pastors, it would be impossible to express how important that is, and how vital it is for any pastor, and how awesome it was to watch that tonight.

Andrew Wommack Minister’s Conference day 3(am) – Unity

Today was on an entirely new level. After a beautiful and powerful time of worship, with such a sense of purity, Andrew Wommack taught on my favourite message of his, Don’t Limit God. Many of you will know I read that book every month because I know my biggest issue is my limiting of God.

Andrew told us it takes time to be promoted because God loves us so much He does not want to give us authority and influence and pressure we cannot handle. He taught us to stop praying “God use me” and start praying “God make me usable”. Rather than look for ministry opportunities, look for chances to serve and love and submit and work on your character.

Andrew also shared a lot about how to delegate when your ministry grows, which was very timely for us at Tree of Life Church. He then shared the timeline of how his ministry grew, and my goodness, it parallels Tree of Life and my development so clearly, it was so encouraging. Andrew told us during the long development phase to keep our eyes on Jesus.

During the next part of the message, God spoke to me about my future so clearly, it was just remarkable.

And then as Andrew finished, the biggest challenge he faced was how he saw himself. He taught to us to see ourselves doing what God called us to do. I wrote down five big dreams I have and started seeing myself doing it. Even within just a few minutes, I just felt things shift so powerfully. I believe that even as much as I have read this message, listened to these sermons, hearing this sermon in person in the venue that Andrew has built, has lifted my faith to a brand new level.

After the break, Lawson Perdue received the offering, announcing that goodness is only revealed in generosity. It was a clear and powerful message and we all gave big!

Then Greg Mohr spoke. It’s difficult to be unbiased when recapping what Greg said because he is so precious to me, and such a powerful mentor, but without any bias at all, this message was excellent. Just so edifying and powerful.

Greg was pulling no punches as he challenged every pastor to set their house in order and make sure their leaders are in unity, submitting to the vision of the house. Greg told us persecution was coming, which it is, and that we cannot stand in persecution without a unified leadership team.

(Let me pause at this stage and tell you how grateful I am for Richard and Jacqui, Lee and Jannet, and Patience and all our pastors, they make building a team that is unified so easy, they are visionaries, humble, gracious and are not interested in playing church games)

Greg pointed out that John 17.21 lets us know that a church in unity is the only church that is credible to the world. Greg defined unity as moving in the same direction, and getting along while doing it. Psalm 133 tells us it is the mature, the leaders, that must be in unity. We will never get the whole church in unity, as need people are always coming but we can get leaders in unity. Anyone who wants to be a leader must put their love for the body above their personal liberty.

Greg defined maturity as serving without agenda, supporting the vision of the house, and being humble and teachable. He also warned against ever promoting people who were not supportive of the vision financially into leadership because if they are not faithful in the least they should never be trusted with true riches.

He also said never to promote people into leadership who always are in the middle of every drama, or people who criticise your heart and character. Love them, don’t make them leaders!

All our pastors here benefitted so much from this clear and powerful and Biblical message. It was good to be in a place where people are speaking leader to leader, and addressing issues pastors face. There’s actually a lot more to this I didn’t share, but all our pastors have got practical and powerful wisdom that will serve them as the Tree keeps growing and growing and growing…

Andrew Wommack Minister’s Conference day 2(pm) – Rhythms of Grace

After a wonderful lunch with the wonderful team of Tree of Life pastors we have with us, we ventured out for the evening service.

During the worship, God spoke to me so clearly. I was praying about a number of situations across our churches, and the Lord interrupted me to say your barns will be filled with plenty of people, your people will be filled with the Spirit and your Spirit filled people will be leading many to the Lord and to the churches. I got really excited. After the service, I found out God had spoke something similar to my daughter Lydia.

Billy Epperhart received the offering this evening, and as always it was life changing. I love listening to entrepreneurs, they are the apostles of the business world! Billy told us that the only way to get ahead financially is to hitch your wagon to something that matters, and that giving into a ministry like Andrews definitely will pull you forward.

It’s so true, our partnership here, and we have been financial partners with Andrew Wommack for twenty-five years now, has helped us dream big, develop, grow, increase and above all enjoy the process!

Then Pastor Duane spoke, and it was one of the most sublime messages I have ever heard.

He started by reading some rather unsettling statistics. 90% of pastors quit before they finish. Only 50% of pastors actually believe the Bible. 68% of pastors wouldn’t go to their own church if they weren’t the pastor.

Those are unsettling, and then Duane skilfully started to unravel the solution… Develop a rhythmic and balanced life. Be in the Word, be in prayer, but also do something you enjoy, rest, spend time with your family. He pointed out that pastoring can toxify your soul, and you need to detox.

He challenged us not just to be pastors, but to be good pastors. He challenged us to have discernment, especially when there are so many people using grace as an excuse to act carnal.

Duane also said one of the most powerful things I have heard. He said when we encounter situations where we don’t know the answer, that’s fine to not know, but when you encounter what you don’t know, to return for what you know. We may not know why someone died for example, but we do know God is good and God loves us and God will comfort us. Stay with what you know! Don’t let what you don’t know steal what you know.

Finally, Duane dealt with the topic of weariness and called us all to rest and to spend more time with the Lord doing His will. He told the pastors not to neglect their social life, their mental life and their physical life at the cost of being spiritual. He used the example, which I have used before, even in this blog, of the oxygen masks in event of an emergency airplane landing. If we do not have our supply of oxygen we are useless to everyone. If pastors are not spiritual and emotionally healthy, they will become incapable of feeding their flock. What a revelation.

I am a hard worker, and definitely I need to cogitate on this. I don’t want to be a lazy pastor, but I must always make sure I am recharged. It’s more than a simplistic “walk closer to God”, but about finding a life rhythm with time with others, especially family, time to yourself and maybe some exercise and so on as well. It’s a challenge to all of us, and one that will help any pastor.

Selah.

Andrew Wommack Minister’s Conference day 2(am) – Persecution

Today is the second day of tbe ministers conference. Again, tbe worship was just on another level, helping us point to Jesus.

Then in the first session, Mike and Carrie Pickett told us about the pyramid of ministry, and the base of tbe pyramid is our walk with God. I must admit that, partly because my dream has always been huge, and partly because we are pioneers bringing things out of nothing, but I have always done whatever it takes to keep a strong, healthy, vibrant walk with God. Neglecting God has not been an issue of mine, but it is always good as a reminder.

Mike Pickett said that we should not be ashamed of the gospel and reminded us other people are not ashamed of anything. We are only ashamed of the good news because we haven’t realized it works for us. He also reminded us that we are the salt of the world and should therefore have some flavour! That’s inspiring, we need to be salty and stand out rather than bland and fade away.

Carrie said we must reach a place where we do not care what other people think, or that will always stop us doing what is necessary to extend the kingdom.

Mike then said we need to be examples to ourself, speaking right and showing ourselves we can declare truth.

Following a far too short break, we heard Dave Hinton play a couole of powerful songs about how God has been good to him. Then Bob Yandian took the stage.

If you know me, you know Bob Yandian is one of my favourite speakers. I not only always seem to learn new things from him, but he always seems to inspire me to dig deeper in the Word and stand for the Lord.

Pastor Bob started by letting us know that believer love God, but we are called to step up, become disciples and love people too – which is harder. I thought that was a great way to frame the difference. He further explained that believers do not get persecuted, but disciples do, and that he wanted to talk about dealing with persecution.

My ears pricked as persecution is something we have gone through a lot at Tree of Life. I have been lied about, had people curse is, write blogs about us and all sorts of spiteful and cruel things. I have had a lot of persecution, and I am not always sure I deal with it well, but then again, I’m still standing.

Bob was keen to remind us that no problems come from God but persecution comes from satan, people’s flesh and the world. He gave us several pieces of advice to deal with persecution, in his rapid fire, point after point style, and tbe one that hit me the hardest was that God is never surprised.

When we get a venue telling us what kind of Christians we should be, when other ministers spread rumours about us, when people you thought loved you stab you in the back, we didn’t know, and the surprise is always part of the pain.

But God is never surprised. James tells us we don’t know what tomorrow holds, but God does. We didn’t see it coming, but God did. So we can know that if God saw it coming, God has already got a plan.

God’s plan was put in place before your persecution began. That brought me a lot of encouragement. Especially for when people have lied about me, God has a way for the truth to come out.

Bob finished by saying we don’t have to meditate on persecution and don’t even have to solve it. What we have to do is stay close to God. Echoing how both Andrew and Mike and Carrie ended their message, Bob made a call to focus on the Word, prayer and walking with God. That challenged me – when tough times come, we don’t need to lose our focus, we need to focus harder on tbe Lord.

Persecution is a distraction. Don’t let it distract you. That message alone has been worth the ticket price.

Andrew Wommack Minister’s Conference day 1 – Hell

I am currently in Colorado in tbe US at a pastor’s conference.  Yesterday was the first day of the conference, and it was so powerful.  In the morning, we saw some caves and my daughter jumped off a cliff (she’s fine and she loved it), then off to the evening service.  Meeting so many old friends before the service was just wonderful.  We all need friends and peers!

The worship was so peaceful and powerful, centred on Jesus.  It was so easy to focus on Jesus here.  A lot of that is due to the lack of distractions, although we still are doing a little bit of pastoral care and ministry across the pond, as well as solving some logistical problems.

It’s Andrew Wommack’s fortieth pastors conference, so they played a stunning video with clips from the last forty years, beautiful to see all the old meetings, especially my precious friend and mentor Dave Duell ministering life to so many people!

Then Andrew received a powerful offering.  It just made me think so much about how we believe for money.   You cannot dream small on his property, just being here provokes me to dream bigger when it comes to using finances to extend the kingdom

What a glorious message was next!  Andrew preached on hell, and how we have to accept the God of the Bible not the God of our imagination, which would of course be an idol.

He reminded us that there is grace (as if he has to, he taught most of us the principles of grace), then shared some powerful truths on the fear of the Lord.

We found out hell was made for satan, not us (Matt. 25.41), we discovered that if we truly fear the Lord we will hate evil (Proverbs 8.13).

Andrew warned strongly against using grace as an excuse to sin or not be disciplined, something I see a lot in the UK sadly.  He then challenged all the ministers in the room to stop being offended about truth and stop being embarrassed about preaching truth.  So powerful and clear.  He warned that there were coming battles and that fairweather soldiers would not stand long.  He challenged us to put the will of God over feeling good.

He shared his own battles with the government over the right to hold church services and it was so inspiring.

I face battles with situations, with landlords, with all sorts of people who think they know best, and last night’s message has reassured my heart that these battles are normative to anyone who wants to live for God and minister life to others and given me the confidence to keep on doing the will of God with boldness and confidence.  We do not have the right to debate with God, we must step up and do what He tells us to do, no matter the cost.

One of the most powerful moments for me was when Andrew was asked by a politician who was touring his buildings, “are you proud?” and Andrew replied “proud is not quite the right word, because I had nothing to do with it, I am rathe grateful”.  We really have nothing to do with the glorious things God is doing through us, and our only response can be to say thank you to Jesus and the Spirit.

Finally, Andrew said that we have to be careful with some identity teaching if it makes us forget that in our flesh is no good thing.  He quoted Isaiah 51.1, which commands us to look to the rock from which we are hewn and to look to the pit from which we come from.  We do need to gaze at our identity in the Spirit, and realize we are in Christ, Righteous, pure, Holy, anointed and blessed.  But we must not forget to remember we are not worthy of our calling, that our flesh is still capable of any evil, so be careful to walk in the Spirit. 

Again, a great remedial to the slippery approach some have to grace, thinking it means they don’t need to pray, tithe, go to church or read the Word – and a great reminder to all of us to lean on the Spirit not the flesh. 

Walk with Him! Put the time in to learn from Him, and be bold about the truth.

I’ve been encouraged so much and that’s only day 1.  Praise God and thank God.

The Glorious Power of the Tithe 20: Tithing is a Talent Part 03 – Tithe When You Have A Little

When the man who buried his talent was making excuses for himself, he said he was afraid he would not make much profit (Matthew 25.25). In other words, he was embarrassed at the size of his talent. He didn’t think it would make much difference.

When you are in a church where the budget is tens of thousands a month, there are businessmen and women who seem to be casually dropping thousands of pounds into the church, and maybe you are earning a lot less, and maybe your tithe is not even £200 a month. You may think what is the point – how can this help anyone? This amount is too small to make a difference. When I make it big, I will give big.

No, you need to be faithful with small things, including small amounts of money. My first job, my tithe was £7 a week on £70 a week. I was in a church where people were tithing more than my whole income! That’s true. But I gave faithfully, I did not despise the day of small beginnings. Really, learning to be faithful in the small is one of the most important things you can do. It’s an honour to be able to tithe on a small amount, it’s an honour to start where you are, and watch yourself grow and progress. It’s just glorious!

Anyone can tithe! If you get £1 increase, you can tithe! The only people who cannot tithe are people who get less than 10p increase! That’s not you, and you know it. So don’t be the one talent guy, don’t be afraid, and don’t bury your tithe, invest into the kingdom of God by investing it into the local church.

The Glorious Power of the Tithe 19: Tithing is a Talent Part 02 – Don’t Be a Critic of Tithing!

I’ve now done 19 blog posts on the topic of tithing. I have done this for three reasons. 1. Tithing is a very important thing for Christians, I have been pastoring for many years and I have found that tithers are happy, sweeter, more prosperous, healthier and have a better walk with the Lord. I want you to have that. It’s a big deal, and needs a lot of time to discuss it. 2. Because I am obeying the Lord who has told me to speak on this issue. I have to obey the Heavenly calling when it comes to these blogs as well as any other area of my life. 3. Because I genuinely love the people reading these blogs and I desire fruit for your account. It’s that simple.

But still I have had a (very tiny) minority of people complain. The reason people complain when it comes to the discussion of any talent is simple and straight-forward – it is because they are fault-finders not servers.

Matthew 25.24 in the parable of the talents says in the NLT: Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you did not cultivate.

That’s not a fair picture of Jesus, but to a fault-finder, to a critical person, that makes perfect sense to them. Imagine thinking Jesus is too harsh to give 10% of your finances to! That’s crazy. Imagine thinking the church is too corrupt to give 10% of your finances to! That’s equally as foolish!

The man with one talent did not increase because HE FOUND FAULT with his master, finding him to be a hard man who benefited from the money in ways he did not deserve.

This attitude of the fault-finder is common among non-tithers. Rather than get involved and serve in the church, they are professional analysts constantly reviewing everyone else who is doing something for God. The truth is that it is not difficult to find fault with anyone doing something for God, and if you are looking for a fault, you will eventually find something. It does not make you spiritual or prophetic.

What I recommend is not focusing on faults, but focusing on God. God has never chosen an angel to work for him, He has always chosen earth-bound fault-filled men and women to work for Him. Don’t look for or at the faults, look to God’s Word, get some faith and tithe by faith.

The Glorious Power of the Tithe 18: Tithing is a Talent Part 01 – Don’t Be Scared of Tithing!

Every one of us has a number of talents, some of those talents are unique to us, some people can sing very well, I cannot. Some people can dance, I can’t. Some people can act, I cannot. I can preach, and I can set things in order, that’s my unique talents. But some talents are universal. We can all lay hands on the sick and watch them recover, we can all encourage someone, we can all serve someone.

Tithing is a universal talent. If you are increasing, even by 1 pound, you hae the talent of tithing. Now when we realize this, we can get some great insights from the parable of the talents. The man who buried his talent did it for one reason – he was afraid! (Matthew 25.25). He was afraid and hid his talent in the earth!

Many Christians hide their talent of tithing because of fear. They are so scared they cannot take the action of taking 10% of their increase and giving it to their local church. They are fruitless because they are listening to fear not faith. It doesn’t take that much faith to tithe, but if you have fear, it can stop you walking in faith!

The man who was afraid hid his talent – and some people hide their tithe. They hold onto it because they are scared they will actually decrease if they tithe, not increase. People hide their singing or preaching gifts because of fear of criticism, and they hide their tithing talent because of fear of decrease. It’s a fear you need to overcome in the name of Jesus, take authority over it and give your first tithe today – it will change your life forever!

The Glorious Power of the Tithe 17: The Sorry State of Non-Tithers part 9 – They Don’t Understand Grace

Imagine two angels having a conversation at Sinai, as the Law of Moses is given to the Old Testament saints:

Uriel: Wow, the people are now under the law. I wonder how much as a percentage of their income they will have to give? Obviously, the temple needs funding to ensure people have great worship services in great venues and the temple can pay the priests, help the poor, and reach out to people with the message!

Raphael: it’s 10%, I overheard them talking about it earlier. It’s a remarkably kind low percentage, considering God saved them from Egypt, split the Red Sea, feeds them for free every single day, and the temple provides the blood of goats and bulls to cover their sin. No one will ever starve on 90% of their income. It’s a real generosity for it to be such a low amount!

Uriel: though to be fair, these are spiritually dead people. They have no life inside them, they are fallen from Eden, they have no access to the Holy Spirit, they have to go to prophets to hear God, they need strict laws to keep them out of self-righteousness, and they are only getting their sins covered by the blood of goats and lambs and cows.

Raphael: it is the law, it is holy and pure and wise. It’s a good percentage, God has – as always – chosen wisely.

Now advance these two angels to the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:

Uriel: wow, look at these people, spiritually alive, filled with the Spirit, speaking in tongues, in community with love and glory. I looked forward to this for centuries, people not under law but under grace. Wow wow wow! Look at this. Remember the first day of Pentecost when the law was given and 3000 people died – well on this day of Pentecost we have seen 3000 people resurrected! Wow wow wow! This is glorious!

Raphael: so now they are not in the Levitical system, but in the church, the actual body of Christ, and have a new high priest, not a Levite, but Jesus Christ Himself in the order of Melchizedek, how much more is God going to ask them for?

Uriel: oh the law is gone, but the tithe remains. Jesus is the High Priest in the order of Melchizedek, and like Melchizedek received a tithe from Abraham by faith, now Christians give 10% of their income by faith, not under law, but as a response to God’s great grace.

Raphael: if I thought you were capable of deception, I would say you are pulling my angel leg right there. You are telling me that these people – now washed not in the blood of goats and lambs and bulls and doves, but washing the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh himself, spiritually alive, with all the righteousness and blessings and health and glory of Jesus Christ Himself, in this new, better covenant with the Holy Spirit inside them – are expected to give just the exact same amount as a percentage of their increase that the spiritually dead people under law with no gifts are expected to give? That is amazing. Only the same amount expected and they get so much more! Wow!

Uriel: no, that’s the truth. But I am sure that across the world, Christians will be so glad to be a local church with pastors that love them and equip them, worshipping with all the saints, that they will be giving 20%, 30% or even more, there’s no upper limit on it. Some will fund whole mission stations in nations where is no gospel, others will pay for billboards, pay TV bills, invest above and beyond to ensure that pastors are paid, venues are hired, lives are changed and the glorious good news that we see here on the day of Pentecost is taken to the whole world. I predict people will send lands and houses to get money into local church!

Raphael: I believe it. I absolutely believe it. I almost wish I had some money of my own to give into a church offering, I would love to tithe! And they get a harvest on their giving too, what a deal. No one would ever reject that!

Uriel: Agreed

Raphael: Can you imagine if one of these Christians, right? Born again, completely forgiven, washed in Jesus’ blood Himself, with a spirit as righteous as Jesus – right, did not have the capability, the spiritual wisdom, the ability to give 10%? I mean they might even argue against tithing!

Uriel: What you are suggesting is that a born-again Christian who doesn’t even tithe? Doesn’t even give as little money as a spiritually dead person was giving under law? With Jesus as their high priest, with the faith of God inside them, with the righteous spirit, with the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, and they would not even give 10% a month. No way! That’s the craziest thing I have ever heard. Money is the least thing according to Jesus, people will be fighting to tithe, making sure that their money gets into their churches. Churches are where people grow and are equipped, people will be giving so much more than 10%. The idea that someone would call that legalism or not grace is just insane, think about what Jesus has done for these people and how much better this covenant is!

Raphael: you are correct, of course, the idea of a non-tithing Christian is crazy. They would have to have no clue to what it means to be under grace and what they have in the New Better Covenant to do that. That would never happen. Man, watching these people getting baptized and starting to speak in tongues is so exciting! Glory to God!