First Ain’t Second // Paper Chasers (Week 4) – Pastor Mike Todd – Transformation Church

Mike Todd’s Introduction

• When you come in with praise and worship, to a worship experience, not a spectatorship, when you lift up your voice, magnify Him with your hands, when you give, you magnify Him – you make Him bigger. The thing in your life that you magnify the most is what you give the most attention to. It’s no different than looking at an ant under the microscope
  • There are things in your life that you magnify that shouldn’t, for example, your friends who won’t even be around 6 years from now
  • Magnify God – He’s been good, faithful, and consistent
• We decided that we would be purpose chasers, not paper chasers
• The Bible does not teach us to grind or to hustle
  • Those are the things we must do to get ahead without God – networking, putting people down, etc.
  • When you’re walking in kingdom principles, you understand that God wants you to chase purpose
• On this life with Christ, we will be uncovering who God has called us to be. Chase that. If it takes an entire year in the word of God without going out – chase that!
  • Was it worth not having a bomb birthday?
• We keep going through cycles of what feels good without going forward anymore – it’s a treadmill
• The problem with us today, even in the church, is that God is a Sunday thing and then we get on the treadmill every Monday
• If you could get off of it, you could walk into what others are running for. You need to find your stride and the pace of grace
• Let’s get off the treadmill of paper chasing and choose purpose over paper – God’s way
• This will make sense when God offers you something good that’s not God
• If you’re in the bedroom right now, you need to be yelling, purpose over p_______ (LOL)
• Yell purpose when temptation comes – yell purpose when you’re scrolling on Instagram, getting a phone call from the wrong person – then the paper follows and the platform follows
• The purpose bought the platform
• In this social media age, we’re going for platforms not built to hold us – depending on how high it is, it could cost you your life
• There are too many people on manufactured platforms instead of being supplied by God
• If you have to keep it oiled up, then you might be seeking platform over purpose

Mike started to think about every level of basketball and what was needed at each level of basketball. For instance, elementary school – where they are trying to get you an idea of participation. At the end they give everybody a trophy because the goal was participation.

When you get to middle school, they start determining levels/divisions. The goal here is preparation.

In high school, the aim is dedication. This is the point where the goal isn’t for everybody to participate, nor to prepare. Everyone should already be in their divisions.

Then when you get to college, it’s all about separation. Everybody gets to participate at a low level, but this is the line where there’s separation. Today’s message is a message of separation.

Today, Mike is about to talk about separation. This is what changes people from players to fans. The people on the side line that can’t do a layup that say, “he should’ve’ dunked it.”

There are a lot of fans who say, “that’s not the Bible.” There are a lot of fans, but only the real players know what’s required of them and what they have to deny/give up in the off season.

In this kingdom, God calls for separation, who’s actually riding with Him or who just wears the T-shirt. Who just wears a cross on their tattoo, but doesn’t have it in their heart.

Today is for those getting in the game.

It’s time to stop playing video game Christianity. This is a season of separation.

These principles are about the generations running around in your house. Your impact, influence, and decision will impact the next generation – that’s not just money, that’s mindset.

There are too many people leaving homes but no holiness, accounts, but no anointing, passive income, but no principles. This is why heirs and heiresses can be wasteful – because they don’t have the principles or the mindset to not squander their inheritance.

Today, we cannot squander the principles God wants to give us today.

There’s a difference between college players and NBA players – it is concentration. It’s about what you concentrate on. There are professional players who sit in the gym and just practice 3-point shots – like Stephen Curry. He does the same thing over, and over, and over again. He’s concentrating on what he has been given.

Mike is asking everybody in this paper chaser series, what are you concentrating on when it comes to your generosity and financial stewardship. Many are concentrating on what they don’t have. You’ll continue to end up with nothing. When you rather buy the new Jordan’s and the new wigs, than tithe, you’re chasing identity. Many are more concentrated on the aesthetics of your nails than your purpose.

God will recognize that you weren’t concentrated on what you should be concentrated on.

1. The Difference Between Going to the League and Winning the Championship is Still a Difference: It’s Maturity

This involves veterans and the generals in the faith. They’re still standing here despite trouble. They’re mature enough to know that there’s a victor and His name is Jesus.

It is time for us as a church to mature.

This is not the series, church, or pastor for people who want to stay on the milk. This is for the steak – the word of God.

Jesus was given a lot of responsibility at a young age because of his maturity.

Jesus at 12 was in the synagogue schooling the rabbis. He was mature in this area, but didn’t tell his mother. He wasn’t mature in that area.

Life slaps us in the face when we’re mature in one area, but not in another. He may want to work on your attitude, your generosity, etc.

One word definition for maturity: Sacrifice

This

2. What You are Willing to Part With Proves What You are Willing to be A Part Of

It’s about letting go of things you already have.

The only way you mature is if you let something go.

The Elsa Equation:  

Where would you go if you could go anywhere?

Mike would go to the Maldives. You must assess your current location as you have to navigate from here. To be a part of the Maldives, one would have to let go of/part with the solid ground. There’s no road to the Maldives. You would have to sacrifice the security of your location to be a part of something greater. This takes maturity. You would have to submit to the laws of buoyancy and get on a boat, or defy the laws of gravity and fly there.

There is a place God has for you that you want to be a part of, but it is mandatory that you part with something (sacrifice it) to get there.

God is saying “let it go so I can…”. E.g. “when you let go of him…”, “when you write it down…”

For Mike to get fit, he has to sacrifice junk food. Mike can see a picture and taste it – but he has to part with the late night eating, procrastination, being lazy, etc. This makes him a part of a healthy lifestyle.

There are some people who have a desire to be in a relationship or amazing, sexy marriage. Your location right now is you belong to the streets. You’re hopping in everybody’s DMs. You go out places looking for hookups, one-night stands, for people to stroke your ego, etc. We know that’s why you got the gold grill, the expensive car, the expensive restaurant. You have to part with wilding out. It’s hard though because now it has become a habit of your heart. You have to become a part of covenant. There’s no chance for covenant when you’re not willing to give up/part with the wilding out.

If you desire to live a blessed life, you need to identify your location, which for many was a negative view of tithing and giving before this series. For some people, you’re a sometime person, a never person, but for some, you didn’t know, or now you care. It now means that you have to part with the tithe to live the blessed life. Returning it, not giving it. It’s not yours anyway. Then you get to be a part of kingdom and stewardship generosity.

• What business deal do you know that allows you to keep 90% and will bless the 90% more than you can imagine? 90% of our increase with God’s blessing is better than 100% without it.

   

  The principle of tithing is only for people who consider God first in their life. Those are the only people who actually tithe. If He’s not first, Mike has no expectations for you. Is God actually first? If He’s first, this is the most important message in this series.

   

  Message Title: First Ain’t Second

   

  A lot of people think if God is close to the top of your life it’s good. If He isn’t first/around the top, you can tell.

   

  If you go to a person’s call log or favorites – that shows who’s first in your life. If Natalie calls Mike when talking to someone else, Mike answers the phone because in this realm of relationship, she is first.

   

  The same way we have favorites, look at your finances. Look at your bank account/credit card statement, etc. Who is first? Amazon? You love coming home to a new package.

   

  For some of you, the mortgage company is first. You forget that God gave you the ability to acquire that house.

   

  Go and tithe to the church you belong to. Go and be consistent and hold up that ministry. That’s where your blessing is if that’s where God has called you to.

   

  No matter what church you belong to, who is first? First ain’t second.

   

  There are 250 areas in the Bible that discusses finances because He knew we would have trouble in that area. If you put God first in everything you do in your life, everything will come in to order. It doesn’t mean you won’t have trouble, but would you rather trouble with God having everything in order, or with everything out of order?

   

  Don’t just live by an idea, but by a principle.

   

  Exodus 13:1-2 New King James Version (NKJV)

  The Firstborn Consecrated

  13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Consecrate[a] to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine.”

   

  Exodus 13:12-13 New King James Version (NKJV)

  12 that you shall [a]set apart to the Lord all that open the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have; the males shall be the Lord’s. 13 But every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.

   

  The first born must either be sacrificed or redeemed. The first of everything must be sacrificed or redeemed.

   

  Were we born spiritually clean or unclean? Unclean. We didn’t have to teach our kids how to be bad. We have a sin nature. We all have some type of thing that is lower. Was Jesus born clean or unclean? Clean. Jesus took the donkey and redeemed it. He had to be sacrificed on the cross so that the unclean could be redeemed. We’re only standing here because the spotless lamb of God, the clean one without a blemish took the donkeys place, and 2,000 years ago climbed up on the cross and redeemed the unclean. That’s why we celebrate Easter – because every stain that we have, the lamb was sacrificed to make us clean.

   

  This is a principle of tithing, that Jesus is God’s tithe. He gave His first son so that the other children could be redeemed.

   

  God took His only son. He didn’t have 10 and then choose Jesus. It doesn’t take faith to give the 10^th one, it takes faith to give the first one. He gave his first for a maybe – maybe you would accept Him.

   

  3. It Takes Faith to Give the First

   

  It doesn’t take faith to give the leftovers. If you take care of bills, debt, etc. first, then you’re putting God second, or last, or among the priorities.

   

  It’s not the 10% that enacts the blessing, it’s the faith that enacts the blessing. When they do it before anything else comes, it proves we trust Him.

   

  When the children of Israel came into the promise land, He said bring all of the silver and gold. It was the first city and God would bless every other thing if they would have faith.

   

  You don’t even know all of your subscriptions – but they’re taking the blessed portion of your resources. Your mortgage company can’t bless your finances – only God has the power to do this.

   

  4. The First-Fruits Must Be Offered

   

  Proverbs 3:9-10 New King James Version (NKJV)

  9 Honor the Lord with your possessions,

  And with the firstfruits of all your increase;

  10 So your barns will be filled with plenty,

  And your vats will overflow with new wine.

   

  Honor God FIRST, more than enough.

   

  Exodus 23:19 New King James Version (NKJV)

  19 The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.

   

  You can only bring it because it’s not yours. You’re either going to bring it or steal it. Some of you are living in your blessing, travelling with your blessing, eating it, or wearing it. You can only bring it or steal it.

   

  Either you’re going to chase purpose or paper.

   

  Out of 10, God is only saying, bring me 1 out of 10 and the other 9 will be so blessed, you won’t even miss what you brought back to Him.

He only asks for 1, which proves you believe in Him and He is first. Can you start looking at what God is doing and the contrast as to what’s on your table and what’s on God’s table.

God is trying to teach you a principle, not take something from you. The blessings of the Lord maketh rich and addeth no sorrow (Proverbs 10:22).

God is not looking to hoard what He has given you. God’s table is not about having more than enough, His table is about being honored first.

Eventually, your table will begin to overflow. It’s so crazy, that when God starts blessing you because you honored Him, it’s easy.

God wants to be first in your life.

This is the testimony of people who put God first. The blessings will fall off.

This is what living a blessed life looks like.

This is what your bank accounts, your endowments, the fruit of your hands will look like – this is a prophetic picture for Transformation Nation.

This is what the church will look like in the coming days. This is what your family will look like in the coming days.

I dare you to praise God right now. The blessing will chase you down.

When you’re a purpose chaser and you honor God first, this is a product of maturity. This is a product of what Mike was willing to part with and it made him a part of something else.

That’s all God wanted.

If you would just give God the little, and honor him first, then you can be blessed abundantly.

That’s when God says, “now when I tell you to give extra”, you can start blessing people and give offering to God. If you don’t bless people, leave some for others, give to an organization, it can start to spoil. There’s so much, that now you can become a dispenser. You can easily give to and bless those that God calls you to.

Anecdote: When God asked Mike to give away his only car, his Land Rover, he didn’t realize God wanted him to part with something to become a part of something else. Husbands, this is why it’s important for you to model God, listen to God, and submit. It’s hard for a woman to submit to a man who’s not submitted.  When Mike gave it away, all he heard was “good job.” Mike was the pastor of TC with no car. He had to call Brie for a ride to go to service for months. Mike wondered why God wasn’t keeping His word. Mike had church members asking if Mike needed a ride and the answer was yes. Then a lady found out about their situation and let them use her car – a 15 passenger white van. He was pulling up to church with enough room to bring the block with him. On date night, Natalie would get out of it proudly. For almost a year, Mike had no car. The lady needed her van back. Then a man at the church had a car dealership and asked Mike how much he could spend. It was only about 4k. Mike was refined in that place even without a car. He proved he was willing to part with his only car – it sounded god but Mike was still walking. When he arrived to the dealership, he saw a really nice car and asked who’s car it was. God told the man to give Mike the car he was driving. God said, “you can never beat me giving.” Mike was so excited and was crying telling Natalie about it. Then he heard God say, you’re just a funnel and would give that car away too. Mike said okay but hoped God would forget. Then another time of giving came and Mike handed a young man the keys to his car and paid the insurance for a year. That hurt, but qualified Mike for what God was going to do next. Last year, Mike had a family member in need and we came to a time of giving. The Holy Spirit said do you want to live this or talk to people about it. This time, God said, you’ll need to buy a car, not just give it, but spend $10,000 on it. Mike felt like he didn’t have it, but looked, and was mad that he found it. He called a person with a car dealership, said he was looking for a reliable car. The person said he had a minivan and Mike agreed that it would be good. Then, they hung up the phone. Then the guy called back, saying that the call was on speaker, his daughter overheard the conversation, and his daughter heard God saying that she was supposed to give that car to the person in need, and that she would actually give it to them to give it to them. God said, see Michael, I didn’t need your money, I needed your heart. He would send provision. God is the source. He owns the world, He doesn’t need it from you, He just needs to know that He has the place that He could have it from you – your heart.

If you put God first, the rest is blessed.

Put Him first. Read your Bible. Pray. Worship Him. Do it before you open Instagram.

The first thing God blessed for Mike was YouTube. Over time, the ads equated to a lot of money. God said, don’t take a dime. “The first thing I bless is mine.” From that day, not one cent has touched Mike’s account, it has all gone back to TC. God dug up blessings though. Mike didn’t have to dig it up, it came and found him. When the blessings come, God said He did that because of being honored first.

There is a blessing on the other side of putting God first – above the bills, mortgage, fashion, and everything we consider awesome.

Houses and vehicles are nothing to God.

5. The Tithe Must Be First 

The tithe is what leaves his hand first.

The first one was the tithe.

All the rest can be shared with everyone else.

Genesis 4:3-5 New King James Version (NKJV)

3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

Cain didn’t put God first.

When you put God first, you invite Him in to bless everything in your life.

It’s not that God just won’t accept seconds; He can’t accept seconds. He only accepts the best and our firsts.

Giving is all about the heart. It’s not legalistic. If Natalie spent at Target without Mike realizing before the automatic deduction, he won’t come to her mad about being cursed.

Exodus 13:14-15 New King James Version (NKJV)

14 So it shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall say to him, ‘By strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 15 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all males that open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’

The reason it’s easy to give God first is because he used to be a slave. One day, your son will ask you why do you keep giving to the church when you could be doing more for your home. Then you can witness and say that it’s easy because you were a slave.

This is not a teaching of prosperity – but principles. You won’t just have resources, but legacy. It will never be hard for your kids to give to God if they watch their mother and father stand in faith and honor God first.

Let’s Pray Together: God, thank you for taking my stains, everything I did, everything I said. Thank you for sending Jesus, just for me. I believe He lived, He died, and He rose again, just for me. Today, I give you my life, change me, renew me, transform me, I’m yours, in Jesus name, Amen.

• Text ‘Saved’ to 828282 to take your next step

We have one more week of paper chasers – new energy. It’s the week before Easter and we’re going to end this series with a bang.

There are principles that go beyond paper. Share this message.

You can still check out Pastor Robert Morris’ book, The Blessed Life and the study guide below:

You can still get “Relationship Goals” the book and study guide today for additional support:

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SUMMARY NOTES

1. The Difference Between Going to the League and Winning the Championship is Still a Difference: It’s Maturity
2. What You are Willing to Part With Proves What You are Willing to be A Part Of
3. It Takes Faith to Give the First
4. The First-Fruits Must Be Offered
5. The Tithe Must Be First

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