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How many of you believe the Lord is in our midst, amen? And all those who call upon him will not be ashamed, but he is faithful to work in our lives. Every time we come in the presence of God, you might not be able to figure out many things, understand many things, but always know that God is good. Simple things: God loves us, and He loves to touch and work in our lives. Just come with simple faith. You don't have to fill a lot of questions and conflicting thoughts in our minds. All that we need is just to come as we are, simply know that God loves us all the time and He always wants to work in our life. That's all it takes. Sometimes, many thoughts that we have become hindrance for us to experience God – the questions, the fears, the doubts, which might be genuine, but those can be hindrance for us to experience God's presence. Just come knowing that there is no moment that God doesn't love us. You believe that there is no moment that God doesn't love us. There's no moment that God is not there. Just come with those thoughts and know every time we come, we can experience God in a new way than we have experienced Him before, amen. A round of hug, applause to Jesus one more time.

Such a wonderful thing to see you all again this morning and worship. I'll be straight away getting into the word as we had a change of order and seeing how this works, you know, let's straight away get into the word. Okay, let's pray one more time and just calm our spirits and ask God to speak to us. God, we thank you that you are already here in our midst and Lord, you have softened our hearts, plowed the field of our hearts for the seed of your word to be sown. So I pray that the word that comes will yield 30 fold, 60 fold, and underfold fruit in our life, that we all be fruitful in our lives. We bring all our wandering minds and distracted thoughts, Holy Spirit, we pray that you would take complete control over us and we would hear your voice this morning. Holy Spirit, take control of this time, dear God, you be glorified. In Jesus' mighty name we pray, amen.

I'll be concluding the series that I began this year on Open Heavens. Of course, in between, we have a lot of people coming and sharing a lot of things, but now let's continue to believe that this year, as a church and all of us, will experience Open Heavens over us. To understand what this Open Heavens means, we've been looking at various people in the scriptures who experienced Open Heavens in their life. The first person, if you remember, that we looked at in the beginning of this year was the person called Nathaniel. He was quietly, secretly in his private life seeking God. As a result, he encountered Jesus and God gave him the promise that you shall see Heavens open over you and Angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man. And indeed, he saw the prophetic word fulfilled over his life when he walked with Jesus and saw the ministry of Jesus. He saw the Open Heavens ministry in the life of Jesus. So what made Nathaniel experience Open Heavens? He was earnestly seeking God. That's something that we all can learn. I would like to encourage us to seek God with all your heart. The promise of God is that when we seek him with all our hearts, we shall find him. So if you have not found him, the answer is you have not sought him wholeheartedly. We might be seeking him in other things. Sometimes I observe in the life of believers, there might be a moment we really get inspired, encouraged, and make a decision that I'm going to seek God. I'm going to pray. I'm going to fast. I'm going to read the word. We make those wonderful decisions. We might keep it for some time, a week or two weeks, and then again, we go back to the red, thinking that probably nothing is happening or you might not be able to catch up with the commitment that you have made. But my faith, I believe that if we continue to seek him till we find him, we shall surely find him. Then there might be highs and lows in our seeking him, but need to quickly get back, ask God, Lord, I want to keep seeking you, keep running after you, keep knowing you, and we will see amazing things happen in our life.

The second person, if you remember, we looked at the life of Jacob. He was running away from his father's place after stealing the blessings that duly belonged to his elder brother. He was running away in the dark of a night. He was lonely, discouraged, uncertain about his future, did not know what will happen to him tomorrow. As he laid down to rest, he saw Heavens opened. What happened after Heavens opened? He was encouraged, was comforted. There was hope to go, and we know God blessed Jacob in powerful ways, so much so that God himself identified himself as the God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob. Another person that we looked at who experienced Open Heavens is our Lord Jesus himself in the beginning of his ministry as he got baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. As he was praying, the heavens opened over him. When the heavens opened, what happened? The Holy Spirit descended upon him and gave him the power to fulfill the mission of God, amen. What happens to us today when we pray? Heavens will open, and we will experience the divine power of God to accomplish the mission of God. Another person that we looked at was Ezekiel. He was carried away into captivity to Exile in Babylon. He was in a foreign country. He had lost everything. Life looked so dull and dry. There was no hope. He was a captive there. Again, there he encountered God. He saw Heavens opened, and that made him the voice of God in the exile to the captives, amen. How many of you want to be the voice of God in this generation? When the heavens open over you, God begins to speak to you. God will give you Revelations, and you will become the voice of God.

The other person, the last time when I preached, we looked at the life of John the Apostle. He was persecuted for his faith and was thrown into exile to a place called island called Patmos. He was chained. He was thrown into prison. At that hour, he saw Heavens open. He wrote the Book of Revelation. The content of his visions are in the Book of Revelations. God gave him how the world would end, and he wrote it for us to understand what are the things that we can expect at the end of the year. So why did I take you through the journey of several people who experienced Open Heavens? That should build in us an appetite to have Open Heavens experience over us, church friends. I believe in Heavens open over us, we'll encounter God, we'll have times of divine visitations, we will have Revelations, we will walk in the Supernatural, we will walk in the greater awareness of

the presence of God. We'll experience greater closeness to God, amen. If many of you are feeling that I'm not experiencing the closeness of God, I feel far away, you know, there are so many things people might be talking about what God means to them. I'm not able to relate to it. If those are the thoughts, I would like to encourage you for yourself. Start, begin to seek Him in your own way. Each one's walk with God is different, unique. As even my wife's relationship with her God is so different from my relationship with God, how she experiences God is so different from the way I experience God. So we cannot compare our experiences, our relationship with God. Unique, you have your own way. God knows you, God loves you. When you come and seek after Him, you will experience God in your own way, hallelujah.

What makes life so meaningful in this world, in such a confusing world, such a chaotic world, such a turbulent world? What gives meaning and purpose for our life? What gives hope to us is to walk with God, is to know God. As Daniel wrote, "Those who know their God shall do great exploits for God," amen, hallelujah. So I would like to encourage all of you in your own, wherever you are in a spiritual life. Each one of us might be at different levels, different various places in our walk with God, but all I would like to encourage as I close this series on Open Heavens: seek Him, talk to Him, pray, prioritize your time with Him. You have no idea how God can manifest in your life. You have no idea what God can do in your life. You might be feeling so ordinary, so normal. You might be wondering, you might be thinking for yourself, "I'm not spiritual, you know." You might be feeling so ordinary. But just begin to seek from whichever place where you are. Do not waste any more time. I don't know how many years have been passed by. We don't know how many years lie ahead of us. But I would like to encourage each one of you, begin to take your relationship with God seriously, and I have no doubt in my mind that God has got great things in store for each one of you. He's a God of restoration. He's able to restore all the years, probably we thought we have wasted. We would have taken a lot of detours in our life. We might have set out on a life journey and expected this thing will happen at this point of time, these are the things I'm going to achieve, these are the places I'm going to reach. But when you look back and see where you are today, nothing would have happened according to what you expected. You would have taken a lot of detours and be wondering what am I doing in this place. But when you begin to connect with God, when you begin to entrust your life unto God, He is able to use all those things, all those places you have been, all those experiences you encountered on the path. God can make it work it all for your good, amen, hallelujah.

We have a great example in the life of Jonah. He completely ran away in the opposite direction. God told him to go somewhere, he completely 180 degrees in the opposite direction, he ran away. But we knew that even in the fish, in the belly of the fish, he called out unto God. God can hear you from anywhere, from wherever you are, whichever situation you arrived in your life. If you are sitting this morning in this place, it's not by chance. God still has a plan for you. God still has a purpose for you. He wants you to hear His voice from wherever you are at this point. God is able. I have experienced the restoring work of God in my own life. Many times I felt I lost the plan and purpose of God. Many times I felt I lost the call of God. Many times I felt that I will never be able to achieve what I set out to. It's not that I've achieved something great. I'm standing here and saying this, but I know what it means and how God is able to restore our lives, amen. Trust God, we'll see great things happening. So today, at the end this series, I'm going to share a promise about the Open Heavens. It's a very interesting passage. You'll know why it is very interesting. Malachi 3.

Malachi 3:8-12. I'll read that for you, you can just pay attention to it. Malachi the prophet, Malachi chapter 3, verse 8 to 12. "Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How are we robbing you?' In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe," says the Lord Almighty. "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the Lord Almighty.

How many of you want to experience this promise? What's the promise here? "I will throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing there will not be room enough to store it." How many of you want the floodgates of heaven? I'm talking about Open Heavens. This verse is talking about floodgates of Heaven opened over you. How many of you desire to walk in overflowing blessings? There is something that God is calling you all to do here. I'll journey with you in this text. What will cause us to see the Open Heavens over us? From the lives that we have seen so far, what caused Open Heavens in their lives? Nathaniel was seeking God, that made Heavens open over him. Jesus was living in obedience and was praying, that made Heavens open over him. There's something that God is calling us here to do, and I know by now where I'm getting into. Of course, as I'm talking about tithes and offerings, it's not a very comfortable topic for me to preach. I was checking when was the last time I preached about tithes and offering in this church. It was in 16521. I'm looking at my iPad and looking, one of the last times I preached was three years back. I preached. The reason I'm bringing this word is to, you know, to help us to experience the overflowing blessings of God in my life. Many times the moment we hear the word tithes and offerings, we're put off. Of course, this topic has been abused, this very sensitive matter. But the matter of fact is there's the word of God, and this is the way that God has made for us to be blessed.

I know many of you are faithful and sincere in giving your tithes and offerings. But little, I want to throw some light on, you know, why we do it, how we should do it, so that we all experience the floodgates of Heaven opening over our lives. So, the context. Let me share a few things about context. Prophet Malachi is bringing this word to the people of Israel around 430 BC. It has been 100 years that they have returned from Exile. Malachi was a prophet, was a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah. The temple has been rebuilt, people are coming back to Jerusalem from the Captivity. But still, they're all going through tough times. The crops are not yielding much, they're going through financial difficulties. There was still the control of the Persian Empire over them. They were going through difficult and tough times. They come back, they're worshiping, but their whole heart was not there. They were dissatisfied, they were miserable, they were disillusioned. They came excited, coming back to Jerusalem after, imagine, being in exile for 100 years. They're coming back home. They came with great enthusiasm, great excitement. They came back to build the temple of God, they came back to experience the favor of God. They thought they're going to be free again, they're going to be blessed, they're going to be fruitful, they're going to experience bountiful blessings of God. But nothing of that happened. They were in difficult times. That began to make them wonder, you know, does God really love them? Some of the things I would like to what their thought process word, what was going on in their minds. Malachi chapter verse 1 and 2. "I have loved you," says the Lord. But you ask, 'How have you loved us?' The Book of Malachi is a very good book to read in one sitting, probably 15-20 minutes, you can finish that book just reading. There's a dialogue between God and his people. God says, "I love you." What's the response of the people, huh? "Do you really? If you love us, why are we in this kind of situation? If you really love us, why are we in sickness? If you really love us, why are we going through difficult times?" It's a question that they're asking. So much so that the worship was half-hearted, they felt worship was a drudgery, they felt serving God was useless. They're coming to church, they're coming to the temple, but the heart was not in it. Look at some of the verses. Malachi 1:3. "And you say, 'What a burden!' And you sniff at it contemptuously," says the Lord Almighty. When you bring injured, lame, or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?" says the Lord. They considered serving God as a burden. They were supposed to offer the sacrifices, the lambs, the goats, whatever they used to offer as animal sacrifices. They were supposed to offer the best, the blameless, spotless, wrinkle-free, good ones. But instead of that, they bring the useless ones, worthless ones, the lame ones, you know, the diseased ones. Such animals they were coming and offering. God was really upset with them. He had some very strong words. Malachi 3: 13-14. Look what's happening here. "You have said terrible things about me," says the Lord. Yeah, the worshippers, they are talking terrible things about whom? About God. I want a thought to throw a thought here. The thing that you're saying to yourself, the thing that you're talking to, you know, I don't know whom you're talking to, with your spouse, with your children, or with your close one, and what I don't know what you're talking about. God, Church, Ministry, giving, worship, prayer, whatever you're talking, know that God listens. He has heard what they're speaking in secret. And God is, you know, bringing that out. And you have said terrible things about me. You talk terrible things about anybody, but don't dare talk terrible things about God, okay? But you say, 'What do you mean? What have you said against you?' You said, 'What's the use of serving God? What have you gained by obeying his commandments or by trying to show the Lord of Heaven's armies that we are sorry

for our sins?' Has anybody at any point of time thought such things? Does God really love me? What's the point of worshipping God? What's the point of serving God? Is it really a burden? I have not profited anything. I've come to church, I prayed, I fasted, I gave. But what's the use of it? I ever felt like that? No, you're all good people, nice people. I don't think I should be preaching this to you all, let me preach to myself, okay? Those were the thoughts, you know, that they were having. Generally, whenever we go through difficult moments in life, it is natural for such thoughts to occur in our mind. We think if God is really with us, if God really loves us, why are we going through such things? So they, in a way, blame God for the situation and circumstances. But the matter of fact here, the problem was not with God, but it was with them. Why are they experiencing difficult things? It's not because God has stopped loving them. It's not that God has abandoned them. It's not because God has forgotten them or forsaken them. It is because they have stopped loving God. They have stopped obeying God. They have stopped worshipping God wholeheartedly. We see so many things that're doing. They're not honoring the marriage covenant. They are offering useless, worthless sacrifices. They're not honoring God as they should. And they're not offering tithes and offerings was one of the things that they were disobeying. That was not the only thing, but God brings all those things into account. So what I would like to present to you this morning when we going through tough times rather than thinking, "Does God stop loving me?" As I open this sermon saying that there is never a moment that God does not love us, there is never a moment that God is not with us, if there is something wrong somewhere it has to be somewhere else but not God because God is just and perfect in all his ways, he's holy, he's worthy, he's like no other, he's perfect. So sometimes the problems could just be with us. So one of the things that would like to highlight is, these people had stopped giving the tithes and offerings that belonged to God. The Bible talks a lot about money, even though it is a touchy subject for us, it's sensitive for us. But if you look at the Bible, there is a whole lot the Bible talks about money, wealth, and positions. You know why? There's a direct relationship between how we view money, how we handle money, with our spiritual life, with how we handle God, with how we trust God. Do you know that 16 out of the 38 Parables that Jesus spoke deal with money and possessions? Did you know that nearly 25% of Jesus' words in the New Testament deal with Biblical stewardship? Did you know that one out of 10 verses in the gospel talk about money? Did you know that there are more than 2,000 scriptures in the Bible regarding money and possessions, which is twice as many as faith and prayer? Because you can tell whether a person is spiritual or not by looking at the way they handle money. Money makes a good slave but an awful master. I pray and desire that all of us will treat money as a slave, not as a master. And the best way to make money as a slave is to give it away. You break the hold of money over your life. The Bible never says money is evil, but the Bible says love of money is the root of all evil. We need money, anybody doesn't need? Come and meet me. Bible says love of money is the root of all evil. So, I like what Selvin, who's one of a great Christian Author counselor says, remember this, you can't serve God and money. Jesus put there's only one competitor for the place of heart in your God. Very interesting, think about it. There's one thing that fights for the place of God in your hearts, which is money. It says you can't serve God or money, but you can serve God with money. I'm I pray that as a church, all of us should be blessed. We pray every morning that all of us should be financially blessed, have good growing careers and businesses. It's our prayer. God has called us to be a blessing, and how can we be a blessing to others unless we are blessed? So, God wants us to be a blessing, amen. But the way to blessing is this. It's not just your hard labor, not just your ideas and your brilliant strategies that you come from. It's not about that. It's about obeying God's word. As somebody said, a moment of God's favor is worth 100 Years of Labor. A moment of God's favor is worth a lifetime labor. What we need, the favor of God. When will we have the favor of God upon our finances? When we have the favor of God upon our businesses, upon careers? It's when we obey God. And one of the areas that God calls us to obey is to offer Him the tithes and offerings. As a man of God, as a pastor, it's my responsibility to share the whole counsel of God with you. I want to put a disclaimer here. I don't preach on tithes and offerings because I need money or the church needs money. No, I pray with the attitude and the motive. God is my witness. So that you will be blessed. The way for your blessing is this.

The way for your blessing is this. So, when I talk about tithes and money, I want to emphasize that the moment that word "tithes and offerings" comes, the thought, the word that comes to your mind is money. But I want to emphatically tell you, tithes and offering is not about money. It's not about money. Then, what is it about? I'll tell you. According to me, tithes and offerings are a matter of honoring God. Malachi 3:8-9 says, "Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How are we robbing you?' In tithes and offerings you are under a curse—your whole nation—because you're robbing me." Is it possible to rob God? What do you think? Is it possible to rob God? Yes, strangely yes. People are robbing God because the Bible says tithes and offerings belong to me. So, people are robbing God. I want you to notice the word plurals here. The word "tithes and offerings" is not singular but plural. According to the Old Testament, according to the Mosaic law, the people of Israel were supposed to offer three tithes, not one, two annually and one once in three years. The first tithe, recorded in Numbers 18:20-32, was given to Levites, the priests. The second tithe that they were supposed to give was in Deuteronomy 14:22-27. It was the tithe that they were giving to the temple for the maintenance of the temple. And Deuteronomy Chapter 14, verses 28-29, once in three years, they were supposed to give the tithe. That tithe was given to the poor, the orphan, and the widows. So, as believers, these are three places that we are supposed to give: to the temple, to the church, to the men of God as led by God, and to the poor, the needy, and the orphan.

So, the question would be a very clever question that keeps coming up from people when we talk about tithing and offering is this: Pastor, isn't that not the Old Testament? We are New Testament, right? Should we follow the Old Testament? If you are asking that question because tithing is a hindrance to you, because you feel like you're giving more but tithing is restricting you, I agree with your argument. But if you're asking that question because you want to escape from giving, I pity you. So, it's not about the Old Testament or the New Testament. The practice of tithing existed long before it came as a law. You know who was the first person to give tithe unto the Lord? Abraham, 600 years before God gave this as a law. Abraham gave tithe. To whom did he give? To Melchizedek. I'm not going to read it, Genesis 14:8-20. There's this time where a group of Kings, Allied Forces, had come against Sodom, destroyed the city, taken the positions and people along with them, and they also captured Lot, who was the nephew of Abraham. So, what Abraham did? He mastered the army of 318 people. Sometimes I'm really fascinated by the numbers in the Bible. 318. What specific number! He took those numbers of people, he went, Abraham, can you believe? You only know as the old man walking with a stick and all of that, he was a mighty warrior. He took so many people, fought the battle, rescued Lot, and he was returning back. As he was returning back, there was this person called Melchizedek, who was the king of Salem, which his name means Prince of Peace, which is a type of Christ himself in the Old Testament. He brings to him bread and wine. Okay, it's very symbolic. I don't have time to get into all of those things. And Abraham gives tithe to him. He was not asked to, he was not commanded to, he was not suggested to, but he gave that to honor him, acknowledging that God is the one who has given him the victory in the battle, acknowledging that God is the source of all his blessings. He gives the tithe, the tenth of all that he had got, to honor God.

What am I saying? Tithing and offering is not about money, but it's about honoring God. Do you know who the second person who gave tithe unto God was? His grandson, Jacob. Genesis 28:22, verses 20 to 22. He had an Open Heavens experience and he says, "God, if you bring me back to this land and if you fulfill your word, then I'm going to give you tithe of all that you're going to bless me with." So, the point that I'm trying to bring to you this morning here is, I want you all to hear me loud and clear. This practice was not part of the law. In fact, many Bible scholars say that this practice of tithing existed even in Pagan religions, Heathen religions. The culture of the day, when somebody wanted to honor somebody, they gave something valuable. And one of the ways people showed honor to other people was to give a tenth of what they had. So, later, God incorporated that into the Mosaic law. But tithes and offerings were given as a way to honor God. So, honoring God is not only in the Old Testament, but honoring God is about the New Testament as well. I agree with the people who say there are not many scriptures in the New Testament about tithing. Just for one, Jesus himself quotes and affirms the practice of tithing in the Gospel of Luke 11:42. But there are plenty of verses in the New Testament of giving generously. You know how did the people in the book of Acts, to teach the teacher? No, right? It's the teacher who tests the students. But here, God is saying, "Test me in this." Why? Because tithing and offering is not about testing God's ability to bless us, but it's about testing our own trust in God's provision. When we bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, when we give generously, when we give cheerfully, when we give willingly, what are we doing? We are saying, "God, I trust you. I trust that you will provide for all my needs according to your riches in glory. I trust that you are my provider, my sustainer, my source of blessing." So, tithing and offering is a matter of trusting God.

Malachi 3:10 says, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Can everybody say 'whole tithe'?" Why did God have to be so specific in telling us to bring the whole tithe? That means people are bringing partial tithes, or some people have a habit of distributing the tithe itself to this ministry, that ministry, this pastor, that pastor, and satisfying themselves that they are giving their tithe. No, that's not what is said. You have to bring the whole tithe into your local church. Abraham gave the tithe to the one who gave him the bread and the wine. Who is serving you bread and wine? It's your local church. That's where we bring our tithe. So, there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty.

Generally, we have plenty of verses in the Bible where it says that we are not supposed to test God. Have you read those verses? Especially, you remember this when Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days, and the good old friend Satan comes to him and he throws three temptations to him. And one of the temptations was he takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple at Jerusalem, and he tells him, "If you are the Son of God, just jump from this place, and don't you know it is written in the scriptures that God will command his angels to catch and to guard you that your foot will not strike the rock." So, what was Jesus' response? It is also written. Sometimes, you know what is also written? It is also written, "Do not test the Lord your God."

Why shouldn't we test God? Generally, who tests whom? Teachers have a right to test the students. Students, all the children are writing their exams now. Have you ever come across students trying to test the teacher, trying to teach the teacher? No, right? It's the teacher who tests the students. But here, God is saying, "Test me in this." Why? Because tithing and offering is not about testing God's ability to bless us, but it's about testing our own trust in God's provision. When we bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, when we give generously, when we give cheerfully, when we give willingly, what are we doing? We are saying, "God, I trust you. I trust that you will provide for all my needs according to your riches in glory. I trust that you are my provider, my sustainer, my source of blessing." So, tithing and offering is a matter of trusting God.

It's always the person in the higher position who has the right to test the person in the lower position. That's why we are not called to test God. But there is only one place and only one area where God gives permission to test Him. What is that? Bring your tithes and offerings and see whether I'm going to open the floodgates of heaven. We're in the series of Open Heavens, and that's why I'm preaching it. I cannot close this series without preaching this text. "I will open the floodgates of heaven and pour out such a blessing upon you that you will not have a place to hold it." Amen. I pray that all of our storehouses, all our banks, will be full and running. Amen. It's possible. So, it's a matter of trusting God.

Did you know that every number in the Bible has significance? The number 10 stands for testing. How many times did God test Pharaoh? Ten times. How many Commandments are there? Ten. How many times did God test Israel in the wilderness? Ten times. How many times did God test Jacob by changing his wages in Laban's house? Ten times. How many days was Daniel tested in Babylon? Ten days. How many virgins were there in the test of preparedness? Ten. How many days of testing in the Book of Revelation 2:10? Ten days of testing. The number 10 stands for test. Every month, as you hold your income, it's a test for you. It's a test about whether you're going to trust God, a test about where you're going to put God as the first place in your life, a test about whether you're going to honor God, whether God is going to be the one that matters in your life.

The next time when you get an income in your hand, look at it. "Lord, give me the grace to pass this test." God does not—you know, in many corporate offices, they will not give you the salary and then cut all your taxes, right? Have they? What they do—what if God cuts a tithe and gives it to you? Has God ever done that? Why does He do that? He wants you to give by choice, voluntarily, willfully, lovingly, cheerfully. And then you will see the blessings of God fall upon your life. Have we heard—you know, have we—let me ask you. I just discovered this. Who was the first billionaire in the world? You can Google it later. Don't Google it now. Chat GPT, close. Don't do any of those things now. His name was John D. Rockefeller. He was the first billionaire in the world. His testimony is very powerful. He comes from a very poor family. His father was absent most of the time, not living at home. Very poor. He went out to work when he was at the age of eight. So he found some job. You know what was the first salary he got at the age of eight? $11.50. He takes that salary, so much of pride, so much of joy. He brings back that salary back home, and his mother, a believer, spiritual, told him something. "Son, I'll be happy if you're going to give the first tithe unto the Lord." He worked the whole week, 8-year-old boy, excited that he got $11.50. But he obeyed his mother and started tithing. God. By the age of 23, he became a millionaire. By the age of 53, he became a billionaire. And he says, "If I hadn't learned to tithe when I received $11.50, I wouldn't have been able to tithe when I was a millionaire, when I was a billionaire." And later on, he gave off all his wealth. He became a great philanthropist, and his foundation is responsible for coming up with many medical cures for penicillin, malaria, diphtheria, and many of the sicknesses. John D. Rockefeller honored God when he had $11.50.

Me and my wife, we teach our son to give unto the Lord. You know, not because what he gives puts us here, it's going to make the church run, but it's a value that we teach our children to give unto the Lord. That's why we take a junior church offering. You know, the junior church offering—I don't know how much you collect every month there, but I love it when our children, my son, comes here every morning. I still haven't learned to give him at home itself. It's very embarrassing for me to stand here. He comes and gives me money and to give. Someday, I believe that he'll give from his own pocket unto the Lord. There's another person, a similar story of his. He was also at the age of around eight, the same. He also comes from a very poor family. He also steps out to work. He didn't know what work to find. He didn't know where to go. On the way, he met an old Navy officer. The Navy officer found this old, small boy, probably was confused and sad, and he goes to this boy and asks him, "Guy, son, what are you doing?" He's saying, "I've come out for work. I don't know what to do." This Navy officer, the old man, asks him, "What do you know to do?" He said, "I only know to make soaps and candles." So he said two things, son. I want to tell you two things. One, give Jesus your heart. And second, give the first portion, the tithe, of income unto God. Who knows, one day, there will be a man who will be standing at the top of the soap industry in this world, and who knows, it can be you. The small boy, at that age, took this advice very seriously and started tithing from the small, small salaries that he was getting. Soon, he became from this small guy to manager, and then a CEO, and one fine day, you owned the company. And I'm talking about Colgate. Mr. Colgate. Colgate is a person, not a toothpaste name. Okay? And I only thought it was only known for toothpaste, but soap and many other companies as well. Because these people honored God. Again, don't get me wrong. Tomorrow you give tithe and don't ask me, Pastor, where's my billionaire, where's my millionaire. But honor God. I know this church is a very generous church. Actually, I wanted to share it at the end of the prayer time that I just challenged you to give all to the North Karnataka missions, and I made one announcement, I gave one week's time. You know how much we raised up? 3 lakh 25,000 rupees. We sent it to the missions. Immediately sent it to the North Karnataka missions, the needy place. And I'm believing as we give generously unto the Lord, we will all be blessed so much, overflowing. Let Heavens open over us. Let us walk in the Supernatural and see the blessings of God being poured upon our lives. The third thing is about tithes and offerings will position you to receive the overflowing blessings of God. It says, "Test me, examine me. Will I not throw open—I know many believers who are struggling in financial area. This is a stronghold. They're unable to trust God. You have fear, you have doubts, you have questions. Many times when I get money, you know, I would want to make sure that I give it to God first, because if I leave it, I might spend it. I want to judge." Me and my wife, whenever something comes, we have a decision that, apart from the tithe, we give it to the church. Any gift that we get, we make the 20%, we take it out and give it unto the Lord. You know, we receive our joy. I pray that God would give us grace to give more, you know, and since how long we in the ministry? Been in the ministry from 2008 to full-time, almost 15 years. There has never been a moment that we lacked anything in our lives. God has supernaturally provided. One of our fasting prayers, we'll have one Pastor coming from Mumbai. He gives 80% of his resources to the kingdom of God. That means God has blessed so much, his 20% itself is too much. Okay, that's what God is going to do, you know. So, as I conclude this series on Open Heavens, let this year be truly an Open Heavens for us. And may we be blessed and be a blessing, and may we have overflowing blessings over our lives, that we build the kingdom of God and glorify the name of Jesus. Shall we all rise in God's presence?