2 Chronicles 31:5 (NASB77)
5 And as soon as the order spread, the sons of Israel provided in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of all.

Exodus 25:1-2 (KJV)
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.

Acts 10:4 (KJV)
4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.

When we become a citizen of the Kingdom of God it is a free gift given to us. Jesus paid the highest price, his precious blood, for our salvation to be purchased. We can never give any amount of money that will buy our way into heaven’s gates. But once we are a citizen of God’s Kingdom we are now under jurisdiction of the King to operate by his guidelines for life. When we follow these guidelines we are recipients of the blessings connected. When we reject these guidelines we are still open to experience the curse that rests upon everyone in disobedience. What I am saying is our salvation is free, but living in freedom requires obedience to all that God has written to us. In the areas of finances and economics, God has recorded four key ways that our money should be directed first before we spend it on other things. When we are disciplined to obey the word of God and hear the Holy Spirit with our finances God will rebuke the devourer from our lives and open the windows of heaven to pour the financial blessings upon us! Do you know what the four biblical ways to give are? Are you practicing them as a regular way of living? Did you know that even unbelievers who teach about wealth tell people that they should give at least ten percent away? Even those who do not know God’s word have tapped into these principles. How much more should we be obedient to what God has commanded? Here are the four areas of giving and I have listed some scriptures regarding them above.

The Tithe: This is ten percent of our gross income

The Offering: This is a freewill financial gift to the work of God above and beyond the tithe.

First Fruits: This is an offering that is free will but given at the beginning of receiving finances in your life. It might be the first check from your first job or a percentage of an amount you believe God to bring into your life.

Alms: This is a secret amount you give to the poor, the widows or the orphans.

When we learn to practice all four of these areas of financial discipline in our lives we are on our way to trusting God as our source for success. Take some time to pray about these different ways to give and ask God to give you a plan.

Ezekiel 44:30 (NASB)
30 “And the first of all the first fruits of every kind and every contribution of every kind, from all your contributions, shall be for the priests; you shall also give to the priest the first of your dough to cause a blessing to rest on your house.

One of the basic questions most people ask is, “Why do I need to give my money to the Lord?” Many people look at the buildings we use and then how tight their own personal budget is and they determine that they need that money more than the Church. Have you ever had that type of reasoning enter into your mind? Today’s scripture touches on an answer to this question. There is a blessing from God upon the home of those who give to God first. God did not sayHedoesn’t want you to have the portion you worked for; He simply explains that the power of His blessing is tied to when we give to Him first, not last, or not at all. Jesus said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. This sounds good to the ear, but most of us could use a little more receiving in our bank accounts! Putting our personal situations aside, I think everyone can relate to the good feelings we have inside our hearts when we sacrifice for the well being of someone less fortunate. I would even go beyond that to the good feelings we have when we bless someone we love with an unexpected gift. So really, I think all of us can agree with what Jesus said; it is better to give than to receive! But why does God want us to give to Him first before we eat any of the produce, or in today’s world, use any of the money? When we give to Him first, we are putting our trust in Him instead of ourselves or our employers. We are declaring that our financial well being is not determined by the world markets, it is blessed by God! Secondly, when we give to Him first, He gets all that He deserves and requires. There is a strange phenomenon that occurs when we give to God last. There seems to be nothing left to give! This is why it is so scary to start giving to God. Our natural experience is that if we give to Him first, there won’t be anything left for our needs at the end. This is where God does something supernatural. He makes our money extend and expand in ways we cannot. He has our best interest at heart. He wants our kids to have clothes, go to college and even be able to see the dentist! He wants us to have a nice car instead of one that breaks down all the time. He wants us to own a home, not just pay rent to someone else. How do I know all of this? All of these promises are found in His word; except the dentist. The same word that challenges us to honor Him with the first also promises us a better or blessed life when we obey. For most of us it is difficult to grasp, but ask someone who has obeyed God for several years. Ask them if they believe God has lived up to His end of the bargain. You will see a smile and a confident yes will be your answer.

A Revival Offering
Nehemiah 10:35-37 NASB
And in order that they might bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of the Lord annually, and bring to the house of our God the first-born of our sons and of our cattle, and the first-born of our herds and our flocks as it is written in the law, for the priests who are ministering in the house of our God. We will also bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the oil to the priests at the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the tithes in all the rural towns.

The men, women and children of Skyway Church practice the biblical offering of First Fruits every year. We are receiving each person’s offering from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. I am writing to you each week to help develop your biblical understanding of this offering so you can join your faith with your offering as you bring it before the Lord. Today I am sharing this passage from Nehemiah with you. The book of Nehemiah is a “revival book.” By this I mean that the nation of Israel had fallen away from worshipping God and they were ignorant of the principles of his word. When the Temple was restored and Ezra read the word of God to all the people they began to weep because many of them had lived their entire lives without anyone teaching them the holy principles of life. When we are unaware or grow cold and indifferent to the holy principles of faith we slowly but surely will drift away from God. When the Spirit touches our hearts to obey God’s word we are in a season of revival. When everyone heard that it was God’s will for them to bring the first portion of everything to the Lord they joyfully responded in faith. I remember that this is how the Spirit of God touched me. The first time I learned that there were things in the Bible that I was not obeying, I was grieved at my ignorance and immediately I was happy to respond in faith. I am still learning more about what God wants me to do every day. When I see opportunities for obedience I want to quickly respond with actions of faith. This helps keep me personally in a place of revival. Where are you today? How easy is it for the Holy Spirit to reveal new avenues of obedience to you? First Fruits is a revival offering and I encourage you to ask God in prayer how much you should offer this season.

First Fruits begins March 23
Exodus 34:26 (NASB)
“You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God.”

The Skyway family has practiced the biblical principle of the First Fruits offering since 2000. It was then that we learned about this key offering which is different from any other offering in the Bible. First Fruits is an opportunity for every child of God to give a financial offering of faith above and beyond their tithe. This offering is a representation of each person’s belief that God is their source of provision and He will give them abundance this year. This is the first of much more to come! In the O.T. when this feast began, people would take the first ripe crops that appeared in their fields and trees and bring them to the House of the Lord during the appointed Feasts. In this same spirit of faith we bring our offerings before God today to the local church. We trust Him to bring abundance into our finances throughout this year of 2008. This offering is a Promise Land Offering. By this I mean that the fear and unbelief that controlled our thinking in the wilderness season of life is through. We are now committed to living our lives in the power and abundance of God’s provision. We will have homes, lands, vineyards and fields that God gives to us now in our real life experience! We will have good jobs, education for our kids, homes that are debt free and more. Does this sound like the type of life you want to experience? Is this what you want your kids to experience? This offering is special; it is different in this sense. It is the individual’s expression of faith towards God to change their financial future. I encourage every person to pray about your First Fruits offering today. We will begin receiving this offering next week and continue throughout the season of the feasts. I will write more about this next week.

Every time we sit down to discuss a big event at Skyway the meeting usually has a portion of time when I try to convince the rest of the staff that we should have a giant blow up gorilla on the roof of the church. You know, like the ones that are at all the car lots and furniture stores? For some reason I find the beast in various locations throughout the Valley to be fascinating. The first time I brought up the idea everyone looked at each other to see if I had lost my mind. But really, did all these businesses around the greater Phoenix area lose their mind? Well, never the less the staff has won out and we had our days without the gorilla. Until last Sunday… When we celebrated our 25th anniversary with all of you we were told to come to church and enjoy the day; beyond that we did not know what to expect. The video greeting to open the day was awesome. Then came the prayers by the kids; did any of you see our future preachers? The presents and presentations were all tremendous. All of you really went way out to make us feel special. We took our treasure chest of cards home to open them after church and were continually blessed by a couple hundred cards. Many were hand made by our kids starting with the two year old class. Dawn and I sat and discussed the wonderful stories you shared about Jesus touching your lives through our ministry. The work of God’s Spirit over the years is amazing when you sit and read about it all at once. We put all the cards up around our house to read them over again. We also were blessed to receive many gift cards and some cash gifts, we probably won’t have to pay for going out to eat for the rest of the year! What an amazing day. When it was all said and done all of you who were with us for that memorable day will be talking about it for years to come. You were at Skyway when the Gorilla and his zoo crew came riding into the sanctuary in a hummer throwing out t-shirts. See, I was right. Nothing beats a gorilla to make an event unforgettable.

Thanks for blessing our lives like never before.

wenty five years of pastoral ministry went by more quickly than I would have imagined when Dawn and I came to Skyway with our six month old daughter Sarrah, our son Philip would be born three years later. When we arrived we did not have a 25 year plan in mind. We simply came following the call of the Holy Spirit. I was impressed by the Spirit that “They were like sheep without a shepherd.” Following that inner conviction was the first steps in a life shaping journey that has now lasted all these years. During this span I have been privileged to see God do many miracles in lives and bodies. I have traveled the world preaching the gospel and building the Church. I have been touched time and time again by the presence of God through someone else and I still live in awe of God’s grace and mercy for me, a man in need of a Savior. By looking back and learning I pray that the life lessons will help me be a better leader for the years to come. Here are a few things I have learned that have shaped me as a person and fellow citizen of the Kingdom of God. The first priority is family. I never wanted my children to grow up with the stigma of being a PK. AKA the Preacher’s Kid! Dawn and I have always tried to live the gospel at home and to provide an environment for our children to love Jesus and pursue him rather than resent the Church for robbing them of their childhood. We never wanted them to behave in a way to impress others. We simply wanted them to really know God. It is our greatest joy that our adult children now walk in truth. The second priority is family; my congregational family. I have learned how precious and fragile the life of a congregation really is. During these years of leading I have seen many congregations, pastors and members alike suffer from within. The apostle John had one message, little children love one another. The local church should be the safest place for finding forgiveness, comfort and restoration. When we lose this sense of security and feel we must wear Christian masks to appease others around us we cut ourselves off from the true purpose of being a part of the local church. It is in our transparency with each other that we find the grace of God through healing prayers and acceptance. No matter how important a person may seem to have become, we are all only one bad decision away from needing forgiveness, grace and mercy. I pray that our congregation will always have this atmosphere of unconditional love so we can continue to grow in Christ together as we all face the trials of life around us. Finally, the third priority is family; the family of God universal. When are we ever going to be too big as a church? Every day someone is leaving this earth without knowing the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Lord. Who can stand idly by and say they were not our responsibility to reach? God sent His Son to create a way for a huge family gathering in heaven. It is my greatest desire to continually raise up individuals who bring more people into the kingdom and leaders who will accomplish greater acts of faith than me. If God allows, I pray that in the next twenty five years I would live to see our fruitfulness multiplied one hundred fold. If Dawn and I could prayerfully continue to see these three priorities manifest in our future years we would be eternally grateful to Jesus. We know that all of you are a part of Skyway because you have made a choice. We want to honor that choice with our conduct, prayers and service. Thank you for being a special part of our lives all these years.

-Pastor Greg

Dawn and I had looked forward to the week of January 28th for some time. We had traveled to Dallas to spend a Monday through Friday vacation to celebrate our grandson Bennett’s first birthday. We had a special party with decorations and presents and above all we had quality time with Sarrah, Brandon and Bennett. It was a great week with special memories being shared each day. Suddenly a Thursday afternoon message on Dawn’s phone changed everything. We were driving on the freeway when Dawn repeated what she had heard on the message. “Richard has been shot.” We looked at her with disbelief and then she repeated the phrase again. We sat in silence as Dawn returned the call to her brother to try and gather the details. Little was known but it was clear that her mother Carol’s husband, Richard, had been shot and he was at the hospital. We went to the apartment and immediately began searching the internet to find flights out of Dallas. Within three hours we were at the airport to fly back to Phoenix before driving to California. Then the next call came in. “Richard had died.” Our thoughts went from a hospital vigil of hope to dealing with this tragedy. Carol was now a widow. Their day had started with preparation for a trip to St. Louis. Richard had gone to see his father before the trip. He called Carol to report being shot. She was able to get to him as the paramedics were in route. She said, “Hold on” and he said, “I don’t think I am going to make it. I love you.” With those words, he lost consciousness. In that moment, Carol’s world would change forever.

We see these events on television or in the newspaper so often we become desensitized to the emotional devastation that is connected to death. For those who have personally lost someone they love, they know the pain and anguish connected to it. Words cannot bring comfort and the quest to find out why only leads to frustration. As a Christian it is important to understand that Jesus did not come to remove all suffering, he came to help us through our suffering. Our faith is not an instant cure to sadness; but an anchor of stability. It is there to keep us from washing away with the fear and anger that rush the soul each and every day. God hates death. Jesus hates death. One day this enemy will be under our feet. Until that day, God has sent us His Spirit to give us comfort. He is here to help us walk out of the dungeon that death tries to hold us captive within. The journey out is different for each person who has suffered loss. There is no appropriate time for grieving or for it “to be over.” Little by little we find a new “normal.” It seems that those who stay connected to loved ones get out of the darkness faster than those who become isolated and live alone.

After a long day of many emotional swings I heard one voice of laughter among the many others. Carol had laughed and no one really noticed. I looked her in the eye and told her how good it felt to hear her laugh. Then everyone held back tears once again. Keep praying for Carol and all of Pastor Dawn’s family. Your love and support have meant so much to us during our time of loss.

As we discuss the seven things the Spirit is saying to the Church we see a major area of shift that is taking place is a shift in emphasis from “the church” to “The Kingdom.” This shift includes the concept of social transformation. Jesus spoke more about the Kingdom of God than any other single topic. He came to give us entrance into the Kingdom, to know the power of the Kingdom, and to be citizens of the Kingdom. He spoke so much about it that Herod wanted to know where this kingdom was located. God is redirecting our attention to this message of the Kingdom once again. I define the Kingdom of God as the rule or reign of Christ in the life of a person, community, nation or world. As ambassadors of the Kingdom we are sent to share the principles of the Kingdom with others and to bring its transforming influence into the nations of the world. This is a major change in focus from simply inviting people to come to “the church.” Are you a citizen of The Kingdom? Is Jesus the ruler of the decisions you make in life? Are you committed to bringing this Kingdom to others? Today I am going to share more about this topic with you.

I am going to be working in a mentor relationship with Che Ahn this year in his School of the Apostles. Peter Wagner felt I should contact Che in regards to learning how to develop an International Apostolic Network. (Currently we have Jacob and Jayakumar in our network and they have about 500 pastors and over 26000 believers under them.) When I contacted him, Che told me that the Lord had led him to create this new school for the emerging apostles in his network. He was very gracious to open the door to me to join him. This school will be very intense; I will travel to Pasadena nine times, go on at least one international trip, one national trip and participate in an apostolic roundtable. The key is the impartation of ministry from one who is already established and seeing God work in the HIM Network. The people that I will be working with through Che include Heidi Baker, Bill Johnson, John Arnott, and Randy Clark. God has opened a significant door in 2008 for us to press through. Che has invited Pastor Dawn to join me in all my travel with him. I feel this is a very important opportunity for training in my life as I lead Skyway into our next season. I will have a very busy schedule when this is added to our WLI local and national meetings and all the local work we will do as a congregation in our own community in 2008. I am convinced that the staff is ready to lead here locally and I will not miss many Sundays. Last year I was only out of the pulpit four times, and I don’t plan on missing more than this in 2008. This is where I can effectively lead the entire congregation through the series I preach each week. I say this to let everyone know my commitment as leader of Skyway is my first commitment.

Dear Friends:

We are now in the Hebrew year of 5768, and we are entering into the New Year of 2008. The number eight always speaks of a new beginning. God has a new season or cycle for each of us to enter into as individuals, families and corporately as a church. We are breaking out of the old season and up into our new one. Our new season is going to be released to us with a sound from heaven that resonates with truth in our hearts. God is going to speak to us and manifest himself amongst us this year! This new season should be embraced with prayer and worship. Do you know what God is saying to you regarding this change? Is it a change in jobs, homes, lifestyle, health, spirituality? Are you embracing the call of leadership at home, in the workplace or the church? If you do not embrace your season of change, then you could be stuck in a new cycle of more of the same. The enemy is going to try and build a wall to prevent us from reaching our inheritance but God is going to open a gate for you to pass through in 2008! I am asking everyone to fast one day during the week of December 23-30th. Seek God for direction regarding your season of change and others as well. We are going to devote the entire service to worship and prayer for breakthroughs to occur for everyone on this day. The Skyway leadership will be praying with people at the altar and the entire congregation will be making declarations of breakthrough. I am encouraging everyone to come expecting healings and miracles to take place on this day and throughout the New Year of 2008.