So we're finally to the series that we want to... we've been headed for, for a while,
which is Tithing and Financial Giving. We started with prosperity. We did a series
on prosperity. I am absolutely pro-prosperity, and anybody who is against
prosperity in my understanding, you just don't understand prosperity. You don't
understand scriptural prosperity. You've heard enough to be dangerous, you've had a
friend tell you that these people are nuts, all that kind of stuff. But if you're
against prosperity, you've never studied it in the Word. I mean, that's all you're
telling me is you're ignorant. Because the Scripture flat-out lays it out that
God wants us, prosperous, not... don't go to money. To prosper is to be successful in
life, all areas of life. That's the scriptural, in a nutshell, definition of
prosperity. God wants us successful in all areas of life. We started with
prosperity. We laid that out. Then Mary did the Spirit of Increase. A couple of
messages on that. And then I talked just... again, it could be a big series, but I
talked just a few messages on Seed, Time and Harvest and how that works in. And
all three of the first part of this four-part series, all three of the
first ones, really have more to do with other areas than they do money. Seed,
Time and Harvest, really money is a small part of that. Everything we do,
we're planting seed. Every word we say, every action we take, every decision we
make, it's all seed going in the ground that later will produce a harvest. So
money is actually a minimal part of the concept of Seed, Time and Harvest.
Even though if you listen to TV Evangelist, you would think it's all
of it. Because Seed, Time and Harvest, when they talk about it, they're
talking about the small sliver of it, the money part, because they're
trying to keep their program on the air. It's actually a misrepresentation.
Seed, Time and Harvest is way, way bigger. You come home and say some bad
things to your wife or to your husband, you just planted seed. It's
everything, everything in our life, everything we do is a Seed, Time and
Harvest issue. So we talked about that. So now we're actually to the one
that dwells the most on money. And it's the tithing and financial
giving. And we want to talk about that some. So here's what we're going to
be talking about, tithing and financial giving. And this is going to be
largely a teaching series. There might be some prayer lines to get curses
and demonic strongholds off of people. Because it can set in concerning
this realm and it does set in on people. But largely if you will know the
truth and embrace it, the truth will set you free. So this is going to be
largely a teaching series. There's the four points that I talked about that
we've covered to this point. And if you haven't heard any of those first
three, it might do you well just to go back online. There's the titles
to the series and especially the prosperity one and get up to date
where we're going. And deal with that. If you're new to Word of Life or
you're visiting this morning, this is a highly unusual series. We're doing
this because I felt God told me to do this. We don't talk. We don't do
messages on money very often. In fact, this is the first series on
tithing we've ever done here. And we're here 21 years now. This is
the first message on prosperity we've ever done here. First series we
ever did here. So it's a little bit unusual, but I believe God wants it
done. And we'll see that as the series progresses. It's interesting.
Talking about money seems to bother a lot of people when you do it in
church. You know, if you do it in the business world, it's great. But
when you talk about money in church, it seems to bother a lot of
people. And the first thing that comes up is, ah, the church just
wants my money. That's why they're talking about church just wants
my money. And it's like, well, it's too bad that that thinking is
there. But you know, I hear it a lot. I hear it from people a
lot. And it's like we get so focused on the money part that
we forget what God actually has to say about the whole concept.
So we're going to take some time. We're going to look at what
the Bible says. And I'm going to show you a lot of things
from Scripture. I don't want this to be a super long series. But
it's a it's a it's a misunderstood enough subject that we've
got to spend some time on it because there's a lot of people
that don't get it. And I want to make sure we have something
on record that as people get saved and as the younger
generation is growing up and stepping into life, it's
available to them. And it explains it enough because a
lot of the old timers here, we all know about tithing. We all
do tithing. We all testimonies about tithing. So this is a
message looking forward or a series looking forward. And I'm
going to give Scripture for all these things and show them to
you. But for instance, just to lay some groundwork, what is
a tithe? It's 10% of the increase or produce of our
income. We'll talk about the details of that. But that's
what the word tithe means. It means 10% when you look
at the definition of it. To tithe is to take or to give a
tenth. Take or give a tenth. If you make $100 a week, the
tithe is $10. If you give $3, you weren't tithing. If you
gave $15, you weren't tithing. A tithe is 10%. That's
what the word means. So what is the purpose for this? Why should
people tithe or give financially? I'm going to give you four
reasons. And most everything else I think fits in underneath
these four. There's other reasons, but I think they can
come under these four headings. Number one, to return to
God, what is actually his? The tithe actually doesn't
belong to the human being from God's perspective. Every
dollar, 10 cents of that dollar, God considers his. Every
$10, $1, he considers his. So the whole concept, and again,
I'll show you scripture on all this. We're just trying to
lay a foundation here this morning. The whole concept of
God just wants my money. Well, that's a good Old Testament
term, because in the New Testament, that one doesn't even
apply. In the Old Testament, he said nine cents out of 10
is yours. One cent out of 10 is mine. That's the
principle. That's the tithe. In the New Testament, 10 out
of 10 belongs to him. We're stewards. We're not
owners. In the New Testament, we've been given
stewardship, not ownership. But if we're talking the
tithe, well, 10% actually does not belong to us. It
belongs to God. Number two reason why God wants us to
do it is supply for his work on this earth. We're
living in a physical world. He wants the supply for his
kingdom to move forward. And he chooses to get it that
way. And number three, to test our hearts. Tithe in our
time is not a law issue. It says nothing to do with, well,
we're not under law, pastor. Oh, really? You know, that's
what I like to say to him. Pastor, this whole tithing
thing, we're not under law. No. It's like it's supposed
to be a revelation to me. We're not under law. I
studied this all my life. Yeah, I know we're not under
law. Do you know what tithing is in the New Testament? It's a
test of our love. In fact, if we get to that point, I'll
show you scripture this morning. Paul flat out says
it. It's a test of our hearts. Do we love him? And
then number four, to provide a way that opens an avenue
of blessing and prosperity in every way, including
financial. But in the Old Testament, it was seed for
seed. You gave financially, you'd receive financially. That
was what it was limited to. In the New Testament, you
give financially and it opens up to every blessing
possible that God has for you can come back because of
the physical giving. So it's a way, including
financial, but actually in that aspect financial is
the least for believers. I know of people who were
dying of a disease and God asked them to give a
thousand dollars to X, Y, Z. And they gave it and the
disease went away. You say, is that scriptural? Absolutely.
Read 1 Corinthians 9. Believe it. It's the 1st
Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians 9. We'll get to it.
Absolutely. Every realm of what God has promised to
us, we can open that to us by giving financially. And by
believers, we're not talking just about Christians.
There's people who are unbelievers who have
testimonies of they were not serving God. They grew
up in a Christian home, understood the concept of
tithing, went into business world, didn't want to
serve God, but started tithing because they knew
it would propel them forward. Anytime you use God's
principles, they work. Whether you're saved or
unsaved. Gravity works whether you're saved or
unsaved. Not jumping off a roof when you're over
15, 18 is good whether you're saved or
unsaved. It's just a good principle.
The older you get, you just don't bounce like you
used to. I was talking to somebody the other
day and he had to get in the back of his
pickup and he was about my age. And he says, don't
mind me, puts the end gate down and reaches in, gets a
step ladder, brings it out. He says, I never used to
need this, but boy, it's just a whole lot easier now.
I said, yeah, we used to jump up and down like it
was nothing. Now, when you jump down, it's like,
ooh! Yeah, maybe I should not do that.
But believing in God's principles and abiding by
him, seed time and harvest, that works whether you're
saved or unsaved. I mean, it's just the way it works.
You want a bad harvest from your boss, just go chew
them out, plant that seed. You know, it'll work for you.
Just some morning when you're cantankerous, just walk in your boss's
office and tell him what you really think.
And just go ahead and plant that seed, see what kind of harvest you get off of
that. It works. You don't have to be saved.
What you sow, you reap, God said. But I want you to notice something here
in this definition. It's a tithe to take or to give a tenth,
okay? Back up to the top line. It's a primitive
word. IDNT period means identical. If you look it up in Strong's, it means
identical with 6238. That's, this is 6237. That's the word tithe,
Hebrew word, that's why the H is in front of it, 6237.
That's the word tithe. In the Hebrew, it's identical with the next word, which
is 6238. So I want you to see this. The tithe
is to take or give a tenth, okay? That's that word.
The next word, which they consider identical to each other, which I don't
know what that means, but is a primitive root word, which means
it's where everything starts growing from. It means to accumulate, to make rich,
to become make wax rich. So right from the beginning, the first word says give a
tenth. Somebody's got to take it if you're giving it, so it's to give or take a tenth.
And the next word says, why do we do this? To accumulate chiefly specifically to grow,
to cause you to be made rich. Now, we gave the definition for rich in the
prosperity series. So don't let your religious filter, filter that now.
We're not all supposed to be millionaires, Pastor Burnt. That's not what rich means.
Not what it means. Well, what does it mean? Maybe I should have you listen to the series.
Hey, I want to hear some good. The word rich, according to Corinthians, means to have enough
that when an occasion comes up where money needs to be given into, you can generously give into it.
You have enough leftover that you can generously give.
That's the word rich. Has nothing to do with an amount or how many houses you own,
or anything like that. Which interesting part is what we're talking about this morning,
I just said it to you. The word rich means to be able to be able to give into something,
to be able to contribute to something you've got enough you can give into it.
Keep that in mind because we're going to go to it here just in a few minutes.
But the definition of the two words, the word that's
used for tie, they're a tenth. And the other word which is tied to it, according to Strong's,
which is that one, those two words by definition means if you give a tenth,
it makes a way that God can increase you and give it back to you. And above.
It's seed time and harvest. It's like if you plant one seed of corn
in the fall, you expect one seed back, right? Seven years, you said? Okay.
I didn't understand it. Yeah, you definitely want a corn stock there with hundreds of seeds
from the one you put in. Same thing. When you tie, he wants to multiply that back to us.
That's what it's all about. That's point number four. It's an avenue who's given to us
to help us become what he wants us to be, wants us to be prosperous. Well, in the
financial realm, tithing is a way to make that happen. You say, well, that doesn't make any
sense. You give away money so that you can have more. Yeah, because you have to die to live.
That don't make sense either, does it?
You know, according to the word, we have to die to live. If we don't die, we don't live.
You don't give, you don't get. It's just scriptural principles. It's how God does things.
And the sooner we figure that out and go with it, you know, it's good. And I know people say,
why can't afford to tie it, pastor? I mean, we don't have enough. We're barely getting by now.
We're struggling with this and that and the other. In reality, that pushback of I can't
afford to is from the physical standpoint is probably very legitimate. From the scriptural
standpoint, you're missing your way out of that situation. And you don't have to start with
the 10%. You can build up to it, you know, go according to your faith. But if you're struggling
financially, you're the one who needs to tithe. The people who aren't struggling,
yeah, they'll gain benefit by it, but it actually was made more for the poor person than the rich.
Now, yeah, we want, God wants, Scripture wants, we want everybody, because the word says so,
everybody to tithe. But the ones who need to follow the principle the most are the ones
who can't afford to do it because it is what will set you free. So we're planning to show that over
the next number of weeks and as we're talking about this. And during the series, I want to do
something that I want it to hit home, especially point number four. It's a way God uses to
increase us. So I said way back, I said, when we get to the tithing series, any of you who have
a testimony about tithing come talk to me. And I had half dozen at that point. And you can come
remind me again, because I said, I want you to briefly share your testimony, what tithing did
in your life. So every, I don't know if it'll be every message, but sprinkled throughout the
series, we're going to have different people share. This is why I tithe. This isn't just
pastor talking. This is why I tithe. And this morning I asked Ron and Roseanne to be our first ones
out of the gates who are going to share. He's got a tremendous testimony in this. So if the two
of you would come or one of you, however, I know you wanted to back you up, but
yep, I want you to share, tell the people
what was your story? Why did you start tithing? And what happened in your life?
I want to say it quick. You asked me to share this. And I agreed. And we, as a couple of
had one pretrocious week, just like the wheels fell off of our wagon. And long about Friday,
I nearly called you and backed out. But I got to say, I felt like it must be something I'm supposed
to share. That's why the devil. So anyway, I wanted my wife to confirm this aspect of the story.
Roseanne and I have really been in some trouble. Now, we served the Lord as a young couple.
We got married pretty young. We've been married 42 years.
My wife said it only feels like three years underwater. But I'm a chronic alcoholic. And we lived many
years of our marriage as a practicing alcohol couple. And the devil took us into some real
tough realms. And we actually lived in South Dakota for a few years and then came back.
Broke as a joke. Okay? We were so broke we couldn't pay attention.
And, but somehow I ventured into a serious message that was all about God's promises.
And I was still a practicing alcoholic. But I put together a paragraph all about
God's promises. And I started to read that every single morning. And one day while we were in
absolute financial ruins, I said to my wife, and I'm not kidding you, we were in tough shape.
We were so far in debt we couldn't see our way out. And I said to my wife,
honey, I think we're supposed to start tithing again. And I'm going to ask Rosanne for her
response to that suggestion, because it's kind of cute. Well, I just asked him, I said so. In
other words, when the offering plate comes by, we're supposed to take some out. Well, we
were in the negative, right? So no. We were financially and spiritually ruined. We were
not productive members of society, but we'd come into a new commitment. And that was
to ask God to help us. And I felt, so anyway, I'm going to really make this story short. And
I'm going to say, at some point, it was future down the road, quite a ways. I asked my dear wife,
could you look back and tell me when we wrote the first tithe check? I'm going to just say this,
we were in so much trouble, we didn't even know when it got better. And I'm going to say anybody
that's struggling, Bern already said it this morning, this is probably a call for the people
that are in the worst financial shape, okay? I... Anyway, I thank God. You know, I think
sometimes when you're asked to tithe, and God's kind of asking you in a sense,
what is there in your life that you can give up to cover this tithe? And a lot of that is you have
to give something up in your life, something that you're holding on to in order to be able to
tithe. Now, I'm going to suggest the tithe isn't for God, he doesn't need our money. He says,
if you don't want to praise me, I can cause the rocks to cry out to me. So he doesn't need
our praise either. This was for Ron and Roseanne. And I thank God that we made that commitment.
And I'm just going to tell you this, we know what the first amount was. It was very minimal.
And it's an extreme difference today. That glory goes to God. But it's for us.
So I'm going to ask you a question. From the time you wrote that first check, and maybe
Roseanne's got a better track on this from the time, when did, because I know you told me there
was a point in time you look back and said, when did we start and what's happened? Could you share
that a little bit? Yeah, because it's not even so much that our finances changed. You know what
happened, folks? It was our whole flippin' life that changed. You can't be a good alcoholic
family and live in harmony. You raise... It is crazy. It's like having the devil in the boat.
It's like trying to fish without bait on your hook, or no hook on your line.
And everybody around us, I'm sure, said, look at them morons. They're doing the same thing.
But can I tell you, God, we're still on... We're in a process, okay? This ain't like
Shazam, and we went on to another 40 years of honeymoon. No, we're in a learning...
So what got different? Everything. Everything. We're watching miracles work out in our
children. We still have one kid that's really struggling, but I can tell you we deserved to have
five absolutely dysfunctional, screwed up kids with screwed up grandkids, and we watched God do
healing through us, by way of us. Where did it start? Well, I can tell you a long time before I
noticed it started. Awesome. Thank you. So right from the beginning,
I want to say that money is not the goal. If we're chasing money, we're chasing the wrong thing.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, or the right way of doing it
according to him. And then all the other things you need will be added to you.
You don't chase money. Well, I'm going to start tithing so I can get money.
It probably won't work for you. Your motive's wrong. It's not a goal. Money is not the goal.
Money is not the goal. And our whole society is on its head on that one.
Why do you go to college? So I can make a big paycheck. Money is not the goal. It's a tool.
It's just money. And you know a lot of times people who are struggling look at those who
aren't, who have a lot of money, and say, ah, they're the ones worshiping money,
and they're the ones serving money, and blah, blah, blah, blah. Yet when I ask any kind
of question like, that has to do with money, it's typically the people who have a lot who will say,
ah, it's just money. Whatever, what do you need? It's the people who are struggling or are very
poor who hang on to it like it's life and death. Because in their mind it is. If I give
this five bucks away, how in the world am I going to put enough gas in my car to get to work this week?
Do you know the ones who are actually serving it? The poor people.
The rich people tend not to serve it. They use it as a tool. The poor people make it the goal
to actually get some and start making all their decisions around money. Money is not
the goal. It shouldn't be the goal for any high schooler going into life. It shouldn't be the goal
for any family. The goal is, God, what do you want of me? I will seek your kingdom first,
and what you want me to do, and all that other stuff is going to get added to me.
That's the goal. Money is just a tool.
There's typically a lot of questions around this topic though, and I'm going to try to
address all of them if I can. I have some written down. I'll go over them with you this morning.
If others come to your mind either this morning or as we go through the series, text them to me.
I'll try to answer as many as I can.
God wants us to have money and financial resources. Has He provided ways for us to get it?
Well, absolutely. Is tithing one of these ways? Well, yeah, absolutely. I'm going to
answer that. I'll show you from Scripture. What is tithing? What are offerings? What are alms?
Do you realize that in the Old Testament, you know, we look at it and they say,
oh, they had a tithe that was according to the law. Do you realize that they gave away
almost 50% of their income or depending upon how you figure it more? That's what God required
of them? Because you have a first, a second, and a third tithe in the Old Testament. The first
tithe is 10% of your produce or your increase. Second tithe comes out, and the third tithe,
I'll explain it as we go there just so we understand, third tithe comes out
besides that for different reasons. Then you had offerings. They were required by the law
to give offerings above their tithe. Then you had the animals they had to bring in to sacrifice
for their sins. Or for anything that they were wanting from God, they had to bring a sacrifice,
an animal, physical sacrifice. And then every seven years, they couldn't farm their land at all.
One year, it had a lay there doing nothing. That was the law. I mean, if you add all this up,
it was 50% depending upon how you look at it more than that that God demanded back from them.
And what are Jews known for? Being rich. Isn't that odd? They gave half of it back
to God, and yet they're the ones who got the most. I heard one man say it this way. Do we actually think
we can do better with 100% of our money than God can do with 90% of our money? If we'll just give
him his tenth and leave the 90 left over, he'll manage it in such a way we'll come out a whole
lot better than if we keep the whole ten, the whole hundred percent, and try to figure it
out ourselves. But we're going to talk about some of these questions. Do we give because
of the Old Testament law? Is tithing in the New Testament? Yeah, we'll talk about that.
Are we under a curse if we don't tithe? How do we get enough money so I can afford to do this?
Why should we give? Well, I gave you four general reasons, but we'll give you more.
Why does God want us to tithe? Well, I gave you some reasons for that also. It's in that
four general. Should we expect to receive from our giving? Giving is part of being a disciple.
That's more of a statement than a question. Do I give on my gross or net income?
That's always a big one. Do I tithe on my benefits at work?
What do we need to watch out for in this whole money scheme thing that God's got going on?
That was a joke. Trying to loosen you up a little bit.
And like Ron said, does God actually need my money? No, God doesn't need our money.
In fact, it's not our money. The earth is the Lord's and the fulness of it.
There's nothing on this planet he doesn't own, including this podium. He owns it all.
Does he need our money? No, it's more for us than him.
But anyway, we'll talk about some of that stuff. The word money is believed to be
mentioned approximately 140 times in the Bible. However, in the Bible,
words such as gold, riches, silver, and wealth were used to refer to money.
Therefore, keeping that in mind, the number of times money or anything similar to it
was mentioned is over 2,300 times. That's a lot.
Below is an approximate list of the number of times love appears
in different popular translations in the Bible. Now remember,
anything that has to do with money, gold, silver, whatever, 2,350 times,
love is mentioned at the most, depending upon what translation you're reading,
759 times, the new living translation.
So God talks anywhere from three to five times more about money in the Bible than he does about love.
We can either say men are ouch right there.
So let's begin with the core issue here concerning giving from God's perspective.
This might be... this is the foundation stone. All realms of giving are really a love issue
from God's perspective. Now Satan will take that and twist that. He'll manipulate that.
He'll give people false reasons, false motives to give. But from God's perspective,
it's all a love issue. Love is what he looks for and what he lives by as the core reason for all giving.
Correct giving from God's perspective is all tied back into love for himself and for everybody else.
So let me give you some connect... some scriptures here that connect love and giving.
And I got to go stand back up here because I'm holding this mic. So here's an easy one.
There it is. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, whoever believes in
him should not perish but have everlasting life. Why did he give his Son? Because he loved us that
much. Anytime you find love, you will find giving. There is Scripture chief on that.
We can give out of love, but then there's a love that gives more because of the greater amount of
love. And I'll give you some more scriptures for that next. God so loved that word so when
there's an on purpose. He loved with such great intensity and amount that he was willing to give
the most precious thing to him. See, there is a spectrum or a range of love. You know, we can love.
Let's all love each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord. That's good.
You willing to give me 50 grand because you love me? If you have it in your bank.
Let's say you got it in your bank and I say, hey, love your brother. Yeah, I love you too,
pastor. Good. Show me. Give me 50 grand. I don't love you that much. Well, there you go. That's real
life right there. If we have the means to give, how much we give is determined by how much love
we have in that situation. I'll show you that here in a bit. John 15, my commandment,
that you love one another as I've loved you. So the way he gave for us, we are to give to each
other. Greater love has no one than this. Well, what is the greatest love? Lay down your life for
somebody. There is the greatest love. So if somebody comes through that door with a gun,
all upset with me, aiming at me, if you love me, you're all going to line up in front of me
and say, shoot me first. Pastor, I don't love you that much. Well, that's my point.
There are degrees or a range of how much we love. According to Jesus, the greatest love
is to lay down our life for another. Okay, so I just gave you a real big example.
Let's tool it back into everyday life. You have to choose guys between buying something for yourself
or buying something your wife wants. You don't have enough money for both.
How much you love her will tell me who gets what they want. If you love yourself more than her,
you're going to buy what you want first. If you're willing to lay your life down for her,
you'll buy what she wants first. That's good preaching.
You still sleep in the same bed? Oh, yeah.
He said, if you want to sleep in the same bed.
Well, there is truth to that because marriages where they aren't very loving or giving toward
each other, they do usually end up in the end and separate bedrooms. Just saying the way it is.
Just saying. The greatest love is when you're willing to forego yourself for someone else.
And the more you have to forego yourself for someone else
is an indication of how much you actually love them.
I'm going to just give you a simple example that was really hard on me at the time.
Now I look back and it's like, whatever. But at the time, it was a big deal.
We lived in Colorado for almost 20 years. Some of the best El Conte in the world
is in Colorado. There in British Columbia, they go there too. But I mean,
Colorado has awesome El Conte. I never El Conte'd once in Colorado.
Not once. Do you know why?
Because Mary felt bad because she wanted to go hunting too. And with our lifestyle at that point,
there was no way we could take enough time off for both of us to be able to do it.
So I said, if you can't go, I won't go. That really sucked. Back then.
Now it's like, whatever. It's not that big a deal.
You know, as you age, some things aren't as important as you thought they were when
you were younger. Laying down your life for someone you love,
it's the greatest love. Next verse, 1 John 3. By this, we know love. So what is love?
Laying down your life because he laid down his life for us. That's what love is.
So we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. So I will give you what I want because I love
you. That can be something as major as my physical life. Police officers give that to us,
hopefully not for the huge money they're making because they're not making much.
For the danger they're in on a daily basis, they don't make much.
There is a call, I think. There's a personal something inside of them that says, I have to do
this for society, for people around me. It is a form of love where they are laying down there.
They could take any day of the week. They could not go home. They are giving their life.
Every realm of giving from God's perspective ties back into love. It has to be the motivation
to have any value to God at all. Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children. Walk in love.
As Christ has also loved and given himself. See, there you go again. Love and giving are tied
together. Imitate that. Give yourself. Walk in love. 1 Corinthians 13. Though I bestow all my
goods to feed the poor, though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits
me nothing. So from God's perspective, true giving must be motivated by love or he doesn't value
it at all. So again, giving and love are tied together. Now, we can give our body to be
burned, it says in 1 Corinthians 13, it means nothing. But then again, we can give our body to
be burned and it is a huge thing in God's eyes. It depends upon the intent or the motive of the
heart. Why did we do it? What was the purpose? It's in 2 Corinthians. Here's the one I was
looking for. I'm not going to go into the depth of it, but here's if you want to look for
everything God has available to us becomes available through financial giving. Here it is,
right here at 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. But as you abound in everything, so everything,
you got to go back to verses 1 through 6. He's talking about financial giving and taking care
of the needs of the poor and so forth. As you abound in everything, he's talking about giving
in faith and speech and knowledge and diligence and your love for us. See that you abound in this
grace also. This grace is verse 1 through 6. Giving include giving in with everything you're
abounding in. Oh, man, pastor, we're just seeing so many visions and we have such revelation
knowledge and those things are all awesome. But don't forget financial giving. You got to
abound in that too. That's what Paul was saying. I speak not by commandment. This isn't the law.
We're not under the law anymore. This isn't the law. Here's what I'm looking for. Oh,
this one, this one is right. Right there is the reason for financial giving and tithing in
the New Testament. I want to see how much you love. I want to see the sincerity of your love.
Hmm. In fact, he doesn't just want to see it. He's testing it.
You know the old saying, put your money where your mouth is.
Oh, pastor, I love you so much. How much are you giving to the building fund?
Put your money where your mouth is. That's what Paul is saying. I am testing you
because all giving is motivated by love. I'm testing your love by looking at your giving.
Verse 24, therefore, show them. This is still in the chapter, still in the thought.
He's talking about other churches. Show them, and before the churches, the proof of your love,
which in context, read it through, was their giving.
Why love God with all my heart? How much financially do you, do you even give
them the tenth? Well, I don't believe we have to in the New Testament. Don't avoid the question.
Oh, we're not under law, pastor. Quit avoiding the question.
Do you even tithe? Well, no, we don't. And you love them with all your heart? Now,
it's possible you don't know the principles, and that's the perspective we're coming from.
We're not trying to beat anybody up. We're trying to say, here's what the word says,
here are the principles, here's how it lays out. And it's possible you don't know the principles.
Do you give anything financially? Well, maybe you don't know the principles to that either.
But even if you say, yeah, I'm not wanting to learn this because I want to keep what I got
in my pocket, in my pocket, it's too late. You heard it now. You were here this morning.
Now you know. This is how it works. We can't say we love God with all our heart,
soul, mind, and strength, and not give financially to what his kingdom needs to take place.
The two go together. Feel how tight it's getting in here? Isn't that great?
The word of God, the sword of the Spirit cuts right through. Mary said, I'm praying for you
today. Could somebody get her some water? Help her out. So, all I'm saying is what Scripture says.
So don't get angry with the messenger. And I don't want your money. Pastor, you must just
want our money. I don't want your money. God wants the money. And it's not even theirs.
That's correct. God wants the money. And you know what? He doesn't even want all of it.
Now he owns all of it, but he doesn't even want you to give all of it.
But he does require us to give to love. That's in every aspect of life. It is a foundation
of loving. If you are going to love your children, you are going to give away the things.
Unless you've got a really good job. Now there are some who make a lot of money.
But if you're the average Joe, you're going to forgo a lot of things that you could spend
the money on for yourself because you love them and you want to help them.
Kids are expensive.
They cost a lot of money. Just feeding them and dressing them in junior high.
Without the rest, just keeping that pit full of food. It's like it goes in one end and just
evaporates. They cost a lot of money. That's why we have so many deadbeat dads.
Well, I never signed up for that. You sure did. You sure did.
You didn't know you were signing up when you were in the backseat of that car,
but you were signing up. And if you're going to be a man of honor and integrity,
you're going to walk out what you signed up for. Children cost a lot of money.
They take away a lot of things in life that we would have liked to do.
But we can't because we love them. And out of that love, we're going to invest into them.
Proof of love is giving. I mean, in every area of life, proof of love is giving.
So, let each one of you give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or a necessity,
for God loves a cheerful giver. So, notice, God doesn't only just love giving. He loves
a certain kind of attitude that goes with it. But love and giving tied together again.
Luke chapter 7, Therefore I say to you, Her sins which are many are forgiven, for she loved much.
But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Now, isn't that interesting?
So, there is a range of love. And notice the word given in the word forgiven.
Our love for God is proportional to what we feel we have been given by God or forgiven.
Isn't that it? That's not my thoughts. That's Jesus' thoughts. If we feel like God has given
us a lot, we will love deeply. If it's one of those things where, well, God doesn't
done much for us, we don't love Him very much. They just go together. They're proportional.
And the more we have been given in forgiveness, the more we will love. And that was his point
with the lady. So, whether we're a giver or not, in all areas of life, I'm not talking just
financially to what God is asking. Let's just back up and apply this to every area of life.
It's tied to how deeply we love. They go together. You can't love without giving. If you love your car,
and some people do, or if you love sports, you love your house, I mean, whatever, whatever we love,
we give to it. If you love your car, you're going to give time to it. You're going to
clean it, you're going to polish it, you're going to give money to it, put chrome on it, it didn't have,
put nice wheels on it, it didn't have. There is a lot of giving that goes into your car,
because I just love that car. It doesn't make any difference what it is. It can be, I mean,
if you're a football fanatic, you got to go to these games. Have you ever added up how
much you're giving? Because of the love for football? Man, we're talking big bucks. I just love
football. Well, that's okay. And the proof of it is, you're willing to give all this money away
to be part of it. Love and giving are always tied together. If you love what God's doing,
you're going to give to it. If you're not giving to it, you don't love it very much.
Because what we love, we give to. We invest in. It's just the way it works. It's how it plays out.
And in God's perspective, he looks at us just like Paul in the New Testament,
and the Old Testament was law. And in reality, he did these people a huge favor by demanding it,
because that is what set him up for prosperity. In the New Testament, it's not law. He says,
but it will show up according to how much you love. If we love him, we'll give him what he wants.
So he's still asking for something, but it's not demanded. It's just like, well, I want to
mine in strength. That means whatever I need of you, whatever I ask of you, it's we'll give it.
And that's why the love of money is the root of all evil. Evil is disobeying God.
Evil is rebelling on God. Evil is watering away from God.
If you love money, it's going to be the root of all it says, not just a little evil,
all evil comes out of you love money. If you love God,
then money is a tool. It's not the goal. It's just a tool. And money, use it for whatever.
And that's why God warns. He says, the love of money is the root of all evil,
because the love of money will turn us away from our loving him with all our hearts
all minus strength. We just won't because our love, our affection is elsewhere.
So the thing I want you to remember from this morning is not my joke previous.
The thing I want you to remember is love is the foundation for all giving,
including financial giving to his kingdom. It's the foundation. And we can come up
with all the arguments we want. But I gave you half dozen maybe more scriptures there that ties
love to giving. And you know, well, I don't believe this and I don't believe that. And pastors
are just trying to get rich and blah, blah, blah, blah. If you've ever gone to borrow money,
first time I went to borrow money for a house.
The guy looked at my application and he said, oh man, the three P's.
Three P's. I'm a peltz, that's only one P. What do you mean the three P's? So I asked him,
so what do you mean the three P's? He said, well, you fall into the three P's. He said,
policemen, they're all poor. That's what he said to me. He said, you're a high risk loan,
along with professors and police officers. You don't make much money. It's like,
well, yeah, that's why they call it a non-profit organization.
We don't do this for profit. We do it for the kingdom.
And when a whole lot of profit comes in, it usually gets invested back into the kingdom.
It's the way it works. But no matter what excuse we come up with in our mind,
or our grandma told us when we were little or whatever, don't ever go to church. They just
want your money. And if you look at the people who say that, you could give me all you
got, and it still wouldn't be much. Because usually the people who say that are poor.
Just don't think about it. Usually, not 100% of time. Usually the people who say,
all the church wants is your money, you're looking at a poor person.
Why? Well, they're violating God's principles.
They're violating God's principles. I mean, you can't,
you can't violate and badmouth God's principles to that degree and live in them.
It just won't work for you.
So no matter what excuse we come up with, remember, the reason we give is because we love.
Whether it's to our spouse, whether it's to our family, whether it's putting new
curtains in the house, I just love my house. We're going to re-carpet it.
We're going to put new curtains in. We're going to repaint it. I just love my house.
Yeah, and you're going to just give into it. Why? Because you love.
Nothing wrong with that. All I'm saying is love and giving are tied together foundationally.
So as we go through this series and we talk about financial giving and so forth,
not just tiding, but offerings and alms, as we talk about these things,
remember from God's perspective, it's all about how much we love.
That's what he's looking for. So Lord, help us to not shut down,
not throw up the walls and block it out. Help us to be teachable according to what your word says.
Give me the wisdom to put all the scriptures out there in such a way. It's simple. It's
clear. It's understandable. Help us to grow in this.
Not because you need it. Because we need it. Our children are going to need it.
Our grandchildren are going to need it. This principle will not go away as the world gets worse.
Right now, it's great. But as things get worse, this principle will not go away. And this
principle will save, literally save lives. So help us to learn the truths connected
to this principle of giving in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.