Good morning, I'm going to give you New Testament scriptures on tithing besides the one in Hebrew
7. So real quickly, our first message, we talked about all giving should be motivated by love.
If it isn't, the giving's of no value to God. There is a principle, what we love is what
we give to. We'll give our time to it, we'll give our money to it, whatever. And what is
the tithe? We talked about that in the first message. It's 10%. That's what the word
means. So what is the purpose for the people tithing
and giving financially? To return to God what is actually His, and I haven't shown you that one
in Scripture yet. To supply for God's work on earth, I'm going to show you that this morning.
To test our hearts, I've told you that one already. It comes out of Corinthians.
And number four, to provide a way that opens an avenue of blessing and prosperity in every way,
including financial, for believers. I'm going to show part of that to you this morning.
Haven't touched it yet, but I'm going to give part of that this morning.
Second message, the three main ways of giving. Tithe's offerings and alms.
Won't go any deeper than that. It's in that second message.
Where did tithing begin? It's not the law. It's not Moses. It's usually those,
the people who say, well, we don't have to tithe in the New Testament usually go back
to the law. We've been set free from the law. Well, we have, but we haven't been set free
from Abraham's covenant. Thank God. That's where it started.
And here's the principle we don't want to miss. It started with Abraham. When we are blessed
spiritually through God's ministers, we are to reciprocate by giving back financially.
That is a principle of Abraham's covenant. And we love to live in the blessing of
Abraham's covenant, but to participate fully, we have to embrace the principles of Abraham's covenant
also, which part of it is choose life, like we talked this morning, but also reciprocating on
the blessing financially. I've shown that to you four places now. One in the Old Testament,
three in the New Testament. So, giving back for the church, the local church, it's the tithe.
The tithe belongs to the local church, the 10%. I'll show that to you. I don't know if, well,
yeah, I will point it out this morning even. For other ministers and other settings, it's offerings.
We don't give the tithe to other ministers and other settings. We give the tithe to the church we
are part of and we're working in. Offerings go to them. Oms goes to the needy, the poor. That's
Oms, not tithes. That's Oms. So, the third message, we talked about the four big covenants,
Noah's, Abraham's, Moses, Jesus. We talked about which is still in effect, which is all three,
not Moses, but the three others. And we gave you numerous scriptures on that.
Through Abraham's covenant and Jesus being in the order of Melchizedek, this is Hebrew 7.
Abraham tithed to Melchizedek in the same way that Melchizedek and Jesus,
because Jesus is in the order of Melchizedek, according to Hebrew 7, the same way they're
both declared to be alive. Abraham tithed to Melchizedek, we tithed to Jesus. Melchizedek and
Jesus in this picture are one and the same. Jesus is in the order of Melchizedek. And again,
I remind you, because this is huge, it all flows in the principle when we're spiritually blessed,
we're to reciprocate on that. The last thing we briefly touched was where does the church
get its funding? Ties and offerings. Now I'm going to directly show that to you this morning.
But before we go there, Walt, would you come join me? Walt was so kind, we were supposed to do this
last Sunday, and then the Holy Spirit changed, we went a different direction. So he agreed to
come and share this morning of tithing in his life and his experience. Yes, thank you.
So I got a few notes. Can I stand up here? You can. Yeah, especially if you need something to
put your notes. Yeah, thank you. Okay, tell me if the mic's okay or if I'm too close or too far.
Don't practice this too often. So I started out with tithing. Just, you know, a little kid,
mom gives me an envelope coin dollar bill. I thought, well, that's cool. I don't get it.
You know, but I guess whatever. And, you know, I started to follow hard after God in high school,
but the tithing thing never really kicked. It just, you know, I was aware of it,
but it just didn't kick. And in my 20s, it finally occurred to me, well, maybe I should
put some money aside to make this easier, because when I found that people had needs,
if I didn't have it already aside, it was hard. It was a mental struggle. Oh, well,
I might need this for food or pills or whatever. And it was just tougher. So I came across the verse,
1 Corinthians 16, 2. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of
money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come, no collections will have to
be made. I tried it, and that was my first step towards making it easier. I didn't have to
have the mental struggles that I did before to have money put aside. Well, I had had a couple
of examples in my life that helped. We had a guy in church who was a prosperous guy. This was
back in the 90s. He had five houses, and I'm like, wow, that's nice, you know. But he was
incredibly generous. He was a youth minister. He did things with confirmation in this
particular church. He rented one of his houses to college students that had an indoor pool and a
hot tub and a trampoline. And he let them use it freely. They didn't have to ask. The college
students ran the house. Stuff got broken. He didn't get mad. He just fixed it. He was
one of the most joyful people in giving I'd ever met. And it influenced me because I got to
receive from this guy. I'd take some kids from my neighborhood and say, hey, let's go jump on the
tramp. Let's go swim in the pool. Yeah, are you sure? Yeah, he's not here. It's okay. It was
unbelievable. I just was stunned at his generosity. And you know, he paid the price sometimes.
But anyway, the next person that influenced me was a single mom that I did work for. I'm a
very poor. And she basically told me this. She was a Christian single mom. She said, when we don't
have anything, any money, we paid all the bills, you know, kind of like the widow with the two coins,
we will go out and pick raspberries and we will give them to people. We will find a way.
I was floored. I'm like, wow, you don't have any excuses anymore when you meet somebody like
that. So then we were struggling quite a bit through the nineties in the early 2000s. And
a family that we ran into, Christian family, we were driving illegally, we were having more kids.
And the vehicle we had wasn't big enough for all the kids. We didn't have enough, you know,
seatbelts. So we just like, oh, Lord, what do we do? A family gave us the van we were looking
for that we couldn't afford. I didn't know these people from Adam. And they just gave it to us.
And I was stunned, but it started to make an impact on me. Wow. I'm literally, you know,
seeing what it's like to give that family two more times over 15 years, 20 years,
out of nowhere would call me up. Hey, we got a 15-pastor van. You need that?
Well, are you kidding me? It was, we did. We were right at the transition again. And then
five, 10 years later, they found me again, they had lost track of me. They dug in the internet
to find me. Hey, we got a SUV. It's, you know, one of those eight passengers. You need it? I'm
like, really? Three times? So we received. But then we started to give. And we, and that's where
I really began to see the difference. When I started to give freely,
I started to see a difference in my heart. And all of a sudden, what was kind of a burden,
a far away off thing became a joy. And that really changed me because that joy,
I started to feel God's joy. And for the first time in my life, I understood it's more blessed to
give than receive. That was life changing and has continued to affect us to this day.
And ironically, we do a lot of things with cars for people. How'd that happen? Well, you
know, God works. He's funny. But one of the verses that helped me a lot with the work and putting
the money aside was Ephesians 4-28. And it says, he who has been stealing must steal no longer,
but must work, doing something useful with his own hands. And that's where I usually stopped.
I'm like, yeah, that's probably a good idea. Then there, you know, criminals help them out.
And I was just trying to figure it out in my head, but I never saw the rest of the verse
that he may have something to share with those in need. And I heard this guy named Andrew Wamek
preach that once and he hit the other half of the verse. And I'm like, wow, I just now got a reason
to work that goes beyond anything I've ever had. It's not just about me. It's not just about my
family. It's about others too. I actually enjoy working more now than I ever did because
of that verse. Because if God just opened in that one window, hey, this isn't just about you,
but it wasn't an obligation. It wasn't a weight. It was a joy. Anyway, so
one of the things that also impacted me a lot was God's opinion of generosity versus stinginess.
Proverbs 11-25, a generous man will prosper. He who refreshes others will be himself be refreshed.
And then I'd see the opposite of that, the stingy ones. A stingy man is eager to get rich
and is unaware that poverty awaits him. Proverbs 28-22. I saw it in my own family. I saw that
happen and play out over many decades and I thought, and I have to battle sometimes with
this person in my family. What are you doing giving to people? What's wrong with you?
You land to them. You usually had interest. No, I don't. I give. It was a battle,
but it was a worthy battle because God had taken me to a place outside of my family,
outside of the way it had been raised to give. So I heard another guy once, I don't know who this
guy was, but God had blessed him with a lot of riches and this was his phrase. God shovels it
in and I shovel it out. I'm like, I like that. I like that. So anyway, I kind of feel like that
with my tithing and giving and et cetera, it seems like a river. It needs to keep flowing
or it gets stinky like a swamp. But sometimes God will dam it up for a little bit. It'll just
start to build up and then we'll, well, how come we're not? It's not flowing out. Well,
each time that's happened, he's had a need that comes that's coming for someone that I don't
know that I wouldn't have had enough for if we wouldn't have saved up. So I began to just
trust him and like, he knows what he's doing. He's doing this for a reason. We don't see
it yet, but it's coming. So anyway, let's see. I wanted to read you a story. Oh, one last verse.
Psalm 37, 25 to 26. I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely. Their children
will be blessed. So reality check for our family. There was a time where we've been on every kind
of welfare there is. Food stamps, cash assistance, section eight, children's museum lets us in because
we're poor, science museum, you know, you name it, we were on it. It was sad and I hated it.
I was embarrassed about it, but I was there. And I sincerely believe that God used tithing,
giving to help us out. In 2013, I've, you know, again, I'm a treacher, I have a business.
Our business income doubled. And to this day, I cannot figure out or point to any reason why.
It literally doubled and I figured it out near the end of the year. No storms that were extra.
I didn't advertise. Nothing. It was a supernatural doubling. But it, you know, he did it.
There's nothing I can point to but God, but it propelled me. Oh, I got to get more equipment.
It propelled us into being more efficient and having a better business than we ever would
have had without that supernatural doubling of income. And it enabled us to give more.
And I was elated. I'm like, not only are we getting, you know, freer and freer in our own
lives, but we give more. This is a win-win. So anyway, last story, this is something that
happened last fall. And basically what happened is in the midst of this giving, there is a battle.
But in that battle, what I have seen, if you hang in there, it basically works out to be.
He prepares the table for me in the presence of my enemies. Right in the middle of this
knocky-flat thing he's providing. And it's stunning because you know it's not accidental.
So can I share this last story? Okay. So I was having trouble getting paid by a townhome
complex last fall that we did tree work for. It had been about a month and a half and they
were making a lot of weird excuses. Things were getting lost. They owed me about, I think
it was about $8,000. I talked to God about it and got an impression that I should pray with
Bonnie from Word of Life Church. So I called her and asked her to pray for us.
Within a day or so, I received a check in the mail from another customer who owed me money
who I'd forgotten about. It was a giving thing. She was tight and I'm like, you know what? Just
take care of it when you can. Just don't worry about it. It pops in the day after Bonnie
prays. I'm like, oh, hey, that was nice. I wasn't even praying about that. So within
another day or two, the townhome complex board president texted me and told me that
the check would be coming now. I'm like, ooh. So then another day or two later,
I did a job for a friend who was normally extremely tight on money. She was a single mom
of growing kids, did not have income. But another guy that she had known from being a
kid gave her his inheritance. He gave her a house. He gave her money. For the first
time in her life, she kind of finally could relax again. So I did a treat job for her,
you know, trying to be reasonable. And she starts writing the check for $2,000 more than
she owed me. And I saw her writing out the check and I said to her, I think you wrote
in the wrong total. She said, no, I didn't. And then I said, you don't have to do
that. And she replied, yes, I do. I was shocked, you know, because we get tips
once a while. Maybe, maybe a really, really good tip would be 200 bucks. I mean,
and that's rare. She gave us 10 times that without even batting an eyelid or flinching.
I was floored. So anyway, not long after the job, the check from the town home
complex showed up in the mail. It had taken over two months. It was over.
Thank you, Jesus. But within a few more days, we got the highest paying
single address job we have ever done. It was $12,000. We got it done in two days.
And it enabled us to, we had to save up for something six months later that we
didn't know how we're going to do. And it was done in a day, you know, two days
actually. But wow. So anyway, God is good. It is absolutely worth giving.
And as Holy Spirit leads you, I'd encourage you to give us it sacrificially.
But here's Leading, the still small voice. And I do notice that he does a lot of
things spontaneously. We'll be driving down the road and there's a guy with the,
you know, it was Easter actually, a guy with the tire flat. And my son was with me
and I said, you know, let's help him. And he goes, hey dad, I want to pay for this one.
I'm like, yes. Yes. It's starting to sink in. Amen. Thank you. That's awesome.
Just to reference something because I'll say it at the end, I think, let us not grow weary and
while doing good for in due season we will reap if we do not lose heart. That is
absolutely true in financial giving and tithing. You don't always get the return the first day.
So let's talk about tithing in the New Testament and finish this thought.
We're going to look at other scriptures on tithing in the New Testament.
It did come through the cross unchanged and if I get time I'll show you some, you know, you get
online and you got social media and you got these clips of people who are saying the opposite
and they don't give scripture for it, they just say it. And it gets a little bit aggravating
and frustrating to me because tithing did come through the cross unchanged through Abraham's
covenant and then scriptures I'm going to show you this morning. So I'm going to go a little
bit quick because we got a lot to cover. So put your thinking caps on. The New Testament approaches
it from this perspective. Tithing is expected. I mean that's just how it approaches. Nothing
has changed. It came through the cross unchanged. For instance you say well it doesn't talk about
it a lot. Well you'll be surprised this morning you're going to see something you may have
never seen before. But let me ask you this. The seven days of creation where do you find
that in the New Testament? Seven days of creation. Where do you find that in the New Testament?
Do you still believe it? It came through the cross unchanged. The Old Testament describes it.
New Testament doesn't even talk about it. But yet today the seven days of creation are as true
as when Moses wrote about them. So it doesn't have to talk a lot about the seven days of
creation. It just expects us to believe it. Same thing is true with tithing.
So I'm going to give you a number of scriptures where Jesus and Paul refer back to the Old
Testament law to substantiate tithing. Why? Well it started with Abraham then the law was
added so that the people would understand it and realize they were failing.
There's the scriptures. We've read these before. The reason for the law is that every mouth would be
stopped. The whole world made guilty. We get a knowledge of sin. And the purpose of the law
it was added because of transgression until the seed would come. So there is the
PowerPoint we looked at previous and you I think you understand that. I changed it a little
bit just to maybe make it different as far as understanding is concerned. Noah's covenant
started first. Noah's covenant goes on. It has not quit. Abraham's covenant started after Noah's
covenant. It goes on. Abraham's covenant led into Jesus' covenant and Jesus' covenant goes on.
So there's three covenants that are active now. Those three. Moses' covenant was added.
The law was added until Jesus came. So here's the scripture that says Jesus
that Jesus was referring to and substantiating tithing to continue. It's Matthew 22.
What are you teachers of the law and Pharisees? You hypocrites. You give a tithe of your spices,
mint, dill, and cumin. Okay, stop right there. What is Jesus referring to? You tithe of your
spices, mint, dill, and cumin. What are you referring to? Tithing. What's the source of
his information there? The law. In the law they had to tithe everything down to their very spices
they raised. Okay? And Jesus said, but you have neglected the more important matters of the law.
So you're tithing on your mint, dill, and cumin, but you're not just, you're not merciful, and you're
not faithful. He said, you should have practiced the last three. Justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
And just forget about tithing. What does it say? Without neglecting the first three.
You keep tithing, but you really need to get into a little bit more justice,
this mercy, and faithfulness. He didn't say anything there that indicated tithing would stop.
So, however, from Jesus' perspective here, now remember Jesus, even though Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John are in the New Testament side of the book, Jesus is still living under law.
He has to fulfill it. So he's still there. So people will say, well, Jesus had to say
the tithing continued because he was still under law. Well, yeah, maybe. You know, I agree with that,
but I don't think it's the only reason. But let's look at where Paul says tithing has to continue,
and he's not under the law. First Corinthians 9, Paul describes it. Now, he starts this section
of Scripture upset. Paul is upset. The reason he's upset is because he and Barnabas were not
being treated the same as the other apostles. They had to work for their living. The other
apostles were supported by the church. Okay? So he's jumping right in. Am I not an apostle?
Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
So he's saying, hey, I'm doing stuff here too, ministering. If I'm not an apostle to others,
yet doubtless I am to you, for you're the seal of my apostleship. He's talking Corinthian church.
He's the one who founded it. Verse 3, my defense to those who examined me is this.
Don't I have or don't we, him and Barnabas, have the right to eat and drink? Do we have no
right to take along a believing wife like Peter and some of the other apostles or disciples
do? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working? We got to work because
you won't support us. Whoever goes to war at his own expense, nobody. Who plants a vineyard
and doesn't eat of its fruit? Nobody. Who tends to flock and does not drink of the milk of the
flock? Nobody. Do I say these things as a mere man or does not the law say the same also?
Oh, oh, Paul's going to the law to support something here now. That's important.
Why was the law given? Because the people were missing it and couldn't see it.
So God opened it up really plain and said, here's what's right, here's what's wrong.
So he's going to go back to the law and grab some principles
that, as far as Paul is concerned, are still in effect. They're the blessing principles. They go
back to Abraham. So for it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle the ox while it
treads out the grain. So is it cows, oxen, God's concerned about? Or is he saying this for our
sakes? Well, obviously it's for our sakes. It's written that he who plows should plow and hope.
And he who threshes should thresh and hope. He's talking farmer and renter language here now.
If you're going to have a herd, you've got the hope it's going to produce little ones and
produce some income and you'll be able to live by it. And if you've raised grain,
you're going to plow in the spring hoping that you're going to get a crop in the fall.
If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? Ah,
the principle. There it is again. That started with Abraham and Melchizedek. Melchizedek blessed
Abraham and Abraham gave him the tithe. There is the principle. Paul is going all the way
back to Abraham on that principle. So let's read on. Verse number 11, if we have, we've read that.
Verse 12, if others are partakers of this right over you, wait a second,
it's not just a principle, it's a right. When you sow spiritual things, you have the right
to reap a material harvest. This isn't just a good idea, it's a right. He said if others are using this
right, can't we use it more? Nevertheless, we have not used this right, but endure all things
so that we would not hinder the gospel of Christ. So the principle goes back to Abraham,
he refreshes us on it, and then he talks about the right of that principle going on.
Let's see. Verse number 13, do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the
things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar?
Stop right there. What's he referring to? He's referring to the law. He's referring to
Moses covenant, the law. This is how it worked under the law. If you ministered, you ate what was
brought to the temple. You partook of the offerings that were brought to the temple.
Now he's going to say, even sow. What does that mean?
The way it worked there, it's got to work here. I want you to clean your bedroom even your closet,
because you know how young people clean their bedroom. They shove everything in the closet.
Close the door. Now the bedroom is clean, the closet is a disaster.
When you throw the word even in, it means this is included. Closets included, okay?
He just said this is how it worked under the law. Even so, so now we're going to transition it to the
New Testament. The Lord has commanded. This isn't Paul's command. The Lord, Jesus Christ, has
commanded that those who preach the gospel should get their living from the gospel.
This isn't a Paul idea. This is Jesus idea. Now he's referring to the guidelines of the
Old Testament. How did the temple and the altar in the Old Testament get what they were given to the
priests? Ties and offerings. That's what he's referring to. And Paul is saying, why isn't this
being done for Barnabas and I? It's our right. This is how God has set it up to provide for
ministers. He's showing the tie that's still relevant in the New Testament. So now I'm going
to show you that deeper here in a second. Jesus referred to the law and said, you've got to keep
tithing. Well, now we know it's New Testament because Paul refers back to the law and says,
the ties and the offerings is what they made their living by. And the Lord in 1 Corinthians 9,
verse number 14 said, and it's supposed to happen the same way in the New Testament.
The Lord has made the command, if you're going to preach the gospel, you should live from that gospel.
So now before we go back and catch the details on this, let me give you a little history lesson.
You've got the 12 tribes of Israel. Each one was named after Jacob's sons. Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, then Jacob had 12 sons. The tribe of Levi is where we get what's called
the Levites in the Old Testament. They were the ones who took care of all the physical things that
had to be done with the tabernacle and then later the temple. Moses and Aaron came from that tribe,
the Levites. They were brothers. Moses and Aaron were brothers. They came from that tribe,
Levi tribe. God specifically chose Aaron's lineage to be priests. Everybody else in
the Levi tribe were responsible for taking care of the tabernacle and the temple and
you know making sure everything's working and clean and etc. So with that in mind,
now we're going to go back and look at what in the world was Paul referring to
when he said, well this is how it works and this is how it's supposed to continue to work.
We're going to go back to Numbers 18. Now it's also found in Deuteronomy 18,
but it's a shorter version there. It's just five verses. In Numbers 18 most of the chapters
devoted to it, as you can see, verses 8 through 32. And the only way you're going to get this
is we got to read the whole thing. So go with me. We're going to go in a hurry.
The Lord said to Aaron, who is Aaron, he is the one who is the priest and his lineage we became priests.
I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me. All the holy offerings. Now there's
something I want to point out right there. When it comes to giving the tithan offerings
to God, they are holy. They have to be handled holy. You want to get in trouble as a church.
You want to get in trouble as a minister. Start abusing the money.
And it will always come back and bite you because the tithe and the offerings to God are holy. He says
it over and over and over. Anyway, all the holy offerings the Israelites give me, I give to you
and your sons as your portion and your regular share. So he's talking about offerings here now,
not tithe yet. He's talking about offerings. You are to have the part of the most holy
offerings that is kept from the fire because they were sacrifices. They were animal sacrifices.
From all the gifts they bring me as holy, as most holy offerings. He says it again.
Third time, he said, holy. Whether grain or sin or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and
your sons. What part? The first part. He said, I'm giving it to you. Whatever gets burnt in
the offering, well, that's gone. What's left over? I'm giving it to you. From all the gifts
they bring me, the most holy offerings. That part belongs to you and your sons. Eat it as something
most holy. Boy, treat it as holy. Every male shall eat it. You must regard it as holy.
Not did we catch the holy part yet. Moving on. This also is yours. Whatever is set aside from
the gift of the wave offerings of the Israelites, that was a different kind of offering.
I give this to you and your sons and your daughters as your regular share.
Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat of it. I give you all the finest
olive oil, all the finest new wine and grain. They give the Lord, they give the Lord as first
fruits of their harvest. Now that's what Kai was talking about with his question a few weeks back.
First fruits. And we described that already. Here he's talking about it. So any offerings
that came in, whatever didn't get burned up in the fire as a sacrifice, belong to the priests and
Levites. Any first fruits that came in belong to the priests and Levites. Given to God,
God gave it on to them. Verse 13, all the land's first fruits that they bring to the Lord
will be yours. All of it. Didn't have to waste any of the olive oil and pour it on the fire
and make it burn. They could keep it all. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat
of it. Everything in Israel that is devoted to the Lord, depends upon what translation you read,
says holy to the Lord is yours. The first offspring of every womb, this is still first
fruit stuff he's talking about. Both man and animal that is offered to the Lord is yours.
Every firstborn of every womb was God's. You must redeem every firstborn son because you can't put them
in the fire. So you got to buy them back. Guess what that's a picture of? Us getting bought back
and not being thrown into the fire of hell. And every firstborn male of unclean animals you have
to redeem. Why? Because you can't sacrifice an unclean animal on the altar. God doesn't want it.
So you got to buy that worth back. Deuteronomy 14 explains that. When they are a month old,
you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels of silver according to the
sanctuary shekel which weighs 20 garas. Now, I just heard somebody in a short the other day say
everything in the Old Testament that was a tithe was either grain or an animal.
Well, apparently you're not reading the whole thing because right there it says silver
was used to redeem and buy back. Well, where did the silver go?
Presley bites. Got your thinking kept on. Good. Let's keep moving. But you must not redeem
the firstborn of an ox, a sheep, or a goat. You have to sacrifice them. They are holy.
Sprinkle their blood in the altar, burn their fat as an offering made by fire and aroma pleasing
to the Lord. Their meat is to be yours just as the breast of the wave offering and the right
thigh are yours. So certain parts of the animal were sacrificed, were burnt on the offering
or burnt on the altar. Other parts went to the priests and the Levites.
Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings. Well, he just keeps saying it. Everything
that has to do with tithes and offerings is holy. The Israelites present to the Lord and I give
to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. So when you bring your tithes and offerings
are you giving them to me, to word of life, to pastor eager? Who are you giving them to?
You're giving them to God. Everything that the Israelites present to the Lord.
The attitude is I'm giving this to God and he will watch over it and reward you accordingly.
You're not giving it to the church. I had one guy one time say he needed help in his business
and he wanted me to buy in. He said we've been coming to the church and giving you money for
years. Can you help us with this? And I thought well your first mistake was you weren't
supposed to be giving any money to me. It goes to the Lord. It's an everlasting covenant
of salt before the Lord for both you and your offspring. So what in the world is a covenant of
salt? Because when you bring those holy offerings, we're not talking tithes, we're talking offerings
now, it ties into a covenant. Well that's why you got to have some reference books. You can
made with Israel concerning sacrifices they were to offer forever so that this one never
ended, this covenant of salt. In Palestine and surrounding countries salt was used in making
covenants and if a person ate food with salt in it together with another person they became
friends though they may have been enemies before. Friends is the term speaking of you're
covenant with that person now. So if there was somebody you didn't like and they invited you
over and gave you a meal and had a bunch of salt, even though they were your enemy now
you're in covenant with them. So you had to watch closely what you ate what with.
The Arab expression is there is salt between us or he has eaten of my salt
which means partaking of the hospitality of another person cements that covenant that friendship.
Covenants were generally confirmed at sacrificial meals and salt was always present.
The covenant of salt pictured the everlasting friendship between God and his people.
And what did Jesus say in John 15?
Yeah he said that which is ties back to this covenant.
We're the salt that's part of what what we're supposed to do here but in John 15 he said
you are my friends if you do whatever I tell you to do there's a qualifier
well I'm a friend of God that means you're doing everything he told you to do
well no not everything you're not a friend of God.
Jesus said you're my friends if you do if you obey me if you do everything I tell you to do
he's referring back to this covenant covenant of salt or it could be part of what he's
referring back to. So I knew you would have questions on that so I thought well let's
read it. Verse 20 the Lord said to Aaron you will have no inheritance in their land nor
will you have any share among them I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites
so the Levites had land in Israel the priests did not Aaron remember Aaron's lineage was the
priests the priests had no physical land inheritance. Verse 21 I give to the Levites
all the ties in Israel as their inheritance in return well the Levites were included too here
according to this scripture in in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting
I give to the Levites and of course Aaron was over the priests all the ties in Israel
as their inheritance because they didn't have physical land given to them in return for the
The work they do while serving at the tent or at the temple.
Now we're talking tides.
From now on the Israelites must not go near the tent of meeting, or they will bear the consequences
of their sin and die.
In other words, if you're not tithing, don't go close to where God's presence is, because
in the Old Testament it would kill you.
Aren't you glad you're in the New Testament?
Or we'd have a really thin crowd this morning.
It is the Levites who do the work of the tent of meeting and bear the responsibilities for
offenses against it.
In other words, breaking things, fixing things, whatever.
This is the last ordinance for the generations to come.
They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites.
Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes, that the Israelites present
as an offering to the Lord.
So the tithes are given to the Lord.
The Lord says, I give them to the Levites.
Part of the Levites was, you'll see it here in a second, he breaks it out.
This is why I said concerning them, they have no inheritance among the Israelites.
The Lord said to Moses, speak to the Levites and say to them, when you receive from
the Israelites the tithe I give to you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth
of that tithe as an offering to the Lord or as the Lord's offering.
So the Levites, the one who did the work at the temple and the tent, received the tenth
from the people of that tenth, they had to pull out a tenth.
What for?
The Lord said, oh, in this way, my mistake, in this way, you will also present an
offering to the Lord from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites.
From the tithes, you must give the Lord's portion to Aaron the priest.
You must present to the Lord's portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.
The Israelites tithe to the Levites, the Levites tithe from what they got to the priests.
Verse 30, say to the Levites, when you present the best part, it will be reckoned to use a
product of the threshing floor or wine press.
You and your household may eat of the rest of it anywhere.
For it is your wages for your work at the tent of meeting.
That's where Paul is saying, it's my right.
I ministered to you spiritually.
You, by right, need to give the tenth for the support of the ministry.
And in the Old Testament it was, and if you don't, make sure you don't go to church because you'll die.
Don't go to the tent to meeting. Stay away.
Because if you're not doing this, the presence of God will kill you.
Why? Because the tithe and the offering is a holy thing.
It's your wages for the work you're doing.
By presenting the best part of it, you will not be guilty in this manner.
Holy offerings being made.
So now let's go back to Paul again.
Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple and those who serve at the altar partake in the offering of the altar?
What's he talking about? We just read it to you.
Offerings and tithes.
Even so, the way it worked back there, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.
Paul is directly stating that ministers in the New Testament are to make their living from the tithes and offerings just like the priests and Levites did in the Old Testament.
And all the various laws, Israel and the land, you know, inheritance, tithes, they're boohoo laws.
Paul doesn't touch any of them. In fact, he's against a lot of them. He says that doesn't apply anymore.
They don't apply to the church. He doesn't deal with that.
But the part that does apply is how ministers, those who minister the holy things, those who serve at the altar are given their living.
And the church, the temple, is funded by the tithes.
So someone's going to ask, but Pastor, isn't the temple the individual believers in the New Testament?
Well, it can be, but it also speaks of the corporate body.
In verse 13, which we just read, and I'll go back to it.
Do you not know that those who minister the holy things, eat of the holy things of the temple?
He's not talking about a one person thing there. He's talking about the corporate body, the church.
So let's go back to where we were. See if I can find it.
So let me give you some scriptures on this.
Verse 13 that we just looked at isn't referring to an individual.
It's referring to someone who works at the temple in the Old Testament.
And Paul is saying that's equal with the church in the New Testament.
Barnabas and I, Corinthian church, you need to be supporting us.
Okay? Scriptures that refer to the corporate body as a temple.
I won't read through them just for sake of time.
Here the word you is plural in the Greek.
I always thought that was speaking of a person.
And it can be, but technically it's speaking of plural, which is the church community.
Ephesians chapter 2 19 to 22, Paul describes believers as built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets
in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple.
So he's obviously talking about the church there.
In 1 Peter 2, Peter talks about us as being like living stones each one of us built up into a spiritual house.
Or Paul would have called that the church.
2 Corinthians 6 16, we plural are the temple of the living God.
So I want to repeat it.
Paul is directly stating here that ministers in the New Testament are to make their living from ties and offerings
just like the priests and the Levites did in the Old Testament.
And the temple in the church is funded by ties and offerings.
The point is this.
Paul and Jesus drew on the description that the law gave to us to tell us that tithing still exists.
Did you see that?
What Paul just said.
Jesus did it in Matthew.
Paul just went back there and said, here's the offerings.
Here's the ties.
Here's what it was used for.
It's still supposed to be being done.
Why is it not being done for Barnabas tonight?
He went to the law to make his point to describe to them what they should be doing.
Did you see it?
Okay.
Another aspect of this verse.
Those who we read verse 13 verse 14.
He's quoting Jesus.
Just another thought.
Even so, hath the Lord ordained.
Well, I wonder where he's getting that.
Now is that something the Lord personally shared with him?
It might be coming out of that verse that we looked at in Matthew.
Or it might be coming out of this one.
Jesus said, as you go, preach.
Saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Here is spiritual ministry.
Heal the sick.
Cleanse the lepers.
Raise the dead.
Cast out demons.
Just minister.
There is the ministry.
Freely you've received, freely give.
Now notice.
Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts.
The worker is worthy of his food.
Amplified says, for the workman deserves his support, his living, his food.
Huh.
Well, maybe that's the verse that the thought that Paul was referring back to and saying,
well, even Jesus said that.
I want you to see something there because somebody is going to bring it up.
Freely you've received, freely give.
Well, doesn't that mean you should work for free?
Nope.
Or he's contradicting the next verse.
Why would he say work for free and then say the worker is worthy of his food or his wages?
But somebody is going to bring it up so I felt I had to address it.
So what does that mean?
Freely you have received, freely give.
That has nothing to do with you getting your living from tithes and offerings.
It's talking about don't charge someone for preaching to them, healing them, raising the dead or casting out demons.
What the anointing and the gifts and the covenant has given to us, me.
I'll use me as an example.
I am to freely give.
Once I say, I will pray for you if you give me $100 donation.
I have not violated that.
Boy, they do this on TV.
They did. I don't watch it much anymore because it aggravated me.
But they do this and did this on TV a lot.
If you'll send in an offering of $500, we will pray for you every day for the next week.
What if I don't?
Or we're not going to pray for you.
You received the ability to minister spiritually freely.
You cannot tie a dollar value to it.
And say, we'll cast demons out of you, but this looks like a big demon.
We need a thousand for this one.
Might take us longer than normal.
Can't do that.
That's no.
The ability was freely given.
We have to minister freely.
Don't charge people.
They're obligated already.
Don't miss this part.
Paul said it's our right to receive finances from you.
They are obligated already by Abraham's covenant,
Moses' covenant, which Paul and Jesus both just referred to.
I'll just let that soak just a little bit.
When I counsel people, I do not charge them.
I feel I'm violating that principle.
I don't need their money to live because you're tithing.
You're obligated to tithe.
It's my right to collect that.
Now here we use it for the building.
We use it for outreach.
We use it to pay for the expenses to go to Red Lake.
We use it for everything to make everything function.
But the principle is, if you're tithing,
I don't have to charge for counseling.
And I shouldn't charge for counseling.
Okay?
This is how ministers are supposed to make their living.
They're not to provide for themselves.
That's what Paul's quoting.
So that verse again,
that's how they made it under the law.
And Jesus said,
and you make it the same way today.
If you preach the gospel, you should make your living from it.
Just like in the Old Testament.
So now just in case you missed it,
where did the tithe go?
To the temple, which New Testament Paul said is church.
Giving to someone in need is not tithing its alms.
Giving to a speaker you went and saw is not tithing its offerings.
Now you can give tithe to the church,
and the church give out money to the needy.
That's great.
But you can't take your tithe,
give it to needy people and say, I tithe.
No, you actually gave alms.
You haven't tithed yet.
Tithe doesn't belong to the needy.
The tithe belongs to those who work and serve at the altar.
This is talking about the place where you go to get your spiritual work done.
The place you're plugged into, connected with,
and do your portion of the work, Ephesians chapter 4.
The body builds itself up in love,
as each part does its work, does its job.
It's talking about the church.
Old Testament was temple, New Testament is church.
Special speakers are never referred to as the body or the church corporate body.
Here's some scriptures.
I won't go over them that talk about the corporate body.
But the head is Jesus,
and it's the group that is held together by each part,
doing its personal work or making its personal supply.
Where do we go to make our personal contribution
of work and supply?
That's where the tithe goes.
If you're tithing to somebody on TV,
I highly doubt you're going and helping them produce that TV broadcast.
You don't do your personal work there.
Verse 16, Ephesians 4 says,
it's where you are personally involved.
So it's not talking about the universal body of Christ,
it's talking about the local body of Christ.
It's the body that grows because of the work of the people.
Okay?
Let me back up.
Application, we are to give our tithe to the local church where we're plugged in,
not some distant church or random speaker.
We can give offerings to them.
Okay?
So now I know I'm past, but I have to finish the thought.
And then we'll quit and pick it up next message.
Paul says it was his right to be supported.
He said, but I have used none of these things,
nor have I written these things that it should be done to me, done so to me.
He says, so in other words, keep the tithe, keep the offering.
I'm not using it, for it would be better for me to die than to have anyone,
than that anyone should make my boasting void.
Ooh, Paul.
He's got pride about the fact he supports his own ministry.
So he makes another point in his feeling,
for I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of.
For necessity, he has no choice but to preach, he's called.
Necessity is laid upon me.
Yes, woe is me if I don't do it.
For if I do this willingly, I have a reward.
If I don't do it willingly, then I'm messing with the stewardship
and the entrustment that's been given to me.
He said, so what is my reward then?
That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge.
That I may not abuse my authority in the gospel, because he had the right.
Okay, so now I want you to get something here,
because I have to answer this, because somebody is going to bring it up.
So we have to finish the thought.
Paul first was complaining about, you guys are not supporting Barnabas and I.
Now he's refusing to let him.
Why?
Verse 15 says, because he liked to brag.
I don't take money from anybody.
Boasting.
He said himself, I'm not going to let you take my boasting away.
He didn't even realize what he was saying, I bet.
And he felt his reward was to preach the gospel freely.
And I've had people tell me, well,
Paul was obviously more honorable than you.
Because Paul did it free of charge, you expect us to support it.
Yep, that's what I expect.
Now, here is something you probably don't know.
Paul later asked forgiveness of the Corinthian church for doing that.
Because he was wrong.
And someplace between the book of 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians,
the Holy Spirit got a hold of him and said,
you need to quit your boasting and being all proud.
You are doing these people an injustice.
You're wrong.
Let me read it to you.
So now we jump to 2 Corinthians.
Here Paul's addressing it.
For did I perhaps make a mistake and do you a wrong?
In debasing and cheapening myself so that you might be exalted
and rich in dignity and honor and happiness
by preaching God's gospel without expense to you.
See, I didn't use my right.
Was that perhaps a mistake or wrong?
Well, let's find out.
Other churches I have robbed.
Oh, so that's how God was looking at it.
Oh, you'll take ties from other churches
so you can keep boasting to the Corinthian church.
You're robbing them.
So he had been talked to.
Other churches I have robbed
by accepting more than their share of support
for my ministry from them in order to serve you.
Notice this verse.
For in what respect were you put to a disadvantage
in comparison with the rest of the churches?
And he had talked about I put you in a bad spot,
disadvantaged you.
Unless it was for the fact that I myself did not burden you
with my financial support.
Pardon me for doing you this injustice.
King James, New King James in NIV says,
forgive me this wrong.
Well, Paul earned his own living.
Yeah, and he was wrong.
And in the end he apologized for it and said,
I was wrong.
I was doing you an injustice.
So let's answer this question and we'll call it it.
One translation says disadvantage,
one says injustice.
How was it done?
Well, he was keeping them from seed time and harvest.
They were being limited in the blessing
of the covenant of Abraham and Jesus
because of the lack of exchange.
The principal, Paul, started the church.
He was ministering to them spiritually.
They were obligated to reciprocate financially.
He was stopping them from doing that,
which means he was hindering them
from being able to walk in the blessing associated with that.
He said, I did you wrong.
I did an injustice to you by providing my own living.
First of all, I robbed from others,
so I'd get enough to live.
But secondly, you never got the chance
to participate in the full blessings
of Abraham's and Jesus covenant
because I refused to follow what he told us to do.
Whoo!
That's heavy stuff.
So, we'll stop there.
We've got a few more things to button this up
as far as the New Testament is concerned.
So now, between Abraham's covenant and Hebrew 7
and what Paul just shared and Jesus shared about the law,
and Paul specifically laid it out in 1 Corinthians 9,
tithing is absolutely a New Testament truth.
Principle. Absolutely.
I mean, you can't get around it.
Well, why doesn't it talk about it more?
Why doesn't it talk about the seven days of creation more?
I mean, there's a lot of topics in the Old Testament
that are taught there.
New Testament never touches.
Why? Because we're just expected to believe them.
You know, Brother Hagin said this.
He said, what the Bible says
and what it doesn't say,
you can learn as much from either one.
It says something, you can learn something from that.
It doesn't say, oh, then you can learn something from that.
We can learn both ways.
So in our process of being sifted,
let me just give you a smidge of advice.
To tithe takes faith to be obedient.
Sometimes we can't just jump from zero to the full tithe.
And God understands that.
He's not a hard task, Master.
He gets that.
What can you afford?
I haven't gotten to the scripture.
Walt read it, 1 Corinthians 16, 1 and 2.
When you come to church on a weekly basis,
read verse two with one, not just one,
read verse two with it.
Have something set aside in proportion it says to your income.
What is the only thing that we give to God
that is tied to how much we made?
Our tithe.
Offerings are not, alms are not.
Our tithe is.
And we already know that tithe belongs
the local body where you're involved.
So how do I get there?
What can you give consistently every week?
Can you give $5?
Start there.
Say, God, I'm starting with five.
This is already a stretch.
But I'm starting with five.
And give it every week.
We haven't gotten to the scriptures yet,
but God says, I will give you seed.
Seed talks of seed time and harvest that you can plant
so that you can plant the seed
and then He says, I'll give you your food.
So He'll give us what we need to plant
and then He'll give us, well, if we give $5 a week
we won't eat.
Go for it.
Test your faith.
He will make sure you're eating
while you're giving the five bucks a week.
Something will happen.
You'll get a raise at work, whatever.
Something will happen.
Do that for a while and see if it works.
Because God said, test me in this.
I'll show you.
And once it works, up your faith to 10 bucks a week.
Up your faith to $15 and just start going up.
What are you aiming for?
You're aiming for the 10%.
But you don't have to start there.
Start small.
If, like, Walt referred to some people
who, when they didn't have anything to give,
they went and picked raspberries and gave them.
Dr. Cho's church in Korea, which was,
I don't know where it is now, but for many years
it was the largest church in the world.
They had, he claims, and many,
I've read from numerous government officials,
South Korea is one of the most
prosperous countries in the world now.
He made the statement and then he quoted
many government officials who said,
the reason Korea is prospering
is because of Dr. Cho's church.
Because the first thing he taught them
is you got to get into tithing,
you got to get into giving.
These people were poor, they had nothing.
He said for months, you know what we got
in the offering plate?
Pretty rocks,
pretty feathers that they
had seen, and it's like, oh, I can give that to God.
Many testimonies of people on the way to church
saying, I've got nothing to give,
so they would stop and they'd look in streams
or they'd drag, they had to give.
Because he was teaching them, if you give,
just what we looked at this morning,
this whole process of the blessing of Abraham
will get on you.
And he said, we got nothing but rocks and feathers
and sticks that had been whittled
and, you know, stick whittled into a cross.
There's my offering for the day.
He said, that's where we started.
He said, and all of a sudden
our people started prospering
and God gave them ideas and inventions
and businesses.
And his church grew like mad.
I mean, the local body
was well over 50,000 people
that came through that place in a Sunday morning.
They had numerous services.
If my memory is right, they seated
over 10,000 at a crack.
Am I right on that? Yeah, I am.
How did they build a 10,000-seat
auditorium in all the facilities needed to go with it
offer rocks and feathers
and sticks?
They didn't. Do you know how they built it?
God began to prosper the people
and the people kept
honoring God.
The number of
multi-millionaires in his church
back in the 1980s
when a million dollars still counted
for more than it does now,
it was unbelievable
the number of multi-millionaires
in his church
who started
with giving something
we would consider worthless.
God said, I'll look at that as being holy.
A grubby little rock you found
that you polished up and you put in the offering?
I'm going to call that holy.
Because what's holy will reproduce
and multiply.
We haven't gotten into any of that stuff yet.
We're just still settling the argument.
I don't believe tithings in the New Testament.
And yeah, and you know who usually says that?
The poor people.
Just stop and think about it.
Of all the people who've said that,
well, I don't believe tithings in the New Testament.
How much money do you have?
Well, I barely get by.
Well, you put the two together.
Out of your own mouth,
you just named your own curse.
Put the two together?
Let's change that.
Well, I'm going to just stick with tithing.
It's not part of the New Testament.
Well, then stay poor.
Ain't my issue.
Your issue.
So Lord, as we're being sifted
and as you're getting the chaff
separated from the things in us
that really have value,
help us not to let...
help us that as we get spiritual opposition,
our faith doesn't fail.
I pray what Jesus prayed over Peter.
I pray over this body.
There will be opposition.
I pray their faith does not fail.
But that they just, by determination
on the basis of what your word says,
they just slowly keep walking forward.
And your word will not return void.
It will produce in us
what you've promised it will produce.
So I pray as, you know,
as you're shaking us,
as you're trying to get garbage out of our life,
it's not supposed to be there.
That we look beyond our current circumstances
and our current pain
and look into the promise and say,
we're going to do something to change this.
Because that is the earthly benefit
of what you asked us to do.
That's the earthly benefit.
You want your kingdom funded, yes.
But for those who are willing to do it,
you promised you'd open the windows of heaven
and pour out a blessing they could not contain.
That's the earthly benefit.
So I encourage you, God never asked something of you
that he does not return to you
multiple times over.
He just doesn't, that's not how God works.
So take some of these things,
think about them, let them soak in,
and make some determinations.
Maybe it's a buck a week,
maybe it's five bucks a week.
Maybe you can jump right into the tie
that won't hurt you at all.
Whatever, just start
and let the process begin.
Amen.