We are into a series that, this is the fifth message.
First message was, we talked about the principle in Scripture that says what we love, we give to.
And that's just a universal principle. If you love your spouse, you're going to give to your spouse.
If you love your children, you're going to give to your children.
If you love your house, you're going to give to your house.
You're going to decorate it. You're going to give your time to clean it.
If you love your car, you're going to give to your car.
It's just whatever we love, we give to.
That's why the principle is, 2nd Corinthians 8-8,
tithing and financial giving to what the Lord asks us to do is a test of our love.
It's a heart check.
Because he wants us to handle it in a certain way.
So that was the first message. Then message 2-3 and 4 was dealing with, 2 and 3 was dealing with Abraham's Covenant.
Talking about Abraham's Covenant and showing how that ends up in the New Testament.
And then the last message we dealt with was specifically showing from the New Testament that tithing is for today.
That's the big controversy.
Well, that was under the law. Well, now you're showing your ignorance because it wasn't under the law.
It's before the law. And the purpose for it was way before the law.
And it's not for today. Well, there again, Scripture says it is.
And I think we've got that nailed down sufficiently at this point.
That it's going to be kind of hard for you to listen to those messages and argue your way out of it.
Saying, well, I don't believe it is for today. Well, it is.
So, with that said, let's move on. And I do want to clarify something before I go on.
See if I can put this such a way just to roll off.
I had quoted a Scripture in Numbers 18, verse 21 through 23. I just want to briefly touch this.
I went back and I listened to it and I said, I didn't say that. I said that. That was wrong.
I said, I need that mic.
There's another 10 bucks gone.
I'm just messing with you.
Thank you for the thoughtfulness though. You were going to help me.
That's amazing. Russians help people.
Is that true, Sam? Yeah, it is. OK.
Mouth of two or three witnesses.
I better get back to my subject there.
I said if the Israelites didn't tithe, then there was going to be death. That was incorrect.
The Israelites were to bring the tithes and give them to the Levites, and then the Levites had to do the job of the tabernacle.
In the Israelites were forbidden to do the job of the tabernacle.
If they tried to do what the people that God called to do for the tabernacle or for church,
if the average lay person tried to do their job, they would die.
Which, I mean, that's a message all by itself.
I had a guy tell me one time, he said, you know when you speak, sometimes you make a difference between yourself and the people.
I said, well, there is a difference.
No, anybody can do what you do.
That has never been a picture in Scripture.
Because I'll be glad to hand this baby on and get out of this spot.
You want it?
I'll be glad to hand this on.
There is a call with what God wants us to do.
And we can't just do each other's job willy-nilly.
I mean, it doesn't work that way.
But I wanted to clear that up, that part of it.
So when it comes to tithing, there is so much to cover.
We'll see in a second. I'm a guy.
I can only think about one thing at a time, and I got distracted there, so my mouth shut down.
Women, you have such a gift, you can multitask.
Guys can't do... it's hard to chew gum and walk at the same time.
We forget what we're doing.
Anyway, there's so much... it's a good spot, women, not to say amen.
I know you were tempted to.
Yeah, that's my husband. He can't do two things at the same time.
It's just one. Yeah, that's the way we're wired, I'm sorry.
But there are so many things that you could cover in the tithing thing.
Some are relevant, some are irrelevant to the New Testament.
We're trying to hit just the basics of the relevant stuff.
Like for instance, did you... irrelevant stuff.
Did you know in the Old Testament there was three tithes?
The normal 10% tithe, a second tithe that was every three years
that the people were to take and use to fund their trip to Jerusalem.
Everybody had to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem every three years.
And they were to use the second tithe to pay for that trip.
And then there was a third tithe that came in between the years
where they weren't funding to go to Jerusalem.
That was for the poor.
And there was guidelines and stuff laid out for that.
Yeah, it doesn't really apply to us.
But I mean, if we wanted... I just say all that to say
if we wanted to get in and explain everything, it's just...
it doesn't make any sense to do that.
So we're just going to kind of go where...
what works for the New Testament.
So let's pick up where we left off on the last message
and go from there.
We're reaching a point where now God is going to begin
tapping you on the shoulder and say,
you got to do something with this.
To this point, it's been kind of gathering information.
Maybe he's tapped you on the shoulder already.
If he hasn't, this is the time it's going to start.
He's going to... you got to do something with this.
James 1.22, do not merely listen to the word
and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says.
So at some point, the Holy Spirit will tap us on the shoulder
and say, well, now you heard it, now you know it.
Now, in order to keep you out of deception,
you got to start doing what you know.
James 2.24, we see a man is not justified.
A man is justified by works and not by face only.
So here's the scripture that Walt had given when Walt shared.
And I just wanted to hit a part of message number four.
On the first day of every week,
each one of you should set aside a sum of money
keeping with his income or as God has prospered him
so that the collections when Paul shows up
doesn't have to be dealt with.
The amplified reads it this way.
On the first day of the week,
each one personally should put aside something
and save it up as he has prospered
in proportion to what he has been given
or he has given.
I said before, there's only one form of giving
that goes according to our income and it's tithing.
Offerings do not, alms do not,
first fruits do not.
Our tithing is tied to our amount of giving.
So I just wanted to bring that
because I hadn't brought that scripture up for you.
I just wanted to bring it up so that you know where it's at.
There Paul is specifically talking about tithing
in the New Testament.
So every Sunday we have been trying to have someone share
who has something good to say about their life
and tithing in their life and so forth.
And this morning Cindy is going to come and share.
So Cindy, if you'd join us,
we're going to have you give us your thoughts on this.
Good morning.
You want me to hold the mic for you?
I wrote this down. It's from my heart
and I really feel that it's being led by the Spirit.
So I'm going to be reading it
but I really feel in my heart
that this is for someone that's here.
Once I got the revelation of tithing
I was one who didn't know how to possibly do it.
But knowing that our God looks at our heart
and gives grace and mercy
and with the Holy Spirit's guidance,
a plan manifested.
I started out gradual.
During certain times of the each year
I would assess and being led by the Holy Spirit
I would increase the amount I was giving
until I was tithing my net income.
This plan took years to accomplish.
Then I had to have courage and trust in Him
that I could continue to increase
until I was tithing my growths.
Again, this took time.
After meeting that accomplishment
do I have to back up?
No, I think you're fine. They're playing with the...
Then came the big question about our income
and our marriage covenant with my spouse, Wayne.
He didn't have the revelation of tithing.
We talked about it several times
but he didn't seem on board
but did agree that God had been providing our needs.
Being the one who handles all of our financial affairs
and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit
we eventually started and continued to tithe our growths.
Wayne still doesn't totally obtain
or regarding the tithing concept
but agrees that I am handling
all financial obligations including the mess-ups
on the transactions, on any transactions.
Well, bless God.
God is greater and there's been no mess-ups or regrets.
God has been very generous to meet our needs
including the unexpected enormous cost
of house renovations that happened just this year
which Wayne too is reaping from
because he can be home
and not have to be in a nursing home.
There are so many incidents
that I could exclaim how God has taken care of us
when in the natural it didn't seem possible.
It reminds me of the scripture Malachi 310
to bring all the tithes into the storehouse
that there be food in my house
and see if not
if I will not open the windows of heaven
and pour out for you such blessings
that there will not be room enough to receive it.
For me,
I feel it's one of the parts of a covenant
between me and my Lord
that even though under the new covenant
I don't have to do it to be saved
when I act on it and freely give the tithe.
Being the Lord he is, the exchanges,
I get blessed.
As the bride of Christ
and he be in my groom,
I want to do things that I know will please him.
I found it so true that the more I give to my groom
the more he blesses me.
He always out blesses me.
I'm not saying anyone should go against her spouse's desires,
but to pray and seek the Holy Spirit
to soften their heart
and have the tithing concept become rama on to them.
It is a process that in our situation
didn't happen overnight.
Looking back,
I'm just going to stop and say something here
that I thought of this morning.
I questioned myself, how long did it take me to get to that process?
And honestly, I would say that it took me almost 30 years.
It is a process that our situation did not happen overnight.
Looking back, I also see how the process has built my faith.
I sense during the whole process of tithing God's seeing
and sees my heart,
heart's desire to be obedient and please him.
I would also like to mention,
even with tithing on a regular basis,
I do get attacked with thoughts like,
just think what you could do with that money
if you didn't tithe it.
And I'll be honest, this week was one of those weeks
because I was told I needed a new vehicle.
I had been working on it before Wayne had his accident.
It didn't happen.
I didn't know if I was supposed to get it,
but it kept coming back to me again
just in the last couple weeks.
I even asked the Lord, should I do this?
And I got the impression, no.
But that no was so strong.
I wasn't sure if that was a Lord or not.
And it was by the inward witness
that I went through the motions.
Just go look at the vehicle.
It's not going to hurt to look at it.
And it just fell in the place.
Again, I had to have the money for that.
We had just forked out all this money on renovations.
And God supplied the money to be able to do that.
And not only that, He also blessed me
because it only came with one key fob.
They offered me another key fob,
which key fobs I don't even know about.
I had a 2006.
This is a 2016.
And besides that, the least I've ever bought a vehicle
is 17,000 miles.
This one only has 12,000 miles.
And in the mail on Saturday,
that was yesterday, right?
I get an extra key fob besides.
Cool.
All right, so there's just another testimony.
Now I'm going to lose my place
and have to figure out where I was at.
I also would like to mention,
even with tithing on a regular basis,
I do times get attacked.
Just what do I do with that money?
Thank God, the Holy Spirit,
guiding me on the straight and narrow.
And during those moments,
I make sure to get God's tithe to Him
as quickly as I could.
And believe me, today,
it was a water relief to get that in the basket.
I had gotten victory.
I had won.
Not he didn't.
I got the victory.
All right, back to where I am.
I only got a couple sentences left.
I remind myself
that God doesn't need this money.
That there is more to the reason why I am to tithe.
And I look at it as a way to honor God
in an act of obedience.
This makes me feel good.
And it is something I can do
to uphold my part of the covenant
that I have with God, as the word says,
I am the righteousness of God.
I remind myself it's not about me,
but what God wants.
But you know there's an interesting way
how God changes some of these things?
Because correct me if I'm wrong,
but even when I tithe,
it doesn't always mean
that I'm going to get blessed back
monetarily.
It's a motivation thing, yes, you're right.
It's going to be other things.
This Saturday,
our kids are celebrating us
with our 50th wedding anniversary.
What that means to me
is yes, it is a great honor,
but we never
knew for sure
if Wayne would ever make it to live that long.
I would pray
please let him hold his children,
please let him see his children graduate,
please Lord let him be at each of their weddings,
please Lord let him hold each of his grandbabies
before you take him.
He's now 70 some years old
and we've been able to do all that.
And this just came up unexpectedly
and now we're going to be able to have this moment.
And to me,
it's an honor to thank everyone else
and that includes many people here
that helped us get through this journey
to encourage us to be able to take the journey
that was put before us
to be able to have this moment.
That's it.
I remind myself, it's not about me,
but what God wants.
What does God want?
God always wants the best for me.
I am blessed.
Amen.
And that leads perfectly into
what I want to talk about today.
Remember Paul had to ask forgiveness,
just getting you a running start.
Paul had to ask forgiveness
for not requiring the Corinthian church
to support him.
Because he put him at a disadvantage.
Remember we gave you the scriptures on that?
Last message.
He limited them.
They were being limited in every area.
And we'll show you that this morning
on 2 Corinthians 9.
They were being limited in every area of their lives
because Paul did that.
So Paul had to ask forgiveness for it.
So what does tithing
and financial giving to what God wants
benefit us?
How does it benefit us?
That's our topic for this morning.
So what can we expect?
Well, let's go back to the four points
that I had brought up at the beginning.
First message.
Why do we tithe?
Number one, return to God.
What is actually His?
We haven't hit that yet.
I'm going to hit that this morning.
To supply for God's work,
I think that one we hit really clearly
in the messages 2 through 4.
To test our hearts,
we've mentioned that over and over.
And to provide a way that opens
an avenue of blessing and prosperity
in every way.
And she's absolutely right.
It's not just finances.
In every way, including financial,
for believers.
So we're going to hit number one
and number four this morning.
Get as far as we can get.
I found something interesting
returning to Him what is actually His.
So I thought, let's do a study on this.
I've never done a study on
what does God consider actually His?
And I got a bunch of things here,
so we're going to run through them quickly.
They're on the PowerPoint or the PDF.
You can download with this message
and everything that goes on the screen
is on that PDF.
So you don't have to take notes real fast
because we're going to go fast.
The earth is the Lord's and its fullness.
The world and everyone in it.
The world is God's and everything living in it.
Not just people.
The silver and gold are His.
Our bodies and our spirits are God's.
Any redeemed person belongs to God.
The earth and everyone or everything in it
is the Lord's, that's said again.
The heavens belong to God.
The firstborn of Israel,
both men and animals belong to the Lord
and need to be physically redeemed,
which that's a whole sidetrack we could go into.
We won't because of the time,
but it's not relevant to us today,
but it was for them.
Interpretation of dreams belongs to the Lord.
So surprise, surprise, Joseph was right.
When Pharaoh said,
hey, I heard you can interpret my dream
and he said, I can't.
But I know one who can.
God reserves interpretation of dreams
for himself.
The Israelites belong to the Lord.
The secret things belong to the Lord.
Wisdom, power, counsel, understanding
belong to the Lord.
Strength, victory, the deceiver belongs
to God.
Eternal praise belongs to the Lord.
Dominion and awe belong to the Lord.
The day of vengeance belongs to the Lord.
The Levites belong to the Lord.
The kings of the earth, the shields of the earth,
which that's what kings are supposed to be,
shields for the earth
against the stuff that's evil,
they all belong to the Lord.
The mountain peaks belong to God.
It's just crazy.
Every living soul belongs to God.
The words Jesus spoke belong to the Father.
Salvation, glory, and power belong to God.
And guess what?
The tithe belongs to God.
Let me show it to you.
And all the tithe of the land,
whether the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree,
is the Lord's.
It is holy to the Lord.
Going back again to, he calls this holy
over and over and over.
If a man wants it all to redeem any of his tithes,
he has to add one fifth to it.
I'll come back to that just in a second.
And concerning the tithe of the herd of the flock,
of whatever passes under the rod,
the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord.
So here is, go to the verse 32 first.
What do we tithe on? Net or gross?
We're going to talk about that more in the future,
but here is a scripture that gives us an idea.
For them back there, of course,
the land was given to them.
They didn't have payments on the land, anything like that.
But the way God figured the tithe back there
is every tenth animal.
That one's mine.
That one's mine.
That's how he did it.
That would be tithing on the...
gross.
Now some say, well, there can be a net thing involved there,
because what if some of the animals died
before they got to the point of encountering them?
Well, that's true.
So I just wanted to point it out and make you think,
we'll come back to it.
And I'll go back to verse 31.
We won't come back to it today, but we will come back to it.
If a man wants to at all redeem any of his tithes,
he has to add 20% to it, to the tithe.
So if your tithe is $100 and you want to redeem it,
when you do give it, you have to add 20% to it,
so now it's $120.
That was for them, not for us, but that was for them.
It's in the scripture of the tithe is the Lord's,
and that particular phrase hasn't changed.
You say, what do you mean redeem it?
We got the house payment this week.
We're supposed to be tithing.
Let's hold on to the tithe for this week.
Make the house payment.
We'll tithe two, three weeks down the road.
You redeemed your tithe.
You pulled it back.
God says, well, now you've got to add 20% to that,
because tithe is supposed to be first, not your house payment.
Budget better.
I'm just saying, that's how they operated.
Let's go on.
He shall not inquire whether it is good or bad.
Now he's talking about the, remember, the tenth one,
the tenth animal, the tenth whatever that passes under the rod.
They're counting them one, two, three, tenth one is God's.
You don't inquire whether it's good or bad,
nor shall he exchange it.
Oh man, the best one in the whole herd
ended up being the tenth one.
Switch it out for number nine.
That one was a run.
Says you can't do that.
Can't exchange it.
If you exchange it, then number nine and number ten
shall be holy.
You cannot redeem it.
You cannot switch.
You cannot do these things.
That was rules for them.
I think it's probably still good to listen to some of it,
but it's not law to us.
We're under a different covenant,
but it was in that section of Scripture.
So the tithe obviously belongs to God.
Paul brought it up in the New Testament.
We looked at that already.
It's a holy thing.
So we have to pay attention to how we handle it.
So back to those four points.
Let's hit number four.
Tithing provides a way that opens an avenue
of blessing and prosperity in every way.
Every way.
So the principle of,
okay, let's say that I'm a tithe there.
How does that benefit me?
We're going to talk about that.
The thing we have to remember about God,
as Cindy was 100% correct,
he doesn't need it.
He will not go bankrupt without it.
It's a whole bigger thing than that.
And it has to do with us.
Not, well, God needs this.
No, that's not it. It's all about us.
Any time we obey, blessing is attached to that.
Right? Isn't that what Scripture says?
So this part is very misunderstood and skewed.
So we need to talk about this a little bit
before we get into it.
What motivates us to tithe?
Do we give because God asked for us to do it?
Or do we give because we want to prosper?
Both are correct.
But we have to look at motives here
before we dig too much deeper.
They're both correct, but there's an attitude check
that needs to take place here.
God wants us to give.
Why does God want us to give?
Those four reasons.
Number one through three
needs to be in place
before we start looking for
and believing for number four.
It's actually his, not mine,
so I need to return it to him.
It's what he wants to use
to help the human race on earth.
And it's designed to test our hearts.
We need to look at those first
before number four.
The reason for it is right there.
If you would never receive anything
forgiving to the kingdom,
would you give it anyway?
And on top of that, would you give cheerfully?
You know you're never going to get
anything back from this,
but you're going to give it.
What is our first concern?
Pleasing God and what he wants?
Or taking care of ourselves
and pleasing ourselves.
That's why I say
the first three have to be
the first things we look at
and that has really
because of tele-evangelists
and all that kind of stuff,
that has really gotten skewed
because the first three
usually are not mentioned
when you're trying to raise money for TV.
Number four is the one
that's always mentioned
and it has turned the body of Christ
either turned him off to where,
I don't believe any of that stuff.
That ain't true.
Or it's turned him green.
It's all about me giving
so I can get.
No, actually we give
because number one, it's not mine.
I'm just returning to him. What's his?
Number two, this is
his way of supplying
for what he wants to do in this earth.
And number three, he actually wants to know
what's going on in our hearts.
Amen.
And if those three all come up clean,
then number four, yeah,
let's look at that because it's important.
So a couple of
principles out of Philippians.
Notice something here.
I rejoice greatly in the Lord
that at last you had renewed your concern
for me. Indeed, you have been concerned
but you had no opportunity
to show it. I am not saying this
because I am in need.
He's talking about money, he's going to make it real plain now in a second.
For I have learned
to be content in whatever
the circumstances. We'll come back to that.
I know what it is to be in need
and I know what it is to have plenty.
I have learned
the secret of being content
in any and every situation,
whether well fed
or hungry.
So he's not kidding here when he says I know
what it's like to be in need.
He didn't have enough money to buy food.
He was going hungry.
Whether living in plenty
or in want.
Notice the next scripture
that everybody quotes but never
quotes the context.
I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me.
Woo hoo, let's agree in prayer.
It actually has to do
with
abounding or based.
Having plenty or lack.
He says I can deal with a lot.
I can do it through Christ's strength
and you do need strength to deal with a lot
correctly.
And I can go through want to the point
I'm even hungry.
I can do that through Christ's strength.
But you never noticed that before.
That's the context.
So let's read on verse 14.
Yet it was good
for you to share in my troubles
moreover as you
Philippians know
in the early days of your acquaintance
with the gospel when I set out from Macedonia
so he's reminding them of a missionary trip he took.
Not one church
shared with me in the matter
of giving and receiving
except you.
For when I was in Thessalonica
you sent me aid
again and again
when I was in need.
So the Philippians were the only ones
who supported Paul's missionary trips.
That's interesting.
Go back to this verse.
The key to prosperity
is locked up in there.
Verse 11.
I've learned
whatever it is
I'm going to be content
verse 12
midway through
I have learned the secret
of being content in any and every situation.
I was talking about it with somebody
for you this morning.
You know
we can be
given a million dollars a year
and find a way to spend it
and still not be happy.
Or we can just be scraping by
and still not be happy.
And we got to find a way
to get more money. We got to get a job.
We got to get raised. We got to go.
Okay, well
the key
to prospering
is learning how
to be content.
Now that doesn't mean we're not
looking to
move forward in our business
or move forward in our company.
We're not looking for
wage increases thing. It's not saying that.
What is your attitude
while the process
is happening?
That's the key.
If all it is
is on one hand, well I don't have enough,
so we gripe and complain and we moan
and murmur.
God doesn't
honor that.
Or from the other hand,
we're just tooting our horn because
we're doing so good and life is so great
and
knock on wood. You got to be doing something right.
Well that's pride. God don't want that either.
But in both situations
to be able to go
you know there's an old saying
my mother was the first one I heard it from
this too shall pass.
Remember that old saying?
To be
able to just go
I trust God. I'm going to do what I can do
and he's going to do the rest.
This will pass.
Is very necessary
when we're short.
It's not so much when we've got extra
but when we're short.
But here's the point I made to someone in the four year.
True prosperity
comes by learning how to live in your means.
True prosperity is not having so much
money you never have to think about what you spend it on.
That is not true prosperity.
True prosperity is learning
how to... okay, here's what we got.
We're going to decide
to spend it accordingly because if you've got
this much
you're going to spend on bigger things.
Because you've got this much.
If you've got this much
you're going to spend on little things.
Because you've got this much.
Does that make any sense?
Can you be happy in both places?
Can you be content?
Well, this year we're only
spending 50 bucks
for Christmas.
Well, that's not a good response.
This year
got a big bonus from work. We can spend a lot.
Everybody's happy.
See, that's a heart problem.
Something's broken inside
because we have to learn
how to be content
no matter what the situation.
You say, well, what are some of the things
we can do to learn that?
Well, Jesus gave us an idea.
Let's go to Jesus.
Do not stare up for yourself
treasures on earth where moth and rust
destroy and thieves break in and steal.
But stare up for yourself
treasures in heaven where moth and rust
do not destroy and where thieves do not break in
and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also.
He says, love God with all your heart, soul, mind
and strength. This is the first commandment.
Well, I don't know how to do that.
Start making what he wants, your
treasure, and your heart will go there.
Because what we treasure
is what we hold dear
in our heart.
Now, usually we work that principle
in reverse.
I like that, so I'm going to invest
in that. Well, see it was already in
your heart, so now you went there.
What about this over here?
I don't like that, but God
wants me to do that, get involved
with that. How are you going to get your heart
to go there? One of the ways is
put your treasure there.
I think these poor people
should just get a job.
Yeah, but God wants you to help take care of them.
Well, I'll tell them what they need to do.
Well, your heart's not there.
Well, I don't know. I just
think they need to get out and do something.
Well, you might not be wrong, but your heart's wrong.
I mean, you're kind of critical.
A little judgmental there.
How are you going to get your heart to change?
Find some poor people
and put your treasure there. Give them some money.
Give them something
that they need.
Something you're not using anymore.
Well, I'm not using it,
but my mother gave it to me.
We'll give it to the poor person.
Why would I give it to them?
They need to go by their own. No, we're trying to change
your heart
by causing you
to treasure something right now
you don't treasure.
And God wants us
to help take care
of the needy.
In fact, James says, you've got no righteousness
if you say, oh, let me pray for you
and we'll just pray and believe God does something in your life.
He said, you need to give them something.
Is that what James said?
So if we want our heart
to go someplace, we make
it go there by
putting treasure there.
If you want your heart
to be vested in the kingdom of God,
put some
treasure into the kingdom of God
and your heart
will go there.
If you want
your heart to be more
invested in church,
put some
treasure in the church.
Time,
talent, finances
your heart
will go there.
It is a principle Jesus laid out
for where your treasure
is
your heart.
It's going to be there also.
That's where Paul
is coming from
when he says
I'm testing your love for God
by your giving.
You don't give to God,
your heart's not there.
Oh, I love God with all my heart.
How much are you giving?
How much treasure are you putting into
what he asked you to put it into?
Oh, that sucks, don't I?
That sucks, don't I?
That sucks, don't I?
That sucks, don't I?
I'm telling you, I can either stand up here
and make you feel good and send you home deceived
or I can tell you what the Bible says
and we can all go, oh man,
really, ouch.
So that's what Jesus said
where your treasure is, your heart be also
then he goes on and says something else
that's kind of profound. Same, it's the next verse.
The eye is the lamp of the body.
If your eyes are good, your whole body
will be full of light. If your eyes are bad,
your whole body will be full of darkness.
If then the light within you is darkness,
how great is that darkness?
He is still talking about
finances and where we're putting them.
Notice this.
He's talking about finances,
where we're putting them.
Then he says, here is
the condition of your inner man.
Next verse.
No one can serve two masters.
Either he will love one and hate the other
or he's going to be devoted to one to spies the other.
I'm still talking about God
and money.
You can't serve God and money.
You're going to have to choose
who you serve.
Depending upon who we choose
will determine
our inward spiritual condition.
Whether we're full of light
or whether we're full of darkness.
It's in context.
Jesus said this.
Wow.
So if we can't
give him what's his,
if we can't be financially involved
put our treasure into things
our eye is
the lamp of the body.
We're looking at money
the wrong way.
Well, I can't
give this.
I thought what Cindy said was really good.
Took her a number of years to get to the point
where she could give the full tithe
because her faith was growing. That's okay.
We talked about that. That's okay.
But she looked at the money
and said I've got to get to the point
I can give the 10%.
She didn't look at the money and go
yeah, hell's going to freeze over
before I give that to the church.
You say, oh, it's just a simple decision.
It's a simple decision that
determines your spiritual
inside.
Who?
Whether we're full of light
whether we're full of
darkness.
Okay, now.
Okay, so we have
a rule here
for people who are ministering
in the church have
to be tithers.
Now I'm going to give you a perfect example
of why.
So we've got a prayer line
here
and we've got someone
who is looking at their money, like Jesus
just talked about and said, nah, hell's
going to freeze over before I give that.
But we're going to let them
who are now have considerable
darkness in them according to that verse
go down this prayer
line and lay hands on you.
You know what that's going to give
to you?
Their darkness.
We can't do that.
Pastor Bern, you're too legalistic.
No, actually I care about people enough
to say what's on you I don't want
on them.
You got to deal with your own wagon
first before you start unloading
into them.
That's the concept.
Because, see, you're serving
the wrong master.
You don't love God enough
to obey him.
But you're going to minister
for him what you have
freely received. Well, what have
you freely received?
Jesus told us what we freely
received. Darkness.
So in reality, you know what?
Tithing
affects how we minister.
I know
two are in agreement and the rest of you are thinking
that's okay.
Because, remember
when we are ministering
we're praying, we're speaking over people.
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth
speaks, well what if my heart's got darkness?
What's coming out?
My words of knowledge, my prophecies,
all these things, what's coming, where's the
source of that? Jesus already said
you got darkness in you.
You're not handling your money right.
And the reason you're not handling it
right is because you're looking
at it the wrong way.
The eye is determining
this.
Lust of the eye.
Lust of the flesh.
Pride of life. The big three.
Jesus is dealing with the eye.
Looking at it
the wrong way.
And
I'm not saying that
we shouldn't
want to get ahead and so forth
but we have to really be
careful how we handle
the tithe
because it doesn't belong to us and God calls
it holy.
So we got to pay attention to that.
So
now let's give you some better news.
Some of you are thinking
man
he's really loading us up this morning.
Well let's go to something that
is a little more palatable.
Once we've done the first three
and we've checked our attitude
it's a continual growing process
but once we've done that
number four what does it do for us?
Well here is the Old Testament
here is what Cindy quoted
bring all the tithes to the store
house that there may be food in my house
now this is Old Testament so
it's a good principle splashes over into the new
I'll show you that in a bit
he's referring to
remember we talked about
how the Levites and the priests
lived off the tithes and the tithes were
brought in that's how the tabernacle
and the temple worked
that's what he's referring to here
bring all the tithes into the store house
that there may be food in my house
remember we went over all that
and try me now in this as the Lord
If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing, there will not be room enough for you to receive it.
I just want to point one thing out here before we move to the next verse.
Says the Lord of hosts. Who is the Lord of hosts? This is important for where this is going. Who is the Lord of hosts?
Jehovah Sabaulah. Jehovah, the God of covenant. Jehovah's Lord.
Host is Sabaulah. It's the God of war, service, and the appointed time.
Why would the God of war use that name talking about tithing?
Hang on, you'll see it here in a bit.
He says, check this out. He says, if you'll obey me, he says, you're going to benefit.
I'm going to pour out such blessings on you. This is an Old Testament promise.
You won't even be able to hang on to him.
Storehouse in our days, the church opens the windows of heaven, pours out blessing.
Next verse.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sake, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field.
Says Jehovah Sabaulah, the Lord of hosts. He said it twice. Verse 10, verse 11.
And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful end.
Says the Lord of... the Lord of war, the God who's willing to go to war to serve us.
Why did he say that three times? It's the beginning of verse 11.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes. Remember this covenant thing with Abraham and God?
It's a great exchange. What is God's becomes Abraham's. What's Abraham's becomes God's.
And God has to by covenant defend Abraham. Abraham by covenant defends God.
Remember some of that stuff we talked about?
The devourer is going to be stopped by whom?
Jehovah Sabaulah.
I will. Now he's talking covenant again, the thing we talked about with Abraham.
I will rebuke. You don't have to rebuke the devourer if you're a tither. I will do it.
He steps in on our behalf. And apparently it's not always pretty because the name he chose to represent himself
was not Elohim, was not El Shaddai, was not any of these other Jehovah names.
It was Jehovah Sabaulah. I am the God in covenant with you and I will go to war to serve you at the right time.
So now something the Lord pointed out to me that I want you to see.
I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes.
So he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit.
For the ground we typically think of what brings us income.
Oh, but it goes so much deeper than that.
I am ground. This body is dirt.
Mary is ground.
And we produced fruit.
Children.
When the devourer comes after your children, because you're a tither, Jehovah Sabaulah will step in and say no.
But see, you can't claim that if you're not a tither.
That goes to tithers.
The vine can also be, include children.
The wife is referred to as a fruitful vine. It sounds 128, verse 3. Jesus is referred to as the vine in John 15.
And he's God's son. So vine can also, it's something that reproduces, puts out there.
So you have to catch this.
Tithing in the old covenant, which we're in a better covenant.
According to the book of Hebrews, we're in a better covenant.
And it will grab some of these things and bring them forward.
But specifically in Malachi, he pointed out, if you will be a tither, he says, test me on this.
Not only will I open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing on you, you're going to abound.
You're not going to lack, you're going to abound.
But when the devourer comes against, not only your income, comes against your family,
I will step in and deal with him.
That's why he said, I'm the Lord of hosts, Jehovah's of both.
He's stopping the destroyer from destroying.
So now I'm going to go into some thoughts and then we're going to hit another scripture, get as far as we can before we're done.
I expect my children by faith. Remember, everything comes by faith.
You have to remember that. Everything comes by faith.
I expect my children by faith because of the promise of tithing, that alone.
I expect my children to be well, to be healthy, to be happy, to be provided for, to make heaven.
And on and on the list can go. He said, oh, that's awful, arrogant to think that your family's going to have it that good.
No, I'm just going by what he said. Test me on this.
He said, check this out. You tithe. I'll do this for you.
So when I look at my family, I am expecting absolutely the best.
And anything that comes against them, that smacks them.
There's a door up in some place. We got to close it because God says, you obey me, you follow me.
He said, I'm going to just slap the devourer away.
This isn't going to happen to you.
So here's a New Testament version of that verse.
Remember this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.
Whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, but God loves a cheerful giver.
So before we go off of that, verse number six, we determine the amount of our harvest.
Did you see that?
We determine if we're going to receive generously or sparingly by what we're willing to enter in the covenant with.
And it's not just the tithe. This scripture is not talking just to the tithe.
It's talking to all realms of giving.
Verse number seven, ultimately everybody has to decide what they're going to give.
Are they going to give tithes? Are they going to give tithes in the net? Are they going to give tithes in the gross?
Are they going to give alms? Are they going to give offerings?
There's number six. The point here is verse number seven.
Are they going to grow to the point they can give it cheerfully?
That's a whole level there, in and of itself.
It's like, okay, fine, you want it? There it is. Hope you're happy because I'm not.
That's not the point that God's trying to make.
You need to grow some. There's a hard problem here.
And the end result of doing it correctly.
Don't sow a little and expect a lot back.
What is the principle on that? A seed time in harvest, he's referring to.
But in our relationship with God, what is he keying on here?
It's called the exchange.
It's called the covenant.
You give a little bit of your life to God.
Don't expect him to step in with huge, unbelievable miracles on your behalf.
Because you sow sparingly, you receive sparingly.
If you need big answers, you need big seed.
And that just is the leading of the spirit.
You know, it's not like that's a dollar amount.
That's the leading of the spirit. We've talked about that already.
It's not, well, if I give $10,000, no.
Some people can give $10,000 and pull it out of their wallet.
It means nothing to them.
And other people pull out $10 and go...
There goes gas money for this week.
Who gave more?
$10.
That's what Jesus was doing when he was standing counting the offering.
There's a spiritual thing for ministers to do.
Jesus set the example.
And he said, all the rich people came by and dropped in bags of money.
And this widow comes by and drops in two denarii,
compare them to pennies, put in two pennies,
compared to bags of gold and silver.
And Jesus said, you know what, she gave the most.
She couldn't afford to give that.
They can give it and don't miss it.
So it's not a dollar amount.
But we have to sew generously.
And like, again, I'll refer back to what Cindy said.
When she started, that first five bucks she sewed was giving generously.
You know the first five you gave?
Oh man, that's $5.
It pulled on your generosity to give it.
And then you grew and your faith increased and it went up.
So real quickly here, what are some of what we can expect?
Well, six, seven, we talked about that.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you.
So that in all things, I put in the numbers there.
That wasn't in the scripture.
Number one, two, three, five.
All things, number three, at all times.
Number four, having all that you need.
Number five, you will abound in every good work.
Remember, it's right behind.
Watch how you sew.
Because God is able.
Doesn't mean he automatically will do those things.
He is able to do those things.
Well, what's the deciding factor?
Previous verse, how we sewed.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you.
We are saved by grace through faith.
Everything comes by faith.
God is able.
But you've got to believe him for it.
And you've got to learn how to sew
and have enough faith to sew.
So you can reap all those things.
All grace, not a little bit.
All undeserved blessings, grace.
Giving us what we don't deserve.
Abound to you.
Abound means to overflow.
It's like Malachi said.
He said, I'll pour out such a blessing.
You won't be able to contain it.
That's the word abound.
It's so much, it's like it's...
They're pouring your cup of coffee
and they're talking and it's just running over and
it's like you are now abounding in coffee.
It's just running over.
You've got more than you need.
So that in all things, everything.
Financial giving touches everything.
All the time it touches everything.
And what God wants is that you have all you need
so that no matter what he asks you to do
you've got the supply to take care of it.
Just do it.
Okay, I'm going to give you one point now
and then I'm going to share a story and then we're done.
According to how we sow and faith,
faith comes by grace, grace comes, works with faith.
God is able to do these things.
If giving and believing opens that to us,
a lack of giving and believing closes that to us.
Catch that.
He said, watch how you sow.
If you sow sparingly, you're going to get sparingly.
Well, what's a sparingly giver?
Someone who's not really believing and engaging
and the less we engage with what God's asking us to do,
the less of those things he can do for us
because covenant is an exchange.
It's not an exchange of how much.
It's an exchange of the willingness of our heart
and obedience.
And if we will obey an exchange,
he wants all five active in our lives.
Some of you've heard this before,
but it ties directly into this.
So now I'm going to get weepy, so just overlook it.
It was 1988.
Jess was nine or ten months old.
And he's our youngest biological.
He was playing the drums this morning.
He got sick. He wasn't doing well.
I took him to the doctor.
We were doing daycare at that point,
so Mary had to stay at home with the kids.
I took him to the doctor.
The doctor looked at him,
kind of got a funny look in his face, looked at him again.
He said, hang on to him for a second.
He went to the back room.
I heard him talking on the telephone to somebody.
He came back out.
He said, I don't know how to say this except say this.
Your son has all the symptoms of spinal meningitis.
His soft spot is protruding.
There's pressure on his brain.
He can't hold his eyes down.
They keep rolling up into his head.
He named off three, four.
He says, this child is spinal meningitis.
I'm calling for flight for life.
We want him at Children's Hospital in Denver.
Now.
I'm going.
I'm a young guy.
I'm 30, 31 years old.
This is a young couple.
Young couple.
Mind you, without health insurance.
Because we couldn't afford it.
We're starting a church.
And not everybody sows generously.
You figure it out.
So here we are.
I'm a young, I'm a young man.
And Mary is, she's almost eight years behind me.
So she's 22, 23.
And we have a son who the doctor is saying has spinal meningitis.
He said, if we don't get him there immediately,
he said he will be a vegetable
and more than likely he will die.
Well, I'm red-blooded like everybody else.
And I'm German.
The first thought that went through my mind is
Children's Hospital airlifted spinal meningitis.
We're bankrupt.
We're broke probably the rest of our lives.
No.
Don't think about that now.
Sometimes you have to shake off the thoughts of the flesh.
Say, no, no, no, no, that's not the most important thing right now.
Wait a second, that's right.
I serve a God who heals.
That was tucked in the back someplace.
Money was blinking at me.
So I said to the doctor, I said, tell you what.
If we have to do this, we'll do it.
I said, I want to take him home so I can pray with him,
pray over him with my wife.
And he said, I'm telling you, he said he needs to go now.
I said, I know, I heard you.
I said, I want to take him home.
He said, I give you one hour.
And I'll have a court order from the local judge
and the sheriff will be at your doorstep.
If you don't have him back here in an hour,
by an hour and a half, the sheriff will be there
and we'll take him by force.
You're abusing him.
But I'll give you one hour.
Took him home, gave her the news.
She called the parents.
They immediately came, got their kids.
There was another couple who was faith people in the church.
Ran over to them, said, agree with us in prayer.
Here's the diagnosis.
And he was just flailing.
I mean, by this point his eyes had rolled up
and all you could see was whites.
He was just screaming and flailing.
Couldn't comfort him.
At their house.
This is what I reminded God of.
When we started the church there in the spring of 86,
for the first year, we dealt with what, Dean?
Covenant.
Covenant.
He didn't have us do that for them as much as I think
he had us do that for me.
Because he knew what's coming.
So I knew covenant at that point and I knew how it worked
and I knew the exchange and I knew sewing generously
and reaping generously and I knew all the principles.
And at their house.
Yeah, I tied into promises and we prayed over them
but I made this statement.
I said, God, to my knowledge,
I have never withheld anything from you, including the tithes.
Now we won't get to it this morning but our whole life is God's
and we will count for it one day.
And I prayed. I said it out loud.
I said, God, I have never to my knowledge.
Now I'm sure I'm not seeing everything
but to my knowledge I'm clean on this one.
I've given you everything you've ever asked for.
Now that includes the tithe
because you know what happens when you pray that prayer
and you're not caught up?
You will be slammed in your head and your thoughts
with what about your tithing.
Quick, give me the checkbook.
I've got to write something out fast.
Yeah, that usually doesn't count.
It doesn't go far.
I said, God, I've given you everything of my life.
According to covenant,
I now can ask any good, godly thing of you
because what's yours is mine,
because what's mine, I've made yours.
I said, I'm asking for a miracle,
for my son.
This did not come because of my great faith
because I didn't have much at that point
other than I knew him
and I knew what he said
and I believed it.
I'm asking for a miracle.
We had to get back to the hospital
because our hour is going to be up.
On the way back, he's just screaming
and flailing his arms
and there's nothing Mary can do to comfort him.
He's just getting progressively worse.
About a half a mile from the emergency room
it went totally quiet.
We had a minivan and they were behind me.
It went totally quiet.
I said, what happened?
What's going on back there?
She didn't say anything
because she's looking at him like...
I said, what just happened?
What's going on?
She said his eyes just rolled forward.
I'm looking in his pupils.
They just cleared up.
I said, what about the top of his head?
She said, I can see the heartbeat that's sunk in.
The protrusion is gone.
I can see his heartbeat in the soft spot.
And he looks at her.
Instantly made whole.
Came into that emergency room
walked in the doctor standing at the door waiting for us.
I said, check him over again.
He said, I called another doctor. We sure will.
They took him back into the back room.
Mary said, they're not checking him out without me being in there.
She walked right in there.
I guess they didn't even challenge it.
Probably was a look on her face.
Obviously.
You're going to start looking at him.
I'm here.
They looked him over every way from Sunday
and said, we want blood tests.
I said, for what?
Look at him.
He's fine.
This does not happen.
Something's wrong.
We want blood tests.
We're going to send you to Boulder.
You're going to have to get blood work done, blah, blah, blah.
Or we're still going to get injunction from the judge.
Something happened. It's wrong.
Something's wrong here with this picture.
Well, yeah.
So we went to Boulder.
Jess was a big boy when he...
He's still a tall, big guy.
But he was a big boy when he was little and he had
how some babies, they get fat rolls
all over the place.
Michelin boys?
Yeah.
And they couldn't find his veins.
And he was screaming
and they were poking and trying to find a vein.
And Mary finally said,
you know, I'm done with this.
I don't care what that doctor wants.
We're going to give him one more try.
And if they don't do it, we're out of here.
And the nurse looked at her like,
you're a crazy woman because
she read the chart.
This is tentative spinal meningitis.
And she tried her best, couldn't find it.
We grabbed him.
We left 6.30 the next morning.
The doctor called. He said,
I want him in here in 30 minutes.
I'm calling the sheriff.
So we took him in,
7 o'clock in the morning, took him in.
The doctor looks at him, examines him,
pokes, prods, does everything.
He said, what happened?
I said, I told you, I said I wanted to go home and pray.
He said, I don't believe in that.
I said, I don't.
You asked a question.
I'm giving you the answer.
I don't care if you believe or not, but
I said, we prayed.
By the time we got back here, God healed him.
He said, well,
he said, I don't believe in any of that stuff.
He was an atheist.
So now my mind after
it did not the moment,
but after a while went,
Oh, because he would never
God does something with that.
It's not all about us.
It's always including
other people.
That was this doctor's witness.
There is a God.
He cannot stand before God
and say, I don't ever believe there is
ever was a God. He said, no, you had a witness.
Remember that baby?
They said it was me who did that.
You couldn't explain it.
So he was frustrated. He said, well, whatever.
He said, I'm kind of done with this.
I spent too much time on it already.
He took his pen and he wrote on the chart.
Real big letters, miracle baby.
Underlined it.
He said, go home.
The symptoms come back. I want them back in here.
You know why it turned out that way?
Not because I had such great faith.
I was freaked out.
I'm a young man.
We had never faced anything that big before.
It wasn't my faith.
I can guarantee you that.
I don't think it was Mary's either.
It was covenant.
And knowing
our rights
in covenant,
that is what he wants for us.
And we will find scriptures
that will tell us he...
our entire life.
You know, we read some this morning,
but in the New Testament,
our entire life is his.
He expects us to give it all.
If we can't give
10%
of our income, much less
everything else in our life,
that he says, I want...
I want access to it all. I want you to be mine.
So I can be yours.
It's covenant. It's exchange.
This is a test of our hearts.
This is a test of our obedience.
And if we will
by faith, step out in it
and grow and do what we can
and believe God and strengthen in our face,
if we can actually get to the point
where we believe God can do more
with 90 cents out of a dollar
in our life,
then we can do with 100 cents
out of a dollar.
Now we're on the right road.
Because really, God can do more
with 90 cents in a dollar.
When I was looking
at the millions of dollars
that would have been
spent on Jess to go to children's hospital
if he'd have lived,
they'd have kept him there for weeks, maybe months,
and then
he'd have been a vegetable, and
now as long as he lives,
the money just flows out.
That dime on a dollar,
that's a good deal.
That's really a good deal.
I could have kept the whole
100 cents
and said, God I ain't giving you no dollar
and then when I needed him
I would have received
sparingly
and my son would probably be dead
and we'd be bankrupt
for the rest of our life.
Or worse.
So father, we stop right there
realizing that anything
you ask us to do
is always for our benefit.
Always
for our benefit.
And yeah, the old nature
of the flash, it doesn't like to go there.
It argues.
It struggles. It fights.
But
if we will obey
and then grow in that obedience
and actually start putting face
to what we're doing in obedience
and then get it deep
enough in us that it actually becomes
a joy
to write the checkout
or click the button
that allows it to be digitally sent.
It's like, this is awesome. Boom.
And we send it.
Now
generous
sowing
brings generous
reaping according to your word.
And we choose
to believe your word.
Amen.
That you're able to make all grace
all
great. Anything grace has
available for us, all of it
is available. Not part of it,
not a little of it, all of it.
That in all
things,
not just money, not just
marriage, not just relationships, not just
health, not just what, all
things
at all
times
we have
all that we need.
That's
what our faith is set on
because that wasn't my idea,
that wasn't our idea,
that is your idea.
And it goes all the way back to Abraham
and Melchizedek.
That's where it
started.
And everyone who
has honored you through the years,
David talked
about him. He said, I've never seen the righteous.
Remember righteous? They did
the right thing. I've never
seen the righteous
forsaken or their seed
begging bread.
That's what I'm setting my faith on.
And the devourer
may come at my lineage.
And I might be gone. I might
be gone for a hundred years.
But because
I took him up on his word,
he will
step in
and say, nope, you can't touch
these.
I've got a covenant.
I've got a covenant with
Bert and Mary.
You can't touch these.
They're mine.
And all
grace will be available
to them.
And they're going to have to believe. And they're going to have to obey to
let it keep establishing in their life.
But what we do
now
will ripple
for decades and
the Lord tarries centuries
because they're still
our seed.
They're still the fruit
of our land.
So Lord, help us
understand
the magnitude of what you've
promised to us here.
The magnitude of this
in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.