Well...Praise the Lord! I am so excited to be with you again for another week. The Lord is doing mighty things in my life as I'm sure he is in yours also. The devil can't stop us; he can only hope to slow us down! However, he lost the war over two thousand years ago!
One month ago, we started our prosperity series. I brought out how controversial the prosperity message was. When someone starts talking about money and church, many people get uptight. I've been sent to teach the body of Christ about finances. I've made it very plain that God wants his people living debt free. He wants his people living in abundance. God wants us blessed so we can bless someone else. (For any messages that you missed email me at elijah4577@aol.com) Amen? How are you gonna be a blessing to someone when you are broke?
I spent a month laying the foundation for this thing. I purposely tried not to talk about the specifics of money. Now it's time to really start digging into the word of God to shed some light on various areas concerning your finances. Hopefully, by now, you know that you know that God is a God of more than enough. He wants us living the abundant life. Today we will discuss the tithe. It is more to the tithe than just dropping your money in the bucket. Did you know that about only 22% of the church is tithing? In this message, I wish to expose all of the myths about tithing. I have a lot of ground to cover, so let get started.
Turn to the book of Leviticus 27:32. And concerning the tithe...the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. The word tithe means tenth. Now look at the same chapter verse 30. All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord. Did you see that? The tithe belongs to the Lord. It is not even yours. Also, it is holy unto the Lord. That's enough for me right there. I could end the message off that one verse. Later on, we will see that the tithing has great benefits. Now go to Malachi 3:8. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Right here God makes it very plain that not giving tithes and offerings is robbing him. Many Christians are believing God for major things to come to past in their life, yet they struggle with the tithe.
We have to understand that the first ten percent of any increase we get goes to the Lord. Keep in mind that we only tithe off the increase that we receive. Another phrase for tithe is first fruit(2Chronicles 31:5). Proverbs 3:9 says to Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase.(Also look at Deuteronomy 14:22) The word says to tithe of our increase. Lets say you have a landscaping business, and someone wants a driveway put in their yard. You charge $600 dollars for the job. However, after you pay for any tools or machine you used, and pay any help you hire, your profit is $300 dollars. You only tithe off the increase or the profit. Your tax return is money that you have already tithed off of. So you do not have to tithe off of your tax return.
That is the half way mark. Do you see the importance of the tithe? Next week, we are going even deeper with this thing. There are very good benefits to tithing. Please understand that God is not after your money. The tithe is an act of obedience. Do you allow God to have a say-so in your finances? Is God really welcomed when it comes to your money? Join me next week as we learn more about tithing, and what you can expect from being a faithful tither. Until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus.
One month ago, we started our prosperity series. I brought out how controversial the prosperity message was. When someone starts talking about money and church, many people get uptight. I've been sent to teach the body of Christ about finances. I've made it very plain that God wants his people living debt free. He wants his people living in abundance. God wants us blessed so we can bless someone else. (For any messages that you missed email me at elijah4577@aol.com) Amen? How are you gonna be a blessing to someone when you are broke?
I spent a month laying the foundation for this thing. I purposely tried not to talk about the specifics of money. Now it's time to really start digging into the word of God to shed some light on various areas concerning your finances. Hopefully, by now, you know that you know that God is a God of more than enough. He wants us living the abundant life. Today we will discuss the tithe. It is more to the tithe than just dropping your money in the bucket. Did you know that about only 22% of the church is tithing? In this message, I wish to expose all of the myths about tithing. I have a lot of ground to cover, so let get started.
Turn to the book of Leviticus 27:32. And concerning the tithe...the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. The word tithe means tenth. Now look at the same chapter verse 30. All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord. Did you see that? The tithe belongs to the Lord. It is not even yours. Also, it is holy unto the Lord. That's enough for me right there. I could end the message off that one verse. Later on, we will see that the tithing has great benefits. Now go to Malachi 3:8. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Right here God makes it very plain that not giving tithes and offerings is robbing him. Many Christians are believing God for major things to come to past in their life, yet they struggle with the tithe.
We have to understand that the first ten percent of any increase we get goes to the Lord. Keep in mind that we only tithe off the increase that we receive. Another phrase for tithe is first fruit(2Chronicles 31:5). Proverbs 3:9 says to Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase.(Also look at Deuteronomy 14:22) The word says to tithe of our increase. Lets say you have a landscaping business, and someone wants a driveway put in their yard. You charge $600 dollars for the job. However, after you pay for any tools or machine you used, and pay any help you hire, your profit is $300 dollars. You only tithe off the increase or the profit. Your tax return is money that you have already tithed off of. So you do not have to tithe off of your tax return.
That is the half way mark. Do you see the importance of the tithe? Next week, we are going even deeper with this thing. There are very good benefits to tithing. Please understand that God is not after your money. The tithe is an act of obedience. Do you allow God to have a say-so in your finances? Is God really welcomed when it comes to your money? Join me next week as we learn more about tithing, and what you can expect from being a faithful tither. Until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus.
