TITHING “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. (Malachi 3:8-10) One of our brothers wanted to know some more about tithing, so tonight that is what we will be discussing. The word tithe is translated maaser or maasar or maasrah in Hebrew. Its number in Strongs Concordance is 4643 if you would like to google the following information yourself for confirmation. Tithe in short is defined as tenth or tenth part gentlemen. This is where we learn that God only asks a tenth of our income. But tithes is concerning more then just money. Genesis 4:1-5 reads, Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. In this passage we see no only different possessions being offered to the Lord, but also see what God accepts. He doesnt want our left-overs! Read carefully how God did not respect Cain and his offering, but respected Abel and his offering. WHY??? well, we can see in the passage that Cain brought an offering of fruit of the ground to the Lord. But Abel brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. God wants our best, our firstfruit i.e. the beginning of our time, money, etc. If you really think about it, He gave us His best so why shouldnt we (hint John 3:16)? Proverbs 3:9,10 reads, Honor the Lord with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine. That word firstfruits is translated reshith in Hebrew, and defined as beginning or chief. Its number is 7225 in Strongs Concordance. Now as it is written, we are not to tempt God (Deut. 6:16; Matthew 4:7), but as you read in Malachi 3:10 you see that God gives us permission to try Him in this. For those who think tithing is for greedy gain by the church, here you see that you are very wrong. If God Almighty says try Me now in this, do you honestly think He is joking? He is already the God who cannot lie (Numbers 23:19), so we shouldnt even think about testing Him. But by our faithfulness in tithing, He promises to open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it (Malachi 3:10). A few times above I touched on tithing being more then just money. Its our possessions as seen in Proverbs 3:9,10. But soldiers of the God Most High, we should tithe our time by giving Him the first two hours of our day. The reason I say the first two hours, is because there is 24 hours and a day so divide that by 10 and you get 2. This is something I personally have strayed away from, but need to work on. No matter who you are, when the day begins it is usually non-stop. But God told me awhile ago that if my day is going to be busy to spend time with Him in the beginning. This is going to require waking up early. Yes, its going to be difficult brothers but together in prayer we can make this happen. Begin praying for me as well as all our brothers for the strength and ability to wake up early to pray and cover our families for that day and spend quality time with our Father in His word. “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:19,20) youtu.be/TJN7DI7hvwU?list=PLoXflqEoSDOsRgpTm327RR6M1E2kR6eSb
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 04:05:37 +0000
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