Tithing Effects
Foundation Statement: The systems of tithing
have changed; The law concerning the tithe is different, but the principles and
characteristics of the tithe are the same; What we read about the tithe in the
Law is still true about the tithe, even though we’re not under the law
I.
The tithe is the Lord’s (Leviticus
27:30)
A. The tithe is a special
tenth portion of your increase which God reserved from Himself
1. Just b/c there is no law
to tithe doesn’t change the truth that the tithe is the Lord’s
2. The tithe has always been
the Lord’s-(Eden, Abraham, Jacob, The Law, Jesus, Us)
B. Because the tithe is the
Lord’s tithing is returning to God what is His
1. Tithing is not giving because you can’t
give what’s not yours
2. We’ve looked at it like
God wants 10% of my stuff no the 10% is His
C. Returning the tithe to
God simply keeps you from being a thief because the tithe is the Lord’s
1. The tithe does not belong
to you and the moment you choose to not return it you became a thief (EX: If
you rent a car you can’t make a decision about whether or not you should keep
that car; That car is not yours to keep; You return it)
a. Malachi 3:8-They were
robbing God because they were taking the tithe and it was His
b. You keep company with the
enemy when you don’t tithe and rob God-John10:10
2. You will reap what you
sow; if you steal from God things will be stolen from you; it’s not God’s doing
it’s a law that you put into motion-Gal 6:7
a. You put the very law into
motion that gave Satan the right to come and take what’s rightfully yours
(Healing, prosperity, peace, joy)
D. Give to God what’s God’s
and the tithe is God’s (Luke 20:25,
Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17)
1. EX: When you make your
monthly budget you don’t include the money deducted to pay your taxes because
it’s not yours. It’s the government’s; they have designated that money to be
used to fund the upkeep of your state and nation. God has already designated the
tithe to finance the Kingdom of God in the Earth, so don’t include that money
when you make your budget. If you don’t
pay your taxes the nation suffers and when you take the tithe the Kingdom
suffers. (EX: 593 billion a year in the USA church if every Christian tithed,
2million per church)
2. Honor is due to God and
we honor him with the tithe (Romans 13:7, Malachi 1:6, Proverbs 3:9, Matthew 15:4-8-They honor me w/
their lips; their heart & treasure is far from me)
E. God has placed you as a steward
over the tithe because the tithe is our opportunity to prove ourselves faithful
and qualified to handle more
1. You are a distribution
center on the Earth and Heaven sends things to the distribution center to
distribute Heaven’s resources in the Earth-Gen12:2, 2
Cor9:8,11,1Tim6:17,Eph4:28
2. Luke16:10-Why put more in your
hands when don’t do what God said w/ what you have?
a. 10-Whatever you do with
the 10th is how you’ll handled the ninety
b. 12-Why should God
increase your 90 when you’re
not being faithful with His 10th
F. An offering can’t be
truly given until the tithe is released
1. EX: If you borrow my car and
instead of giving me the car back you give me $10, I’m not going to receive the
offer because you’ve haven’t returned to me what’s mine
2. Offerings are what you’re
giving to God of yours; Tithing is returning what’s His; You return the tithe you give an offering
3. Tithing gets you to the
position where you can give & have it given back to you-Lk6:38
II.
The tithe is holy unto
the Lord (Leviticus 27:30)
A. The tithe and tithing is
to be honored and treated as sacred; If that’s God’s portion it should be
handled with great honor and reverence
1. Holy-Hallowed, dedicated, consecrated, apartness, sacredness,
set-apartness, to be honored or treated
as sacred, to regard or treat as sacred or hallowed
a. We’ve got in the routine
bucket plunking and not treating the tithe as sacred
b. This is a sacred special
thing and if we’ll start treating it as such then we will start seeing the
benefits of it manifest in our lives
2. The tithe is holy because
it represents lives, it represents souls, it represents the advancement of the
Kingdom of God; That tithe was set apart by God because it was supposed to go
into the church or ministry and be a tool or avenue through which somebody who
doesn’t know God could get saved and healed and delivered
a. Your buying gas and pizza
with the tithe that’s not handled it as holy
B. Tithing is an avenue by which we stay in
agreement with God
1. Holiness is the state of
being in agreement with God; When God says something is Holy and you don’t
treat it as such you are in disagreement with Him
a. The tree was God’s,
holy/set apart and when Adam didn’t treat it as such He was in disagreement
with God; God said it’s mine and Adam said it’s mine
b. It’d be very hard for
Adam to start declaring he’s the blessed over the Lord after that
2. If God says it’s His and
you say it’s yours that’s disagreement (Amos 3:3)
a. Tithing is key to stay in
agreement with God and receive His promises in your life
C. We have to handle the
tithe properly; mishandling Holy things is serious (You can mishandle the tithe
in not returning it or in returning it improperly)
1. Adam and Eve touched the
tree and they were separated (Genesis 2:17)
2. Koathites were to carry the tent,
but if they touched the holy thing they died-Num4:15
3. Uzzah died when he touched the
Holy thing (1 Chronicles 13:10, 2 Chronicle 35:3)
III.
Tithe blessing
exchange-When you bring the tithe because you love God, Jesus releases the
blessing because he loves you
A. The tithe-blessing
exchange says that when you bring the tithe you activated the blessing, when
you don’t you activated the curse-Gen14:17-20,Heb7:1-2,7,
Malachi 3:8-10, Gen 2
1. The blessing is the
empowerment to have success in every arena of life-Proverbs 10:22
a. The curse is the
empowerment to fail in every arena of life
b. When that curse is at
work it’s like you’re on a conveyor belt of problems
c. When you bring the tithe
you leave with something greater than the tithe
d. When you don’t bring the
tithe it’s not that God wants you cursed it’s that you’ve put the principle to
work which activates the curse in your life
2. Tithing is one principle that is key to activating the
blessing
a. I’m glad you’re blessed
but is the blessing working for you; You can be equipped and the equipment not
being working, you can be empowered and the power not be working, you can be
blessed and the blessing not be working
B. Mishandling the holy
thing will bring the curse and cause defeat in your life (Joshua 6,7)
1. 6:18-The accursed thing
was the thing devoted and if you touch it the curse comes
a. The tithe is an accursed b/c
when you touch it the curse works in your life-Malachi 3:8
2. 6:19-The sliver and gold
was consecrated/holy unto the Lord; it was the Lord’s like the tithe
a. 7:1,11,21-They took of or
stole the thing that was God’s
3. 7:12-Because the Holy thing was taken they couldn’t stand
before their enemies
a. 10-Many people are laying
on their face crying because of all their “troubles” just like Joshua while
they mishandled the Holy thing
b. They couldn’t even win
the “easy” battle when the holy thing was taken
4. Genesis 14-Abraham won
because of the blessing and he didn’t touch the Holy thing
C. As a seed of Abraham I
practice tithing under the Abrahamic covenant-Galatians 3:29
1. If
the covenant is everlasting, God had to set up the same order, so that
Abraham’s seed could inherit the same promise that he got; If Abraham had a
high priest to bring his tithe to and get the blessing activated in his life,
then I need to have a high priest to bring my tithe to so that I can get the
blessing activated in my life
2. You use the tithe the way
you use a faith weapon; I’m a person who tithes the tithe and standing in the
face of my enemies I’m an overcomer and it’s because I bring the tithe and I’m
like my Father Abraham, I can go into a battle and win a battle I’m not
supposed to win because I brought the tithe and the blessing is on my life
3. EX: I’d rather have the
blessing on and the lights off than the blessing off and the lights on (Let the
blessing get the light’s back on)
IV.
Tithing the tithe
A. You can know about the
tithe and know nothing about tithing; The money or the goods is the tithe;
Tithing is the process of faith & love through which we bring the 10th
to our HighPriest
1. Tithing was supposed to
be a special time where man brought the tenth of his increase to His creator
and honored him with it; it was supposed to be a time of love and faith where
we acknowledge are total dependence & reliance upon God & our
thankfulness to God
2. EX: A farmer in the OT
would bring in the crops when he went to harvest and would set apart ten
percent to God. Get the
picture. He has been waiting for a
couple of months and now it finally comes in. It’s precious to him, yet he takes the
tenth and honors God with it. God
knows the farmer could use all of it, yet the puts God’s portion aside because
he knows without God there’d be no land to farm, no seed to so, no sun, no
rain, no harvest so he has to honor God with this tenth.
B. Believers have not been
handling the tithe as holy; People are giving ten percent, but this no honor in
it
1. There’s nothing holy or
honorable about scratching some ink on a piece of paper and dropping it in a
bucket and praying a five second prayer over it
a. EX: It’s like a husband giving
a wife a gift and just tossing to her and saying her you go. He didn’t honor
her, he didn’t honor the gift, he’s not honoring her with the gift
2. The words of love and faith over the tithe are as important
as the tithe
3. Honor and faith and love
should be transmitted in that time of tithing
C. God is not just
interested in what you do, but how you do it matters to him; How you return the
tithe is vital and it’s that, that God honors-2Corinthians 9:7, Mt23:23, James 5:17
1. Bringing the tithe alone
is not enough, God’s requiring more-Matthew 23:23
2. When you remove relationship you give birth to religion;
powerless religion
a. The blessing responds to
somebody tithing the tithe, not plunking money in a bucket
b. Apart from faith and love
what you do in the Kingdom of God has no merit
c. Just b/c you do something
the Word says, doesn’t mean u did it in faith-Mt 17:15-17
1)
It’s
not the act of dropping ten percent in that makes the tithe work, it’s the love
and faith supporting and backing the tithe that makes it work
2)
When
you tithe the tithe you not only release money, but you release the faith
necessary to see the power of the tithe work in your life
d. We’ve turned tithing into
religion like others have turned praying into religion (Catholic)
1)
With
no faith in it it’s just a religious act and you’ve omitted the weightier
matter
2)
It’s
like praying without love and faith; that will produce no results
3)
The
repetitions are vain because there’s no love and faith in it and so is the
tithe
3. This is not jack and his beanstalk beans; it’s not just you
drop something in the bucket everything is going to be great; much more goes
into it than that
a. When you don’t tithe the
tithe somebody’s being helped, but you’re not increasing to the level you could
so that you can help more
D. Deuteronomy 26-Tithing
the tithe
1. 3-The priest in our days
is Jesus and we bring our tithe to him (Hebrews 6:20)
2. 5-When we bring our tithe
we’re supposed to release words of faith over it
3. 6-We were in hard bondage
and treated evilly our father was the devil-Heb2:15,
Rom8:15
a. We were orphans with no
hope, no future, and our father was the devil (Jn 8)
4. 7-We cried unto the Lord God
and he heard us (Romans 10:8)
5. 8-The two-edged sword and
the Spirit of God cut open my spirit emptied me of spiritual death and filled me
to overflowing with the very life of God himself; I’ve been endued with power
from on high to have authority over the devil and walk out the victory that
Jesus provided-That’s a mighty hand, that’s an outstretched arm, that’s a great
sign and wonder (Romans 2:29, Hebrews 4:12, Ephesians 2:5)
a. You’re spirit being
recreated was greater than anything God did for them
6. 9-We’ve been translated into
the KOG and are join-heirs-Col1:12,Lk17:21,12:32,Rom8:17
a. I’m in this place; in the
Kingdom; in the family, sitting at the King’s table; I’m not some stranger or
foreigner, but I’m in the household of God (Ephesians 2:19)
b. I’m in this place/Kingdom
and it flows/gushes with healing, prosperity, peace, joy, deliverance, freedom,
power, victory (Galatians 3:13, John 10:10)
7. 11-He has given me
healing, he has given me prosperity, he has given me peace, he has given me
joy, he has given me victory (2 Peter 1:4)
8. 13-We’re saying again
with our tithe I have brought the hallowed or holy thing; I’ve brought it
because I love you; I have not transgressed or forgotten your commandment
9. 14-We didn’t do with it
what we thought, but what you told us
10. 15-In response to us
returning the tithe we receive the blessing