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The Three Fold Tithe
Will a man rob God? The answer is yes. Now, the word man is Adam. The first Adam always will rob God, but the second Adam, the one in Christ, is not to rob God. The old nature in us will always rob God in time, talent and treasure. There are people that have talent in the church, and you almost have to drag it out of them to get them to do anything for God.
Let's take the word talent. If you have to almost beg someone to do something for God with their talent, they probably have a problem with their time and their treasure. Our time belongs to God, our talent belongs to God and our treasure belongs to God.
Let's look at the body realm, the physical. This speaks of the outer court or the thirty-fold realm. In this outer court is Passover, the realm of babes. There are some babes that know more about giving than some "sonship" people. They are more faithful in their giving than some people claiming to be in "sonship."
When we get saved, Jesus will deal with us to tithe. It is His, not ours. Let me tell you about this giving -- God speaks in three's. First of all, we are to give in the place of our feeding. Where we get our spiritual food, whether it is in a local fellowship... a five-fold ministry you might be under... whoever supplies you with tape ministry and they bless you... anywhere God feeds you and ministers to you, I believe you should support that work.
Do not just limit support to the local church. I believe we should support that work, but there are five ministries: apostles, prophets, teachers, shepherds and evangelists. There are a lot of good works that God has established that we should back and support as the Holy Spirit directs us.
First of all, we must:
1. Give in the place we are fed.
2. We have to give willingly.
3. 1st Corinthians 16:1-2, "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye." Verse 2, "Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gathering when I come." Notice:
a. This giving is on a regular basis.
b. It is a personal thing (let every one of you).
c. It is given as God has prospered us.
We can only give as God prospers us. God prospers us, sometimes more than other times; when He does, we move and give more. When we do not have as much, we do not give as much, unless we give sacrificially.
4. We give according to our ability. Acts 11:29 says that we give according to our income or the ability, and not all have the same ability, but whatever ability God has put in you and in me, let us obey. We must give freely; freely we have received and freely we give.
5. We must give cheerfully.
6. We must give with simplicity or with generosity.
7. Here is the big one. We have to give with proper motive. You can be twisted into giving; you can be coerced into giving; you can be seduced into giving; we can give at the wrong time, to the wrong thing.
Sometimes, people are going through a trial and we can bail them out. Then God may say, "Don't bail them out; let them go through it for a time, because I am teaching them something." I do not mean we should not have mercy and pray for them and love them, but we can take them out of a situation that God let them get into, to teach them some responsibility.
Brethren, I think we must give sacrificially as well. Look at the motive in Philippians 4:14. Paul said, Notwithstanding, ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction." Now, this word "communicate" means they helped him financially. When we are without money, that is a real affliction. Verse 15, Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only." Think about that. This man started many churches, and only the Philippian church communicated with him concerning giving and receiving.
Verse 16, "For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity."
Verse 17, "Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account." Even though he was hurting and in an affliction financially, he was not desiring anything. Isn't that something? Paul said in Acts 20:33, "I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel." Brethren, our motives must be right.
Verse 18, "But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God." Now, this whole church evidently had sacrificed.
Verse 19, "But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." We hear that quoted so many times, but Paul is talking to a church that sacrificed and sent to him.
I believe this can be applied to an individual who will sacrifice by the leading of the Lord. How many know we have to give with an open hand, ready to bless and to minister? I want to give you another scripture, here, Proverbs 3:9, "Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase." There are people doing a lot of things with their tithes and offerings across the land. What is the first word in Proverbs 3:9? Honour! We honor God by our giving, with our substance, and with the firstfruits of all (our) increase.
Somebody said, "Do I give before taxes are taken out or afterwards?" I believe you should give from the gross. That is my teaching and my belief. We should give from the top. If I make $500, automatically $50 of that is God's tithe.
Notice what it says here, "so shall thy barns be filled with plenty (that is the physical), and thy presses shall burst out with new wine (that is the spiritual)." That is the joy of the Lord, because new wine is the joy of the Lord. You show me a person that gives and gives to the Lord, that will honor Him, God will meet his need, and God will bless him and put joy in him.
Where does the tithe go? Let me tell you four things:
1. The tithe went first to the ministry -- to the Levites. Numbers 18:20, "And the Lord spake unto Aaron, thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel."
2. The tithe went to the place of His name. Numbers 18:23, "But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance."
Deuteronomy 12:5-6, "But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come: (verse 6) and thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks."
3. The tithe went to the storehouse, which I believe can represent the local church, as well as the five-fold ministry, and other ministries that we can give into.
Malachi 3:10, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
4. We have to give to the Lord. Luke 8:1, "And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him." First of all, they gave to Jesus; his message was the kingdom of God. Mostly, those that followed Jesus here were women.
There are many women that have a heart to give. Thank God for the women who give. I know women who give, that would love to give more, but they are restrained by their husbands. It is time to pray, when it is like that.
Now, we saw the word "substance" in Proverbs. They gave the firstfruits of all their substance. Judas had the bag. The bag did not have marbles in it, it had money in it. Judas carried the bag, and he was the son of perdition. He carried the purse strings, but he betrayed Jesus for money. No, you cannot separate the beast, the 666, the antichrist, from the money system -- they are one. No man can buy or sell it says. Well, you can look at that in different ways, but Judas was the son of perdition. Judas carried the bag, and coveted what was in the bag. I tell you, brethren, God does not want us to lust, to covet, or to be greedy for money. God will meet our needs. Most of us have a lot of wants that we will never see fulfilled, but God will meet our needs as we obey Him.
That is the physical realm; there is another realm which is sixty-fold or Pentecost. Most of us are in this state. We haven't come too much higher. This is the soul realm, the spiritual tithe.
Matthew 23:23, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."
We are dealing with the soul realm here. The realm of the mind, whether you believe it or not, because it is linked with tithing. First the physical, now the soul.
Jesus used the word "judgment" in Matthew 23:23 for the word "justice." Thank God for his justice. He added mercy and faith and Luke 11:42 added another word, the love of God. "Woe unto you, Pharisees! For ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." So we must also give justice, mercy, faith, and the love of God to others.
Notice, Jesus did not condemn these people because they paid the natural tithes, but he did condemn them for passing over mercy and faith and the love of God, because that is the weightier matter. This shows me something. These religious people gave out of their pocket whatever tithe they had brought in, but they did not give out of the weightier matter. Just because God has your pocketbook does not mean that he has all of you. It is easy to drop $10 in the offering, but somebody might need a kind word, or some mercy, or some love, or some justice. Sometimes, we do not get justice. I do not think Jim Bakker got justice as far as our court system goes. I am sure God had a hand in all of it, do not misunderstand, but I do not believe he got justice in this land in the eyes of the court. God is able to turn that around if he wants to do it, and we need to pray for Jim Bakker.
Look at this word "judgment." It is KRISIS in the Greek. This is where we get our word crisis, or turning point. So, this word judgment is crisis, and it is a feminine gender, which is out of the soul (the soul realm).
1st John 3:16, "Hereby perceive we the love of God..." What is the love of God? "...because He laid down His life for us." His love for you and me is that Jesus came and laid His life down for you and me, and because of that, we ought to lay down our (soul) life for the brethren. There is a giving of your soul. We must give justice, mercy (and) love, and lay our life down, one for another. That is why we should know one another by the spirit and not in the flesh in this hour.
There is going to be a lot of deserters in the church in this end time. The outer court is going to be trampled down, and many Christians are going to die a martyr's death. Judgments will come into their lives, and brethren, we have to know one another, because many are going to die in the days ahead.
1st Thessalonians 2:5, "For neither at any times used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of
covetousness; God is witness." Has anybody flattered you lately? We are dealing with three men here:
Paul, Silas and Timothy.
Verse 7, "But we were gently among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children." The nurse that careth for her children, is the female part of the apostle. A nurse taking care of the children, or caring for the children.
Now, if a man is going to be an apostle, you have to see that nurse part, that love and compassion in him. There is something else in him as well. Notice verse 8, "So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us." Now this is a good soul tie. There is a bad soul tie, but this is a good one. The nurse nature, that mother nature, is imparted from the apostle to the people.
Verse 9, "For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God."
Verse 10, "Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameable we behaved ourselves
among you that believe,"
Verse 11, "As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children." So, there is a father nature in the apostle, which is the authority nature. He can be gentle, but he can also be strong; that is the real apostle.
Now, let us look at Matthew 12:20, and look at Jesus. "A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory." There are a lot of novice people in the ministry today. We are not against the novice ones, because we have all been there, but it is time to grow out of that state, and come on into maturity. A novice is a new convert, a new Christian, a newly planted one.
In Matthew 12:20, it says, "A bruised reed shall he not break (a novice will break you in two; no justice, no mercy, and no love. When you are bruised, you do not need to be broken any more), and a smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory." A novice will come around, and someone's light may be about to go out, and he will blow the thing out, but a mature one will not do that. He will fan the flame until he gets it burning again. So many people have been wounded and hurt in the church. They have been broken, and water has been thrown on their fire, what little they had left. That is the novice, not maturity. Jesus will not break you when you are hurting, and He will not blow your fire out. He will fan you until He gets you back on your feet with the real mind of Christ. There is no condemnation. Sometimes, we have a problem, and we begin to condemn one another, but God needs to work a work in us, that we do not condemn others.
The next realm is spirit and the Holy of Holies; the one-hundred-fold realm; tabernacle; sons. This is where God wants us to come to. This is the realm of reality; the fulness. We have the natural, the spiritual and the fulness. God speaks in three's.
Now, we know in Revelation 14:1-5, "And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount of Zion, and with him a hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads."
Verse 2, "And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:"
Verse 3, "And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth."
Verse 4, "These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb."
Verse 5, "And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God." God says that the one hundred and forty-four thousand are the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb. Firstfruits means that which ripens and matures first.
Isaiah 6:11-13, "Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate."
Verse 12, "And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land."
Verse 13, "But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof."
In verses 11-12, historically, this has been fulfilled. Because of the dispersion and captivity, it took almost all of God's people away, but there is a promise given in verse 13. How many know God's processes are very severe? It is not always lovely to the flesh when God is dealing with us Many of the people were stripped of their possessions. Like an oak tree which loses all its leaves in the fall and winter, yet because there is a substance in them, they shall abide and come forth with new life. Out of Israel, God said a tenth would return. Paul said in Romans 11:5, "... at this present time, there is a remnant."
I teach and I believe that there is going to be a remnant, not only of every nation, but of Israel that is going to come to the Lord. God still has a remnant, that tenth, which he will take up to himself to be the firstfruits' company. Just like there was a tenth in Israel left, there is going to be a spiritual tithe coming out of the church, or Israel. Israel is the church we are dealing with. Just as there is a tenth in the natural, there is going to be a tenth in the spiritual as well. What I am saying is there is going to be a people that are becoming the tithe. They are that little handful unto God, the holy ones, the pure ones. They are those that have been stripped and purified. They have been stripped totally of the world system and become totally His. (The) Goodspeed translation says this must pass through the fire again. So God's tithe, the remnant, is learning to pass through every purification flame, and shall emerge clean in His sight.
There is a firstfruit unto God and unto the Lamb. There is a remnant that become God's tithe. The tenth is the firstfruits, the tithe in the Lord.
Isaiah 6:13, "But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree..." "It shall return" speaks of a principle of restoration. "And shall be eaten" -- the Hebrew word for eaten is kindle, which means consumed by fire. They have been stripped and purified by the purging fire of God.
Philippians 3:7, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." There are some things we must leave behind. We have to lose something to gain something. We have to leave behind all the carnal, all the fleshly, all the beautiful, little, pretty things, the worldly things... to win Christ. We have a ways to go. Jesus has to burn the world out of our hearts.
2nd Peter 3:7, "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."
Isaiah 6:13, "When they cast their leaves" means there is no beauty in us that any should desire us. The only beautiful one we have is Christ. It is not drawing attention to you and to me.
"When they cast their leaves; so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof." Now the holy seed, the substance, is God. The substance is the glory of Him. It is the Christ nature in you and in me.
Now, I want to show you this seed. It said this holy seed shall be the substance.
Psalms 22:30, "A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation." Notice, this seed is a special generation.
Verse 31, "They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this." Jesus saw that generation and that seed (Isaiah 53), even though he was cut off out of the land of the living.
In Matthew 1:1, we are identified with Adam racially, we are identified with David royally, and we are identified with Abraham redemptively.
Matthew 1:17, "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations." Count that up and it is forty-two, but if you look up all these names (Matthew 1:2-16), you come to forty-one. That last word, Christ, is the clue. We have the head and the body. The body of Christ becomes the forty-second generation of Jesus Christ. We only have forty-one generations to Christ. Christ the HEAD, and Christ the BODY. The body makes the forty-second generation. It is that generation, that seed, He is raising up in the hour. That tenth or the tithe that will be presented unto him.
Israel had forty-one encampments, and the forty-second encampment was when they crossed Jordan into the promised land. The last encampment was inside Canaan's land.
Psalms 102:13, "Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come."
You have Israel, the outer court; Jerusalem, the Holy Place; Zion, the Holy of Holies. There is a set time that God is going to favor the Zion people.
Verse 14, "For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof."
Verse 15, "So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory."
Verse 16, "When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory."
First of all, the Lord will favor Zion. He will have mercy on her; now He is going to build her up. How is He going to build Zion up? By coming in you and coming in me. We will cry out for Jesus, and He will come in us and build us up. There is a natural building up on Zion, but we are talking about the Lord building us up. "He shall appear in His glory..." that is in you and in me, because we are His glory.
Verse 17, "He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer."
Verse 18, "This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord." This generation will be a praising people.
Verse 19, "For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth:"
Verse 20, "To hear the groaning of the prisoner;" not those in institutions, necessarily, but you and me; those that are hurting today. People that are prisoners in their homes today. There are people that are prisoners in their church that need to be set free. "...to loose those that are appointed to death." Not just a physical death, but a spiritual death as well. If God turns your captivity, there (are) going to be some that will not die.
Paul says that "we will not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye."
Verse 21, "To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem."
Isaiah 61:9, "And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord bath blessed." This is the blessed seed.
Numbers 18:26, "Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the Lord, even a tenth part of the tithe."
Israel gave the tenth to the Levites. Then the Levites had to offer up a tenth to the Lord, and give that tenth to the High Priest. A tenth of what Israel had went to the Levites. The Levites took a tenth of the tenth, and offered it to the Lord, and it was given to the High Priest.
Verse 28, "Thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the Lord of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof the Lord's heave offering to Aaron the priest."
The heave offering given to Aaron, the priest, was a tithe of the tithe. So it is one percent of the total, or one in a hundred, or a tithe of the tithe. Aaron is a type of Jesus, the High Priest. So unto the Lord shall be given that special tenth, which are the sons of God, the remnant of God.
Isaiah 53:6, "We are all sheep and have gone astray." Do you believe that? Sure we were, but in Matthew 18:12, what does it say? He searched out something. Jesus left the ninety-nine and what? Went after the one! One out of a hundred. I'm still on my subject.
So a tenth of the tithe shall be His. Jesus is the firstborn among many brethren. Those brethren are still a remnant, the sons of God. So he will receive unto Himself His tenth, the tithe.
Turn to Jeremiah 3:14, "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion." That is God's remnant, that is God's tithe.
What else is God going to do with this people? He said He is going to take you one of a city, and two of a family. I'll bring you to Zion, and I am going to give you shepherds (pastors) "... according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding" (verse 15). We need some godly shepherds in the land today, that are going to feed the people of God and not beat them.
Exodus 16:32, "And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commandeth, Fill an omer..." This is what you have to hear; there is an omer and there is a homer. And He says to us, "Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt."
Verse 33, "And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, (notice this) and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations.
Verse 36, "Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah." An ephah is a tenth of a homer (Ezekiel 45:11).
Verse 34, "As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept."
Verse 35, "And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan."
God never takes away the old, until He exposes you to the new. He did not take away the manna, until they came to the borders of Canaan. When they crossed over, they ate the old corn of the land, which is the mature word.
Forty years they ate the manna. They went out on their lawn every morning and gathered it. Everyone saw one another gathering manna. On the sixth day, everyone gathered a double portion to get them through the Sabbath. We are coming to the end of the sixth day. It is time to get a double portion.
The next manna was in the Holy Place. The bread was on the table, the Table of Shewbread. There were twelve loaves in the Holy Place. Twelve is the number for God's government. Only the priest could see the bread or manna. It had to be changed every Sabbath. The priest partook of that bread in.the Holy Place. There was another bread, another manna in the Holy of Holies, in the Ark of the Covenant, in the golden pot. That was an omer full of manna that was put in the ark, and only the High Priest could see it. It did not spoil.
Revelation 2:17, "I will give to him that overcometh the hidden manna." It is hid to most people. It is hid to those in the outer court, and to most of those in the Holy Place. But it is being revealed to a few. It is not for everyone. For the Lord says, "He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches." It is only for the overcomers that can have this manna out of the Holy of Holies.
Verse 32 (Exodus 16), "Fill this omer of manna," and put it in the Ark. An omer is one tenth of a tenth of a homer or largest measurement. Or an omer is one hundreth of the largest measurement, a homer. It was a hundreth part of a whole, put in the golden pot, put in the Ark, which is in the Holy of Holies. The omer is one hundreth of the largest measurement, which is a homer.
In the spirit realm, God has that remnant. God has the people that are coming into the hundred-fold, that are going to be that remnant, that will be that tithe.
In the outer court, we give the natural tithe. In the Holy Place, we have the spiritual tithe, such as justice, mercy, love and faith, but in the Holy of Holies we must become the tithe. That requires every bit of you and me. Sonship is more than a tenth, it requires all of you and me.
Offering of the Lord
2nd Corinthians 9:6, "But this I say, he that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, he which soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully, every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give (whatever His heart desires) not grudging or of necessity. God loveth a cheerful giver. God is able to make all grace abound toward you that always you having all sufficiency in all things that you may abound in all good work."
You and I know our talent belongs to God. Not only our talent, but our time belongs to God. Our treasure belongs to God, as well, whether we know it or not. Time, talent and treasure. God said if we sow sparingly, we will reap sparingly in all three of these areas. If we sow bountifully, in whatever God is requiring, we are going to reap bountifully.
There are three kinds of sacrifices in the Bible. The first one is Praise. Turn to Hebrews 13:15, "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually..." That (is) even when you do not feel like it. I have learned, you cannot go by what you feel or what you see or what you hear. "...that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." Verse 16, "But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." A sacrifice is real, when you do not feel like praising God. God honors that.
The second sacrifice is giving our bodies to God. Romans 12:1-2. We will not and cannot give our bodies to God, unless we have a renewed mind. Unless the mind is being changed, transformed and renewed by God, we will never be able to give our bodies to God. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, (notice there, Paul is talking to Christians, that you present your bodies, an act of your will), a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable perfect will of God." Let me tell you, the perfect will of God is to give our bodies to God. Not only give our bodies to God, but we need to know how to take care of our bodies as well.
The third area of sacrifice is giving. This is our substance. Look in Philippians 4:10, "But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity."
Verse 11, "Not that I speak in lack of want..." I do not believe there was a coveteous bone in Paul's life. Over in Acts 20, he said he had not coveted any man's silver, gold or apparel. God hates coveteousness.
Verse 11, "...for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." Paul is independent of circumstances. No matter what it looked like, Paul has come to the place, where he was independent of what he saw.
Verse 12, "I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need."
Verse 13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
Verse 14, "Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction." What was his affliction? He had a need, didn't he? Let me tell you, most of the churches that Paul started neglected his needs.
Verse 15, "Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only." Only this church was concerned for Paul.
Verse 16, "Even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity."
Verse 17, "Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account." Notice the motivation.
Verse 18, "But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God."
I wonder if our giving, many times, is a sweet smell, an acceptable sacrifice and wellpleasing to God. Did you know you can sacrifice, and put it in the wrong place? Did you know you can sacrifice, and not do it in faith? Did you know you can sacrifice, and murmur or complain for a week?
Verse 19, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
Turn to Psalms 50:5, "Gather my saints," my faithful one. Not all saints are faithful ones. We have a lot of saints, but they are not all faithful. "Gather my saints together." If something is gathered, then that means something has been scattered. Of that which has been scattered, God says to gather it together. "...those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." A covenant people. God requires all of you and all of me; your spirit, your soul and your body. So he says, "Gather my saints (my faithful ones), those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."
Turn to 1st Chronicles 29. We need to have some affection for the house of God. We are the house of God, not the physical building. We are the house of God. In the Old Testament, the house of God is where they built the Temple.
1st Chronicles 29:3, "Moreover, because I have set my affection..." In the New Testament, the Bible says to set your affection on things above and not on the earth; that is your mind. So your mind is your affection, the soul. "...because I have set my affection to the house of my God..." Our affection can be on a lot of things, can't it? Sometimes, it can be in wrong things, and it can be on right things. He said, "I set my affection on the house of God."
Look in Haggai 1:7, "Consider your ways." This is one of the key words in the book.
Verse 6, "Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes."
Verse 7, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways."
Verse 9, "Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it." What it means is to blow it away. God said, "I blew it away." Listen, brethren, God is blowing some things away. Why? Because our motivation and our affections are wrong. God wants to change that. "...Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house." That is selfishness.
Verse 10, "Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit." This means there is no Holy Spirit or outpouring. God said "get your affection right." Get your motivation right, or else I am going to blow upon it and blow it away. You are not going to have the blessing, without the correct motivation. I cannot prove this, but many believe the people were taking the things from the house of God to their homes, and using it for themselves. So our motivation has to be right. I believe we need to come to a place in God, where we will know where to give; who to give to; when God is directing and speaking. We need to support the work of God.
Look back in 1st Chronicles 29. The Lord said through David, "I have set my affection unto the house of God. I have of my own proper good, gold, silver which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house." Otherwise, David is saying in verse 3: 1."I put my affection in the house of God. 2. "I have given over and above what God has required of me." That, again, is a sacrifice. The sacrifice is that which costs you something. Some can sacrifice more than others. God requires more of some than others.
Look in verse 5, in the latter part, "...And who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?" What is the service? It is giving to the Lord's house. It is being obedient to the Lord for the Lord's house. That is the service of the Lord.
Verse 7, "And gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents, and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron."
The service is giving to God in God's house. I believe God wants to change our way of thinking and giving; the way we give and our motivation.
Verse 6, "Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers of the king's work, offered willingly."
If this is not from the heart, you might as well keep it in your purse or billfold. If you do not give from your heart, you might as well not give at all. In fact, I do not think we should take any money from anyone who complains about their giving, if we know about it. I think we should give it back to them. I believe giving should be from the heart, and if it is not from the heart, then do not give. It brings a curse on the money. I do not believe in begging for money, pleading for money. I do not believe we have to do that. If we have to do that, then people are not hearing from the Holy Ghost. I do not want any money you have to beg and plead for.
Verse 9, "Then the people rejoiced..." Remember, God loves a cheerful giver; he loves a hilarious giver. He wants someone who does it with joy. "The people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy." The joy sprang into his heart, when he saw the people giving from the heart. The joy overtook them and overtook him as well.
Verse 14, "But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." In other words, it is saying, "God, we are giving back what you have given to us."
As Christians, we have been blessed. I have been blessed. I have never wanted for anything, as far as my needs being met. God has always met my needs. I remember when I quit my job years ago. I walked out on a Saturday. I had been in the bathtub in December, praying and taking a bath, and I knew in April, I was going to leave. So the last of April, right at noon, I had them pull my slip, and I walked right out of the place. I had heard from God, so I knew I was to quit my job. From that day forward, I have never wanted as far as my needs being met. I do not think I will want at all, as long as I obey the Holy Ghost, and you won't either.
If our needs are not being met, then we need to check up on our hearts. There may be something in us that is blocking or stopping the flow of God. God said, "I will meet your needs."
Verse 14, "...for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." We have given back to God that which He has given us. If God has blessed you and has blessed me, then He expects us to give back that which He has put in our hand. You have to hear God for yourself what to give. Christians do fine until you get to money, and then they put the brakes on.
Verse 17, "...As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee."
Verse 20, "And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the Lord your God. And all the congregation blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the Lord, and the king."
Verse 21, "And they sacrificed sacrifices unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings unto the Lord..."
Verse 22, "And did eat and drink before the Lord on that day with great gladness (or joy)."
Verse 28, "And he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour: and Solomon his son reigned in his stead." Why? Because David obeyed God.
Now look in Exodus 25:1-2, "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering." Only take the offering from willing vessels. Do not take it from those that are not willing to give it willingly. The offering was not to go to Moses, but to the work of the Lord.
Exodus 35:4, "And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord commanded." Notice, first of all, it is a command of God. God is commanding. Not Moses, but God through Moses. I thank God for the command of God today, that we are to give to God.
Verse 5, "Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it; an offering of the Lord; gold, and silver, and brass..." He is not talking about a tithe here, he is talking about an offering.
There is a tithe, which is one tenth of what we make, then there is the gift, which is not the tithe, then there is the offering. That is extra.
Someone said it this way, when you give your tithe, God opens the windows of heaven, and when you give an offering, something comes through the window.
Look in verse 5 again. Notice, it says, "willing heart," a willing vessel.
Verse 21, "And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up..." How many get stirred up in your heart with your giving? When Paul saw the idolatry over in the book of Acts, he said his heart was stirred. Sometimes we get stirred up by the things we see, but it says "their heart stirred them up ...and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord's offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments." It was for the service of the Lord; it was for the tabernacle of God.
Verse 22, "And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing hearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that offered, offered an offering of gold unto the Lord."
Verse 25, "And all the women that were wise hearted..." Thank goodness for the women today who are wise hearted. "...did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen."
Verse 26, "And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats' hair."
Verse 29, "The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the Lord, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work..." God did not leave anyone out whose heart was willing to give to the work of God.
In verse 30 is a man God chose, whose name is Bezaleel. In verse 31, it says he was filled with the Spirit of God. He was to be over the tabernacle and the building of it. In verse 34-35, "Other men hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work."
Chapter 36:5, "And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded to make." Wouldn't you like to see that? That would be the Holy Ghost speaking. There would be so many offerings coming in that the leaders would have to restrain the people from giving.
Verse 6, "And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing."
So in closing there are ten things to remember about the offering of the Lord:
1. It is a command from the Lord (Exodus 35:4).
A. (The) responsibility of the people.
2. It is the Lord's offering (Exodus 35:5, 21).
3. People have to have a willing heart (Exodus 35:5, 22).
4. Their heart was stirred to give (Exodus 35:21, 26).
5. Their spirit was made willing (Exodus 35:21).
6. The wise gave (Exodus 35:25).
7. It had to be a willing offering (Exodus 35:29).
8. The people were restrained from giving (Exodus 36:5-7).
9. Moses took up the offering; he was responsible for it (Exodus 36:3).
10. The offering was not for Moses, but for the work of the Lord in the tabernacle
(Exodus 36:5-7).
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