From the time man was in the garden of Eden, God has always had his portion that is His and His alone which follows through to the Millennial reign where Christ will sit on the throne of David for one thousand years, and the nations that will not come and give him what is due him, will not receive any rain upon their lands.
Dear reader, we can find all through history that God has always had his part, from the tree in the garden to the first city after Jericho to the one-thousand-year millennial reign, God has reserved a portion for himself declaring it to be holy unto the Lord.
We can do some old history research and find God allowing man in the outer and the inner court of the temple but the Holy place was off limits except for the high priest to enter once a year offering the blood of the innocent lamb as a substitute for man’s sins to be passed over for one more year.
According to the scriptures, God allows us to keep ninety percent of what we earn and he does not put stipulations on how we should spend it.
He asks for ten percent of our earned wages to fund his gospel.
He knows if we are faithful in our tithes we are showing him love and he has all our heart for he said in his word "If we love him, we will keep his commandments"?
A good many people give to God after they have paid everything else however Moses taught that if we give off the top then it is the same as if we gave the whole check.
Tithing During the Law
Moses in the Word of God declares that the tithe is Holy unto the Lord.
(Numbers 18:8-10) (8) And the Lord spoke unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance forever.(9) This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of their's, every meat offering of their's, and every sin offering of their's, and every trespass offering of their's which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons. (10) In the most holy place shalt thou eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto thee.
(Numbers 18:11-19) (11) And this is thine; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute forever: every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it. (12) All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the first fruits of them which they shall offer unto the Lord, them have I given Thee.(13) And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the Lord, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it. (14) Everything devoted in Israel shall be thine. (15) Everything that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the Lord, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem. (16) And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. (17)
But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the Lord. (18)
And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine.
(Numbers 18:19) All the heave offerings of the Holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with Thee, by a statute forever: it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee.
The heave offering belongs directly to the minister who is to oversee the ministry to the poor and upkeep our Father’s house including taking care of the retired ministers that sacrificed their life for the ministry.
Even today the Apostle Paul shows that it is the duty of Churches to maintain their ministers and they that do not work should not eat.
Let us now look at our giving and how we should give. Only a small portion of one's tithe should be given to other ministries however it is scriptural to give a love offering if we feel led to do so.
I mean if God really told you to give to another ministry and you are behind on your bills then it would have to come out of the tithe because God says he hates “robbery for burnt offering”!
It is like this: The tithe is the Lord’s! He does not want you to rob Him by paying your bills with it! In the Old Covenant, the Lord says if you were to borrow it then you were to pay it back with twenty percent interest. (Not too many ministers would tell you that).
God knows our heart and He understands our giving. Did He not say that He that considereth the poor and giveth unto them lendeth unto the Lord?
(Proverbs 19:17).
God also does not want you to rob other people or businesses you have an agreement with to give God an offering. God is just; and with justice comes righteous judgment!
God loves judgment! And with the right judgment comes great wealth.
I need to jump in here and say that there may be a time arise when the Lord may have you make a pledge to give to His work and you do not have the funds he told you to pledge but you step out on an act of faith and make the pledge informing the people over the cause that you do not have the funds at this time but you are stepping out on your faith and believing God that the funds will be there when it is time for the pledge to be collected.
Beloved, I have witnessed God come through many times on this Act of Faith.
The Word declares this statement in this passage and in others such as “Who Is Robbing God?”
Do you not see in today’s body of Christ that we have been devastated as a whole? Sure there is great wealth in the body usually by those who have the use of judgment.
Let’s face it, there are many voices, and the only one that can bring judgment to these voices is you.
The enemy of our soul comes as a thief as stated below. (John 10:10) “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.”
Dear reader, what do you think he (Satan) wants to steal most if your soul is in the hands of Christ?
The Tithe of Divine Portion
Dear reader, God has always had a portion that is His and His alone. We can start by looking at our first man Adam being told he can eat from all the trees in the garden but one and the day he did he would surely die.
God all through history has always had his part, and we can do some old history research and find God allowing man in the outer and the inner court of the temple but the Holy of Holies was off limits except for the high priest to enter once a year offering the blood of the innocent lamb as a substitute for man’s sins to be passed over for one more year.
God has always had what we call the tithe of divine portion throughout the history of dealing with his people.
Beloved, we are to pay our tithe into our Local assembly to Celebrate God’s goodness to us so that the ministry and the meek of our community will have food to eat, clothes to wear, and places to live.
The tithe of the tithe is where we discover the heave offering referred to as a Covenant of Salt.
He allows us to keep ninety percent of what we earn and he does not put stipulations on how we should spend it.
He asks for ten percent of our earned wages to fund his gospel.
He knows if we are faithful in our tithes we are showing him love and he has all our heart for he said in his word "If we love him, we will keep his commandments."
A good many people give to God after they have paid everything else however Moses taught that if we give off the top then it is the same as if we gave the whole check.
In Business With God
Dear reader, you may ask how we know we will be blessed if we do what his word says?
Let me explain how tithing works and how you can get a return on your investment.
Let me start by giving an illustration that should bring some insight to our study.
Go with me now as I start by pretending that I am planning to get into a business adventure. Let's say it is a contracting business and I am new in town. I do not know anyone and need to get a business started to meet the needs of my family.
I arrange a meeting with a well known contractor and ask him to use his influence to open some doors for me. I have proven to him with my references and records that I was successful in the business I had established in the other town.
The man knows deep down inside that he has customers he is unable to service and some help from the right person would certainly keep his customers happy but he just cannot trust his customers to anyone especially someone he does not know.
After some time, I have convinced him that I am capable of doing the work and he agrees to give me some work.
I promise the man that if he will use his power and resources to get me the job that I will pay him a percentage of what the job brings in to which he agrees.
Later one of his customers see him in town and rush to thank him for referring them to me. They inform him that they are very pleased with my work and thank him for trusting them with me.
The man now has a smile on his face and cannot wait to arrange a meeting with me to thank me for servicing his customers and has decided to trust me with some of his better clients.
The man who used his influence to open the door for me to establish my name and keep him in good standing with his customers. He now gets his percentage and I have an open door of opportunity to make my work and professionalism known in this town which will serve to open other and much larger doors for my business to grow which I could never have attained without the help.
This is a small representation of how the same principle works in the Kingdom of God.
Beloved, when we give God his part out of a joyful heart in funding His work on Earth, He uses His influence to open doors that we could have never got open. He has discovered that He can trust us therefore He opens more ways for us to be blessed because the scripture says that God loves a cheerful giver.
Today, churches are having to remortgage their loans and even go into foreclosure because people do not see the need to pay their tithes because ministers are telling them it is bondage and not a requirement in the New Testament Church.
Some people calling themselves Christians today will purchase a new car, go to movies and live a luxurious life but never see the need to give God His part, to fund his ministry so that his work can go on and lives be changed.
We found in an earlier study that God made way for His ministers and maintenance of His church should be carried out and he expressed it through the Lord’s Tithe which is referred to as being Holy to the Lord.
We discovered in our study that it is referred to as a Covenant of Salt which like the priesthood of David is forever. My question is how is it bondage when God has chosen you for a partner?
I close this study with some thoughts that I think will show God’s intent in allowing us to be involved with His work on Earth especially in our giving.
Saints, we have already examined the scriptures in how God has always had His part starting with the first tree in the garden to the first city after Jericho where God instructed Joshua that everything in that city was to be declared Holy unto the Lord then we find Achan hiding the golden wedge and Egyptian garment bringing God’s wrath upon the people. We find that Christ was watching the woman give the two mites. You might say where are you going with all of this?
Did not Christ after rising from the dead give an offering to God as a first fruit offering of the Old Testament saints which is in direct parallel to the law which states that the man of the harvest must bring a first fruit offering to be blessed by the priest so the whole field can be harvested?
Let’s look at some scriptures to begin our study!(Leviticus 23:15-17) "And Ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete:(16) " Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. (17) Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals; they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the first fruits unto the Lord.
(Acts 26:23) "That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles."
(I Corinthians 15:20) "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept."
We find in the scriptures that many of the Old Testament saints got up and were seen in the Holy City.
The scriptures teach that Paradise was moved to heaven when Christ arose and that he presented those that were in Paradise which was then in the heart of the Earth as a first fruit offering to God.
After He ascended into heaven the Holy Spirit was sent to the Earth exactly ten(10) days later.
We also see in the one thousand-year Millennial Reign of Christ on Earth as stated in the book of Revelation that Satan will be bound and Christ will be sitting upon the throne of David.
There will still be Nations upon this planet and they will be required to come to Jerusalem and honor the Lord.
Beloved, there will most likely be some refuse to do so for it is stated in His word that those Nations that fail to comply will receive no rain upon their land, and In other words they will not be able to grow their crops.
Think about it beloved, there will be people on Earth in their human mortal bodies and children will be born during this one thousand years.
This shows me that God always has had His part from the very beginning and it would be a blessing for us to honor Him in our giving after all look at all he went through to rescue and purchase us His prized possession.
My Conclusion
Beloved, the Word declares that we are Kings and Priests of our God, therefore,
"What good is a King without sound judgment?"
We are supposed to be the Lord’s body here on earth and willingly yield our bodies as a living sacrifice which is our reasonable service.
The bottom line to this message is, God desires to use our hands and feet to reach out to the needy, therefore, to accomplish this, we must reach out to the hurting and the culture around us with the good news that we serve a Risen Savior.
On some occasions, God will have us give out of our need to get us to the place where he can richly bless us however we should try the spirits and make sure it is the right one speaking to us.
We can know by listening to that still small voice and making sure there are no checks in our spirit.
I am talking about looking for the peace of God to come upon us before we act on what someone says God wants us to give to their fund.
If you try the Spirits and you have the peace of God upon you then, by all means, give what comes into your mind to give, and remember, we cannot out-give Almighty God who will open doors for us that we could never get open.
It is time to get past the Sanctuary of Worship and enter into a wonderful relationship with Christ who is not flesh and blood but an Eternal Being. Nothing should ever be allowed to take the place of being in His presence. There should never be a question in our mind when it comes to our relationship with Him.
I am talking about people, places, and things including family which are temporal and will come to an end but our place of being in a direct relationship with Him will determine how much He can trust us within the world to come. We need to come into a place of Holy Reverence for who He is and what He has done for us so that we might be called sons and daughters of the Most High God.
Beloved, we have got to get past regular worship which is filled with man-made forms and agendas which exemplify the flesh more than the Creator.
This is when the church services become more than good meetings and good preaching. It is when we get tired of church in the norm and the world being able to sit comfortably in our meetings and there is no conviction of their sin and way of life.
May we always remember that when we enter in and seek His presence with all our hearts, we are guaranteed by His word that He shall be found.
Killer With Three Heads is the second book in the Killer series. Bulletproof Morris ‘Mojo’ Johnson returns to New York as John Morrison after a 10 years’ absence to find the people responsible for kidnapping his daughter, Maria.
Dear reader, we can find all through history that God has always had his part, from the tree in the garden to the first city after Jericho to the one-thousand-year millennial reign, God has reserved a portion for himself declaring it to be holy unto the Lord.
