(2 Corinthians 9:10-11 NLT) For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. (11) Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.
(2 Corinthians 9:11 MSG) (11) wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way…
Review from Last Week:
- The tithe belongs to God.
- The tithe is about your heart and not your money.
- The tithe is about honoring God first!
- Tithing is an act of faith. It is a corresponding action.
(James 2:17 AMPC) So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead).
God is not an extortionist, like the mafia. We are not buying His protection when we tithe. We are honoring Him and tithing is an act of our faith to say I trust You and believe Your Word.
We tithe because we love God, are thankful for what Jesus has done for us, and we trust Him. We do not tithe out of fear of punishment.
We do not tithe to get God to do something for us. We cannot buy what Jesus has already paid for.
Our faith and trust is what activates the blessing in our lives. The money is not what activates the blessing.
(Deuteronomy 30:19 NKJV) I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
As believers, we have a choice as to whether we live under the blessings or under the curse. Both are available to us.
Obedience is what opens the door and positions us for the blessing of God and disobedience is what opens the door and positions us for the curse.
(Malachi 3:8-9 NKJV) “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. (9) You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation.
If we are stealing what belongs to God, wouldn’t that be considered disobedience?
As of around 1998, Christians in the United States earned an estimated $5.2 trillion of income and the total amount given to all ministry related causes, including churches, missions, etc. was $92 billion. The amount given is 1.7 percent of the amount earned. The same statistic for the whole world was 1.8 percent. In the US, we gave less than the other nations of the world (including poor third world nations).
Could you image what we could do if that number went to 10 percent?
We are not teaching these things because God needs your money. We are teaching this for your sake.
God doesn’t need you to give – you need to be blessed. Remember, God wants your heart! If you are not tithing, you are robbing God of your full heart.
Benefits of Tithing
(Malachi 3:10-12 NKJV) 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. (11) “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the LORD of hosts; (12) And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the LORD of hosts.
- “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My House…
- Bring all your tithes into the “storehouse.”
- “Depository”
- “Treasure house”
- “Magazine of weapons in God’s armory”
- Bring all your tithes into the “storehouse.”
- “Food” is spiritual revelation of the Word.
- Your tithe goes where the Lord has stored up wisdom and revelation for you.
- Don’t dine and dash!
- “Food” is spiritual revelation of the Word.
- God reinvests your tithe for your spiritual benefit.
- “You can never out-give God! He always gives back His 10 percent to see to it that you are perfected, equipped and edified.” —Kenneth Copeland, WOFSB
- God reinvests your tithe for your spiritual benefit.
“And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts,
- “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven…
- Windows (HEB) = Floodgates. “Floodgates” mean:
- Google online dictionary = “A last restraint holding back an outpouring of something powerful or substantial”
- Merriam-Webster = “Something serving to restrain an outburst”
- It is the same word used when the earth was flooded in Genesis 7:11.
- Windows (HEB) = Floodgates. “Floodgates” mean:
(Genesis 7:11 NKJV) …on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
(Malachi 3:10b CEV) Then I will open the windows of heaven and flood you with blessing after blessing.
(Malachi 3:10b NIV) …and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
- For the tither, it is a great flood of every kind of provision.
- Pour (HEB) = Empty out
- …And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
(Malachi 3:10b ESV) …And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
(Malachi 3:10b NASB) “…if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.
(Malachi 3:10b ISV) “…[I will] Pour out on you blessing without measure.”
(Malachi 3:11 NKJV) “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the LORD of hosts;
- “I will rebuke the devourer.”
- Rebuke (HEB) = Cripple, paralyze, stop
- Devourer (HEB) = To eat, seed eater, crop-destroying pest, consumed of fire, to burn up, to be wasted
- The tither has rights, and one of those rights is protection from the devourer and his attempts to devour any area of your life.
- One thing that is revealed in this scripture is that Satan is attracted to fruit.
“Satan would like to destroy the increase God brings into your life. Look at the things in your life that are growing or increasing—your family, your ministry, your business, and your relationship with God. These are some of the fruits or increase that are in your life. God promised us that Satan will not destroy our fruit and that He would give us divine protection.”
—Pastor Bill Winston, The Power of the Tithe
- “He shall not destroy the fruits of your ground…”
(Malachi 3:11a NIV) I will prevent pests from devouring your crops…
(Malachi 3:11a MSG) For my part, I will defend you against marauders, protect your wheat fields and vegetable gardens against plunderers.”
- “Neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field.”
(Malachi 3:11 NLT) Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease. Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
(Malachi 3:11 TLB) Your crops will be large, for I will guard them from insects and plagues. Your grapes won’t shrivel away before they ripen,” says the Lord Almighty.
(Malachi 3:12 NKJV) And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the LORD of hosts.
- “And all the nations shall call you blessed…”
(Genesis 12:3 GNB) I will bless those who bless you, But I will curse those who curse you. And through you I will bless all the nations.”
- One fifth of 1 percent of the world’s population is Jewish.
- Yet, the Jews have been at the center of most of the world’s creative, scientific, innovative and cultural achievements.
- They make up 23 percent of the Nobel Prize recipients.
- Israel has the third highest entrepreneurship rate in the world.
- Highest rated entrepreneurship among women in the world!
- Highest entrepreneurship among those 55 and above in the world!