(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…
- The tithe belongs to God. (Leviticus 27:30)
- The tithe is about your heart and not your money.
- The tithe is about honoring God first!
- Giving the first tenth causes the rest to be blessed by God.
- Tithing is not sowing. Tithing is returning what belongs to God to Him.
Law of Sowing and Reaping
- God created the law of sowing and reaping.
(Genesis 8:22 NKJV) “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”
This is both a natural law and a spiritual law. Jesus said the Kingdom of God operates based upon this law.
(Mark 4:26-29 TPT) Jesus also told them this parable: “God’s kingdom realm is like someone spreading seed on the ground. (27) He goes to bed and gets up, day after day, and the seed sprouts and grows tall, though he knows not how. (28) All by itself it sprouts, and the soil produces a crop; first the green stem, then the head on the stalk, and then the fully developed grain in the head. (29) Then, when the grain is ripe, he immediately puts the sickle to the grain, because harvest time has come.”
- God created another law that says a seed will produce only after its own kind.
(Genesis 1:11 NKJV) Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.
(Genesis 1:21 NKJV) So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
(Genesis 1:24 NKJV) Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so.
- Seeds are not always financial in nature.
(Galatians 6:7 TPT) Make no mistake about it, God will never be mocked! For what you plant will always be the very thing you harvest.
- The Word of God is the most powerful seed we have available.
Giving someone a financial gift might change their life on the outside, but the Word of God can change someone’s life from the inside out and make an eternal difference.
(Mark 4:14-20 NKJV) The sower sows the word. (15) And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. (16) These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; (17) and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. (18) Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, (19) and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (20) But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
How can money, a neutral thing become something that I can sow and have it produce a harvest? It is just like the brick; it is powerless to produce anything. Unless something is attached to it.
- Money can become seed only if the real seed is attached to it.
(Mark 4:14 NKJV) The sower sows the word.
The Word is the true seed, and it needs to be sown into the hearts of men. So, if we want our money to become seed, then we must attach it to the true seed of God’s Word.
Money cannot be sown into the hearts of men, but the Word can be sown into the hearts of men. So, our money must be attached to what gets sown into the hearts of men so that it can produce an eternal harvest.
The Law of Multiplication
Multiplication in Action
(Luke 9:12-17 NKJV) When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” (13) But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.” (14) For there were about five thousand men. Then He said to His disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of fifty.” (15) And they did so, and made them all sit down. (16) Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. (17) So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.
There were 5000 men in verse 14. They counted heads of households (Matthew 14:21). In other words, there were 5000 families or households represented here. There could have easily been 15,000 to 20,000 people there.
Four Principles of Multiplication:
- What you have must be blessed before it can multiply.
Tithing is what causes the whole amount to be blessed.
- Only what you give over your tithe is seed and can be multiplied.
This principle only applies to the finances that you give over and above the tithe.
- It is the blessing of Jesus that gives it the potential to multiply.
Luke 9:16 NKJV Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them…
He blessed the loaves, He broke the loaves and He gave the loaves back to the disciples.
- Once it is blessed, what you have has to be given away before it can multiply.
Jesus received the bread, blessed it, and then gave it back to the disciples for distribution. If they had eaten it when Jesus gave it back to them, it never would have multiplied.
Remember, the tithe causes the rest to be blessed and redeemed but it does not cause the rest to multiply.
The food did not multiply when Jesus prayed over the loaves and fishes.
- The miracle of multiplication did not happen in the Master’s hands – it happened in the disciples’ hands.
Notice, that there was not enough to meet the need to start with. But once the Master blessed it and multiplied it, there was more than enough to meet the need and there was some left over.
If you are lacking seed at this point, then there is still hope for you!
(2 Corinthians 9:6-11 AMPC) [Remember] this: he who sows sparingly and grudgingly will also reap sparingly and grudgingly, and he who sows generously [that blessings may come to someone] will also reap generously and with blessings. (7) Let each one [give] as he has made up his own mind and purposed in his heart, not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion, for God loves (He takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without) a cheerful (joyous, “prompt to do it”) giver [whose heart is in his giving]. [Pro 22:9] (8) And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation]. (9) As it is written, He [the benevolent person] scatters abroad; He gives to the poor; His deeds of justice and goodness and kindness and benevolence will go on and endure forever! [Psa 112:9] (10) And [God] Who provides seed for the sower and bread for eating will also provide and multiply your [resources for] sowing and increase the fruits of your righteousness [which manifests itself in active goodness, kindness, and charity]. [Isa 55:10; Hos 10:12] (11) Thus you will be enriched in all things and in every way, so that you can be generous, and [your generosity as it is] administered by us will bring forth thanksgiving to God.