Thank You for your letter. First, let me
bring to Your attention a movie on our
website titled
The Importance of
Worship. I made this movie
recently while visiting my wife’s relatives
in the Philippines. In this message I spend
some time talking about this subject the
importance of Tithing.
The thing to understand about tithing is why
God commands us to tithe. God is
self-sufficient and needs nothing from us,
but He is our Creator, he created this
universe as we know it and this earth. He
created us with our individual abilities and
talents that provide us our jobs and income.
Therefore the purpose of Tithing is simply
our way of showing God that He is our source
and our creator and that we have what we
have because of the talents and abilities He
gave us. Tithing is an act of Faith: you are
showing faith in God and His goodness by
giving Him your tithe, 10% of Your gross
income. In response when we give God our
tithe He promises to bless us and give us
more. The primary passage for tithing is:
Malachi 3:10-11 “‘Bring the whole
tithe into the storehouse, so that there may
be food in My house,
and test Me now in this,’ says
Yehovah-of-hosts, ‘if I will not open
for you the windows of heaven, and pour out
for you a blessing until it overflows. Then
I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that
it may not destroy the fruits of the ground;
nor will your vine in the field cast its
grapes,” says Yehovah of hosts.’”
Note God tells us many things about
the Tithe: we are to give it to the church
of our choice, where we are fed spiritually.
It is to go to His house. The tithe goes to
His servants, His Ministers and there work.
Apart from that if we want to support other
outside ministries the Bible calls this
offerings. Offerings are beyond the tithe.
God promises us that when we give Him the
tithe that 1) He will rebuke the devourer,
Satan, and stop him from destroying our
fruits and what we have. God promises us we
will in our work have fruit and a good
return. Not only does he promise this but
specifically challenges us to test Him in
this. 2) He promises to open the windows of
Heaven and pour out a blessing upon us until
all our needs are meant, until there is no
more need.
Remember, that we do not tithe
because God needs our money, we tithe to
declare to God that He is our Creator and
source and that if not for Him we would have
no tithe to give. I personally always give
God minimally 11% of my income. You cannot
out give God. I have tested this many times
in my life when I had a desperate need and
after giving the tithe I then plant a seed
of an offering for my need. Besides
Pastoring I am a Bible translator. Many
years ago when the Lord first called me to
this work my 640 computer was not powerful
enough for the work I was doing but I had no
money to buy what I needed. All I had at the
time was $40 for a weeks groceries. I chose
to give one weeks grocery money as a seed,
an offering, to the need of a ministry that
I was aware of. In return from a completely
unexpected source Jesus provided me $6000
for the computer equipment I needed and that
was in 1995. He has continued to provide
year after year since state of the art
computer equipment to continue this work
without hindrance. You cannot out give God.
He has a reputation to uphold. He promises
when we obey Him and, first, give the tithe
to His church, the church of your choice,
and then offerings that He will open the
windows of Heaven and pour out a blessing
upon you way beyond your request as I shared
by the example above.
What portion of our income do we
tithe from? The gross or the net? It is
always on the gross, not the net. If you can
it is always better to tithe without
revealing yourself to the recipient, but we
live in an online world and we tithe our
ministry funds and donations to a ministry
and we send it online for convenience, but
Jesus said do not let your left hand know
what your right hand is doing.
Matthew 6:3-4
"But when you give alms, do not let your
left hand know what your right hand is doing
that your alms may be in secret; and your
Father who sees in secret will repay you."
If you want to test the Lord in
giving, and it is His challenge to you in
Malachi 3:10-11, make a donation to your
church anonymously. Then sit back and watch
the Lord bring to you your need. Tithes are
the Lord’s period, but if you plant a seed
always be specific with the Lord: “Lord, I
am giving this offering for this need
_________.” Then watch the Lord answer Your
need. You cannot out give God, it will
always be more back than you gave.
You always relate to God on his
terms not what the world is doing. He is not
bound by what the world is doing and He will
meet your needs regardless of what is going
on in Washington.
We are not non-tax
status. To be non-tax status we
become bound by what we can say or not say
and commit idolatry. Jesus is our Lord and
source, not the USA government. We work for
him, not the government and He provides us
what we need. We speak for Him and represent
Him. If you give, if you can, give
anonymously, but that is between you and the
Lord.
Luke 6:38
“Give, and it will be given to you; good
measure, pressed down, shaken together,
running over, they will pour into your lap.
For by your standard of measure it will be
measured to you in return.”
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