First Fruits

- Proverbs 3:9-10

Proverbs 3:9–10 (NKJV)

9 Honor the Lord with your possessions,And with the firstfruits of all your increase;10 So your barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine.

Yadi and I have blessed in these later years of our ministry

- World Travel

By having been allowed the chance to travel to Europe, etc,

I often joke about this point with my family, that although it took me 48 years to finally be blessed to see Europe with my own eyes.

It only took my son Ezra, 4 years.

My son Ezra is a travel trooper.

We were worried a bit about traveling with our special little boy,

You know, how will he behave in the airports?

Will people give us dirty looks, or be rude, or would he simply be safe?

But to our great satisfaction, Ezra enjoyed the travel as much as Yadi & I.

In Turkey, he just strolled right along with us, gazing at all the shining stuff on display

In Greece, he was right at home no matter wether on the Island, boat or in Athens strolling along the Grecian Ruins.

Once, to our dismay, while in Mexico, he somehow managed to open the front door, and walk right on out without anyone knowing.

That’s right!

Thank God, Let me repeat that, Thank God!

That we are always vigilant on what he is doing and where he is,

When we noticed we didn’t hear him, or see him, everyone in the house rose in panic searching everywhere for him.

You can imagine at this point in the story our hearts were beating out of control,

Filled with unimaginable fear, we continued screaming his name, EZRA!

All over the house.

When I notice the front door appeared to be closed but under closer examination, it only appeared to be closed.

Ezra had stepped out, and the door crept back to a closed position.

I immediately burst outside and looked in every direction,

and suddenly, God, answered a parents prayer.

There was Ezra turning the corner at the long end of the block, being guided by a young cousin of mine, who recognized Ezra and took him by the hand leading him back to us.

Needless to say, it was a drop to your knees kind of moment to give praise and thanks to God for having kept him safe.

That is a true story,

Which happened as much to our shame happened again while on an Island in Greece.

We were in a house visiting with an islander whose house was literally feet from the stony beach of the Ionian Ocean.

Ezra had a blast picking up pebbles from the beach, throwing them in the ocean to hear the splash it spitting up a splash of water with it.

Well, as we were visiting, the screen door facing the beach was assured to us the islander, that it was locked,

But, again, we immediately realized Ezra had gone silent, so by instinct we rushed up to search,

And little Houdini was gone again.

He had made his way from the house porch trying to get to the beach and the pebbles no doubt,

But, again we thank God, because the what the Islander meant when she said it was locked was the iron porch gate, on the patio was locked, so although Ezra could open the door, he couldn’t get off the patio.

But in the moment our hearts sank as you could probably imagine.

So, as I said, Yadi and I have been blessed to travel to places across the world.

Aside from worrying about Ezra, we had to accurately plan for spending.

- Currency Exchange

Coming from the United States, our money is valued in Dollars,

In Europe, during the time we were there, the value of a Euro was higher than a US Dollar. was about a dime higher.

That means that for ever one Euro, (European currency), we had to spend $1.10

For example is something cost $5.00 in the Europe, we would spend $5.50

So at the time, if you took Dollars to Europe, you would lose money, because it took more dollars to complete the purchase.

In contrast,

When we travel to Mexico earlier this year with our US Dollar against the Mexican Peso, we gained money.

Because the peso was valued much lower than the Dollar.

During our time there it took, $19.16 Pesos, for every Dollar.

So, if we bought something using American Dollars, we had to use less Dollars to complete the purchase because the value of the Dollar was higher

You all understand so far?

- Weighing the Value

Now if I were to put a price tag on both of those close calls with Ezra, which one would be cheaper?

The time in Greece against the Euro or the Peso while in Mexico?

Neither, because losing a child is a matter of the heart and not money

Money would have zero value to a parent that just lost a child.

Even is a parent had all of the money in the world, it can’t bring their baby back.

So, in that aspect, it would mean nothing.

Now, how many of us in here use American Dollars?

How many of us in here pay a cable or internet bill?

Most of us in here and watching around the world, pay bills every month.

We trade hours of time away from our families for money,

Then we use that money to pay for things in this world, we consider to have value.

And the more valuable we consider it, the more of our money it takes to complete the transaction to acquire it.

In other words, the more we like it, the more we’ll give to get it.

Can we agree on that?

If thats the case,

It the saddest thing to realize, many people, and some in here,

are willing to pay more in a TV, Cable, or Internet Bill, than give to the church in tithes and offerings.

According to Sofi.com’s

Cost of Living in Illinois article

(https://www.sofi.com/cost-of-living-in-illinois/)

The average Cable bill is around $111. per month.

Money news .com says its about $217.42

https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/saving-and-budgeting/articles/how-much-is-cable-per-month

So who knows which one is right but lets take the average between them of $164.21

Thats like $40 a week.

Thats way more than most people put in the offering at churches. Especially here.

But then I realize, wait a minute,

The Cable/internet bill keeps them plugged into the secular world,

I mean, God knows its not the churches that are providing the programming on TV’s these days.

Its the world.

But yet we would rather spend more of our hard earned money on the receiving messages from the world,

Than we would from receiving messages from the church.

I often wonder why that is, then I applied the simple math we used earlier which had more value,

And its plain as day,

We spend more on the filth we get from the world, than we do on the Word of God, because

We value it more than we do the Word of God.

Matthew 6:21 (NKJV)

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I didn’t say that, Jesus did.

He called it didn’t He?

When I was about 18, I went to buy a new electric guitar.

I had to finance it, but when I told my sister how much I paid for it, she flipped out.

To her, it was a useless purchase and irresponsible for all the practical reasons.

But to me, I would have paid double at the time.

Because that was a treasure in my heart, but not hers,

Yet, when she told me how much shed spent of some of her stuff, I flipped out,

Because they weren’t as valuable to me and so on.

So, using this same principle, Why do some tithe and others run our of service when it’s time to pass the offering plate?

Because church is simply more valuable to some than others, plain and simple.

I used to think that the moral failures of some well known pastors of the eighties caused many to withhold their tithes and offerings because they were afraid the pastor would somehow pocket all the money

I was even guilty of it myself for a bit,

Then I realized, its not a mind thing, that causes one to withhold tithes and offerings,

No, its a heart thing. You simple don’t want to give.

Im indebted to another minister for this observation

- Holy Unto the Lord

In the beginning, back in the garden of Eden, God gave Adam and Eve all of the plants and fruit that grew in the garden, except one

The tree of Knowledge of good and evil.

That was the Lord’s tree, reserved for His purposes.

Just one, out of all, was reserved for God.

This principle God continued with Cain and Abel.

We know this because the story of Abel’s murder began over an offering that each one brought.

Some of their portion was to be reserved for God and His purposes.

Books have been written over the question of why id God reject Cain’s offering.

We’ll never know until we can ask Jesus in heaven, but I wonder sometimes

Could it be that Cain didn’t really want to give it?

Could it be that Cain didn’t trust God enough to spend it wisely, so he only brought what he thought was good enough for the Lord?

Regardless we know what the outcome was,

What we learn from it is this: That which is set apart for the Lord, is His, and He expects it from us.

You see, when we return to God what is His, it exposes your heart.

We express, Lord, I trust you with my eternity and earthly possessions, all that I have is in your hands.

This is your portion, and here it is.

This action exposes your heart to God and shows your obedience to His word.

Let’s get one thing straight, God doesn’t NEED your money.

He is not in heaven using a calculator, trying to figure out if Donna gave so much in Euro’s, how much would that be in Dollars.

Or if Luciano tithed so much in Pesos, how does that convert to Dollars,

Isn’t that ridiculous?

Do you know how much a billion dollars is worth in heaven? ZERO

Money is useless in heaven

You can’t buy anything in heaven with money.

Ephesians 2:8–9 (NKJV)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Money has no value in heaven, because you can’t buy salvation.

People listen to this fact, there will be Billionaire’s in hell!

No, money doesn’t have any value in heaven

It is a tool that God gave to mankind for His purposes and its a tool that exposes the heart of a person.

Now Let be a crystal clear as any pastor can be from a pulpit when I say this.

And this goes for all who are watching around the world,

If you are, right now, are question this topic in your heart as I speak, your heart is not right with God, and you have bigger problems than your tithes and offerings.

Because God has not changed nor has His expectations to receive back from you, His portion.

He has required it from Adam, Eve, and even Cain and Abel,

What makes us think we are off the hook?

Even Abraham gave a tenth to the priest of the Lord most high, Melchizedek.

Genesis 14:17–20 (NKJV)

17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley), after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him. 18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High,Possessor of heaven and earth;20 And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.

Even though we are now in the age of Grace through the blood of Jesus.

We are never told, that we are off the hook of giving God His portion due Him.

That’s right! I said it.

We are never told anywhere in Scripture that we are off the hook,

That we don’t need to give God His due anymore!

Jesus confirmed that we are still to give when chastising the Pharisees in about their hypocritical perceived holiness

Matthew 23:23 (NKJV)

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

They should have done them all, like they did their tithes.

Their tithes were expected by the Lord.

Let’s be very clear,

- A Heart Transaction

When you tithe and give offerings, you are NOT conducting a financial transaction with God

You are conducting a HEART transaction with God.

Because, the tithe and offerings you give to God, are Holy unto God and you shall not touch it,

Meaning, in the same way, God set apart the Treen of Knowledge of good and evil in the garden that He made for man, and ordered man’s obedience by ordering it to be revered as Holy and set apart for God

God’s portion of your lives and possessions are His, and Holy unto Him,

And He expects your obedience in considering your first fruits Holy unto Him and for you not to touch it, but setting it apart for Him only

You see, once again, it’s not about the value of the money, its about the value of your obedience!

and exposing your heart to God.

Another thing to be reminded of here is this point.

- His Purposes

It’s not God that needs your tithes and offerings, but your church.

This is the medium by which God has chosen to put to use His portion of your possessions.

To be given to support those doing His work.

In the old Testament times it went to the priest of the temple.

In the age of Grace, it goes to the church and it’s missions.

1 Corinthians 9:13–14 (NKJV)

13 Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? 14 Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.

So there you have it, in that sense, your tithes and offerings do go to the pastor.

And also to, missionaries, paper goods, Bibles, transport, electricity, air conditioning, flowers for grieving families, etc, and etc.

Or do you think the money to cover such expenses just miraculously fall into the church’s bank account like mana from heaven?

Although God could do that, but then, what how would that benefit you in the heart?

No, its paid by the portions you are to be setting apart as Holy unto the Lord for His purposes.

- Cheaters Beware

No in conclusion lets examine Annias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5

Acts 5:1–4 (NKJV)

1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. 2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 4 While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

Are you trying to lie to God?

The Bible tells us it didn’t end well for Ananias or his wife, and experience tells us that it often doesn’t go well with those who try to cheat God.

Jesus said

Matthew 6:21 (NKJV)

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Let me spell it out for you in my closing thought

- Where’s Your Treasure?

Many of us are in the habit as I was also at on time until I realized this point,

We are in the habit of deciding what we owe, and then giving to God out of what is left after we met our other obligations.

When you do this, you are giving to God out of your excess, and not of your first fruits.

Where is the trust in that?

It is absent.

You are giving out of what is left, so what is the trust for?

But when you give out of the first fruits, you are saying,

“Lord, here is what you have given me, take your portion first, and I will trust you for the meeting of my other obligations.”

That is obedience, and trust.

If you continue to give out of your excess, then be sure, that you are not giving out of excess, and not out of the heart.

Be obedient and give the first fruits.

Set it apart as Holy and do not touch,

Give out of the heart, and not out of the left overs.

Speaking of the people that gave out of abundance, Jesus said this to His disciples,

Mark 12:44 (NKJV)

44 for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”

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