Living That Makes Cents

“Unhindered” - A Way of Life

When Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave, he called him forth to live a life that was full and amazing

He called him to live a life unhindered - pictured by what we have been talking about all year - the verse that says release him and set him free.

What I want to get at today is that we are not called just for the moment, but that this calling to life in Christ should mean freedom all of our lives.

That this freedom should be seen and experienced in every facet of our lives.

In our loving we should be free - and I’m not talking about free love of the 60’s

In our worship we should be free

In our living we should be free

That’s means areas of our lives such as

vocation, family life, rest and relaxation, serving Christ, community life.

I would also like to say that means that in our giving we should be free.

Robin and babysitting job

Was charging woman less. Woman gave her more

I had told her girls, Your mom is treating people as Jesus does and God always blesses that.

Not everyone gets to experience the truth of this saying, but if you do it will change your life and the way that you give to and for people - You cannot ever outgive God.

You cannot love more than God

You cannot sacrifice more than God

You cannot give more than God.

But that doesn’t mean that we don’t try to love and give like Him.

God makes it possible for us to love

God makes it possible for us to sacrifice and give up and surrender things to him

And God also has a plan to make us unhindered in our giving. To Him and to others. And it’s called 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. “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; And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the Lord of hosts.

Malachi 3:10-12

Tithing: The Giving of the Tenth

As far as I can tell, you will only see the word tithe in one place - The Bible.

It is a biblical term meaning exactly as it sounds, the tenth. When we get down to the deepest meaning of the word it is the First tenth or the first ten percent.

It was set up in the Old Testament as a way for the Worship of God to be funded. But as we will see in a few weeks it was also set up to set the heart of the believer toward the things of the Kingdom of Heaven.

There is much debate in the church about the tithe, and there are a lot of different teachings on it.

It’s just an Old Testament principal

It’s not for the church today.

That the Old Scriptures don’t relate to today

That the tithe can be any amount in your heart

That we don’t need to even do anything like the tithe today

Through the years, I have spoken message after message on tithing and why I believe that it is still scriptural and for today

If you choose not to believe that, that is fine. I have to say, I believe that most of the people that I’ve met who have taken the stand on the negatives of tithing

are really people who just do not want to give to the work of God and are making an excuse. And I’ll will also go as far as to say, you will see the result of that in their lives.

That’s harsh Pastor Ken. It may be. But my one proponent for tithing, whether it is relevant for today or not is that it is a biblical principal that still works.

I have tithed, since I was about 12 years old. Most of you know the story of how my father taught us to give to God and I stand before you as a testimony today

that when you give to God, the tithing is blessed and the return is great.

In fact, it’s the only time that we are told to test God. Throughout scripture we are taught not to test God and not to question his authority.

But in these scriptures in Malachi, God says himself, Try me in this and see if it is not true.

I want you to know today - Give to God what is his and He will give to you from what is His

And when it comes down to it, if you do have a problem with the Old Testament system of tithing, than what was the New Testament system that the church set up? What is it that belongs to God? Everything. So Give God what is his and he will give you from everything.

It’s funny that we don’t want to admit that tithing is required of us because it’s Old Testament, But we will sure use the Old Testament for God, Jehovah Jireh - the God who provides all my needs when we are in need of something.

I also want you to know this. That tithing is not something that will ever be expected of you if you attend here. You could give nothing to this church and you will still be loved here and be made a part of the family. But we do expect that if you are in a ministry position or some other leadership role here that you are weekly bringing your tithes into the storehouse.

I mean it every week when I say at offering time, that we do not want your money.

I speak on tithing just twice a year around Thanksgiving time, because I believe that tithing is truly a part of what we do as our thanksgiving for what God has done for us. And that’s it. I speak it because it is such an important part of the scriptures. Jesus spoke about it several times in his teachings.

I speak about it because it is a principal that will set God’s people free - Going to talk about that today

I speak about it because I have experienced it in my own life - consistently.

I speak about it because as I say from time to time, in the economy that we are living, if I am truly your brother and your pastor who cares about you, don’t I want the best for you? And if I could tell you all the numbers that would win the lottery this week, or I had another get rich plan that was proven, shouldn’t I share it with you?

This is not a get rich plan, but a plan of sufficiency in the day that we are living.

The plan is this - Give to God, hold nothing back and God will pour into your life so that you will not just have enough and more than you need but so that you can assist others in what they are going through as well.

So tithing is not bringing the 8% or your income.

Tithing is not giving what you can afford to give today because your have given to every other system of the world, your bills and other things

Tithing isn’t giving the ten percent from next weeks paycheck.

Tithing is the giving of the FIRST FRUITS - the First Ten Percent of all that God has given us to in every pay, and every gift and every return.

But still many will ask, But why should I give Pastor Ken.

BECAUSE

Tithing: The Release of the Hundred

Now one thing that I’ve not said about tithing yet is that it is predominantly a farming term. And that is because the people who it was given to was primarily farmers.

The Israelites, under the Mosaic covenant, were farmers. They did two things. They raised crops and they raised cattle, sheep and goats.

This is why all of the sacrifices that were demanded of them were of those same two areas of their lives

They could bring wheat and oil and other things from their crops. And they had to slaughter the best of their animals.

Nothing could have a defect in it. It had to be many times the first of but if that was not the immediate requirement it had to be free of defects.

Why? Because God deserved their best. And God deserves our best today.

So many people will say that many of us aren’t farmers today so the tithe is irrelevant to today’s society.

No - that just means that we look at what our first fruits come from.

If we had farmers here today and we do, they could definitely still bring their first fruits of the field today and it would be their tithe.

I work in a school system so I get paid a check. Where a farmer brings in a harvest of vegetables and fruits I bring in a direct deposit of money. It is the fruit of my labor. So I tally what I receive from both my pay from the school and the church. Did I get paid for a wedding or a funeral that week? Add that in as well. I multiply that times .10 or 10 percent and that’s what God gets.

But what we miss in this farmers culture, because most of us aren’t farmers is what God says happens because of the tithe.

look at verse 11

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;

The harvest would be full. The fruit of the ground and the fruit of the field would no longer be hindered.

Do you know what God is saying there? If you are a farmer you see it.

You will harvest 100 percent of what there is. That doesn’t always happen.

And the biggest excuse for not tithing is that we don’t have enough now to make ends meet, and how will that work if we start giving God and even more giving to him 10%?

Listen, you can’t figure it out. It’s not multiplication the way that we are taught. It’s Gods multiplication and it doesn’t work with our numbers.

But I stand here today to tell you that after 41 years of consistently tithing, it works.

You never get 100 percent of what you make - and I’m not talking about taxes

What I’m saying is that there is so much draining our finances that what we make never has the power that it could if it was blessed of God.

And when we give the first 10, God gives us back the full 100. You can’t argue with that. It’s the truth.

Well what happens to the original 100 percent that keeps it from being effective?

There is a devourer

Tithing: The Rebuke of the Devourer

Now this is where another segment of the church has a problem with these scriptures being for today.

They would say that since we now live under the period of grace brought on by Jesus’ death and resurrection, then there is no longer a devourer

We live in relationship with Jesus now so how could the devourer be involved in our lives.

Listen for the farmers the devourer was plague and disease. It was blight and drought. It was locusts and wild animals and other causes of the death of the vine and root

For us, it is us. The bills that we create, the things that have to be paid. The things that we choose to pay. The debt that we live in and under

The systems of this world that we bow to.

And now, before I ever even get a check, there are multiple sources that have already exacted their toll on our bank account.

They’ve taken their funds out. There is theft and robbery.

You see, it’s not even about satan. I don’t even know that satan can get his hands on our money as fast as we are giving it out.

So I hear what these men and women of God are saying. I get why they believe this way.

I don’t know about you, but there is a devourer against my first fruits

And God says if we give our tithes, he will rebuke the devourer.

My pay at school

I tithe and the devourer is rebuked.

You see, when the devourer is rebuked or held back from touching your life, from touching your giftings and your living and especially as we talked about today, your finances. Life is fuller.

We can rebuke satan in Jesus’ name and the word says that he has to flee.

But I can’t say to my Bank America Card bill because I over spent that month, I rebuke you in Jesus name and just not pay it.

No, it’s a real bill, this company wants it’s money and with 21% interest.

It’s a devourer, because my spending will get me into a place that the enemy will then use to tell me that I can’t give to the Lord, because now I can’t afford it

And If I believe that, than I will never get free of the devourer.

Now I would never tell you to do this. But I can tell you what I’ve done. I pay my tithe, and God gives me direction and adds extra to assist me in dealing with that bill and wisely paying it off in a way that releases the devourer from my living in an easier way.

And then as Kim and I have done over the years of this release, we give more to God.

And that church is living that makes cents.

We will finish this up in two weeks with

Tithing: The Heart of the Believer

Let’s Pray