🎵Music🎵
Good morning and welcome.
Let's find our seats and take our song books.
Turn to song number 144.
Song number 144.
🎵Music🎵
A mighty fortress is our God.
Song number 144.
Let's sing it out on the first.
🎵A mighty fortress is our God🎵
🎵A bulwark never failing🎵
🎵Our helper he amid the flood🎵
🎵The mortal is prevailing🎵
🎵For still our ancient foe🎵
🎵Does seek to work us woe🎵
🎵His craft and power gray🎵
🎵And armed with cruel hate🎵
🎵On earth is not his equal🎵
144 on the second.
🎵Did we in our own strength confide🎵
🎵A striving would be losing🎵
🎵We're not the right man on our side🎵
🎵The man of God's own choosing🎵
🎵Dost ask who that may be🎵
🎵Christ Jesus, sin is he🎵
🎵Lord, survey of his name🎵
🎵From age to age the same🎵
🎵Many must win the battle🎵
🎵And though this world with devils filled🎵
🎵Should threaten to undo us🎵
🎵We will not fear for God hath willed🎵
🎵This truth to triumph through us🎵
🎵The prince of darkness grim🎵
🎵We tremble not for him🎵
🎵His rage we can endure🎵
🎵For lo, his doom is sure🎵
🎵One little word shall fail him🎵
Good, on the last.
🎵That word above all earthly powers🎵
🎵No thanks to them abideth🎵
🎵The spirit and the gifts are ours🎵
🎵Through him who with the sighteth🎵
🎵Let good and kindred go🎵
🎵This mortal life also🎵
🎵The body they may kill🎵
🎵God's truth abideth still🎵
🎵His kingdom is forever🎵
Amen, and we want to welcome you to Verity Baptist Church this morning.
We're so glad that you are with us and we of course would like to begin the service with a word of prayer.
So let's bow our heads together and let's pray.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you.
We thank you for allowing us to gather together today.
Lord, we pray that you'd bless the time that we set aside for singing and preaching and fellowship.
Lord, we ask that you'd meet with us this morning.
And Lord, we ask that you'd help us to draw closer to you to learn from your word.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Turn to song 334.
334, make me a blessing.
Let's sing this one out, 334 on the first.
🎵Out in the highways and highways of life🎵
🎵Many are weary and sad🎵
🎵Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife🎵
🎵Making the sorrowing glad🎵
🎵Make me a blessing🎵
🎵Out of my life🎵
🎵May Jesus shine🎵
🎵Make me a blessing🎵
🎵O Savior, I pray🎵
🎵Make me a blessing🎵
🎵To someone today🎵
🎵Tell the sweet story of Christ and His love🎵
🎵Tell love is far to forgive🎵
🎵Others will trust Him if only it prove🎵
🎵True every moment you live🎵
🎵Make me a blessing🎵
🎵Out of my life🎵
🎵May Jesus shine🎵
🎵Make me a blessing🎵
🎵O Savior, I pray🎵
🎵Make me a blessing🎵
🎵To someone today🎵
Good, sing it out on the last.
🎵Give as what's given to you in your need🎵
🎵Love as the Master loved you🎵
🎵Be to the helpless a Helper indeed🎵
🎵Unto your message be true🎵
🎵Make me a blessing🎵
🎵Out of my life🎵
🎵May Jesus shine🎵
🎵Make me a blessing🎵
🎵I pray🎵
🎵Make me a blessing🎵
🎵To someone today🎵
Good, sing it.
Amen. Alright, well let's take our bulletins and we'll look at some announcements real quickly.
If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you.
If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up and we will get one for you.
The verse this week, Philippians 4-13,
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
And that's a good verse there. We like that.
If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time Sunday morning service 1030 a.m.
And we're glad you're with us, of course, on Sunday morning on the Lord's Day for church.
We do invite you to be back tonight at 6 p.m. for the evening service.
And the evening service is different than the morning service, different songs that are sung, different sermon that's preached.
It's one more opportunity to be with God's people and God's house under the preaching of the Word of God.
And then, of course, we invite you to be with us on Wednesday night for the Wednesday night Bible study.
If you look at our soul-winning times, our main soul-winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m.
Soul-winning, of course, is when we go out in the community, we knock doors, we invite people to church,
and we preach the gospel to anyone who's interested.
We also have additional soul-winning times on Thursdays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
So if you'd like to go soul-winning, we'd love for you to join us, of course, for any of those soul-winning times.
If you look across the page there, you'll see our announcements and upcoming events.
I want you to notice there that we are announcing the tithe challenge.
This is something that we did many, many years ago back when our church was young.
We did a lot of different challenges. We had a church attendance challenge.
We, of course, have a Bible reading challenge. We did a tithe challenge.
And what we would do is we would challenge you to tithe, to be faithful with your tithes, the last quarter of the year.
Now, of course, you should be faithful with your tithe all the time.
But we would do this to encourage especially new believers and people that aren't tithing to just take the tithe challenge.
The Bible says, God said, prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts.
And we want to challenge you. Today is the first Sunday in October.
I want to challenge you in the months of October, November and December,
if you're not tithing, to begin tithing and to prove God in that challenge.
And I'm going to speak about that this morning. I'll be preaching on that subject.
I don't preach a lot on the subject of giving. If you're a first-time guest, I'm sorry.
It's the Sunday you chose and I apologize for that.
But honestly, if you've come to our church for any length of time, you know that I don't talk a lot about money.
But I do think it's in the Bible. The Bible does teach and preach it.
And it's good to be taught about these things. Now, we are in a study on the spirit world,
a study of heaven, hell, angels, demons, the devil and spiritual warfare.
We're going to take a break from that this Sunday due to the tithe challenge.
But we're going to pick that up next week. So we've already studied heaven and hell.
Next week, we're going to look at angels. And then just in time for Halloween, we're going to say demons and devils.
So you can actually have something biblical to be to learn about and be afraid about, I guess.
So I encourage you, of course, to join us for that.
And then we want you to know about our upcoming Harvest Party that's on Thursday, October 31st at 6 p.m.
That's something we do every October 31st just to give you something good and wholesome to do on October 31st that doesn't involve worshipping death of the devil.
So we'd love you to join us for the Harvest Party.
Of course, we'll have our annual chili cook off and we'll be giving out a $50 gift card for the first place winner, a $25 gift card for the second place winner.
So how this works is we'll have chili as the meal for the night and we encourage everybody to bring chili.
You don't have to be in the chili cook off to bring chili. You can just bring chili for us to eat and fellowship with.
But if you'd like to be part of the competition, then you need to have your chili here no later than 6 p.m.
You have to be here by 6 p.m. with your chili and then we'll have judges. They'll judge and we'll give out the gifts and whatever.
Also, we'll have other games and fellowship. There'll be games for the kids. We'll do all the games we normally do, ping pong and the corn hole toss and all of that.
There'll be a ladies and a men's basketball game also going on. So just be aware of that.
Ladies, if you'd like to sign up for the basketball game, there's a sign up sheet in the back.
The men, we don't do a sign up sheet. I guess nobody cares about the men. But ladies, we care deeply about the ladies.
So there's a sign up sheet. Now we just want the ladies to, you know, you have to, because you've got to make plans.
You've got to bring the tennis shoes, you know, all that stuff. Guys just play and they don't need any preparation.
But there's a sign up sheet so please make sure to go by there for that.
Also, there's a sign up sheet in the foyer to bring cornbread and dessert for the harvest party.
So just be aware of that. We'd love for you to join us for that and sign up and help with those things.
Also, we have our next Spanish service coming up on Saturday, October 19th at 5 p.m. So that's just around the corner.
So make sure that you are thinking about that if you want to be part of the Spanish service.
Like I said, our first service, we had 136 in attendance. So praise the Lord for that.
We'll have a Spanish themed potluck that night as well. So just make plans for that.
There's other things there for you to look at. Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off.
Of course, replace them on silent.
If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of October.
This week we have Ms. Skylar Thompson's birthday on October 7th.
Kyle Ruben's birthday also on October 7th.
And then on October 12th, we have Madison Johnson's birthday, brother Marisa Hernandez's birthday.
And brother Keith and Ms. Carla Rivas have an anniversary on October 12th.
So that's all this week. Praise report, money matters.
All of those things are there for you to look at.
And of course, if you're a first time guest, we're glad that you're with us.
We have a gift we'd like to give you as you walk out of the church building this morning.
As you go out the foyer there, you'll see a little table set up.
And on that table you'll see these little gift bags.
Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest this morning.
There are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have.
The one I'd like to highlight is this documentary that our church made.
It's called Being Baptist. It's very well made, very interesting.
We think you'll like it. And we want to give this to you as a gift.
So please make sure you don't leave here this morning without grabbing one of those gift bags on your way out.
And if you are a guest, we'd ask that you please take a moment to fill out the communication card, which is inserted in your bulletin.
And if you need a pen, you can just raise your hand and one of our ushers will bring you by a Verity Baptist Church pen.
And you're welcome to keep the pen as a gift from us as well.
We would love to have a record of your attendance.
And we would love to actually send you a little gift in the mail, but we need your information to do that.
So please take a moment to fill the card out.
When we're done with the announcements, we're going to sing a song.
When we're done singing, we're going to receive the offering.
When the offering plate goes by, you can drop this card in the offering plate or you can hand it to me after the service.
I'll be standing at the main door greeting people on the way out.
I'd love for you to come by and say hello.
I think that's it for all of the announcements.
So let's go ahead and take our Chorus of the Week and we're going to sing
I'd Rather Have Jesus as we prepare to receive the offering this morning.
I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first.
I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold.
I'd rather be His than have riches untold.
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands.
I'd rather be led by His nail, pierced hand,
than to be the King of domain.
In sin's dread sway, I'd rather have Jesus than this world of wars.
Good. Sing it out on the second.
I'd rather have Jesus than man's applause.
I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause.
I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame.
Better be true to His holy name
than to be the King of Abbas' domain
and be held in sin's dread sway.
I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world of wars.
Amen. Good singing.
Before we have the guys come up, I would like to remind you that we of course
are a family integrated church.
What that means is that children and infants are always welcomed in the service.
We do not separate children from their parents for any reason.
However, we do have mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience.
All of the rooms have comfortable seating.
They've got monitors or windows set up so you can watch the service.
They've got speaker set up so you can hear the service.
So if you have a child that's been distracting during the service,
if you need some privacy, we would encourage you to use those rooms as needed.
And of course, if you're not sure where they're at, you can look at the back of the bulletin.
You'll see a layout of our church building.
It'll show you where the mother-baby rooms are, where the daddy room is.
It'll show you where the restrooms are.
If you need to be baptized, please let us know.
We'd love to baptize you.
We actually have a baptism scheduled for right after the service today.
And if you know that you need to be baptized on your communication card,
you can check off that you'd like information about baptism,
and we'll follow up with you.
And then like I said, please make sure to check your cell phones
and place them on silent during the service so that they don't go off
in the middle of the preaching.
We would appreciate your help with that.
Right now would be a good time.
We're going to be recording.
We record all the sermons, but we're doing some special recordings right now.
And if you wouldn't mind just checking your phone and making sure it's on silent or vibrate,
because you're thinking it's not, and then it'll go off.
And we would appreciate your help with that.
We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you, and we thank you for allowing us to gather together this morning.
Lord, we pray that you would bless the offering, the gift, and the giver.
Lord, I pray that you would help us this fall season.
Not only this fall season, of course, our entire lives, but especially this fall season,
to be faithful with our tithes and our offerings, Lord.
And I pray that you would bless the preaching today.
I pray that you would continue to meet our financial needs here.
And, Lord, we ask that you would meet with us today, of course.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
We pray.
Turn your Bibles to Malachi chapter 3.
Malachi chapter 3.
If you do not have a Bible, please raise your hand, and an usher will bring you one.
Malachi chapter 3.
We will read the entire chapter as our custom.
Malachi chapter 3.
Just keep your hands up, and an usher will bring you a Bible.
Malachi chapter 3.
The Bible reads, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.
And the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in.
Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appearth?
For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller soap.
And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi,
and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
And I will come near to you to judgment, and I will be swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers,
and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages,
the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right.
And fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.
For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances,
and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.
But ye said, wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me.
But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house.
And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven,
and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.
Neither shall your vine cast her fupor for the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.
And all nations shall call you blessed, for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.
Your words have been a stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, what have we spoken so much against thee?
Ye have said, it is vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance,
and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?
And now we call the proud happy, yea, they that work wickedness are set up,
yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened, and heard it.
And a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.
And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels,
and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him, then shall you return,
and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not.
Let's pray. Father God, thank you for this day, and for this opportunity to come together.
Please bless Pastor, and please bless the message. Please let it bring glory and honor to you.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.
Amen. All right, we're there in Malachi chapter number three.
And of course, as I've already announced today, I'm preaching on the subject of tithing.
And I'm preaching a sermon entitled, The Tithe Challenge.
You're there in Malachi chapter three. I'd like you to just look down at verse number ten.
Malachi chapter three and verse ten. Of course, these are very well-known verses in regards to this subject.
Malachi chapter three and verse ten, the Bible says, Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts,
if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive.
This is, of course, one of the most well-known passages on the subject of tithing,
although tithing is taught all throughout the Bible.
And today, I want to speak to you on the subject of tithing.
And just to define it for you, when we're talking about a tithe or tithing,
we're talking about a one-tenth offering that is given as a contribution to God, given to God through a local church.
Now, of course, whenever you speak on the subject of giving, people often get nervous.
You talk about money and church, people don't like it.
And I'd like you to keep your place there in Malachi.
We're going to come back to Malachi throughout the sermon,
if you would not mind putting a ribbon or a bookmark or something there in Malachi chapter three.
But I would like you to flip over to the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter number six.
Now, Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament.
Matthew is the first book in the New Testament.
So you'll just flip over to the next book from the Old Testament into the New Testament.
And I'd like you to go to Matthew chapter number six.
Just by way of introduction, let me say this and give, I guess, a little bit of a disclaimer when it comes to preaching on giving.
First of all, I honestly do not preach about giving a lot.
We don't talk about money here at our church very much.
I grew up in church where every sermon there was a point on giving before every offering.
There was a mini sermon given on giving.
We don't do those things here.
And if you came to our church for any length of time, you know that's true.
Again, if you're a first time guest, you know, you just chose the right Sunday.
This is what God wanted you to hear, I guess.
But we honestly don't preach a lot on the subject of giving.
However, when I do preach on it, I do not apologize for it.
Because it is something that is taught in scripture, as we'll see this morning.
It's something that the Bible talks a lot about.
And I would just say this.
If preaching on giving bothers you, you should begin by checking your own heart.
Because the Bible says in Matthew chapter six and verse twenty one, I'd like you to see the verse there.
Matthew six twenty one.
These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he said this for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also for where your treasure is there where your heart be also.
And the Bible here in Jesus identifies the fact that giving is a matter.
Money is a matter of the heart.
It reveals where our heart is, where we put our earthly treasure, reveals where our heart is.
And if it bothers you to think about or to be challenged to put your earthly treasure into the work of God, the house of God, the ministry of God,
then you should honestly check your heart and ask yourself, why is it that this bothers me?
Because Jesus said, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
This verse also teaches us that this is one of the reasons why as a pastor it is my job to teach on the subject.
Because financial stewardship and financial giving is part of discipleship.
It's part of Christian growth.
It's not the main thing of Christian growth.
It's not the only thing of Christian growth.
But it's definitely a component of Christian growth.
And you cannot be a Christian that is maturing and growing in your walk with the Lord while ignoring the commands in the Bible with regards to giving and tithing.
So though we don't preach about this a lot, I do preach on it from time to time.
And I'm preaching on it this morning on the subject of tithing and specifically the tithe challenge.
Now there are five thoughts I want to give you in regards to this.
And if you're taking notes, and I always encourage you to take notes on the back of your course of the week, there's a place for you to jot down some things.
The first thing I'd like to talk about is the practice of tithing.
The practice of tithing.
Now you're there in Matthew and I hope you kept your place in Malachi.
We're going to come back to Malachi.
Malachi was the last book of the Old Testament.
Matthew was the first book of the New Testament.
I'd like for you to go with me now to the book of Genesis, which is the first book in the Bible.
Genesis chapter number 14.
Should be fairly easy to find.
First book in the Bible.
Genesis chapter number 14.
And I want to begin here with the practice of tithing.
And the reason for that is because there are some who teach today that tithing was part of the Old Testament law.
And they make that point in order to say this, that we as New Testament believers are no longer under the Old Testament law and it does not apply to us today.
Now, there are definitely things in the Old Testament covenant that have been done away with.
The Bible is clear about those things.
But I want to show you that the practice of giving and the practice of tithing specifically is not one of them.
In Genesis chapter 14 and verse 20, we find Abraham speaking to Melchizedek.
If you remember, this is after Sodom and Gomorrah has been taken over.
This is before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
They've lost the battle.
Lot has been taken captive and Abraham has rescued him and rescued people.
And Abraham is coming back from that victory.
He meets Melchizedek along the way.
Genesis 14, 20.
And the Bible says this,
And bless the most high God which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.
And then the Bible says this,
And he, this is Abraham, gave him, that's Melchizedek.
You can read the whole story in its context if you like.
The Bible says he gave him, Abraham gave Melchizedek, tithes of all.
So Abraham is coming back from this victory and he's coming back with the gains of war.
And he meets Melchizedek along the way.
They have this conversation.
But I want you to notice that the Bible tells us here that Abraham gave Melchizedek, tithes of all.
And the reason that I show this to you is because we see Abraham tithing here.
And this was obviously before Moses.
This was before the Mosaic Law.
So in order for people to say, oh tithing is something that is part of the Mosaic Law and that's been done away with,
and it no longer applies to us, is wrong for several reasons.
But the reason I want to show you is because tithing was practiced by Abraham before the Mosaic Law.
Tithing was practiced by Abraham before Moses and the Bible tells us here that Abraham gave him tithes of all.
Not only that, but I think it's interesting that this is the first mention of tithing in the Bible.
And I don't have time to get into this.
You can study this out on your own.
But if you were with us as we studied the book of Hebrews, then you might remember that Melchizedek is an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We know that Jesus, of course, is God in the flesh.
He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.
He is the great I AM.
He has always existed.
And he appears in the Old Testament as Melchizedek.
I think it's interesting because here in this first mention, we see not only that tithing was done before,
it was recorded in the Bible before the Mosaic Law,
but we see that the first mention of tithing in the Bible shows us that tithing is to be given to the Lord.
We see Abraham giving to Melchizedek and Abraham is giving here, of course, to an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when you and I tithe, that's what we're doing.
We're giving to the Lord and we're giving to the work of the Lord.
Let me give you another example.
You learn Genesis 14, flip over to Genesis chapter 28.
Genesis chapter number 28 and look down at verse number 22.
Genesis chapter 28 and verse 22.
Here we find the second example of tithing given in Scripture.
And this is now Jacob.
Jacob is the grandson of Abraham.
Of course, the patriarchs are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Genesis 28 and verse 22, the Bible says this and this stone.
This is Jacob leaving.
He's running away from home due to issues in his life and sin.
And the Bible says that he stops here and he says, he makes this vow.
The Bible says,
In this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house and of all that thou shalt give me.
This is the vow that Jacob makes to God.
He says, of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee.
I want you to notice that here we see another example of Jacob vowing to give the tenth unto thee.
Give the tenth unto God.
And again, this is another reference to tithing.
So for those that say, oh, tithing is something that's only under the Mosaic law,
then they are incorrect because of the fact that we see Abraham tithing, which was before Moses.
We see Jacob tithing, which was before Moses.
And again, here in the second verse, in the second mention of tithing in the Bible,
I want you to notice a couple of things.
First of all, and I won't take the time to go through it,
but here we find Jacob running away from home.
He has left everything. He has nothing.
And he makes this vow to God.
He says, of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee.
Now what I think is interesting is that 20 years later,
Jacob is a very wealthy, successful businessman,
and God appears to Jacob and reminds him of this very conversation
and says, hey, Jacob, don't forget to tithe.
And don't forget that you made a vow that everything that I gave you, you were going to give the tenth.
Now, of course, we know that the house of God changes throughout Scripture.
Here, it's this place, this stone, where Jacob says this shall be the house of God.
Later, the tabernacle is referred to as the house of God.
Later, the temple is referred to as the house of God.
In the New Testament, the Bible defines the church as the house of God,
the pillar and ground of the truth.
But what we see here in the second mention is not only that the tithe is to be given to the Lord,
but it is to be given to the house of God.
And here we see that Jacob is vowing to give the tenth unto thee,
and he's vowing to do it at the house of God.
And what we learn is this, that we ought to tithe,
and when we tithe, we give to the Lord through the house of the Lord.
We give to God through the house of God.
You give to the house of God to supply the work of the Lord.
Now, you're there in Genesis. I'd like you to go back to Matthew, Matthew chapter number 23.
Genesis is the first book in the Old Testament.
I'd like you to go back to Matthew chapter 23, the first book in the New Testament.
Matthew chapter number 23.
And I'd like you to look down at verse number 23.
Matthew chapter number 23 and verse 23.
We see the practice of tithing, and the practice of tithing is this,
that the Old Testament records tithing before the Mosaic law.
So those who say, oh, this is something that's, it's the law of Moses,
it doesn't apply today, it doesn't apply to New Testament Christians.
First, we know that it was recorded before the law, so it's not part of the law.
Abraham tithed, Jacob tithed before the law.
Not only that, but I want you to notice that the New Testament never repeals the practice of tithing.
In the New Testament, we're never told.
See, in the Old Testament, there are some things we're told in the Old Testament.
Hey, in the New Testament, this no longer applies from the Old Testament.
Holy days, the Sabbath, the Levitical priesthood.
These are all things that we're clearly told in the New Testament.
Those who are a shadow of things to come, those things that have been fulfilled, they no longer apply today.
There is no verse in the New Testament that says, hey, tithing is something that no longer needs to be done.
In fact, in Matthew 23 and verse 23, we find Jesus speaking on the subject of tithing,
and I want you to notice what he says.
Matthew chapter 23 and verse number 23, the Bible says,
Notice what he says,
And this is Jesus speaking to the fact that the Pharisees were so strict and specific about their tithing
that they would even tithe in regards to herbs.
He says they were tithing.
Somebody would give them anise or mint or cabin or cumin, and they would figure out the value of that,
and they would tithe a percentage of that back to the Lord.
And Jesus says,
So I want you to notice that to God, money is not the most important thing.
He says there are some things that are more important, some weightier matters of the law,
and then he tells us what those are, judgment, mercy, and faith.
Now, Jesus here is rebuking the Pharisees because of the fact that they have omitted the weightier matters of the law,
judgment, mercy, and faith.
But in that rebuke, he says,
Look, you take something that is simple like tithing, and you take it to an extreme.
He says,
And then you ignore the weightier matters of the law.
Now, oftentimes people look at this, and they'll say,
This is Jesus saying tithing is not important, tithing is not needed.
But I want you to notice what Jesus actually says at the end of verse 23.
He says,
When he says,
What is he referring to?
He's talking about the fact that they paid tithe of mint and anise and cummin,
and then Jesus says,
He says,
The problem that I have with you is not that you were very extreme and zealous and specific with your tithing,
he says,
See, what Jesus is saying is,
I'm glad you paid tithe for mint and anise and cummin,
but don't forget judgment, mercy, and faith.
So here, not only do we find that Jesus is not repealing or rebuking the concept of tithing,
he's actually affirming it.
He's confirming it.
He's saying,
And the these he's referring to, that he's glad they did,
is that they paid tithe of mint and anise and cummin,
but he also wishes that they would have not left the other undone.
What left undone?
Judgment, mercy, and faith.
These are the weightier matters of the law.
So we see that in the Old Testament,
we have tithing before the Mosaic law,
and in the New Testament,
the New Testament never repeals it.
There's no verse in the New Testament which tells us,
don't do it,
or it no longer applies.
In fact, we see Jesus saying,
these ought ye to have done.
Go with me to the book of Hebrews, if you would,
Hebrews chapter number seven.
If you go backwards from the book of Revelation,
from the end of the New Testament,
you have Jude,
third, second, and first John,
second and first Peter,
James, and then the book of Hebrews,
Hebrews chapter number seven.
Revelation, Jude,
third, second, and first John,
second and first Peter,
James, and then the book of Hebrews.
So we see number one, the practice of tithing,
and the practice of tithing is this,
that it applies to all of us.
It's a prize to everyone,
and it's applied all throughout history.
In the Old Testament,
we see Abraham and Jacob tithing before the Mosaic law.
Of course, the Mosaic law speaks a lot
about the subject of tithing,
and in the New Testament,
we never see it repealed
like we see other portions of the Old Testament.
Then I want to point out to you,
secondly this morning,
not only the practice of tithing,
but the payment of tithing,
the payment of tithing.
Now oftentimes when we think of tithing,
or when we speak of tithing,
we speak of tithing as giving,
and we might say that someone
is going to give their tithe,
or I need to give my tithe,
and don't misunderstand me.
I'm not saying that if you use that terminology,
that makes you a bad person or whatever.
I use that terminology myself,
and I understand why we do it.
However, what I want you to notice
is that the Bible does not speak
about us giving our tithe.
The Bible speaks about us paying our tithe.
Now you're there in Hebrews chapter six,
Hebrews chapter seven,
and I'd like you to look down at verse number six.
Hebrews chapter number seven and verse number six.
Notice what the Bible says.
The Bible says,
but he, by the way,
this is referring to the story we saw
in Genesis 14 about Abraham and Melchizedek,
but he whose descent is not counted from them
received tithes of Abraham.
The he there is referring to Melchizedek.
He received tithes of Abraham
and blessed him that had the promises,
and without all contradiction,
the less is blessed of the better.
Look at verse eight.
And here, men that die receive tithes.
I want you to notice that the writer of Hebrews
is telling us in the point in time
in which he's writing,
he says here, men that die receive tithes.
So here again,
we see another affirmation in the New Testament
with regards to tithing.
The writer of Hebrews is telling us
here and now, men that die receive tithes.
Now here's what I think is interesting.
The book of Hebrews,
we just studied the book of Hebrews
not too long ago together.
We went verse by verse,
chapter by chapter through Hebrews,
and what we learned is this,
that the book of Hebrews,
the reason that it's called the book of Hebrews
is because it is a book that helps us transition
from the Old Covenant into the New Covenant,
from the Old Testament into the New Testament.
It helps us as New Testament believers
know how to correlate the Old Testament
to the New Testament.
The book of Hebrews is one of the primary places
where the writer of Hebrews is telling us
this doesn't apply anymore,
the Sabbath doesn't apply anymore,
the temple doesn't apply anymore,
the Levitical priesthood doesn't apply anymore.
These things no longer apply,
and what's interesting to me
is that the writer of Hebrews
then brings up the subject of tithing.
He brings it up from an example
that's before the Mosaic law,
and he doesn't take the time to repeal it
like he does with other things
in the book of Hebrews,
but if anything, he affirms it.
He says in verse 8,
And here men that died receive tithes,
but there he receiveth them,
of whom it is witness that he liveth.
And then I want you to notice verse 9,
Hebrews chapter 7 verse 9,
he says,
And as I may so say,
Levi also who receiveth tithes,
notice these words,
paid tithes in Abraham.
The Bible says that he paid tithes
in Abraham.
When the Bible speaks about tithing,
it does not speak about giving our tithe,
but it speaks about paying our tithe.
We're told that he,
Levi also who receiveth tithes,
paid tithes in Abraham.
I don't know if you remember,
you don't have to go back there,
but the verse we just saw in Matthew 23,
Jesus said these words,
For ye pay tithe of mint,
and anise, and cummin'.
So Jesus said in Matthew 23 and 23,
Ye paid tithe.
Hebrews 7, 9 says that he paid tithes in Abraham.
And the terminology that God uses
is this idea that we pay tithes.
Now why does the Bible say that we pay tithes?
It says that we pay tithes because we owe tithes.
It's not something we give.
Look, when you pay your rent,
you don't make a donation to your landlord.
I'm making this donation to my landlord,
whatever, $1700 a month,
you know, out of the goodness of my heart,
here's a free will gift offering for you landlord.
That's not how it works.
When you pay that smud bill,
you're not making a donation to smud.
You know what you're doing is you're paying a bill.
You're paying the bill because you owe the bill.
And when it comes to tithing,
the Bible is clear about using this terminology
that we pay tithe.
Jesus said in Matthew 23 and 23,
For ye pay tithe.
The writer of Hebrews said,
Hebrews 7, 9,
paid tithes. Why?
Because we owe tithes.
It's something we owe to God
and God expects us to be obedient
and to pay our tithes.
Go back, if you would, to Malachi chapter number 3.
If you kept your place there in Malachi,
Malachi chapter 3,
and I want you to look at verse number 8.
I want you to notice how God speaks about this idea of tithing.
Malachi chapter number 3 and verse 8.
Malachi 3, 8, the Bible says this,
Will a man, notice this word.
This is God speaking.
He says, Will a man rob God?
The word rob means to steal.
It means to take something that does not belong to you.
He says, Will a man rob God?
God asked this question through the prophet Malachi.
Will a man rob God?
And then he says this,
Yet ye have robbed me,
but ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee?
And then the answer is this,
in tithes and offerings.
See, God expects you to tithe.
God expects you to pay your tithe.
It is a bill you owe God.
Look at verse 9.
He says, Ye are cursed with a curse,
for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
So we see that there's a curse associated to not tithing.
We'll talk about the curse here in a minute.
I'd like you to go with me, if you would, to the book of Leviticus.
Leviticus chapter number 27.
Leviticus chapter 27.
And look at verse number 30.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus.
Third book in the Bible should be not difficult to find.
Leviticus 27, look at verse 30.
See, not only do we not give our tithe, but we pay our tithe.
And when you do not pay your tithe, you're robbing God.
You're stealing from God.
You are taking something that belongs to God.
And look, I'm not telling you.
This is what God said.
He says, Will a man rob God?
Yet ye have robbed me, but ye say, Whereon have we robbed thee in tithes and offerings?
Look at Leviticus 27 in verse number 30.
Leviticus 27 and verse 30.
The Bible says this.
And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree,
notice these words, is the Lord's.
It is holy unto the Lord.
So I want you to notice here we see again another verse that teaches us, that tells us,
that all the tithe is the Lord's.
It belongs to God.
It is something that God is telling us we owe Him.
It's a bill you owe God, and we pay the tithe.
So we see the practice of tithing.
Then we see the payment of tithing.
The practice of tithing is that we see it all throughout the Bible.
It's not just part of the Mosaic law.
It absolutely is part of the Mosaic law.
But it happened before the Mosaic law.
It was not repealed after the Mosaic law in the New Testament.
We see the payment of tithing.
What is the payment of tithing?
That you do not give your tithe, you pay your tithe, because you owe your tithe.
And when you do not pay your tithe, you're robbing God.
You are, the Bible says, cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Why?
Because all the tithe, Leviticus 27, 30, is the Lord's.
It belongs to God.
It does not belong to you.
So we talked about the practice of tithing.
We talked about the payment of tithing.
I'd like you to notice, thirdly, this morning, the proportion of tithing.
The proportion of tithing.
Notice verse 31 of Leviticus 27.
You're there in Leviticus 27, verse 31.
The Bible says this,
And if a man will at all redeem out of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof, verse 32,
and concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passes under the rod,
the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.
Now, of course, in the book of Leviticus, Moses, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost,
is speaking to an agricultural society.
For them, when they speak of herds and flocks and things of that nature, they are talking about money.
That's their currency.
That's their money.
But I want you to notice here that God defines what a tithe is.
He says, and concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passes under the rod,
He says, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.
So when we're talking about the proportion of tithe, here's what we see,
is that the tithe is the tenth part, or one tenth, or ten percent, of what you have.
It's a ten percent portion, or proportion, that we give back to the Lord.
So the word tithe actually literally just means the tenth part.
That's what the word means, and when God talks about us tithing, He is referring to us giving back the tenth part.
Now, here's what I think is interesting about this, and just a little application for you to take away.
Sometimes people will make the argument, and they'll say,
well, I don't make a lot of money. I can't afford to tithe.
Well, here's the thing.
First of all, I would say this.
I don't think you can afford not to tithe, and we'll talk about that later on in the sermon.
But more than that, let me just say this.
The good thing for us is that God is just, and unlike the United States government,
God is actually fair when He levies a tax, if you want to call it that, upon His people.
It's a percentage. It's ten percent. That's it.
So what that tells us is that not everybody tithes the same, but we all sacrifice the same because God offers the same percentage.
When somebody says, well, I don't make a lot of money. I can't afford to tithe.
That makes no sense because it's a percentage.
So if you don't make a lot of money, guess what? Your tithe is not a lot.
It's not very big.
You say, well, I only made $100 this week. That's all I made.
Well, the good news for you is all you've got to tithe is $10. That's it.
And then other people say, well, I make too much money. I can't afford to tithe.
Again, that doesn't make any sense.
Because of the fact that it's a percentage, you get to keep 90%.
You say, well, I made $1000 this week.
Well, then you give $100 and you keep $900 for yourself.
See, God is just in the way He does this, and the fact that it's a percentage means there is no excuse not to tithe.
You say, well, I made $0 this week.
Okay, well, you know, first of all, what are you doing?
But secondly, you say, I didn't make any money.
Okay, then you don't have to tithe.
Because it's a percentage of your increase.
You said my increase was 0.
Well, here's the thing, 10% of 0 is 0.
10% of 100 is $10.
10% of 1000 is $100.
10% of 10,000, it's $1000.
So the tithe is a percentage, and in this way, it is very just,
and it is something that we can all do because it's a percentage of what you have.
It's a percentage, and if you have very much, then your tithe is going to be higher.
If you have very little, then your tithe is going to be lower because it's simply 10%.
Now, you're there in Leviticus.
I want you to go to Numbers and Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy chapter 14 is where I'd like you to go, Deuteronomy 14.
You go past Numbers into Deuteronomy, and let me say this.
We're talking about the proportion of tithe, and this is really helping you understand what is a tithe.
A tithe is a tenth part, or 10%.
Again, no excuse because you say, I don't make a lot.
Well, then, your tithe is not very much, and you say, well, I make too much.
Well, then, your 90% is a lot.
You should be able to live off that, but secondly, I want you to notice that the Bible teaches
that it's 10% of your increase, not your income.
In Deuteronomy 14 and verse 22, the Bible says this.
Thou shall truly tithe.
Now, I want you to notice those words, truly tithe.
The reason that God says truly is because I think God is referring to the fact
that there are a lot of people who don't truly tithe.
They might think they tithe, but it's not an honest tithe or a real tithe.
He says, thou shalt truly tithe, and then he says this.
You say, well, how do I know that I'm truly tithing?
He says, when you tithe all the increase, thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed
that the field bringeth forth year by year.
I want you to notice that God says that the true tithe or a real tithe
or the truly tithe is a tithe of all the increase.
I want you to notice that God says increase not income.
Let me give you another verse.
Look at verse 28, Deuteronomy 14 and verse 28.
The Bible says this, at the end of three years, thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase.
Notice it doesn't say income.
It says increase the same year and shalt lay it up within thy gates.
So here the Bible is teaching us that we are to tithe.
What have we learned?
The tithe is 10 percent.
It's a tenth part.
And now we're seeing in Deuteronomy that it is a tenth part of all your increase.
Now, the reason I bring this up is because, again, look, if I'm going to tithe
and we're going to see later in the sermon that it's connected to God's blessing or God's cursing upon my life,
then I want to make sure I do it right.
And when it comes to tithing, the Bible says that we should tithe all our increase.
Now, usually when you speak about tithing, people think of income.
They say, well, I make this much money, so I have to tithe 10 percent.
But the Bible doesn't say income. It says increase.
And the idea is this, any time you increase, you should tithe.
Now, here's the thing about increase.
Your income is in your increase.
The income that comes into, the money that comes to you is part of your increase.
But your increase is bigger than your income.
Why?
Because what if somebody hands you a $100 bill on your birthday and says, happy birthday?
You say, well, that's not my income.
That was just a gift someone gave me.
OK, but it is part of your increase.
You just increased by $100.
You understand what I'm saying to you?
So the true tithe is a tithe because, look, what is the purpose of tithing?
What is the point of tithing?
And there's lots of purposes of tithing.
And we can talk about the spiritual purposes.
In fact, we're going to talk about the spiritual purpose of tithing here in a minute.
But let me just explain to you some practical purposes for tithing.
A practical purpose for tithing is that God is teaching us to live below our means.
To live on less than we make because that's just a good way to live your life.
To not spend every dime that comes into your bank account.
God is teaching us to live with some restraint.
To realize that just because I made $100 doesn't mean I get to spend $100.
I have to live below that.
But not only that, one of the purposes of tithing is for us to acknowledge God.
It's for us to acknowledge the fact that everything that I have came from God,
every good gift is from above.
And look, whether it's the paycheck that I received from my job,
I give 10% back to God as an acknowledgement that this is from God,
this is the blessing of God.
But when somebody gives me a gift, when somebody gives me money,
when you get some inheritance or whatever,
you are increased somehow financially,
then you should acknowledge that that also came from God.
And that God is the one that has blessed you with that
and you should tithe 10% of your income.
Let me also say this, another thing that we can learn from the increase,
for those of you that are business owners or you're in business,
this is something that I'm often asked about and I want to be clear about it.
You are to tithe from your increase,
which means that you don't have to,
in the portions of business where you have not made money,
you don't have to tithe.
And here's what I mean by that.
And again, this is not the majority, but some of you may have this question.
Let's say you're in business for yourself and you go and do a job
and you charge whatever, $500.
Okay, but let's say it costs you $250 to do that job.
You went out and bought $250 worth of materials to do the job.
You charge $500, you say, what do you tithe off?
You don't tithe off the $500 because you didn't increase $500.
Because it costs you $250 to go and get the materials or whatever
you know, what did you increase?
You say, why increase $250?
That's what you tithe off.
You tithe off the increase.
So hopefully that helps some of you business guys out there
and make sure you understand.
Because look, I'm not going to stand up here and lie to you
and try to get you to give more than you're supposed or whatever.
You tithe off your increase, what you make.
But let's be honest about what we make
because sometimes people give us things,
we come into money other ways,
you have other incomes or other streams of money
that you don't consider income.
The Bible doesn't say income, it says increase.
So we see that tithing is 10%.
We see that it's 10% of our increase.
And then I want you to notice, thirdly,
that it is the first 10%.
Now I'm not going to have you turn here because,
just for sake of time,
and I'm only going to read one verse to you
because there's lots of verses we could look at.
But in 2 Chronicles 31.5,
if you want to jot this down for your notes,
2 Chronicles 31.5, I'll just read it for you.
The Bible says this,
And as soon as the commandment came abroad,
the children of Israel brought in abundance
the firstfruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey,
and of all the increase,
that's what we just got done talking about,
the tithes of the field,
and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly.
Now the verse that I just read to you used these terms,
the increase, the tithe, and the firstfruits.
And it used all of those terms interchangeably.
The tithe is also referred to in the Bible as the firstfruits.
What does that mean?
Not only is it 10%, but it's the first 10%.
And literally in the Old Testament,
when somebody had a herd,
and they had increase as a result of a herd,
the Bible explains,
we won't take the time to go through this,
that they would take a rod,
and they would begin to have the animals go down that rod,
through that rod,
and let's say they had 100 cows, or 100 sheep, or whatever,
they would just, the first 10% just belong to God,
the firstfruits.
When they would bring in corn or wine,
the first 10% of that harvest was just given to God.
Because the Bible teaches that we are to give God the firstfruits.
And this is something that some of these people ask me about,
and I want to answer the question.
Number one,
when you're doing your budgeting,
and you're paying your bills,
I believe that we should pay God first.
It's the firstfruits.
So this is not the way we tithe.
We don't pay all our bills,
and see if there's any money left over to give to God.
That's not how it works.
We give him the first 10%.
We pay him first.
You know what the Bible says?
The Bible says that in all things,
he should have the preeminence.
The Bible says,
Seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you.
By the way, referring to physical needs, financial needs,
God says, you seek God first,
all these things shall be added unto you.
So we can learn from this,
is that we give God 10%.
We give God a true tithe,
which is of all our increase,
which means that you sit down on Saturday,
and you ask yourself,
how has God blessed me?
How has God blessed me this week?
Well, I got paid this week,
so I need to give 10% of that.
Well, somebody gave me a $50 gift card to a restaurant.
I'm just telling you,
I'm gonna tithe off that.
Somebody gives me a $100 gift card to some restaurant,
we're putting $10 in the offering plate,
because that was a gift that came from that individual,
that individual will get a thank you card,
and God will get 10%.
Because it's the increase,
but not only that,
we pay God first.
It's the first fruits.
Here's another question that I'm often asked.
People will ask,
do you tithe before taxes or after taxes?
You know, do you,
and when it comes to your paycheck,
is it from the gross number,
or from the net?
Well, here's the thing about tithing,
is that, who do you want to pay first?
God or the government?
I think we should seek ye first the kingdom of God.
I think that in all things,
he should have the preeminence.
I'm just telling you,
the way that I apply those verses to myself,
because by the way,
the Bible teaches that pastors should tithe,
and my family and I tithe, of course.
We pay God,
we don't let the government take their cup first.
I'm not gonna put,
allow the government to put themselves before God.
We tithe off of the gross,
or off of, you know, the increase,
even before the taxes are taken out.
Why?
Because the true tithe in the Bible is 10%.
It's 10% of everything that God has increased you,
and it's the first 10%.
It's the first fruit,
and one of the reasons we do this
is because it allows us to put God first.
It allows us to acknowledge God.
It allows us to acknowledge
that God is a source of all these things,
and we pay back to the tithe
that he has told us that we owe him.
Go back to Malachi chapter number three.
We talked about the practice of tithing.
We talked about the payment of tithing.
We talked about the proportion of tithing.
It's 10%.
It's 10% of your increase, not your income,
and it's the first 10%.
It's the first 10%,
but let's talk about number four this morning,
the purpose of tithing,
the purpose of tithing.
Now, we already talked on a practical level.
Personally, a practical level,
one of the purposes of tithing
is that it teaches you to live below your means,
and I think that's something good
that everyone should do,
and on a practical level,
it allows us to acknowledge God first,
and it allows us to acknowledge on a spiritual level
that God is a source of all our things,
but what is the stated purpose of tithing
as to why God implemented it in Scripture?
The purpose of tithing,
first of all, it is this,
to pay for the ministry.
Remember, we saw in Genesis
that we give to the Lord through the local church.
We give to the Lord through the local church.
You're not giving to Verity Baptist Church.
You're giving to the Lord Jesus Christ.
You're paying God,
but you do it through the local church.
This is what he has commanded.
Malachi 3, look at verse 10.
Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse.
The storehouse here,
and you can study this out on your own,
is referring to the temple,
to the storage area of the temple,
which in the Old Testament was the house of God.
In the New Testament,
1 Timothy tells us that the house of God
is the church of the living God,
the pillar and ground of the truth,
but he says,
Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse.
So look, you give to your local church.
You say, why?
That there may be meat in mine house.
That there may be meat in mine house is what God says.
The word meat is referring to food and to supplies.
So what is the purpose of tithing?
One of the purposes is to pay for the ministry.
It's how we do ministry here at Verity Baptist Church.
Look, these lights don't turn on
because we show up here early on Sunday
and pray that they turn on.
You know, there's bills and costs to ministry,
things that need to be paid for,
and God has determined that the tithe pay
for the work of the house of God
and the ministry of God.
So a couple of takeaways.
Number one, the Bible teaches,
and I believe that you should tithe
to the church you attend.
You should tithe to the church that feeds you,
that ministers to you.
Sometimes people get this idea.
They'll say, okay,
well, I'm supposed to give 10% to God,
but I'm going to give 10% to,
you know, I'm going to give to this charity
and the Red Cross.
I'm going to give to that charity
and I'll give a little bit to church and whatever.
And look, here's the thing.
I'm all for you giving to charity.
Nothing wrong with that.
It's good to be generous
if you are able to do those things.
But please understand this.
This is not 10% that God says
you can use it however you want.
This is 10% that is to go
to the local church that you attend.
You say, well, I like this other church
that I listen to online.
I'm going to tithe to them.
Then why don't you move there
and tithe there?
But if you go to church,
and look, I'm not just talking about
verity baptism, I'm saying,
if you go to a church physically,
you go there,
the pastor, the pastor's wife,
the staff are all working
and ministering to help you,
then you ought to pay your tithe
at that local church,
bring you all the tithes
into the storehouse.
But what is the purpose
that there may be meat in my house?
To pay for the supplies,
to pay for the work,
to pay for the ministry of the church.
And look, please understand this,
and I'm teaching this to you
because it's what the Bible says,
and I think it's good for us
to understand these things,
but I truly believe that
every financial need
of verity Baptist church
would be covered
if the members of verity Baptist church
would tithe.
Because there's no church in America
where 100% of the members
are actually doing
what they're supposed to do
and bringing a true tithe
unto the Lord.
But I believe that God
has already provided
for the needs of our church
through the practice of tithing
and the teaching of tithing,
and I believe that
every financial need of our church
would be covered
if every member just decided
I'm going to obey what God says
and I'm going to tithe.
Now our church
obviously has its ups and downs financially
and I believe that
for the majority of our ministry
God has blessed us
abundantly financially.
Obviously we just moved
into this building
earlier this year.
We've done a lot of work
and a lot of construction.
It's taken its toll.
We've not been able to do
everything that we need to do
and that's okay.
We can do it slowly
and we'll take our time
and I understand that.
But I'll just be honest with you.
I don't think there needs to be
a playground,
a dissembled playground
out on the field right now.
that we honestly can't afford to set up
if God's people would just tithe.
I don't think we need to have
a bunch of lights
laying on the ground right now
that we honestly
just don't have the money
or the manpower
to set them up
in this dark parking lot
if God's people would tithe.
I honestly don't think
that we would have to walk
through these undone hallways
and undone fellowship hall
and undone areas of this building
if God's people would just tithe.
If God's people just truly
brought the tithe
and did what they were supposed to do
I honestly believe
that all of the costs
associated with ministry
would be covered
because this is what God has ordained.
He has ordained
that God's people
are to tithe
and that would meet
the needs of the church.
Tithe into the storehouse
that there may be meat
in my house.
So we see
that the purpose of tithing
is to pay for the ministry
and look, everything we do around here
all the activities
I often joke with our church people
that you're spoiled.
I mean the things we do here
we do so many things
and we pay for them
the church doesn't ever charge you
we don't charge anyone for anything
but every once in a while
I preach on the subject of tithing
because I'm not going to charge you
for anything but God does.
God says you owe him 10%.
So the purpose of tithing
is to pay for the ministry
but let me say this as well
the purpose of tithing
is to pay for the ministers.
You don't have to turn here
but in 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 13
the Bible says this
Do ye not know
that they which minister
about holy things
live of the things of the temple?
This is referring to the Old Testament
and how the Levitical priests
and the priesthood
they ministered about holy things
when people brought the tithe
they ministered
with those sacrifices
and those things
but they also lived off those things.
They which minister
about the holy temple
lived of the things of the temple
and they which wait at the altar
are partakers with the altar
and what Paul is saying here
is he's saying
don't you know
that in the Old Testament
the priests got paid
the staff got paid
through the tithe
then he says in 1 Corinthians 9 14
he says
even so
the words even so
means in the same way
hath the Lord ordained
that they which preach the gospel
should live of the gospel?
So the Bible was clear
about the fact
that not only
does your tithe
when you tithe faithfully
to your local church
does it go to pay for the ministry
to pay for the activities
to pay for all the things
that we do around here
but it also goes to pay
for the ministers
those that work
in the gospel ministry
and that work
in full-time ministry
it says they which preach the gospel
should live of the gospel
so we saw the practice of tithing
we saw the payment of tithing
it's not something you give
it's something you owe
we saw the proportion of tithing
it's 10%
it's 10% of your increase
and it's the first 10%
we saw the purpose of tithing
to pay for the ministry
and to pay for the tithing
to pay for the ministry
and to pay for the ministers
but let me give you
the fifth point this morning
and I would say maybe
the most important point
and it is the promise of tithing
the promise of tithing
go back to Malachi chapter 3
if you would
and I'd like you to look
at verse number 10 again
Malachi chapter 3 and verse 10
we see the command to tithe
God commands it
it's not an option
it's not something you decide to do
obviously you can disobey God
but if you want to honor the Lord
and be a follower of the word of God
the command is clear
bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse
it's commanded by scripture
that there may be meat in mine house
and then he says these words
and I'm going to come back to them here in a minute
he says improve me now herewith
sayeth the Lord
if I will not open you the windows of heaven
and pour you out a blessing
that there may be
that there shall not be room enough
to receive it
but I want you to notice the command
is that we are commanded
to bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse
we are commanded to do it
but along with that command
I want you to notice
that there is a compensation
and God makes a promise
he says there at the end of verse 10
well let's just read verse 10 again
bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse
that there may be meat in mine house
and prove me now herewith
sayeth the Lord of hosts
notice what he says
this is the promise
he says
if I will not open you the windows of heaven
and pour you out a blessing
that there shall not be room enough to receive it
God says that there's a connection
between our financial giving on earth
and the blessings we receive from heaven
in fact God says
I want you to see
if I won't bless you
if I will not open you the windows of heaven
and pour you out a blessing
that there shall not be room enough to receive it
now this terminology is used in Genesis
about the flood
that God opened the windows of heaven
and he flooded the earth
and I think the idea is this
when God opened the windows of heaven
and he threw water out
there was so much water
it flooded the earth
that's not a good thing
but if God replaces the water
with his blessing
he says
I'm gonna flood you with blessings
he says
see if I will not open you the windows of heaven
and pour you out a blessing
that there shall not be room enough to receive it
the idea is this
that there's a compensation to the command
if God commands you to tithe
but then God says this
if you tithe
there's a blessing of prosperity
there is a blessing that God can help you
now I'd like to just run a few verses real quickly
go to Deuteronomy chapter number 8
Deuteronomy chapter 8
I meant to tell you to keep your place in Deuteronomy
I think I might have forgot to do that
but if you can find Deuteronomy chapter 8
you have Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers
then Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy chapter number 8
and the idea is this
that God can bless you
and God says
look
pay your tithe
and don't rock me
and see if I will not open you the windows of heaven
and pour you out a blessing
that there shall not be room enough to receive it
in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 15
God is speaking to the children of Israel
after he brought them out of captivity in Egypt
now I want you to notice what he says
Deuteronomy 8 15
he says
who led thee
this is Moses speaking
through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost
who led thee
through the great and terrible wilderness
of course referring to God
wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought
where there was no water
who brought thee forth
water out of the rock of a flint
he's referring to the fact that God provided for them
look at verse 16
who fed thee
in fact if you don't mind marking in your Bible
I would draw a line between the words in verse 15
who led thee
and verse 16
who fed thee
aren't you thankful that God does both
he leads and he feeds
who led thee and fed thee
in the wilderness with manna
he's saying look I provided for you
which thy fathers knew not
that he might humble thee
and that he might prove thee
to do thee good at thy latter end
verse 17
and thou say in thine heart
he said after all those blessings I gave you
I don't want you to say in your heart
my power and the might of mine hand
hath gotten me this well
look at verse 18
but thou shalt remember the Lord thy God
for it is he that giveth the power to get well
that he may establish his covenant
which he sware unto thy fathers
as it is this day
and the idea is this
that God can lead you
and God can feed you
and you're saying that God can help you
and God can open the windows of heaven
and pour you out a blessing
and he can give you a blessing of prosperity
in your life
go to Proverbs chapter number 3
you open up the Bible
the Bible just right in the center
you'll more than likely fall in the book of Psalms
right after Psalms you have Proverbs
Proverbs chapter 3
now let me just say this
I'm not standing up here like some prosperity preacher
and telling you
you sow a seed of a hundred dollars
and God's gonna give you a thousand
okay that's not
that's a bunch of charismatic garbage
the Bible doesn't say that
but the Bible does say that God will
meet your physical needs
and your financial needs
and the Bible does say that God's gonna bless you
and listen
aren't there some things that are better than money
I mean obviously we want God to bless us financially
and we want God to take care of us financially
but there's other ways that God could bless you
that would be better than money
for example
a good relationship with your spouse
a good relationship with your children
health for yourself and your family
and again I'm not saying if you don't have those things
you don't have the blessing of God
I'm just saying that God does promise
that he will bless us
if we are faithful in our tithes
and it's more than just money
but God does promise if you faithfully tithe
he will take care of you financially
who led thee and who fed thee
it is God who has the power
to give you wealth
for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth
are you there in Proverbs 3?
look at verse 9
Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 9
the Bible says this
honor the Lord with thy substance
what is that?
substance
it's the things you have
honor the Lord with thy substance
and with thy
look at this
firstfruits
that's just unfamiliar
that's the tithe
and with the firstfruits
of all thine
does this sound familiar?
increase
that's the tithe
here's what God says
honor the Lord with thy substance
honor the Lord with thy increase
honor the Lord with what he's given you
and with the firstfruits of all thine increase
he says if your faithful to God
with the firstfruits of all thine increase
verse ten
so shall
so shall means that
He's about to say in verse 10, it's connected to verse 9.
He said you do verse 9, honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase and God says I'll do
Verse 10 so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
And I'm here to tell you that God can help you. God can make things go your way.
God can open those windows. God can open that door for that
promotion, for that raise, for that sale. God can help you and people say well
I don't know that I can live off of 90%. Listen to me
I would much rather live off of 90% with the blessing and help of God than with 100% and the curse and hindrance of God.
Because God says look
I'm going to bless you
He says prove me now here with saith the Lord of hosts if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you
out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
So there's the blessing of prosperity.
God can help you.
But then there's also the blessing of protection.
Because notice what he says if you go back to Malachi chapter 3 and verse 11.
He says not only am I going to bless you, he said I'm also going to protect you. Verse 11, Malachi 3 11
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes.
The devourer.
When I think of that I think of Satan, the devourer, the destroyer.
The Bible says that he walketh about as a rowing lion seeking whom he may devour.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes.
I don't know about you, but that's worth putting 10% in the offering plate right there. God will rebuke the devourer for my sake.
And he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.
Neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.
So God says look, not only is there the blessing prosperity, but there's a blessing of protection.
And because this is not something we do voluntarily, but God has commanded us to do it.
There's also a flip side which there's a curse. Malachi 3 verse 9.
Ye, if you don't tithe, he says ye are cursed with a curse for ye have wrought me even this whole nation.
God says, if you do it, I'll bless you. If you don't do it, I'll curse you.
Go to Haggai chapter 1. You're there in Malachi. You just go backwards, pass Zechariah into the book of Haggai.
Haggai chapter 1. We saw in Deuteronomy that God can help you, right?
He can lead you. He can feed you. He can feed you from manna. He can make water come out of a rock.
He's saying look, I can provide for you even in situations where it seems like nothing's going to help.
Even out of areas where it looks like you shouldn't get water from a rock, you shouldn't get manna from heaven.
But he said I'm the one that gives you the power to get wealth.
But then God also says, he says I can help you, but he says I can also hurt you. I can hinder you.
Look at Haggai 1 verse 6.
Here's the curse because he said ye are cursed with a curse. What does that curse look like?
Here's what it looks like. Haggai 1 verse 6.
Ye have sown much and bring in little.
You say what if I what if I work a lot, but it seems like it just
it doesn't last.
You have sown much and bring in little.
He says ye eat, but ye have not enough.
He says, you know, we eat and it seems like we're it's just never enough. Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink.
Ye clothed you, but there is none warm.
He says and he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
God says you go out there and you you you make money you're putting money into this bag,
but it seems like it's a bag with holes like it keeps disappearing. We eat, but we're never full.
We're clothed, but we're always cold. We're thirsty and we drink, but we're always thirsty.
We sow much, but we bring in little. You say what what is that? That's the hindrance of God.
That's the curse of God and here's what God says. God says, he tells the children of Israel,
I can make those shoes on your feet last 40 years.
Or I can make them be destroyed.
See, it's all about whether you trust God and whether you're obedient to God.
And again, I'd rather live off of 90% with the help of God than 10% with the hindrance of God.
Because he says there's a curse and you say, well, why does God do that?
It's not fair. Why does God do that? Well, please understand something. You didn't pay your bill.
It's not voluntary. You owe it to God. And here's what God is saying.
And I'll just put it into plain words for you. God is saying this. I'm going to get my tithe out of you one way or another.
Now you'll either give 10% willingly and cheerfully to the work of God and the house of God
and then I'll bless you and pour you out a blessing or you can pay it to the mechanic or you can pay it to the dentist
or you can pay it to this bill or that bill. You'll have this breakdown and you'll have this cost, this unexpected.
He says if you want to sow much and bring in little, if you want to eat but have not enough,
if you want to drink and not be filled, if you want to clothe yourself and not be warm,
if you want to earn wages and put it into a bag with holes, he says we can do that too but you're not going to steal from me.
So he says, look, you get a choice whether you want to obey God or not.
And this brings us to the point that I've been trying to make, that I wanted to make this whole time.
I wanted to teach you about tithing, the practice of tithing. It applies to all of us.
Not just part of the Mosaic law. It isn't the Mosaic law.
But we saw Abraham and Jacob doing it before the Mosaic law. We never see it repealed in the New Testament.
We saw the payment of tithing. It's not something we give to God. It's something we pay to God.
We owe it to God and when we do not do it, we are robbing God.
We saw the proportion of tithing. It's a 10%. That makes it just. That makes it fair.
It's 10% of your increase, not just your income, everything that God has blessed you with.
And it is the first 10%. We pay God first.
We saw the purpose of tithing, to pay for the ministry and to pay for the ministers.
And then we saw the promise of tithing. It's a command, bring you all the tithes into the storehouse.
And there's a compensation. God says, I'll open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that you cannot contain.
He said, or you can be cursed with a curse. He said, you can have the blessing of prosperity and the blessing of protection.
He said, I will devour. I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes. He shall not destroy the fruit of your ground.
Neither shall your vine cast for fruit before the time in the field.
He said, or I can take it out of you in different ways.
But what I really want to point out to you is this tithe challenge that God gives.
In Malachi chapter 3 and verse 10, just look at it one more time. He says, bring you all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house.
And I want you to notice these words. In fact, if you don't mind marking in your Bible, maybe you should underline these words.
He says, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts.
He says, prove me now herewith. The word herewith means with this.
And as far as I know in scripture, and I've read the Bible a lot. I'm not saying I know everything about the Bible. If I miss something, please let me know.
But as far as I know in scripture, this is the only time in the Bible that God says this.
Where he says, I promise you that if you do this, I'll bless you. I also promise you that if you disobey me, I'll curse you.
And then God says, prove me. We see the proving of tithing.
God says, I challenge you to try it. He says, I dare you. I dare you to prove me herewith, saith the Lord of hosts.
If I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, there shall not be room enough to receive it.
This is why over the years, we have called this the tithe challenge.
It's not me challenging you. It's God challenging all of us and saying, prove me herewith.
Prove me and see if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that you cannot contain.
And I want to challenge you this morning. If you're a tither, I want to challenge you to stay at it.
Stay with it. You say the economy is bad. I know. Inflation is high. I know.
There's this reason, that reason. Look, God didn't say prove me as long as the economy is good. He just said prove me.
And I want to challenge you if you are a tither and you are a faithful tither to continue to bring your full tithe of all your increase first unto the Lord.
And if you're not a tither, maybe you're new to this Christianity thing. You're just becoming a follower of Jesus Christ.
You say, I don't tithe. I hadn't really been taught on the subject of tithing. I want to challenge you.
I want to challenge you to prove God. The one time he says prove me, see if I'll let you down to bring a full and complete tithe consistently to God.
Look, I can tell you for my wife and I, we tithe. We've tithed our entire adult lives. I've tithed my whole life growing up in a Christian home.
And we're not rich and we're not wealthy, but I can tell you this, that God has never let us down.
He's always met our needs. He's always taken care of us. Sometimes it's a little harder than others.
I'm not going to sit here and tell you it's always prosperity. But I can tell you that I've taken the tithe challenge and I've never seen God let us down.
And I want to challenge you with the words of God. Prove me now herewith, sayeth the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive.
Will you take the tithe challenge? Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord we do love you. And we thank you that you take care of us. You take care of our needs. You keep your promises.
And you bless us with these things. And Lord I pray that you would help us and our church to develop Christians that will say, I will be a consistent tither.
I will give a true tithe. Ten percent of all my increase. First fruits. Pay him first.
And Lord I believe that all our needs could be met if God's people would tithe to the Lord through the local New Testament church.
Lord I pray you would help us to learn this lesson, apply it to our lives. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Alright, we're going to have Brother Matt come up and lead us any final song. Just want to give you a couple of reminders before we head out.
First of all, don't forget that we've got some sign up sheets in the back. If you'd like to help bring cornbread or dessert for the Harvest Party, you can sign up back there.
And we would appreciate your help with that. And then also if you're a lady and you'd like to be part of the ladies basketball game for the Harvest Party, there's a sign up sheet back there as well.
And you can sign up for that. And then I want to encourage you to bring somebody with you next week.
You don't have to worry about me preaching about money or tithing next week because I just did it.
And I'm probably not going to do it again for a long time. Alright?
But next week we're going to be back in our Spirit World series and we're going to be talking about angels. Alright?
So if you've ever had any questions about angels in the outfield or anything like that, you know, just come back next week or bring somebody with you next week.
Invite them to church. And then of course I want to encourage you to be back tonight, 6 p.m. for the evening service and just another opportunity to be with God's people.
And we have a great service lined up for you tonight so you're not going to want to miss it. Make sure you're here.
And then of course the tithe challenge. Now God's challenge is for us to tithe our entire lives.
The tithe challenge we're making to you, especially those of you that aren't tithing, is this.
Will you try it this last quarter of the year? It's the first Sunday in October. October, all of October, all of November, all of December.
Why don't you say, I'm going to prove God and I'm going to take the tithe challenge and see what God does in your life.
I want to encourage you to think about that, pray about that. Of course if there's anything that we can do for you, please let us know.
My brother Matt, come up and lead us in a final song.
Turn to song 356.
356.
356 on the first.
I must tell Jesus all of my trials.
I cannot bear these burdens alone.
In my distress he kindly will help me.
He ever loves and cares for his own.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.
I must tell Jesus all of my troubles.
He is a kind, compassionate friend.
If I but ask him, he will deliver.
Break out my troubles quickly in it.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.
Tempted and tried, I need a great Savior.
One who can help my burdens to bear.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
He all my cares and sorrows will share.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.
Good, sing it out on the last.
Oh how the world to evil abhors me.
Oh how my heart is tempted to sin.
I must tell Jesus, and he will help me.
Over the world, the victory to win.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
I cannot bear my burdens alone.
I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus,
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.
Amen, good singing.
Before we leave here, if anybody has questions
about salvation, church membership, or baptism,
the pastor will be at the door.
He'd love to talk to you, direct you to someone
who's chained to talk to you about that.
And I ask our brother Johnny,
would you close your prayer for us?
Amen.