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Beginning in verse number four where the Bible reads, Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham. But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive tithes, but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witness that he liveth. And what I want to preach about this morning is the subject of tithing, and it's interesting because the very first time the tithe is mentioned is back in Genesis 14, if you would turn there to Genesis 14, but what's interesting is that the first time tithing is mentioned is Genesis 14, and the last time that tithing is mentioned in the Bible is in Hebrews chapter number 7, and they're both talking about the exact same event. They're both talking about the same story. So it's almost like the subject comes full circle in the Bible. And in Hebrews chapter 7 what we just read talked about how Abraham gave tithes unto Melchizedek. Now in the chapter there in Hebrew 7 the Bible teaches that Melchizedek was Jesus Christ. It says that he was without father, he was without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, and abideth the priest continually. So it was an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it talks about the fact that first Abraham gave tithes unto Melchizedek, but then later Levi, the tribe of Levi, would receive tithes from the children of Israel, okay, but that now we're no longer under the Levitical priesthood, but now we're under the priesthood of Melchizedek with Jesus Christ as the high priest. Now look at Genesis chapter 14. This is the first time the tithe is mentioned in the Bible. It says in Genesis 14 verse 18, and Melchizedek, king of Salem, which would later be called Jeru Salem, right, Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the most high God, and he blessed him and said, blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the most high God, which at the time delivered thine enemies into thy hand, and he gave him tithes of all. So this was a priest unto the one true God, a priest unto the Lord before Aaron, before the tribe of Levi was given that office of being priest, and Abraham gave him tithes of all. Now go to Genesis 28, 22, Genesis 28, 22, you say what does the word tithe mean? Tithe simply means a tenth, like one tenth, okay? And it says in Genesis 28 verse 22, and this stone which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house, and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee. So when Jacob sets up Bethel, which Bethel is Hebrew for, the house of God, he sets it up, he calls it Bethel, he said this place is going to be the house of God, and I am going to give one tenth unto the Lord. Go if you would to Leviticus chapter number 27, Leviticus chapter 27. So what is tithing? Basically tithing is giving one tenth of that which you possess unto the Lord, giving one tenth of your money unto the Lord, giving one tenth of your goods unto the Lord. Now you might come to church this morning and say, oh you know the pastor's talking about money, I'm never coming back. You know what, to never come back. Because you know what, the Bible talks about this, and you need to be ready to hear preaching from any part of God's word on any given Sunday. People get angry about this, angry about that, you know, I'm going to preach the whole Bible and whatever offends people, then don't let the door hit you on your way out. Because this doctrine of tithing has come under attack recently, and if you notice who's behind the attack on tithing, it's people who are against going to church at all. Most of the people that you see that are saying, oh tithing's unscriptural, tithing's not in the Bible, or tithing is an Old Testament doctrine, are people who are telling us to forsake the local church and to just meet in houses, quote unquote, like they did in the book of Acts. Of course in the book of Acts, the early church started out with 120 people in it, which is about what we have here this morning. I don't know about you, but I can't fit this group in my house. Who here has a house big enough to fit this assembly today? Who wants to meet, well don't raise your hand because we'll meet at your house next Sunday. You've got to be careful. But you know, nobody has a house big enough to house 120 people, but not only that, in the book of Acts chapter 1 they had 120 people, but in Acts chapter 2 they added 3,000. Do the math, that's a pretty big house. So don't tell me, oh they just met in the house back then. No, they had 120 people all with one accord in one place, then they added 3,000, then they added 5,000, then it says they multiplied greatly. So we're talking about a huge church there in Jerusalem. Nothing wrong with a church meeting in a house, in fact, Faithful Word Baptist Church started out meeting in my house for the first year and a half. Brother Romero's going to start a church in Fort Worth, he's probably going to start meeting in the house. Brother Jimenez in Sacramento started out for almost two years meeting in his house. Pastor Dave Berzins that's pastoring up in Prescott Valley this morning is meeting in his house. Nothing wrong with a church meeting in the house, but here's the thing, when you go out soul winning, when you reach people, when you win people to Christ, the church grows and you outgrow the house. And then you can meet somewhere else, whether you meet in a tent or whether you meet in a building or a rented space, it doesn't really matter where you meet, it's the assembly of people that constitutes the church. So whether you're in a tent, under a tree, outside, inside, house, building, that's not the issue. The point is that you meet wherever you find a place. But the so-called house church movement, what it is is it's not really a church. They don't have a scriptural pastor, they definitely don't have, not had any scriptural deacons, they have just a very small group, they're not reaching people, they stay small enough to meet in that living room until doomsday. That's not what God has called the local church to be. God has not called the local church to be a social club that meets in somebody's living room over coffee. God has called the local church to be an institution for winning the loss to Christ, going out, knocking doors, reaching people, bringing people in, and therefore it should be an institution that is growing. Our church has grown every year of its existence. Why? Because we're out knocking doors, we're serving God, we're reaching people, and that is what the church is supposed to do. Now I'm not saying that the church growth is going to be quick. Weeds grow really quickly. A tree that has actual value and integrity takes a long time to grow. So the church's growth might take a long time, but there should be growth there. God should bless that church with growth and souls should be saved, and not only should they be saved, but people should be baptized, and then we should teach them to observe all things whatsoever the Lord has commanded us. Now one of the things that the Bible teaches is the concept of tithing. And a lot of people will be resistant to this and say, oh, all the church wants is our money. Now, first of all, I don't even think I've preached on this in a couple of years. I mean, I don't preach on this all the time, but it definitely needs to be preached because it is the truth from God's word. And the thing is, one thing about our church is that our church is not a very money-oriented church. For example, in eight and a half years of existence, we've never one time raised money for anything. Like, we've never gotten up and said, hey, we're going to raise money, we're going to have a fundraiser, or hey, let's have a building fund, or hey, let's raise money for this, raise money for that. Hey, let's take up a special offering. We've never done it. I'm not against those who do it. I'm just saying we've never done it. We don't talk about money. The only time that we take up offer, we just pass the plate every service, and that's it. We don't make a big deal out of it. We don't sit there and put a thermometer on the wall of trying to raise this much money and raise that much money. And again, I'm not attacking those who do. I'm just saying our church is not really that into money. Because the way our church has always operated is that if we have money, we use it. We spend it. And if we don't, then we don't. You know, and you know what? God has always provided our church's needs. And in eight and a half years, we've never had any debt, we've never borrowed any money, we've never been unable to pay our bills, we've always had plenty of money. And we've always been able to be generous in the sense that whenever we have any church activities, they're all free. Whenever we have preaching CDs, preaching DVDs, they're always given out for free. Everything's always free. We always try to be open handed and generous with people. And so our church is not a money hungry church. But at the same time, to sit there and attack, you know, God's institution, the local church, or to attack tithing, you know, shows that your heart is in the wrong place. And that your heart might be on the unrighteous mammon of this world, and that you're so attached to money that the idea of giving unto the Lord is somehow repugnant unto you. You know, that kind of shows where your heart is this morning, if you don't like to hear about this. Oh, I don't want to hear about that. Why, are you greedy? You know, are you one that just doesn't want to be generous and give unto the Lord? Now, let's see what the Bible says. Look at Leviticus 27. Leviticus 27 says in verse 30, and all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's. It is holy unto the Lord. And if a man will at all redeem out of his tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof. And concerning the tithe of the herd or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it. And if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed. These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel in Mount Sinai. Now, we don't have time to go over every scripture on tithing in the Bible, but we're going to go over most of them this morning and look at a lot of them and see what we can learn. The first thing that we learned in Genesis 14 is that the tithe was given unto the Lord. Then when we went to Genesis 28, we saw that the tithe was given at God's house, at Bethel, unto the Lord again. Now why is the tithe given unto the Lord? Because according to Leviticus 27, 30, the tithe belongs to the Lord. It says in verse 30 there, all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's. It is holy unto the Lord. So basically what it is is that the tenth part in God's mind, in God's eyes, belongs to him. Now this concept goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden even. When God gave man all manner of fruit trees and he said unto him, of all the trees of the garden now mayest freely eat, but of the tree which is in the midst of the garden thou shall not eat thereof, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shall surely die. So what's he doing? He gives man access to all these trees, but he basically said, you know, one of them is mine. Leave that one alone. Then we see of course Abel, Cain and Abel, and Abel brings unto the Lord the firstlings of the flock. We often talk about Abel bringing a lamb to sacrifice, which is true. He did bring of the blood of the lamb, and that does picture Jesus Christ, but there's another underlying truth there that he says that he brought of the firstlings of the flock, and the firstling or the first fruit is synonymous in the Bible with the tithe because it's the first tenth of whatever your field produces, you know, whatever the fruits and grain that are produced, the first tenth goes unto the Lord. That's the first fruits. Brought of the flock. You have ten animals. You give the first one unto the Lord. That's the firstling, okay? And the Bible teaches that Abel brought of the firstlings of the flock. So this is a concept that actually spans the entire Bible because, you know, you've got tithing already in Genesis 14 and Genesis 28 being explicitly mentioned before the law of Moses. So for people to try to say this is only an old covenant thing, well, the old covenant did not begin until Mount Sinai with Moses. The law was given by Moses, but yet even before that, you have Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob giving the tenth unto the Lord, and even before that, you have the concept given with the firstlings of the flock of Abel and with the trees of the Garden of Eden. Not only that, but in the book of Joshua, we see that there were ten major battles that were fought in taking over the land of Canaan, and the first battle, the Battle of Jericho, they were told, do not take any of the spoil. Do not take any of the gold and silver and things that you find. They are holy unto the Lord, and if you remember Achan, the son of Carmi, he saw the wedge of gold, the Babylonish garment. He stole those things, and he hid them under his tent, and he was, of course, punished by the Lord and punished by the congregation itself, stoned to death. Why? Because he is stolen from the Lord, and after that, they were told that they could take all the gold and silver and keep it. Did you notice that when you're reading Joshua? First battle, Jericho, they're told, hey, don't touch the gold. Don't touch the silver. That's holy unto the Lord. Most people obeyed. It was just one guy who didn't obey, and then after that, they're told, okay, other nine battles, take of the spoil. Take of the gold. Take of the silver. It was only that first fruits or firstlings of that first battle that was supposed to go unto the Lord that in all things, he should have the preeminence. Now notice in Leviticus 27 here where we read, it talks about not changing it for a good or bad in verse 33. He should not search whether it be good or bad. What that means is he didn't want them to go to their flock and say, okay, I've got a hundred head of cattle here. I'm going to find the ten worst ones, and I'm going to give it unto the Lord, the ten that have problems. But here's the thing. He also didn't want them to go through and find the ten best ones because he says don't exchange a good for a bad, but also don't exchange a bad for a good. He says it both ways. He said don't just go through and find the ten best. You know, your heart would be in the right place if you did that, or find the ten worst because you're trying to give unto the Lord the worst thing that you have. But he said, you know, you just pass them unto the rod, just count them and every tenth one, you give it to the Lord whether it's good or bad. You know, you don't exchange it. You just randomly choose ten is what he's saying to do in that passage. Go to Numbers chapter 18. Numbers chapter 18. So is tithing part of the law of Moses? Yes, but it was also before the law of Moses. It already existed before and it still exists after, and I'm going to show you that in scripture this morning. Look at Numbers chapter number 18. It says in Numbers 18 23, but the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance. But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit. Therefore I have said unto them, among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. So according to this passage, the tribe of Levi did not inherit any land in the promised land. Now why would they need land? Well, to grow food, to grow crops, or to raise animals, they're going to need to own some land. They're not going to inherit any land, but instead they will live off of the tithes that are brought unto the Lord. They're not going to go out and work the fields, instead they're going to work in the house of the Lord, they're going to do the service of the tabernacle, they're going to make offerings and atonement for the people, they're going to preach unto the people, they're going to sing unto the people all the things that are listed that the Levites did throughout the Old Testament. Now, there were 12 tribes of Israel, right? Because Israel had 12 sons. But if you remember, Joseph was given the double portion. So therefore his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, they each got to inherit as if they were their own tribe. This is where some of the confusion of, you know, is there 12 tribes, 13 tribes? This is what it is. When it comes to the sons of Jacob, Levi was included and Joseph was included. But when it comes to the inheritance, Levi got no inheritance, and instead his inheritance went unto one of the sons of Joseph, okay? That way there would still be 12 pieces that the land would be divided into. Okay, so that's how that works. Now, the Levites are serving the Lord and they're living off the tithes that are given by the rest of the congregation. And it makes sense because if everybody's giving one tenth unto the Lord, and if there are about, you know, what, 11 other tribes that are doing the giving, and they're giving one tenth, you can see how the math would work out that they would get enough. And they'd be taken care of. They would have what they need according to that system. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 14, Deuteronomy chapter number 14. So just to quickly review, in Genesis 14, Abraham gave his tithe unto the Lord. He gave it unto Jesus Christ in the form of Melchizedek. In Genesis 28, Jacob brought his tithe unto the house of the Lord, Bethel, the place that he set up to be God's house. And he also said that Bethel was a place where he set up a stone and a pillar. And he said this is going to be the house of the Lord. He set up a stone and a pillar. Why a pillar? Well the Bible says in the New Testament that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, listen to this, the pillar and ground of the truth. So that pillar represented the fact that God's house would be a pillar of the truth, meaning it would lift up the truth, support the truth, exalt the truth, and that it would be a stone because of course it's built upon the rock of Jesus Christ and the foundation of the apostles of the land. So that's why that symbolism is used. Then in Leviticus we saw that it goes unto the Levites who serve in the house of the Lord. The Levites serve, the priests serve, and they receive the tithes instead of having a normal income of farming or herding cattle. Look at Deuteronomy 14.22 it says thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed that the field bringeth forth year by year and thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose to place his name there. The tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always. And if the way be too long for thee so that thou art not able to carry it, or if the place be too far from thee which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there. Then when the Lord thy God has blessed thee then thou shalt turn it into money and bind up the money in thine hand and shalt go into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. Now a lot of people will say this, they'll say well you know tithing was never money. You know they'll say tithing was only ever you know flocks and herds and fruit and vegetables. Well the reason for that is simply that in those days that was what they used for money. I mean that's what they, when you want to look at Job's wealth in chapter one it's measured in how many cattle he had, how many sheeps he had, how many goats he had. Because that's their money, that's what they had. They had animals, they had fruits and vegetables, that was their wealth. But God does say that you can turn those things into money. You know if you had a huge crop come in and you're thinking to yourself goodnight how am I going to carry one tenth of this unto Jerusalem when I live hundreds of miles away I don't want to bring all this. He said you just turn it into money okay and then just bring the money. And then it says in verse number 25 then thou shalt turn it into money and bind up the money in thine hand and shalt go into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. Now let me ask this, do you just bring the tithe wherever you want according to the end of verse 25? Bring it wherever you want. Is that what it says? It says bring it where? The place where the Lord shall choose okay. So it's not just bring it wherever you want, it's bring it to the place that the Lord shall choose. And it says thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after. What does that mean thy soul lust after? Just whatever you want. You can get there and buy what you want when you get there for oxen, for sheep or for wine or for strong drink or for whatsoever thy soul desireth and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God and thou shalt rejoice thou in thine household and the Levite that is within thy gates thou shalt not forsake him for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee. At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year and shalt lay it up within thy gates and the Levite because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow which are within thy gates shall come and shall eat and be satisfied that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest. Notice the association constantly with the Levite saying look the reason you need to bring the tithe is for the sake of the Levite. Now let me just explain to you this concept in Deuteronomy 14. What he's saying there when he talks about you know you're going to bring it, you're going to spend it, you're going to eat it and so forth. What they would do is they're not coming to Jerusalem constantly and they live far away. They're not coming Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night unto Jerusalem. So what they would do is they would have a big crop come in. They would bring one tenth of that or they'd bring one tenth of the herd if it was practical to do so. But if it was too far away then they would sell that stuff, turn it into money, bring the money and then buy the things that would be needed when they get there, food, drink, whatever. And again we're not talking about alcoholic beverages when we use wine and strong drink there. It's not permanent of itself but they're going to show up, they're going to buy food and drink, they're going to buy these things and it says they're going to eat them with the Levites. So what you see is they're bringing a huge amount of stuff because it's what they've gained over the course of years of increase and they've set aside what is a tenth of it, turned it into money, they bring it down. But here's the thing, not only does it go into the Levite but also they partake of it while they're there. Now they're not going to take one tenth of, you know, just all the produce of their field for the whole year or years and they're not just going to sit there and just, I'm just going to eat it all myself right now on this weekend. But what they're doing is they are eating it with the Levites. It goes under the Levites but they get to eat of it too, they get to partake of it too. And also the poor, the widow and the fatherless, they get to partake of it too. So if you think about it, you know, this is similar to what we would do at our church where, you know, the tithes are given under the Lord but then also the church members often partake of those things too. You know, for example, if we have a meal after church or when we provide food, that's why it's always free because the people who've given, they also get to eat of the tithe. That's actually a biblical usage of the tithe would be to buy food that's eaten by all which is why we'll sometimes have, you know, barbecue after church, meals after church, church picnic where the food is provided out of the money of the tithes, okay. And then also for the poor and the fatherless. That would be like if we took up the tithe today and there was a person who was destitute and poor and needed money and we gave them that charitable giving. That would be the same exact thing. Okay, look if you would at 2 Chronicles chapter 31. 2 Chronicles chapter 31, this is when a righteous king, Hezekiah, takes the throne. It says in 2 Chronicles 31 verse 4. Moreover, he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord. Second Chronicles 31.5, and as soon as the commandment came abroad and the children of Israel brought in abundance the first fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field, and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly. And concerning the children of Israel and Judah that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the Lord, their God, and laid them by heaps. In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps and finished them in the seventh month. What are these heaps? It's just a stockpiling of the food and beverages that are coming in. It says in the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps and finished them in the seventh month, verse 8, and when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps they blessed the Lord and his people Israel. Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps, and Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him and said, since the people began to bring the offerings unto the house of the Lord we've had enough to eat and have left plenty for the Lord has blessed his people and that which is left is this great store. So what we see in this story in 2 Chronicles 31 is that when the people brought of the tithes there was plenteousness in God's house. There was an abundance in God's house. And here's what we learn from that is that if the people bring the tithes into the house of God the church will always have enough money. Now a lot of churches want to go beyond this and raise massive amounts of money and just raise huge amounts of money so that they can build giant buildings and palaces and do all kinds of things that the church isn't ready for or add additional staff that the church is not ready to take on. What I see in scripture is that if people will bring the tithe there will be enough in God's house. It'll be enough. But obviously if people are not tithing there's not going to be enough. That's what God's teaching here. Because if you think about it the needs of the church financially are greater the bigger the church is. You're going to need a greater building, you're going to need greater staff, you're going to need more food at events and things like that. And the smaller the church is the less need the church has. And so it all works out on that percentage. Now we see in this passage that they're bringing the tithes, it's encouraging unto the Levites and the law of the Lord and so forth. Go to Nehemiah chapter 10. Just a few pages to the right in your Bible. Nehemiah chapter 10. I'm just showing you throughout the scripture here a lot of scriptures on tithing. Somebody recently said that was attacking the doctrine of tithing that the only book in the Bible that teaches tithing is Leviticus. The only book in the Bible that teaches tithing is Leviticus they said. And they said you know well somewhere else just one other place in Malachi it's just referring back to that in Leviticus. But as you can see it's actually taught in a lot of places in scripture because you have it in Genesis. You have it in Leviticus. You have it in Numbers. You have it in Deuteronomy. Then you see the examples of it all throughout the Old Testament in places like 2 Chronicles 31. In places like Nehemiah. Look at Nehemiah 1037. It says and that we should bring the first fruits of our dough. So there you go. There's money right there. No I'm just kidding. Bring the first fruits of your dough and our offerings and the fruit of all manner of trees of wine and of oil unto the priest to the chambers of the house of our God and the tithes of our ground. Watch this. Unto the Levites. Pretty consistent isn't it? That the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage. And the priest the sons of Aaron shall be with the Levites when the Levites take tithes and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God to the chambers into the treasure house. For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn of the new wine and the oil unto the chambers where are the vessels of the sanctuary and the priests that minister and the porters and the singers we will not forsake the house of our God. Go to chapter 12. So we see that the tithe is given unto the Levites and then the tithe of the tithe is given unto the priests. It says in verse number 44 of chapter 12 you say what's the difference between a priest and a Levite? Well the Levite tribe is a massive tribe of people and they had to do a lot of service about the tabernacle. They preached the word of God. They were the singers. They also took down the tabernacle and put it back up again. They cleaned the building. They offered the sacrifices. They taught the people. They did all manner of service, just menial service about the house of the Lord. And then the priests themselves, they were a higher ranking group within the Levites that were the ones who would actually make the morning and evening sacrifice and offer the burnt offering before the Lord on the Day of Atonement and the high priest. They were the ones who actually did the actual sacrifice itself. The Levites were more of a helper, a worker, just sweep the floor, take down the building, put it back up again, whatever. But they all had jobs and they did teach and preach the word of God. But they all had different jobs about the house of the Lord, all of the Levites. The Kohathites was one group within the Levites and they were given certain specific jobs and then the Mararites were given certain jobs and that's all broken down in the Mosaic law. But in chapter 12 verse 44 it says, and at that time where some appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the offerings, for the first fruits and for the tithes to gather into them out of the fields of the cities the portions of the law for the priests and Levites for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that waited. And I perceive that the portions of the Levites had not been given, I'm sorry I'm jumping ahead, go to chapter 13. My notes didn't have a break there. Go to Nehemiah 13 verse 10. Nehemiah 13 says, this is Nehemiah speaking, and I perceive that the portions of the Levites had not been given them for the Levites and the singers that did the work were fled everyone to his field. So what happens when the tithe isn't given to the Levites? He's like, I need to eat, I need to make some money. So what did he do? He flees the house of the Lord and he goes and he has to go get a job working in the field because he's got to feed his family, he's got to make money somehow. So because he's not getting the tithes he's got to go out into the field and get a job. That's what we see here in verse 10. It says in verse 11, then contended I with the rulers and said, why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together and set them in their place. Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the oil unto the treasuries. So this is Nehemiah getting angry that the tithe is not brought, now all the Levites are gone, all the priests are gone because they had to go get a job. They can't be there in Jerusalem serving the Lord in the temple, tabernacle, the songs aren't being sung, the preaching is not happening, the sacrifices aren't being made by the priest and so forth and the house is falling into disrepair. And notice so many times in scripture when the bad king would come in and people would turn away from the Lord, the house of God starts dilapidating and breaking down and then they'd have to repair it and they'd have to bring in carpenters and masons and metal workers and rebuild the thing and fix all the breaches thereof. Now if you would go to Malachi chapter number three. Malachi chapter number three and while you're turning to Malachi three I'm going to read for you a famous scripture that you're familiar with in Proverbs three. You go to Malachi three but in Proverbs three it says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones, listen to this, honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. So in Proverbs chapter three the Bible tells us that if you will honor the Lord with your first fruits, if you will give unto the Lord the first fruits of your substance, the first fruits of your increase that God will fill your barns with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. Now look at Malachi chapter three we're going to see something similar. It says in verse eight, will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me but ye say wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Now you say why is it robbery to not give the tithe unto the Lord? Because remember in Leviticus 27 the Bible said the tithe is the Lord's. The tithe is holy unto the Lord so when we withhold back from the Lord that which he demands as his own then the Bible calls that robbing God here in Malachi 3.8. It says 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, prove me now means test me now herewith. Say it 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 fruit of your ground neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field sayeth the Lord of hosts and all nations shall call you blessed for you shall be a delightsome land sayeth the Lord of hosts. So what's God promising here? God's not promising that you're going to be a millionaire, you're going to drive a Rolls Royce. This isn't like the televangelist who will take these scriptures and they'll abuse this and twist this into saying hey if you send us money and they'll get on TV and say hey send us your money and if you send us a hundred God will give you a thousand and if you send us a thousand God will give you ten thousand and if you sow sparingly you'll reap sparingly and if you sow abundantly you'll reap abundantly and if you give the, you know, the phone number is on the screen right now. Cancers are standing by, call, you know, we accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, diners, you know, just call in, make a donation and you know look how God's blessing me, look at all the rings on my fingers, look at the Rolls Royce in the driveway, look at the Mercedes, you know, look at the Italian suit. That's not what the Bible's teaching but you know what the Bible is teaching here. Here's why God says test me, bring me the tithe and I'll pour you out a blessing and I'll rebuke the devourer and your fruit's not going to fall off the vine too early and rot on the ground. What's God saying? Here's exactly what God's teaching. He's saying this, that you will live better on 90% than you will on 100%. That's what he's teaching here because people are thinking, oh man, you know, I can't afford to give one tenth unto the Lord because, you know, I just need everything for myself. But what God is promising to do is make up the difference is what he's promising to do because he's saying, look, if you rob me, because look what he says in verse 9, you're cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me even this whole nation. So what the Bible's teaching here is that let's say you rob God, let's say you withhold that tithe and say, well, I'm not going to give a tithe unto the Lord, I'm not going to give anything to the Lord, okay? Then basically what he's going to do then, he's going to allow that amount to be lost through attrition. He's going to take it out on your hide as it were. For example, let's say you decide, hey, I'm not going to give the tithe unto the Lord and let's say your tithe was supposed to be $100. He could cause something to happen where you'll lose $100. Think about how many unexpected things happen in your life where you just lose huge amounts of money, especially if you own a home. The water heater goes out, oh man, the plumbing starts leaking, the air conditioner breaks. I mean, your air conditioner breaks and it's like $4,000 or something to get a new air conditioner. And you know what? You live in Phoenix, it's kind of a necessity to have the air conditioner working. So what I'm saying is these unexpected expenses hit you, especially medical expense are the worst kind. You just get hit with unexpected expenses. So here's the thing. God in heaven, God Almighty, don't you think he's able to either cause you to not have those kind of things come up or to cause those things to come up in your life? And that if you really believe, if you really trust in the Lord with all your heart and you really believe that he controls your destiny and you actually believe that God is the one who holds your fate in his hand, financial and otherwise, then you'd think to yourself, wait a minute, if I obey the Lord and if I give the Lord 10% of what I have, then God's going to bless me and I'm going to be better off. He's going to take care of me. He's going to provide my needs. He's not going to cause me to run out of money because I gave the 10% unto him. Now I don't have enough money. God's not going to allow that. And God even says, just try it out, just test it out and I'll provide your needs. But he says, look, if you give the tithe, I'll bless you, I'll rebuke the devourer for your sakes. Who's the devourer? The one who's constantly causing you to need car repairs, home repairs and medical repairs. So he's just saying, I believe he's teaching he'll make up the difference and that you'll do better on 90% than on 10%. You say, Pastor Anderson, how can I do better on 90% than 10%? Well, if you don't, or than 100%. You say 100% is more money. But wait a minute, if you don't believe in God, then go with 100% because it's more money. But if you actually believe that the Lord in heaven determines whether you get a raise or whether you lose money here or lose money there, then you'd trust the Lord and say, you know, I'm going to be better off obeying him. Make ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you, meaning food, drink, and a place to live. So again, this isn't a health and wealth prosperity gospel. But what it is is just teaching that, you know, if you obey God, God's going to bless you and provide your needs. Whereas if you don't obey God, you're going to end up losing it anyway. For example, let me give you a perfect example of this. The children of Israel were told to not only have a Sabbath day every week, but they were supposed to have a Sabbath year. So when they farmed the land, they were supposed to only farm the land for six years, and then the seventh year they'd let the land rest. Now modern science has proven that they're going to have better crops if they do that, because modern science shows us that you do have to rest the land. And you do have to let the land go wild a little bit in order to have that land not become depleted of nutrition and deplete the soil. So God told them, every six years, you know, let the land rest for one year. And they said, well, what are we going to live on in that seventh year? He said, I'll give you triple in the sixth year. And then you'll eat that the sixth year, the seventh year, even into the eighth year, you'll still be eating that stuff while you're planning in the eighth year. But here's what happened. The children of Israel, they ignored God's Sabbaths. You know how long they ignored it for? Four hundred and ninety years. So for 490 years, they didn't do that Sabbath year that they were supposed to do. For 490 years, they just completely ignored that. So here's what God said. He said, OK, you've ignored me for 490 years. That means we've missed 70 Sabbaths, because every seven years you were supposed to have one. He said, you've missed 70 Sabbaths. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to cause the king of Babylon to come in, destroy your city, destroy the temple, burn down your town and scatter you into all nations for 70 years. And then the land will rest for 70 years. And he said, I'm going to make up those 70 Sabbaths. And he says in the book of Jeremiah, then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths while the land lays desolate. People aren't going to be farming it because you guys are going to be gone. And then after my 70 Sabbaths have been accomplished, then you can come back. And that's what happened. He brought back the people in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah after those 70 Sabbaths have been enjoyed. You know what that story teaches? It shows that when God wants something, he's going to get it from you. If God decides in heaven, hey, 10% of what you have is mine, he's going to get it from you. Now if you give it unto him willingly, it's a blessing to you. If it's basically taken from you in the form of a curse, well, then everybody loses. The Levite and the priest loses. You say, we don't have a Levite and priest. Well, we're going to get to that. But everybody loses. The church loses. You lose. God loses. It's just a bad way to live your life. Now let me say this. I can say that I've been tithing. Go if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. I have actually, you say, when did you start tithing, Pastor Anderson? I started tithing when I started making money. And that was when I was about four years old. And I was not even saved. I mean, I've been tithing from before I was even saved. I mean, I started tithing. Now when I was a little kid, my first allowance, who got an allowance when you were a kid? OK, my first allowance was $0.30 per week. But let me tell you something. $0.30 back then bought you more than what it buys today, OK, back in the 80s. Now who here has ever had an allowance lower than that? Mom and Dad, what are you doing to me? I had the lowest allowance of all time. No, you had one lower? $0.05? Good night. All right. I had one in the mother-baby room that ruined that illustration. No, I'm just kidding. So anyway, so I got, how do you tithe on $0.05? That's what I'd like to know. You know, your parents should at least give you $0.10. But I remember I got an allowance, listen to me, I would get an allowance of $0.30. And my mom would give me a quarter and a nickel. And that was my allowance. But here's the thing. I tithed on that. And I had to turn that nickel into pennies. And I would take three pennies, I'm not kidding. I would bring three pennies to church and throw three pennies in that offering plate. And I did so every week. And I did it religiously. And I did not miss it. And I never skipped it, ever. And then my allowance was upped to $0.50. And I would throw $0.05 in the plate every week, $0.05, $0.05. And then my allowance went up to $1. I would throw $0.10, $0.10. And then, you know, you know how kids think. So I went to my mom when I was young, and I was getting $1 a week. And I said, Mom, I want to raise in my allowance. And she said, oh, well, you know, how much do you want your allowance raised to? And I said, I want $1.11. And she said, why do you want $1.11? And I said, well, because here's the thing. I want to be able to pay my tithe and still have a buck, you know, because right now I pay my tithe, I got $0.90, I don't have a whole dollar. So I said, I'm not asking for $2 here. I just want $1.11, because then I can just throw in that. I knew it would go up to $0.11, because, you know, I knew if I got $1.10, well, now I got to tithe $0.11. So I was like, give me $1.11. And my mom said no, because she said that defeat, this is what she told me, she said that would defeat the whole purpose of teaching you to tithe, because then you'll just feel like, you know, this is just extra money that you're, you know, it should feel like it's cutting into what was given unto you. You know, I don't know if you understand what she meant by that, but she was trying to teach me, no, that's what you do when you tithe, because I'd get the bill and I'd have to go through the rigmarole of taking that dollar and turning it into change, you know, unless I had other change that I could, you know, exchange for it, you know, turn it into money and the exchange thereof. And basically, you know, it was just teaching me to cut into that dollar and throw that $0.10 in. And you know what I can honestly say? God has blessed me throughout my life. And God has taken care of me. And you say, well, you know, you don't seem like you have a lot of money to me. You know, your house is old and dilapidated and small and, you know, you know, you share one vehicle. But you know what, though? And you know, all my clothes are from the thrift store, but you know what, is that really what life's about? No one can say that God has not blessed me. Because I have a wonderful, beautiful, amazing wife. I have eight children that, you know, I have a wonderful church to be a pastor of. And you know what, I do have a house that is completely adequate and suitable for what we need. You know, we don't need anything beyond. You know, people have fancy houses and everything, but you know what, honestly, our house is big enough for what we need. We have the vehicle we need. We have the house that we need. We have the clothes that we need. We do not lack anything. I mean, it would be wicked of us to complain that we lack anything because truly we don't. You know, we have an abundance of healthy food. We have an air-conditioned place to live that fits our family. We have a vehicle to get us where we need to go, a nice vehicle that fits the entire family. And you know, it's not that hard sharing a vehicle. And you know what, sometimes you can actually go somewhere on foot or on a bicycle. You might even survive heart disease and everything if you actually get a little exercise. You know, it's probably good for you. But anyway, what I'm saying is that, you know, we have everything that we need. And I feel like I've lived a blessed life. And I'm totally happy with everything God's given me. And there's really not something that I feel like I should have had that I didn't have. You know, God's given me what I needed. And you know what, I believe that part of the reason why is because as a little boy, I just kept tithing. You know what I mean? You know, and then I grew up and became a teenager, got a job at Round Table Pizza, you know, started tithing off that. I would tithe when my dad would pay me for electrical work. I would tithe, you know, throughout my life at different jobs that I worked. And so, you know, I believe in this. I've done it my entire life. I see it in the Bible from cover to cover. And you say, well Pastor Anderson, everything you've shown us has been from the Old Testament. Well, let's go to 1 Corinthians 9 and let's see a scripture from the New Testament. Now first of all, I know Hebrews 7. I don't want to focus too much on Hebrews 7. Although I love the book of Hebrews, Hebrews is one of the hardest books in the Bible. Let's face it. Out of all the books in the New Testament, Hebrews is probably the most complicated book. It's a great book. It's a wonderful book. But it's a little complicated. So I don't want to spend a lot of time this morning, and in other sermons I've gone verse by verse through Hebrews. I don't want to spend a whole lot of time just expounding the intricacies of Hebrews 7 this morning just because it's kind of a heavy passage. But it does talk about the fact that tithes were paid under Melchizedek who was actually Jesus Christ. And then later those tithes are paid under Leviticus, I'm sorry, the Levitical priesthood under the Levites. And that that priesthood has transferred from the Levites unto the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek which is Jesus Christ and so forth. And that the tithes are no longer received of the Levites and so forth. But I don't want to spend a lot of time in that passage because it's not really that important for what we're preaching about right now. But look at 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 3. Because what I want to show you in 1 Corinthians 9, here's what you have to understand about the Bible. There are definitely differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament, aren't there? I mean can anybody really say, hey, things are exactly the same today as they were in ancient Israel and whatever God told us to do back then is the same stuff we should be doing now. Can anybody really say that on all subjects? No. Because of course in the Old Testament they're offering animal sacrifices. In the New Testament we look to Jesus Christ as the lamb of God that's slain once for all and paid for our sins. In the Old Testament they had a physical building called the tabernacle or the temple that was the house of God where they would go and bring unto the Lord their tithes or go and bring animal sacrifice and so forth. We don't have that. In the Old Testament they had the Levitical priesthood. The Bible says in the New Testament that there's been a change of priesthood and that it's no longer the Levitical priesthood but is the priesthood of the order of Melchizedek. No longer is Aaron the high priest but Jesus is the high priest in the New Testament. No longer is Israel the holy nation. Now the holy nation is made up of all believers in Christ. Whether they be Jew or Gentile there is no difference. So there are a lot of changes from Old Testament to New Testament. In the Old Testament the Bible said that under the Old Covenant that they should only eat certain meats and they were to abstain from pork and abstain from shellfish but here's the thing. That was something that came in with the Mosaic law and the New Testament specifically changes and before the Mosaic law they were allowed to eat all meat in Genesis 9. So what I'm trying to say is that the principle that you should use when studying the Bible is that anything that's in the Old Testament, meaning the first 39 books, unless God changed it in the New Testament it still stands. Unless he said hey we're not doing this anymore then it stands. You can't just throw out the whole Old Testament and just throw it all out and say I'm only going with the New Testament only. That's not what the Bible tells us to do. What we should do though is make the changes where he said it's changed. Now what are some things that he specifically changed? He specifically changed the dietary laws and told us we could eat all things. He specifically changed about the Sabbath and flat out told us that we don't need to observe the Sabbath in Colossians 2. He also supporting passages in Romans 14 and Hebrews 4. And so those are things that are specifically repealed. He specifically told us not to observe the feast and the new moons and the Jewish holidays. He told us not to do those things. Okay but wait a minute. What about the things that are unchanged? They stand. For example the Old Testament says not to marry your sister. Is that changed? You know we're free in Christ. I mean think about the stupidity but that's how people are where they want to throw out the whole Old Testament. They'll say like oh man quit trying to bring me into bondage. We're not under the law. We're free in Christ. I can marry my sister. I can marry my aunt. The Bible tells you not to look upon your grandma's nakedness. Has that changed? No. The Bible says that a man should not put on a woman's garment. I mean has that changed? Now God's fine with men wearing dresses. But where did the New Testament tell us not to put on a dress? It doesn't have to because if God didn't change it, it didn't change. Now you say well has tithing been changed? First of all there's no scripture in the New Testament that says hey tithing is eliminated. Tithing is no longer happening. The only time that tithing is specifically mentioned, Jesus talks about the Pharisees tithing and he says that they were right when they tithed. He said you tithed on it and these things ought you to have done. He commended them on the tithing but then he rebuked them on the stuff they were not doing. So there's two scriptures like that. Then there's Hebrews 7 which explains the tithe. Again nowhere does it say hey tithe is no longer something we do. So therefore just the operating principle is if he didn't get rid of it, it's still there. But has tithing changed in the New Testament? Yes tithing has changed. And 1 Corinthians 9 is a great scripture to show us that change of tithing. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians 9.3. An answer to them that examined me is this. Have we not power to eat and to drink? Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas? Or I only in Barnabas have not we power to forbear working? So Paul and Barnabas are apostles but there are at least you know 12 apostles and then there were 70 other apostles that he ordained so there are at least like 82 apostles minimum in scripture. So what Paul is saying here is that Paul and Barnabas they're unmarried, they're single guys and they work outside jobs. Paul was what? A tent maker right? So Paul and Barnabas are a couple of single guys who work outside jobs but he's saying look you know don't we have the power to eat and to drink and if we wanted to wouldn't we have the power to be married and to have a family? But he says that's what all the other apostles are doing because you know Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, all those guys were all married and you know what married people have? You know what every single married person in the Bible had? Children. Yeah a wife that's true they did have a wife but every married person in the Bible had children and here's the thing you say well my cow never had children yeah that's because her husband had multiple wives and he just went with a different one okay so that's a weird story. But the bottom line is that God's saying that ministers of the Lord have a right to be married, have kids, and have food and drink. Pretty radical concept but he says you know or I only in Barnabas have we not power to forbear working and he's not saying forbear working like sit on his rear end all day he's saying forbear working like not go out and get an outside job because he's saying the rest of the apostles don't have jobs because remember Peter was a fisherman right? But after he started serving Jesus Christ full time he never was he was told not to fish anymore. He wasn't supposed to fish anymore. People are like oh well the pastor he's supposed to have an outside job. Like Peter? Because Peter was a pastor. Peter said I'm an elder of the church okay you know whereas Paul and Barnabas were not pastors Peter was a pastor okay other apostles were pastors. He called himself an elder John called himself an elder which elder means bishop means pastor. But anyway it says right here verse seven who go with the warfare at any time at his own charges who plant at the vineyard and eateth not of the fruit thereof or who feed at the flock and eateth not of the milk of the flock. Say I these things as a man or sayeth not the law the same also. Wait a minute why are you bringing up the law of Moses it's totally irrelevant. Is that what it says here? No because even if things in the law have changed in the New Testament we still learn from them. All scripture is profitable for doctrine. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. So he says this is what the law of Moses says verse nine for it is written the law of Moses thou shalt not muzzle the ox the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn does God take care for oxen or sayeth he it all together for our sakes for our sakes no doubt this is written that he that ploweth should plow in hope and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope if we have sown unto you spiritual things is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things if others be partaker of this power over you are not we rather nevertheless we have not used this power but suffer all things lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. Now watch verse thirteen do you not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. So according to the New Testament doctrine he said look in the Old Testament the people who worked at the house of God the people who ministered about the temple in verse thirteen he said they live of the things of the temple meaning that's what they live off of. They live off of the tides and offerings and he said even so has the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel meaning that people should preach the gospel and live of that income that's their full time job is to be a preacher that is. Now look it's okay for a preacher to have an outside job if he so desires if he wants to be in Paul a Paul and Barnabas type of a guy. Okay but of course those are single guys a little easier to you know to do both when you're a single guy. But the bottom line is that what the Bible is teaching here is that just as I mean what does it mean even so in verse fourteen just as the Levites and the priests in the Old Testament lived of the things of the tabernacle even so had the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. So there you go. No elimination of tithing in the New Testament and you say well Pastor Anderson I'm not convinced I think tithing is an Old Testament doctrine and I'm not going to tithe. No problem because here's the thing no one's going to force you to tithe. Our church has never forced anyone to tithe and we're not going to sit there and say you know according to our records you know you haven't been tied because here's the thing there's so much cash that comes in that nobody's going to know if you're tithing or not because you know well you know maybe you're putting in cash maybe you're putting in a check. Nobody cares whether you're tithing or not. Okay and here's the thing if nobody if nobody tied let's say just nobody in our church and here's the thing obviously most people in our church tied the vast majority but here's the thing let's say all of a sudden just nobody tithed. They're like Pastor Anderson I heard your sermon and I've decided to quit tithing you know from that sermon. Let's say nobody tithed. Do you know what would happen? You know what would happen? Our church would still exist. Our church would still continue. You know I'd have to go back to the field you know and go work a secular job to pay for the 10 people in my family and eventually we wouldn't be able to pay for this building anymore and we would basically have to you know meet outside but that would be possible to meet outside and we could do all that. So it's not a question of you know hey we need your money because you know what we don't and when you don't tithe all you're doing is shooting yourself in the foot. That's all you're doing because for that for that hundred bucks or whatever on your paycheck or that fifty hundred fifty bucks a week or whatever it is that you make you know whatever that tenth is you know whatever that is when you keep that for yourself that's not going to do you any good in life. Like that that extra money that you make it's not going to make you live a better life. And in fact you know you're going to be cursed whereas if you give unto the Lord the tithe God promised to bless you. So you know I'd rather have a little less money coming into my account every week and just know hey God's blessing me. You know if you have any faith in the Lord and in the word of God there you go. Plus you'll know that you're supporting the work of the Lord's house. Now here's the thing. Some people go to the most and it's amazing tithing it does a lot of things because one of the things tithing does is it gets you to go to church because see a lot of these people who don't go to church it's like okay well are you tithing? Obviously not. So now that's a compound sin at least tithing also gets you to come down here because at least you come down here to put in your tithe is one thing you do. Now here's the thing. If you go to some apostate church that's not preaching the gospel and you put in your tithe are you really giving it to the Lord? You're giving it to the wrong team. So what the Bible is teaching too is you know it gets you to get into the right church so that you can give your tithe and feel like okay this is going to Melchizedek. You know I'm not giving it to the you know to some false prophet of Baal here. You know what I mean? I'm going to give it unto the Lord. So tithing gets you to come to the right church and show up and be there and bring your tithe and do that. So and it allows you to be blessed of the Lord and blessed by God and you know just to see God bless you for your obedience. That's all it is. So you know if you're not convinced well then don't be convinced but you know what I've studied the Bible for a long time. I just showed you all the evidence. We went through all the scriptures and I think it's pretty clear that since it goes before the law of Moses and after the law of Moses and it's not just a Mount Sinai thing and it's never repealed in the New Testament and then he flat out compares it and says well you know the Levites lived off that money in the Old Testament. Well now it's those who preach the gospel in the New Testament that are going to live off of those funds. And obviously you know I already told you where the money goes. You know it goes to pay my salary. It goes to pay for the building and it goes to pay for the activities and you know the CDs and DVDs, Bibles that we give out to people. You know just the materials of the house of the Lord. And so you know I challenge you if you're one who does not tithe to prove God herewith you know and see if he will pour out a blessing. And you know what? Honestly people will sometimes say I can't afford to tithe but here's the thing. If you're really poor and you don't make any money, your tithe is really small. So how can you not afford it? It's not even that much money, right? And here's the thing. If you make a ton of, you're like oh man you don't understand, I make so much that I can't tithe. Because it would just be such a huge amount, you know I'm not going to give that huge amount. I mean that's really ridiculous, okay. But here's how you always make sure that you can afford to tithe. You give it first. That's why it's called the firstling, the first fruit. How can you not, I don't have the money. If you give it first it's always there. You give it first and you're like okay what do I got left? And so that's what the Bible teaches and I encourage you to prove God herewith if you don't believe in it. Then God encourages you to put him to the test. But let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Father we thank you so much for your word Lord and we thank you so much for just blessing us and taking care of us Lord. Thank you that we live in America and that we actually have an abundance in America. We have prosperity. We have nice things. We live in comfortable air conditioned houses. We eat healthy nutritious food Lord. And thank you for our church and God I especially want to thank you this morning that over the last eight and a half years our church has always had enough money. And we've never run out of money Lord and sometimes it seemed like we were going to but we just never have. We've always had enough money Lord and I thank you for just providing our needs all the time and allowing us to be able to have a nice building to meet in and just to be able to do all the things that we've done. And Lord just continue to bless our church and in Jesus' name we pray.