Tithing Lesson 5

Notes from message "More Is Possible Part 27: Tithing Lesson 5"

Pastor Mike is continuing his teaching from his book "Rich Is Not A Bad Word"

Tithing Lesson 5

A. Tithing is the infrastructure, the foundation, the basic framework that we build everything upon

1. Tithing is not just a practice, but it is an everlasting eternal principle..

2. As Christians under the new covenant, we are called and instructed by God to tithe.

B. The Consequences of Disobedience

1. The disobedient become subject to the curse.

2. The non-tither loses the special protection plan that is available to the tither

           a. There should be a decided, distinct advantage that the tither should have.

           b. Malachi 3:10

              The "storehouse" is where you are being fed spiritually (local church)

               The word "meat" is a reference to financial resources.

           c. If the will of God is going to be carried out in the earth, there must be financial resources.

           d. God is a very good businessman. His plan does not include sacrificing chickens, having

              raffles, etc. His financial plan to establish His work in the earth is tithes and offerings.

C. Two Major Benefits to the Tither

1. God promises the "windows of heaven blessing".

2. God promises abundance - "a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive".

The windows of heaven blessing manifest itself through:

1. Supernatural ability to function at a high level of excellence and integrity. Deut 8:18

2. Favor – when God raises up others, when God touches others' hearts to use their resources, their ability, their finances on your behalf.

3. Open doors of opportunity.

4. Income from unexpected sources. (God has a lot of ways to bless us)

As a tither, you also have a right to receive ideas for increase. God wants to inspire your mind and give you ideas.

Finally, God wants to give you wisdom to manage what you have. We often don't need more money, we just need to learn to manage what we have and if we start managing better what we have, then God will give us more.

D. The Protection Plan

Rubbing up against "the best"

I've been sitting in a meeting at a rather prestigious resort
facility watching a group talk about watches. I have a pretty nice
Fossil watch that I've had for quite some time and I paid about $90
for the watch in 2001. However, the watch that they're talking about
here (and I know you're probably thinking Rolex, but its not) is a
very nice watch and I've heard prices thrown around from $3,000 to
over $30,000 for a watch. I've heard "prosperity preachers" talk
about how God wants His children to enjoy the best and I'm trying to
figure out, why would God want me to have a $30,000 watch. I must
admit, this is one of the best watches that I've ever seen. I'm
looking at how its made and how it is constructed, and I can attest
that they are using some the finest materials, movements, technology,
etc. to make this watch.

So to answer my own question, I have to go back to a fundamental
truth that God is rich and he can afford it. Then I have to realize
that most fathers do want the best for their children. So why would
God want me to posses and wear a watch like that? Well, there are
many reasons, but the one that sticks out at me was a reaction that I
had to a woman that was wearing one of the watches. The watch stood
out on her arm, and I know that I have never seen a watch that looked
like it. Something inside me wanted to ask her more about the watch,
about her, about what she did for a living, etc.

The $90 watch that I currently wear has never had someone stop to
make a connection with me - the kind of connection that would allow
me the opportunity to tell them about my Father, who empowered me to
be able to purchase and wear this watch. Now I'm not hating on the
watch that I have, but I recognized that the watch isn't about me as
much as it is about the stuff and circumstances around the watch. I
thank God that he wants to use his children and the stuff that the
children have to make connections with others to tell them more about
how this came to be.

Go figure...

Subject-matter to cover in the coming weeks and months

Things that people believe that ARE NOT true:

God is in Control (of everything)

God can make you happy.

All things (good or bad) work together for the good of them that love the Lord and called according to His purpose.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

Humans should give thanks to God for everything good or bad that happens to them

God uses bad things to draw men closer to Him

God wants you to be poor

God doesn't want you to be rich or have nice things

God won't put more on you than you can bear

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

No Pain No Gain

Things that some Christians say or believe that are false:

Tithing is not for today

Speaking in Tongues is not for today

God hates divorce

Truths that people don't realize about God:

God is Pro Choice

God is not in Control of everything

God can't make you be happy.

God doesn't like religion

God does love porn stars (and pimps, murderers, thugs, and other people that the average Christian doesn't like.)

All things (good or bad) work together for the good of them that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.

It is a common belief among Christians who have heard it over and
over, and some have even read it and taken it at face value. Romans
8:28 in the KJV reads, "And we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to
his purpose." For most Christians, this verse tells them that no
matter what we go through, good or bad, God is working it out for our
good. Just as most other doctrines inspired by Satan and propagated
by well meaning Christians, Pastors, Teachers, Apostles, etc, their 
doctrine is part truth and part lie. The truth is that, God along
with the Holy Spirit and angels, do have a way of turning bad
situations around and even bringing good things out of really bad
situations. The lie comes in when we somehow welcome tragedy in
order to get the good result, and therefore belief that we have to
have rain in order to see the sunshine.

Lets look at the following example: There was a single father that
was strung out on drugs and had two daughters. The daughters went to
church every Sunday with their aunt. The girls often prayed for
their father to be delivered from drug addiction so that they could
live in peace with their father. The father wanted to change, but
didn't know how. One night after a long binge of doing meth and
crack cocaine, the father overdosed and lay helpless on the floor.
The girls came home from church and found the father lying on the
floor and the aunt, which was also the father's sister, was
distraught and frantically dialed 911. Long story short, the father
ended up in a coma for 2 weeks and the girls were certain that he was
going to die. After coming out of the coma, the father finally
realized how his addiction negatively affected his family. He
finally decided to go to church, read, study and live out the Word of
God that he was learning in church, and was totally delivered from
drugs and alcohol. Now the question is, did God make all of this
happen so the father and girls would have a happier life? Surely
not! God was speaking to the father years before the coma. He even
tried to speak to the father before the girls mother (who was also on crack) gave up on the
relationship and the children. God could have brought about a good result without the
tragedy.

What does the verse actually mean? Well to find out what it means we
have to find out what it says. I'm not a greek scholar, but I did
stay at a Holiday Inn last night (and did a google search). Read
this article to get a good understanding how this verse is
translated. You also have to look at what the bible says in
context. To do this simply back up a few verses and read what Paul
is actually talking about. Actually, to get into the mindset of what
he's addressing here, you may have to go back a few chapters. Paul
is addressing this letter to the Romans. In chapter 7 (and keep in
mind that Paul didn't add the chapter and verse makers) he was
basically keeping it real by telling the new Roman converts about his
struggles to want to live right but sometimes coming up short. So he
starts off chapter 8 with, (because of the redemptive work of Jesus,
"[Therefore] there is now no condemnation for those that are in
Christ Jesus. This verse introduces the context of Romans 8:28 in
(or living in accordance with the Words of) Christ Jesus.

"All things" needs to be qualified. All things in this case doesn't
actually mean all things good and evil, but only all things talked about in the preceding verses.

Satan uses the Romans 8:28 lie to get people not take personal
responsibility for their actions, or give up fighting him when bad
things happen, because after all, God is working it out for our
good. I'm definitely not trying to take away the miracle working
power of God in people's lives, but what we must do is 1.) put Romans
8:28 in context, and 2.) add balance to the doctrine that God will
work even bad things out for our good.

The balance comes from resisting and preventing the bad stuff in the
first place.

Is God is in Control? ...of everything? I don't think so.

I know that the whole "God is in Control of everything" doctrine is an engrained in most peoples thinking, but in all of the stories mentioned your post have the same principles at work. God didn't cause or intend any of those things to happen, but he make another way to bring about His plan. There is a Satan who looks for people that he can destroy. He tries to destroy them, and God still makes His plan work even though Satan tries, and sometimes we help to screw it up. God is not in control, the way that we think He is, because if he was there would be no murder, rape, robbery, catasrophy, torture, etc. That's something that you can see if you just understand that God is control in Heaven, because there's none of that stuff up there. On earth however, he gave man dominion of the earth. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Genesis 1:26

The notion that God is in control of everything that goes on in our lives or in the world is so far from the bible truth, it is ridiculous. The bible itself seems to spell out quite clearly that God is NOT in control of things on this earth.

God won't put more on you than you can bear?

Did you know that this well rehearsed saying in the church is nowhere
to be found in the bible? The actual verse where we get this from is
1st Corinthians 10:13, "There hath no temptation taken you but such
as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to
be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also
make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. "

A lot of people really don't know what this mean and as is the
fashion of man, we interpret it based on our experience rather than
accurate bible doctrine.

The fact is, God doesn't put anything on you and he's never put
anything on anyone except blessings. Putting stuff on you is in
Satan's department. And before your head goes there, no they (God
and satan) don't work together for your good, that's in another section.

So what is Paul really saying? Here's a reading from the amplified
version of that verse...

For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter
how it comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on
you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has
come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted
and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can
bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate
nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried
and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power
to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the
way out (the means of escape to ca landing place), that you may be
capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently.

Note that nowhere in that verse did it say that God is putting
temptation on you. Temptation comes to us to separate us from God
and from what is right. That is the way it happened in the garden of
eden. Satan tempted Eve to separate man from God. God didn't allow
Eve to be tempted so he could see how she would handle pressure or to
test her faith! Remember, God had been working for six days straight
building this house for his children. On the seventh day he rested.
He gave man the keys to the house and went back home after giving man
some final instructions. He left earth in total trust of man to obey
what He had told man to do. Adam failed to subdue the earth and
everything in it like God had commanded him. He could have subdued
the snake in the garden and said no like God had told him too, but he
was deceived, and you know the rest of the story.