I listened to Sunday's message from Powerhouse Church, and this is what was revealed to me:
Genesis 12:2-3 ~ Then the LORD told Abram, "Leave your country, your relatives, and your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will cause you to become the father of a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and I will make you a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you."
Now,
God says in Malachi 3:6 "I am the Lord, I change not." If we believe
every word of the Bible to be true, then we cannot exclude this word. He
does not change. The Lord goes on to say in Malachi that "that is why
you sons of Jacob are not destroyed". The sons of Jacob are grandsons
of Abraham whom the Lord said He would bless and all of his
descendants. The Lord does not change. He will not destroy us once we
are saved because He is a covenant God. We are Abraham's seed. BUT, we
have an adversary...
John 10:10 ~ The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to DESTROY: I [Jesus] am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
The
thief comes to steal the seed, IF he can get it. The seed of the land
or fruit of the tree is the Lord's. The enemy wants the kingdom, it's
not personal where Satan is concerned. However, God wants our heart.
It IS personal with Him. His method of protection for us is obedience.
What is He protecting us from? Our adversary.
The tithe is holy unto the Lord [Lev 27:30 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].
Jesus
came to give us abundant life according to John 10:10. Deuteronomy
30:15-16 lays it out as our free will choice: blessings or curses [I
read tithe or not]. "See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;16 In that I command thee this day to love the Lord
thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his
statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall BLESS thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it."
Later in the passage the Lord says his wants us to choose LIFE so that we and our descendants might live and not die. "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy SEED may live"
What did Adam choose in the garden? The fruit of the tree...Lev 27:30...the holy thing. The curse came because of that free will choice. What did Jesus do? He hung on a tree to give us LIFE...the blessing, reversing the curse. Jesus is the holy thing, God's tithe, His best. We have a choice to make. Not just once. God's has given us a test to prove our commitment to Him. That test is the tithe. The back side of our money says "In God we trust". This is a reminder that our hope is found in Him, that He alone is Jehovah Jireh. All that we have belongs to Him, is given by Him, and should glorify Him.
If our treasures are laid up in heaven, the thief can't get them. Jesus said in Matthew 6:20-21:
There are no robbers or thieves in heaven. They cannot break through. What are treasures in heaven? SOULS...
Think of the reasons we say we can't tithe. We have been deceived and eaten our seed and a root is growing within us: doubt, greed, deception, offense, unforgiveness, bitterness. The enemy has come in because we have lived under the curse. See, we think our car breaks or we get sick or our air conditioner goes out and THEN we can't tithe. But surely what is happening is that we are cursed and the devil is stealing seed meant for God BECAUSE we don't tithe. The tithe is going to car repairs, air conditioners, VISA and pharmaceuticals.
In
a war, if an army wants to stop the movement of an insurgence, they
will seek to stop financing to that cell. The devil has the same plan
to destroy the Kingdom of God. Later in the passage the Lord says his wants us to choose LIFE so that we and our descendants might live and not die. "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy SEED may live"
What did Adam choose in the garden? The fruit of the tree...Lev 27:30...the holy thing. The curse came because of that free will choice. What did Jesus do? He hung on a tree to give us LIFE...the blessing, reversing the curse. Jesus is the holy thing, God's tithe, His best. We have a choice to make. Not just once. God's has given us a test to prove our commitment to Him. That test is the tithe. The back side of our money says "In God we trust". This is a reminder that our hope is found in Him, that He alone is Jehovah Jireh. All that we have belongs to Him, is given by Him, and should glorify Him.
If our treasures are laid up in heaven, the thief can't get them. Jesus said in Matthew 6:20-21:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
There are no robbers or thieves in heaven. They cannot break through. What are treasures in heaven? SOULS...
Malachi 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings."It is a sin not to tithe. We are robbing God and robbers do not enter into heaven. Does God need our money? NO, but our money funds the spreading of the Gospel in this world so that men can "Go ye...". God counted Abraham as righteous or blessed by what he DID in faith, faith in God and His Word. Adam was cursed because of what he DID that went against God's command. Jesus came to reverse the curse of Adam and redeem us as Abraham's seed. The adversary still seeks to steal the seed.
Think of the reasons we say we can't tithe. We have been deceived and eaten our seed and a root is growing within us: doubt, greed, deception, offense, unforgiveness, bitterness. The enemy has come in because we have lived under the curse. See, we think our car breaks or we get sick or our air conditioner goes out and THEN we can't tithe. But surely what is happening is that we are cursed and the devil is stealing seed meant for God BECAUSE we don't tithe. The tithe is going to car repairs, air conditioners, VISA and pharmaceuticals.
"And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that HOLY THING which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." ~ Luke 1:35Jesus is the holy thing. The tithe is the holy thing. How are we going to give Jesus to the nations, fulfilling the command to go ye into all the world, storing up treasure in heaven [SOULS] where no robber can take it? TITHE.
