SOWING TIME:
In today's end time age, prior to God's peaceful millennium,
is the idea that tithing and giving offerings
to our Lord God has fallen by the wayside. Many are struggling
financially, and the idea of relinquishing some
financial wealth or possessions simply does not seem like good
financial sense. But brethren, it is not about
God's called giving his or her personal money to the Lord, but rather
an act of returning one tenth to the original
owner. All things exist through His grace, and therefore is in truth.
The wealth that we have, we keep only as
a steward upon His behalf. When a called out one chooses not to
tithe and give offerings, he is in fact stealing
from God!
According to God's word, we must sow to be able to harvest.
Unless we sow plentifully we will not have
a very large harvest. The order of planting is to sow, then allow
time for growth and then comes the harvest.
We must first give our tithes and offering to be able to reap
the harvest that is promised by God. If we
want to prosper we first are to: "Give, and it shall be given unto
you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken
together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with
the same measure that ye mete withal it
shall be measured to you again" (Luke 6:38). The lesson here is you
must give to receive!
God has given us the law of tithing to teach us the way to
prosperity. Tithes are God's money. Tithing
is an obligation, it produces prosperity through obedience to God!
God is the same today! He does not change!
"For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not
consumed" (Mal 3:6).
Mankind has robbed God by not following the laws of tithing
and the giving of free will offerings! "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" (Mal 3:7-8).
What is the penalty for not tithing and giving God offerings?
"Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have
robbed me, even this whole nation" (Mal 3: 9). Did you notice that we
will be cursed with a double curse for
not tithing ! But if we obey by following God's law, and: "Bring ye
all the tithes into the storehouse, that there
may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me [try 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 fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of
hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed:
for ye shall be a delight-some land, saith the LORD of hosts" (Mal
3:10-12). Most people find it hard to give
back God's money to do His work.
A question all need to think about? Have we increased our
sowing into God's Kingdom? Most,
personally want to just add more of the physical things to their
cupboards and closets, but we have not sown more
to God, who gives all blessings! God uses people to finance the
gospel [ good news ] of the coming Kingdom
of God to this world!
It's a true saying, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where
moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will
your heart be also" (Matt 6:19-21). We must all be a doer
of God's word through obedience to His laws,
statutes and judgments.
Christ has said, "No man can serve two masters: for either he
will hate the one, and love the other; or else
he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot
serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you,
Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall
drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put
on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold
the fowls of the air: for they sow not,
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father
feedeth them. Are ye not much better than
they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his
stature? And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not,
neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That
even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field,
which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not
much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall
we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be
clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need
of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of
God, and His righteousness; and all these
things shall be
added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the
morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" (Matt 6:24-
34).
God's Kingdom is built on multiplications, not division. God
uses the tithe and offerings as an
investment where everyone involved gets a return on the investment.
Obviously, the Church of God and the
Kingdom are blessed, and yet God's nature is to also bless the giver.
This principle is highlighted in 2 Chronicles
31. "Moreover he commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to
contribute support for the priests and the
Levites, that they might devote themselves to the Law of the LORD. As
soon as the commandment was
circulated, the children of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruits of grain and
wine, oil and honey, and of all
the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything. And the
children of Israel and
Judah, who dwelt in the cities of Judah, brought the tithe of oxen and
sheep; also the tithe of holy things which
were consecrated to the LORD their God they laid in heaps. In the
third month they began laying them in heaps,
and they finished in the seventh month. And when Hezekiah and the
leaders came and saw the heaps, they
blessed the LORD and His people Israel. Then Hezekiah questioned the
priests and the Levites concerning the
heaps. And Azariah the chief priest, from the house of Zadok,
answered him and said, "Since the people began
to bring the offerings into the house of the LORD, we have had enough
to eat and have plenty left, for the LORD
has blessed His people; and what is left is this great abundance" (2
Chron 31:4-10) NKJV. Yet, Christ said, "So
likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are
commanded you, say, We are unprofitable
servants: we have done that which was our duty to do" (Luke
17:10).
The word of God is full of promises! He has given us the
words of both Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy
28, to show us the blessing of obedience and curses of dis-obedience!
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PERSONAL NOTE; The Church Of God, In Truth:
THANKS YOU, for your Malachi 3: 7-10 obedience to God by giving to
the Church of God, In Truth. It is your
tithes and offerings that keeps this work able to send out the "Prove
All Things" magazines, sermon CD's,
weekly news letter, conduct Sabbath services on the telephone and over
the Internet, and share calendar
information with others around the world. Without your loyal
contributions we could not do what has been
requested of us, to give it freely!