Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

First Fruits Pt.1

Let's turn to Proverbs and take a look at what the Lord has for us. We were talking about getting ready to do some teaching on eschatology and just looking at the hour that we're in. The Lord is coming back. Amen? And our prayer is, Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Oh, man. Aren't you ready to go home? I'm tired of all this sin and tired of battling with my flesh. Anybody else have a problem with their flesh? Anybody else have a problem with other people's flesh? It's just a warfare every day and I'm tired. Iniquity is abounding. Scripture says it's getting worse, the days are getting worse, but His grace is sufficient. Amen? We occupy, the Scripture says, until He comes, but every one of us, 1 John says, that is loving His appearing, that has that hope in him, purifies himself even as He is pure.

The teaching we're going to look at as we go into eschatology is going to be just in keeping our lives pure and ready for the Lord's coming. "Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God, and it doesn't yet appear what we shall be. But we know this: when He appears we'll be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Every one of us that has that hope purifies himself even as He is pure" (1 John 3:1-3). So without the blessed hope before us, it makes walking in sanctification a much more difficult thing. But we keep ever before us that momentary waiting to hear that trumpet. Think about it. The trumpet of God is going to sound, the dead in Christ will rise, and those of us that remain will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, praise God! Ah, glory, and then we're going to leave. Then the Scripture says we'll see Him as He is, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. That's the good news, praise God. [I'm] excited about that, but we're hanging out here for a while it looks like, at least for the next few moments.

So what do we do? What does "occupying" mean, really? We know that literally in the Greek it talks about being busy with trading, and we've talked about what that means. It means trading the natural for the supernatural. It means trading the fleshly activities for the walk in the spirit. It means trading the secular and secular humanism for biblical wisdom and understanding as people. We're going out and we're bringing the truth. But the occupying also means there are responsibilities that we have proclaiming the gospel, but in honoring God in our daily lives.

One of the ways that we honor the Lord is with our resources. I was shocked the other day; word came to me concerning a number of people that really weren't biblically honoring God with their resources. I almost found it hard to believe because you all are a giving people [and] always have been. And yet I stopped and stepped back for a minute and I thought, you know, I have not taught on giving for possibly years. There are people coming up in our midst that may not have heard any teachings along these lines, and I thought, it's been a long time. So we're going to go back and take a little bit of a look at honoring God with all that He has blessed us with.

So let's turn to Proverbs and look at a few of these principles. We've just taught out of our teaching on the Sermon on the Mount that where a man's treasure is, that's where his heart is. I've heard it said by people a lot of times over the years, where a man's wallet is, that's where his heart is. Money is a very spiritual thing. The Scripture says money answereth all matters. (Ecclesiastes 10:19) There's a lot in the Bible about money, and so we want to look at what Father speaks to us. But, you know, I think it even presents a problem in this hour that we're in. I don't want to get sidetracked here, but we've become a people that are so money conscious--and I'm talking about money based upon the actual paper money, the economics of our day, whether they be just digits--that we've lost sight of what it originally was. And because we have now so many tax laws, so many write-offs, we've forgotten what "first fruits" is all about. We're a people that don't understand really what God said many times about increase. Why? "Well, is it before taxes or after taxes?" That wasn't a question that was being asked when God introduced honoring Him with the first fruits of all of our substance. So God doesn't answer to the IRS. OK? So we need to look and understand what the heart of God is and what His desire for us is as we learn to honor Him with what He's blessed us with.

Proverbs, Chapter 3. We'll start here and just see what Father has for us. Verse 5, "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." He's talking about the wisdom of God, the Word of God. He said, "It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine [say it with me] increase:" "Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all of thy increase." "So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine."

The Lord speaks here concerning His providence for us (taking care of us, blessing us), and I think the thing that we need to understand first of all as we talk about--we're going to talk about tithing; we're going to talk about giving. It's not an obligation; it is a privilege. Amen? We're a blessed people, praise God! And it's not a principle of the law; it's a principle of grace. So when we talk about tithing and we talk about first fruits, it's not about the law, but even if it was about the law, Jesus said, "I didn't come to destroy the law; I came to [What?] fulfill it." And everything that we read in Jesus' teaching was, "You've heard it said, . . . , but I say unto you . . . " "You have heard it said, Thou shall not commit adultery, but I say unto you if you look upon a woman to lust after her, you've already . . . " "You've heard it written, Thou shall honor the Lord with all of thine substance and the first fruits of all of thine increase, but I say unto you . . . " OK? We're not limited to 10 percent. We start at 10 percent.

So these are the things that--10 percent isn't "Wow! I've reached 10 percent." It's the beginning, especially as we're living in grace. All of it belongs to God. Amen? We don't give God 10 percent. He let's us keep 90. We have to understand how this thing works. It's all the Lord's, and we're looking to--first of all, I want you to see it's not obligatory. Honor the Lord. Do you want to honor God tonight? Do you want to honor God in the way that you live your life, in your testimony? Do you want to honor God in the way that you conduct yourself in holiness on the job? Do you want to honor God in being a bold witness? Do you want to honor God in memorizing Scripture--hide the Word of God in your heart that you don't sin against Him?

We need to honor God in our giving. This is how we honor the Lord, how we worship God. You know, we didn't just pick those words. We've been doing this a long time. I've been in a lot of meetings. I've watched guys try to con people out of money over the years, and I've been in every kind of meeting you can imagine, from matching funds to "If you put $100 in the circle, God will heal you." I've been in some great tent meetings over the years [where] a guy is trying to wring a few bucks out of you. Why do you think we say--and we're so low-key in our offerings here in the fellowship, and we're that way purposefully--but why do you think we say, "Let's just honor the Lord now with our giving," "Let's worship the Lord with our giving"? This is worship. Worship, we saw in the Scriptures--the word is an old English word and it means what? "Worth-ship." What kind of a worth do we put on God? We put worth on things. What is something worth? What's this shirt worth? It's worth whatever I'll pay for it, isn't it? What's God worth? He's the Pearl of great price, and in our pursuit to know Him and our fellowship with Him, we forsake all, we leverage everything, that we might obtain His presence and know Him.

So we want to look at this, so let's take a few minutes and see what the Scriptures have to say. Turn to the book of Malachi. We all knew we were going to Malachi, right? I couldn't think of what to entitle this teaching. The hardest thing to do after forty years of preaching is come up with titles. I was going to title it "Is That Dung on Your Face?" but then I figured people might, if they're going through tape catalogs or on the Internet, it might get confusing. But we want to look at Chapter 3 of Malachi and look at some principles here that the Lord is speaking to us as it relates to Proverbs 3, honoring the Lord. I want to look at it in light of many of the things that we misunderstand in our society today. I want to talk about the spirit of it for just a moment. Let me ask you a question. Do your kids tithe on their tooth money? How many of you used to get a dime when your tooth came out? Hailey's last tooth, she got like $20! Hey, whatever the market will bear. Do your kids tithe on their tooth money? That's increase, right? You labored, you pulled the tooth out, the laborer is worthy of all their hire, and so for the tooth Granddad gives some money and Grandpa gives some money and whoever else--Uncle gives some money--and the next thing you know, you've got $20! Here are the kids and so what do you do? The first thing you teach your children, beloved, is tithing and honoring the Lord, how to handle their finances, their resources. So it's very clear. Now when they head up to Children's Church, praise God, they're going to worship God! They've got their $2, and they're going up there to honor the Lord.

It's a great thing, and this is how this goes. Grandma sends $100 at Christmas--Right?--for them and some of these different areas that we see increase. This is how we teach our children to honor the Lord with their increase. What is increase? I got more than I had! How simple is that? Right? We'll look at some specific things as we go on, but that's what increase is. We'll see as we go into the teaching--and like I said, it's been years since we've taught along these lines, but just to remind some of you--the genius of God's method of giving and worshiping being percentages means that we all give the same thing. Whether you make $10 a week or $10,000 a week, we all start giving the same thing. And the $1 that this person gives and the $1,000 that this person gives, in the sight of God, are the same thing. We've given the same. God has blessed me with $10; He's blessed you with $10,000. We honor Him with the tithe, the first fruits of our increase. "First fruits" is a very interesting term. It doesn't mean I wait until the end of the year--"I'll wait until the harvest is done to see how much I get." On my first harvest I give of that. We'll see as we go on, it's the best, the Scripture tells us, that belongs to the Lord.

So we know all of these principles, but I want you to see the spirit of it again. It's a spirit of worship; it's a spirit of honoring. And first fruits, I want to share with you because I've even heard some of the--I hear stuff, too, periodically. I've heard people talking about, "Well, it's tax season and I owe tax money." You'd better not pay Uncle Sam and be owing God! You're cursed. You'll never get Uncle Sam paid off under a curse. You're cursed with a curse, the Scripture says. This is not a light topic. This is a topic that invokes the blessing of God or the cursing of God. This isn't something that we do when we feel like it, when we remember it, when we're moved. It's obligatory, and you're going to see, then, that God doesn't take this thing real lightly.

In Malachi, He begins to address that aspect of it very clearly. He says in the third chapter, "For I am the Lord, I change not; [verse 6] therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." He's talking about His mercies and His love for them. Then He rehearses their carnality, and He says, "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." That's a great promise. Those of you who have been robbing God, it's a very simple thing: just return unto God. Do what you need to do, and get yourself out from under this curse. See, some of you are cursed and haven't felt it yet. See, God doesn't move in time and space. There is not always instantaneous retribution or recompense in the wisdom of God, in the sovereignty of God. But I want to tell you something. You're not getting away with anything. It's very important for us to understand the severity of God as it pertains to this. Why? This is worship! "And I'll have no other gods before Me." You cannot serve God and mammon (money), and that's what it's all about, beloved. It's about who and what is lord in our lives.

So it's something that we train our children as they're coming up and this aspect of increase that we'll talk about later. The people ask, "Well, do I tithe on my gross or my net?" What, are you afraid of overworshiping God? What's behind that question? I've never understood that question. I've heard it asked a lot of times. How about both? I don't understand that question. Are you afraid you're going to give too much? You know, as we look at this study and we go on, God loves a cheerful giver! Amen? The opportunity to give and to worship, the thanksgiving of what God has blessed us with.

So we want to talk about the spirit of it all first. And He says, "[Well, let Me tell you then.] Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? [Verse 8] Will a man rob God? . . . " This is getting pretty personal, isn't it? I want to tell you something. To not honor God, to not tithe, to not render to the Lord your first fruits is to rob God, and He takes it personally, you'll see here as we go on. "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? [And He answers the question.] In tithes and offerings." So now we have the subject clear, don't we? "Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes . . . "

You can go into looking at Deuteronomy 26 and see what God blesses and what God curses, et cetera, but He's talking here about the fact that in these areas as it pertains to our resources--I don't know about you, but I want God on my side rebuking the devourer. Amen? Now, the devourer evidences himself in many ways. This isn't all about how much we make; it's about how much God is blessing us. It's about the fact that the light bulb burns a little longer. Amen? That the piece of junk you're driving gets a few extra miles to the gallon and the tires haven't blown out, and you're only having to put in three quarts of oil a week instead of four. Amen? You don't get sick. How about rebuking the devourer in this way: forty years in the wilderness and their clothes didn't wear out? I can handle that one. Amen? Especially since I'm the type guy, I wouldn't mind wearing the same thing forty years straight. It wouldn't bother me a lick. Eating the same thing--manna. "What is this?" "Same thing we had yesterday." Manna is "What is it?" "Same thing it was yesterday, praise God." I like going to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. They have like eight thousand items. I order one, the same one. "Why don't you try something else?" "I might not like it. I like this." "Pastor, you should try something else." "Buy it for me; I'll try it. I'm spending my money on what I like." I'm not that bad, really. There are two things [on the menu I like].

The Lord is speaking here, and He says, "[I want to rebuke the devourer for your sake. I want to bless you and not curse you. He wants to come and destroy you, but I'm not going to let him] 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 delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts."

So as we study this and we begin to understand what God is wanting to do in our lives, He's telling you, He says, "Look, this is robbery. You can't be stealing from Me and think that I'm going to find some way to bless you." Go back to the first chapter, verse 6. "A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord . . . " Now, take note who He's talking to here. He's talking to the preachers, the priests, because they were the biggest offenders in this, in not honoring God. He said, " . . . [you] despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?" See, they're always asking this, "Well, how is it that we've robbed from You or failed to honor You?" And God answers their questions very clearly: in your tithes and your offerings.

"Well, how is it that we've despised Your name?" He said, "Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? . . . " Let me put it in some common vernacular. "If you throw your crumbs to Me, if you want to give Me your leftovers--" That's what's always interesting to me about churches today. "Bring us your junk so we can bless somebody." You don't bring junk to God! Amen? You bring your best! The rebuke to these guys was not that they weren't [giving God the best]. The rebuke to the priests is they were allowing others to bring God junk. They were offering up what the people were bringing. Now, why do you think that was? Why do you think that they were accepting and offering up [junk]? Because they were thinking, If I put the standard too high, they're not going to bring anything. And the priests lived off a cut, didn't they? See, the priests got the tithe. So they're thinking, Well, it's not the best, but something is better than nothing so we'll just let them do it.

Do you know that's the way most churches are today? Most preachers won't stand up and tell people, "I want to tell you something. If you don't give to God, you're cursed." Do you want to know why? Because they're happy with what's--something is better than nothing; we don't want to make people mad. I'm not concerned with making people mad. I'm concerned with honoring God and just worshiping the Lord. I've been that way for [the] forty years I've been preaching. I've never asked a person for a dime. I will not stand for God being despised in this place. And I couldn't believe it when I heard what I heard just recently, but it goes along with the spirit of the age we're living in.

He said, "I've got an idea. Why don't you do this," the prophet says, speaking for the Lord, of course. " . . . offer it now unto thy governor [give it to the IRS, give it to your employer] . . . " Way too many of us are just performing with crumbs in our occupations. Not most of you. Most of you have character and integrity. I couldn't believe what I heard on Christian radio the other day. I couldn't--well, I guess there were some positive things. It wasn't a recipe and herbs that the Christian radio station was talking about, so that was kind of an improvement. In the morning you get some good Bible teaching; in the afternoon you get herbs. But it was in the afternoon, and I got in the car and the lady, whoever the lady was on this particular station, said--it went something like this. "Boy, isn't it hard"--it's 3:30 in the afternoon--"Boy, isn't it hard to be productive this time of day? All of our minds are on going home. It's just so hard to be productive, and so why don't you get on the Internet and look up [whatever this little program they had going on in Christian--]." They're telling people not to work, to get on the Internet to look up songs or request your favorite song. When we work our jobs, we're working as unto the Lord. Give the guy eight hours if that's what he's paying you for.

Our whole society is so self-indulgent, and again, even Christians living so far from absolute truths. We've become so relative in all of our thought processes. The existential thought process: there are no absolutes. We think we can make our own rules and our own morality. This is truth. Amen? The Word of God! [Pastor holds up the Bible.] We live by this. It doesn't matter what everybody else is doing or saying. God's Word is true; let everybody else be a liar, the Scripture says.

So He says, "I want to tell you something. Give it to your governor." I want to tell you something, wherever you are. If you've got "x" number of dollars left, and you say, "Well, I owe Sears $5, and I owe Uncle Sam on my taxes $12.50, [so now it's $17.50] and my tithe is going to be $18 and I've only got $20," I want to tell you something. Sears and Uncle Sam can wait. But the thought process today is the governor. "Well, my testimony--I don't want to be late on a bill. My testimony." I want to tell you something. If you're robbing from God, you have no testimony. Amen? You've got a price on your head!

So it's very important for us to understand the severity of what God is speaking to here, and as He is talking about this thing, He says, "[Give it to your governor. Let me ask you something.] . . . will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? . . . " You know what He's saying here? "Will he accept your excuse?" "Well, I have a bill, I have taxes, we had things we weren't expecting this month." The governor won't respect your person and God doesn't respect it! See, the problem that most of us get into here is we wait until the end and we're trying to see what we have left over. It wouldn't even be an issue if it's the first fruits. Amen? When it comes off the top it's not an issue of how much is left. Then it's everybody else's name that gets put in the hat. Some of you don't know what I'm talking about when we get talking about putting it in the hat.

I remember as a kid growing up, of course my folks didn't have much. Dad did real well as time went on. You all have heard my testimony and how poor we were growing up. Some of you can relate to it. And myself, of course, when we started out--when I got saved, I was rolling; I was doing good. On my scholarships, all of my schooling was paid for; I had a three-bedroom house they gave me. Life was great. I was driving a brand new GTO. And then I got saved, and I lost everything. Dad got ticked and took the credit card. They gave all of my inheritance away and disowned me, and I had $20. You all remember the story. I told you, with the $20 I went out and bought a Bible for $18. I had $2 left, honoring God. I went from two hundred and eighteen pounds solid muscle--I think I went down to a hundred and sixty-something pounds. I didn't eat; I didn't have any food. The only time I ate was when somebody would invite me over. The preacher's wife used to invite me to their house every once in a while and I'd eat.

I'd go out with the young people after church. Every once in a while--there was this really good brother, Bill Beasley. You've heard me talk about Bill Beasley. And there was this young lady named Janet. I had no money, but I'd go out and fellowship. Everybody would go out there, and I didn't have any money to eat. I'd order water and a toothpick. Every once in a while they'd give me some food. I finally got a job. I wasn't having to work; they were just giving me money to play football. It was nice. And I got a job. I was making $18 a week. I can remember--now, I'd only been saved just like days--and the first thing that one of the people told me, they said, "Have you heard about tithing?" I said "No. What's that?" They said, "You give 10 percent of what God has blessed you with--your first fruits to the Lord." I can still remember that $1.80. I want to tell you what was going off in my heart and my spirit to be able to give something to God! We've written a few bigger checks than that over the years, but that one was very special. I can still remember the first day I tithed and honored God.

Over the years it's come down very close. I never missed a payment to anybody in my life. I've had to call and make a few deals, like, "Would you take $2 this month instead of five?" But I didn't just not send anything. But God always got His first. Amen? If there's not enough left over, then guess what? You get the hat out, you write names--Sears, Uncle Sam, Gold's Gym, DTV, Visa--you know, all these things that are the necessities of life. Then you put them in the hat, shake them up, and the first guy's name that comes out gets paid. You just tell the rest of them, "Sorry. Your name didn't come up this month." Tell it to the governor! How long are they going to buy that? God doesn't. That's the point that He's making here. Will He respect your person, your excuse? "Well, you don't understand." Hey, I want to tell you something. If you start living off of circumstances and exceptions this month, you're going to have one every month. Amen? Because the devourer is there, and God says, "I want to rebuke the devourer for your sake." But you're not letting Him; you're cursed.

" . . . will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts. And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: . . . " So He says in verse 10, "Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. [If you're going to bring Me junk, don't bring Me anything. I don't accept it.]" What's that saying? Nine percent God doesn't accept. "Well, I'm giving!" God doesn't have any record of it. "For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; [I want My name worshiped,] and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. [It's not profitable.] Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, [mocked it; didn't give it the respect, the credibility, the value, that it deserves] saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord. [You're cursed] for I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen."

So we begin to see, then, that Father is bringing this reproof and this instruction to them very pointedly. He says, "I want to tell you something." It goes into Chapter 2--watch. [Verse 2,] "If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it. And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you . . . "

So the Lord is speaking here, and we see the severity of robbing from God, a failing to honor Him with the first fruits or our increase--the tithes, the offerings, that He's speaking toward here. And He's contrasting it, of course, with the man that's thinking, "Well, this is all I have for right now; this should be acceptable." God doesn't accept your person, your circumstances. Every one of us is responsible and capable of honoring the Lord with our first fruits, with our tithe.

Now, the question was asked--people just asked in the back, What are some of the practical aspects of this? I'll try to touch on a few of them, but we can't get all of them. It's the spirit of it. Keep in mind again what we're saying. It's all about honoring God. It's about thanksgiving. It's about God being the source of all that we have, and so often we miss that aspect of it. When people begin to ask these questions, I want to try to be as understanding as I can, but like I said, I don't understand. "Well, what about [this]?" "What about [that]?" There are some legitimate questions. The man is working and he makes "x" number of dollars. So he makes his $500 a week, and the check comes in--$500. So very clearly $50 of that is the Lord's. So now it's $50 for groceries for the family, so he gives his wife $50. Now does she tithe on the $50 he gave her? No, that's provision for the family; the increase has been given to the Lord, et cetera. But there are some other things that people have asked. Part of what we're looking at here in Malachi is a training process--worship and honoring of God. The fact that she's going to buy groceries and this is part of God's provision, it's no different than if money was not involved. They went out into their fields, you brought in "x" number of bushels of wheat, and some it you barter with or you sell and some of it you eat. You tithe off the bunch, and then the fact that I take this part over here and separate it and we give it for the kids or whatever, that's already been tithed on.

Questions have been asked this specifically. "Well, if the kids are going on a field trip and we give them $5 for lunch and that's increase to them, do they tithe on the $5?" No. But if they mow the lawn and you give them $5, they should tithe on that. They've labored; they're learning a principle. "But that's the same $5. I already tithed on that $5. [Man! We don't want to tithe on it again! Dear God! That's fifty cents!]" It's labor; it's not providence that's been given to community. OK? Just to help your thinking. Don't get caught up in the specifics of this. We're talking about the spirit of it in teaching our children to worship. There's one thing of provision; there's another aspect of increase. So those things are vital for us to look at.

What about the tithe? What is this? Tithe is not unique to Christianity or to Judaism. Tithing is something that pagans have done for centuries, for millennia. In some pagan religions they tithe. So it's not the magic of the percent. It's the object that's being honored and worshipped. They offer it out of fear; we offer out of thanks. The gods of the harvest and rain and all of these things--they're giving to what? Get. "We've got to appease our god. We've got to give, and that way it'll rain and we'll get a bigger crop." You know, a lot of Christians have come that way. Churches today--"Give and God will--" That's not the spirit of "Give, and it will be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over shall men give into your bosom" (Luke 6:38). We don't give to get. We give to worship; we give in obedience, and God in His mercy and abundance blesses us. "Prove me herewith, saith the Lord, if I'll not open the windows of heaven and pour out blessing that you cannot contain." It's not in the giving; it's in the honoring. It's not just in the giving; it's in the right giving, because He's not going to open the windows of heaven for the halt, the lame and the torn. So as we are looking at these principles, it's about worship, it's about honor. Let your mind continually go back to Proverbs 3, "Honor the Lord with the first fruits of all of our increase."

Turn over to Leviticus for just a second. We'll look at a couple more passages just for this evening. We're talking here about the law and the requirements of God, and, unless you lose sight of it, it is worship; it's honor. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 8, there is to be a willing mind. That's what makes it accepted of the Lord, a willingness of mind and heart, a desire to do this. We don't have to; we get to! Leviticus 27, verse 30 says, "And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, [we will see as we study on--or of our flocks] is [say it with me] the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord."

See, I want you to see what the tithe is. "It is holy unto the Lord." The word "holy" in the Hebrew means what? Separate. What does that mean? Separate, unique, specific for who? See, it can't be used for anything else. When it says it's holy, it doesn't mean that it's just part of the 90 [percent]. That 10 percent is different than the other 90 percent. This is specifically set apart, holy, separate to God. It's not yours to decide. It doesn't belong to you. It's God's. The tithe is the Lord's. So that's why He says if you keep it, you're stealing. Now, we won't go there tonight, but you know, the Bible says that at times you can borrow your tithe. But God is like a loan shark. You know, Jesus is a Jew. [Pastor's humor.] If you borrow from God, how many of you know what the interest is? It's 20 percent--20 percent interest, and there's a time set of when it has to come back. But you don't want to be borrowing at 20 percent! And I want to tell you something. Some of you folks are in trouble, with what you owe in interest. But if I'm reading Malachi right here, God is merciful. Amen? But now you know! And if you knew before, guess what? That mercy doesn't go to you. "For he that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17).

So we realize that as God is speaking to us here and bringing us into these positions--"But Pastor, the car broke down, and my house that I bought for $400,000 was worth now $800,000. So I sold it for $800,000 and bought one for 1.2 million [dollars]." Let me ask you. What did you do between the $400,000 and the $800,000? "Well, I rolled it over in the 1.2 [million dollars]." You just stole $40,000 from God if you didn't tithe on that. "Well, how can that--it was no increase to me. I didn't see the money. We just rolled it; it's in the new house." Well, I'm sure that new house is smaller, right? And I'm sure you went from granite floors to linoleum. And I'm sure all of your bedrooms shrunk. That sounds like increase to me. That sounds like I have more than I had before. "Well, no, I didn't touch any money." See, you're thinking wrong. It's not about getting the money in your hands. It's about increase; it's about having more than you had. It's about the blessings of God.

We've come through a period of time here where the stupidity of worth here in real estate and all these things--some of us made a bunch of transactions and we're patting ourselves on the back. And I want to tell you, some of us have stolen from God in this process. "But I didn't realize anything from it. It's just equity, and it rolled into the new house. Now, when I sell the house and get all the cash, then I'll--" Why don't we just think like the Rockefellers? Why don't we just roll it over to generations so nobody can touch it? That's what they do with taxes. That's how they rip off the governor. It's increase! It's the blessing of God.

Let me ask you a question, men. When you go from a $400,000 house to a $1.2 [million] house, have you been blessed? That was a quiet one. You know what's great about this? Because I was just talking to Dan before the service. You guys are going, "Oh, Dan. We're getting Dan, man!" Can I tell you something? He didn't tell me any specifics, and I don't want to know. I don't know what any of you make. I don't know who of you is tithing or not tithing. I don't know names--I can get them. I don't want to know. I want to be free to be able to just stand and speak the Word. I don't know what you all make. I don't know who's tithing and who's not tithing, but I do know he was very grieved. I hope this doesn't cost him a lot of money for you taking your taxes somewhere else next year. But, you know, when you bring your taxes to be done by the guy that's keeping the church books--sorry, Dan. Some of you ought to go thank him.

So we see that this is the Lord's. It's holy; it's sacred. That 10 percent is sacred! It's as holy as the candlesticks, the table of incense, and the table of shewbread. It's worship, and if we see it that way, it's going to change the way we handle it. You know, it should cause you to--can you believe that God takes what's His and holy and is precious to Him and puts it in your hands? He says, "Now what are you going to do with this?" I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to turn and worship You. Amen? That's what it's all about; that's what the tithe is.

I'll end with that story that I've told you so many times before, but I just like it too much not to tell it again. Kids are so cool. They just tell it like it is. And, you know, preachers--I talked to [Pastor] Tony for over an hour and something whatever day it was--Monday, Tuesday. It's interesting. One of the things that he's really--I've never seen Tony down as much as he was. We got him pumped up though, so praise God! Keep praying for him. But he was very discouraged. You know what it was? It was about money. Some of the different pastors in the churches there [are] wanting more; having more than they've ever had and wanting more. Those Africans! They should be more like us: content. Amen? Just content with what we have! I don't know about you, but I never want more--I want it all. So I was just trying to encourage him, and part of what we're doing to encourage the folks--it's interesting. If you could have seen the look on the guys' faces when I was over there in this past pastors' conference. There were hundreds and hundreds of the pastors, and we were talking and I just shared with them--because, see, their mentality is much of what the world's is today. It's a welfare mentality. So I was just sharing with them as we're building the churches and different things, and I said, "You guys have got to understand something." I said, "I personally, and we as a fellowship, we have a whole bunch more money that we could give you, but we're not going to." They were like [totally surprised]. "Unless Father speaks--now, if the Lord tells us to, we'll give to you." I said, "I've been in the ministry forty years, and nobody ever subsidized me. There were a lot of times in this forty years I lived day by day, by faith. What came in is what you lived off of. There was nobody supplementing it. Whatever the offerings were, you lived from it." Isn't that what Paul taught? "So why does being an African make it different? Why does the fact that America lives at this standard of living negate the biblical principle that you live off of what your congregation provides you with? That's the biblical principle. We live by faith. We live off of this percentage. You want a raise? Get more people!

"Well, God--I'm doing everything and God is not adding any more people." Then be content with what you have. That's the will of God for you. Amen? Boy, this is a novel principle isn't it? It's changed in our world today, beloved. This is the genius of God as it pertains to ministry and as it pertains to your lives and how we give and how this thing works. We think if we put this value on ourselves--"Well, bless God, I'm--" You're here at a church in Northern Virginia right now and you're making "x" number of dollars, and I want to tell you something. If you go to one of the coal mine cities in Kentucky or back in West Virginia somewhere and expect you're going to make the same income, guess what? That's going to be a rude awakening isn't it? And you shouldn't, because you're not "worth" a figure--"x" number of dollars. You get what God blesses you with, and we return and honor Him in thanksgiving for what He has given us.

I don't remember which way it worked back in the government days. My Dad worked in the government, and I think he was like a GS-12 or whatever--right under presidential appointment when he retired. I don't remember if it was GS or Wage Board back then, but one of them, no matter where you lived in the country you made the same income. One of them adjusted to the cost of living, and so people liked to get in the other one. Then they wanted to get transferred from Washington, D.C. to Kentucky, right? Then you can go from a one-bedroom house to a mansion! Hey, I want to tell you something. If you're making the same there in some of those places in Kentucky, you're living high on the hog!

It doesn't work that way in the church. [If] you're preaching here and you go to Kentucky, guess what? This story comes into play. A little boy came up to the preacher, and he said, "Momma was going to bring you the chicken"--because back then the offerings were chickens and eggs, and they'd bring you a head of lettuce and tomato and that was the offering. That's what people had. The little boy came up and said, "Momma was going to bring you the chicken, but it got well." The chicken got well, so the preacher didn't get it.

"Don't bring Me your halt and your maim and your blind." Amen? We'll talk about this some more. I know what some of you are thinking--"Oh, good." Yes, we're going to talk about this some more, but spend a little bit of time and go to the Word and begin to study a little bit and ask yourself, Am I just writing a check? Am I giving a percentage, or am I worshiping God? Am I giving a percentage of my money, or am I returning what's holy to God? Am I obeying the law and giving 10 percent, or am I honoring God with the first fruits of all of my increase?

Father, we thank You for Your Word tonight, and we just rejoice in Your goodness. We're a blessed people, and we just want to say, "Thank You." We're also living in a very dangerous day of abundance--the environment of Sodom (prosperity, ease, idleness)--and we ask You to protect our hearts at this hour from ourselves, from an evil generation. Help us, Lord, to be thankful with what You've blessed us with, to return with thanksgiving and honor You with the first fruits of our increase, because everything we have we've received at Your hands. For that we say, "Thank You," in Jesus' name. Amen!

Turn to somebody next to you and say, "We're blessed," praise God! Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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