Tithes & Offerings...

   What is Tithes & Offerings? To correctly define these we need to know Gods business and like any good business it needs customers and investors.

   Many fail to support Gods business, and for many reasons. But before we discuss those reasons let's define the words tithe and offering.

   Tithe:

   A tenth or 10% of the whole. God commanded us to give his house a tenth of our first fruits or income in Malachi 3:8-12 Which says;

   Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tihes 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 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 you shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.

   The Lords house is and has always been his temple or place of worship, and in the new testament era his house is his church, a place where the poor can come and pray and worship their God in private and peace.

   The commandment of paying God a minimum of 10% of our gross income or first fruits to his house, is a tax from God to insure the upkeep and support of his house. The reason for the tithe is written, so that there will be meat in my house.

   This is the first reason for the tithe. So that there will be food in my house. What house? Gods house and what house is this, the church or temple. why would God desire food in his house? Who is in his house? First the one that is always in Gods house, the minister.

   Do ministers of Gods house need to eat? yes they do. And how can they eat in Gods house? Ministers eat by working full time as plumbers right? no, they eat by begging on street corners with a sign right?

   Ministers of Gods house work for God and expect a paycheck from God for doing his business day and night. And who is responsible for paying these ministers? Every Christian on the face of the earth is ordered by God to pay these ministers a minimum of 10% of there income, regardless of how they feel about it.

   If you worked a full time job and your boss paid you less than he was commanded to by law, would you be upset? Well when God commands us to pay our tithe or else. And his ministers go hungry and cannot pay the bills of his house and the ministers are troubled by these bills, what is the answer of God to those that are guilty of obeying God and failing to pay their tithes and offerings?

   We read of the penalty of failing to pay God his due. The first penalty is a curse from God. God says that if we fail to pay our tithe we are Cursed. Are you cursed? ask youself this question, if you do not pay your tithe you are Cursed. There is no way around it, by Gods own word you are cursed with a curse.

   If you are guilty of failing to pay God his tithe, you also are a thief in Gods eyes, for it says to those who fail to pay God his tithe, ye have robbed me even this whole nation.

   So far if you are guilty of failing to pay God his tithe you are cursed, and a theif in Gods eyes. Also God said he would send the devourer to your house to destroy it. Your harvest or money will be spent up and you will be in debt. God said that he would destroy the fruits of your ground. That means that anything on your ground can and will be destroyed even the house on your ground.

 

                                                                          

   The penalty for not paying God his tithe is great and sad to say it is greater than most think. Your health is your body and it is on the ground in which you live, and the devourer can destroy your health as well as everything you own.

   I am not saying that paying your tithe and offering guarantees health or that unhealthy people do not pay their tithe and offerings, but failing to pay God his due leaves the door open to very bad things like bad health and even death.

    To put into words plainly, a tenth is 10 cents of every dollar we make. God is our father and he gives us everything we have and own whether good or evil. And when he tests us by giving his child a dollar and then asks for 10 cents in return, what child having just received a dollar from its father says no when asked for a dime out of the dollar just given?

                                                               

   A child that is cursed, a child that has been made poor by a curse, a child that has lost job after job by a curse, a child  that has lost a house by a curse, a child that has lost toys by a curse, a child that loses by a curse, a child that fails by a curse, a child that is buried in debt by a curse, a child that lacks money by a curse.

   Break the curse and be blessed by giving to God his due and give it with an offering and give it with a cheerful heart, for God loves a cheerful giver.

   But there are those few children that are faithful in giving God his due, and they help God pay his employees that work a full time job keeping up Gods house, painting, cleaning, maintaining and keeping those doors open day and night.

   And those children are winners, they are blessed when they come in and when they go out. And all their debts are paid and their barns overflow with substance so that there is not enough room to store all of the treasures and blessings of God. And the devourer is rebuked from their ground. So that everything on their ground is blessed.

   The tithe is the minimum payment, but God also mentioned the offering. God said that he has been robbed of tithes and offerings. Do we have to give God an offering to have the blessing? I do not think so, but I do know that we would have only the minimum blessing. For God said he who sows sparingly shall reap sparingly and those that sow abundantly shall also reap abundantly.

   The offering shows graditude to God it shows thankfulness to God, and it is a gift unto God. the greater the gift unto God the greater the reward. when we pay our tithe we are simply obeying Gods commandment, when we give an offering we are giving God a present, and those that sacrifice all recieve all in return, God does not rob us he pays us back in full with more than we could possibly expect or know.

                                                                         

   We have business with God our Father and when we pay his employees well by giving God a tenth and an offering, he pays us a bonus which is pouring out from an open window of heaven, and does heaven lack anything? no it does not, so our bonus from God has no limit at all.

   Any ministry that obeys Gods will and spreads the gospel of Christ and is winning souls is worthy of our tithes and offerings, such as TBN or Trinity Broadcasting Network, KLOVE radio ministry, Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago to name a few. Any church or ministry that provides Christians with a place to go and worship God and pray to God, and find Gods gospel message in truth and is doing Gods work is worthy of Gods paycheck. 

   Here are some of the ministries I support:

   Pacific Garden Mission - http://pgm.org/

   K Love - http://klove.com/

   www.inspiration.org

   Oral Roberts Ministries - http://www.orm.cc/