Living Hope Fellowship Church

TITHES AND OFFERINGS

Training Material

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

TITHES AND OFFERINGS

Preface

(money)

          Does your money stretch to meet your bills?  Are you obeying the Bible? Are you paying your tithes and offerings?  In Malachi 3:9 God says, “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.”  God’s people are cursed by God when they do not fulfill His ordinances and statutes.

          Malachi 3:10 says, “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.”

          Let’s prove God and watch Him work!

TITHES AND OFFERINGS

by Pastor Kevin Badgley

          Jesus preached about healing and deliverance.  Folks, you can’t believe in salvation unless you can believe for deliverance.  Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Romans 8:21 says, “Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”  Therefore, you can’t be saved unless you are delivered. 

          We need to be set free from bondages, things that hold us back, and things that so easily beset us.  Christians have the ability to pick things up even after they have laid other things down! 

          Jesus preached on sanctification and perfection.  Jesus also preached on money.  Some people think a sermon on money is unspiritual, but many things in your life are tied up in your money!  I don’t like to preach on money, because it sounds like it is self serving.  However, God does say that a laborer is worthy of his hire in Luke 10:7.   

          1 Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is the root of all evil. . . .”  A lot of people won’t let go of money, because they love it too much, or it is their source of security. 

          Luke 18:18 says, “And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”  This man came to Jesus wanting to know what it took to be saved and to have a deeper walk with God.  He told Jesus that he had kept the commandments from his youth up.  Verse 22 says, “Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.”

          He followed all of the commandments, but he wanted to know what it took to please the Lord and to go on and do great things for God.  Jesus told him that if he wanted to be perfect and inherit eternal life, then he was going to have to sell everything that he had and follow him.  What happened?  Luke 18:23 says, “And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.”

          God expects us to be good stewards with our money, our land, and the blessings that He has given us.  He expects us to be good stewards of the baptism of the Holy Ghost.  We are to stir up the gift within us.  We are supposed to be praying without ceasing, fasting, and seeking God.  We must be good stewards of the Word of God.

            If you don’t use these things properly, then you cannot be blessed.  If we don’t use our money properly we will be cursed.  Sometimes the reason that you are not healed, or delivered, or blessed in your finances is because you aren’t handling your money correctly! 

          I want to talk to you about money, but also about anything of your increase, your wealth.  Some people get paid in “other things”, but tonight I will use money specifically.  Some say we are about to have a financial collapse in the United States, and it is already happening in many parts of the world.  If we have to go to a bartering system, we will have to barter tithes and offerings!  God spoke about the firstfruits of your increase. 

          Exodus 23:19 says, “The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. . . .”

          Let’s get a few basic things out of the way.  The tithe is the Lord’s.  One tenth of everything you make, whether in money, eggs, or something else belongs to God.  You are supposed to give the first ten percent, not the last ten percent!

            The first ten percent of everything that you are, have been, and will be belongs to God, particularly your money and the firstfruits of your increase.  Everything belongs to God, and He keeps books.  When you say a curse word and don’t ask God to forgive you for it, God doesn’t forget.  If you forget to pay your tithe and offering, or willfully don’t pay them, God doesn’t forget.  He can tell you to the penny how much you owe Him, if you happen to owe Him anything. 

          You will go to hell for not obeying God, and for any sin, if you do not repent.  You can go to hell for not paying your tithes!  Sometimes God gives us a warning by allowing us first to get sick before we die and go to hell over it.  He can warn us by having our finances collapse into poverty.  He will allow that to come upon His people as a wake up call.  How are your finances and your health?  Is all of your family in?  There is a devourer walking about seeking whom he may devour.  Satan comes after souls, but he also comes after your possessions. 

          Your vine can cast its fruit before its time, or it can rot.  The wind can blow it down.  It can be destroyed one way or another.  You may have worked overtime to earn extra cash.  Then your car breaks down so you have to use all the extra money that you worked for.  Not every one has these problems just because they’ve disobeyed God, but it might apply to you. 

          Proverbs 13:18 says, “Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured.”  That includes any instruction from the Lord.  Take it to heart, and obey God.  Some people tithe and give offerings, yet they still suffer poverty.  Poverty is a direct result of disobedience to God.  Somewhere God has shown them something, and they said no. 

          God instructs you how to handle money and the firstfruits of your increase.  If we have problems making ends meet, then there is something wrong in our spiritual walk.  God desires that we know what it takes to prosper and be in health even as our soul prospers!

          God said ten percent of your goods belong to Him!  You don’t have a choice about giving Him a dime out of every dollar.  That is giving $100 out of every $1,000.  When the amount is $10,000 out of every $100,000 people start hedging.  They say that is too much money to give.

          Many of Jesus’ parables dealt with money or stewardship, which means handling your goods.  The first thing Jesus preached to the rich young ruler was not a prosperity message, but about handling his money.  Matthew 19:20 says, “The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?”  There was one thing that Jesus knew he wasn’t keeping up, and that was the way he handled his money.  No doubt he gave offerings and paid tithes, but Jesus had a greater work for him, and his money was in the way.  If his animals, or his vehicle, or something else had been in the way, then he probably would have given it up, but when it came down to money that was another factor.

          A lot of people’s nerves are connected to money.  You start talking about their money, and they get all upset.  One reason people are poor and one reason that America is going down financially is because they don’t tithe and give offerings to God as they should.  Tithes and offerings belong to the Lord.  God allows money to come into our hands to see what we will do with it.  He watches to see what you do with the firstfruits of your increase.  Some feel like He should take it out before He gives it to them so they won’t feel the loss.  Some people say, Now is not the time to take my offering, Lord!  In other words, You might deprive me of something! 

          Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” 

          Sometimes, if you had paid your tithes and offerings, you wouldn’t have had to scrimp and save.  Somebody probably would have just given it to you, or you might have gotten a tremendous deal on something.  God can make $100 do $10,000 worth of work!  God can do it supernaturally on top of that!  God rained manna down from heaven for the children of Israel and fed them every morning and every evening. 

          The Bible says that God suffered them to hunger to prove them.  He suffers us to stick our necks out and tithe first, and we have to wait for the results.  Tithe is our reasonable service.  However, if you are in poverty just tithing will not bring you out!  You must get every sin under the blood of Jesus. 

          People try to excuse themselves by saying, Oh, tithing and giving offerings was only in the Old Testament.  Is salvation only for the Old Testament?  The prophecies of Jesus Christ, which were first in the Old Testament, are pertinent in the New.  Healing and even raising of the dead found in the Old Testament are pertinent in the New Testament.

          If we are going to be free from bondage of sin, sickness, disease, and affliction, we are going to have to handle our money right and give to God according to His Word! 

          Jesus said in Matthew 23:23, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”  They tithed, but their hearts and attitudes were not right. 

          If you make $25.00, the tithe is $2.50.  Many people who make $25.07 still tithe $2.50, but it amounts to $2.51.  You can’t give a piece of a cent.  When you go to the store, see who gets the other ½ cent.  Don’t give God any less. 

          Some people say they have to spend their tithe money on groceries.  They don’t have enough money, because they are buying things for themselves with God’s money.  They cannot be blessed and in some cases healed because of it.  Generally, your finances will degenerate, and your health will start failing.  It could be that your loved ones whom you have been praying for all of these years refuse to come in.            

          In Malachi 3:3 God said, “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.”

           You can offer an offering unto the Lord in unrighteousness.  Jesus said in Mark 7:7, “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”  They are worshiping God in vain.           

          Malachi 3:6 says, “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”  Because of His mercy, God hasn’t consumed us.  Verse 7 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. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?”

          What is standing between God and us that is keeping us from great revival?  The “return” of the Lord in Verse 7 is the liberty of the Lord, and that is revival.  In other words, what are we doing wrong that is keeping the blessing of God away from us? 

          Verse 8 says, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.” 

          Maybe you pay that 3 cents instead of 2, because it is ½ a cent over, but if you don’t obey the Lord when He deals with you to give an offering, you are still robbing God!  Some people will only go so far and no further.  The Pharisees tithed mint, and anise, and cummin.  Do you know how little those things are?  Have you seen the size of a mustard seed?  They are tiny things not much bigger than the head of a pin.  I suppose those guys got down and counted out the seeds and gave a tenth of it to God.  That is penny pinching to the max, yet some people do that instead of giving a little over.  Some people won’t give any offerings whatsoever! 

          Malachi 3:9 says, “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.”  Some consider only devil possessed people to be cursed with a curse, but this verse says if you rob God you are cursed.  God’s people can be cursed by God when they do not cling to and fulfill His ordinances and statutes.

          Malachi 3:10 says, “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.”

          There are people who have trouble with their crops or their livestock, because their money isn’t right with God.  God curses those who use their tithes for their own income.  It belongs to God.  He may say you don’t need that crop or that calf if you don’t pay your tithes.

           God allows certain things to come upon our land, because people won’t obey Him.  God can bless and protect the trees, or He can curse them.  Frost can take the buds off where there won’t be a piece of fruit on it for spring or summer, or He can keep that tree warm and tell the frost, “Go this far and no further.” 

          It’s just like He told Satan with Job.  God only allowed him to do certain things.  He can do the same thing with your trees, with your cattle, or your family.  I’m preaching to you about obedience to God.  He said that anybody who does not tithe or give offerings is cursed.  Some give, but they do it wrongly. 

          1 Samuel 2:6-7 says, “The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.  The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.”

          Deuteronomy 8:18 says, “But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.”  God has the power to make a person rich or poor.  He has the power to bless or to curse.  This is God’s Word!

          Offerings are above the tithes.  The only way that you are going to gain ground is to go beyond what is your reasonable service.  Reasonable service keeps you at status quo.  Folks, the needs are great.  We are going to have to go further with God. 

          You will find that things just don’t work right, and you will waste money if you don’t pay your tithes.  You may pay $50 for something and find it is really only worth $10.  You should have paid God His tenth.  You would have made money obeying God.  A lot of people’s offerings and tithes aren’t right, and they will spend thousands of dollars at the hospital because of it.  I want God’s truth to make us free.

          People say it is not spiritual to preach about money, and that it has nothing to do with God.  However, you won’t be blessed of God if your money hasn’t got anything to do with Him, and God, consequently, won’t have anything to do with you. 

          We enjoy the anointing of the Holy Ghost in our services, and you cannot buy the blessings of God, but the fact remains that electricity and soft pews in the church cost money. 

          1 Corinthians 9:11 says, “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?”  As the Lord ministers unto us spiritual things, then should we not give some of our material things?  If you don’t give, it cannot be given back to you.  If you can at least believe for this, God will begin to show you other things. 

          God said He will pour out a blessing that you aren’t big enough to receive when you prove Him!  Prove God and watch Him work.  Folks, it’s high time we get back our faith in God.  It’s high time we get back under the rod of His correction and His blessings!  He said that He would rebuke the devourer for your sake and command a blessing on you. 

          Deuteronomy 28:6 says, “Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.”  Read about all the blessings and cursings in Deuteronomy, Chapter 28.  Some say that they don’t believe tithing is for today; therefore they don’t do it.  However, God’s Word, and the blessings, and the curses are for today!   

          Proverbs 26:2 says, “. . . the curse causeless shall not come.”  The curse doesn’t come just by happenstance.  It comes with a definite purpose and a reason.  We can find out the reason that things are going right, or why we are poor and lacking.

          Satan is a devourer walking about.  Some people withhold their tithes and offerings.  They say, Well, I had bills to pay!  They will never catch up!  People are scared that the bank will foreclose on their loan or that the electric company will turn their electricity off.  Let me tell you something that is worse than that.  It is when God curses you for not obeying His Word! 

          Deuteronomy 15:6 says, “For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.”  That is the position that people should get to. 

          You may think that you don’t need anything, but we have got to learn to be totally dependent on God.  God is not an option.  Obedience to God’s Word is not an option.  You can not choose how much of it you are going to believe and how much of it you don’t. 

          If you owe God, and you think you don’t have any way of starting over, start right now by doing it right.  If you have money or stuff stored up, then ten percent of it belongs to God.  Take it where you are truly getting spiritually fed.   

          What if you have $100,000 stored up from your sinner days, and you have never tithed?  God forgave you of your sins and is keeping you out of hell.  Are you keeping that money in the bank for your own benefit?  If you have $100,000, then $10,000 belongs to God. 

          You can’t out give God, and He blesses obedience.  Deuteronomy 28:7 says, “The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.”  If you don’t obey God, you will wish many times that you had!

          In some cases where people start giving their tithes and offerings, they then say they don’t have enough, so they go to gambling.  However, the Bible says in Ezekiel 33:15, “If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.”  Do it without getting into something else.  Things will start improving before you are perfect if you obey God. 

          The latter part of Matthew 7:2 says, “. . . and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”  2 Corinthians 9:6 says, “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”  If you offer big, you are going to get back big from God. 

          It is scriptural to pay tithes and offerings to God.   James 4:17 says, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”  It isn’t what you know; it is what you do with what you know!

          Ecclesiastes 5:13 says, “There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.”  Riches are the extras.  Verse 14 says, “But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand.”

          If you give tithes and offerings like you are supposed to, your car may not break down as often.  Your trees and the fruit of the ground will do better.  When money comes in, it will do more than it has before!  It is God’s blessing.

          If you have ever spent a lot of money and got nowhere with it, you have seen the devourer at work.  Those riches that belong to God, that people try to keep, will perish by evil travail.  The curse of poverty goes on down the family line until it is broken by the power of God and obedience to Him.  I’ve seen families that are cursed with poverty, and their kids stay poor.  Somewhere back there great-grandpa didn’t obey God’s Word about tithes and offerings, among other things. 

          2 Corinthians 9:7 says, “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

          Some people give their tithes and offerings to just anybody.  You can go to a BBQ Café and order a barbeque sandwich, a cup of coffee, and a piece of peach pie.  You did well, you are happy, and you walk out.  Then you go down to the Dairy Restaurant and you pay them what you owe the BBQ Café.  The Dairy Restaurant is happy about it, but the BBQ Café is not happy with you!  That is the same as you giving your tithes in the wrong place.  I repeat, wherever you get fed spiritually is where you should pay your tithes!

          You don’t think you have enough money to pay tithes.  Pay your tithes, and you will have enough money to pay your tithes.  You don’t know what God can do for you if you will obey Him.  He said to prove Him.  If I don’t warn you about disobeying God, and then tell you how to obey God and get the blessing, I sin against God and the congregation!

          Philippians 4:15 says, “For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.” Paul only had one church supporting him at the time he wrote this, and he let them know how much he appreciated them.  Verse 16-17 says, “For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity.  Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.”  Just like Paul, if I don’t preach to you about tithes and offerings, I am keeping you from a blessing! 

          Philippians 4:18 says, “But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.”  That sweet smell and acceptable sacrifice that pleased God was the tithes, offerings, and other items given to Paul for gospel ministry.     

          Philippians 4:19 says, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  This information is awesome, and it concerns money or giving of the firstfruits of your increase. When you put God first, He will bless and supply your needs.  Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

          Acts 4:32 says, “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.”  This happened with the first church.

          God wants us to be givers.  Jesus says in Matthew 10:8, “. . . freely ye have received, freely give.”  Luke 6:38 says, “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.”

          God will compel men to give to you when they don’t even feel like giving to you!  Some “prosperity preachers” abuse some of these scriptures, but that doesn’t make the scriptures of any less effect.  When you rightly divide the Word of truth you are going to be blessed.

          Some people have plans that will increase their income so they can be independently wealthy and do what they want to do.  There is nothing wrong with being rich, unless that is your main goal.  1 Timothy 6:9 says, “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.”

          This country is broke because the people do not tithe and give offerings, and that is because they do not serve God.  James 5:3 says, “Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. . . .”

            Proverbs 13:22 says, “. . . the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.”  The wicked wealthy have worked long, hard hours, but it is for you and me if we will obey God!  He would make us rich so that we could further the gospel! 

          Many people don’t want God to meddle in certain areas of their lives, especially money.  Consequently, they don’t want the preacher to preach about it!  However, I don’t want any part of my life to be without God’s hand in it!  If a preacher does not preach ALL of the truth of God’s Word, you will find that they will also keep their hands off of your healing, the baptism of the Holy Ghost that you so desperately need, and deliverance.

          Some say that their husband is the only one who brings in their income, (the breadwinner), and they don’t have it in their power to tithe.  If you make anything at all, or get an allowance, then tithe it and watch God bless you.  It always has to do with obedience. 

          It is necessary to have our hearts revealed and to have things dealt with.  We must repent and get everything under the blood of Jesus and do what God tells us to do!  Folks, revival is eminent.  It will come if we will do what God says. 

          3 John 1:2 says, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”

          I’m thankful for the Spirit of God that examines our hearts and tries our reigns.  I have spoken the truth, so let the truth set you free.  I rebuke the devourer of men’s souls in the name of Jesus!

CONTACT INFORMATION:

PASTOR KEVIN BADGLEY

LIVING HOPE FELLOWSHIP, P. O. BOX 111, GRAND CHAIN, IL  62941

CHURCH / FAX (618) 634-2541

E-mail  livinghope@hughes.net

www.livinghopefellowshipchurch.org

These condensed Bible studies have been published to help new Christians in their new walk with the Lord.  Kevin Badgley, the author, is the pastor of Living Hope Fellowship Church.

This is a Living Hope Fellowship publication.