I feel as if this will be my last post on this blog. I did say I would do further teaching on tithing over a year ago and here I am trying to keep my word before I close shop here.
I won't pull the blog down at least not just yet so it is available for those who wish to draw from the archives et al.
Hey! This doesn't mean that I am hanging up my teaching ministry but that it will find a different form of expression. It actually has in the last year in from of a new house fellowship bible study and I am trusting God for additional & new platforms of expression as well. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance so teach I must and also as importantly raise up other teachers.
So I am going to draw excerpts from a previous chat I had with my companions in ministry - In God's Company. So I posed a question about Jacob: I asked why Laban’s flocks bore speckled or spotted offspring whenever Laban changed Jacob’s wages to speckled or spotted? Refer to Genesis 28 to 31.
Many of us think it was by Jacob’s scheming or planning - by streaking the rods to achieve streaked and so forth. For a long time I also used to think that until the Holy Spirit magnified Genesis 31:12 to show me that it wasn’t the rod trick/strategy. It was God himself who sent divinely - supernatural male streaked/speckled/spotted goats to mate with the female goats.
How do I know this?
“The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I answered, ‘Here I am.’ And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.” Genesis 31:11-12 NIV
Joseph strategy was targeted to the female goats not male: “Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches,”Genesis 30:41 NIV
We need to understand why God did this, that’s point I really wanted to make. My earlier question was simply a precursor to coming to that understanding.
“I am the God of Beth–el, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.” Genesis 31:13 KJV
What vow did Jacob make?
This was the vow that Jacob made:“Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” Genesis 28:20-22 NIV
Before Jacob was visited by God, he was a blessing carrier, carrying the blessing in his “womb” not yet manifested.
God visited him at night and revealed a gateway between heaven & earth. At this stage God was simply courting Jacob, He did not reveal fully Himself to Jacob until Jacob turned around, acknowledged and made a direct covenant with God, therefore establishing a personal connection & relationship. With that covenant & vow, God became his partner.
God did not directly ask Jacob to make the vow but instead He courted him, started to draw Jacob to Himself & Jacob responded well. When Jacob made the vow, it could have seemed neither here nor there since the vow seemed to have originated from Jacob BUT it touched something within The Lord that caused God to respond to Jacob. Then and there God entered into a partnership/covenant with Jacob, it was such that if you came against Jacob, you came up against God. Jacob moved from just carrying the blessing in his womb to manifesting the blessing by partnership with God.
“And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.” Genesis 31:24 KJV
In Jacob, we can see an account of a consistent tither pre-law. Jacob said: of ALL that you give me, I will give you a tenth.
I do not teach this to you as law but as an account of the word of God about a man who cut a covenant of relationship & tithing with God. This was not something that can be erased by saying: well, we are no longer under the law because this happened before the law was handed down via Moses.
It's up to you to choose if this covenant is for you or not but we can certainly see that there is precedence for tithing outside and before the law, we can see that it is Godly & that it is good.
I won't pull the blog down at least not just yet so it is available for those who wish to draw from the archives et al.
Hey! This doesn't mean that I am hanging up my teaching ministry but that it will find a different form of expression. It actually has in the last year in from of a new house fellowship bible study and I am trusting God for additional & new platforms of expression as well. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance so teach I must and also as importantly raise up other teachers.
So I am going to draw excerpts from a previous chat I had with my companions in ministry - In God's Company. So I posed a question about Jacob: I asked why Laban’s flocks bore speckled or spotted offspring whenever Laban changed Jacob’s wages to speckled or spotted? Refer to Genesis 28 to 31.
Many of us think it was by Jacob’s scheming or planning - by streaking the rods to achieve streaked and so forth. For a long time I also used to think that until the Holy Spirit magnified Genesis 31:12 to show me that it wasn’t the rod trick/strategy. It was God himself who sent divinely - supernatural male streaked/speckled/spotted goats to mate with the female goats.
How do I know this?
“The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’ I answered, ‘Here I am.’ And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.” Genesis 31:11-12 NIV
Joseph strategy was targeted to the female goats not male: “Whenever the stronger females were in heat, Jacob would place the branches in the troughs in front of the animals so they would mate near the branches,”Genesis 30:41 NIV
We need to understand why God did this, that’s point I really wanted to make. My earlier question was simply a precursor to coming to that understanding.
“I am the God of Beth–el, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.” Genesis 31:13 KJV
What vow did Jacob make?
This was the vow that Jacob made:“Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” Genesis 28:20-22 NIV
Before Jacob was visited by God, he was a blessing carrier, carrying the blessing in his “womb” not yet manifested.
God visited him at night and revealed a gateway between heaven & earth. At this stage God was simply courting Jacob, He did not reveal fully Himself to Jacob until Jacob turned around, acknowledged and made a direct covenant with God, therefore establishing a personal connection & relationship. With that covenant & vow, God became his partner.
God did not directly ask Jacob to make the vow but instead He courted him, started to draw Jacob to Himself & Jacob responded well. When Jacob made the vow, it could have seemed neither here nor there since the vow seemed to have originated from Jacob BUT it touched something within The Lord that caused God to respond to Jacob. Then and there God entered into a partnership/covenant with Jacob, it was such that if you came against Jacob, you came up against God. Jacob moved from just carrying the blessing in his womb to manifesting the blessing by partnership with God.
“And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.” Genesis 31:24 KJV
In Jacob, we can see an account of a consistent tither pre-law. Jacob said: of ALL that you give me, I will give you a tenth.
I do not teach this to you as law but as an account of the word of God about a man who cut a covenant of relationship & tithing with God. This was not something that can be erased by saying: well, we are no longer under the law because this happened before the law was handed down via Moses.
It's up to you to choose if this covenant is for you or not but we can certainly see that there is precedence for tithing outside and before the law, we can see that it is Godly & that it is good.
I don't subscribe to the school of thought which teaches tithing by simply quoting the law under the old testament because we as believers through Christ are not under the law. Acts 15 vs. 28 - 29 tells us explicitly which aspects of the law we are instructed to keep. "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: "You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood from meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things"
The reason for this ordinance being communicated was because there was some controversy as to what aspect of the Israelite law the Gentile new believers were expected to keep. Vs 28-29 above was in response to Acts 15 vs. 5 “Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”
However I am of the school of thought which teaches that it is the letter of the law which kills but the Spirit behind the law gives life. Every single law tenement is relevant because it reflects the heart of God. There is something - a purpose behind every law - a message that God is trying to convey which is still relevant to our generation.
The apostles stood up in the book of Acts and said that they could not be bogged down by serving tables but needed to be freed up to commit themselves to prayer and the word (Acts 6 vs 4). The bible also teaches in the new testament that the labourer is worthy of his hire (Luke 10 vs 7). Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9 vs 9a "For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain' He goes further to ask in 9b "Is it about oxen that God is concerned?"
Here he makes the distinction between the letter (oxen) and the Spirit behind the letter (which is the purpose of God for the letter) by going further to say in vs 10 to 11 "Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel".
We need to support the work of God with our giving so that true ministers of God can be freed up to spend more time in prayer and the word per Acts 6, instead of being overtly concerned with trying to earn a living, if we don't understand this then we fall into the category of muzzling the ox whilst it treads out the grain. If we are enjoying pastoral or any other ministerial care, blowing up people's phones constantly seeking counselling, guidance, prayers - it is our reasonable service to give - to sow into their lives or into the Church coffers where it is in turn distributed to them especially when we know these ones are in full time ministry. Perhaps we are so mature that we don't need one to one counselling or ministerial care, then we give so that the ministers of God are freed up to care for others who need it in the body of Christ.
Also, the Church buildings and services need to be supported by our giving, administrators need to be paid to take care of their families, cleaners/security/maintenance/technical people need to get paid, electricity bills, heating bills, sound & musical equipment bills etc all need to be taken care of.
As I studied the New Testament I noticed that when offering was referred to, it often was referenced in respect to meeting the needs of others. There always seemed to be a requirement to ensure that there was no lack within the body of Christ.
Acts 4 vs. 34-35 "There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time, those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." Note: there was no needy person amongst them & distributed to anyone as he had need, these are key drivers. The ministers of God as well as the general body of Christ (non official office holders) all fall under this category.
I will close with 2 Corinthians 9 vs 12 which describes the service of giving as an expression of thanks to God. "For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;"
I think it is more important for us to ask ourselves how we want to thank God, how do we want to express appreciation to God, is it with 0%, 1%, 5%, 10% (taking a leaf from the old as a minimum standard), 20%, 25%, 50%, 90%, 100%.
I see my offerings as a way of saying God, this is the least I can do to say thank You Lord, to master the flesh and to come into covenant with God by trusting Him with my finances
It is easy to say I love & revere God but in my giving I have a chance to demonstrate that love.
I can also testify from real life experience that God knows how to bless the tither richly who is in a living personal covenant relationship with Him, walking under God's Holiness and Righteousness.
PS: Tithing is not exclusive to the congregation alone but applicable to the pastors, apostles & other ministers as well. If we look at the Spirit of the law when levites received tithes, they also paid tithes from their tithes (Ref: Numbers 18:26). So my given expectation is that ministers preaching about tithing are also tithing.
God Bless & Good Bye if I never publish on this platform again.
Wishing you all A HAPPY 2019 and BEYOND!
Here he makes the distinction between the letter (oxen) and the Spirit behind the letter (which is the purpose of God for the letter) by going further to say in vs 10 to 11 "Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel".
We need to support the work of God with our giving so that true ministers of God can be freed up to spend more time in prayer and the word per Acts 6, instead of being overtly concerned with trying to earn a living, if we don't understand this then we fall into the category of muzzling the ox whilst it treads out the grain. If we are enjoying pastoral or any other ministerial care, blowing up people's phones constantly seeking counselling, guidance, prayers - it is our reasonable service to give - to sow into their lives or into the Church coffers where it is in turn distributed to them especially when we know these ones are in full time ministry. Perhaps we are so mature that we don't need one to one counselling or ministerial care, then we give so that the ministers of God are freed up to care for others who need it in the body of Christ.
Also, the Church buildings and services need to be supported by our giving, administrators need to be paid to take care of their families, cleaners/security/maintenance/technical people need to get paid, electricity bills, heating bills, sound & musical equipment bills etc all need to be taken care of.
As I studied the New Testament I noticed that when offering was referred to, it often was referenced in respect to meeting the needs of others. There always seemed to be a requirement to ensure that there was no lack within the body of Christ.
Acts 4 vs. 34-35 "There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time, those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." Note: there was no needy person amongst them & distributed to anyone as he had need, these are key drivers. The ministers of God as well as the general body of Christ (non official office holders) all fall under this category.
I will close with 2 Corinthians 9 vs 12 which describes the service of giving as an expression of thanks to God. "For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;"
I think it is more important for us to ask ourselves how we want to thank God, how do we want to express appreciation to God, is it with 0%, 1%, 5%, 10% (taking a leaf from the old as a minimum standard), 20%, 25%, 50%, 90%, 100%.
I see my offerings as a way of saying God, this is the least I can do to say thank You Lord, to master the flesh and to come into covenant with God by trusting Him with my finances
It is easy to say I love & revere God but in my giving I have a chance to demonstrate that love.
I can also testify from real life experience that God knows how to bless the tither richly who is in a living personal covenant relationship with Him, walking under God's Holiness and Righteousness.
PS: Tithing is not exclusive to the congregation alone but applicable to the pastors, apostles & other ministers as well. If we look at the Spirit of the law when levites received tithes, they also paid tithes from their tithes (Ref: Numbers 18:26). So my given expectation is that ministers preaching about tithing are also tithing.
God Bless & Good Bye if I never publish on this platform again.
Wishing you all A HAPPY 2019 and BEYOND!
