In the area of my finances, who is on first? What’s the first thing I do with my money? Do my finances show who is most important? Is it Citibank ? Is it NIPSCO? It’s easy to say God is first, but do my finances show that?
Exodus 13:12 – The firstborn must be sacrificed (clean) or redeemed (unclean).
- We were all born unclean. Jesus was born clean.
- The clean was sacrifice so the unclean could be redeemed.
- Jesus … was God’s tithe!
- God gave Jesus first – He didn’t wait until we get better.
- God gave Jesus in faith.
- Jesus is called the first fruits.
- The first portion is given and the rest is blessed. Do I trust Him enough to give the first and trust him for the rest?
- Any first thing given is never lost.
Exodus 23:19 – The first fruits must be offered.
- It takes faith to give all the first.
- When you get paid, it is consecrated to God. Keep it and it is cursed!
The tithe must be brought first. (2 Chronicles 31:5, Malachi 3:10)
- The Bible never uses the word GIVE, it uses the word BRING. You can not give what is not yours. If I let you borrow my car, when you return it to me, you don’t say, “Josh, I want to bless you with this car and give it to you.” It’s already my car; you were just using it for a time.
- The tithe goes to the House of God. Not good ministries, not colleges or specific people.
- The tithe is off the top of everything. You want the gross or the net blessed? I want the whole thing!
- The tithe is the first thing that comes out of my check – the order is important. The tithe is the redemptive portion. This is not legalism, it’s a matter of the heart! This is life to me. The key to living the blessed life is so simple… just learn to do these things.
Exodus 13:14-15 – But God, with a mighty hand, delivered me. Therefore I gladly give the first fruits of all I have. Everything I have is from Him and it is my JOY to give.
Very nice, Josh. Great encouragement. In your opening paragraph, what do you mean? I read it to mean once you get paid it’s a sequential order to bring a tithe to the Lord and pay other things second. That’s right, right?
Yeah – the order is important… but more than that I think where I used to come from was that usually the first thing I worried about was paying my bills, groceries, car payments, etc. and hopefully at the end of it all, I would have money to give to God. But God was the negotiable point – like I felt he would be ok either way if I could or if I “could not.” Wrong perspective really… and I know differently now!