OPENING SCRIPTURE: The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have LIFE, and that they may have IT (LIFE) more ABUNDANTLY. (John 10:10 NKJ)

• Stewardship flows from it. Developing a giving heart flows from it.

The Principle of Tithing

Definition of the word tithe: one tenth. It means one tenth of what you have and you set aside for God.

“FOR I AM THE LORD, I DO NOT CHANGE; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. RETURN TO ME, AND I WILL RETURN TO YOU,” Says the LORD of hosts. “But you said, ‘In what way shall we return?’ (Malachi 3:6-7 NKJ)

• God does not change. He is the same God of the OT as He is of NT. He does not change and nor do His principles.
• But we have changed: “ you have gone away from my ordinances” Ordinances are God’s principles.
• NLT: “You have scorned my decrees”. God is saying you have treated me and my principles as worthless.

“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. (Malachi 3:8-9 NKJ)

• Because you have moved away from this principle of tithe, you have placed yourself under a curse.
• Christ bore the curse of sin and death in relation to your salvation. It does not mean you can live your life any way you want to just because you are saved.
• By definition: A curse is a consequence.

POINT #1: TITHING IS TEST

• Remember the word Tithe means the 10th part or 10%.
• Why did God choose a percentage? Because it is fair to everyone. Whether you make $100 a day or $1000 a day.
• Many times, when you see the #10 in the Bible, it represents testing!
• Tithing is a test. God is taking the test right alongside you. It is a 2-way test.

BRING all the tithes into the STOREHOUSE (The place where you get fed spiritually, your local church), That there may be food in My house, And TRY ME NOW IN THIS,” Says the LORD of hosts,

That’s the only place in the whole entire Bible where God says: Try Me! Or Test Me.

POINT #2: TITHING IS BIBLICAL

Then Melchizedek king of Salem (peace) – (Melchizedek, The King of Peace) brought out bread and wine (representing Holy Communion); he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; 20 And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all. (Genesis 14:18-20 NKJ)

• Melchizedek is a representation of Jesus – Priest of God Most High.
• Abraham, our spiritual father according to Galatians, gave God a tithe of all. And he did it even before the law existed. The principle of tithe even pre-dates the law.

The Principle of Tithing is not a matter of law but a matter of the heart

• Genesis 28:22, Leviticus 27:30, Deuteronomy 26:2, 13-15

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay TITHE of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. (Matthew 23:23 NKJ)

• Jesus challenges the Scribes and Pharisees: The motivation of your tithe is not love but your motivation is evil.
• That’s why Jesus said: you have neglected: justice, mercy and faith- (matters of the heart)
• Jesus connects tithing directly to a test of the heart.
• By showing justice, mercy and faith you keep your heart in the right place.

When your HEART is in the RIGHT PLACE, you TITHE.

POINT #3: TITHING IS A BLESSING

BRING all the TITHES into the STOREHOUSE, That there may be food in My house, And TRY ME (Test me) now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts,
• Since tithe is a test of a giving heart, God wants you to bring it: willingly, obediently, with a pure giving heart.

Blessing #1: Open Heaven

“IF I WILL NOT OPEN FOR YOU THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN AND POUR OUT FOR YOU SUCH BLESSING THAT THERE WILL NOT BE ROOM ENOUGH TO RECEIVE IT.

Blessing #2: Enemy destroyed.

“AND I WILL REBUKE THE DEVOURER FOR YOUR SAKES, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the LORD of hosts; “And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:11-12 NKJ)

• Not only will God open the windows of heaven for you, He will also rebuke the devourer. The enemy. The one who comes to steal kill and destroy.

CONCLUSION:
• What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?