Our Response to Blessing and Provision

Our Response to Blessing and Provision  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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An Illustration of Tithing

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Our Response to Blessing and Provision

There is a unbelieving world all around us watching us, and asking questions in their minds about us. They want to know if we really believe what we say we believe and if our belief makes any difference in our lives.
The interesting thing about their questions is that sometimes we who believe also ask those same questions about us.
The questions: 1. Do I really believe what I say I believe? 2. Have my beliefs in Jesus really changed my life? 3. Can I really trust Jesus/God with everything in my life, including my finances?
What is interesting is that we will often say, “God, I trust you with my future, my job, my kids, my spouse, my family, my health” BUT then we struggle with trusting God with our finances...
We make all kinds of excuses why we can’t tithe and to appease our guilt we throw a few bucks in the offering or we give a larger one time gift to a specific project but its not regular tithing, but occasional tipping...
The problem we have when we are struggling with tithing is because we see the resources in our hands, ie… money in our pocket, bank account as our own.. these are the things I did, we did…
We forget to realize that all we have, everything in our hands is God’s..
We forget what our response to God’s blessing and provision is...
Abraham response
Genesis 14:17–20 ESV
After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Sometimes when it comes to tithing we really don’t understand what tithing looks like...
This Illustration originated in a church out of Minnesota and I thought this illustrated the principle of tithing so well that I wanted to share it with you.
Illustration---
Jacob’s Response
Genesis 28:18–22 ESV
So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”
Both Abraham and Jacob were responding to God’s blessing and provision through tithing back to God. These examples predate the law and showed the gratitude of heart and the quick response of those who have been blessed and provided for.
Just as there is a continual blessing and provision to those who are thankful and respond according to God’s desire—there is also a cursing to those who do not respond with thankfulness and gratitude with their tithe...
The curse of lack and scarcity
Malachi 3:6–15 ESV
“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts. “Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’ ”
In the US the only thing from keeping you from tithing is not having a good budget.
Tithing means you have to rearrange your spending so that God is first, not last, and not a “maybe if we have it...”
I am glad that when it comes to my blessings and needs of provision God isn’t making me a “maybe” if he has it… BUT he made me a priority.
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