Covenant Connector
Power of the Dime • Sermon • Submitted
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6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.
7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings.
9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty.
12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
13 “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’
14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty?
15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’ ”
16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.
18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.
1. Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever
1. Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever
God does not change
We are destroyed for lack of knowledge
6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.
We need to know
hos 6
18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.
God is a covenant keeper
You are able to make money because God is keeping His covenant
He does not change
2. Don’t mistake a command with a suggestion
2. Don’t mistake a command with a suggestion
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
This is a command not a suggestion
When you honor someone or something, you treat them with special distinction and respect
We must Honor God
30 “Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and your father’s house would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.
God knows how to take care of you
We must learn to take care of His House
3. Repent and get a clean slate
3. Repent and get a clean slate
God is offering you an way to start fresh
Bring the whole tithe and offering into His house
14 I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done everything you commanded me.
Don’t give to dead things
Time to return to God
The tithe is the minimum you should give, it is your starting point
You want to get right with God, start with the tithe
4. Tithe and offerings open the windows of heaven
4. Tithe and offerings open the windows of heaven
3 set the value of a male between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel;
30 “ ‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.
lec 27
It has been reported that less than 20% of Christians (church going Christians) tithe
That is part of the reason why the Church doesn’t experience miracles
That is part of the reason why churches are struggling to build God’s Houses
That is part of the reason why so many Levites are working a secular job instead of ministering in God’s House
That is part of the reason why so many Levites leave the ministry because they don’t get paid
What would Jesus Do?
Would He go to a bank to ask for money to build God’s temple?
Imagine Jesus waiting in a lobby waiting for a loan officer to call His name to see if He qualifies for a loan
Jesus said to give Caesar what is Caesar’s and Give God what is God’s (Command not a suggestion)
A tithe of everything
All your increase
You can’t make a decision about the tithe, it is not yours
You can’t make plans with the tithe, it is not yours
You have to give the tithe to the church (house) where you are fed
Don’t eat the tithe
Adam and Eve ate themselves out of the presence of God
Tithing is a privilege
Satan can’t touch you when you tithe
Results of tithing: protection, revelation, wisdom, miracles, strength, and success
Would He go to a bank to ask for money to build God’s temple?
Imagine Jesus waiting in a lobby waiting for a loan officer to call His name to see if He qualifies for a loan
5. The law of seedtime and harvest
5. The law of seedtime and harvest
5. The law of seedtime and harvest
5. The law of seedtime and harvest
gen
22 “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
The law of sowing and reaping
It’s the law
God will do what He said
If you sow, you will reap
What you sow, you reap
You can’t sow into the flesh and expect a spiritual harvest
It’s the law
You sow in the spirit, you will get a spiritual harvest
It’s the law
God knows what you are sowing (partial tithe is still stealing)
Don’t stop what you give, complete what you give
Your sacrifice doesn’t start until the tithe is met
The sacrifice moves God
The tithe is the covenant connector (God remembers His Promise)
Honor God and He will honor you
People will know that you are God’s because you will be blessed
Your children will be blessed
God has done it
God still does it
God will still do it