Ever see Dave Ramsey billboards? Or listen to his talk show? He’s all about ridding yourself of debt - become debt free - budget well - build wealth & give as much as you can away - Cathleen and I have been thru his 13 week course, attended a live 1-day seminar... we like and believe and practice what he teaches.
Today I'd like to venture down that road of Putting God FIRST. I’m gonna be a bit bold and speak this to each of us, myself included and that is “If you’ve have a money problem, you have a God problem.”
Because God doesn’t have a money problem & I’m not a hyper-prosperity preacher, but I am a bible preacher.
...and God has no problem providing... If it’s His vision, He’ll provide the provision.
I have stated this about our church from the beginning... this church is God’s idea, not Joe or Cathleen’s - His vision imparted to us therefore He’ll provide the provision for us.
If it’s His vision for you and your family to live debt-free, build wealth and give as much as you can away, He’ll provide the provision.
Exodus 13:1-2
“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine.”
now down to vs. 12
“you shall set apart to the LORD all that open the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have; the males shall be the LORD’s. But every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.”
In our talk today of Putting God FIRST, the 1st fundamental truth we see is:
1. The Firstborn must be sacrificed or redeemed
Let me explain this, If your animal had a 1st born, if that animal was a clean animal, the 1st born had to be sacrificed. If it was an unclean animal it had to be redeemed w/ a sacrifice of a clean animal - you trackin w/ me - all the clean of the 1st born had to be sacrificed, and the unclean had to be redeemed w/ a sacrifice of the clean.
Let me ask you a very simple, theological question - were you born clean or unclean? - You were born unclean, all of us were born into sin, you don’t have to teach your children to be bad, right?
It comes naturally, some a little more than others...
So we were all born unclean... what about Jesus? clean or unclean? Clean - The Clean had to be sacrificed so that the unclean could be redeemed - if there were ever a time for you to say AMEN, this is about as good as a time there could be - I’ll say it again - The Clean had to be sacrificed so that the unclean could be redeemed.
You see this is a principle in God’s Word.. a fundamental truth - now this also works in our finances - the tithe belongs to God, like the 1st born belongs to God - so when we give the 1st, the 1st born of all our animals (or our source of income) the rest were redeemed & blessed - when we give the 1st of our fruits the rest is blessed - this is a principle
You see the tithe is much more than the 10% I know tithe means 10% but there’s more to it than that - it is giving the 1st to God.
It is putting God 1st in the area of your finances and every other area in your life - so the 1st born must be sacrificed. - here’s the 2nd
2. The First Fruits must be Offered
“The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God.” Exodus 23:19
“Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.”
Proverbs 3:9-10
Now I already know that many people are well aware of the principle of tithing - they know it, but I wonder, b/c of my past, in all the years I grew up in the church and were taught principles such as the tithe, I knew it, but it wasn’t in my heart.
I wasn’t living the principe day in & day out - there came a point in life where I had to have this heart change... so ... I could stand here today, not just as your pastor, but as a believer in God’s Word and every principle of truth.
Here’s what I know, if I can’t stand up here and teach it, where are people going to learn these truths? The Credit Card companies - don’t leave home w/out it - NO, the church, we have to disciple it.
The 1st fruits belong to God - Do you remember what God said about Jericho? When the Israelites went into the Promised land God said give me all of the silver and gold from Jericho.
How could He say that? Why didn’t He say give me 10%?
It’s very simple, b/c Jericho was the 1st city.
Here’s what God is saying, “You give me the 1st and the rest will be blessed. That’s what tithing is
Some people have asked the question of Cain and Abel’s offering - why did God accept Abel’s offering but not Cain’s? I had always answered in the past, well... God looks at the heart and He saw the true meaning behind each offering - which is true but there’s more - there’s more when we understand the principle of the 1st fruits - let’s read this together: Gen. 4:3-5
“And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering.”
One tills the ground, one tends sheep - Abel brought of the 1st born, Cain did not bring of the 1st fruits.... and God... sees this
see this here w/ Cain - God cannot accept an offering that’s not 1st - it’s just the leftovers.
He is the Creator of the Universe, He is before all & above all - He gets our 1st fruit - let me say it this way, if God plays 18 holes of golf, His score is 18 - He cannot hit the ball and it not go in the hole - He cannot do it - He will always be #1
So listen guys, the truth for us is we may be giving 10% and still not tithing -
here’s the 3rd Fundamental Truth
3. The Tithe must be First
“And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’s. It is holy to the LORD.” Leviticus 27:30
Example: owner of a landscape business & did my backyard all nice and pretty. I paid them $1000 for it - now they have $1000 - how much is the tithe? $100
Which one is the tithe - 1st $100 - you’re saying that because you’re paying attention, that’s good - how do you know which one is the 1st one? the one on the left, middle, right?
It’s the 1st one that leaves your hand - it’s the 1st one you spend - so check this out - don’t give the tithe to the electric co.
The Electric co. doesn’t have the power to bless your finances - they can turn on the power to home and that’s it - what we need to get into our hearts is that God can to and a whole lot more - you trackin? - The 1st one we spend goes to God - now listen I’m not legalistic about this - any of you who know Cathleen and I know that we are far from legalistic -
When we create the monthly budget in our home, the 1st line on top is the tithe - that is factored in 1st before anything else - it is the 1st check written before anything else. Now if we sit down and put this together and Cathleen went grocery shopping earlier in the day, I don’t say, “Oh that’s great honey, were cursed for a month” because you wrote a check to HEB before I could write the tithe check.
God is not a legalistic God - He looks at our heart - so the 1st one has to go to Him - so when people catch the principle of giving to God 1st, praying to God 1st in the morning, serving God 1st, asking God 1st about something instead of the dimwit in the next cubicle (how do we trust these people w/ our lives over God I’ll never figure that out) - spend time in His Word 1st before my show comes on @ 9 o’clock tonite - If we can get this down it will change our lives!
Putting God 1st
My Grandfather was an amazing man - He was a staff pastor for over 30yrs. all the while working in construction and raising a family including my mother.
I loved to talk bible with him - he’s a stubborn ol’ geezer that’s for sure, but the wisdom is unparalleled.
some time ago, We start talking about tithe, I say absolutely I give 10% - you too right? I mean c’mon you give 10%? He said, well, no... no we don’t - I immediately begin breaking out the Word of God to show him what I’m talkin about - he stops me after a while and says, ok, ok, ok if it means that much to you I’ll start giving 10% if it’s that important to you, I’ve been giving 25% but if it’s that important - and once again I come to a place I often find myself w/ the dunce cap on - the realization that my grandparents are much, much wiser than I.
My Grandparents are huge givers. They have lived a very modest lifestyle with plenty of money, but they just gave it away. Someone’s car is brokedown, they’d fix it, have it fixed or buy them another car. My grandfather has probably purchased 20 plus cars but not for himself - I wanna live like this - this is what Dave ramsey is talking about - this is what God is talkin about.
3 Levels of Giving in scripture:
Tithe
Offering
Extravagant Offering
did you know they are 3 Levels of Giving in scripture:
Tithe
Offering
Painful Offering
I remember early in my marriage we really didn’t have much money and our church was doing a capital fund raiser to purchase land w/ existing buildings that could be remodeled for church - they asked the congregation to pray about giving to that campaign in a 1 time pledge as well as monthly giving -
Cathleen and I did not have much money and are praying about what we can give as a 1 time and monthly pledge - in our prayer we both believed that God asked us to give this crazy amount of money (atleast it was to us at that time in our lives) and we thought maybe He forgot how poor we were... so we asked again.... same thing though
So we just did it - we wrote the check and started think about what we were going to cut back on financially... no more food or electricity - I dont know -
We were staff pastors at the church (not paid/volunteer) but we also were invited by other churches to come while they had week long revivals or one night special events and do children ministry for them so all their folks could attend the event -
These churches would typically have a predetermined amount on a check already written for us - sometimes it could have been a ‘love offering’ that was taken for us - sometimes it was more of a ‘like offering’ or a ‘not like offering’
But after we wrote that check for our church fund-raiser we did the children’s min. during a Christmas party for another church.
They gave us check at the end of night, but the Pastor took that check & went away (to office I suppose) and came back with a different check - we it opened on our way home - it was exactly.... exactly that crazy amount God asked us to give in pledge.
God is amazing!
He blesses those who put Him FIRST - it’s a fundamental principle,
a fundamental truth in God’s Word.
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