THE LAW OF TITHING - LESSONS LEARNT FROM REVEREND WALTER

INTRODUCTION – KINGDOM LAWS FOR PROSPERITY

There are various laws that rule the universe.   Some of which are the laws of gravity, the law of cause and effect and the rest of them. What is particularly important to note about these laws are the fact that whether you know about them or not they apply to you. You have no choice in determining the outcome. For instance the law of gravity says anything that goes up must come down meaning that if you throw an object up into the air it has no choice but to come back down. Same applies to you if you jump up into the air you must come back down. It does not matter whether you know the law exists of if you have ever heard about the law it still applies to you. Same goes with the law of cause and effect which basically states that for every effect there is a cause. That the sum total of our lives today (effect) is a sum total of the things we have done in the past (cause) the fact that we do not agree with this or do not know about it does not mean it is not true.

Same it is with the kingdom of God. There are certain laws that have been put in place to make you prosperous and like the universal earthly laws it applies whether we know about it or not, whether we believe it or not.  These laws are set to make us successful and to make us prosperous. It does not mean we are trying to buy the blessings of God It simply means that God has a place in our success.

First we need to note that money is crucial and extremely important in our serving God. This can be seen in Nehemiah when God told the people to go and rebuild the temple and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The first sign that the people heart has been turned to God was the money. In the book of Malachi the people of God had abandoned God totally and God came to them scolding and shouting on them that if I am a father among you where is my honor? What was He calling honor? Money. The bible also tells us that God said if we honor him he would honor us. What does this refer to again – Money. So money is crucial in our serving God.

Though many might say they served God better when they were poor, that can never be the case. You can never serve God better when you are poor than when you are wealthy.

God wants us to be prosperous. He needs us to be prosperous. His reasons are far beyond you because if the money is not in your hand God suffers because he cannot do anything on this earth without money.  As money is needed to build churches, aid in T.V ministry and publish books e.t.c. as such he needs money in the hands of believers.  Even Jesus had a team of financiers a group of women who wrote of his ministry. (Luke 8:1-3)

What we need to understand is that money on itself is not evil but an amplifier. It amplifies what you already are. If you are bad money would amplify it and if you are good it would also amplify it. Many people hide under the cloak of poverty to conceal their wickedness but once money comes this wickedness is expressed then people say money ruined him. No he was always evil he just didn’t have the money to carry out his evil deeds. 

The bible clearly tells us that it is the love of money that is evil not money itself. (1 Timothy 6:10). It is the love of money that would not make you give, it is the love of money that would not make you tithe , it is the love of money that prevent you from giving adequate offering. God tells you to give and you say no because you love money. But if you understand God you know giving is your pathway to abundance. As you give doors are opening up to you.

As stated earlier when it comes to the issue of finances there are laws that have been set in place some of which are the law of first fruit offering, the law of tithing and the law of seed time and harvest with regards to our offerings. Today we would be discussing TITHING. 

THE LAW OF TITHING

Your tithe is defined or described as one-tenths of your increase. This we see in Leviticus 27:32 which says – “Every tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the LORD.” In this scenario everything that passes under the rod in present day would signify anything that is given to us be it in the form of salary, gifts etc. Everything and not what is left after expenses have been removed.

Some say the tithe is of the old covenant and not the new so does not apply to us. But that’s not true because we have to note that what we commonly refer to as the old testament i.e. a signification of the old covenant which started with Moses is not inclusive of the tithe which did not start with Moses. The old covenant or mosaic laws began in exodus as such everything in Genesis is not a part of the Mosaic Law. Genesis is the beginning of everything in both the new and old testament and anything that did not begin in genesis should be thrown away. 

ORIGIN OF TITHE AND WHY IT APPLIES TO US TODAY

Tithe was first mentioned in Genesis 14 where we are told Abraham gave tithe to Melchisedek on returning from war but it is not clear whether tithe was in existent before this. But from logical deduction it can be said that tithe was in existence because there was a word for it. If this was so then it would mean it was in existence, and if it was in existence then it would mean Abraham being a devout man of God would have been giving his tithe. The word tithe is also said to mean tenth. If this also is the case the tenth that is given has to be significant. Why did Moses choose 10% and not 20% or 5% then?  There had to be a command to the effect of giving a tenth. 

The story is seen in Genesis where we are told Abraham fought four kings and defeated them because they took his nephew lot.  As he was coming back from back from his victory he met with Melchisedek and gave him tithes to which Melchisedek blessed him.  (Genesis 14 from Verse 17)

This is the first time the word tithe was used and it was Abraham that did it and the bible says if you are Christ then are you Abraham seed and heirs according to his blessing. How do you tap into that blessing – your tithe is the key.

The law was put because of transgression  and was not supposed to come in. With this in mind, for those claiming that tithe was under the Mosaic Law even if you take away the law it is still clear that Abraham gave tithe even before the law was instituted.

What we need to understand is that God wants to bless us and for him to do so there are certain things that needs to be done. One of which is tithing. Abraham tithed of his own volition but the Jews were going the wrong way. They were to used to being slaves before they were released from Egypt and so the only thing they understood was a strong hand, to be commanded, law and punishment so God put what was already in existence in the form of a law that they had to abide to for one reason only and that is so that he can bless them. God wants to bless us and looks for every means to do so even if it has to be done with a firm hand.  This clearly lets us know that the tithe precedes the Mosaic Law and begins in the beginning of all things which is Genesis.

WHO ARE WE GIVING THE TITHE TO?

The moment he gave his tithe we are told Melchisedek blessed him. (Hebrew 7 shows us that Melchisedek is the key factor. We need to understand what he represents) 

Hebrews 7:1-10 (Common English Translation used to ease understanding)

This Melchizedek, who was king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he returned from the defeat of the kings, and Melchizedek blessed him. ² Abraham gave a tenth of everything to him. His name means first “king of righteousness,” and then “king of Salem,” that is, “king of peace.” ³ He is without father or mother or any family. He has no beginning or end of life, but he’s like God’s Son and remains a priest for all time.  ⁴ See how great Melchizedek was! Abraham, the father of the people, gave him a tenth of everything he captured. ⁵ The descendants of Levi who receive the office of priest have a commandment under the Law to collect a tenth of everything from the people who are their brothers and sisters, though they also are descended from Abraham. ⁶ but Melchizedek, who isn’t related to them, received a tenth of everything from Abraham and blessed the one who had received the promises. ⁷ without question, the less important person is blessed by the more important person. ⁸ In addition, in one case a tenth is received by people who die, and in the other case, the tenth is received by someone who continues to live, according to the record. ⁹ It could be said that Levi, who received a tenth, paid a tenth through Abraham ¹⁰ because he was still in his ancestor’s body when Abraham paid the tenth to Melchizedek.

The bible says Melchisedek abided a priest forever. We are also told that he was a typology of Christ, a specimen of what Christ was to be. Some theologians claim that it was a one time appearance of Christ but this is not so as the bible never mentioned this. The bible didn’t say when he was born and when he died. His priesthood was likened to that of Christ who also lives forever.  From verse 7 we are further told that without question the greater blesses the latter which means Abraham the possessor of heaven and earth was blessed by the greater Melchisedek who abideth a priest forever.

What we also have to note here is that the Levi’s who are not of the calibre or level of Melchisedek subsequently began to collect tithes. They were called to be priest but it is not said they abideth priest continually because it is recorded that they died. But here we are told that as Abraham gave tithes to Melchisedek they as descendants of Abraham can also be said to be giving tithes to Melchisedek through Abraham i.e. since Melchisedek was not present for the Jews to give tithes to they gave it to the Levites who gives it to the priesthood that lives forever on our behalf.  

From the above it now should be very clear who the tithe goes to. It does not belong to our priests it goes much further than that as it goes to Jesus Christ himself who basically directs those on earth what to do with it. 

WHERE SHOULD YOU TAKE YOUR TITHE TO? 

If we have been following closely we should have come to realize a few things by now: Tithing is not of the mosaic law i.e. It precedes it beginning from Genesis the beginning of all things both in the old covenant and the new covenant and Secondly the tithe is not given to man but given to Christ who lives forever though it is collected on his behalf but those here i.e. our priests here.

The question then is – How do we determine which priest or man of God to hand over our tithes to?

Many have had various misconceptions saying they would sow their tithes as seed to someone’s life, or to a ministry they saw on TBN or to a pastor different from the man of God in their place of worship. This is extremely wrong because the bible has clear explicit instructions on where the tithe should be brought to no matter who provided you with the revelation about the importance and the use of the tithe. What this means is that no matter how you come to learn about the tithe be it through your man of God, through the T.V ministry of another church or through publications the bible tells us where to take our tithe to. This can be seen in Malachi 3:10 which says – “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house……” By storehouse the bible is referring to the place where you worship, where you are fed spiritually and where you serve God. This means no matter from who the revelation of tithing was given to you, you still have to take your tithe to your own place of worship i.e. your own church and not to the church of the person that opened your eyes to tithing or to the author of the book or T.V program that opened your eyes to tithing.

This is a mistake very many people make and though their intentions are clear they totally miss out on the benefits of tithing as with any other law if not applied correctly is a waste of time. So take your tithes and hand them over to your priest in your place of worship.

ROBBERS IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

I remember the way I felt when I first realized that I had been stealing from God. Yes stealing. It hit me deep down in a place I now know was my spirit or inward man. The accusation was a shock as up until that moment I had not understood the gravity of what I had been doing and the ramifications in my life.

We are told in Malachi 3:8-9 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

Here we are clearly told that not paying our tithes is robbing God, it is stealing from God. No matter how you look at these verse and no matter how you try to explain it away it still boils down to one thing. Those who do not pay their tithes are robbers, thieves in the site of God. Even if there is no benefit to tithing (fortunately for us that is not the case) for this reason alone we have no reason not to pay our tithes. No reason at all. It goes further to tell us the implications of this. I would not use the word punishment because the New International Version says it better - You are under a curse.

The idea most people have and what many preachers preach is that God would place a curse on us if we do not tithe but that is not the case. God can and would never curse us. What we need to understand is that from the days of Adam the earth has been cursed and the only thing that saves believers is the blessing of God. Where the blessing exists it overshadows the curse but if taken away the curse that is already in existence prevails.

For a better understanding of this let’s take a look at the following analogy.  What is darkness after all if not just the absence of light? Can u bring darkness upon someone? The answer is no. All you can do is take away the light and the darkness appears. We can also imagine light as having a brightness knob or control in which 10 is the brightest and 0 is the least bright. When the knob is turned from 10 to 0 the place becomes less bright and more dark until it gets to 0 where there is no light at all then you have complete darkness. So really coming to think of it there is no darkness only varying degree of light starting from a bright intensity to no light at all.

This is exactly the situation with us. The bible says when we rob God by not paying our tithe we will be under a curse not that he would curse us but that the blessing which is preventing the curse to come upon us would be taken away and all we would remain with is the effects of the curse. 

We know blessing signifies life and the curse signifies death. Again we also need to note that death here does not refer to physical death but spiritual death in the form of separation from God and all that is good. This is made clear from the fact that in John 14:6 Jesus said "I am the way and the truth and the life, it can also be seen in John 10:10 where Jesus describing Satan said The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I (Jesus) am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. In both situations he was not talking to dead people so what does he mean he is life and he has come to bring them life? This must mean apart from life and death as we know it there is another form of life and death.

All the above can be summarized into the fact that when we willfully disobey God’s word by not doing what he says we open up ourselves to the curse by causing the blessing to depart from us. A curse comes to devour what is yours to kill, steal and destroy what you have.

All those that are talking about breaking of financial curses and near success syndrome have no idea what they are talking about because they don’t tithe they don’t give and they expect prosperity. Fasting is not the way to prosperity, praying continually is the not the way. We have been given the way but most times we ignore it. 

BENEFITS OF TITHING

As I always say almost everything in the bible we do for basically two reasons: one because it is important to God which in this case we have discussed above where we are told tithing is tantamount to robbing God. Secondly because tithing is of extreme importance to our finance and prosperity. It is one of the laws which have been put in place for our prosperity.

Malachi 3:10 says “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it”

There are two very things that are highlighted in this verse one of which is that the lord tells us he would open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing. I am sure by now we know there are no grammatical errors or typographic errors in the bible and what is said is what was meant to be said. The fact that here the bible says “a blessing” signifying singular and not “blessings” means just that. The lord would open up the windows of haven and pour out a blessing.  

As a tither God would not repay you with money. He would not send money to you. The bible says God would pour out a blessing on us and as a result of that blessing we are going to prosper and would not have room enough to contain the riches. We would be so prosperous that generations after us would still be reveling in the blessing.  Many of us would be very conversant with the commonly heard saying that it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him fish for if you give him fish he eats for a day but if you teach him to fish he eats for a life time. This is exactly what the singular blessing is to our lives. It teaches us to fish i.e. the blessing provides us with divine inspiration and ingenious business ideas and strategies or corporate insight for those who have a career to enable us put actions into play that would ensure abundance in prosperity and riches. This is done as opposed to giving us fish which can be described as people giving us money. In the second scenario how long can that last? How long? How long would people continue to be directed to give us money? We are not charity cases and as such we need not be treated that way. The blessing would provide a sure source of income.

This is seen in the life of a renowned tither in the bible called Jacob. The bible tells us how Jacob vowed to give a tithe on everything he made (Genesis 28:22). Jacob started his life with only the clothes on his back and the vow he made to God to give tithe on everything he makes.  Let’s go further and see what happens with him and if indeed the tithing had an effect on his life.

Genesis 30 tells us the story of how when Jacob was working for his uncle Laban who had been cheating him immensely. Jacob growing tired of this decided he no longer wanted to work for Laban and tried to resign but Laban refused to allow him to go saying that it had been revealed to him that the presence of Jacob working with him had caused him (Laban) to prosper mightily so he should name his wages and he would get it.  At this point is where the divine inspiration of the blessing manifests itself. Instead of Jacob asking for an increase in his pay or a profit sharing formula that is done in many firms today he did something many would consider utterly ridiculous and stupid and beyond the comprehension of the mortal mind. He told Laban to separate from his flock into two groups. For ease of description these two groups would be referred to as a group that consisted of all white flock and the other group consists of spotted flock and flock of other color. He then told Laban that instead of money what he wanted was for Laban to take all the flock that were spotted and of  other colors deep into the forest (a 3 day journey) such that they could never find their way back. And of the white flock that was left if they mated and any gave birth to a spotted lam or lamb of a different color it would belong to Jacob. This being almost genetically impossible and Laban being a greedy man jumped at this deal. It so happened that hence forth all the lamb these white flock gave birth to only spotted and those of other color leading Jacob to end up more prosperous than Laban.

The question is – Why did Jacob come up with this strategy or plan? Why was he confident of the outcome? How did it happen?

Every plan or strategy has two parts: strategy formulation and strategy implementation. With regard to Jacob’s case the strategy formulation aspect was out of his control as it was by divine inspiration through the blessing from his tithing which we see in Genesis chapter 31:11-13 how the plan was revealed to Jacob in a dream. It says “And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I.  ¹²And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are rings raked, speckled, and grizzled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. ¹³I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.

What we have to also not here is that though the business ideas and strategies are given to us as a result of our tithing we still have a role to play in carrying out the idea i.e. implementing the idea as we see Jacob do by first voicing it out and then taking specific actions as seen in Genesis 30:37-39 which says “And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. ³⁸And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.  ³⁹And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle rings raked, speckled, and spotted.”

Out the outset of this section I mentioned that there are two very important things we need to not about Malachi 3:10 with regards to the benefits of tithing. The second is the phrase “PROVE ME NOW”. This is one of the only places in bible where the Lord told us categorically to put him to the test, to try him and see if he would not do what he says. This is of immense significance also because though what I am about to say may sound like blasphemy to some it is the truth the fact that God is a prisoner to his word. He is bound by his word, once he says it, it has to be done. There is no “I was just joking” with God. As such if for nothing else we should prove him, test him by giving our tithes and see if he would not open the heavens and pour out a blessing on us.

Just a moment, the benefits listed out to us in Malachi 3 are not over. It goes further to tell us that the lord himself would rebuke the devourer for our sake. There are lot of things that as Tithers we are being protected from that we have no idea about. There are a lot of attacks that we have been shielded from just because we are Tithers that would never come to notice. This can also be seen in the life of Jacob when he was protected from the wrath of Laban who wanted to bring harm to Jacob because he felt he had been swindled. He wanted to kill Jacob.  The bible tells us that Laban was running after Jacob and an angel appeared to him warning him saying “Neither speak evil nor good to him” so he backed out. So he now meets Jacob and just basically bids him farewell.  There are wars a tither would not fight in this life because the lord would take care of them. Those that you know about are because you have been given the power to handle them.

We are also told in Malachi 3 that we could be called blessed among nations. For us to fully understand this another example of a prominent tither would be used and his name is Abraham. We are told in Genesis chapter 12 God met Abraham, Chapter 13 v 2 Now Abraham was very rich in cattle Gold and silver just one chapter difference he had become a very wealthy man.  Why is Abraham an example of the effect of tithing on prosperity? Let’s take a close look – Genesis 14 – tells us Abraham fought four kings and defeated them as he was coming back he met Melchisedek brought forth bread and wine and he blessed Abraham and Abraham gave him tithes of all. We can see that the riches and blessing of Abraham are in keeping with what was read in Malachi 3.  Same was the situation with Jacob and David. The men knew the effect of tithing and took full advantage of these law and were blessed beyond measure.

CONCLUSION

Many have been tithing for years. Don’t give up because God is bound by his word. The bible tells us having done all to stand keep standing. Finally to let us know that it happens even till this day I would give one last example of someone amongst us in the super church.

For those of us that were at the leader’s conference we heard and witnessed a testimony of the effect of tithing in the lives of one of our members. The testimony really hit home because this is someone we can see, this is someone we know how he was only a few years ago and now we can see the effect of tithing on his life.  The law of cause and effect can also be applied here because it also states that whatever we want to achieve in life all we have to do if look for someone who was once in the situation we are and is now where we want to be both physically and spiritually and if we do exactly what they did we have no other choice but to arrive at the same results they did.

Now we have clear examples of the kind of prosperity we want in our lives both from the bible and in our immediate surroundings, we have been told they achieved this by tithing and that the law is irreproachable.  The only logical then is to do it. What are we waiting for?

THE POWER OF OUR FINANCES IS IN OUR HANDS WE KNOW WHAT TO DO.  I AM PROUD TO BE A TITHER. ARE YOU?

LESSONS LEARNT FROM REVEREND WALTER - FIRST FRUIT OFFERING

INTRODUCTION – God’s Intention for Us

The bible tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 says for I know what I have planned for you. I have plans to prosper you and not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope. These are Gods plans towards us. God did not design us to be failures but to be successes to live a glorious life. And this life is packaged in his word. Sometimes it may not be pleasant to us but what we have to understand is that our Gods thoughts towards us are of good and not of evil.

So never resist the word of God, never be slow to act on his word because the bible says he that has received my word more will be given to him and he that does not receive even the one he has would be taken from him.  What does this mean: it means once you begin to resist the word of God you would begin to back slide and even the things you believed before gradually would fade away. That is why we see people that were once strong men of God backslide and you cannot believe it is the same person.  It all started with one little resistance or failure to act on the word of God which set in motion a string of events that brought them to where they are today.

What we would discuss today”the first fruit and its importance” might be a bit of a bitter pill to swallow but if we have at the back of our minds and believe in the word of God which tells us that Gods plans towards us is for us to prosper and not to harm us then we would have no hesitation in doing the will of God for our lives because it is exactly also what we want in our lives.

WHAT IS FIRST FRUIT

First fruit offering has a special place in our walking in the blessing the bible says in the book of Ezekiel 20:30 you shall bring your first fruit and the priest shall cause the blessing to rest upon thy house.

So what exactly is the first fruit offering: The bible tells us that the first fruit offering is the first part of your income in a year. This can be seen in Leviticus 23:10 which says “

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest”:

In the above the word land can be substituted with year and the word harvest can be substituted with increase or profits or wages such that it would read:

Speak unto the children of The Super Church, and say unto them, when ye be come into the year which I give unto you, and shall reap the profit/increase/wages  thereof, then ye shall bring of the first fruits of your  profit/increase/wages unto the priest”:

Our man of God clearly explains to us that with regards to the first fruit it refers to our basic salary i.e. salary without allowances for the salaried workers and the business men the first profit they earn in the year. This distinction is important because you still have to tithe the same time you give your first fruit so you have to understand which is tithe and which is first fruit and the differences.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FIRST FRUIT OFFERING AND TITHE

Prior to the revelation of the first fruit teaching many pastors and men of God made the mistake of using tithe and first fruit interchangeably but that is not the case as the word of God clearly makes a distinction between this two entities. The following are some differences between first fruit and tithes. It is important to note that the list is not all encompassing but just highlights a few of the reasons why they are different.

1.    

First the bible tells us in Nehemiah 10:37 “that we should bring the first fruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage”.

This clearly tells us that there is a difference between first fruit and tithe if not they would not have been mentioned separately for if they were the same it would have been joint.

2.      The second clear difference between First Fruit and Tithe is the duration of time or the interval between these offerings. Still in the book of Nehemiah 10:34 “....... to bring it into the house of our God, after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year,......´we are told first fruit are given yearly as opposed to tithes which are given each time there is an increase in our finances no matter the duration. If you get your salary of profits daily you are meant to give tithes daily, if you get it monthly you are meant to give it monthly e.t.c.

3.     Thirdly an important distinction in the importance the bible lays on equivocally ensuring you first fruit are paid as at and when due. Ezekiel 20:40b says “....and there will I require your offerings, and the first fruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.” Meaning it is required which is also similar to what is told to us in Malachi 3 where the bible tells us that not giving our tithes and offering are tantamount to robbing God. The important distinction to be set our here is that the bible offers a possibility for use of the tithe, and payment at a later date with an interest of 20% on the original 10% which shows that though it is permitted it is not without a cost (Leviticus 27:31) this is in sharp contrast to the first fruit in which we are told in Ezekiel 48:14 “And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the first fruits of the land: for it is holy unto the LORD”. This means no matter what you do never ever spend your first fruit because the bible does not allow it in any way.

ORIGIN OF FIRST FRUIT OFFERING

The first offering ever demanded of us was the first fruit offering. In the beginning when  God created Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden  and said of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil though shall not eat of it. Many people and preachers in the past had said this represented the tithe but our man of God through revelation has told us that this represented the first fruit.   So the fall of mankind was because he ate the first fruit and disobeyed the word of God this shows us the magnitude the lord places on First Fruit offering.

The first offering that was giving to God is was also the first fruit offering. The bible says Abel took of his firstling of his flock and offered it to God while Cane took of the ground and offered it to God. The bible never said cane took first fruit. The bible said God accepted Abel’s  offering and rejected canes offering. The bible tells us can was extremely angry lost control of himself and killed Abel. So the first murder  and second crime in this world was as a result of the envy brought about by the way the lord accepted Abel’s first fruit offering.

IMPORTANCE OF THE FIRST FRUIT OFFERING

As with everything else in the bible and other instructions we are given in the bible the importance is twofold: First are the reasons why it is Important to God and Second are the reasons why they are important to us.

Why it is important to God

1.     

 It is an instruction from God in which we are expressly charged on commanded to give our first fruit.  This is seen in Leviticus 23:10 , Ezekiel 20:40b

2.     The second reason is because it is pleasing to God. We can tell this from the story of Cane and Abel in which we are clearly told that When Abel brought the firstlings of his flock to God it was pleasing and accepted by God when on the other hand Cane didn’t bring his firstlings but just an offering of the ground it was rejected by God. The bible is not exactly clear on what sort of offering cane brought the  only thing that was specified was that Abel brought his firstlings. This can only mean Cane did not do the same. This can also tell us how important it is because there might be a chance that whatever offering we bring if we do not bring our first fruit there is a chance it might be rejected by God. Am sure none of us here want to take that chance.

3.     Offering as worship - There is no true worship to God, no proper expression devotion to God without offering. The bible says when the wise men came to god they worshiped and opened their treasury and gave him offering.

In the Pauline revelations Paul tells us Hebrews 13: 15-16  – let us offer thanksgiving unto God which is our lips which is acceptable unto God BUT (negating previous statements) to do good and communicate forget not for with such sacrifices the lord is well pleased.  Which is the sacrifice the lips – NO. We need to worship God the way he wants us to not the way we feel it should be. By communication God was referring to our offerings because it is clearly different from worship with our lips.   The word communication used here was same as the one used in Philippians 4 when he said the Philippians when I left Macedonia no church communicated with me in giving and thanks giving he was talking about nothing else but giving God offering. So Offering is worship.

Why it is important to us as Born Again Christians?

The first fruit offering is extremely important to us as born again Christians because if care is not taken many of our diligent work would amount to nothing. We have been given various laws in the bible for various things pertaining to our prosperity. Some are the law of tithing and another is the law of seed time and harvest. Of all the laws given to us with regards to prosperity from the word of God I can clearly say is the law of first fruit.

What is the law of First Fruit – This can be seen in Romans 11:18 and says “For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches” There is no law more important than this to us with regards to our prosperity because as I said earlier on if care is not taken we might toil in vain throughout the year.  As our man of God tells us God treats us according to our level of knowledge so some might say but my prayers were being answered when I pray for prosperity and I was not given first fruit or some people in the church are prosperous without giving first fruit. The word of God tells us that God winks in times of ignorance i.e. when you don’t know at times you are forgiven for not knowing the right thing to do and given what you want never the less. But as we grow in the knowledge of him it is pertinent we adhere to all these laws because we no longer have the excuse of ignorance.

So as the word says if the first fruit is holy the lump is holy and if the root is holy so are the branches. Therefore whatever increase we get at the beginning of the year we must give our first fruit if we want our increase for the rest of the year to be sustained for if the first is holy the rest are holy.

Other reasons can be seen in:

Proverb 3:9-10 - Honor the LORD with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

What this tells us is still in keeping with what we just talked about with regards to the holiness of the first fruit covering the lump. This tells us that as we give our first fruit uncontainable increase is ours. As with other laws, whether we believe it or not it applies. We have been told clearly what to do. Let our case not be like the case of Cane who just gave offering without giving a first fruit.

Another can be seen in Ezekiel 44:30 which says “And the first of all the first fruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest's: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house” 

From the fact that nowhere we look in the bible when first fruit offering is mentions the consequences are the same. Here we are told by giving our First Fruit offering the priest would cause the blessing to rest in our houses. Another word for rest is abide and we have been told what that means by our man of God. Abide means to remain forever with nothing we can do to drive it away.

LESSONS FROM TSC LEADERS CONFERENCE - DAY 4

This was the final day of the leader’s conference and our man of God sent us back into the world fully fired up. Our final ministration had to do with taking personal spiritual initiative. We were told that God blesses us for doing what he tells us to do. Our man of God told us that if we hear from our spirit and we do not do anything about it would reach a stage where our spirit is deceived and stops acting in a way that would ensure us eternal life.  Our man of God emphasised to us that when we take spiritual initiative we function in a higher realm doing things before the lord tells us to do so. He gave several examples in the bible of those who did what they were told and more and profited tremendously. To emphasise the importance of pro activeness. Those that were blessed because they took initiative were blessed for their entire generations not just themselves.

We say in Numbers 25:1-13 where Phinehas took initiative and acted on behalf of the lord and so was blessed exceedingly as seen in verses 10 – 13 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: And he shall have it and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.

He took initiative for the sake of the gospel. No one told him to do it but he did and saved the entire land of Israel from thwarting wrath of the lord. Many times we are waiting to be told before we do something. Our man of God let us know that when we give, we should give like we are the only people giving for the task and not try to calculate how much others would give before we give because as he who takes spiritual initiative would be rewarded exceedingly .

Other examples of those who took initiative are David who took the initiative to fight Goliath and we all know how that ended, Joseph who after interpreting the dream for the Pharaoh took initiative and proffered a solution. We also know how that ended. There are numerous examples of such situations in the bible and our situations would be similar only if we can take spiritual initiative.

God would reward us for what he tells us to do but the extra. We do would God would bless us even much more that the act itself.

As members of The Super Church we should try and take spiritual initiative and our Man of God also charged to make sure we take not of things and situations where we can be of help and act without waiting to be told to do so.

I thank our exceedingly good Lord for giving me the opportunity to be a part of The Super Church and the opportunity to serve him. I pray the lord gives me the privilege of doing more things for him. I also pray that everyone reading this also is given the same privilege.

LESSONS FROM TSC LEADERS CONFERENCE - DAY 3

We were told that words inspire us. It is bad manners of the worst kind by not going to church. No matter what you are going through you just have to make sure you are in church. Giving us a slogan of stay in church and stay out of trouble.  Our man of God told us that it is in church  your focus in life is sharpened because everything else  and everywhere else takes form you in one form or the other and it is only the church that gives something back to you. The church is a place God has prepared for you to be rejuvenated. In addition to this when you miss church the answer to your current problem could also be lost.

Attending church regularly also ensure we make the right associations because this can break or make us. Our man of God gave us an example comparing the lives of David and Solomon. Solomon though wise and rich was not successful. Why? because he never associated with prophets and men of God rather associating with men of the world who did not understand the things of God which led to his demise. While on the other hand David spent his time continuously with the prophet and in the presence of the men of God ensuring his success.  We were clearly told not to let those not present at the leaders conference not dissuade or discourage us from carrying our all we have learnt in the course of this conference.

Next our man of God (Rev. Walter) talked about the importance of our attitude towards the things of God. He told us God deals with us the basis of our attitude to everything. How do you respond to your department leader, cell leader, PCF leader and Pastor or Reverend? In 1 Samuel the lord tells us that if we honour Him, He would do the same.  What defines God’s response to us is our attitude i.e. we should hear and react immediately no matter the form with which it comes. If u are pushed to jump and shout do it at that moment and do not hold it back. If you are led by the spirit to do anything do it immediately.

 In the second service our man of God continued in his teaching on what is expected of us as labourers in the house of the lord. Earlier the first three had been mentioned which are labour in prayer, evangelism and the word and doctrine. Below are the last two activities expected of labourers in the house of God.

4.         Co labouring as seen in (KJV)1 Corinthians 3:4-8 which says For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? [5]Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? [6] I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.[7] so then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. [8] Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

Everyone would give account of his own job. In the parable given above we are told that some have been instructed to plant and some have been instructed to water while God Himself ensures growth.  What this means is that in the house of the lord each person has a delegated task and should stick to that task because for one he has been given the special grace to accomplish that which he has been called to do  and would be rewarded for that and not for doing what has been delegated to some else. If he or she does this he not only loses the reward for the job done but also deprives the person that has been given that task the chance to serve the lord.  In The Super Church terms if you have been called to be a cell leader do not try and do what was given to the PCF leader and assistant cell leaders should know their place and not try to usurp the cell leader. Same goes for those in the various departments. 

The above view is also supported by (KJV)1 Corinthians 3:9-10 which says For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.[10] According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth there upon.

We are to work in partnership because our strength is in our togetherness because what we can achieve together we can never establish on our own. We are to work together. One builds foundation another lays on the foundation. Do your own work and partner with others to do theirs. Co labour with the materials of the super church. Spend your money on what matters in the ministry of publishing. Take even if it is the small books in your pocket and distribute.

5.         Labour Financially With God - (KJV)Luke 8:1-3 says And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him, [2]And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, [3] And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.

This people took it upon themselves to support the ministry finally by paying the bills. They laboured with their finances. Learn to labour with God with urn finances. Begin even if it is small. Always give God your best because he gave us his best and so deserves our best. Nothing too big to be sent for the gospel. How much is the soul or your soul worth. He demands his best from us so he can continue to give us his best. He who gave you his son.

Your financial journey with God starts with the tithe. If u don't give your tithe and borrow the money when u are paying it back u need to add 20%. This is not because God needs the interest. It is just a way of ensuring you pay the tithe as at when due.   Wherever your money is that is where your heart is.

If you don't conquer the monster called money you can never go far. If it gets so bad give more.