Walk With Me
Christian discussion of biblical topics, and a dose of daily application. Yes the Bible is still relevant, and we find out more and more each day how relevant it has always been.
Walk With Me
Tithing is a benefit. No, Really!
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Welcome And How To Send Questions
SPEAKER_00Hello everybody, welcome to today's episode of Walk with Me. I am your host, JJ. So good to have each and every one of you here. Thank you so much for liking, sharing, listening to the podcast, joining us on all our platforms, iHeartRadio, uh Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube. Oh man, we're on so many channels now. I'm I'm really trying to figure out how to go to Rumble. We're gonna work that out. Um, but thank you all so much for liking, sharing, commenting, sending me questions on the into the email. If you have questions, uh send them to me at walkwithme bible study at gmail, walk with me bible study at gmail. Be sure to have your name in the subject line if you would like me to address you in the question. Otherwise, you can be like most people, just send the question with this subject line blank, and I will just assume that you do not want that you would rather be anonymous, and that's cool. Um, we're gonna get right into today's episode because we have a little bit to talk about. Quick uh shout out to our sponsors, the two boss lyrices and the squizzit creations. I just want to make sure I make sure I take care of that because I will forget later. Now we're not gonna get
Why We Keep Talking Tithing
SPEAKER_00into our subject for today. We're still on the subject of ties. I know, I know, we are still on the subject of ties, and you know, it's just amazing that there are so many doctors and so many individual. Um I would I'm just gonna be nice and say schools of thought when it comes to different things in the Bible. Um, and and I don't know why these things tend to be. I really don't. Um, but here's the thing Tithing is a biblical practice, it is biblical. We we talked about how Abraham did it before there was such a thing as a law, before there was a nation of Israel, before there was, you know, um, before they came out of Egypt and there was the Ten Commandments and all of that. We talked about how Abraham passed this project, uh, this on, and how Jacob then figured out how to tithe. So, and then we talked about how it went into the law, how God, you know, brought it into the law, because obviously there were some things that were forgotten while they were in Egypt as slaves. So when the children of Israel came out, rather than having someone say, Why do we have to do this? God said, Okay, we're just gonna put it in the law. But we're gonna talk about today two things why um we should do it, and one of the biggest um problems that we generally have is why we shouldn't let other people prevent us from doing it. Okay, so let's take care of the second one first, and because this is a very valid point from the non-tithers. Now, let me just preface this by saying just because
The Pastor Spends It Wrong
SPEAKER_00it's a non-point, does not mean you are excused from it. Now, to kind of set the stage here on what we're talking about, I would like for you to take out your Bibles and read Romans 12 and 1. Now, this is sort of just stay with me here because we're gonna we gotta go through this and and we're gonna talk about these things, okay? So Romans 12 and 1, and it says, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies holy, a living sacrifice, whole and acceptable to the God, unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. Now, why did I read that verse or those two verses? Because, first of all, there is a rule on this podcast. Um, you never read just one verse of scripture. You always want to read uh a verse or two above or verse or two below, but preferably the whole chapter. But the reason why I read that scripture is because this valid point that people have when it comes to paying tithes is this well, the the preacher ain't doing the right thing with the money, and on the surface, it seems like a very valid point, and it is because well, let's be honest, your preacher doesn't need a fifteen thousand dollar watch. I'm not gonna say anything, but you probably know who I'm talking about. So he doesn't need a fifteen thousand dollar watch, he doesn't need a nine thousand dollar suit or something like that. So, but that does not prevent us from presenting ourselves a living sacrifice and do what God has told us to do. So, and this is where you can kind of strive with God, and even in Thessalonians, um God said I believe it's in uh where it talks about you know don't pay back wrong for wrong. So, in other words, just because you see someone else doing wrong, it does not provide you the justification or the room for you to do something that's wrong as well. So just because I see that you're lying does not give me the right to lie. If I see you stealing, doesn't give me the right to steal, even though a lot of people will use that as a justification, it will get you in trouble with God. So, and and this is very important, and I know I'm sorry, but I didn't write the Bible. The Bible says it, I didn't. So, that being said, even if you think the preacher is doing wrong with the money, which let's be honest, let's be honest, let's let's take a step back here and say, um, even if you think the preacher's wrong, which you absolutely do not know, you absolutely don't, just because he does have a $15,000 watch, it doesn't mean that he didn't take some money from somewhere else and invest it and get a winfall. So that's doesn't mean that he took the tithe money and did it. Let's let's keep it 100 here. You have no clue. You don't know if if he got an inheritance from somebody and that it that that $15,000 watch was a heirloom from somebody's great-great-grandfather's uncle. You don't you don't know. So just because you see that in your position, which the devil is telling you, well, he took the tithe money and went and bought a $15,000 watch, that doesn't give you the right to not pay the tithe. Does it give me the right to steal from God? And and so what what people would say is, well, what do you mean steal from God? Well, God is very, very, very, um, very, very interested in what he calls his. And we're gonna go to some very um familiar scripture, okay, because this is the why behind what why we pay tithes. There's a couple big reasons
Tithing As A Sacred Obligation
SPEAKER_00that we do. One, God considers it his, and and he even considers it holy. Deuteronomy chapter 14, 22 and 23. I know everybody, no one likes Deuteronomy, but it is, it's in the Bible. Deuteronomy 22 and 23. Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year, and so that you may revere the Lord your God always. Now, yes, this is talking to the Israelites. Everyone always who doesn't like the tithes want to say, Well, he's talking to the Israelites. Yes, he is talking to the Israelites. Who did who did God save us, and who did God model our church after? The same commandments that we're supposed to follow are the same commandments God gave Israel. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, you shall not lie, you shall not covet thy neighbor's wife. We are not allowed, walkers, to kind of pick and choose what laws we follow and which laws we don't. And I get it, we've talked about this before. There are some sacrificial laws that have been fulfilled. But I would like to point out, folks, that this is talking about that all of your fields. You were never to sacrifice anything from the look at what happened with Cain. Cain got God never had respect to Cain's offering because the ground was cursed. God, when he gave us the sacrifice, and I'm kind of getting off on a tangent here, I'm gonna come back. When God gave us the sacrifice to cover our sins, that sacrifice had blood in it. So this is a completely different um train of thought here. When God is saying, When your fields produce, bring a tenth of your of your crops, and your tenth of your crops belong to the Lord. And if you read in the Leviticus, it'll tell you exactly why. Now keep in mind, I am paraphrasing it for the sake of time. So I would I would beg you to go back and read it yourself. Um, again, verse or two above, verse or two below. As a matter of fact, it's really kind of good to go through Leviticus every couple of months, um, because you just kind of miss things when you're trying to skip through it. Um, but this Leviticus set uh set aside this tithing as a sacred obligation. Now, what are we why are we obligated to it? This is not a cheerful giver, this is a sacred obligation. Because we are supposed to bring that to this to the God's to God's house. Why do I say that? It's because this is to Leviticus. The Levites did not have um a tribal land, they had a tribe, they had a tribe where they lived, they had uh, but they were also supposed to live among the rest of the uh tribes of Israel because it was their job, the tribe of Levi's sole job to take care of the house of God. Now, that Levite, that um that preacher, or that uh that person who was supposed to take care of the temple is the modern day pastor of the church. So that is to say, the the actual the person who's to be pastor, and and I and I hesitate to say this because I I know I'll get 15 people in the comments, but the the pastor is really not supposed to work a secular job. Wait, what? Yes, I know, I know I work a secular job, I know, but the the way the Bible is set up, the priest is supposed to dedicate his entire life to serving God and serving the people, and so the way it was set up was that the children of Israel were supposed to support the Levite by bringing them the a tenth of all of their proceeds to the church or to the temple or to the tabernacle, whichever word you want to use, these words are for this case interchangeable. They were supposed to bring that money to the temple, to the tabernacle to support the priest, so that the priest can go through all the cleansing rituals that he had to do and all the um all the prayer that had to happen and all the sacrificing he had to do. Keep in mind these priests didn't just have to sacrifice once a year. Everybody had to bring their own lamb for sacrifice. Now we're not talking about the tithe now, we're talking about the sacrifice and the offering. Remember, that's why I mentioned it earlier. So you you're talking about a dove for this kind of sin or and a lamb for that kind of sin, uh, a bull for this kind of sin. So the priests were constantly having to do all these offerings and all of these sacrifices to kind of keep Israel's sin at bay. And that blood was to cover the sins of Israel. This is why tithes are important. So now the Levite had to eat, the Levi had to, you know, go and trade money for clothes and this and that, and what and you know, get supplies to take care of the the temple and everything. So that 10% was so that the priest could go and get supplies and and trade and everything so that the temple could be taken care of. So this is why it's important to kind of understand what's going on. Now, for you to understand and for I to understand the difference between the tithe and the offering, the the offering is was something different. Again, the offering was for blood sacrifices, the tithe was for the take care of the upkeep of the temple, and which means they take care of the um taking care of the the Levite priest. Now, somebody in somebody is gonna get the bright idea and come
Tithe Versus Offering Explained
SPEAKER_00to uh and point it out to where Eli's son would dip in with hooks and grab some meat out of the pot. And and they're gonna say, well, they were eating from the offering too. Yes, they were. Yep, were they supposed to? Nope. I'll say that again. They were not supposed to, and that's why Eli had that problem, and that's why those, I think it was Hobney and Piney's. I was kind of speaking off the top of my head here. That's why they had such a bad problem. Because they were not supposed to be doing that, and all the other stuff they were doing too, which I'm not gonna talk about on this program, because this is kind of this I still like it to be a kid's show. So the other thing that we are that we have to talk about is um Malachi 3.10, and this is where everybody likes to go to without really kind of getting the Leviticus backstory and stuff like that. So Leviticus 3.10, and this is where Malachi really lays it out because he obviously was having a problem with Israelites bringing their tithes to the church. Bring the whole tithes to the storehouse, there may be food in my house. Test me in this, and here's the thing: here's the thing. God literally followed it up and said this, and no one wants to read this. This is why it's very important to read entire scriptures. Test me in this, says Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will be not room enough to store it. Wait a minute. God was not saying he was gonna bless the temple, he was telling the children of Israel to bring the whole time, the whole 10% into the storehouse and that he would bless you for it. Now, let's talk about that. Let's just examine that for just a few moments here. Here, God is saying, All right, bro, I gave you a dollar. Because I gave you a dollar, I'm going to require that you give me 10 cents back. And if you give me 10 cents back, I'm going to bless you with more money. As a matter of fact, so much more money that you're not gonna know what to do with it. This is why I said a couple weeks ago that if anybody, I've never seen anyone who tithe correctly suffer financially. I've seen people tithe incorrectly and suffer financially. I've seen people who did not tithe at all and suffer financially, but I've never seen anyone who tithe correctly. God is very specific, y'all. Now, for you to think let me finish this thought first, because then I'll get off another tangent. God is very specific. God will always make sure to honor his word. If God said go three steps, make a left turn, take one step back, tap your back left ankle, and then turn around three times, that's what he wants you to do. We don't get to make go four steps, turn right, jump forward, and jump over a jump and jack and and kick a cat and then walk up the stairs and think we're gonna get the same blessing. We're literally
Malachi’s Test Me Promise
SPEAKER_00doing what God did not tell us to do, and this is a form of rebellion. And this is why things we don't get the blessings that we're supposed to be getting. People want to. I listen to people talk all the time, and this is another aside. I'm trying not to waste too much time on these, but I listen to people talk all the time about Jews this, Jews that, Jews the third. And and I'm not gonna say that Jews are any better than anyone else, but I am I am I marvel at how the Jewish people who paid their tithes and their offering, and they have it down to a percentage science. Like I've heard people say, I bring five, I I bring a 10% tithe and a 5% offering every single paycheck. And then I watch how God blesses these people. I watch how next thing you know, they go from being homeless to having three, four houses, and and then they've got a couple cars, and then they've got a boat, and then they got this, and then they got they got kids, and they got and and it and no one is sick, and everyone's is is is prospering and all of that. And then you go, Well, what happened? And then you want someone else who and this would be the crazy part. They'll literally be working at the same place, they'll literally be working at the exact same place, and every time you turn around, the lights are getting cut off, their their phone is off, uh, their car is breaking down. And it's it's kind of it kind of doesn't make any sense because I'm watching this from the outside, but the person that's in it is them blaming God because they put a $200 quote unquote tithe in the box when they only make $350, or they put a $200 tithe in the box and it had a $6,000 check. It's literally the exact same thing. Follow it to the letter. God gives us the formulas for a reason. God gives us the formula for a reason. If you don't think that's true, go back and study Noah's ark. What do you what does it have to do with anything? God told Noah exactly down to He said, put this nail here, take this picture and put it there, put this many boards here, use this wood, not that wood. And he was very specific, and Noah did it just by the book. Noah did not say, Well, uh, this tree over here smells better, so I'm gonna use this tree. No,
Obedience Needs Exactness
SPEAKER_00he did it exactly the way God said it. And guess what? When that blood came, all the animals and all those people under Noah's care that his entire family were saved because Noah did it by the book. And that being said, this is what we should be doing. Now, again, I get it. I get it. People can mess up the people, can do what they want to do. And let's just say if they do, uh, just kind of recap. Let's just say if they do blow God's money, that's not on you. You do what you're supposed to do and let God judge between them. Don't put yourself in in their judgment, because when God comes from their judgment, you're gonna get it too. And when God comes for your comes to bless you, because you know you've been paying your tithes like you're supposed to, then you wonder why you your wife is getting blessed, and your kids are getting blessed, and because you're doing exactly what God told you to do pay the tithes. Now, again, this is different from the offering, and you can put whatever you want in the offering, but there are people who are very mathematical about it, and and no, before you ask me in the comments, I don't know where they get the five percent from. I I don't know, but there is a scripture where it says um give as God has led you to give, and so people sort of kind of take that as to I don't have to take tithes because God said to give is what I offer to give, but they don't read that God is is referring to offering in that scripture in uh 2 Corinthians 9 uh verse 11 where it talks about that uh like we're and then it and it literally comes back and it wraps it up with God loves a cheerful giver. Now keep in mind now there is a difference in terms here. God loves a cheerful giver, but then there he said to pay tithes, so there's two different mindsets here. You can give and you can pay, but you are to give and you are to pay. These are two different things, two different things, and the the giver part is just basically based on what God has moved in your heart to give, it's not the strict legal requirement that the tithes are. Um, but and and before you come into comments talking about legalism this, legalism that, all I'm gonna remind you is that every time God has been very specific about something and you follow it, God honors it because it is his word. Now, me personally, I have lived both lives. I have lived lives where I've not paid tithes and I've struggled financially, and I've paid tithes on less income and lived better. So, me personally, I'm
Personal Results And Final Reminder
SPEAKER_00sold on paying tithes. Uh, we're gonna talk more about this because I I want really want to cover up some things, but we're almost out of time. Um, but keep in mind, like I said, Malachi 3.10, you gotta remember the last part of that scripture. Well, will a man rob God? Yes, a man will rob God. But he literally comes back and says, Test me and see if I will not bless you mightily. I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out such a blessing that you can't even keep it. And he's talking about the people who are paying the tithe. That was not to the storehouse, that was to the people that are bringing it. And let's be honest, let's be honest, as long as Israel followed God's word, they got blessed. As soon as they started trying to do it their way and live their kind of way, that's when trouble started. So, that being said, I love each and every one of you. Feel free to like, share, hit me back, hit me with a comment. Uh but I love you each and every one of you. Thank you all so much for spending us a little bit of time. I know I kind of went fast, but I just wanted to cover all of that uh in today's episode. I love you all. See y'all in the next one. Bye bye.