“ And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the LORD of hosts; Malachi 3:11
Did the author really have to touch on our finances!?! Praise God he had the boldness to mention tithing. Obedience is not partial. You either obey or you don't. Obedience is not a gray matter. For instance, your boss tells you to clean the bathroom (who likes cleaning the bathroom) you clean everything but the toilet. Will your boss be pleased when he inspects the bathroom? No, everything in that bathroom can be bright and shiny, but if the toilet is filthy we did not complete the task. The scriptures plainly teach that we must be in total obedience to God and in that obedience, we find the blessings He has in store for us.
How is tithing connected to our miracle? Think of it this way -
God sent Jesus to die for us.
Jesus trained 12 men for the purpose of spreading His story.
Jesus established the church with those men.
The church is the Bride of Christ.
The church is funded by the tithes and offerings received.
The church uses it's funds to support the ministry to the lost.
The passion of Christ is the lost.
To withhold the funds necessary to complete the mission of the church goes directly against why Christ established the church.
I tithe for many reasons. Most of them are because of the blessings that one receives from tithing. The main reason I tithe is - because it is commanded. I tithe because I must in order to be in obedience. How does one have the boldness to ask everything of God, but not give everything to Him? God does not ask for all our finances. In fact, He only asks for a small portion. That portion is 10%. A portion of what He gave me is all that He requires back. We pay more to our finance agencies in interest than the Lord requires from us. If you are not tithing, I pray that you will begin. For in obedience comes our blessing.
I will say this in closing.
I tithe to be obedient. Through my obedience my finances are blessed. I dare not tempt the Lord by withholding my tithes, for the Lord takes the ministry of the Church very seriously. The Church is the Holy Bride of Christ. I dare not offend Christ by not taking care of His bride!
May we all walk in obedience.
God Bless!
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About Me
- Paul LaRose
- Paul LaRose currently serves as the Discipleship Ministries Director for the Kentucky District of the Assemblies of God. He is also Senior Pastor of New Harvest Assembly of God in Frankfort, Kentucky. His passion for discipleship and Christian education is made evident by the fruits of his ministry labor. Paul has been involved in two successful church plants. He served as the Associate Pastor at Harmony Tabernacle AG in Dallas, Texas planted in 2001 where he developed the Christian Education program from the ground up. He currently pastors New Harvest AG planted in 2002. New Harvest is one of the fastest growing AG church plants in the Kentucky District and provides a strong Discipleship and CE program for all those that attend. Paul has been working with the Kentucky School of Ministry in course development. He wrote the course work for the Youth Leaders Tract and is finishing the Children’s Workers Tract. These courses are being used in many of our Assemblies of God Schools of Ministry.
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