Baker - The tithe, A kingdom principle

Contents

Introduction

God has a financial plan for his kingdom and those in it! He is interested in every aspect of your lifeincluding your finances. In fact, Jesus Christ had a lot to say about money and finances and how we as Christians should conduct our financial affairs.

Many Christian people have said "Money is the root of all evil" and, as a result, these people virtually take a vow of poverty and make every one else suffer for being prosperous. The bible does not say that money is the root of all evil! Let's see what it does say...

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

1 Timothy 6:10

It is the love of money that is the root of all evil. Money itself is neither good nor bad; it is the way it is used that makes the difference. Money has a hold on so many Christians. I have discovered that you do not have to have any money at all for it to have a hold on your life. In fact in most cases, this love of money is found in the lives of those who only have a little!

Poverty is a curse. God wants you to be blessed. But he wants to bless you for one reason, so you can in turn be a blessing. In recent years there have been those who have advocated prosperity for prosperity's sake. I believe that in these last days we will see a great abundance poured out in the church. Not so Christians can live it up, but so the Gospel can be preached!

I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.

Genesis 12:2

Here God was speaking to Abraham. It is said that Abraham

became very rich! (Gen 13:2). The reason God blessed Abraham was so he in turn could be a blessing! If you are faithful to obey God's Word with the little you now have, God will give you more. Why should God give you $1000 if you are not obedient with the $10 you do have?

You will learn a principle in this book that will cause your finances to be used in a mighty way. Through this principle, you can achieve great things in the kingdomand God will cause you to be mightily blessed. In this book you will discover the principle of God's kingdom that will release finances into your lifefinances that will do you good and that you can do good with!

This principle is tithing. It is the financial tool that will see you prosper in the kingdom of God and cause you to be a blessing to those around you. It is one of the fundamental things that every Christian should know about and practise in their walk with God. I pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal to you this essential kingdom truth as you study the Word of God in this area.

CHAPTER

God Has Always a Plan!

God always has a plan. Since the foundations of the world we know that God has had a plan for us! You are not here by accident. God has ordained that you be in His kingdom right now for a specific reason! Not only does God have a plan for your life, He has a plan for His church and for the advancement of His kingdom. God has a plan to finance the gospel. It is a plan that not only blesses the kingdom, it also blesses those who are involved!

God didn't tell us to finance His church by having cake stalls, bingo games, raffles, lotto, etc. They are not God's ways of financing the church; they are man's ways. You won't find any scriptural reference for bingo or raffles but you will find giving tithes mentioned in the Bible. The tithe is God's way of financing His church and causing the blessing to come to those who practise it.

Both the Greek and Hebrew words for tithe mean "a tenth or ten percent" (10%). Tithing, then, is giving ten percent of your income to God. This is one of the easiest things to do as a Christian. It does not matter how much or how little your income is, your sacrifice is exactly the same.

Ten percent of $100 is $10. Ten percent of $450 is $45. Ten percent of $25,000 is $2,500.

You will discover through this book that, as you pay the tithe, you will be mightily blessed.

God does not require anything of us for which there is no return. God is the ultimate business man. What you invest in Him will be returned to you many times over. You know this to be true with salvation. When you gave God your life, He in turn gave you His life, His peace, His joy and His power! The investment of your life, no matter what the condition of it, brought an incredible return! This principle of tithing is a fantastic tool that God uses to cause blessings in the Church and in individual lives. The investment of your tithe in the kingdom of God will bring incredible return to your life and cause the increase in the kingdom of God.

The first reference to tithing in the Word of God is in Genesis. This is about a man called Abram. (Later, God made a covenant with him and changed his name to Abraham).

Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.

He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah , which is north of Damascus.

So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people.

And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley), after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him.

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.

And he blessed him and said: "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;

And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand. " And he (Abram) gave him a tithe of all.

Genesis 14:14-20

We see here that this man Abram gave Melchizedek, the high priest, ten percent of all his spoils from the victory.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me,

and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on,

"so that I come back to my fathers house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God.

"And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be Gods house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.

Genesis 28:20-22

Here Jacob vowed that he would give the tithe, a tenth, unto the house of the Lord, for everything that God had given him.

We need to first understand that God gives us everything. Did God give you your job? "No, I went out and got that for myself." Wrong! God is working in everything that you do! He organised that job for you you need to understand thatand there's nothing here on earth that was made that was not made by God. So we have to praise and thank God for everything that we have!

God gives to us and Hell use our means of employment or anything else as a channel to bless the work of the Kingdom and us! Our entire life that we live here, is by the grace and the mercy and the love of God! Everything that we have is from Him.

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

John 1:3

Tithing is a kingdom principle.

First of all, let's understand that these Scriptures are about events that took place at least 500 and perhaps up to 700 years before the institution of the Mosaic Law. This is important because some people will say that the tithe is under the Law. And that's done away with now because Christ has redeemed us from the Law. Therefore, we don't have to tithe any more. The truth, however, is that we will find that the tithe existed before the Law, during the Law, and long after the Law. Giving the tithe is a kingdom principle.