February 10, 2017

"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:20-21

Jesus taught on money and materialism more than any other subject. I think we can understand why.

But if I were to summarize or condense all of His teaching into one or two key verses it would be these verses.

If you forget everything else about tithing and stewardship remember this central guiding truth - "Your heart follows your treasure."

So, where is your heart?

"How do I know", you may be thinking?

You can know by looking at your check register.

You can take careful notice as you balance your checkbook.

You can compare your W-2 against your church giving record as you file your taxes.

You can examine your attitude during the Sunday morning offering time.

You can notice the level of tension that arises in you when you hear announcements or read about the upcoming Capital Campaign.

You are aware of a rising level discomfort as the pastor preaches on tithing?

Those are some of the measurable markers to indicate the distance between your money and your heart.

"So, how do I shorten the distance between my treasure and my heart?"

Trust God with more of your treasure.

It's that simple.

It's that difficult.

February 9, 2017

"Give us this day our daily bread......." Matthew 6:11

You are created for God’s pleasure! He made you to be the object of His love and grace! God desires to be known by you and to know you. One way that happens is through prayer.

Therefore, prayer is not a ritual or a religious exercise but a relationship with the Heavenly Father! Like all good Fathers, God delights in providing for His children.

I was blessed by the thought that God desires to relate to us in the “NOW”. Relationships happen in the moment and you must capture those moments to know and be known by God or by your loved ones.

Last night I saw this truth demonstrated in a powerful way in the recent movie “Courageous”. I recommend this movie for everyone but particularly for dads.

The men in this movie, like many of you, were busy making a living and providing for their families and in that process became easily distracted from the very family members they wanted to protect and provide for. So, like you, when they actually came home to be with their families they were physically present but emotionally absent. Like many of you they struggled with switching that mental switch that takes you from “THEN” to “NOW”. A God-given desire to provide and protect your wife and your children and the drive it takes to do that can be the very thing that prevents you from providing them with the emotional connection they desperately crave. Not many things are lonelier than living around the people you love but not giving or receiving that love.

Often it takes something dramatic happening to shock you into the importance of being “THERE’ when you are there. You and I need to be emotionally engaged in the “NOW” with wives and children. Otherwise, you wake up one day to discover you are living with strangers.

What does this have to do with the Lord’s Prayer?

Jesus teaches His disciples – and you – that you should pray for God to help you know Him and trust Him on a daily basis. He is helping them understand the importance of relating to God in the “NOW”. Relationships happen moment by moment. If you miss those moments you miss out on relationship. All relationships.

As in the movie and in your world, what keeps you from enjoying the “NOW” are the pains of the past, the pressures of the day as well as your plans for the future. When you are distracted by your past regrets or future concerns or the demands of the present, it keeps you from enjoying the “NOW”. Life happens in the “NOW”. Love happens in the “NOW”. All of us have missed moments we would love to have back!

One of the truths the Master wants you to get from this teaching on prayer is how to live in the “NOW” by trusting Him for the day and the days to come. One of the messages of “Courageous” is how to seize the moments with your family that shape lives and build love.

Pray the prayer. See the movie. Learn to live in the “NOW”. Start now.

Kingdom Math

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it." Malachi 3:10

If I said to you, "Give me $10 and I will give $100."

You would respond, "Seriously?"

And I assure you, "Yes, I will! Every time!"

Would you take that deal?

Well, don't worry, I'm not offering it I'm just making a point. Any time you can get ten times what you give you need to take that deal. 

I only know one person Who offers that deal, God. Yes, in Kingdom math if you give God 10 He gives you 100.

You may have guessed by now the 10 you give (or bring) is the tithe. It is the first ten percent of any increase you receive and it belongs to God!

When you bring Him the ten percent you become 100 obedient to Him and you get 100 percent of His blessing!

So, you see, in Heavenly mathematics 10 gets you 100!

In addition, when you bring His ten in 100 percent obedience you get His 100% blessing on the remaining 90% you get to keep!

What a deal!

What a God!

Bring that Tithe!

Take that deal!

February 7, 2017

"As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the firstfruits of their grain, new wine, olive oil and honey and all that the fields produced. They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything." II Chronicles 31:5

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it." Malachi 3:10

Hopefully, I have established the Scriptural basis for the priority of the tithe. Here's a quick recap:

1. The tithe belongs to the Lord

2. The tithe is the FIRST tenth of your income

3. The tithe redeems the rest - the 10% blesses the remaining 90%

4. The tithe is either brought to the Lord or it is lost

5. The tithe develops faith since it is presented first

This morning I want to call your attention to something that may surprise you and I give you these two verses for examples. As you read and study the topic of tithing throughout the Scriptures you will notice the absence of one prominent word. What word is that? The missing word is "give"!

There is a sound reason for the neglect of this word. You "bring" the tithe you don't "give" the tithe. 

Let me illustrate with this scenario. Suppose you are going to be out of town for a couple of weeks and my car is in the shop for some repairs. I come to you and ask if you would be so kind as to loan me your car while you are out of town.

You graciously agree to loan me your car if I agree to take you to the airport and then come to pick you up on your return. We seal the deal with a handshake and I get you the the airport, use your car with great care and look toward the day I will come to get you at the airport.

The days arrives that you return and I am there awaiting you at the arrival lane. We load you up and head toward home. All the way home I enjoy hearing about your trip. When we get back home I turn to you and offer you the keys saying, "Take these! Barbara and I have been praying and I both feel strongly that God wants us to give you this this vehicle. Please receive it with our blessing! We won't take no for an answer!"

You stare at me in unbelief for several seconds before asserting, "But, Brad, it's my car!"

"Exactly!" I respond, "And we both want you be blessed with it!" And as I thrust the keys toward you I reiterate, "Please, take these and enjoy!"

By this time you are ready to humor me and as you take the keys you mutter, "You can't give me this car it's already mine!"

And you are right! I can't give you what already belongs to you! I can bring it but I can't give it!

As ridiculous as this scene may be it is repeated countless times as Christians try to "give" God what already belongs to Him. They can "bring" it to Him but they can't actually "give" it to Him.

You may be thinking, "Come on, Brad! You're being picky! That's just a matter of semantics!"

Maybe, but maybe not. If you bring your tithe thinking that it belongs to you and you're "giving it" that matters!

Think about it!

Do you "give" or do you "bring"?

February 6, 2017

^“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.”  Revelation 12:10

I found this today in one of the regular pastoral leadership emails I receive. In my experience one of the things that prevent us from receiving the love of God is when we believe the lies of the evil one. Here, Steve Furtick wisely reminds us not to buy into the half-truths of the Accuser but believe the truth of God’s Word.

As you navigate the story that is unfolding in your life, you’ll be quick to find that discouragement is everywhere. It seems that the harder you run after God, the harder the devil is going to try to prevent you from getting where you’re going. And all he really has to do to trip us up is drop one little hint of discouragement in our ears.

You’re unworthy.

You’re a terrible father. (mother, spouse, Christian, etc.)

You’ll never be any better than this.

He’s said it to me and I know that he’s said it to you. The worst part is, the devil doesn’t necessarily speak in complete lies. He gives us half-truths with just enough reality to hit us between the eyes. But here’s an easy way that you can overcome those conniving schemes:

Finish the devil’s sermons.

It’s simple. The devil is only giving you half of the truth—give him the other half. Yes, I am unworthy. I am absolutely nothing without Christ. But thankfully, He died so that I may become a new creation, void of you and full of the purpose that He has for my life.

No, I may not be a perfect father, but I am loved unconditionally by a perfect father who breathed the stars yet knows the number of hairs on my head. And He’s making me more like Him every day.

You’re right. On my own accord, I can’t do any better than this. But I am not doing this by myself—I serve the LORD, who is able to do immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine.

You don’t have to be Charles Spurgeon to preach the devil out of your life. The name of Jesus alone is enough to send your enemy running for the hills.

The devil will always try to show you the downside of your story. Make him pay. Show him who Jesus says you are.

 

 

 

February 5, 2017

“In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons." Exodus 13:14-15

Learning to give God the first of all your increase is a practice that will bless your life in every conceivable way!

Giving the tithe of your first increase will redeem the remaining amount!

But perhaps the greatest benefit of tithing is mentioned in the verses above and that is the positive influence your faithful tithing will have on your children.

In this closing section of God's giving instructions to His people through Moses, He assures them there will come a time when their children will ask them why they sacrifice the firstborn from their flocks. Imagine it happening like this:

A son says to his dad, "Dad, I have to ask you. Why is it that you slaughter our firstborn from our flocks? You do know we are in the ranching business, right? And this habit of yours is costing us money every time you offer one of them as a sacrifice. You do know that, right Dad?"

At that moment, the father is to say, "Son, please have a seat. There is something I have never told you and now is the time. You see, Son, there was a time when we were slaves in Egypt and we had nothing. In fact, we had less than nothing because we worked dawn to dusk in the blistering heat without pay under the cruel hand of the Egyptian taskmasters.  

And then, after we had cried out to God He sent His servant Moses to deliver us from Pharaoh. By His mighty hand He killed all the firstborn in Egypt and Pharaoh sent us away and Moses led us into a good place. By His blessing we enjoy all that we have today!

So, you see Son, I gladly give of our firstborn to honor a God like that!

Likewise, as you are faithful in giving God the first tenth of your increase, there will come a time when your son will see you writing a check and ask you, "Dad, why do you give such a large amount of money to the church? Couldn't we use that money for other things?"

At that moment you can set your son down and say, "Son, there is something I have never told you. You see, your dad hasn't always been a Christian. There was a time when I was lost and hopeless and in bondage. But God with a mighty hand saved me and set me free! He led me to a good place in life! He has blessed me and filled me with joy and purpose and given me a glorious hope! So, you see, Son, I gladly bring God the tithe He desires!"

Imagine what a profound impact that will have on your son! And imagine the horizons of blessings that will begin to open up in his life as he discovers the joy of bringing God's tithe to Him!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

February 4, 2017

"Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast." Genesis 4:2-5

Has it ever bothered you that God accepted Abel's sacrifice but rejected Cain's offering?

Does it seem unfair?

If it seems unfair to you it's because the story is unclear to you.

Cain was Adam and Eve's firstborn son and Abel was his little brother.

Because of the rebellious sin of their father and mother it became necessary for these sons to struggle to make a living off the land.

Cain became a tiller of the ground while Abel raised livestock. So, Cain was a farmer while Abel was a rancher.

When the season came for birthing Abel took his first born male animal and offered it as a sacrifice to God. God received Abel's sacrifice!

As Cain's crops ripened, he harvested the grain and brought an offering to the Lord. But God did not receive Cain's offering and Cain brooded over Gods rejection and rebuke. The more he sulked the angrier he became until he became enraged and murdered his little brother.

Understanding why God received Abel's offering but rejected Cain's offering is to understand the significance of the tithe.

A key word in this story is "firstborn". Abel brought the firstborn from his flock. He understood that the firstborn belonged to the Lord and he worshiped God by sacrificing the firstborn from his flock.

Because Abel offered the Lord an acceptable sacrifice God had no choice but to accept his offering.

When it comes to Cain, the key phrase is "in the course of time" and also, "some of the fruits of his soil".

While Abel brought the firstborn of his flocks as soon as it was born, Cain waited and brought an offering from the end of his harvest. Essentially, Cain gave God his leftovers.

God, because of His nature, was unable to receive Cain's leftovers. He deserves and demands our first and our best. That was not what Cain brought.

From this very first recorded instance of the tithe, we learn all that we need to know about the tithe. We are to bring God our first and our best because it belongs to Him in the first place, but also until we are willing to offer God our best He isn't really your God. And we give God our best because it turns our hearts toward Him. As Jesus said, "Where your treasure is there will your heart be also."

When it comes to giving are you a Cain or an Abel?

Do you give to God when it is convenient or when you can afford it?

Or, like Abel, do you bring your first portion on the first day as an act of worship and gratitude?

Tithing is giving of your firstborn on the first day. Tithing is a recognition that the tithe belongs to God and you gladly offer it to Him.