156 - Offering Under the New Covenant Grace#
156 - Offering Under the New Covenant Grace
(JP Text Group - Beautiful Compilation)
In Genesis 2:16-17 of the Old Testament,
Let's read together:
The Lord God commanded him, saying, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
Let's take a moment to pray together:
Heavenly Father, we especially thank and praise You! Thank You for giving us this time to gather here once again to share Your Word! We believe that when Your Word is opened, it brings forth light, and we will emit the fragrance of Christ, for today we know that in Christ, we know that You love us! You desire to renew us with Your Word, allowing us to know You more through Your Word.
We completely surrender the following time to the Holy Spirit; please help each of us to work personally in our hearts, letting us set aside our original thoughts and solely come to know You! Thank You and praise You, Lord! In the name of our Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen!
In John 10:10, Jesus once said:
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly! Amen!
So tell the person next to you, God wants you to have more abundantly! This passage tells us a very important blessing from God, when you accept Jesus, you already possess the life of Jesus. Christians can exist in two different states of life: one is merely having life; the other is having abundant life! Hallelujah!
So I wish that the brothers and sisters in our church possess that abundant life. Therefore, we need to know Jesus more abundantly through His Word. Over the years of believing in the Lord, there are actually three areas where the devil has been doing destructive things; he has been stealing; he has been killing. He distorts many things that are very beneficial to you, allowing you to obtain abundant life, and after the distortion, you find many Christians start to become powerless, merely having life but lacking that abundant life. Where does the problem lie?
The three major areas: the first is speaking in tongues. In many churches, it is said that speaking in tongues is heresy, that speaking in tongues has ceased, and that one should not speak in tongues; many people are very loud in their opposition. Do you know who is most afraid of speaking in tongues?
Why is the devil afraid? Wow...
This church is truly remarkable, truly correct.
It's like two people conversing in a secret language that others cannot understand; the devil is beside them, anxious and jumping around! He says, "What are they saying? Why can't I understand?" Right? Speaking in tongues is one way for us to receive more abundance, in which aspect is it more abundant? It makes your relationship with God closer.
I used to pray with understanding for an hour and then ran out of words, finding myself repeating. Now I find that when I pray in tongues, it’s different; now I can pray for 2 hours, 3 hours, and the more I pray, the more comfortable I feel; that is merely a manifestation of abundant life, Hallelujah!
The second is that a powerful weapon has been taken away, destroyed, and stolen. The devil has made it seem powerless, which is the Holy Communion, right? In many places, what has Holy Communion been turned into? A curse; be careful, if your sins are not fully confessed, eating it will make you weak, sick, or even die.
It seems like it is always speaking for the devil, right? So is Holy Communion a powerful weapon? It allows you to have a more abundant life, in which aspect? Health. Right, brothers and sisters? Health. So through Holy Communion, you will receive Christ's more abundant life, which is health. Two aspects of health: First, physical health; second, mental health.
So if you feel fear, worry, or pressure, come to the Lord's table and meditate on Jesus Christ, and the burdens and pressures inside will disappear. If you have a disease in your body, what should you do? When you receive the Holy Communion and take this bread, remember the healing power of the Lord Jesus, and your body will be healed. So in a word, what does Holy Communion bring you? The blessing of health. A Christian should live healthier than others; are these two points good? But we are not discussing this tonight; we are discussing the third one.
The third is offering. Another sensitive topic, right? Especially when talking about offerings in church, the eyes below light up, and those who were sleepy are no longer sleepy, leaning in to hear what is being said. You know that mentioning offerings is sensitive; in fact, it is again the devil's trick, because God has placed these three things in our lives to benefit you.
Please remember: The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy; Jesus has come to give you life, and He now wants to give you a more abundant life! If you want a breakthrough in your finances, I say it is a breakthrough, a life of abundance, right? You have already received God's blessing; isn't eating and drinking already resolved?
Some say, "I want a more abundant life." Congratulations! You came to the right place tonight! The blessing of abundance in finances, the more abundant blessing in finances is to come through offerings. Some say, "Teacher Ren, if you say this, it sounds a bit legalistic, right? Do we only get blessed if we offer to God?" I just said, God is already blessing you! If you want to obtain more abundance, you can do it through this way, Amen!
Just like speaking in tongues and Holy Communion are different, right? God has already given you this blessing; if you want a closer relationship with God, you can do it through speaking in tongues. You say, "I am already healthy; I want to be healthier and stronger!" Okay? The Holy Communion is ready. You say, "I want to be a blessing to my city, my family, and my friends." God will bless you, Hallelujah!
In Genesis, God clearly tells us what kind of God He is, as we just read, right? **The Lord God commanded him, saying, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest" what? "freely" means? "Eat" as you wish, and what else? Wow...
So you need to meditate on what abundant life means. There are many people today who can eat as they wish, do you believe it? But there are also many who cannot digest after eating, and many who show symptoms after eating. Some people are allergic as soon as they eat something; can they eat? Yes, they can eat, but they will be allergic. Didn't we just say that? So they choose not to eat. Was there such a situation back then?
Did God say to Adam, "Don't eat, you will be allergic"? Was there such a restriction? So what kind of life did they have at that time? An abundant life, Amen! At the beginning, God gave us an abundant life; God wants you to know that He is a generous and gracious God, and that after you eat, there are no side effects, right? It’s not that after eating, you have indigestion and need to buy medicine; it’s not that troublesome.
Because you can eat freely, there is no problem, Amen! And you don't have to worry about whether you will grow back after eating, because the supply is always there, Hallelujah! So you will see that at that time in the Garden of Eden, our ancestor Adam, the blessings God gave him were incredibly abundant! God said one thing at that time: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
Now, let’s share the first point: Offering a Tithe in Faith
Actually, many people talk about tithing in other aspects; I want to share with you the differences of tithing under grace. So God said: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat: but of the other trees of the garden thou mayest freely eat." Right? He has a restriction, which is that tree's fruit you should not eat. So why did God not allow them to eat from that tree? Some say if they eat, they will surely die, that's correct.
Why did God put such a thing here? Today, do you know how many people complain about God? If God had not placed that tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden, would we be suffering so much today? Would we not complain about God? But the Bible clearly states that everything God created is what? Was there not a tree of knowledge of good and evil at that time?
Don't say that everything God created is good, and then He created another tree; it’s not like that, right? It was already there. So everything is good; for us, it is all good. Why did God place it here? Actually, it’s very simple; does the fruit of that tree really have any special function? No.
It may not even taste better than the other trees; do you believe it? It’s really like that. After eating, look at how much regret Adam had! What is better than this? That's right, it’s the fruit of the tree of life, but he didn’t see it, so the fruit of this tree does not necessarily look better than the other trees; it merely represents God's sovereignty and your respect for Him. Do you understand?
Brothers and sisters, this means that when Adam saw this tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden, it reminded him of one thing: everything else I can eat freely, and I will have no problem at all because this is given to me by God. This tree represents that everything else is blessed by God. If there were no tree, people would forget God's grace; they would not know where this blessing comes from, and they would not know that everything today is given by God!
Some say, "Teacher Ren, you are being too absolute." If you don’t believe it, you can ask those around you who do not believe in Jesus. You tell them, "Do you know? Your salary now is a blessing from God." Do you know what they would say? "You’re crazy; this is clearly what I earned through hard work; how can you say it’s from God? Are you kidding?" If you say to a non-believer, "You should pray before eating because this food is given by God," what would they say? "You’re crazy," right? Isn’t that the case?
Why do they not acknowledge that it is given by God? That’s right; they have no basis to feel that this is given by God. So when the tree of knowledge of good and evil was placed in the garden, when he saw this tree, he remembered that everything else was given to him freely by God. If you do not eat from that tree, you will always have more than enough, abundant, Amen!
Unfortunately, Adam did one thing; he ate from it, and eating from it means you can no longer see that it is God blessing you! You have to rely on yourself now. The tree itself has nothing special; it’s just that after you eat, you choose another path, which is to rely on yourself.
So today, if you are not in Jesus Christ and do not know the blessing of tithing, you will rely on yourself. Today, it’s not that if you believe in Jesus, you won’t rely on yourself; you still will, especially in finances. After this month's salary comes in, you first deal with the children's school expenses, then the average monthly expenses, and then you will plan whether to buy a piece of clothing, right? Why do you plan like this first? Because you are worried that if you do not plan the other fixed expenses well, you will not dare to spend freely later, because you do not know the abundant life.
So you rely on yourself to budget carefully; you think about how to maintain it without lack. This is how people are now; it’s not that just because you believe today, you won’t do this; many people still do this today. But Jesus does not want you to live like this, Amen! He wants you to rely on that abundant grace!
So many times, when we rely on ourselves, we cannot see God's provision, and this is the problem many people are facing now because humanity has violated the original principle of God's blessing. So if you say, "Yes, my finances are very tight," you really need to return to the Bible and see how God wants to bless you.
If it were me, I would want to return to the way of life before Adam sinned; wouldn’t you want that? If given a choice, you would say, "This time, I would rather die than listen to the serpent," right? You would all choose this. In fact, you already have the opportunity; you can live in Christ in a way that Christ blesses you.
This way is the same as the way Adam was blessed at the beginning; God took one thing out and said, "Do not eat this; you will see that everything else is abundant and can be eaten freely because I will provide!" You see, after Adam ate from this, would that apple tree produce abundant fruit by itself?
Everyone understands that you must water it, fertilize it, remove pests, and prune it, right? If you let it grow freely, it will not be good. But in the Garden of Eden, didn’t it bear fruit in due season? Who was managing it? That’s right, so today if you want your finances to break through, then God wants to manage your finances. When God manages, what should you do?
You should not let go; if you let go, it will fall; you should offer it, right? God does not want all of it. Please remember, God will not say, "You earned five thousand this month; give it all," then you should really worry. God knows we are sensitive in this area, so God says, "Do not think like that; I am not that kind of God. Thank the Lord!"
Let’s look at another thing: Before Adam sinned, that is, before he ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, was his IQ not very high? Wow, how high was Adam's IQ at that time? High to what extent? God gave him a task to name the animals, and he could not repeat the names, right? Like our computers today, such smart computers are labeled A1, A2, A3, A4... they are not numbered, right? Why are they not numbered? Because there would be repetitions, right?
How many people in this city have the same name? Isn’t it a lot? Why are there repetitions? Our wisdom is not enough, right? But Adam was not like this at that time; he named all the animals, giving different names to various animals, right? For example, when a donkey came, he saw its stubborn temperament and named it a donkey. He quickly named many animals.
If you were to do this, could you remember who is named what the next day? If you think you can, you can name everyone here and see if you remember tomorrow; you definitely wouldn’t remember, right? Why is that? Because after he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he not only had to rely on himself for finances, but he also lost his wisdom!
Today, there are many medical studies conducted by brain analysis experts abroad that show that to this day, the smartest person—Einstein—used less than 13% of his brain; ordinary people use about 7%-10%. Do you think this is a matter of tithing? If you do not eat from that tree, do not rely on your own wisdom, but solely rely on the wisdom of the Lord, you will possess 100% wisdom! But after you eat from that tree, you are left with 10%-9%, isn’t it all sealed? Isn’t it, brothers and sisters?
But today there is a way to unlock it, which is to return what belongs to God to God, and God will reopen the remaining 90%! Hallelujah!
Let me share a testimony with you; do you know Newton? Newton is a person whose mind was opened, right? Why do I say this? How many people have been hit by an apple? Why did Newton think differently? His mind was "bang" opened by the apple, and that 90% was activated, right? When others are hit, what is their first reaction? Pain, right? And what else? "What bad luck!" This is the thought of someone who has eaten from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, someone who relies on themselves.
Yesterday, didn’t we share that we need to have the thoughts of Jesus Christ, right? Newton was "bang" hit by the apple and suddenly woke up; why does this apple fall to the ground instead of flying up? Isn’t there a peculiar force? As a result, he discovered the law of gravity and became famous overnight, Amen!
So many times, we think bad things; once your wisdom is opened, it’s incredible! Isn’t it? So you can also follow this principle in your offerings; in fact, God’s ways are the same, if you want to have a more abundant life in any aspect, you should offer that aspect to God.
Some say, "I want my body to be healthier." Then you should offer yourself to God, Amen! It doesn’t mean you have to be full-time in church every day; it means every day in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, "My body belongs to Jesus Christ; the Holy Spirit dwells within me!" But that’s not what I want to talk about tonight; what I want to discuss with you is finances. Isn’t it that many people want breakthroughs in finances?
Here we have already been given the method; please remember, God does not want your money; He wants to make you a rich and more abundant life through this! Amen! In other words, when God asks you to tithe, the purpose is still for you! Amen! God did not want Adam to eat that fruit for Adam's sake! He did not want him to rely on himself; it’s that simple, brothers and sisters!
There is a very wise man in the Bible named Solomon; Solomon was a generous sacrificer, right? Wow, he offered so many sacrifices. That night he fell asleep, and then in a dream, God asked him, "What do you want?" Solomon said, "I want wisdom." God said, "Okay, I will give you wisdom, and I will also give you wealth and honor." Did He not give him everything?
Today, many people do not seek this; they just say, "I need to pray like Solomon." What did Solomon do before he prayed? That’s right! He offered sacrifices! So today, brothers and sisters, we know that the sin offering is Jesus Christ, right? So when you want to have an abundant life in finances, offer your finances to God, and God will bless you! He will give you wisdom like Solomon, produce wealth, and bring glory, Amen!
Let’s look at a passage of scripture, Genesis 14:18-20. We want to tell everyone that tithing is absolutely not the law, Amen! What is the characteristic of the law? If you do not obey, you will be cursed. So tithing is not under a curse; it is not under the law because at the time of Abraham, the law had not yet appeared, right? The Ten Commandments had not yet appeared.
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, "Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth."
In fact, Melchizedek was reminding Abraham, "Do you know where your victory comes from? It is God who has delivered your enemies into your hand; it is God who has blessed you, Amen!" Today, we apply this principle to our tithing; do you know where your wealth comes from? It is God who blesses you; it is God who has placed finances in your hands, Amen!
Abraham was very wise, very intelligent, so after he heard this, Abram gave Melchizedek a tithe of all. Amen! Brothers and sisters, this is a channel of blessing. Some say, "What does this have to do with me?"
No one forced Abraham; he willingly did it. What did this action bring to Abraham? First, Abraham knew one thing: "I can win today because God is helping me; I can be prosperous today because God is blessing me," right? You also need to have this concept in your heart, and then there is another verse that relates to you, in Romans 4:13 it says:
For the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
Here is a very important thing, which is that God promised Abraham and his seed, who does that refer to? You and me. The words of blessing from God in the Bible are all for you and me; God promised Abraham and his seed, and that seed refers to me! Right? Otherwise, what’s the use of saying so much? It has nothing to do with us, right?
Today, God blesses Abraham like this to let you know that you can also have such blessings, so God promised Abraham and his seed that they would inherit the world. You can say that his seed refers to Jesus Christ; you are not wrong; Jesus is also his seed, but Jesus has given you everything today, right? So God promised Abraham and his seed that they would inherit the world.
Brothers and sisters, what does inheriting the world mean?
Let me give you an example: Do you know there are abundant blessings in God? All kinds of blessings: health, ability, authority, and wealth are all in God, right? In fact, at this moment, you should be able to imagine that this blessing is above you, isn’t it always in operation? But now it still has nothing to do with you until you say: Amen!
Then something happens; do you know what it is? This blessing "pang" falls on your head! To inherit means to carry it on your back, right? When you say, "Yes, I believe that the promise God made to Abraham and his seed refers to me; I will inherit this world," that blessing "pang" presses down on you! This is what we call being hit by God's grace unexpectedly, do you understand?
You say, "I was unexpectedly hit by God's blessing of wealth." Wow, at this moment, do you not see it? Suddenly your business starts to boom; your relationships start to improve; thus, you gain a lot of wealth.
The Bible clearly states in Genesis 13:2, And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. Amen! What does "very rich" mean? Very much, right, brothers and sisters? God blessed Abram with cattle, silver, and gold that were very much, so after you become Abraham's seed, you are remarkable!
God also wants your cattle, silver, and gold (referring to your possessions) to be very much. If you are in the hot pot business, that hot pot is your possession, and that hot pot business will be very good.
For example, cattle are what you use to breed and bring you wealth; everything you do will be very much, Amen! So first, you need to know that you are prosperous because it is through faith that you receive righteousness, brothers and sisters. You inherit this blessing not because you did something...
Striving to obey the law, but because you believe, you become righteous, so God wants to give you this blessing. Simply put, you first need to have a mindset of abundance; you must first know that you are abundant. Many people are very wealthy but are still poor; have you ever seen such people? It seems we have all seen such things.
Let me tell you a story from my personal experience. There is an old lady living next to us; her son is very wealthy. She has three sons, all of whom are very wealthy. Two are civil servants, and both are high-ranking civil servants. The other son used to be in real estate and specially built a villa for the old lady to live in. Then, there are several servants, and they have bought cars for her, but I cannot drive. They just let it sit there and look at it. The children said, "Just let it sit there." And you know what the old lady does every day?
Every day she walks around outside and looks for mineral water bottles in the trash can, then steps on them with her foot, puts them in her pocket, and takes them home, placing them behind the door of the villa. Her son says, "Mom, what are you doing?" She says, "I don’t know why; I just want to take it when I see it."
Brothers and sisters, what kind of mentality is this? A beggar's mentality. She does not realize that she is already someone who has everything; she always sees those worthless bottles. In fact, she has forgotten her identity, right? So she also does not easily give to others because she always takes things home, so in the end, her son really couldn’t take it anymore. This is the mentality of a beggar; many Christians today live like this; they do not know they are abundant, so they still rely on themselves, working hard... accumulating a lot of things that seem to be waste and worthless.
So first, we need to know that you are Abraham's seed; you are to inherit this world. God has already prepared everything; you first need to know that God has prepared everything for you, and then you can receive it, right? Abraham knew the secret, so when he tithed, it was not that God forced him to do it; he knew, I am abundant; I know that the blessing is given by God. Amen!
When you give an offering, it is not because you want to gain some blessing through the offering; it is because you know that Jesus became poor on the cross, and you have already become rich. First, have a mindset of abundance, and then enjoy that state of abundance, Amen! If you do not have this heart, even if you have this blessing, you will not see it, so this is very important, brothers and sisters! Many people say, "I am afraid; I worry that my finances are not enough." In fact, it is not like that; when you are willing to believe that God is taking responsibility for you, God will let you see the results of what you believe, Amen!
When we offer in church, please remember, you are already a prosperous person; first, believe this, and then do it. But if you do not feel prosperous, then good, pray first, do not act yet; remember! You must first recognize your identity as a righteous person before you act, Amen!
The second point we want to share: Offering is to acknowledge that God is the source of your blessings.
Since Jesus went to the cross, God will no longer accuse you of sin; He always points you to Jesus Christ. This does not mean we do not need to think anymore; it means there are some principled things we do, and this is the principle of God's blessing. Do you remember one time when Jesus preached all day, and in the evening, His disciples began to remind Jesus not to preach anymore because it was getting dark, and they should send the people home quickly because the road is long? The disciples were very considerate; there was nothing to eat in the wilderness.
Jesus said, "You give them something to eat." At this time, a clever disciple who could calculate said, "Lord, even if we buy 30 pieces of silver worth of bread, it would not be enough." Isn’t that a clear calculation? Did Jesus calculate? So do not calculate for yourself; the more you calculate, the less you will have; no matter how you calculate, it will not be enough, right? At this time, Jesus said, "What do you have?"
What did they do? A little boy had five loaves and two fish; Jesus said, "Bring them here!" This is a very important point; the courage of this little boy to bring it out is significant, and then he gave it to Jesus. What did Jesus do? Did Jesus eat it all? He ate it; the little boy would cry. Did Jesus do this? So please remember, brothers and sisters, what you offer to God, God will absolutely not eat it!
Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them, and then gave them to the disciples, and the disciples distributed them to the people, and everyone ate and was filled. Hallelujah! This is the blessing of Jesus!
So when you put your tithe in the church, and then the pastor blesses it and distributes it to everyone, isn’t it that everyone has a free lunch? Distributed to everyone, and as a result, everyone was filled, and all the church's expenses were covered, Hallelujah! So this is the principle of God's blessing. In fact, at that time, Jesus could have said, "Father in heaven, now everyone is full; can I say this?" Did He have that ability?
Then everyone said they were full and did not need to eat anymore. Why didn’t Jesus do that? It’s actually very simple; this is the law of God's blessing, Amen! In fact, there is a somewhat inappropriate analogy, but you can use it as a reference. When you place your offering in the hands of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus will not eat it; He will shake it in His hands, make a blessing, and then return it to you, 30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold! Because He always wants you to benefit! Hallelujah!
So through the tithe, we express, "Jesus, You are my wealth supply; You are my wealth guardian," Amen! When problems arise, you still believe, "Lord Jesus, You are my provider; thank You and praise You, Lord!"
Generally, many times, we say, "Lord, bless me; I do not have enough money; can I give You an offering?" It seems like we are starting to negotiate with Jesus. In fact, at that time, you should remember that Jesus says, "I do not want your money; you must first know that you are a prosperous person because I have made you rich on the cross," Hallelujah!
Now, let’s look at a passage of scripture, Deuteronomy 18:4, which mentions: "The first of the firstfruits of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thy oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him." Amen!
This "him" refers to the priest, right, brothers and sisters? So who is our priest today? Jesus is our priest, which means the first of the firstfruits of your corn, wine, and oil. Why is it the firstfruits? The firstfruits are the first to ripen. The first to ripen is not necessarily the best; can you understand?
The first to ripen is not necessarily the best, but the first represents what you place in priority; it shows who you think of first. Isn’t that right? If you have something delicious at home, you first think of your child, then it proves that the child is in the first place in your heart. So when you see this firstfruits, the first thing I want to offer to the Lord, at this moment, proves that Jesus indeed lets you know He is your provider; He is the source of your blessings; this is what God delights in, not how much that thing is worth, Amen!
So understanding this principle is extremely important for us. Now many churches in China live in poverty; the first reason is that they do not believe that God is the source of blessings. Although they shout this slogan, they are unwilling to follow this principle.
Some are like this; when they arrive at church and see others offering, they touch, touch, touch, and finally take out a dollar and throw it in. This action actually shows that God does not want your money; what do you want that money for? Isn’t it? Because when you do this, it truly represents that you are a poor person, doesn’t it? If you know you are prosperous, you would not do this; you would say, "Lord, I know I am already prosperous, so everything I have is being watched over by You," Hallelujah!
God's principle is that when you give your tithe to God, God will take responsibility for the remaining nine-tenths. Just like we talked about at the beginning, Adam was in the Garden of Eden; if you do not touch that one-tenth, God will take responsibility for the remaining nine-tenths. "Ten" in the Bible means a complete number; you need to know that everything you have is God's. When you offer that one part to God, God will take responsibility for the remaining part!
You are declaring through the tithe: "God is the source of the blessings in your life!" So I do not hope everyone comes to church saying, "Oh, this church needs money, so I need to contribute a little." Do not have such thoughts; if you have such thoughts, do not do it. When you give your tithe, you say, "Lord Jesus, I know You are the source of my financial blessings, so I offer it," Amen! Then put it in; yes, You are my source of blessings. Following this principle is enough, and then do it. If you still do not dare, then good, stop first and pray about this matter!
Romans 11:16, "For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches."
So you see, there is a very important point; the firstfruit offered, God does not want all of it, right? He only wants a part of it. So if this wheat is ripe, what will the Israelites do? They will take the first sheaf that is cut and wave it before God, and then offer it to God. Do you know what the consequence of doing this is? This consequence is incredible; when you do this, in God's eyes, it is equivalent to saying that you let Him bless the other nine parts; you let Him take care of the remaining part, Amen!
Miracles will appear, just like the Bible says, the flour will not run out; the oil will not stop flowing, Hallelujah! That is the situation! So we see, if the firstfruit offered is holy, holy means set apart, Amen! You take this ten parts, which is complete, right? Then divide it into ten parts and take one part to give to God; God considers the remaining part as also set apart. Amen!
For example, this stool here, has it not already been set apart? After you pray for this stool, God considers all the stools as set apart! Set apart for God, Hallelujah! So in your home, it is also the same principle; when you offer one-tenth to God, God sees the remaining nine parts as also belonging to Him. But still, who is holding it? Wow, this is the channel of blessing; do you see it?
God sees that everything is in His blessing, but this blessing is in your hands; this is what I just said about inheriting the world. You are holding God's blessing; this is incredible, brothers and sisters!
Many times, people do not understand this and rely on themselves, and you find it is really tiring, because it says, "If the root be holy, so are the branches." In fact, it is the same; when we offer one-tenth to God, God will take full responsibility for the remaining part, just like in the beginning in the Garden of Eden; if you do not touch that one-tenth, what kind of blessing does God give you?
You can eat freely; please remember, that is an endless supply, right? Isn’t that the kind of blessing? Eating freely means you can eat as much as you want; you will never finish it because God keeps blessing, keeps blessing, as long as you do not touch that part, because this is like the seed of flour, constantly growing, growing, growing... Amen!
But if you eat that seed, it is gone; this is actually a spiritual blessing. When we offer this to God, God continually blesses the remaining part, allowing you to truly manage your finances like Adam, Hallelujah! So now, if you have not yet set apart your finances as holy, I suggest you try it; it’s okay; God will not blame you for this promise!
We share the third point: Everything belongs to God; we thank Him through our offerings.
1 Chronicles 29:13-14, let’s read together,
"Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." Amen!
Isn’t David very wise? Wasn’t David very wealthy? Wow, his son does not have to worry about anything; he inherited everything, right? So if you can be as wise as David, you won’t even have to worry about your children’s problems; this is God’s blessing, isn’t it? David faced God with this mindset throughout his life; he said, "Who am I? My God, who am I? That I can so willingly offer to God, because they all have one mindset, what is it?"
All things come from You; I am just giving back a little of what You have given me. Isn’t that the kind of heart? But God says, "Wow, you understand me so well; then I will give you more; if I do not give you, I will feel uncomfortable; I’m just joking."
Let me give you a real-life example; for instance, if you give your child ten candies, which are his favorite candies, when you give them to him, do you ever think of asking for them back? No, right? You give them to him to let him eat, right? But if this child takes them and does not eat them immediately but takes one out and says, "Mom, you eat first." Do you know what you will think in your heart? You will say, "I will buy you more!" Isn’t that the meaning? It’s not about how much this candy is worth or that this candy is better than other candies; it’s because of this heart; he knows it is given by you! And not something he earned through his own efforts, Amen!
So we also need to have this heart when we offer before God, saying, "Lord, You have given me so much; I take out one-tenth to offer to You!" God says, "I will give you more!" Simple, isn’t it? Unfortunately, this truth has been deceived by the devil; many times we feel, "Oh, I can’t go; I can’t go; believing in Jesus means I have to pay money; the more I give, the poorer I get," but this is all deception from the devil, you know?
We must understand these three aspects clearly and live according to this principle. The first two are not enough; the first tells us we have an intimate relationship with God; the second is Holy Communion, which gives you a healthy body, right? Mental health; physical health. But without the third, it is also not enough, and Christians are healthy; they have an intimate relationship with God, but without money, we exist like that in the world, so the third is also extremely important.
The devil does not want you to understand these three great mysteries; he always wants to use all means to take away your glory, so he says, "Do not offer; this church only wants money," but in fact, it is for your benefit! Hallelujah! David knew this; David knew that everything belongs to God, so he was willing to take what God gave him and offer a little back to God. Do you know what happens after you offer to God? God will bless you; how will He bless you? Let’s look at a passage of scripture, Malachi 3:10-12, let’s read together:
"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. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts." Amen!
This blessing is incredible; don’t you all want this? Let me first analyze what this passage of scripture is saying; many people do not understand. You see, it says at the beginning, "You have robbed God of the tithes," and because you have robbed God of the offerings, curses have come upon you. This is because the Israelites chose to rely on themselves, so they lived under self and under the law, and the law was cursing them. Do you know when the Israelites were most lacking?
God established a system for them, which is the priesthood system, right? God let the other tribes give a tithe to the Levites, and the Levites did not have to work; what did they do? They served God full-time, right? Then what did the Levites do for the other tribes? They blessed them. Then they offered, and the Levites blessed them, which became a virtuous cycle of blessings, right?
One day, suddenly the Israelites became smart; they saw that this group of Levites was too easy to receive this blessing, so they decided not to give to them anymore. So the Israelites stopped giving tribute to the Levites and let them find work themselves. So for a while, during the time of the judges, do you remember? The priests, the Levites, went around looking for work; whoever had money could hire a priest, saying, "Come be my priest; I have money to feed you."
At that time, what state were the Israelites in? Were they not often in chaos? And they also had foreign enemies invading; why was it not like that before? Today, under this system, you are under the principle of God's blessing, Hallelujah! If we deviate from this principle, we rely on ourselves and live in chaos; we want to work hard but find it still does not work.
How painful it was for the Israelites at that time; they were often invaded by foreign enemies, and the destroyer, the devourer, came and swallowed their possessions; he swallowed their children, and they could not sleep peacefully at night. But you see, when this priesthood system was functioning normally, God was their protection; the priests were their blessing, right?
In fact, the priests extended their hands and blessed them with God's authority; how good is that? What a smooth way! But they were unwilling to do this, and as a result, curses came upon them. Later, God truly hoped they would be blessed. So the Lord of hosts said, do you know why it is called the Lord of hosts?
It represents that God is powerful; I already have such great authority; why do I tell you this? Because it is the Lord of hosts who says, "You shall bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house." Amen!
Isn’t the church our home? So let this home have food to distribute to everyone! If your church is prosperous, and everything is normal, doesn’t it return to that priesthood system? Wow, everything is good; everything you do has a pastor blessing you; you also bless yourself; everything is under God's blessing. What a beautiful kingdom this is!
It says here, "Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven." After God opens the windows, what does He do? It says here, "Pour out a blessing upon you!" What does "pour out a blessing" mean? That’s right, it means to pour down! What does "there shall not be room enough to receive it" mean? It means to such an extent that you have to give to others because you yourself have no room to contain it! Hallelujah!
It goes on to say, "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes." What does the devourer mean in the original language? The devourer; do you remember what John 10:10 says?
The devil comes to do what? Steal, destroy, and kill, right? He will rebuke that devourer; God will stop him, Amen! If you find that in your life, you are often being consumed by something, for example, you find that your finances are always not enough; your children often get sick; or there are always problems at home, isn’t it that you are being swallowed by the devourer? How do you stop all this? It’s simple; you offer your tithe to God, let God take responsibility for the remaining part, and then God will rebuke the devourer, not allowing them to destroy your produce, Amen! Hallelujah!
Well, it also says, "Neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field." What does this mean? Everything you do will not wither before it ripens; it will not fall before it is ready, Amen! Everything you do in business will be preserved by God. Then there is another blessing; there are too many blessings, and time is limited.
To put it simply, the Lord of hosts says, God keeps repeating Himself; it’s not me saying it, Amen! The Lord of hosts says, "All nations shall call you blessed." What does it mean? Why will all nations call you blessed? Because they see God's abundant blessing upon you!
It is not God calling you blessed; it is all nations, other unbelievers, who will also see God's blessing upon you and say, "Because your land shall be a delightsome land," God not only makes you abundant in finances but also makes your heart joyful. This is what the Bible says, "The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it!" Hallelujah! Glory be to our God!!