God’s Promise is Basic Provision
If Jesus is Lord, and we are under a better covenant based upon better promises, then
(2 Cor 1:20 NIV) For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
Let’s look at some of the examples of God’s provision in the Old Covenant.
We’re not under the law pastor, why not stay in the New Testament? It is written:
(1 Cor 10:1 NIV) For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
(1 Cor 10:2 NIV) They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
(1 Cor 10:3 NIV) They all ate the same spiritual food
(1 Cor 10:4 NIV) and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
(1 Cor 10:5 NIV) Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
(1 Cor 10:6 NIV) Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
God still wants us to obey Him. Look at the result of obeying God under the lesser covenant.
Think of it this way. If you have the choice of receiving a fifty-dollar bill, or a hundred dollar bill, which one will you take? $100? Why? They are both money. Why? Because the $100 bill is more. Think of the covenants of God this way. The old covenant was good, but the new covenant is more.
Deuteronomy 28:1-14
28:1 If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.
2 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock–the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
7 The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
8 The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
9 The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.
10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you.
11 The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity–in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground–in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.
12 The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.
13 The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
- Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.
Notice here that the rest of this chapter is all the curses that come upon the children of Israel if they won’t obey. But, Bless God, read with me Gal 3:13
Galatians 3:13-14
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
You are redeemed from the curse. Some day, for fun, read each verse of Deuteronomy 28:15 until the end, like this. As you read out loud each of the curses, say after each one. Praise God! Jesus redeemed me from the curse of the law. None of this junk can touch me, I’m a child of the king.
Let’s look at this curse here recorded in Deuteronomy 28:47-48:
Deuteronomy 28:47-48
47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, ( Notice that if you do serve the Lord, you’ll have joy, and prosperity)
- therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until has destroyed you.
Do you see it? Who do you know who died on the cross to become a substitute curse for you? He was hungry, He said “I thirst!”, they cast lots for his garment, and…
(2 Cor 8:9 NIV) For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
Let’s look at the words of Jesus, recorded for us in Matthew 6. I call it my “Don’t worry, be happy”, verses.
Matthew 6:25-33
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
- But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Yes, obedience to God will always produce basic provision. Why? God loves you. You are His child. If He created you, he has provided for you. Your job is to pray, obey, and study the word to learn his ways, so that you can have everything He wants you to have.
Yet, God wants us to move from the land of almost enough into more than enough.
(Isa 1:19 NIV) If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land;
Tithing
700 years before the Law was given, Abraham paid tithes.
500 years before the Law was given, Jacob paid tithes.
Genesis 28:20-22
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear
21 so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God
- and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”
Notice here, what the Bible says about the love of money.
I Timothy 6:10-12 — Love of money
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
- Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
It’s the root of all evil. It’s Satan’s main root in controlling people. When you begin to tithe and believe God in the area of finances, you attack his main root in the earth. That’s why Paul had to tell us to “Fight the good fight of the faith”, here. The issue is a heart issue. Who is Lord of your money? Where is your trust? Are you trusting God to provide, or are you trusting in your own strength? Remember, Satan steals, people hoard, but God so loved the world that He gave… Giving is the greatest expression of love.
When you tithe, it’s an act of war.
You see there are three heavens. The natural heavens that we see (the sky and the stars), the third heaven where Jesus lives where there are streets of gold and no sickness, dying or pain, but the heaven we need to look at is the second heaven, where Satan is prince of the power of the air, or god of this world. It is here that the angels and demons fight
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Jesus taught us to pray our Father, that “ your kingdom come, your will be done” where? In the earth, as it is in heaven. Which heaven is he talking about here? Well, the third heaven of course, where He calls home. The place with streets of gold. People say, now gold is bad. God doesn’t hold that opinion.
Genesis 2:11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
Genesis 2:12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
Everyone say “good gold”. No, gold is not your enemy. It’s your heart. Where will you place your trust? Is it in God, to give you all things richly for you to enjoy? Or in the beggerly things of this world that are not designed to satisfy the deep things of your heart.
I am convinced that tithing is spiritual warfare. Why?
Haggai 2:6 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.
8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.
- The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.
When Satan tempted Jesus, he took him up to a high place
Luke 4:5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
I believe Satan showed Jesus the second heaven, where he ruled as god of this world. Otherwise this would not have been a true temptation.
I believe when we tithe, we make a declaration before God Almighty that Jesus is Lord of our provision, and that the victory that Jesus won on the cross, is in force and in place in our lives.
Colossians 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Haggai 2:21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth;22 And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.
- In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.
I believe this is a prophetic book speaking not only to Zerubbabel, but to us the church today. God is now shaking the heavens and the earth, destroying the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen. What is the strength of these kingdoms? I believe it is the same strength Jesus saw when tempted by Satan. Devils ruling through the minds of men. We are the church where these gates of hell shall not prevail, for Jesus has come to destroy the works of the devil.
The earth is God’s and we are to rule and reign here as His ambassadors.
18 ¶ Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
Deut 11:19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
- That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
See it? If you give yourself totally to God, and His word, and are faithful to walk with Him. He is the same God, His will is for you to experience days of heaven upon the earth.
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
As far as God is concerned, your needs have already been provided for you, where? In heavenly places in Christ.
How do we get them? Well, Christ means the anointed one and His anointing. It is the anointing that breaks the yoke. How do we generate an anointing that will produce financial deliverance? We tithe, we obey God, and then we exercise faith in God’s word. When you tithe you declare before God, the great cloud of witnesses that went before, and the holy angels, that this world is not your source. Jesus is my provider, and I am no longer limited to this world and my strength to provide.
You need to see this as an act of war. God has already provided for you all spiritual blessings as His child. When you tithe and pray, you are simply taking what is rightfully yours. He then shakes the heavens for you, and the wealth of the sinner that is stored up for the righteous, begins to come into your hands.
Leviticus 27:30-32
On what should I pay tithes?
30 “‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.
31 If a man redeems any of his tithe, he must add a fifth of the value to it.
32 The entire tithe of the herd and flock–every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod–will be holy to the LORD.
Numbers 18:21,23
Who shall I pay them to?
21 “I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the Tent of Meeting.
22 From now on the Israelites must not go near the Tent of Meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and will die.
23 It is the Levites who are to do the work at the Tent of Meeting and bear the responsibility for offenses against it. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites.
- Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the LORD. That is why I said concerning them: ‘They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.'”
Hebrews 7:6 But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.
Hebrews 7:8 And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.
The answer to the question as to where we pay tithes is in this verse. You are going to pay them to men that are set apart by God for His work in the ministry. Eph 4, five fold ministry gifts.
Hebrews 7:2
This verse shows that Abraham paid tithes:
2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.”
3 Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.
- Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!
Luke 11:41-42
Jesus told the Pharisees to pay tithes (the only thing he commended them for)
41 But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.
- “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
I Corinthians 16:2
When should I pay tithes?
- On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.
Malachi 3:8-12
What if I do and what if I don’t?
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings.
9 You are under a curse–the whole nation of you–because you are robbing me.
10 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 you will not have room enough for it.
11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty.
- “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.
Exodus 20:8
Remember the Sabbath day
1/7 of our time; 1/10 of our money
Exodus 20:8
8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
- but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor
Notice here. When you tithe, you make a solemn declaration before God, the angels, the great cloud of witness that have gone before us, and Satan and all his evil bunch. Yes, you declare in the heavenlies that this world is not your source. Jesus is Lord of my money. No I’m not trusting in my riches or my own strength of arm to provide for myself, but am taking Jesus as my provider. Jehovah-Jireh, El-Shaddai, the God who is more than enough. This is one of the few places in Scripture where God dares us to test Him. I tithe, Karen tithes, and your church tithes on every dollar that goes through the bank account.
When to Canada from Tulsa, we had an old car, and pretty much nothing, and we gained a computer, T.V. , appliances, a satellite dish, and many other financial blessings, all of which are paid for, cash. Why? Because we are tithers and givers, and God supplied for us financially. In fact, we have determined to see how much we can believe God for, so that we can increase our giving. God will do the exact same thing for you if you tithe and obey Him, He is a good God, who loves you, and He is no respector of persons.
Homework:
1.Let’s Pray: Father God, I now receive Jesus as my provider, as well as my Lord. I purpose in my heart to tithe and give, and trust you to increase me, as I obey you in this. Amen.’
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