Surrendering to God, includes our finances and this is a controversial topic for some. The mere mention of tithing, sets some Christians in a tailspin. Yet the question becomes, are we still obligated to tithe under the New Covenant? Was tithing established before the Mosaic Law, and if so, wasn’t it always an act of faith? Carl takes time to answer this question as we review Malachi 3:8-12. How much should we give in this dispensation of Grace? Join Carl now…
Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…
Friend, this is our third and final part of Have You Surrendered All to Yahweh God? Join me now live in session at DHOP. This is what I won for you. But if we don’t trust God with our treasure, if we take this as a literal word, talking about moth corrupting and rust, rusting away our finances, we have a heart issue, a heart issue that needs to be dealt with. Galatians 6:7 says, Okay, what you value yourself is where your heart is and vice versa. What do you treasure in this lifetime? What, where do you put your time? Wherever you put your time is what you treasure. And if we don’t put time towards the Lord, we’re saying we don’t really value Him, including money as well, right? Remember the slide here. Some people like to look at this list and they want to exclude this.
Like, it’s sort of like independent from God. Like, even though God gave me all this money, even though I’m earning it, it’s all His to begin with. And to give Him one-tenth back, well, that’s just too tough. But it’s all His to begin with. In the New Testament, He owns everything. All we’re asking is to give a small measure back to Him. And this is a personal choice we have to make. I know a guy from Australia. His name is Chris Harvey. And it’s an interesting story. He was in Australia and he lost his green card because he lost his wallet. He was doing a crusade. And if you lose a green card, you’re in trouble because you can’t just pick up the phone and get another one. If you lose it, you have to reapply, but you have to be in this country. So, the bottom line is, okay, so he said, Lord, what do I do? I’ve lost my wallet.
I’ve lost my green card. I’m in trouble. He felt peace about it. He just felt peace. So he gets a phone call a couple of days later saying, You Chris Harvey? Yeah, I found your wallet. Okay, great. Come to this address. So he knocks on the door. This is in Melbourne. And a young man answers. And he said, Yeah, my wallet. Oh, no, that’s not me. My brother found it. Actually, his dog found it. Now, check this out. Check this out. The brother came to the door. And you could tell that he was a little bit sort of like standoffish, sort of uncomfortable that a minister was at the door. You know, you could tell I’m not too keen on ministers. And he sort of looked at him. He said, Yeah, my dog found it. He was by the river walking along the embankment. And he sniffed around by the leaves and the trees and the bushes and went under. And lo and behold, there was a wallet in his mouth. And I picked it up. And I looked at it. And I had your information, your driver’s license. Great. So Chris grabs his wallet. Thanks. Thanks, mate. Picks out $100 bill and hands it to his brother. His other brother starts laughing. And he said this out of his own mouth. My brother sits and watches TBN and all these people who just want your money. And he says, all the minister wants is your money. And it’ll be a cold day in hell when a minister gives me $100 bill. Now, this guy who was cold towards the gospel, he started to change his attitude. OK, God can use our finances for his glory.
OK, now some people are so burdened with debt. They got so many needs to meet that giving a 10% would make them go under. And I understand that. I understand that. However, don’t let it be an excuse to disobey. Ooh, I have to draw the line. OK, let’s talk about money for a minute. Only 6% of Christians choose to tithe their income. And I did an entire radio broadcast on this about three months ago. And I have copious notes on the topic if you want to discuss it later. But that means that 94% of churchgoers don’t give any money to God. Or they just don’t give a tithe. OK, the meaning of tithe is a tenth, which was established before the law. The biggest excuse for tithing is, you know what? That’s the law. We’ve been redeemed from the curse of the law.
We shouldn’t be doing lawful things anymore. You’re right. You’re right. The trouble is that tithing was established by faith before the law started. So the whole concept of, oh, it’s been done away with because we don’t obey the law anymore, unfortunately, is not an excuse. So then we have the famous passage in Malachi chapter 3 that says, “shall a man rob God or be cursed with a curse if we don’t tithe?” Is that applicable today? No, it’s not, because we’re no longer under the law and we’ve been redeemed from it. OK, it’s getting complicated. However, in the New Testament dispensation of the church, Jesus owns 100%. So what we do is say, Father, what do you want me to give? And I can tell you right now, if you were given 10% in the Old Testament, you’ll be given the same, if not more, in the New Testament.
Because we have a better covenant. And when Jesus observed those who were tithing in the Gospels, he did not speak against it. He had an opportunity to speak against it, but he chose not to. Here’s the deal. If you sow a seed, you’ll reap a harvest. How many know that when they sow a seed, they don’t reap a seed back? You get a lot more than a seed back, right? Hosea says, sow to the wind and reap the whirlwind. If we’re not sowing our finances and giving God a measure that he can use, we’re restricting our own blessing. Just by the law of sowing and reaping. Even if you don’t care for tithing or don’t even want to get into that discussion.
Think of it this way. You’ve got to sow and you have to reap, right? How can you reap if you don’t sow? Simple as that. Malachi 3 is a very powerful chapter. I advise you to read all of it when you get home tonight. But it says, “bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in my house and try me now on this.” Yes, it’s true that some portion of the tithe was fruit and grain because it was an agricultural society. That is true. But we also had the temple tax and we also had money changers where you brought money also, okay? It took money to build the temple, etc. So fruit and grain was not the only tithe, okay? Today we live, what? How many people are farmers today? 0.03% or something? So, we get paid in a paycheck. We don’t go to King Soopers and buy 400 apples and bring it to DHOP. That’s not how it works. So here’s the only place in scripture where God challenges us right here.
If I will not open up the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it and I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes. Some people have moths in their purse because it’s rarely opened. Others have holes in their buckets and can never get ahead because of the devourer. Ah, this broke down, that broke down. Man, there’s always something with me, man. Every time I just get ahead, there’s always this thing chasing me around. The devourer, the holes in the buckets, the money that just keeps getting lost. God said he will rebuke the devourer for your sake. His promises in the New Testament are far greater in this dispensation because we have a better covenant
This is just an old covenant, but here’s the kicker. God will bless you in your workplace and promises to bless the work of your hands. Friend, living by faith is not quitting your job, okay? Living by faith is going to work and then giving to the Lord and letting him bless the work of your hands. It talks about it in Deuteronomy in several places, talks about it in Psalms, talks about it in Proverbs. There’s several places where it says that. Tonight, we’re talking about surrendering everything and finances is a part of that, but it’s not the main thing. It’s one component of nine things on the list. I remember when I started tithing in June of 1999, I was like, man, that’s a lot to give away. And from 1999 to 2007, I more than doubled my income. And I believe it’s totally down to God because when I chose to do it, I would find that opportunities would come my way that just weren’t natural. I was put in places that were certainly stressful, but God provided and gave me the wisdom to then enable me to get bonuses and other things that I’m not going to talk about now. But he was blessing the work of my hands, not by my own skill or by my own wisdom, but because I chose to honor him in that area, friend. And like I said, it’s the only area he tells us to test him on because it’s such a pivotal part of our lives because our finances represent our life. We go to a job, we exchange time for money, and then we have this money and then giving it away is really giving a portion of our life away. And so I understand the seriousness of it.
But I would urge you tonight to give him a try with it. So, we need to search our own hearts and ask him to heal areas where we no longer trust him because of wounding, because of offense, because of discouragement. Someone told me I couldn’t write or speak properly or I’m just not a good athlete or I can’t run. You know, there’s a thousand things that someone could have said because they’re jealous over you. And the truth is that’s not the truth. That’s something that somebody said and you believed a lie. You believed an ungodly belief that is now withholding the truth about you. Everybody in this room has believed those lies at some point. But if it’s not addressed, God is unable to move in that area because he respects our free will.
You have to ask him and say, Lord, I let go of this tonight. I just give it to you. I don’t want to be in control of this anymore. I don’t want to protect it. Take my wound, heal it, and I give it to you. Some wounds are personal. Like I said, some are very hurtful. And like I said, if you’re in that category, come and talk to us later and we’ll pray for you and have a separate session or whatever it takes. James 5, it’s talking about confessing your faults to one another so that we may receive liberation. We may receive freedom. So I’m going to pray right now and ask the Lord to show you areas that he really wants to deal with you about that you may not even think that you need to be dealt with. That’s pretty common because we’re like, no, I got that covered.
But we’re going to say, Lord, you know, show us now, show us tonight, show us in a dream, show us in the coming week, whatever that may be of the very thing that we are holding up as an idol to him. Let’s pray right now. Father God, I thank you right now for the people who come here tonight on a Wednesday, on a very hot night and said, I want to hear the word tonight. And Father, you’re honoring them with their obedience. And they’re putting themselves on the operating table right now and saying, Father, what areas am I holding back from you? What areas am I not trusting you to say that you’re not big enough in my life? You’re not a big enough God in this area because I’m scared if I let it go that I’m going to get hurt again. But friend, no, you’re not going to be hurt again.
He’s going to reveal it to you and he’s going to heal you in Jesus’ name. I just see someone just standing over spilled milk and they’re looking at this milk going, wow, that was spilled like a decade ago and I’ll never get that back. And behind you is a milk truck and this guy’s unloading the milk truck going, oh, we got so much more of that stuff. Are you still crying over that spilled milk? There’s so much more of it ready to just be given to you if you let go right now of that very thing that you’re holding on to. Friend, is that you? Are you crying over spilled milk yourself? Some people can’t get out of the regret of yesterday, of the regret of yesteryear. Let me tell you right now, this can be an idol. People can remonstrate and just anguish over what has occurred in the past. But friend, you can do nothing about it. You can do nothing about what has occurred, but you can only impact the future. But the longer you wallow in the past, the more your future will be impacted. And this is a word for somebody out there. Let it go, friend. I urge you tonight to pray and say, Lord, I’ve heard these sessions from DHOP. What are the idols in my life that I need to strip out of my heart? That is my challenge to you, friend. And we’re so grateful for the financial blessings that are sent through the radio.
And I would challenge you, we’re halfway through the year, friend, and we have financial commitments. If you have been a regular listener of the show, please ask the Holy Spirit whether or not he wants you to sow a seed into us. And friend, if he says, you know, they’re fine, then that’s an answer as well. This isn’t a pressure tactic. I’m just asking you to ask the Holy Spirit to see what he says about it and obey him. Amen. Friend, we’ve got a lot of good shows coming up and more topics that are fringe, and I’m excited to do them. Until tomorrow. Good night.
https://carljosephministries.com/podcast/faith-hope-love-part-2-live/
https://prayerlit.com/bible-verses-about-surrendering-to-god/
Title: Have you Surrendered all? Part 3 (LIVE)
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