Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Now you can go to man's school and study man's economics or you can go to God's school and study God's economics. I choose to do it God's Way. I have found that it works. It keeps on working. It never fails. There is no power on earth that can blow it out of the barrel. I just keep doing business God's way. If I am lined up with God, we make a majority. As long as God and me are a majority I will charge hell with a squirt gun, if He says so, knowing that I can put it out. God is bigger than anything anybody can hurl at Him. So I just believe in doing business God's way; whether its economics or whatever.
Therefore, I want to show you some things about how to get ahead financially, and stay ahead. So if you want a Ph.D. in God's finance, stick around. I am going to give you the principles whereby you don't have to worry about getting your needs met financially.
Now I want you to see first of all that God made some promises to a fellow named Abraham. Those promises were healing, prosperity, well being for his family, in addition to the salvation of his soul. Now those promises also included Abraham's seed which includes the physical descendants of Abraham. But you and I in the Christian era are grafted into that same Abrahamic system because we also are Abraham's seed. Now, we are The Abraham Seed Group. Now I hear all this stuff about the "church". But, the "church" must learn to view themselves by the term The Abraham Seed Group.
Who makes up the church? Abraham's seed, that's who. You must be a member of the Abrahamic Seed Group to be part a part of the church. Therefore, we are the church, because we are Abraham's seed. Now, when we start thinking in that term, we will see that we are entitled to more than what modern theology will give to us by their modern term "church". Because most modern theologians want to start us off at Pentecost. The Bible starts us off with Abraham in Genesis 12. So what God promised Abraham is in fact promised to us also.
Now, I want to show you some things about Abraham and tithing. This is going to startle you since Abraham was one of the richest men in the world because God made him rich. Abraham tithed even though God never commanded him to. As a matter of fact, there was no law or scripture in Abraham's day which said, "Thou shalt tithe". You want proof of that? Look at Hebrews chapter 7, verses 1 and 2.
Heb 7:1-2
1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; (KJV)
This high priest, Melchisedec, met Abraham returning from one of the battles and he blessed him. Then the next verse says, "to this man Abraham gave the tithe or the tenth part of all". Now, here is Abraham paying tithes to the high priest of God, but there was no scripture or Command of God at that time in history that demanded that Abraham pay tithes at all. As a matter of fact, there was nothing in the Bible at this point that said a fellow ought to tithe, nothing. No command, nowhere that made a man tithe, but here is the priest of the most high God who meets somebody as important as Abraham and Abraham tithed to him anyway.
Now the question is, why did he do it? If he was not commanded to do it, why did he do it? Because Abraham was a sharp business man. He was one of the best. Now if have aspirations to start and run your own business, you'd surely do well to pattern it after this man called Abraham.
Seven Wealth Building Things Supernaturally Produced by God's Abrahamic Blessing Power For The One Who TithesNow why did Abraham start tithing? I want to show you some things. Go to the Book of Malachi. We are going to see that there are seven specific blessings that comes to the man that tithes. Now somebody says, you are using an Old Testament scripture. You are right. Well, that's pertaining to the Jews. You are right again. Then, that does not apply to us. You are wrong. Why? Because this is written to the Abrahamic Seed Group. During the Old Testament era, it pertained to just the Jews. But when Christ came and died, we Gentile Christians are now grafted into the same identical Abrahamic system, because we are The Abrahamic Seed Group. Therefore, what it says to The Abrahamic Seed Group in one place, pertains to The Abrahamic Seed Group in another place. So what is said here applies to every Christian reading this page.
Now what you have to do is figure out if you are Abraham's Seed or not. If you are, this applies to you. Now, I am a member of The Abrahamic Seed Group. Therefore, I put myself right in the middle of this scripture and guess what? It works for me too. Because I am in Abraham's Seed Group and this was written to The Abrahamic Seed Group. Therefore, the same seven blessings from God that Malachi presented to the people of that day, are still valid for us Gentile Christians now.
Now, what are the seven blessings? Now I asked a while ago, why did Abraham tithe when he didn't have to? He tithed when he didn't have to. Moses' Law demanded the people to tithe. But, Moses' Law didn't even come into being till over 400 years later. So the law that said "Thou shalt tithe", didn't even exist in Abraham's day. But here we have Abraham, the father of us all, tithing when he didn't have to. If he tithed when he didn't have to, there's got to be a good reason on the part of Abraham to do it. Well, there was. Abraham was a shrewd businessman and he saw some benefits for the person who paid tithes. Now here is what Abraham found as penned hundreds of years later by Malachi.
Mal 3:10-12
10 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.
11 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.
12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts. (KJV)
Now notice something. Verse 10, says "bring all the tithes into the store house that there may be meat or food in my house and test me now by this" saith the Lord, "if I will not do seven fantastic things for you". (The "storehouse" and "my house" is where you get fed, whether your church, a book and tape ministry, TBN, a missionary, or a combination of the above, etc.). Now, God here asks us to test Him by doing one thing and then watching Him do seven things in response to it.
To my knowledge, this is the only place in scripture where we are asked or even challenged to test God on an issue. For He says, "test Me in this act and see that your bringing the tithe to My storehouse will cause Me to return seven things to you". A seven for one return and He says, "Test Me in this"! I don't know of any other place in scripture where God issues a specific challenge saying, "Test Me in a specific matter". Here He is saying for us to do one thing and check Him out. "Test Me. I am going to do seven things in return". Now does that sound like a pretty good return? In this day of meager rates of return on your savings accounts in your bank, if you found a place that had an iron clad guarantee that would pay you back seven times more than you put in, and you had confidence in the bank and the banker, would you take your money out of an account where they were paying you only 3 1/2% and place it in the place where they would give you 700%? That just makes good sense, doesn't it.
Now did I tell you that Abraham was a good businessman or not? So you see he has a good deal going here. God says test me now by this and see if I won't do seven things for you in return for you doing the one thing for me which is bringing in the tithe.
The First Wealth Building Thing Supernaturally Produced By God's Abrahamic Blessing Power For The One Who TithesWhat are these seven things? First of all, look back at verse 10. Here it is. "I will open for you the windows of heaven." Now I want you to look at that part specifically where it said, "I will open for you". This blesses me. Why? Because I have seen the time when I needed something opened for me. I mean there have been times in my life when I didn't need generalities. I needed somebody to get down here where I live, where my need is now, where I hurt today and get real and get specific with me. Now, it wouldn't bless me as much if He said, "I will open the windows for you all", as it does the way He said it. He said "I will open the windows for you". When He said "you", He means the one that is doing the tithing. Well, I am a tither. As a matter of fact, I do more than that. And so God said first of all I am going to open for "you", the tither, the windows of heaven. Well what does that signify for me?
I view heaven as being the source of everything I need. The Bible says, "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory through Jesus Christ." Now according to this, the Father, Christ and riches are all up there in heaven. Therefore, I need that window opened for me. Well, He said try it. Test Me. I will open the windows of heaven for you. Do you see that? That's for The Abraham Seed Group when they tithe. I am showing you what Abraham saw, what Melchisedec saw. Abraham was one of the richest men in the world, because he learned to do business God's Way.
The Second Wealth Building Thing Supernaturally Produced By God's Abrahamic Blessing Power For The One Who TithesNow notice the second thing. Not only are the windows of heaven opened, but notice, "I will pour out for you a blessing". I will pour out for you a blessing. I want you to look at the word "blessing". When you find that word coming from God to any member of The Abraham Seed Group here is what the word means: the beneficial enduement of God's power to produce well being in every area of a person's life. The word "blessing" comes from the Hebrew word Barak translated by the Greek word Eulogia and translated into English by our word "bless". Bless means the beneficial enduement of God's power to produce well being in every area of a person's life.
Now, when He says, "I will open heaven's windows and pour you out a blessing", He is saying, "I will pour out upon you my beneficial power to produce well being in what ever area your need is". Now that gets strong, my friend. Now this is exactly what the word bless means in both Hebrew, Greek, and English when it pertains to the relationship between the Abrahamic Covenant, the God of that covenant, and The Abrahamic Seed Group. I trigger this blessing by my tithing.
Do you begin to see why Abraham figured this thing out even when God had not said, "thou shalt tithe". He didn't have to. If you get this kind of thing going, who has to "command" you to do it. It's like you have $100 in savings in your bank but another bank is paying 700% interest while your bank is only paying 3 1/2% interest. Nobody has to put a gun to your head and say, "Thou shalt move your money to the bank which pays 700% interest". Why? Because it makes sense. Now, I will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a beneficial enduement of my (God's) power to produce what ever your need is. That's what that word "blessing" means. We trigger the "blessing" by starting to give in the form of the tithe.
Nobody had to tell Abraham to tithe. Once he figured this thing out, nobody could stop him. It's not that we have to tithe. It's that we get to. Now if you are part of The Abraham Seed Group, everything I am saying here pertains to you. And this blessing return pertains to you. Now, back in my days as a Baptist, I didn't know about the "blessing" part of this. I would preach tithing from the standpoint of the law. I would preach, "Thou shalt tithe. Anybody that is not going to tithe, you are next to going to hell, probably are any how". You know I could tighten the screws down better and put a Gentile Christian under the Law better than any Baptist preacher you ever heard. But, when God began to show me other things, I got into the deeper things of God and I said, "Lord, I missed all of this for so long". Why, you know if you present it really the way it is, you can't stop people from tithing. Because I saw the seven blessings involved with it, I am going to tithe. You can't stop me from tithing. I do more than the tithe, and I am as blessed as anybody. Yes, God Says "I will pour out a blessing"
The Third Wealth Building Thing Supernaturally Produced By God's Abrahamic Blessing Power For The One Who Tithes
Notice the third thing. There shall not be room enough to receive it. Now, you know I am so grateful that God does not deal in smallness. Being the father of two girls, I discovered that girls are different and special. There is something about a little girl that can wrap a Dad right around her little finger. Sure, we Dads could pinch their heads off sometimes, because they can do that to us. But when it comes to my family, my daughters, my two granddaughters and two grandsons, I just give and give and give. That's just my nature, I just give. They never have to worry about me putting limits on my giving to them. Let me illustrate this.
The other day my oldest granddaughter, Haley, who is six, wanted her Paw Paw to take her to Chucky Cheeses. She wanted me to take her to Chucky Cheese, just me and her, by herself. Well, I knew what was coming. She was putting the con on me big time. You see, if her baby sister, Amber ,age three, is along, well that sort of splits up the loot that she gets from me. Now, you know I wasn't born yesterday. I knew what was coming. But I am a sucker for this little girl. That's just that's the way I am. And they learn this, the little brats. I mean they have learned me. So I said OK. So me and the oldest little granddaughter go to Chucky Cheeses.
Well, she is a smart little thing and she likes to play the games. The little one likes to ride the rides; the oldest one likes to play the games. She has learned which games she can beat. When you do well on the games, they give out tickets and she has learned the ones that she does best on. And so she plays those particular ones over and over. She has about three or four that she can just beat big time. Man, she comes out with all these tickets, then she will go over and trade it in for a prize. My point is this, there are no limits to what her grandpa will do for that baby.
Now notice what God says. I will pour out a blessing, that beneficial enduement of power to produce, and it will be so big you won't have room enough to receive it. My granddaughter got 170 tickets the other day at Chucky Cheeses, which cost her Paw Paw plenty, but my baby girl had the time of her life, let me tell you. She said, "I know you love me Paw Paw, because you buy me things". I said, "Thanks a million little girl". You see, she knows how this "Paw Paw business" is put together.
Well, God has promised that our blessing will be so big that there will not be room enough to receive it. Usually we tell the kids it is time to go, we got to go, let's go. I didn't do that this time. I let her play those games. I was determined to let her play them until I ran out of money or she got so tired she is about to drop and says lets go home. Well, the two happened about the same time. Because when she got tired and said let's go, I think maybe I had one more dollar in my pocket. So it was time to go.
That's how God is. He said the blessing will be so large you won't have room to receive it. You are beginning to see why Abraham got in on tithing. You see, Abraham had a heart and a mind for God. He didn't need law which told him to tithe. Abraham was just so close to God and he trusted God to the point where he saw the seven blessings involved with tithing to God. And Abraham found out that you cannot out give God. As a matter of fact, Abraham found out that you can't beat God no matter what you do. So, he began to tithe. He gave tithes to this high priest named Melchisedec and the blessings began to flow. He saw that, even though there was not a law which commanded it, this is how it is supposed to be done.
Four hundred and twenty years later Moses came and God incorporated tithing into the law. Why did he do that? To be mean to people? No, to enable you to maintain the seven blessings God promised us in The Abrahamic Covenant.
The Fourth Wealth Building Thing Supernaturally Produced By God's Abrahamic Blessing Power For The One Who Tithes
Let's look at verse 11. "I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes." Now, that's the devil. The devourer is the devil. The devil will never let up on you. There are some things that we need to come to grips with that we can't do. The sooner we come to grips with those things, stop trying, and turn it over to God and let him do it His way, the better off you are. You cannot beat the devil on your own. Now you just can't do that. I understand our authority. I preach it. I understand our power. I wrote a book on it entitled How To Exercise God's Megaton Power Now. So I understand authority and power. I understand the use of Jesus name because God has revealed all of that to me. But the point is we have to have these instruments, or whatever you want to call them, in order to deal with the devil because we can't beat him on our own.
But there is a blanket insurance policy that we can have from God against the devourer which stops him from devouring what's ours, and that insurance policy is tithing. Notice what He said. He said bring all the tithes into the store house and prove me now herewith. One of the Seven power blessings that He gives which proves Him is this: He actually rebukes the devourer for our sakes. "I will rebuke him!". God is in the rebuking business on my behalf. I mean, God is the One Who dresses the devil down and makes him get out of my face. God is the One Who provides protection for me, who runs interference between me and the devil and stops him from walking all over me. The devil will hurt you. He will take your health. He will take your finances. He will wreck your home. He will destroy your marriage. He will steal your job. He will break and tear up everything good that you have going for you, if God does not stop him. But tithing brings the fulfillment of "I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes".
Some years a person gave me a brand new car which had leather seats, CD player, the whole bit. But there were strings on that automobile. This person wanted to dictate to me. He wanted to dictate to the church that I pastored. I had to deal with this person, shut him down and get rid of those strings. Nobody can ever be allowed to sit in that kind of position over any man of God. That's just out. You know, either we follow the leadership of a person like that or we follow God, because the two don't wind up in the same place. So you have got to make up your mind quick and then go in that direction. So he took my car. But, I never had to walk for one day. God rebuked the devourer by providing me with a beautiful little sports car.
I will rebuke the devourer. Brother, I have had all sorts of things thrown at me, but I always win. I do not lose. I have never lost. I have been set back, but I don't lose. They talk about the key is to learn how to be a good loser. That's "baloney". I am not going to be a good loser. I am going to scratch and kick and fight the whole way. Because when I lose, the devourer has gotten the upper hand and I don't like that. So I am not a good sport. Not at all, because God said I will rebuke the devourer for your sake. Do you see it? And He said prove me by this. So just start tithing. Is it any wonder Abraham was a tither?
The Fifth Wealth Building Thing Supernaturally Produced By God's Abrahamic Blessing Power For Those Who Tithe
Furthermore, God promises that your vine shall not cast his fruit before the time in the field. Now, the background there is agriculture, but you can fit it to anything in the world. Notice, what He says here. "He shall not destroy the fruits of your ground." Now, I don't care what kind of ground you are working in. Maybe, you are a doctor, lawyer, Indian chief, gas pumper, ditch digger, house painter, it makes no difference; however you make your way, that's your ground. As part of the Abrahamic Seed Group, you have some ground. Now, the Bible says that if you start tithing, God is going to stop the devil from messing with your fruit. Did you ever have a set back in the way you are making a living? Brother, get your tithe lined up and God will get between that setback and you. He will begin to deal with that setback stuff and He will run some interference for you that the devil can neither puncture nor penetrate. Glory to God!
The Sixth Wealth Building Thing Supernaturally Produced By God's Abrahamic Blessing Power For Those Who TitheNotice something else. Not only does He stop him from destroying your fruit, but He deals with the vine. God even deals with the vine, the very source. Sometimes the vine has a tendency to get a blight or disease in it and make the grape turn loose before its actual time. The Bible says that God will deal not just with the devourer, who wants to mess with the fruit of the vine, but that He will deal with the vine so that the vine itself cannot dump your crop before you have the time or the opportunity to harvest it. I believe that when a man throws the seed in his field, he ought to be allowed to harvest it and so does God. Here is the crux of this thing. When you don't tithe, you are eating your seed. You cannot reap what you have not sown. If you take your seed and eat it, you cannot sow it to reap a bigger harvest. You see, all this stuff just fits and make sense.
Now all of this is what God said. I didn't say it. What He said here applies to you. If you have been saved you are The Seed of Abraham and that's the group He is talking about here. He is speaking these promises to The Seed of Abraham and He said you bring the tithes in, Seed of Abraham, and prove Me by that action, if I won't do seven beneficial power things for you. Then, He begins to list them.
The Seventh Wealth Building Thing Supernaturally Produced By God's Abrahamic Blessing Power For Those Who Tithe
Finally, He says all nations shall call you blessed for you shall be a delightsome land. Now, how can their land be delightsome if in fact God has not blessed that land? You want to be well thought of in your land, on your job, because "your land" is that sphere of God's creation through which you make your way, your living. Now, you want to be well-thought of on your land? You want to get the promotions? You want all nations to call you blessed because you are a delightsome land, then begin to tithe, dear brother. God will establish your reputation in the minds of other people.
We sometimes read things inadequately. We just skim it, and it doesn't mean much to us because we don't stop and think about it. Now, the guy that does not tithe, cannot possibly be experiencing these blessings. That type of person usually wishes the pastor or preacher would speak on a different subject. I have been there. I know how you feel. But my point to you is this, God said prove Me now herewith. Now there is a challenge. So I challenge you. Try it God's Way one year and see at the end of the year where you are. I can tell you; you are going to be way ahead of where you are now. Why? Because you will be able to keep more of what you make or earn because God is going to begin running interference for you and rebuke the devourer off your earnings.
So I am challenging you like God did. Notice what He said, "prove Me now herewith". Can you see this? Prove Me now by this, literally, is what that says. See if I will not open for you the windows of heaven. Keep noticing the places in here, where He says over and over and over, it's your ground, it's your vine, it's your field, it's your sakes, pour out for you. The emphasis in this passage is upon the concept you and yours. He uses that expression over and over and over in these two verses. Put your name in these two verses because you belong there. This is said to you. If you are saved, you are The Seed of Abraham. This is spoken to The Seed of Abraham.
But, you may say that this is purely Old Testament. Nonsense. We Gentile Christians have been grafted into that Old Testament Abrahamic Seed Group bunch on an equal footing with them. Consequently, we are lined up with everything in The Abrahamic Covenant that God said to them. These promises belong to us also. Hallelujah. Enough of this business of declaring that's Old Testament and this is New Testament. It is all The Abraham Seed Group--period. What it says in one place to this group it means in another place also. We are all, us, today, together, with them, The Abrahamic Seed Group. Therefore, this passage of scripture applies to you and I today.
Well, when are you going to start? Abraham had it together. Abraham didn't need somebody to get up and preach him a sermon. He figured this thing out for himself and tested the waters a little bit at a time. Finally, he launched out and when Melchisedec came along, he paid tithes to that man of God right there on the spot and the whole thing just started coming his way. And it will work for you. I have never seen the guy that was a tither ever wind up on the short end of the heap. Never, never, in my life I have seen that.
As a Christian I have been on both sides of the tithing issue. My great problem is my mind just as your great problem is your mind. We have analytical minds. We can figure out too much. Many times we don't need God. We are too smart. We will figure that thing out. We can do this. We can make that move. We can do something else and yet it will work short term. But, we get no insurance that God is going to run interference for us long term, unless we do it His way short term. And so the guy that determines to do it God's Way short term has God's protection long term.
Start now, doing it God's Way, and you will still be here when the Johnny Come Latelies and the Flashes in the Pans and the Skyrockets have fizzled and their lights have gone out. You are going to still be here blessed, prosperous and wealthy.
There used to be some people in my church, a man and his wife who came in there and took their place on the front row. They had their same two seats and they put their Bibles on them. She put hers here. He put his there. They would leave them there, indicating this chair is my chair. So they would leave them there. They wouldn't take them home. When they came back, nobody, of course, would sit in that chair because it had somebody's Bible in it. After two or three weeks of that, everybody just knew that was their chair. I don't know if they ever read their Bible or not. I do know it was a marker, i.e., a property marker. So they had their chairs, having staked their claims with their property marking Bibles. Then, this guy would come up on the platform. Well, I never asked him up on the platform. I never asked him up there a time. But he would come up to make an announcement. He was always putting together a work group for the people in the church and so they would come to the church to work. He would line out the work for them to do, and then he would take off. He wouldn't work. He would line it out for all the others but he wouldn't do a thing but play big shot.
Well, this is a Skyrocket. But in looking over the records, this guy did not tithe. But he could line all of this work stuff up for the rest of us. He could and did put his property marker Bible down over there. Well, I had to deal with him. So he left. Our offerings did not go down a bit. You see he didn't make any offerings so how could our offerings go down when he left? He wasn't doing it God's Way to start with. You know, if he would have done it God's Way, he wouldn't have had to mark off his chair with his Bible, because God would have made everybody see what a great Christian he was. He would have been well known because "all nations shall call you blessed". You see, no matter which way you take it, tithing is a starting point. You start there and all kinds of things come together for you. If you don't, all kinds of things start to fall apart. You want to be something in the mind of the community, you start with tithing. You want to be blessed in your land, that area that you make your living in, you start with tithing. God will elevate your reputation. I mean it starts here.
God doesn't have you until He gets your pocket book. Because when He has your pocketbook, He has you. He wants your heart first because if He doesn't have that He knows He won't have that pocket book either. So it all starts right here with tithing.
There are seven distinct blessings associated with tithing. They are broad in their sweep and long lasting in their effect. You must see this thing from the view point of God. You must see it like Abraham saw it. It is a blessing pack. It was not a command to Abraham. He did it, because it was right. And look what the man got back. There was no law that made him do it. He just did it because it should have been done and he wound up probably the richest man of his day.
There's where it starts, with the tithe. It's not that we have to tithe. It is that we get to. And look at all the seven blessings that follows with it.
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Date Last Updated:
June 01, 2010
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