October 27, 2023 • 24 mins
I once worked two jobs and was even on-call for an ambulance service - trust me, it was exhausting! But the real transformation happened when I turned to the word of God and started tithing. In the depths of my exhaustion, a verse from Malachi gave me a new perspective on faith, money, and God's plans for us.
Ever wonder why tithing can be such a touchy subject? We're chatting about this today, navigating the biblical concept of giving 10% and the impact it has on the Church. We're shedding light on the teachings from Malachi, highlighting how tithes were once used to support the Levites and priests. But here's the twist - under the New Covenant, we're not obligated to give, but choosing to do so can open up unimagined blessings.
Wrapping up, we immerse ourselves in the fascinating story of Abraham and Melchizedek, reflecting on the essence of trusting God. We touch upon Abram and Jacob's practice of tithing, how Jesus nudged the young ruler to surrender all he had, emphasizing that faith in God outweighs any material wealth. Get ready to be challenged, inspired, and transformed as we embark on a journey of faithful giving and deepening our relationship with God.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
William Carroll (00:01):
Good morning.
This is Faith Walk with WilliamCarroll.
I'm your host and on here I'vebeen talking about the things
that God has done in my life andthe life of others, through
signs, wonders and miracles, bystanding on his word, believing
his word, learning his word andalso, just, you know, taking God
(00:21):
at his word.
You know the word of God saysthat you need to to be like a
child in faith.
You know God moves on faith.
That's what moves God.
Obedience is good.
You need to be obedient to theword, but faith and belief in
God and belief in his word iswhat moves the heart of God.
(00:44):
We see this a lot.
Jesus marveled many times andhe said I've not seen so great a
faith in all of Israel.
Talking about the centurion,when he came with his son that
was sick and asked Jesus to prayfor him as saying you don't
need to come to my house, justspeak the word, lord, and he
(01:05):
will be healed.
But anyway, that's not what I'mtalking about today.
I just wanted to encourage youtake God out of the box.
Let's take God out of the boxand let's let him be God in our
lives and the mountains that wehave in our life.
There, there no comparison tohow big our God is.
So on this episode I wanted totalk about when I began tithing
(01:28):
and giving and there's tithes,offerings and why I started
doing it.
Well, the first thing is Istarted doing it.
I was at this time I wasworking two jobs.
I was working at East Texas EMSas a EMT and I was also working
(01:52):
at the Kilgore Fire Departmentas a firefighter EMT.
Actually, I was an engineerdriver at that time fixing to
move up to the captain's seat.
I had just taken the captain'stest and most of the time I was
only at work.
I was a captain at a stationwhen another captain was off and
you know I didn't ride theambulance much at that time.
(02:15):
So I really loved working theambulance.
I really loved being a part ofthat medical scene and even
though I was usually the seniordriver or the senior attendant,
even at East Texas EMS, I alwayswanted to work the back.
I always wanted to get backthere, get with the people.
(02:37):
There was so many opportunitiesto pray with people because I
knew how limited my scopemedical scope was and what I
could do for them.
But you know, it's kind of likePaul and I mean Peter and Silas
going into the temple and theysaw the man the lame man,
begging for arms.
(02:58):
And the lame man was expectingto receive something.
And Peter looked at himstraight up and said you know,
silver or gold have I?
None, but what I have I'll giveyou in the name of Jesus, rise
up and take your mat.
And that day, immediately, thelame man rose up, take his mat
(03:20):
and went walking and see, that'sthe kind of guy I serve, that's
the kind of guy that that weserve.
If you are a born-againChristian, but if your faith
isn't there, you got to get itthere.
You got to start seeing God aswho he is and not what you've
been told he was or what youthink he is in your own mind.
So I was working these two jobs.
(03:42):
I was working 24 at one place,24 hours at the other place, and
then I was on 24 hours call forthe ambulance service.
So I worked 24 hours at thefire department, came home 24
hours, drove straight to work 24hours for East Texas EMS.
Then, as soon as I got off, Iwas on call 24 hours before I
(04:04):
had to be back to the firedepartment.
We only had one ambulance onduty in Panola County so if the
ambulance got called out, youwere called in to stand by until
that other ambulance got backand was free and clear in case
we had another call.
So I was steadily going backand forth, back and forth on
(04:26):
that call out day.
Well, you know, after about twoand a half to three years it
started kind of taking a toll onme because I wasn't getting to
spend a lot of time with myfamily.
You know, I got to meet themfor lunch or maybe meet them up
for supper after my wife and thekids got off of work and it
(04:50):
just it got to just be a drag onme and I wasn't hardly making
ends meet.
You know, I was working twojobs trying to pay all the bills
, and so it really wasn'tworking.
So I heard this message.
I heard a message and it wasout of Malachi three and six and
(05:12):
I started studying on it.
See, anytime I say something orsomebody else say something or a
pastor says something, it's toget you excited about the word
of God.
You know, if you think I'mwrong, if you think they're
wrong, get in the word, study it, show it, show yourself, show
your heart.
Let God, speak to your heart.
Is it right or is it wrong?
Is there truth in there or isthere not truth in there?
(05:34):
Especially if it makes you mad.
If what I say makes you mad andyou say you're wrong, well, get
in that word and prove themthat I'm wrong and come and show
me.
Let's sit down and talk aboutit.
All right, that's the way mypastor was and that's the way I
am, you know, because if anykind of thing that comes up,
(05:55):
like this boy, it makes me studymore, it makes me go back and
study what I've already studiedin my life.
All right.
So Malachi, chapter three, versesix, says for I am the God, I
change not.
Therefore, you sung as aJacob's or not consumed.
It says the Lord says listen tothis.
(06:16):
He says I am the Lord, I changenot.
So God is the Lord and hechanged not.
Let's see.
He says even from the days ofyour fathers you were going away
to my ordinance.
You have not kept my ordinances.
Returning to me, I will returnto you, says the Lord of hosts.
(06:38):
But you say where shall wereturn?
God says will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed me.
But you say where in have.
I robbed you in tithes andofferings.
You are cursed with a curse,for you have robbed me even this
whole nation.
Bring all the tithes into thestorehouse that there may be
(07:00):
meat in my house.
Improve me now wherewith.
Say let the Lord of hosts, if Iwill not open the windows of
heavens and pour out a blessing,that there shall not be room
enough to receive it.
He goes on, he says I willrebuke the devourer for your
sake, and he shall not destroythe fruits of your ground,
(07:24):
neither shall your vine cast herfruit before the time in the
fields, as the Lord of hosts.
So I just wanna say right there, when I heard that I hadn't
been given a tithe, they passedthe collection place and I throw
$5 in, $10 in whatever, and Isaid well, that's what God's
(07:47):
moving me to give.
I may give $100 here or there,but I really wasn't tithing.
And listen, when you say theword tithe today, people get mad
.
It upsets them.
What is the tithe?
Well, the tithe means 10%.
Look it up, it means 10%.
(08:07):
And people just get offendedand say well, we're not under
the old covenant, no more, we'reunder the new covenant.
We don't have to give a tithe.
No, you don't.
You don't have to give anything, just like I was giving
willy-nilly here and there, Ididn't have to give anything.
I'm just saying people getupset at the tithe.
(08:27):
You know, in the church today,10% of the people do all the
work.
10% of the people, 10% of thepeople give the tithe or pay all
the bills.
Let's say it that way 10% arethe ones that are involved.
You know well.
What about the other?
What about the other 90%?
Huh, they come and go.
(08:48):
Well, listen, listen.
Here God says, right here hesays bring all the tithes in the
store, half that there may beme in my house, and prove me,
prove me, prove me.
This is in Malachi 3 and 10,prove me.
Do you know?
That word, prove me, is used 25times in the Bible, 25 times.
(09:09):
I'm gonna prove you.
It's to prove you.
It's to prove the nations.
It's to prove.
It's always to prove somebodyelse.
But right here God speaks theword and he says prove me Now.
You remember on up earlier hereit says I am the Lord, thy God.
I change not.
Yeah, william, but you'retalking in the Old Testament.
(09:31):
Okay, we're gonna get to theNew Testament.
Hold on, hold on, don't berushing me this morning.
Okay.
So he says prove me.
Well, listen, he says, if youbring all the tithes, that's 10%
.
And offerings, offerings, iswhat you're blessed with.
Tithe is the minimum you giveTo me.
You don't have to give anythingbut to me.
I started seeing that I neededto give a tithe of my money.
(09:54):
Why?
Because of this verse righthere in Malachi 3 and 11.
I will rebuke the devourer foryour sake, and he shall not
destroy the fruits of yourground.
Your vine shall not cast yourfruit in the field before it's
time, says the Lord of hosts.
And you said, yeah, well, youknow he was talking about the
fruits and the cattle and youknow all this.
(10:16):
That was their money.
Okay, that was their livelihood.
The fruits is what they wastheir money.
You know they had a barteringsystem and sometimes, even when
Jesus is time, it moved up to bea money system too.
All right, because they werepart of the Roman Empire.
So that was their money, thatwas their increase, all right.
(10:39):
So he says bring it all into thestorehouse.
That there might be meat in myhouse, you know.
So that it might provide.
See, a 10th.
Under the old covenant, underthe law, a 10th was to provide
for the Levites and the priestsand the church of God, because
they wasn't supposed to work butbecause they were supposed to
be about God's business, allright anyway.
(11:03):
So I heard this message and Istarted thinking man, I needed
tithes.
Well, I decided I needed toquit my job because I needed
more time to give into my family.
So what I did was I quit one ofthe jobs I was still worked
over at the Kilgore FireDepartment.
But that's two salaries Boom.
I cut one of them out.
At the same time I startedtidying off the one I had.
(11:26):
I started giving the tithes thefirst fruit.
The first fruit means when Iget that paycheck.
Oh, william, should we give netor should we give gross?
Well, I'm just gonna tell you,give off your growth if you're
gonna tithe, if you're gonna vowvow and you're gonna gift to
God.
See, he gives me 90%.
90% of my money is God's money.
That's how I see it in my heart.
90% of what I have, he gives methe ability to have.
(11:49):
And if I give him 10% back, itsays he will rebuke the devourer
for my sake.
He's gonna rebuke the devourerfor my sake.
So he's gonna protect thatother 90%, so that the devourer?
Who's the devourer?
Well, that's Satan, all of hisdevices.
He can use all kinds of devices.
(12:10):
So, anyway, I started giving thetithes and I was amazed to find
out that once I quit that joband I didn't have that second
income, I still made my billsand I had money left over, where
before, with two jobs, I wasn'tmaking my bills and I didn't
have money left over.
(12:31):
I was living from paycheck topaycheck.
And even my wife says well,what are you doing?
How come you?
Where was you spending thatmoney?
And I said look, here's thecheckbook, go look at it.
You can see where I wasspending it, you can see what I
was doing with that money.
And I'm doing the same thing,the same bills, and we have
(12:54):
money left over.
Well, that can't be.
You was doing something elsewith that money.
I said, well, there's theevidence right there.
I said, no, it's because Godsays in his word to prove me.
That's the only place in theBible he says prove me and see
if I won't pour out a blessing.
Now, open the windows of heavenand pour out a blessing upon
you.
I'm telling you, I needed thewindows of heaven opened up, I
(13:17):
needed them poured out upon me,and I needed him to rebuke the
devourer so that that other 90%that the Lord allows me to spend
as I see fit.
You know, I could see I couldspend it and the devourer
wouldn't take it.
You know, it wouldn't be a carbroken down or it wouldn't be
this broken down Somethingalways happening.
Have you ever noticed?
(13:37):
Something always happens whenyou have a little extra money.
You know Well, once I startedtithing and started giving
offerings and offering issomething of the free heart,
it's a free will, it's somethingI want to do to just to bless
God with, you know, because he'sblessed me.
Well, you know, that's whereyou're really blessed.
You're really blessed.
On the offerings, god justpours out more blessings upon
(14:00):
you.
I hear all the time people sayyou know, you came out, give God
.
You came out, give God and yousay, hey, do you tithe?
Whoa, I mean, they get red,they get mad.
Well, I don't do it like that,I don't.
That's.
I'm in a new Testament, I'm notunder the law, you know Well,
no, you're not under the law.
Why are you getting mad atgiving a 10th?
(14:20):
You know, let me tell yousomething Abraham, before he was
Abraham.
His name was Abram and it it.
Go back and look it up, abram,that was his name.
Right Genesis, and startingverse 14 and go to verse 18.
Abram gave a tithe of the spoilof a battle where the king there
(14:41):
was five kings, the five kingsof, with Sodom, the kings of
Sodom and Gomorrah, and andthree other kings went to war
against five other kings.
The five other kings Took allthe people, took lot, took all
of the, the treasures of thekingdoms of the kings, and Won
the battle.
(15:01):
Well, the king of Sodom ran inhead and so did the king of
Gomorrah, but anyway, whathappened was a Messenger escaped
and and came and told Abramsaid hey, you know, the kings
came against the king of Sodomand they had a big battle in
(15:22):
this valley and they took offthe captives and they took your
nephew saw a lot, they took lotand all over the possessions and
all the people of Sodom andGomorrah.
And so Abraham took 300servants that were raised up in
his house and he gave them armsand they went and they defeated
the five kings.
(15:43):
He defeated the five kings with300 people and they took the
spoil of the wall, the, the warthey took.
You know all of the spoil andthey were bringing it back.
And then Abram met Melchizedekor Melchizedek, however you want
to say it and he is the highpriest of God.
(16:03):
Jesus is said to be a highpriest after the order of
Melchizedek, and that's inHebrews.
It's in verse chapter 5 andchapter 7.
You can go and read about itMelchizedek, he's the king of
Salem.
That means peace.
He was without father, withoutmother, without in.
He was a priest unto the highGod and he was an everlasting
(16:27):
priest.
And it said Jesus was in theorder of Melchizedek.
All right, so that was beforethe law, because the law, the
high priest, was out of theLevites, right, and I know I'm
kind of getting deep in here foryou because I just love this,
but listen.
So.
So Abram coming back and he met,meets this high priest,
(16:50):
melchizedek, and Melchizedekcomes out with wine and bread
and he brought it to Abram andAbram had communion with him and
Abram Took and he gave onetenth of the spoil of the war to
God, to the priest.
He gave it to him, and this wasa king and a priest and he gave
(17:15):
him one tenth and he saw it asgiving unto God, not as unto
giving, unto man.
And the king of Sodom come tohim and said hey, said, uh, you
know, you need to give me allthe people that you, that you
recovered back at the war.
And he said Abram told him,says you know what?
(17:36):
He said I'm gonna give you Allthe spoil, except for the what,
what.
The men, the men took a portionwhich was a portion of the
spoil, the riches and everythingthey had gotten from the battle
and and their food that theyhad had.
You know, because they tooksheep and goat, they took
everything.
They took everything away.
(17:58):
The other kings did, and theywent and took it back and he
said, after they have gottentheir portion, their share.
He said then I, then you canhave Everything he says, because
I don't want it said that theking of Sodom Made me rich
because I have raised my handand I have pledged to pledge to
(18:18):
God, to the great God, the God,the Lord, the king of kings.
And he says you know, I don'twant you going around and
anybody else saying that youmade me rich Because God is my
source.
Whoo, it's God, your source, isGod your source.
You know God is my source andthat's why I started believing
(18:40):
that.
That's why I started standingon that.
Listen, I'm gonna jump aheadreal fast to uh to uh.
Genesis, chapter 28.
Go read it.
Jacob was, was there, sleepingon rocks, and he saw the ladder.
And he had a dream.
He saw God in heaven and Godsaid I will bless you, I will
bless your going in and goingout, and you go out and you, you
(19:01):
, I will bring you back intothis land.
You know if you will serve meand if you will love me.
And?
And when he woke up, he set apillar and that was Bethel.
The place was called Bethel.
You know it's the house of God.
Well, he set a pillar, whichwas that rock that he slept on,
and he vowed a vow.
He said, god, if you bless mygoing and my coming and bring me
(19:21):
back here and you bless allthat I do, he said I vowed that
I will give you a tense, you, ofall my increase.
Go back and read it.
Both of these times is beforethe law by faith, abram gave a
tent by faith, jacob gave a tentby faith.
In the New Testament, you cangive a tent or you can give more
(19:45):
.
You also give offerings.
They also gave offerings atdifferent times.
You know, a tent is just astarting point.
It's just a starting point, butby faith, if Abram and Jacob
can do it by faith, I startedgiving a tent and then I gave
offerings as God blessed weekwith more and more.
(20:06):
You see, jesus talked about theyoung ruler, the young ruler in
Matthew, chapter 6, no, matthew19, matthew 19 and 16.
Go read about the young ruler.
He said I've done everything,jesus.
I've done it all.
I followed the law.
What can I do now?
Jesus said well, if you want tobe mature, go sell all you got,
(20:29):
follow me and take up yourcross and follow me daily.
He left out sad because hisriches meant more to him than
the treasure that he found,which is Jesus.
Jesus said in Matthew 6 and 21,.
It says for where your treasureis, that is where your heart
(20:50):
will be.
Well, you know my treasure.
I want my treasure to be in theLord Jesus.
That's where I want my treasureto be.
I don't want to have to look atmy money.
There's been times that myheart, the treasure of my heart,
was money making money makingmoney, trying to get more and
(21:11):
more and be self-sufficient.
Oh, I wanted to be amillionaire.
But the time I was 35 years old, you know Well, I didn't get to
be a millionaire because Itraded that thought, that idea,
for wanting God more in my lifethan the treasures.
Because you know me and breakin and steal the treasures.
(21:33):
The government takes yourtreasures.
You know how come.
You're not mad If you, ifsaying ain't tight, if that
makes you mad and you say, well,I don't have to do it.
But you don't have to do it.
Bless your heart, you know.
But do you?
What do you feel about givingthe government 30% of what you
make?
Nobody gripes and complains anddoes anything about that.
(21:54):
But we say, oh, you know,listen, people, I know that it
worked for me.
That's all I can tell you.
I heard the message.
I believe the message.
I believed what God said.
He said prove me.
So I set out to prove him andwhat happened was I was making
it better off of that one incomethan fighting for that second
(22:16):
income, spending all my timeaway from my family and not
having time for anything else.
Listen, I hope this bless you.
I hope it stirs you up to getinto the word, you know, I hope
it stirs you up.
There's people that that thatout there, that you know that's
given 90% and lived off of 10%.
Rg Latterno.
(22:37):
Get his book, read thebiography.
Rg Latterno man, I'm tellingyou you cannot out give God, but
you have to purpose in yourheart to do it.
Give it 90%, I whoo, I meanthat would be hard for me.
Let's just be honest.
You know, but he started outwhen he had nothing given 90%,
(22:58):
and then when he had a lot, hestill gave 90%.
See, you have to startsomewhere.
It's harder for people thatthat have money to start giving
a 10th than it does for somebodywho has no money to give a 10th
.
You know at the beginning andthen do it all their life when
they see God working and movingand blessing them.
Listen, if you don't know Jesustoday, I just want you to ask
(23:21):
Jesus into your heart.
Just say Lord Jesus, forgive meof my sins.
Come into my heart.
I repent of my sins.
I believe that you died on thecross.
You paid the price for me.
Be the Lord of my life.
I believe in you, amen.
If you say that prayer likethat, jesus honors that prayer
(23:42):
and you'll be born again.
That's what we have to do.
We have to be born again.
We have to start serving Godsomewhere.
Serve God not only in yourtithes and don't get tied up
with the word tithe but in yourgiving.
Let's say it like that ServeGod in your giving.
Is your treasure in God or inyour money?
Put your treasure in God, themoney thing will take care of
(24:05):
itself.
God bless you.
I love you until next time.
Jesus loves you too.
Bye.
Good morning.
This is Faith Walk with WilliamCarroll.
I'm your host and on here I'vebeen talking about the things
that God has done in my life andthe life of others, through
signs, wonders and miracles, bystanding on his word, believing
his word, learning his word andalso, just, you know, taking God
(00:21):
at his word.
You know the word of God saysthat you need to to be like a
child in faith.
You know God moves on faith.
That's what moves God.
Obedience is good.
You need to be obedient to theword, but faith and belief in
God and belief in his word iswhat moves the heart of God.
(00:44):
We see this a lot.
Jesus marveled many times andhe said I've not seen so great a
faith in all of Israel.
Talking about the centurion,when he came with his son that
was sick and asked Jesus to prayfor him as saying you don't
need to come to my house, justspeak the word, lord, and he
(01:05):
will be healed.
But anyway, that's not what I'mtalking about today.
I just wanted to encourage youtake God out of the box.
Let's take God out of the boxand let's let him be God in our
lives and the mountains that wehave in our life.
There, there no comparison tohow big our God is.
So on this episode I wanted totalk about when I began tithing
(01:28):
and giving and there's tithes,offerings and why I started
doing it.
Well, the first thing is Istarted doing it.
I was at this time I wasworking two jobs.
I was working at East Texas EMSas a EMT and I was also working
(01:52):
at the Kilgore Fire Departmentas a firefighter EMT.
Actually, I was an engineerdriver at that time fixing to
move up to the captain's seat.
I had just taken the captain'stest and most of the time I was
only at work.
I was a captain at a stationwhen another captain was off and
you know I didn't ride theambulance much at that time.
(02:15):
So I really loved working theambulance.
I really loved being a part ofthat medical scene and even
though I was usually the seniordriver or the senior attendant,
even at East Texas EMS, I alwayswanted to work the back.
I always wanted to get backthere, get with the people.
(02:37):
There was so many opportunitiesto pray with people because I
knew how limited my scopemedical scope was and what I
could do for them.
But you know, it's kind of likePaul and I mean Peter and Silas
going into the temple and theysaw the man the lame man,
begging for arms.
(02:58):
And the lame man was expectingto receive something.
And Peter looked at himstraight up and said you know,
silver or gold have I?
None, but what I have I'll giveyou in the name of Jesus, rise
up and take your mat.
And that day, immediately, thelame man rose up, take his mat
(03:20):
and went walking and see, that'sthe kind of guy I serve, that's
the kind of guy that that weserve.
If you are a born-againChristian, but if your faith
isn't there, you got to get itthere.
You got to start seeing God aswho he is and not what you've
been told he was or what youthink he is in your own mind.
So I was working these two jobs.
(03:42):
I was working 24 at one place,24 hours at the other place, and
then I was on 24 hours call forthe ambulance service.
So I worked 24 hours at thefire department, came home 24
hours, drove straight to work 24hours for East Texas EMS.
Then, as soon as I got off, Iwas on call 24 hours before I
(04:04):
had to be back to the firedepartment.
We only had one ambulance onduty in Panola County so if the
ambulance got called out, youwere called in to stand by until
that other ambulance got backand was free and clear in case
we had another call.
So I was steadily going backand forth, back and forth on
(04:26):
that call out day.
Well, you know, after about twoand a half to three years it
started kind of taking a toll onme because I wasn't getting to
spend a lot of time with myfamily.
You know, I got to meet themfor lunch or maybe meet them up
for supper after my wife and thekids got off of work and it
(04:50):
just it got to just be a drag onme and I wasn't hardly making
ends meet.
You know, I was working twojobs trying to pay all the bills
, and so it really wasn'tworking.
So I heard this message.
I heard a message and it wasout of Malachi three and six and
(05:12):
I started studying on it.
See, anytime I say something orsomebody else say something or a
pastor says something, it's toget you excited about the word
of God.
You know, if you think I'mwrong, if you think they're
wrong, get in the word, study it, show it, show yourself, show
your heart.
Let God, speak to your heart.
Is it right or is it wrong?
Is there truth in there or isthere not truth in there?
(05:34):
Especially if it makes you mad.
If what I say makes you mad andyou say you're wrong, well, get
in that word and prove themthat I'm wrong and come and show
me.
Let's sit down and talk aboutit.
All right, that's the way mypastor was and that's the way I
am, you know, because if anykind of thing that comes up,
(05:55):
like this boy, it makes me studymore, it makes me go back and
study what I've already studiedin my life.
All right.
So Malachi, chapter three, versesix, says for I am the God, I
change not.
Therefore, you sung as aJacob's or not consumed.
It says the Lord says listen tothis.
(06:16):
He says I am the Lord, I changenot.
So God is the Lord and hechanged not.
Let's see.
He says even from the days ofyour fathers you were going away
to my ordinance.
You have not kept my ordinances.
Returning to me, I will returnto you, says the Lord of hosts.
(06:38):
But you say where shall wereturn?
God says will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed me.
But you say where in have.
I robbed you in tithes andofferings.
You are cursed with a curse,for you have robbed me even this
whole nation.
Bring all the tithes into thestorehouse that there may be
(07:00):
meat in my house.
Improve me now wherewith.
Say let the Lord of hosts, if Iwill not open the windows of
heavens and pour out a blessing,that there shall not be room
enough to receive it.
He goes on, he says I willrebuke the devourer for your
sake, and he shall not destroythe fruits of your ground,
(07:24):
neither shall your vine cast herfruit before the time in the
fields, as the Lord of hosts.
So I just wanna say right there, when I heard that I hadn't
been given a tithe, they passedthe collection place and I throw
$5 in, $10 in whatever, and Isaid well, that's what God's
(07:47):
moving me to give.
I may give $100 here or there,but I really wasn't tithing.
And listen, when you say theword tithe today, people get mad
.
It upsets them.
What is the tithe?
Well, the tithe means 10%.
Look it up, it means 10%.
(08:07):
And people just get offendedand say well, we're not under
the old covenant, no more, we'reunder the new covenant.
We don't have to give a tithe.
No, you don't.
You don't have to give anything, just like I was giving
willy-nilly here and there, Ididn't have to give anything.
I'm just saying people getupset at the tithe.
(08:27):
You know, in the church today,10% of the people do all the
work.
10% of the people, 10% of thepeople give the tithe or pay all
the bills.
Let's say it that way 10% arethe ones that are involved.
You know well.
What about the other?
What about the other 90%?
Huh, they come and go.
(08:48):
Well, listen, listen.
Here God says, right here hesays bring all the tithes in the
store, half that there may beme in my house, and prove me,
prove me, prove me.
This is in Malachi 3 and 10,prove me.
Do you know?
That word, prove me, is used 25times in the Bible, 25 times.
(09:09):
I'm gonna prove you.
It's to prove you.
It's to prove the nations.
It's to prove.
It's always to prove somebodyelse.
But right here God speaks theword and he says prove me Now.
You remember on up earlier hereit says I am the Lord, thy God.
I change not.
Yeah, william, but you'retalking in the Old Testament.
(09:31):
Okay, we're gonna get to theNew Testament.
Hold on, hold on, don't berushing me this morning.
Okay.
So he says prove me.
Well, listen, he says, if youbring all the tithes, that's 10%
.
And offerings, offerings, iswhat you're blessed with.
Tithe is the minimum you giveTo me.
You don't have to give anythingbut to me.
I started seeing that I neededto give a tithe of my money.
(09:54):
Why?
Because of this verse righthere in Malachi 3 and 11.
I will rebuke the devourer foryour sake, and he shall not
destroy the fruits of yourground.
Your vine shall not cast yourfruit in the field before it's
time, says the Lord of hosts.
And you said, yeah, well, youknow he was talking about the
fruits and the cattle and youknow all this.
(10:16):
That was their money.
Okay, that was their livelihood.
The fruits is what they wastheir money.
You know they had a barteringsystem and sometimes, even when
Jesus is time, it moved up to bea money system too.
All right, because they werepart of the Roman Empire.
So that was their money, thatwas their increase, all right.
(10:39):
So he says bring it all into thestorehouse.
That there might be meat in myhouse, you know.
So that it might provide.
See, a 10th.
Under the old covenant, underthe law, a 10th was to provide
for the Levites and the priestsand the church of God, because
they wasn't supposed to work butbecause they were supposed to
be about God's business, allright anyway.
(11:03):
So I heard this message and Istarted thinking man, I needed
tithes.
Well, I decided I needed toquit my job because I needed
more time to give into my family.
So what I did was I quit one ofthe jobs I was still worked
over at the Kilgore FireDepartment.
But that's two salaries Boom.
I cut one of them out.
At the same time I startedtidying off the one I had.
(11:26):
I started giving the tithes thefirst fruit.
The first fruit means when Iget that paycheck.
Oh, william, should we give netor should we give gross?
Well, I'm just gonna tell you,give off your growth if you're
gonna tithe, if you're gonna vowvow and you're gonna gift to
God.
See, he gives me 90%.
90% of my money is God's money.
That's how I see it in my heart.
90% of what I have, he gives methe ability to have.
(11:49):
And if I give him 10% back, itsays he will rebuke the devourer
for my sake.
He's gonna rebuke the devourerfor my sake.
So he's gonna protect thatother 90%, so that the devourer?
Who's the devourer?
Well, that's Satan, all of hisdevices.
He can use all kinds of devices.
(12:10):
So, anyway, I started giving thetithes and I was amazed to find
out that once I quit that joband I didn't have that second
income, I still made my billsand I had money left over, where
before, with two jobs, I wasn'tmaking my bills and I didn't
have money left over.
(12:31):
I was living from paycheck topaycheck.
And even my wife says well,what are you doing?
How come you?
Where was you spending thatmoney?
And I said look, here's thecheckbook, go look at it.
You can see where I wasspending it, you can see what I
was doing with that money.
And I'm doing the same thing,the same bills, and we have
(12:54):
money left over.
Well, that can't be.
You was doing something elsewith that money.
I said, well, there's theevidence right there.
I said, no, it's because Godsays in his word to prove me.
That's the only place in theBible he says prove me and see
if I won't pour out a blessing.
Now, open the windows of heavenand pour out a blessing upon
you.
I'm telling you, I needed thewindows of heaven opened up, I
(13:17):
needed them poured out upon me,and I needed him to rebuke the
devourer so that that other 90%that the Lord allows me to spend
as I see fit.
You know, I could see I couldspend it and the devourer
wouldn't take it.
You know, it wouldn't be a carbroken down or it wouldn't be
this broken down Somethingalways happening.
Have you ever noticed?
(13:37):
Something always happens whenyou have a little extra money.
You know Well, once I startedtithing and started giving
offerings and offering issomething of the free heart,
it's a free will, it's somethingI want to do to just to bless
God with, you know, because he'sblessed me.
Well, you know, that's whereyou're really blessed.
You're really blessed.
On the offerings, god justpours out more blessings upon
(14:00):
you.
I hear all the time people sayyou know, you came out, give God
.
You came out, give God and yousay, hey, do you tithe?
Whoa, I mean, they get red,they get mad.
Well, I don't do it like that,I don't.
That's.
I'm in a new Testament, I'm notunder the law, you know Well,
no, you're not under the law.
Why are you getting mad atgiving a 10th?
(14:20):
You know, let me tell yousomething Abraham, before he was
Abraham.
His name was Abram and it it.
Go back and look it up, abram,that was his name.
Right Genesis, and startingverse 14 and go to verse 18.
Abram gave a tithe of the spoilof a battle where the king there
(14:41):
was five kings, the five kingsof, with Sodom, the kings of
Sodom and Gomorrah, and andthree other kings went to war
against five other kings.
The five other kings Took allthe people, took lot, took all
of the, the treasures of thekingdoms of the kings, and Won
the battle.
(15:01):
Well, the king of Sodom ran inhead and so did the king of
Gomorrah, but anyway, whathappened was a Messenger escaped
and and came and told Abramsaid hey, you know, the kings
came against the king of Sodomand they had a big battle in
(15:22):
this valley and they took offthe captives and they took your
nephew saw a lot, they took lotand all over the possessions and
all the people of Sodom andGomorrah.
And so Abraham took 300servants that were raised up in
his house and he gave them armsand they went and they defeated
the five kings.
(15:43):
He defeated the five kings with300 people and they took the
spoil of the wall, the, the warthey took.
You know all of the spoil andthey were bringing it back.
And then Abram met Melchizedekor Melchizedek, however you want
to say it and he is the highpriest of God.
(16:03):
Jesus is said to be a highpriest after the order of
Melchizedek, and that's inHebrews.
It's in verse chapter 5 andchapter 7.
You can go and read about itMelchizedek, he's the king of
Salem.
That means peace.
He was without father, withoutmother, without in.
He was a priest unto the highGod and he was an everlasting
(16:27):
priest.
And it said Jesus was in theorder of Melchizedek.
All right, so that was beforethe law, because the law, the
high priest, was out of theLevites, right, and I know I'm
kind of getting deep in here foryou because I just love this,
but listen.
So.
So Abram coming back and he met,meets this high priest,
(16:50):
melchizedek, and Melchizedekcomes out with wine and bread
and he brought it to Abram andAbram had communion with him and
Abram Took and he gave onetenth of the spoil of the war to
God, to the priest.
He gave it to him, and this wasa king and a priest and he gave
(17:15):
him one tenth and he saw it asgiving unto God, not as unto
giving, unto man.
And the king of Sodom come tohim and said hey, said, uh, you
know, you need to give me allthe people that you, that you
recovered back at the war.
And he said Abram told him,says you know what?
(17:36):
He said I'm gonna give you Allthe spoil, except for the what,
what.
The men, the men took a portionwhich was a portion of the
spoil, the riches and everythingthey had gotten from the battle
and and their food that theyhad had.
You know, because they tooksheep and goat, they took
everything.
They took everything away.
(17:58):
The other kings did, and theywent and took it back and he
said, after they have gottentheir portion, their share.
He said then I, then you canhave Everything he says, because
I don't want it said that theking of Sodom Made me rich
because I have raised my handand I have pledged to pledge to
(18:18):
God, to the great God, the God,the Lord, the king of kings.
And he says you know, I don'twant you going around and
anybody else saying that youmade me rich Because God is my
source.
Whoo, it's God, your source, isGod your source.
You know God is my source andthat's why I started believing
(18:40):
that.
That's why I started standingon that.
Listen, I'm gonna jump aheadreal fast to uh to uh.
Genesis, chapter 28.
Go read it.
Jacob was, was there, sleepingon rocks, and he saw the ladder.
And he had a dream.
He saw God in heaven and Godsaid I will bless you, I will
bless your going in and goingout, and you go out and you, you
(19:01):
, I will bring you back intothis land.
You know if you will serve meand if you will love me.
And?
And when he woke up, he set apillar and that was Bethel.
The place was called Bethel.
You know it's the house of God.
Well, he set a pillar, whichwas that rock that he slept on,
and he vowed a vow.
He said, god, if you bless mygoing and my coming and bring me
(19:21):
back here and you bless allthat I do, he said I vowed that
I will give you a tense, you, ofall my increase.
Go back and read it.
Both of these times is beforethe law by faith, abram gave a
tent by faith, jacob gave a tentby faith.
In the New Testament, you cangive a tent or you can give more
(19:45):
.
You also give offerings.
They also gave offerings atdifferent times.
You know, a tent is just astarting point.
It's just a starting point, butby faith, if Abram and Jacob
can do it by faith, I startedgiving a tent and then I gave
offerings as God blessed weekwith more and more.
(20:06):
You see, jesus talked about theyoung ruler, the young ruler in
Matthew, chapter 6, no, matthew19, matthew 19 and 16.
Go read about the young ruler.
He said I've done everything,jesus.
I've done it all.
I followed the law.
What can I do now?
Jesus said well, if you want tobe mature, go sell all you got,
(20:29):
follow me and take up yourcross and follow me daily.
He left out sad because hisriches meant more to him than
the treasure that he found,which is Jesus.
Jesus said in Matthew 6 and 21,.
It says for where your treasureis, that is where your heart
(20:50):
will be.
Well, you know my treasure.
I want my treasure to be in theLord Jesus.
That's where I want my treasureto be.
I don't want to have to look atmy money.
There's been times that myheart, the treasure of my heart,
was money making money makingmoney, trying to get more and
(21:11):
more and be self-sufficient.
Oh, I wanted to be amillionaire.
But the time I was 35 years old, you know Well, I didn't get to
be a millionaire because Itraded that thought, that idea,
for wanting God more in my lifethan the treasures.
Because you know me and breakin and steal the treasures.
(21:33):
The government takes yourtreasures.
You know how come.
You're not mad If you, ifsaying ain't tight, if that
makes you mad and you say, well,I don't have to do it.
But you don't have to do it.
Bless your heart, you know.
But do you?
What do you feel about givingthe government 30% of what you
make?
Nobody gripes and complains anddoes anything about that.
(21:54):
But we say, oh, you know,listen, people, I know that it
worked for me.
That's all I can tell you.
I heard the message.
I believe the message.
I believed what God said.
He said prove me.
So I set out to prove him andwhat happened was I was making
it better off of that one incomethan fighting for that second
(22:16):
income, spending all my timeaway from my family and not
having time for anything else.
Listen, I hope this bless you.
I hope it stirs you up to getinto the word, you know, I hope
it stirs you up.
There's people that that thatout there, that you know that's
given 90% and lived off of 10%.
Rg Latterno.
(22:37):
Get his book, read thebiography.
Rg Latterno man, I'm tellingyou you cannot out give God, but
you have to purpose in yourheart to do it.
Give it 90%, I whoo, I meanthat would be hard for me.
Let's just be honest.
You know, but he started outwhen he had nothing given 90%,
(22:58):
and then when he had a lot, hestill gave 90%.
See, you have to startsomewhere.
It's harder for people thatthat have money to start giving
a 10th than it does for somebodywho has no money to give a 10th
.
You know at the beginning andthen do it all their life when
they see God working and movingand blessing them.
Listen, if you don't know Jesustoday, I just want you to ask
(23:21):
Jesus into your heart.
Just say Lord Jesus, forgive meof my sins.
Come into my heart.
I repent of my sins.
I believe that you died on thecross.
You paid the price for me.
Be the Lord of my life.
I believe in you, amen.
If you say that prayer likethat, jesus honors that prayer
(23:42):
and you'll be born again.
That's what we have to do.
We have to be born again.
We have to start serving Godsomewhere.
Serve God not only in yourtithes and don't get tied up
with the word tithe but in yourgiving.
Let's say it like that ServeGod in your giving.
Is your treasure in God or inyour money?
Put your treasure in God, themoney thing will take care of
(24:05):
itself.
God bless you.
I love you until next time.
Jesus loves you too.
Bye.
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