Speaker 0 00:00:00 Honor the Lord with your wealth and what the first fruits of all your produce, then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine Proverbs three nine. Hey, welcome to the grease SOPs devotional podcast edition here. Just going to read through the devotion week eight and just want to let you know, you can go to grease ops.net. We've created an amazing culture for men. It's become kind of, it's actually not kind of. It's actually become a online platform for men's discipleship. You can start our 30 day challenge. Learn more about
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Speaker 0 00:00:52 All right. Hey, getting right into the devotional here, gonna read twos, uh, from my devotional thoughts. One thing that is clear, very clear as you study scripture is our calling is to be generous. We are not supposed to be stingy with the wealth that we steward. One of the issues that God was dealing with in Malakai was that tithing was being ignored. Proverbs three, nine is a straightforward is as straightforward as it gets. Honor the Lord with the first fruits of your produce honoring the Lord includes how we steward our possessions and money. Stop for a minute and take a quick inventory of the debate that goes on about this topic and why people struggle to do what God has asked them to do. I mean, you think about the, you know, I'm going to get off the notes here real quick, but you think about the struggle out there.
Speaker 0 00:01:40 Most people in my experience, and I've ran a church for 15 years now, the one that I started from scratch with an amazing team, but you know, the, the big argument is like, I don't give, cause the church sucks. I don't give because of the church I don't give because that church and this church and this leader and that leader, and, uh, cool. I get it. I do. I really do. I get it. I've had the same issues, same ran into the same things, but I've never stopped tithing because that's not why we tithe God. Doesn't say, if the conditions are right, then obey me. So God says, obey me. And uh, that'll be your measure. And then what happens once you obey me, that'll be a different measure of his accountability and judgment. Okay. Jumping back in recent statistics have revealed that on that on average that on average, only 2.4, 3% of Christians in America tithe. So recent statistics, statistics have revealed on average only 2.4, four, 3% of Christians in America, tithe and people make all kinds of excuses about why they don't tie discontent with the church is one of the largest reasons people do not give. Another
Speaker 1 00:02:58 Reason is ignorance. Our lack of understanding about the heart reason and purpose for which God established tithing. Many people today ignore tithing, just like they did in Malakai's day. God asks Malakai a question will a man, Rob God. Then the people answered by asking their own question. How have we robbed you at that point? God states it's simple simply and clearly in your ties and contributions as Christ followers, we have a responsibility to honor the Lord, which means we need to face this problem and stop ignoring this issue. Why did God give us the principle of tithing? If we are God's people and his kingdom reigns in us, then we should want to live the way God commands us to live. We should desire to walk in faithfulness to God's ways at the center of this issue of tithing. There's an awesome invitation to trust God to honor.
Speaker 1 00:03:59 God means a willingness to trust him in every area of our lives. Money is a huge part of our lives, and that's why God wants us to trust him in this area. I mean, in Malakai, coming off the notes here real quick, but in Malakai, God was inviting Israel to actually heat. The word is test him. I think it's the only place in the scripture. God says, test me. It's like this thing of like security and money and being taken care of ourselves. And you know, Jesus talks about the kingdom in Matthew six. He's like, don't worry about what you're gonna eat. Don't worry about you're gonna drink. Just seek first the kingdom. And if we're going to be a people who honor God and seek first the kingdom, man, we've got to face this issue. If we're ignorant, we've got to get wise. If we're burned by the church, we've got to get over that, but we can't be stingy.
Speaker 1 00:04:48 We can't just be pent up and like, oh, I don't do that. I don't tie that. Don't give, okay. Back to the devotional. It's simple. God declares to everyone who is unsure of his promise to test him and see that his faithful will do what he promised. God owns everything and allows us to manage it all, to make sure that our stuff doesn't possess us and cause us to become stingy. God asked us to give giving is the way we acknowledge God's ownership of everything. It's how we declare that he is our source giving is a way to temper our tendency towards selfishness and greed. God doesn't ask us to Ty for what he can get, but for what we can get our obedience in giving God what belongs to him. Not only honors him, but it releases his blessing on us. So some action things to think about here.
Speaker 1 00:05:47 If you're ignoring the principle of tithing, why, what are you afraid of? What can you do to remove the obstacles that prevent prevent you from obeying God in this area? If you are honoring the Lord with the first fruits, what could you do to help other men who struggle in this area? It's a sensitive topic. And I don't think it's a super easy solution. It is on the one hand, let's just be obedient, faithful. But on the other hand, there's a lot of issues around our finances, mismanagement, debt, stress. I mean, I think money is the number one reason why people get divorced, but what could it look like for the believer who is called to set God apart? If where she treated our finances? Like there were holy and were actually able to not click hold, hold it in clenched fists, but we're able to release it and trust the Lord with it. So it's a big step, but it's one worth taking. So until next time live upright.
