The key to a healthy and mature Christian life can be found in the teaching of giving. If you give that which is close to your heart and that which is precious, you will find a freedom that surpasses understanding.

Please understand that in lesson 25 I said;

You are free to come you are free to go.

You’re free to sing and free not to.

You’re free to give and free not to give.

You are free to believe and free not to.

You are Free. Etc.

The “free not to” is placing or leaving a curse upon yourself.

Freedom is found in, “the free to”.

Psalm 110:3 Your people shall be willing in the day of Your power, in holy adornment from the womb of the morning: You have the dew of Your youth. 4 Jehovah has sworn, and will not repent, You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. (MKJV)

Q1/ When people are in love with God they will give. (True or False)

From the moment I became a Christian I knew that giving was something I wanted to do and not that I had to do it. I knew in my heart that this was an automatic thing to do, but on reflection I realized that I needed to teach my people who have been put in my care so that they also can have the blessings I have.

Giving is not an action but a condition of the heart.

Proverbs 10:24 The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted. (KJV)

When we overcome our fear of lose and let go of money we are letting go of part of ourselves which has a hold over us. This is related to our thinking which we have inherited either from our previous generation or a series of bad experiences or bad teaching.

Q2/ The thing we fear will happen to us. (True or False)

A man who thinks poor will be poor. A man who thinks rich will be rich. Teaching that brings a new revelation from God, will set people free.

Q3/ If you think poor you will be poor. (True or False)

Q4/ It’s better to think rich. (True or False)

Proverbs 19:20 Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. 21 There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand. KJV)

Whose money is it?  You may say it’s mine but we need to look at the scriptures and see what they say.

Q5/ Listening and acting on teaching from the Bible is good for you. (True or False)

Psalm 50:10 For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. (KJV)

Most of us think that the money we have is ours and only part of it is God’s and therefore we only put a little in the offering box, but the truth is, it all belongs to God and we have been given stewardship over it and therefore we are to manage money according to God's plan.

Q6/ All we have belongs to God. (True or False)

A person walking in stewardship is a person who has handed all of their life to over to Jesus and become rich in God and in materials things too.

Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. (KJV)

Stewardship is a lifestyle. It requires ability, time, effort, money and treasure. Everything has been handed to God for His glory.

Q7/ God has asked us to look after what is His and what He has given us. (True or False)

 Mark 12:41 And sitting down opposite the treasury, Jesus watched how the people threw copper coins into the treasury. And many rich ones threw in much. 42 And a certain poor widow came, and she threw in two lepta, which is a kodrantes. 43 And He called His disciples and said to them, Truly I say to you that this poor widow has cast in more than all those who have cast into the treasury. 44 For all cast in from their abundance. But she, out of her poverty, has cast in all that she had, all her livelihood.  (MKJV)

Here we Jesus pointing out to His disciples that the widow had put in more than all the others, because she had put in everything she had.

Q8/ Jesus is talking about our whole attitude towards our Christian life. (True or False)

We need to go back into the Old Testament to see what God has said about giving.

Leviticus 27:30 And all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is Jehovah's. It is holy to Jehovah. 31 And if a man will at all redeem anything of his tithes, he shall add to it the fifth part of it. 32 And all the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, all that passes under the rod, a tenth shall be holy to Jehovah (MKJV)

Jesus is asking us to consider giving our whole life to Him, but that doesn’t mean to give up work and just tell people about Jesus. We still need to work and make a living. As we do this according to God’s plan we will see the outworking of Gods generosity into our lives and others too.

Q9/ The Old Testament requires the believer to start with a tenth when giving to God.

If we take as a suggestion Numbers 18:24 and give a tenth of our finical income to the church we will see many great things happen. We must take a step of practical faith, because the word of God says for us to do this, “do it”

Numbers 18:24 But the tithes of the sons of Israel, which they offer as a heave offering to Jehovah, I have given to the Levites to inherit. Therefore I have said to them, Among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance. (MKJV)

Finances are required to run the church without them we could not open the doors to let people in.

We need to pay such things as.

    Rent

    Power

    Seats

    Cups

    Drinks

    Food

    Helping people in need

    Starting another group

    Etc.

Q10/ Things just don’t appear out of nowhere someone must pay. (True or False)

We need to stop the thinking, “that is someone else’s responsibility not mine”.

To hand over our responsibilities to another is not a good thing for us because we are bringing judgment upon ourselves.

Q11/ It is my responsibility to make a good decision about giving. (True or False)

We bring upon ourselves a curse such as:

    Spiritual bondage which leads into many areas of your life

    Financial bondage which leads to lack

    A failure to make a financial plan

    Lack of vision about money

    An overwhelming sense of hopelessness, “I can’t move forward”

Q12/ A curse come from the devil. (True or False)

Here in Malachi we see that God is saying by not giving to the Church is robbery and that a curse is upon the un-cooperative Christian.

Malachi 3:7 From the days of your fathers, you have turned aside from My statutes, and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you, says Jehovah of Hosts. But you say. In what way shall we return? 8 Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me. But you say, In what have we robbed You? In the tithe and the offering! 9 You are cursed with a curse; for you are robbing Me, the nation, all of it. (MKJV)

Before we saw that Jesus was saying about the woman who gave all that she had compared to the rich who only gave a part of their income that she was great. Now we see in the Old Testament that God is saying they are stealing by not giving a tithe. So what should we give in the offering? This looks like a contradiction but it is not because Jesus came to bring a new covenant and to add to the old law.

Q13/ By not giving back to God it is stealing. (True or False)

Acts 20:35 I have shown you all things, that working in this way we ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. (MKJV)

Giving money to the Church, the needy and the Kingdom of God is more blessed than to receive. We all love to receive a gift but giving is difficult at first but it should be part of our worship to the Lord.

Q14/ Giving to God is an act of worship. (True or False)

Q15/ The Church needs to help people who are in need. (True or False)

We need to change our mind set regarding money.

Philippians 4:15 Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as regards giving and receiving, except you alone. 16 For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again to my necessity. 17 I do not say this because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. 18 But I have all, and abound. I have been filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things which you sent, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing to God. 19 But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (MKJV)

Paul who is regarded as one of the greats of the New Testament who was in need and received support, wanted to say thank you to the people of Philippi and in doing so he made six points.

I.    Some churches don’t support missionaries nor even ask if they need help.  

II.    Philippians sent him support.

III.    He tells the Philippians they will be rewarded for their support.

IV.    Thank you for their gifts; he was filled with joy because of their generosity.

V.    Giving to the work of the ministry is a sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing to God.

VI.    God will meet all their needs so they will not be in a state of lose.

Paul wanted to reassure the people of Philippi that they had made the correct Spiritual decision. We might say that’s OK for Paul I need a little more convincing.  

Q16/ Giving to the work of the ministry is a sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing to God. (True or False)

We need to read Malachi 3:9 t0 3:10 to see what God has to say to us about the effects of giving.

Malachi 3:9 You are cursed with a curse; for you are robbing Me, the nation, all of it. 10 Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. And test Me now with this, says Jehovah of Hosts, to see if I will not open the windows of Heaven for you, and pour out a blessing for you, until there is not enough room. 11 And I will rebuke your devourer, and he shall not decay the fruit of your ground against you; nor shall your vine miscarry against you in the field, says Jehovah of Hosts. 12 And all nations shall call you blessed; for you shall be a delightful land, says Jehovah of Hosts. (MKJV)

Practicality of Faith “Do it” why, because God said so.

i.    Bring the entire tithe into the Church.

ii.    So that there may be all the supplies we need to run a Church.

iii.    Test God now to see if His word is true.

iv.    Watch God open the windows of blessing in your life because you gave.

v.    You will see God defend you in all areas of life.

vi.    You shall become productive and successful in everything you put your hand too.

vii.    All the people around you will say you are blessed.

The first three points 1 to 3 are for us to do.

The next three points 4 to 6 are what God will do because we did the first three.

The final point 7 is that, it will be obvious that their will be evidence of God’s hand of blessing in our life.

Q17/ God will make you prosper in all you do if you give. (True or False)

Wesley's a great man of God stated

    "Get all you can;

    save all you can;

    give all you can,"

A/ Get all you can

A servant of God should work and have a ministry of making money as worship to God. The important factor is that God should be first.

Proverbs 22:29 Do you see a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before unknown men. (MKJV)

Q18/ Making money from honest work is a good thing. (True or False)

C/ Save all you can

We are to work to earn money and we will have abundance because we have given to God, but it is important to save money and not waste it on unwise things.

Proverbs 30:24 Four things are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise: 25 the ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer; (MKJV)

Proverbs is a warning about waste and living beyond our means. Care needs to be taken when this new level of prosperity comes into our lives, it is better to saved so you can do more.

Proverbs 21:17 He who loves pleasure shall be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil shall not be rich. (MKJV)

Q19/ Buying lots of shoes and clothes we don’t need is a waste. (True or False)

D/ Give all you can

Make giving the first thing you do when you get paid.

Don’t give grudgingly, give what you are led to give then give willingly.

No one can say you must give a tithe, but it’s a good start.

Proverbs 3:9 Honor Jehovah with your substance, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; 10 and your barns shall be filled with plenty, and your presses shall burst with new wine. (MKJV)

Give constantly and keep doing it.

Proverbs 24:3 Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; 4 and by knowledge the rooms shall be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. 5 A wise man is strong; yes, a man of knowledge increases strength. (MKJV)

Give for the purpose of meeting needs and God's work has needs too.

Giving is a ministry to God and His Kingdom’s people but conversely it is a key to your freedom, success and future prosperity.

Our Thoughts must be put under subjection to the word of God so that the Regeneration work that God has began in us can continue to transform us into Jesus’ image.

If the word of God says it, we should do it.

Q20/ Giving is something God wants us to do as an act of worship to Him. (True or False)