Why Give

Giving our tithes and offerings manifests obedience. It manifests that we have stopped robbing God. That we have the desire to be free of the curse on tithe-offenders. That we have more love for the Giver than His gifts. That we are God’s partner not only in word but in deed. All of these are pleasing to God. Malachi 3:10 says the floodgates of His blessings will be opened to the tithers and their families.  

¹⁰ Test Me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I do not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it. ¹¹ I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your field will not cast their fruit. ¹² Then all nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land, says the Lord Almighty. MALACHI 3

⁹ Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; ¹⁰ then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. PROVERBS 3

¹² Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. ¹³ The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. GENESIS 26

What if we hold back our tithes and offerings? Then we would stay under the curse (Deuteronomy 28:48). Divine Justice would come to collect what is due to God. Even the little blessings left with us would be taken away (Matthew 25:27).

Y’shua said, “Suppose King Herod lent you one hundred gold coins and he obliged you to repay them, would you not be obliged? If you act this way with a fellow man, how must you act with your God?”(Gospel of Barnabas)

What to Give

God’s Share of the Fruit of the Field

²² Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. DEUTERONOMY 14

³⁰ A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. LEVITICUS 27

¹⁸ Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land to which I am taking you, ¹⁹ and you eat the food of the land, present a portion as an offering to the Lord. ²⁰ Present a cake from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing floor. ²¹ Throughout the generations to come you are to give this offering to the Lord from the first of your ground meal. NUMBERS 15

God’s Share of the Fruit of the Womb

² Consecrate to Me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to Me, whether man or animal. EXODUS 13

¹⁹ The first offspring of every womb belongs to Me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. ²⁰ Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. EXODUS 34

³⁰ [You must give Me the firstborn of] your cattle and sheep. Let them stay with their mother for seven days, but give them to Me on the eighth day. EXODUS 22 

¹³ All the firstborn are Mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for Myself all the firstborn in Isra’el, whether man or animal. They are to be Mine. I am the Lord. NUMBERS 3

God’s Share of Our Non-Agricultural Earnings

Abraham set aside 10% of his war spoils to honor God. Nowadays non-agricultural earnings come in the form of salaries and wages, allowances, pensions, scholarships, investment returns, insurances, sales and rental earnings, among others.

Offer the Best

^{7 “}When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? ⁸ When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty. MALACHI 1

Only your best is acceptable to God.

²⁶ Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God. EXODUS 34 

³ If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd… offer a male without defect. ¹⁰ If the offering is a burnt offering from the flock, either from the sheep or from the goats… offer a male without defect. ¹⁴ If the offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds… offer a dove or a young pigeon. LEVITICUS 1

¹ When someone brings a grain offering to the Lord, his offering is to be of fine flour. He is to pour oil on it, put incense on it ² and take it to Aaron’s sons the priests. LEVITICUS 2

Do not make tithes and offerings out of anything that is contaminated with wickedness or lawlessness. Earnings from prostitution, gambling, robbery, kidnapping, drug-pushing, bootlegging, bribery, corruption, extortion, blackmail, smuggling and any other illegal or forbidden transaction are not acceptable. (And the church should not accept them.)

¹² Don’t try to bribe God or rely on offerings that you have obtained dishonestly. He will not accept them. SIRACH 35

¹² [God] doesn’t need the help of sinners to accomplish His purposes. SIRACH 15

¹⁹ The Most High gets no pleasure from sacrifices made by ungodly people, no amount of [tithes and offerings] can make up for their sins. SIRACH 34

¹⁴ What I want is not your possessions but you. 2 CORINTHIANS 12

How to Give
Give with a thankful heart for God has been blessing you.

Where to Give

¹⁰ Bring all the tithes [the full amount] into the storehouse so that there will be food in My temple. MALACHI 3 tlb

⁵ You are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose among all your tribes to put His name there for His dwelling. To that place you must go; ⁶ there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offering, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. DEUTERONOMY 12  

Temple in Malachi 3:10 is not a physical building or structure. Within the framework of the New Covenant, it’s a reference to the Church, the entire Body of Christ. Storehouse is the local church or ministry.

Bring your tithes and offerings to the storehouse where the name of Y’shua dwells, where sacred assembly is held according to the appointed times, where 100% obedience is promoted, and where coworkers of God are produced. It does not make sense to give to a church or ministry that teaches disobedience, does it? That would be equivalent to supporting Lucifer’s ministry.

Also, it does not make sense to give to a church or ministry that is not fruit-bearing. The dead has no need for sustenance. Give it to the living, to help it win more souls and build a bigger temple for God.

⁷ Remember your leaders, who spoke the Word of God to you. HEBREWS 1

¹² Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. ¹³ Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. 1 THESSALONIANS 5