Gifts and Talents

        When Israel came into the Promised Land, the first city they came to was Jericho. God told them that all of the gold, silver, bronze, and iron were to go to the house of the Lord. But one man, Achan took some gold, silver, and some cloth and hid it in his tent. But God took away the blessing from Israel. Why? Because Jericho was the first city to be taken and was a tithe to the Lord.

      I have always been a giver. But when I found out the right way to pay my tithes, that was when God started to bless me. The first year I had a very good year. In the second year, I made exactly twice the year before. God was showing me the right way to tithe. Cain did not offer the first fruits but just an offering in the process of time and did not tithe.

       When time began God has always demanded the first part of our increase. If we pay all of our bills and then we give to God from what we have leftover, that is not a tithe. Our tithes are not an offering. Tithes mean we give the first ten percent of our income to God. Our offerings are what we decide to give. In Malachi chapter one the Priests were offering the blind, the lame, and the sick animals to God as a tithe. They were offering to God the worst that they had. When we give to God the part that is last and not the first part, God is not pleased. In Malachi chapter three God says that we are robbing Him in our tithes and offerings because we are not giving to Him the first part of our increase.

       God is the same yesterday today and tomorrow, God does not change. God has always demanded the first part. God will not bless our tithes if they are not from the first part. Either He is first in our lives or He is not. Our giving says whether He is or He is not. Give Him the first part and then He will bless our tithes and our offerings.

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      New King James Version
Genesis 4:3 ¶ And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.
4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering,
5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

      New King James Version
Joshua 6:18 "And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
19 "But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the LORD; they shall come into the treasury of the LORD."

      New King James Version
Malachi 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, `In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation.
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this," Says the LORD of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.