The Blessing of Generosity – Part 4 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

  Welcome, friends of the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today. We’ve been teaching all this week on the blessing of generosity. And when you get involved in generosity, you’re going to see the blessing of God come on you and overtake you. So don’t miss this broadcast. I believe that you’ll learn truths that will release you into the abundance of God. Friends, it’s so good to have you with us, and we’re sharing today on the blessing of generosity. And we’re gonna be talking specifically about the tither’s blessing. Aaron, the scripture promises a blessing on the tither. Praise God? And I’d like you to read from Malachi 3:10-12. But God promises a blessing to tithers. And if you haven’t got involved in this blessing, you ought to. Praise God.

 

  Awesome, well, it says here, “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. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” says the Lord of hosts. “And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts.

 

  Praise God. So there’s just so much in that. And we’ll come back to it and bring some of the things. But he says, “Bring all the tithe into the storehouse.” Now, where’s the storehouse?

 

  The storehouse is God’s house. It’s his kingdom. I believe it’s the church.

 

  I believe it’s where we spiritually get fed from.

 

  Yeah, and I think talking about that there may be food in my house, when Jesus talks about “beware, the leaven of the Pharisees,” he’s talking about their teaching. There needs to be food. The word, the teaching needs to come out of God’s house. So I like to give where I’m spiritually fed, where I’m fed the word of God, where I know it’s good teaching, the food there is good, the leaven is good, the doctrine’s good, and it helps me grow spiritually. That’s where I like to give to. And the tithe is the 10th.

 

  Amen, praise God. In Book of Deuteronomy, when the scripture talks about tithing, it said they were to bring the tithe to the place God placed his name. So the place God places his name, if you go to Mark 16, he said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs will follow those who believe. In my name, they’ll cast out devils. They’ll speak with new tongues. They’ll take up serpents. If they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them. And they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” I believe the place where God places his name is a place where signs and wonders follow the preaching of the word, where people are being healed and set free from Satan’s power and people are believing on Jesus and being filled with the Holy Spirit. I believe that’s where God places his name. So it’s not just any dead place, but it needs to be a place where there’s life. I had a good friend that came here for a number of years. And while he came to this church, his income actually tripled. And he had asked God at his last church, “God, why isn’t my income growing? Why isn’t this moving forward?” And God said, “It’s because the place you’re sowing your seed right now.” And when he came here, immediately, his income began to grow and he began to prosper. And he, supernaturally, increased. And I know that’s been the testimony of a lot of people that have come in here. And so thank God the word of God works in. So God says bring it where people get spiritually fed from, right? Where he places his name, where there’s signs, wonders, miracles, where people are being saved, healed, filled with the Holy Spirit, set free by the power of God. And he says that there may be meat in my house. Again, where there’s good spiritual food. Prove me with it. God says, “I want you to put me to the test.” Some of you have never put God to the test. Man, I’ve been proving him year after year.

 

  Well, when you see all these promises that are attached to the tithe, we are talking about the blessings and generosity, there’s blessings attached to tithing. And here he says, “Try me in this.” And he says, “The Lord of hosts.” That terminology “Lord of hosts” is very interesting. The Lord of hosts that host. It’s the army, the angel armies.

 

  Yeah, there’s a couple of different connotations. One is the armies of Israel and one is the God, the Lord of angel armies. And we’ll probably get to this within the next couple of days’ teaching, but it says, “Prove me and see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there isn’t room enough to receive it.” I say when you get involved in this blessing, you gotta take your finances and share it. And I believe not only should individual tithes. I believe that ministries and churches should tithe. And we started this church in Colorado Springs. Over 20 years ago, we had almost no people and no money. And we’ve given every year between 10% and 27% of the income. And did you know what? We don’t lack in any area. We have to give, and we give to a number of ministries, but we have never given less than a 10th to other ministries and missions since we started this church. And he says, “If you’ll do this, I’ll open, prove me, the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing.” I believe today, the windows of heaven are open because ultimately of Jesus. And God’s increased us more and more. And he says, “I will rebuke the devour for your sakes.” Praise God. Some people, just the devourers just come in left and right. You have power, you can stop that. Take authority over it. If you’ve been operating in this and given where God tells you to give, then take authority over these things and don’t let the devil rob you. He will not destroy the fruit of your ground nor your vine. I believe we live under open heaven, ’cause Jesus opened his death and resurrection. And I believe we can live under these blessings, but that’s really grace. But it takes faith, right? And giving is an act of faith. So he says, “When you do this,” he says, “All nations shall call you blessed, for you’ll be a delight on land.” And he uses this term “Lord of hosts” three times in this scripture. Praise God. The God of the armies of Israel or the God of angel armies. Praise God. Now, when we look into the scripture airing, where does the principle of the tithe start?

 

  Oh, with Abraham.

 

  Abraham.

 

  Yeah, Genesis 14 is the first time.

 

  So this is about 2000 years before Christ. So Adam lived about 4,000 years before Christ. And now Abraham lives about 2000 years before Christ. And it happens when he’s returning from the slaughter of the kings, Genesis chapter 14. There were these foreign kings that came and they had robbed Sodom, where his nephew Lot lived with his family. So when Abraham heard about it, he went out. He got 318 trained men, like a small army, and went after him, praise God? To get him back, ’cause he wasn’t gonna, some people just let the devil run over ’em. And you can’t just let the devil run over you. You gotta go after him. Now, Lot had made a couple of mistakes. One thing that Lot did was he allowed his herdman to get in strife with Abraham’s herdman. So you never wanna get in strife with the man of God. Never get in strife with the man of God. The other thing is, Abraham came and Abraham took the high road and said, basically, “You can go east and I’ll go west, or you can go west and I’ll go east.” So he separated from the man of God. The other thing is he could have sold off a few livestock, right? He could have easily, you don’t wanna be disconnected from the people that God wants you connected with. So he made it. Number one mistake was he allowed the strife to remain with his servants. And number two, he separated himself from the man of God. You never wanna separate yourself from the people God tells you to be connected with. Praise God? But Abraham took the high road. And Abraham, when he heard about this, Abraham took his trained servants, trained in his house and went after them. And he got them all back. Praise God? But when he came back, what happened? In Genesis chapter 14.

 

  Oh, this is when he came back, here, that Melchizedek, this is verse 18, it says, “Melchizedek the king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was the priest of God most high. And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abraham of God most high, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be God most high, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he gave him tithes of all.”

 

  So Abraham is the one who started out the principle of tithing and he started at 400 years before the law. 400 years before Moses. So I have a question of you watching today. Are you Abraham’s seed or are you Moses’ seed? Well, we’re Abraham’s seed if you believe Galatians chapter three and read it. Amen? So if we’re Abraham’s seed, he’s the one. Now, and the second thing that you notice, it says he gave him tithes of all. So it didn’t say he paid tithes. It said he gave him. Now you have some revelation about this. Go ahead and share that.

 

  Yeah, well, it’s really interesting. So Melchizedek, he’s a type of Christ, he brings out bread and wine, which is like communion. And he blesses Abram. So as believers, we’re blessed first. You don’t tithe to receive the blessing. You tithe or you give because you believe that you’re blessed. It’s an act of faith. It’s to say, “I believe that I’m blessed.” And that order is really important, that the blessing comes first and then the act of faith, that giving or tithing flows out of that.

 

  Amen.

 

  So we’re blessed. And as believers, we’re blessed because of what Jesus did. So when we give, it’s not because we’re trying to be blessed or trying to avoid the curse. It’s actually when we give, it’s because we believe that we’re blessed and we’re putting our faith into action. So he blessed him and he blesses Abraham of God most high, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be God most high, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And it’s kind of interesting, right after this, it says, the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons and take the goods for yourself.” But Abram has said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Lord God most high, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, “I have made Abram rich.” Except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.” So we see that Abram wanted this to be his testimony. He didn’t want the king of Sodom, this wicked worldly king to say that that’s where his blessing came from. He wanted his testimony to be, my blessing is from God most high, the possessor of heaven and earth.

 

  Amen, so this blessing doesn’t come from the world. This blessing comes from God. And we tithe not so that we can be blessed, but we tithe as a result of the blessing that we have received in Christ. And praise God, everybody who’s born again, everybody who’s believed on Jesus, if you really understand the New Testament, you understand that you are already blessed in Christ. And when you understand that, you wanna give. Praise God. We’re gonna come back and share more about this. So stay tuned, we’ll be back right after this short break. Friends, I’m so glad that you’ve been connected with us while we’re talking about the blessing of generosity. We have these teachings and those live in church services available to you free of charge on our website at chcarischristiancenter.com in downloadable audio and video. Also, check out my book, “Provision: Releasing Supernatural Increase In Your Life.”

 

  You know what? I’ve had a lot of opportunities along the line. To get discouraged, to get disappointed, to quit believing. But there’s one thing I know   I’m gonna keep believing God. The fact is God said it and that settles it. And you can believe it and begin to receive it or you can doubt it and do without it. But God said it, and that settles it.

 

  Friends, I’m so glad you stayed with us. We’re continuing to talk about the tither’s blessing. There is a blessing that is connected with tithing. There’s a blessing that’s connected with giving, praise God. And I don’t like to legalistically tithe. I like to just give. I like to give it as a seed that I sow. And the reason that I do that is because when I give, as a seed that I sow, there’s a future attached to that. Praise God. And I also know there are people who legalistically tithe sometime and they’re not doing it as giving. Abraham, the Bible actually says in Hebrews chapter seven, we won’t get there today, but it says that Levi paid tithe in Abraham. And it’s not talking about what Levi did, it’s talking about what Abraham did. So Abraham’s gift settled the debt of many generations. Levi lived over 400 years after Abraham. So when it says Levi paid ties in Abraham, it’s talking about what Abraham did, what we read in the first part of the broadcast when Abraham gave ties to Melchizedek. And you said, first of all, Melchizedek blessed him. Melchizedek means my king of righteousness, the priests king of Jerusalem or Salem, the city of peace, and that is he’s a type of Jesus. And so we give today, not so that we can get blessed, we give because we are blessed. But when you take this mentality that I owe this to God and take that away, I understand the tithe belongs to the Lord. But I give, primarily, as a seed that I sow, and there is a future on that. It comes back to me, praise God. And I love to give that way. Now, the next place that we see tithing mentioned in the scripture after Genesis 14 is Genesis chapter 26. And this is with Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, who becomes Israel. His name later is changed to Israel, but we see some amazing things. So Aaron, why don’t you go ahead and read in Genesis chapter 28, you have some great revelation that comes from this scripture.

 

  Yeah, where would you like me to read?

 

  Let’s just start reading maybe in verse 10 or 12 right along there.

 

  Okay, so it says here in Genesis 28:10 that Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Harran. “So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night because the sun had set and he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head and he laid down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth and its top reach to heaven. And there, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord God of Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie, I will give to you and your descendants. Also, your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south, and in you and in your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I’ve spoken to you”. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely, the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place? This is none other than the house of God. And this is the gate of heaven.” I love that.

 

  Amen, praise God. So Jacob was actually running from his brother Esau because Esau was jealous of the blessing that was on Jacob’s life. Now, Esau was really the problem because he despised the birthright, he lost the blessing. Jacob respected the birthright and received the blessing. But after this happened, Esau was jealous because Jacob had the blessing. And so Jacob was running from him, probably didn’t have any more than his loincloth and his staff. And yet when he fell asleep that night, he had this dream and he saw these angels on a ladder coming from God. Now, you talked about that before. So share a little bit about this.

 

  Yeah, we see that he saw these angels coming up and down this ladder and said, “This is the house of God.” The Hebrew for house of God is bethel. So this place became known as Bethel. And he said, this is the gate of heaven. This really reminds me of what we talked about in Malachi three about the tithe, how God said, “Try me in this if I will not open the windows of heaven.” So I see there’s a strong correlation between the tithe and an open heaven, the open windows, and the open gate of heaven. And also, I believe that angels are involved with provision. We see in Jacob’s life that even when he went, a way that his wages were changed, many times, Laban, his father-in-law would try to rip him off all the time, but God would keep protecting him.

 

  Yeah.

 

  And I believe that angels were involved with God just protecting him and providing for him. So angels are involved with protection but also provision. And he saw these angels coming up and down. I believe that there’s this open window of heaven happening, this open gate of heaven. And we see what happens. Jacob makes a vow in verse 20, saying, “If God will be with me and keep me in this way, that I’m going and give me bread to eat, clothing to put on.” So he’s talking about God’s provision. He says, “So that I will come back to my father’s house in peace.” Here, he’s talking about protection. He wants protection. “Then the Lord shall be my God. This stone which I’ve set as a pillar shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me, I will surely give a tenth to you.”

 

  Amen.

 

  So he is acknowledging that whatever he gets in life moving forward, it’s from God. God’s the one that’s giving it to him. God’s the one that’s providing for him. God’s the one that’s protecting him. And he’s gonna continue to be, he said, “I will surely give a tenth to you.” So it wasn’t just a one-time thing. It was a continual thing that he was doing, this tithe.

 

  So what happened in the beginning of this, when God speaks to him, God renews to him the covenant that he made with Abraham. So this covenant went from Abraham to Isaac, now to Jacob, right? And he renews this covenant. And then Jacob makes a vow. And says, “God, everything that you give me, surely, I’ll give a tenth to you.” So really, when you study in the New Testament, it says, “Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated.” Really, Esau represents unbelief, because Esau dishonored, right, the birthright. He lost the blessing. But Jacob, you can see a lot of aspects of faith. And Jacob represents faith. Number one, he honors the birthright. Number two, he receives the blessing. Number three, he honors the covenant of family. He goes where his father tells him to get a bride, right? He honors the covenant of family. Number four, he honors the covenant that God made with his grandfather Abraham. And he says, “Surely, God, I’ll give a tenth to you.” So he honors the tithe. So we see a lot of aspects of faith. And did you know what? God loves faith. And so when he does this, and he vows this vow and says, “If God will be with me and keep me in his way, give me bread and clothes, so if God makes provision for me that I come to get in my father’s house in peace,” then he says, “the Lord will be my God.” “And this stone I’ve set up for a pillar, it will be a place of God’s house. And you’ll give me surely everything you give me.” He makes this covenant to tithe. Everything you give me, I will give a tithe. I will give. Again, it’s give a tenth to you. This is not required. The law’s not even existence for nearly 400 years. And yet he makes this covenant with God. And he goes, and what happens to him when he goes into this land? Well, of his father’s people and begins to work for Laban? What happens to Jacob?

 

  It’s just supernatural blessing.

 

  Supernatural blessing, over and over and over again. So he works for seven years for Rachel. His father-in-law Laban thinks by that time, probably, his older daughter will be married up, but she isn’t. So at the wedding, his father-in-law Laban probably got him good and drunk and he got in bed and wakes up the next morning and said, “Hey, I got the wrong girl. I’m married to the wrong one.” And his father-in-law knows the blessing of God’s on him. So he says, “Hey, work for me another seven years for Rachel.” And he loves Rachel so much. He said, “I’ll work.” So they take a little bit of time and he honors this marriage covenant that he’s made with Leah. Then they have another wedding. He’s married for Rachel. He works seven more years. And his father-in-law is jealous of this blessing. So he tries to change his wages 10 times. That doesn’t matter how his father-in-law changes his blessing. Jacob comes up on top. And he keeps being blessed over and over and over again. Do you know what? When you are in covenant relationship with God, it’s just you can’t beat God.

 

  Even going back to Abraham, when Abraham and Lot had this dispute, Abraham actually took the higher road. He just wanted to end the fighting, end the strife. Sometimes, I think sometimes, strife can actually hinder the blessing, the financial blessing.

 

  It hinders every kind of blessing.

 

  In a business, in a family, in a church, that kind of strife. So Abraham was just wanting to get rid of the strife, and he let Lot take the first pick of where he was gonna go. Lot picked what appeared to be the more fruitful, the better land, and Abraham went the other way. But Abraham did that ’cause he just wanted to get out of strife. But also, he knew that the blessing wasn’t dependent upon his location. The blessing was dependent on his relationship with God.

 

  Amen.

 

  And we see, I believe that Abraham continued to tithe. I don’t think he just tithed one time. I think he continued to do it. So his grandson, Jacob knew what tithing was. And when he was running for his life, he made that vow to God that I’m gonna be a tither. And we just see that there’s a great blessing associated with that.

 

  Yeah, when you come into Genesis chapter 32 after this 14 or 15 years that Jacob’s in the land, he’s coming back into the promised land. And he’s afraid, really, because Esau’s gonna be there, right? And he’s gonna have to face him, but he gives a gift. He made this covenant to God. And if you study this gift out in Genesis 32 to his brother Esau, it’s like over three quarters of a million dollars in the neighborhood of three quarters of a million dollars of our current currency. This is just a gift of the wealth that God’s brought to him. And after he gives this gift, he meets God. And when he meets God, God changes his name from Jacob to Israel. As a prince, you have power with God and man, and you have prevailed. And praise God, he just continually then lives in the blessing of God. Ultimately, he says, “I saw God face to face.” I believe it was a pre-incarnate form of Jesus. That brings me to this. If you have never entered into a personal relationship with Jesus, Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God. We wanna give you an opportunity before we go off of this broadcast to pray and to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. And I believe that when you do that, you’re putting yourself in a place where you can receive ultimately the favor of God. So just pray this prayer with me right now. Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is your son. And I believe that he died on the cross for my sins. And you raised him from the dead and made him Lord. And right now, I surrender my life to you. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

 

  When we step out in faith and tap into giving and receiving, there are tremendous promises available to us. Discover scriptural principles that will help you understand the abundant blessing that is connected to generosity. We are blessed to be a blessing. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of the teaching, “The Blessing of Generosity,” a $20 value free of charge. Download it today at charischristiancenter.com.

 

  Friends, I wanna invite you to give us a call today to receive prayer. Whether you need salvation, healing, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or any of God’s other promises, we have trained prayer ministers here waiting to receive your call. And we would love to hear from you today. Thanks so much. Blessings. Friends, the scripture says, “If you will continue in the word of God, you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” The word of God has blessed me so much and I want to make this word that I’ve received available to you. If you go to our website at charischristiancenter.com, you can get all of our materials there on the website, as you watch ’em, as you listen, absolutely free of charge. And we’ve done that just to be a blessing to you. I hope you’ve enjoyed the message today, enjoyed the word of God. And I believe that the word that has freed me will free you. Blessings.

 

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