Tithe !Money ,Motives,Ministry
The God Class PodcastJuly 26, 2025x
6
29:2840.46 MB

Tithe !Money ,Motives,Ministry

Christians are taught that we should be giving 10% of everything we earn to the church. Is the practice of tithing still in effect for us today, or is it time to reconsider this practice?

This week on the God class Podcast, we’ll look at the truth about tithing. Is it biblical? Are we under-giving or over-giving if we are tithing, and how might we give in light of the gospel?

[00:00:00] - [Speaker 0]
The church has so many expenses that we don't pay attention to, like lights, like gas, like water. The same expenses that you have in your house. This is why he said in my house. Because the church has the same type of expenses that you would have at home, they have them. And so I think a lot of times people forget that.

[00:00:18] - [Speaker 0]
Alright,

[00:00:24] - [Speaker 1]
everybody. I love that song, by my good friend over here, Marcus over here. He's, I'm still trying to get a gig with him. You've heard that a couple of times now, and we're getting close now.

[00:00:36] - [Speaker 0]
Getting there.

[00:00:37] - [Speaker 1]
My negotiating skills are a little bit lacking in that area. Well, listen, everybody. Welcome to our this show, And we wanna welcome everybody back. Thank you so much for your support. We really appreciate that.

[00:00:49] - [Speaker 1]
And you know, we're never gonna ask for money on this show. Alright? But we definitely need your support. And you know how you do that, right? Just like any other podcast, you know, if you can subscribe to it, if you can give us your likes, we really would appreciate that.

[00:01:03] - [Speaker 1]
Okay. So my name Speaking of money. Speaking of money.

[00:01:07] - [Speaker 0]
There you Yeah.

[00:01:09] - [Speaker 1]
As a matter of fact, that's a good that's a good introduction there, Marcus. My name is Roy Resto. I'm Marcus. My name is Salt. And I'm Pepper.

[00:01:19] - [Speaker 1]
Welcome to the Salt and Pepper show. We do that on every show, by the way. So anyway, very good. So what are we gonna be talking about today here, Marcus?

[00:01:28] - [Speaker 0]
We're gonna be talking about moolah. We're gonna be talking about money. We're gonna be talking about tithing. Wow. That's really good.

[00:01:35] - [Speaker 0]
Yes. It's a very excellent subject. Lot of differences of opinions with it. So I think it's a great subject for us to tackle. We recently I think what was it?

[00:01:45] - [Speaker 0]
Last year, we had one of our great, great men of God in the gospel that teaches on tithing. I won't give you his name, but his name has to do with money. And he recanted all of his teaching on tithing. Almost all of it. He recanted it.

[00:02:01] - [Speaker 0]
He had books and books and books that were sold and millions of dollars made, and he recanted his teaching on tithing. It was a newsworthy statement. Wow.

[00:02:14] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Yeah. Well, I would have to hear more about that after the show. Let me know what's going on there. That's pretty interesting.

[00:02:19] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. Absolutely.

[00:02:20] - [Speaker 1]
Thanks for sharing that. There's the possibility that a few of you are not intimately familiar with what we're talking about when we say tithing. Okay? So what I'd like to do is just briefly go over a biblical basis for where the concept of tithing came from and where we're at today. And so we're gonna broaden that whole thing up and thank you Marcus for sharing the fact that it is a little bit controversial.

[00:02:44] - [Speaker 1]
Some people say you got to tithe and some people say it's not needed. So we're gonna explore all of those things today. And that's the whole purpose for our podcasting. Okay, we want to address those items that are not commonly addressed or don't seem to be addressed anymore in church services. So we want to tackle all that stuff regardless of the controversial aspects of those things as you've probably been able to tell from our past shows.

[00:03:10] - [Speaker 1]
Hey, and by the way, let me just say that all of our shows are available on our website. Our website is www. And by the way, do I have to say www anymore?

[00:03:24] - [Speaker 0]
No, I think it's assumed now, I think.

[00:03:26] - [Speaker 1]
It's assumed now, right?

[00:03:27] - [Speaker 0]
Because World Wide Web.

[00:03:29] - [Speaker 1]
The World Yep. Wide

[00:03:30] - [Speaker 0]
I think it's assumed now.

[00:03:31] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah, you don't have to put You don't even have to type that anymore, No. Do You just put in Nope. Zip.com or whatever and boom, you're there without the www.

[00:03:40] - [Speaker 0]
It comes up. Yep, absolutely.

[00:03:41] - [Speaker 1]
Okay. So I'm gonna eliminate that from my lexicon. So our website is insightgodcast.com. So when I say insight, it's the normal English word, insight. Okay?

[00:03:56] - [Speaker 1]
So that's insightgodcast.com. You'll see it right below there on our presentation. So please go there and you can hear all of our presentations. All right. So with that, let's establish the basis for this discussion to begin with and then we can go from there, okay?

[00:04:13] - [Speaker 1]
The concept of tithing really started in the Old Testament, okay? We don't live in Old Testament. We are Christians. We're not Jewish. Nonetheless, there's much value to be gained from the Old Testament.

[00:04:25] - [Speaker 1]
So we're not discounting the Old Testament, mind you. In this way, let's just look at the beginning book of the Old Testament. The opening book is Genesis, right? So let's look at Genesis and we see a story where Abram, before he got renamed to Abraham, but Abram is returning from a great battle that in which he won. And based on winning that battle that God intervened on behalf of the Jews, of the Israelites, that he was returning with great spoil and met a mysterious figure on the way.

[00:05:00] - [Speaker 1]
And that was Melchizedek or Melchizedek. How you pronounce that?

[00:05:03] - [Speaker 0]
Melchizedek.

[00:05:04] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Okay. Yep. And that mysterious figure, maybe that's a topic for another one. I know you've preached on that.

[00:05:12] - [Speaker 1]
By the way, Marcus is a he's a preaching machine. So if ever you ever need a guest speaker to come to your church to preach, just reach out to us.

[00:05:21] - [Speaker 0]
Thank you.

[00:05:21] - [Speaker 1]
To Marcus. Alright. So I'm just gonna start from chapter 14 verse 17 in Genesis. After his return from the defeat of slaying Cheddalamor and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley Of Shaveh. That is the king's valley.

[00:05:41] - [Speaker 1]
So who's that king? We're talking about Melchizedek, king of Salem, which was later called Jerusalem by the way. King of Salem bought out bread and wine for their nourishment. He was the priest of the God Most High. Now that gives you, that gives you an introduction there to who we're talking about when we say Melchizedek.

[00:06:00] - [Speaker 1]
After he blessed him and said, blessed, favored with blessings made blissful and joyful, be Abram by God Most High, possessor and maker of heaven and earth. And blessed, praised, and glorified be God Most High, who has given your foes into your hand. And Abram gave him what? A tenth of all he had. So that's the first instance in the Old Testament.

[00:06:28] - [Speaker 1]
Wasn't called the tithe, but the first instance of a tenth of what was earned, of what was taken, in this case the spoils, but that represents earnings. And that's where the concept of giving 10% of your earnings to wherever you get fed at, being your church, you know, for example. Okay? Now that is the first beginning book of the Old Testament. I just want to quickly go over to the very last book of the Old Testament, which is Malachi.

[00:07:00] - [Speaker 1]
Okay? Now, by the time Malachi in the last book of the Old Testament, the whole concept of giving tithes is well developed. I don't know if we want to call it a law, but it was certainly practiced among among everybody in synagogues and amongst the Jews and giving a tenth of all your earnings to the synagogues and to the church, right? What we would call the church. But now, look what it says in the last chapter of the Old Testament, right?

[00:07:27] - [Speaker 1]
It says in Malachi verse three verse nine, chapter three verse nine that is, you are cursed with a curse.

[00:07:35] - [Speaker 0]
Dun dun dun.

[00:07:36] - [Speaker 1]
For you are robbing me, even this whole nation. And what was he talking about? He says, bring all the tithes, the whole tenth of your income into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and prove me now. Now, here's the part we all like to listen to, right? And prove me now by it says the Lord of hosts if I will not open the window of heaven for you and pour out a blessing that there shall not be enough room to contain it.

[00:08:04] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. We love that scripture.

[00:08:05] - [Speaker 1]
We love that scripture. Right?

[00:08:06] - [Speaker 0]
Absolutely.

[00:08:07] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. And I I like it. I love it. And I I I'd like to hear it from time to time like we're doing right now. Now that's in the Old Testament, right?

[00:08:15] - [Speaker 1]
Now in the New Testament, for sure, we are not subject to the old law of the Old Testament. We were set free from that. That is said over and over again, okay? So the issue of us being commanded to in the Old Testament to give a tenth is really not there in the New Testament. Would you agree with that, I totally agree.

[00:08:39] - [Speaker 1]
Okay. Yeah. Nonetheless, we can't overlook this concept of giving of our earnings into the ministry. Now here's Philippians four, and we see where Paul is thanking the Philippians for their giving unto Paul's ministry. And I'm going to start from verse 17.

[00:09:01] - [Speaker 1]
Not that I seek or am eager for your gift, but I do seek and I'm eager for the fruit which increases to your credit. So Paul is saying, listen, whatever you give to our ministry is going to bear fruit amongst yourselves. And Paul says that the giving is they are the fragrant odor of an offering and sacrifice. Didn't say tithe. Okay?

[00:09:26] - [Speaker 1]
They are the freak of fragrant, not frequent odor of an offering sacrifice.

[00:09:31] - [Speaker 0]
Nice one is frequent though.

[00:09:32] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah, we like frequent. And it goes on in verse 19. This is another scripture we like to hear regarding our giving. And my God will liberally supply your every need according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. I love that.

[00:09:50] - [Speaker 1]
I love that. Just in that goes with the with the one we read from Malachi. So I think we've pretty well established that in the Old Testament, the tenth was a requirement, right? And we hear Malachi ending by saying, You are cursed because you weren't giving the tithe, right? And we flipped over to the New Testament, which we are currently living in.

[00:10:13] - [Speaker 1]
And it's certainly not a requirement, but it's greatly encouraged. Now, why is it encouraged? And I'm gonna turn it over to Marcus with this question. Now, used to be a pastor, okay? And he still is heavily involved in ministry and he speaks in many ministries, for example, alright?

[00:10:32] - [Speaker 1]
So, I just wanna ask you, Marcus, when you were a pastor, okay, could you live, could you have done your ministry at all without people giving offerings or in some cases, some people are actual tigers?

[00:10:46] - [Speaker 0]
No, it was extremely important for us to have contributions from anybody that would help. The church has so many expenses that we we don't pay Like lights, attention like gas, like water. The same expenses that you have in your house. This is why he said in my house. Because the the church has the same type of expenses that you would have at home, they have them.

[00:11:08] - [Speaker 0]
And so I think a lot of times people forget that. I think we get clouded sometimes with the way tithing has been presented. Right? Tithing has always been presented as a iron fist. You know?

[00:11:20] - [Speaker 0]
I know growing up for me, that was my my introduction to tithing. We had the tithing offering. We had the poor saint offering. I would think that that'd be for the same people. Same basket.

[00:11:33] - [Speaker 0]
But then we had the offering for the sick and the shut in. So that I would assume that means someone's who is in the hospital, they sick, and somebody shut the door. I don't know. I would I'm assuming that that's what it means. We had so many different offerings.

[00:11:47] - [Speaker 0]
And I grew up where and I don't wanna I'm not gonna call out a certain denomination, but I grew up in a certain denomination. And you're whoever's watching this, you're gonna know exactly what I'm talking about, where it was almost like what you saw with the preacher on television where he said lock the doors during during tithe and offering because that's what it felt like. And then they would take the offering that you gave told you to give your best in the beginning. You take they would take the offering, and then they would say, we need 80 more dollars. Okay.

[00:12:11] - [Speaker 0]
We give everybody starts giving. They get the $80. Now let's get the speaker offering. So we took three offerings plus our tithe. So

[00:12:21] - [Speaker 1]
Did you have advanced warning of that?

[00:12:22] - [Speaker 0]
No. Well, I mean, it was every Sunday. Yeah. No. No.

[00:12:25] - [Speaker 1]
Do you have advanced warning that No. You thought you had given to the first one? You Emptied out your wallet. Now two more come along. Yeah.

[00:12:31] - [Speaker 1]
Got it.

[00:12:32] - [Speaker 0]
Other than that, that was a system of a way of doing things all the time.

[00:12:36] - [Speaker 1]
Well, in your own ministry, when you have to make a living. Yeah. If you're in there, I mean, if you're not making a living, if you're not getting support from the very people that are are attendees in your church, I mean, that's not sustainable.

[00:12:50] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. I mean, but then you have to you have to look at who are you ministering to. If the people you're ministering to don't have it, then you have to trust God to do it. You have to trust God to bless you. Plain and simple.

[00:13:01] - [Speaker 1]
And how did it work out in in case

[00:13:03] - [Speaker 0]
For our case, it didn't work out very well because people the people we were ministering to didn't have it. We've ministered to a lot of young people, a lot of youth. But the issue was is that oftentimes we get these big extravagant buildings, and I know you've seen this. I know you've seen a church that has a building that seats a thousand people and it's 10 people there. I'll I'll leave it to you if you think that's a waste or not.

[00:13:24] - [Speaker 0]
You could be meeting at someone's home. You could be meeting someone else somewhere else, except we wanna put all of these funds because we have to have a building. We have to associate something that is spiritual with something that is brick and mortar. And that's been a system throughout centuries of us trying to find some way to box God in. You remember when the when the presence of God was so heavy, and they said, let's put it in the ark, and let's carry it.

[00:13:51] - [Speaker 0]
And we always find some way to try to encapsulate God in some sense and to control it. That's what the church has done. I try to be I try to play nice. But being in ministry my whole life, I've seen the ins and out of it. I've seen what's real and what's fake.

[00:14:06] - [Speaker 0]
I've seen what, according to the scripture, what we should be what we shouldn't be doing. If you if you think about I'm a share a particular scripture with you. This is one we use all the time. Given and shall be given unto you. Good measures pressed down, shaken together, running over.

[00:14:20] - [Speaker 0]
It's great out of context, even better in context. Let's read, it's Luke, six and thirty five, and we're gonna go through the 38 verses. It says, but love ye your enemies and do good and lend hoping for nothing again. And your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the highest. For he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

[00:14:42] - [Speaker 0]
Be ye therefore merciful as your father is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged. Condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned. Forgive and ye shall be forgiven. Give and it shall be given.

[00:14:56] - [Speaker 0]
Good measure. Pressed down. Shaken together. Running over. Like Shall a man give unto your bosom.

[00:15:01] - [Speaker 0]
So in context, he's not talking about giving money at all. He's talking about giving mercy. He's talking about giving love. In the in the first part of it, he addresses giving to people also. But he's talking about not giving to a church, but he's talking about giving directly to the poor, giving directly to people.

[00:15:21] - [Speaker 0]
And he said, who will reward you? People. Interesting. Right?

[00:15:25] - [Speaker 1]
It sure is.

[00:15:25] - [Speaker 0]
Given, it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over shall man give unto your bosom. Man. So this interaction here had little to do with tithing to a church. It had everything to do with giving to each other.

[00:15:41] - [Speaker 0]
Mhmm. But we've taken those scriptures, and we've we've warped them and twisted them into what we want them to be so that we can legalistically force people into tithing. Now there's a difference between giving and sowing. Right? Because you hear these terms in church.

[00:15:56] - [Speaker 0]
You hear giving and sowing. The Bible says here, give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall men give unto your bosom. There you go. You see multiplication happening.

[00:16:05] - [Speaker 0]
Right? But the scripture said, whatsoever you sow, that shall you also reap. That. So you don't sow apple seeds and reap oranges. Whatever you sow, that shall you also reap.

[00:16:17] - [Speaker 0]
So sowing is transactional. You're sowing with a purpose to receive something specific. Right? Giving comes from the heart, and it doesn't matter. You just want to do what you can to help.

[00:16:31] - [Speaker 0]
God blesses and multiplies giving, but sowing only reaps what it was. That's all it reaps. It reaps after its kind. And so I think a lot of times we think that we're and we're we're upset with God because we're we're not seeing the blessing, but that's because you're trying to sow. And when you sow, you only get what you sowed.

[00:16:51] - [Speaker 0]
You only get apples when you sow apple seeds. You only get sunflowers when you sow sunflower seeds. But when you give freely, then it's the same way your blessing returns freely from all different directions.

[00:17:03] - [Speaker 1]
Cheerful giver. A cheerful giver.

[00:17:05] - [Speaker 0]
Exactly. From the heart. When we give from

[00:17:08] - [Speaker 1]
Let the me go back to something you said earlier. You're not suggesting that people that tithe today, I mean Christians, are deceived. Are are you saying that?

[00:17:16] - [Speaker 0]
I'm suggesting that people that are tithing today are deceived in the mindset of their tithing. We do not have to give a certain amount because if that's the case, what if somebody wants to give more? I remember being a young Christian, and I remember the Lord told me to take my tithe that I was going to give to the church and to give it to somebody that was homeless. I struggle with that. I struggle with it.

[00:17:40] - [Speaker 0]
Even though I heard God, I was leaning on my tradition and what the church had taught me. And I was like, give it to the poor. If I'm not mistaken, that's what the church should be doing. That's what the church should be doing. The church should be outreaching.

[00:17:53] - [Speaker 0]
But instead, 90% of the income that goes into the church ends up doing building stuff, church related stuff, but they're not reaching anybody outside of the church. And I can say that for most, but we can't say that for all because there are some that give to missions. There are some that that that make sure that their the finances get outside of the four walls of the church. But for for a lot of them, it never leaves. I know people who've been saying that they're supposed to put an elevator in the church for twenty years, and we've been sowing into the elevator.

[00:18:24] - [Speaker 0]
We're supposed to be

[00:18:26] - [Speaker 1]
You got an elevator ministry.

[00:18:27] - [Speaker 0]
Right. We're supposed to be sowing the seeds so that we can get a roof, a new roof on the church, and it's still leaking in the corner where sister Betty sit. You know? Still sitting there. She thinks she hear from God, and she just like, So we're not experiencing the true blessings of God from it because the mindset is wrong.

[00:18:48] - [Speaker 0]
That's what I'm saying. I'm not saying that tithing in itself is wrong. What I'm saying is that the way we've been taught is wrong. I can speak for myself. I was taught that a a hole would be cut in your pocket if you didn't tithe.

[00:19:00] - [Speaker 0]
So we go from being

[00:19:02] - [Speaker 1]
That's a free. Definitely a wrong motivation. Yeah. I would have to agree that if people are tithing and they're doing doing it mechanically, okay, where they're saying, if I do this, I expect that. Yep, no heart in it.

[00:19:16] - [Speaker 1]
Then, that's right. That's not a cheerful giver. Somebody's just doing that mechanically, like they do a mathematical formula. I would agree with that. Now, I'm just gonna back up and just share from my own personal experience.

[00:19:29] - [Speaker 1]
Absolutely. Yeah. Early on when I became a Christian, we had a pastor that was really strong on tithing. This was back in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And we attended that church.

[00:19:42] - [Speaker 1]
And you know, I said, I'm gonna try it. And you know, it's interesting, but back then, and this is rather personal, but back then, I made a deal with God. Made, when I say I made a deal with God, I said, God, this is in my heart and gonna say a deal, you know what I'm talking about, right? And I said, God, I'm not gonna ever be in ministry, but I believe Lord that you're gonna prosper me in my career and that I'm gonna use the proceeds from my prospering in my career to bless my church through my tithing. And I said, I'm gonna try that.

[00:20:16] - [Speaker 1]
And I've never ever, ever, ever been disappointed with that. Now, that's me personally. Okay? I made that deal with God and I said, want to keep my part of it. I am going, I'm gonna, I'm gonna tie 10% of my earnings.

[00:20:30] - [Speaker 1]
And God has always helped me in my career. Some people would say, Roy, Roy's pretty successful in what he's done in life. Okay. Well, I'm gonna tell you straight up that I attribute it to that. I attribute it to that.

[00:20:42] - [Speaker 1]
And I'm not doing it mechanically. I definitely not telling you that, okay? I'm not doing it mechanically. I'm doing it because I'm believing that it's gonna come back, for sure. No doubt about that.

[00:20:55] - [Speaker 0]
Can I share my experience?

[00:20:57] - [Speaker 1]
Yep.

[00:20:58] - [Speaker 0]
So my experience with tithing was this. I grew up learning to tithe. Grew up learning that this is how you receive the blessings of God. I remember being a young I was married at 19 years old. I remember one year, I'm telling you, we paid probably over $14,000 in tithe.

[00:21:15] - [Speaker 0]
For us, that was a lot. For us, that was a lot because we didn't earn we probably wasn't earning, what, $28,000 a year. You know.

[00:21:22] - [Speaker 1]
Oh my gosh.

[00:21:23] - [Speaker 0]
So we we tithed in that way. Even when it was when our income tax came, if we received we had a lot of children, so we used to receive a nice amount of income tax. It ain't your business, but I'm telling you this for a reason. We would take a lump sum and sow it into the church. And I'll never forget

[00:21:39] - [Speaker 1]
So that's an offering, not a tithe.

[00:21:41] - [Speaker 0]
It's an offering. Absolutely. It's an offering. And so I never forget being in a situation where it seemed like stuff was just falling apart, man, all over. And I was telling God, I said, God, I'm I'm a consistent giver.

[00:21:53] - [Speaker 0]
I'm a consistent tither. I remember we we moved in we moved in the house, and the house flooded out, and we ended up being homeless. This happened three times in a row while still tithing. I talked to the pastor at the time, my pastor at the time, and the pastor said, continue to tithe. God knew you would be in the shelter.

[00:22:11] - [Speaker 0]
So while I need to get out of a shelter and get my family in a house to live in, you're still asking for me to tithe. So for me, that showed me two things. That showed me the selfishness of leadership at times, and that showed me that just being a consistent tither doesn't negate Bad things happening. Bad bad things happening Yep. Or bad decisions.

[00:22:34] - [Speaker 0]
Absolutely. And so I think we get our concepts warped because one person like you may tithe and see results. I would even venture to say, and this is this is gonna probably be like a shocker to you, when I stopped tithing, my life was blessed. And maybe because I was tithing with the wrong motives or thoughts. I'm talking about trucks and vehicles given to me for no reason.

[00:22:59] - [Speaker 0]
I'm talking about a a lady. My my wife was standing in front of a store, and our kids were very young. We had we got seven kids, but we had, like, four of them that were, like, in, like, baby ages from, like, six on down. Right? My wife's standing there.

[00:23:14] - [Speaker 0]
She's looking inside of a store, and it has all of these clothing for kids and all of these strollers and all this different stuff. My wife says, I need this. I need this. I need this. One day we're at church, and a lady walks in and she's looking for my wife.

[00:23:29] - [Speaker 0]
And she she said, I asked the pastor, was there anybody here that would that has a need? Right? She finds my wife. The lady owns the very same store that my wife stood in front of. We're not tithing at this time.

[00:23:42] - [Speaker 0]
The same store that my wife stood in front of, she told my wife, you can have whatever you can carry out. Empty the store as yours. So and then when I when I tell people that story, some people say, maybe those were the seeds from when you were tithing. We can speculate all we want.

[00:23:57] - [Speaker 1]
It can't be ruled out. It can't be ruled out. But it's I I I see what you're saying.

[00:24:02] - [Speaker 0]
With God, the Bible says that we love him because he first loved us. God is not transactional as we are. He gives first. He gives first. And I think we get so caught up in in thinking that we can maneuver God like a genie in a bottle.

[00:24:17] - [Speaker 0]
That's not how it works. When God tells you to do something, when he agrees with what you have declared to do like you did, he will bless it. But our relationships are individual relationships.

[00:24:27] - [Speaker 1]
Absolutely.

[00:24:28] - [Speaker 0]
And I think we try to coat everybody with the same philosophy and the same thought process, and that's that's just not how it works.

[00:24:35] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. So tithing, the 10%, is not a requirement in the New Testament.

[00:24:40] - [Speaker 0]
No, it's not.

[00:24:40] - [Speaker 1]
And nobody would suggest that you tithe at the expense of not taking care of your family. Exactly. Nobody's gonna ever suggest that, okay? Well, they

[00:24:50] - [Speaker 0]
did, but they shouldn't. They

[00:24:52] - [Speaker 1]
shouldn't, right? So there was a teaching moment for you there. Yeah. And thanks for sharing that. I appreciate it.

[00:24:58] - [Speaker 0]
I remember she said, if it don't meet the need, it must be a seed.

[00:25:02] - [Speaker 1]
It sounds like a nice rhyme.

[00:25:03] - [Speaker 0]
It rhymes, but it's bad advice. So if you don't have enough for your rent Mhmm. Then just give the rest of it to the church and then God will bless you. That's that's what that means. Like, what?

[00:25:13] - [Speaker 0]
Unbelievable.

[00:25:14] - [Speaker 1]
Right. I get you. I get you. Well, you know, just we're running out of time, so I just wanted to tell you guys just a few things. Okay?

[00:25:20] - [Speaker 1]
For those of you that may be tithing or giving offerings or whatever you're doing with your church. Don't forget if when you do your tax returns, if you're itemizing to take the tax deduction. So keep accurate records of your giving. And make sure that whoever you gave to at whatever church you may be attending or visiting, that make sure you fill that fill out their forms so they could send you the end of year statement that you could use for your tax returns. Okay?

[00:25:48] - [Speaker 1]
I want to end it with this also. I just want to say in Malachi there, very last chapter of the Old Testament, Malachi is challenging the Jews and he says, prove me now. Prove me now. And you know, based on my own personal experience, I'm challenging you. Try this.

[00:26:08] - [Speaker 1]
If you're in financial trouble, you don't have to tithe 10%, but make a commitment to God. Say, God, I don't know if this works. You know my heart. I need help. I'm gonna start off with 1%.

[00:26:20] - [Speaker 1]
Just 1%. Is that tithe at the 10%? I don't care. Okay? If you say that to God, because God, none of this stuff belongs to me.

[00:26:29] - [Speaker 1]
It's all yours. Try 1%. I heard a friend tell me that one time. He said he was in financial trouble, a dear Christian friend. He says, I'm gonna tithe my way out of this.

[00:26:38] - [Speaker 1]
And he did the same thing. He started off with 1% and he saw results. Try it. Prove me now, says God and see if not open up the windows of heaven. Just try it.

[00:26:47] - [Speaker 1]
Okay. Anyway, so I think you've got some different opinions over here for sure.

[00:26:52] - [Speaker 0]
For sure.

[00:26:52] - [Speaker 1]
You know, as as Marcus was saying, you know, it's definitely you got to check-in with God and the Holy Spirit to show you what to do in this regard. There's no question that all the Christian ministries are out there. They cannot do it without our help. Whether you call it a tithe, whether you call it an offering or giving whatever it is, they can't do it. So don't be criticizing them when they ask for you know for help.

[00:27:16] - [Speaker 1]
Okay. All right. So just a couple of things. I'd like to end it in a prayer regarding this topic and then Marcus is gonna end it with a prayer for you to consider coming to the Lord if you haven't done so already. So I'll start the first prayer.

[00:27:32] - [Speaker 1]
Heavenly Father, we just pray right now that this this concept of our giving or offerings or tidings, whatever, Father, Lord God, that it ignites something in the hearts of the listeners here today. Let them make the right decisions concerning their future and their and their money and their finances. Father, speak clearly to them, Lord, and prove yourself. Prove yourself like you said in that scripture. Prove me now.

[00:28:00] - [Speaker 1]
Prove it to them, Father, that blessings come from a from a cheerful giver, for a cheerful giver who's able to do it in the first place. Make that clear to everybody, Father. In the name of Jesus, amen.

[00:28:16] - [Speaker 0]
Yes, Lord. Now, Father, if there's anyone out here listening that wants to receive you, that wants to receive the Lord, I want you guys to repeat after me. Say, father, forgive me for I have sinned and my sins are ever before me. But I have heard that there is a king, a king of kings that is able to save my soul. And so I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that Jesus died and rose again for my sins.

[00:28:51] - [Speaker 0]
And because of that, I am saved. So father, we just thank you for all those that have repeated that prayer. I pray father that you would cover them, protect them, that you would lead them to the right church, the right organizations that can help them in their walk with you. In Jesus name we pray.

[00:29:11] - [Speaker 1]
Amen. Amen. Blessings. Insightgodcast.com. Alright, everybody.

[00:29:16] - [Speaker 1]
We'll see you at the next show.

[00:29:17] - [Speaker 0]
Like and subscribe. Sir.