Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): You've tuned in to the Power Walk Ministries broadcast. We're so glad to have you join us today. Pastor Paul Cannings brings the concluding message for our series, Living God's Way. Through the passage in Deuteronomy chapter 12, verses 4 through 7, Pastor Cannings has been sharing with us the clear guidelines which God provides for the people of Israel to follow. Encouraging us to apply that same principle, he brings the concluding message in this series titled, Generosity.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Years ago, I was sitting in the back of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, sitting in the back with my wife because our son was very young and we didn't want to put him in children's church at the time. So I was rocking him in his little rocker-type seat, and Dr. Evans was preaching on giving. I remember, as a seminary student, I couldn't explain the conviction. I was not giving to God. It was always leftovers. I was legitimizing that because of seminary, books, all this other stuff, small family, trying to do the best we can. It’s not necessarily a violation of Scripture when you look at 2 Corinthians chapter 8. It says, “Give in proportion to what you have, not what you don't have.” So I could have legitimately worked that out biblically, but God convicted me.

I'll never forget what that meant to me as a student, as a growing believer, and how that revolutionized my approach to worship. I've heard people, even as a pastor for as long as I've been, always shut down when it comes to giving. No matter how much as a pastor I've done everything I can to make sure this subject is kept pure, no matter what you do, people bring the baggage of the past many times when they hear this word. It is so foreign to how God operates biblically. He's making a big deal about this whole thing because that is how He views respect, worship, "worth-ship"—that's what the word means. It's His worth to us. That's what leads to worship.

How is it that when we come to somebody who died on a cross for our sins when we weren't seeking Him, and then come to Him and say, “We're going to sing and get out of here as fast as we can, but we worshiped You, we respected You?” He says, “No, you didn't. I will define worship.” Yesterday, we dealt with some of these things like burnt offerings and how that relates to the New Testament. But I want to spend some time on this issue that's going to create all kinds of turmoil. I understand because there are the free-will people and there are the tithing people.

For the next few minutes, I'm not going to solve it, but I will teach you the best results of what God has challenged me on both ends. Coming out of seminary, I was a free-will man, New Testament. Going to a traditional Baptist church as an assistant pastor, tithing. So I'm thinking, okay, God, You don't create this kind of confusion. Truth is not confusing. Truth is always very simple to address and to resolve, and it brings so much clarity because the word truth means it's a revealed fact. He even tells us the Holy Spirit illuminates the Word of God. I just don't believe it has to be this troubling.

So, here is a summary of a study that I have done as a pastor to make sure that when I stand, I could speak the truth with boldness. That's what he tells Timothy: “Speak the truth with boldness.” So here I go. Tithing, I don't see it canceled in the Bible. Tithing did not start with Moses. Free-will offering started with Cain and Abel. There was no law. They gave a free-will gift to God. So it's not a new thing. If you take the word free-will offering and just track it throughout the Scriptures, you'd be shocked how many times in the Old Testament it exists. So it's been defined in the Old Testament.

The first time we see tithing show up is when Abraham, in Genesis chapter 14, verses 17 through 24, goes before Melchizedek and did what was the standard thing of his day. There was no Mosaic covenant attached to it. It was simply what was expected in his day, and he gave that to Melchizedek before God, and God accepted it. God accepted what Abraham did without no law. Then you see the person writing to the folks in the book of Hebrews, chapter 7, says this:

“Now consider how great this man was, upon whom even the patriarch Moses gave tenth of his spoils. And verily, verily, are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham.” Don't forget the Bible says Abraham, in Romans chapter 5—Abraham is the father of us all, chapter 4 through chapter 5. He's the father of us all. So Abraham functioned by faith.

What is our righteousness viewed as? Those who live righteous, live by faith. So who is the one who starts off this faith walk? Abraham, not Moses. Abraham. So he's saying Abraham started off this tithe thing that went to Levites and because it was a part of the law. But when it started out, it didn't start out based on the Levites; it started out based on Abraham. “But he, whose descent is not counted from them, received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. Without all contradiction, the less is blessed by the better.” He's trying now to show the supremacy of Christ, so he's now shifting gears from the issue of giving.

So the writer of Hebrews, writing on the issue of walking by faith and not by sight, which he crystallizes in chapter 11, is not viewing as if tithing was over. He is acting as if it continues. Yes, it started with Abraham; it continued into the law. But Abraham is the father of us all. So when we come to this whole issue of tithing, I do not see any verse in the New Testament that says tithing is over, only do free-will. We go to 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and chapter 9 to say free-will offering was taking place, but we can't park there and say there's no possibility that it ever happened anyplace else.

No, matter of fact, he was saying in 1 Corinthians chapter 16—he doesn't use the word tithing—he says, “Take your offering, set it to the side,” as if they knew what to do. And then when church time came, bring it to church and give it because you've been worshiping God all week long. You have been so doing it so meticulously that whenever you had your bundle of wheat, or your bundle of corn, or your animals, you set it aside as you were going along during the week.

So when it comes Sunday, you were ready like the woman with the mite to go into that trumpet-looking funnel and drop it in there, or deliver it to the treasury of the temple below the temple. So the same setting aside that is expected when it came to the tithe is the same mindset that's happening even in the church of Corinth. He doesn't use the word tithe there, but it's the same thing. So when we come to this issue of tithing, there's not a verse that said it stopped.

God is asking us to give today. And if we just had a few offerings, like a building fund, or a tithe to give, or a votive offering—which means that whatever I vow to get done, maybe I said I will give to God to missions as a part of my giving, I'm going to give him my tithe, I'm going to give him a free-will offering. Let's just talk about that. A free-will offering, which I tell people everybody wants to do, is just giving from your heart. That's what people want to do.

I’m saying, slow down a minute. You have to go and see what a free-will offering looks like in the Old Testament to the New Testament because the people writing the New Testament are Jews. So they don't feel they need to define it because the people have some experience attached to it. There were Gentiles and Jews in the Corinthian church. So when you start looking at free-will offering, it's above 10 percent. I literally teach people sometimes at Living Word, I would say, “Are y'all sure you want free-will offering? Because it is nowhere near a tenth.”

A free-will offering is forgetting your bills, forgetting your budget, and just going crazy, giving to God out of your heart. The Bible even talks about a thanksgiving offering. I challenged the church on that—that, hey, I could read you Scriptures. You come and just say, “Thank you, God. Thank you, God.” No, that was actually an offering where you bring an offering to God as a saying, “God, the only reason why I made it through another year is because You sustained my family with food, You sustained my family, You've watched over us go in the doors, out the doors, travel here, travel there.” So, “God, I want to bless You.” That's actually an offering; it's actually not words out of a mouth.

So when we start looking at these things, we have become like the folks in Malachi. When it comes to worship, we just bring God whatever is leftover. Free-will offering is way above 10 percent. I could take you to passages like Exodus chapter 35. There's tons of passages in the Bible. Let me give you some verses on free-will offering. Here's a few of them: Exodus chapter 35, verse 19, verse 29; 36, verse 3. You've got Leviticus where he's defining all this giving: Leviticus 7, verse 16; 22, verse 18. Tons of passages. Psalm 20, verse 3. About 30 passages talking about free-will offering, and I don't think I captured all of them.

So free-will offering is not a New Testament thing; it's been around. And when it's defined, it is way past a tenth. So we may want to go back to tithing, which He calls tithing holy. If you're not able to start there because this is something you're now learning, this is something God is now putting on your heart—just like it was for me, sitting at the back of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, listening to Dr. Evans preach as a seminary student—that's when God said the key thing is purpose in your heart.

Purpose in your heart. This is not something somebody's moving you to do, or a preacher's telling you to do; this is something that you have already committed to do because of your relationship with Jesus Christ. So He says purpose in your heart. So I said, “Lord, I'm going to start in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 12.” He says, “Do it in proportion to what you have.” So I started there. I went home and said, “Babe, listen, we're going to start giving to God, but we're going to make sure what He says at the bottom here, it's the first thing we do.”

So you're coming to seek Me to experience what I'm going to do. And when you're coming there, He says you must come with a determined heart, offerings of your hands—this is purposeful. And hands means I'm controlling the destination of where this is going, and I'm exercising authority to get it there, and I'm making sure it's the best that I can offer. So we sat down and we said, “This is the first thing we're going to do. We're going to sit down here and decide what we're going to cut back on.”

We decided to take the temperature up in the house a little higher. We decided to not have the kids run the water like they did. We decided we’re going to become meticulous about the groceries we buy. We're going to control the things we could control, and then we're going to not buy anything new until we get to 10 percent. That God has so honored in our family. I've seen God do some miraculous things; I don't have the time to tell you.

Because He honors that we sought Him there for the well-being of our family, we honored it and we took our hands and made it work. But it started off with the fact that I will not serve idols. I will give like He tells me to, and then I have a reason to have a worship service that blesses Him. Folks, giving to God is worship. God says you give to be blessed because when He blesses you, nothing can take it away because He says you worshiped Me, you respected Me. I will bless your household. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): There are so many takeaways on this brief passage on worship, regarding respect, our attitude towards God, true worship and reverence, and the importance of being generous when it comes to God's Kingdom work. Friends, this is such an important series. Would you like to obtain a copy for yourself or to pass on to a friend? Then give us a call at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402. Or log on to powerwalkministries.org.

Dr. Paul Cannings: I praise God that this ministry has blessed many lives. It encourages us to keep going. So I pray, folks, that you would partnership with this ministry by encouraging other people to come and listen to us, by getting on our website, making purchases, by supporting our ministry. And I guarantee you, it will go to the better use of God's Kingdom resources to touch lives. That is our heart because of what we felt God was calling us to is to touch lives. Share the word, pass it on, and pray for us regularly. God bless.

Guest (Male): And if you live in the Houston area and you don't have a church home, you're welcome to visit Reverend Cannings and his congregation at Living Word Fellowship Church. It's located at 7350 TC Jester Boulevard in Houston. And now remember, just as God promised to bless the people of Israel if they observed His commandments and worshiped Him, He will do the same for us. So let's be both cheerful and generous in our giving.