5 Reasons I Tithe | This Is What We Do: Part 1

Summary

Life.Church with Craig Groeschel

Episode: 5 Reasons I Tithe | This Is What We Do: Part 1

Date: November 23, 2025
Host: Pastor Craig Groeschel
Podcast: Life.Church

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the biblical concept of tithing—returning the first 10% of one’s income to God—through the personal lens of Pastor Craig Groeschel. With humor, candor, and thorough biblical references, Craig breaks down what tithing is and isn’t, why common motivations might be off-base, and his own five compelling reasons for making the tithe non-negotiable in his life. The episode balances practical application, personal story, and encouragement, inviting listeners to reflect on generosity without pressure or manipulation.

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Defining the Tithe

• Meaning of ‘Tithe’
  • Hebrew word: Maaser meaning “one tenth.”
    • References: Genesis 28, Leviticus 27, Deuteronomy 14:22
  • Tithing is returning the first 10% of what God entrusts to us, not a tip, donation, membership fee, or transactional payment in return for blessing.
  • It’s not technically “giving”; it’s returning what already belongs to God.

    “Technically, tithing is not giving, it's just not stealing. But I don't know if I should say that out loud or not.” (Craig, 03:16)

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Why You Might Not Want To Tithe [04:04]

• Three Things Tithing Is Not About:
  1. Earning Salvation
     • You can’t buy your way into heaven. Salvation is by grace, not tithing.
     • Reference: Ephesians 2.

     “Don't tithe to earn your salvation. Don't tithe to appease your guilt.” (Craig, 04:04)

  2. Appeasing Guilt
     • Giving extra out of guilt isn’t biblical giving.
  3. Buying Blessings
     • Tithe isn’t a spiritual transaction (“if I give $100, God gives me $1,000”).

     “We do not tithe in order to get. We are giving to God because of who God is.” (Craig, 05:51)

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Craig’s Five Reasons He Tithes

1. Tithing Teaches Me to Put God First [06:35]

• Declares God’s lordship and priority in life.
• Verses: Deuteronomy 14:23, Exodus 23:19.
• Illustrated with a stack of ten $1 bills: Giving God what’s first, not what’s leftover.

“It takes faith to give first, doesn't it? It doesn't take faith to give what's left over.” (Craig, 10:12)

2. It Reminds Me That God Is My Source [10:57]

• My job is not my provider; God is.
• Reference: 1 Chronicles 29:14 — “Everything comes from you, God, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.”
• I'm a steward, not the owner.

“If I were the source, I'd be afraid I'd run out. But if God is the source, There is no shortage...” (Craig, 12:06)

3. Jesus Told Me To Tithe [12:42]

• Jesus affirms the tithe in Matthew 23:23.
• Giving starts with tithing, but must be supported by treating people with justice and mercy.

“If Jesus said to tithe, that alone is enough for me, Case Coves.” (Craig, 14:26)

4. Tithing Breaks My Fear And Builds My Faith [14:26]

• Referenced Malachi 3: test God by bringing the whole tithe, see if He won't “throw open the floodgates.”
• Contrasts two cycles:
  • World’s Cycle: God supplies → We consume → We lack → We fear
  • Kingdom Cycle: God supplies → We return (tithe) → God multiplies → Faith grows → We are generous
• Personal story: Craig tithed, was unexpectedly gifted a car, and began a journey of unexpected provision (including first home purchase).

“God can do more with 90% and his blessings than we can do with 100% on our own.” (Craig, 21:26)

5. Tithing Connects My Resources to Eternal Impact [21:52]

• Not just paying church bills; investing in life-changing ministry—turning temporary income into eternal consequences.
• Paul’s teaching: “You will be enriched in every way so you can always be generous.” (2 Corinthians 9:11)
• The church’s giving enables global ministries, Bible apps, food banks, local and global partners.
• Story: LifeNet in Africa—tithing supports lifesaving maternal and infant care training, raising survival rates dramatically.

“When we give what God has given to us through the church... you’re investing in eternity. The souls of people and the word of God.” (Craig, 25:40)

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Kingdom Impact Stories [27:17]

• Life.Church partners with 165 local and global ministries making measurable impact.
• Example: LifeNet partnership—20,000 mothers and babies saved in 5 years through skills provided by gifts from tithing.

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Memorable Quotes and Moments

• On motivations:

  “If any of [salvation, guilt, blessing] are your motives. Pause and don’t tithe. Don’t tithe to earn your salvation. Don’t tithe to appease your guilt.” (Craig, 04:04)

• On Jesus and tithing:

  “You should tithe. Yes... but don’t neglect the more important things.” (Craig paraphrasing Jesus, 13:37)

• On the supernatural math of generosity:

  “God can do more with 90% and his blessings than we can do with 100% on our own.” (Craig, 21:26)

• On ultimate significance:

  “There are two things that live forever. The souls of man and the Word of God.” (Craig, 25:40)

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Audience Challenge & Pastor’s Heart [30:02 – end]

• No guilt or pressure—giving is not a requirement for God’s love.

“You can still go to heaven and not tithe. ...He still loves you.” (Craig, 30:18)

• Craig encourages listeners to ask themselves: Do you want to honor God with what He entrusts to you?
• Prayer for hearts stirred toward generosity, not out of obligation but as an act of worship and response to God’s grace.

“If he never did another thing for me, he's already done more than enough for me to worship him with my first and my best. That's why I tithe.” (Craig, 30:57)

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Key Timestamps

• [01:27 – 03:16] – Defining the tithe: maaser, returning first 10%
• [04:04 – 05:51] – Motives for tithing: what it’s not
• [06:35 – 21:48] – The Five Reasons Craig Tithes (core section)
  • [10:12] – Illustration: Putting God first with your budget
  • [14:26] – The fear cycle vs. faith cycle
  • [18:07] – Personal story: first tithe, unexpected provision
  • [21:52] – Tithing as an eternal investment
• [27:17 – 29:21] – Real-life impact: LifeNet maternal health testimony
• [30:02 – end] – Recap, pastoral encouragement, prayer of salvation

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Tone and Closing

Craig’s approach is lighthearted and accessible, full of humility and practical wisdom. He disarms defensiveness, openly shares his own past doubts and “dumb” mistakes, and ultimately grounds everything in love, grace, and a biblical vision for irrational generosity.

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For Listeners: Takeaway

Whether you tithe or not, you are loved and welcome in the community. Craig’s encouragement is to examine your motives and let God lead your generosity, trusting that investing in God’s kingdom will yield both material and eternal dividends beyond what you can plan or predict.

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Transcript

[A]

Welcome to Life Church. We're so glad you're here. Life Church isn't just something you listen to. It's a place where you can grow and connect, and we want to help you do just that. Visit Life Church PodcastConnect for a quick survey that will let us know more about you and the resources that would help you on your faith journey. Now, here's the message.

[B]

Today, I want to talk to you about tithing. And the crowd goes wild. I do. I want to talk to you today about tithing. And I want to start with a statement that might sound strange coming from a pastor. Are you ready for it? Here's a statement about tithing. You might not want to tithe. You might not want to. Some of you are saying, this may be my favorite tithing message ever. And what I wanna do is I'm gonna show you my cards up front. Just be real transparent, and I'm gonna tell you why very clearly that you may not want to tithe. And then what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna tell you very, very clearly why I feel called by God through his word to tithe. And so without any kind of manipulation, I'm gonna tell you why you might not want to, and I'm gonna tell you why I do. But before we go there, let's just.

[C]

Make sure that we're on the same.

[B]

Page and let's talk about what does it mean to tithe? And so we're gonna define tithing. On the wall is the Hebrew word for tithe. It's the word maaser. Everybody say maaser.

[C]

Maasser is the word that means the tithe.

[B]

Or literally, it means one tenth. And I'm gonna show you three different verses in Scripture that talks about the maaser or. Or the tithe. The first one is from Genesis 28.

[C]

When Jacob said this, he said, the Lord will be my God. I have a relationship with him.

[B]

I declare that he is the king and the Lord of my life.

[C]

And all that I give to you.

[B]

Will be a maaser.

[C]

I'm gonna give you because of who you are.

[B]

I'm gonna give you a tenth is what he says. Next verse is from Leviticus 27 that says, A maaser, a tenth or a tithe of. Of everything the Bible teaches us, it.

[C]

Actually belongs to the Lord.

[B]

A tithe, a tenth of what God gives to us, it belongs to him. It is holy, is set apart for him. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 14:22, be.

[C]

Sure to set aside A maaser, be sure to set aside a tenth of.

[B]

All that your fields produce each year. So when we're talking about tithing, we're about talking. Let me tell you what we're not talking about. We're not talking about a tip. We're not talking about a random or occasional donation.

[C]

We're not talking about giving. Whenever the spirit moves you, we do that.

[B]

But that's something different. We're not talking about a payment in return for a blessing from God. When we talk about the tithe, we're.

[C]

Not talking about a membership fee that.

[B]

Gets you into heaven.

[C]

Technically, tithing is not really giving. Technically, it's returning.

[B]

Why? Because it belongs to God. I heard one pastor say, technically, tithing is not giving, it's just not stealing. But I don't know if I should say that out loud or not. Let me give you a definition of it very clearly. What is tithing? Tithing is returning the first 10% of what God entrusts to us. It's returning it back to him because it belongs to him, worshiping him with our first and our best. Tithing is returning the first 10% of what God entrusts to us, worshiping him with our first and our best. So that's the tithe. And what I wanna do now is I wanna talk very sincerely about why you might not want to tithe. And we're gonna talk about what. Tithing is not about three things, and I hope these will be clear.

[C]

The first thing is that tithing is.

[B]

Not about earning salvation. We don't give a tithe. So God says, oh, that's enough, and you purchase your way into heaven. It's also not about appeasing a guilty conscience, like, oh, I did something wrong this week, so I better give a little bit extra. That's not what it is. It's also not about buying God's blessings. And I want to be just ridiculously clear if any of those are your motives. Pause and don't tithe. Don't tithe to earn your salvation. Don't tithe to appease your guilt. How is it that we're saved? The Bible doesn't say we're saved by tithing. The Bible says in Ephesians, chapter two, for it's by grace, you've been saved through faith.

[C]

It's by the grace of God, the mercy of God. It's not from yourselves. You can't earn it, you can't buy it.

[B]

You don't deserve it.

[C]

It's the gift from God, not by works or we could say not by tithing.

[B]

So no one can boast. So you don't tithe to buy salvation and you don't tithe to buy God's blessings.

[C]

And I want to be really, really clear here.

[B]

The tithe is not a spiritual transaction where you give God $100 and he gives you back a thousand dollars. And I don't care if you saw.

[C]

Someone greasy on TV. And I know that no one watches TV preachers anymore because no one even.

[B]

Watches TV anymore unless you're watching YouTube on TV.

[C]

But it used to be the there.

[B]

Were TV preachers that would tell you and you have to say it.

[C]

Like if you give $100 and you.

[B]

Have to add the ha, and I wish I could do that better, but.

[C]

Then you're gonna get a thousand dollars back.

[B]

And that's just not God's word.

[C]

God's not making it rain in church today. I just wanna say it and I don't wanna be critical.

[B]

But that is not faith, that's manipulation.

[C]

We do not tithe in order to get. We are giving to God because of who God is. He is our Lord, he is our king, he is our Savior. He's worthy of our worship. And so that's why we would do it. Now, you may not want to tithe.

[B]

If those would be your motivations. Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to tell you why I do. And again, you don't have to like you really.

[C]

You can still.

[B]

God still loves you. And so I don't want to heavy hand you. I'm just going to tell you why it's non negotiable. Five reasons. The first thing is tithing teaches me to put God first. To put God first and declare his.

[C]

Lordship and the priority of him being.

[B]

First in my life. Moses said this in Deuteronomy 14:23. He said, Bring the maaser, bring the tenth, bring the tithe to the designated place of worship.

[C]

When you do that, you bring your first and your best to the place of worship. Doing this will teach you to always fear the Lord your God.

[B]

It's a reminder he's the king. It's a reminder he's my provider.

[C]

I'm bringing him first and it reminds.

[B]

Me to always fear the Lord. Another version translates that verse this way.

[C]

The purpose of tithing is what to teach you to always put God first in your life.

[B]

Anytime there's an increase, I put God.

[C]

First and say, this is from you. The first 10% belongs to you. Exodus 23:19 says bring the best of the first fruits.

[B]

If you're in an, how do you say it? Aggrego. What is it? Agricultural? Aggregorian. Did I make that word up?

[C]

If you're in a farming society, you bring the first of your soil to.

[B]

The house of the Lord your God. We bring him the first and the best of what he gives to us. And so I'll try to give you an illustration. And. And this is not quite gonna be the perfect one, but I do have 10 $1 bills. At least I hope I do, or it's gonna mess this thing up. But let's just assume and pretend like everything is cheap. Wouldn't it be amazing in this world if things were cheap? And so I'm just gonna kinda go through some things. If you have $10 and everything cost a dollar, this is what it could look like.

[C]

You're gonna pay rent.

[B]

There's rent. You pay your rent, then you got a car payment. Make a car payment, Then you're hungry.

[C]

For lunch, you go to Chick fil a.

[B]

Why?

[C]

Cause you're gonna eat some Christian chicken.

[B]

For the glory of God. And all God's people said, give me extra Chick Fil a sauce. My pleasure.

[C]

Then you're gonna go to Walmart and get some cheap food. Then you're gonna go to Whole Foods.

[B]

And get some healthy food that should probably be $2. Cause they call it Whole Wallet or Whole Food, but I only have $10, so take it to Whole Foods.

[C]

Then you make your Starbucks run, and then you got your gym membership and.

[B]

Then you got Netflix.

[C]

And then you're tired from spending all.

[B]

Your money so you don't have time to eat, so you order doordash for dinner. And then you have one leftover.

[C]

If you give this one to God.

[B]

That'S like technically not a tithe. It is a tenth, but it's not a tithe. Why? Why? It's the last one. It's the last one. It's what's left over. And so it's not just about the amount, but it's really about the heart. It's about the priority of saying God, because of who you are and what you mean to me, I want to put you first. And so it's giving God what's first. And you may say, but that'd be really, really hard. And like, I get it. I remember the first time I started hearing about this, I was going like, you gotta be kidding me. Like 10%. That's like, that's crazy money. I mean, in order for me to give Put God first that way. Like, I would have to rearrange my life around God. Yes, you would. I might have to give up something in order to honor God. You're starting to get the point.

[C]

It would actually take faith to do.

[B]

That in my life. And you're kind of. If you start to go down that line, you're starting to understand that. Absolutely. It really does. You have to prioritize God to put him first. And the bottom line is this. It takes faith to give first, doesn't it?

[C]

It doesn't take faith to give what's.

[B]

Left over or to give what's last. And it demonstrates in the same way that I give God the first of my morning. When I get up in the morning, I'm gonna seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. So I'm seeking God in his word. I'm gonna give God the first of my week. We worship together as the body of.

[C]

Christ, and I'm gonna give God the.

[B]

First of my increase because it demonstrates that I'm putting God first. So the first reason that I feel convicted by God to tithe is it teaches me to put God first. The second reason is it reminds me that God is my source. God is my source. Every time I put him first with the tithe, I remind myself that my job is not my provider, that God is my provider, and that my paycheck is not my security, but God is my source.

[C]

And you can see this in the Old Testament when David was moved by.

[B]

God to give this offering to God to build the temple. And.

[C]

And he recognized what I'm giving to God actually came from God.

[B]

This is what he says in 1st Chronicles 29:14.

[C]

He says, but who am I and who are my people that we should be able to be to give as generously as this? Yes, yes, we're giving generously. But where did it come from? He says, everything comes from you, God. And we have given you only what.

[B]

Comes from your hand.

[C]

In other words, everything that I have, every opportunity, every dollar, the breath in my lungs, it all comes from Him. And so when I tithe, I'm acknowledging God is my source, God is my provider. In other words, I'm not losing something I earned. I'm returning something that he gave. And it reprioritizes my heart. And around him, it's my reminder.

[B]

I am the manager, not the owner.

[C]

I am the steward, not the source. Which is really good news, because if I were the source, I'd be afraid I'd run out. But if God is the source, There is no shortage with the God who made the cattle on a thousand hills. He provides for all of his people.

[B]

And there is no scarcity when I'm looking to him as the source. So you don't have to tithe. And you may not want to, but I tithe because it teaches me to put God first. It reminds me that God is my source.

[C]

The third reason, and one of the.

[B]

Top five reasons I do, is because Jesus told me to tithe. Jesus did. Now, a lot of teaching people say, well, the tithe is an Old Testament principle, and. And yes, it is, and it actually predated the law. And there's a whole bunch of other stuff about that, but Jesus actually talked about the tithe. And if he talked about it and told me to do it, that's probably enough for me. And I'm gonna show you in Scripture, in Matthew's Gospel, when Jesus was correcting the Pharisees, he was kind of getting.

[C]

On to go like, you guys, you know, you're bragging about all your stuff.

[B]

And you're tithing off the tiniest little spices, like, ooh, look at us, we're.

[C]

Tithing, and that's good and everything, but.

[B]

You'Re missing the more important things. He said, you're not treating people well. You're forgetting justice and mercy and kindness.

[C]

So here's what Jesus said very clearly. He said in Matthew 23:23, Jesus said.

[B]

It's in red if you have a paper Bible.

[C]

He said, you should tithe.

[B]

Yes, stop there. It's kind of like, of course you should tithe. That's kind of just assumed, like, yeah, no debate there.

[C]

Yeah, you should do that. That's a beginning point.

[B]

That's just where we start. That's a baseline. That's just 101, giving.

[C]

Yes, you should tithe, but don't neglect.

[B]

The more important things.

[C]

It's just kind of assumed. Yes, it belongs to God. We're gonna return to God, but don't forget to treat people well.

[B]

You're all talking about you tithe off.

[C]

Your cinnamon and you're still a jerk on Facebook. Let the Holy Spirit deal with you. Tithing is where we start and we give beyond that, and we're full of the fruits of the spirit, Love and joy and peace and patience, kindness, goodness.

[B]

Gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. I'll stop right there and say, if Jesus said to tithe, that alone is enough for me, Case Coves. But I've got two more reasons just to make it five. Okay, what else does tithing do? Tithing breaks my fear, and it builds my faith. It breaks my fear and builds my faith. This is really important for me because I've always been one who's been. I grew up being afraid there wouldn't be enough. I'm one of those people that always was afraid. And early on, before I tithe for the first time, I was, like, really afraid. If I do this, what if there's not enough? And tithing breaks our fear, it builds our faith. And we see in the Old Testament, Malachi, Chapter 3, that we're to bring the whole maaser, let's bring the 10th, a whole 10%, into the storehouse, which scholars would say that's the local church. In other words, we don't spread it.

[C]

Out around 15 places.

[B]

We bring the tithe to God's house, that there may be food in my house.

[C]

And then the only place in scripture.

[B]

God says, you can test him is on this. Maybe because he knew people like me would need to test him. And he says, test me in this, God says, and see if I will.

[C]

Not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing, there will not be room enough to store it.

[B]

Here's what happens. It breaks my fear, and it builds my faith.

[C]

And I'm gonna show you a picture of how most people live, but how.

[B]

Tithing can change the cycle. Here's what happens. God supplies. You get paid. It's the 1st, the 15th, or every.

[C]

Friday, whatever it is, you get paid. And the first thing in our culture we do is we consum, we spend it, and we generally spend it all. And because we spend it all, we lack. And because we lack, what are we? We're afraid.

[B]

We're fear.

[C]

And then we're paycheck to paycheck. God is supplying our needs, but we somehow spend it all.

[B]

And tithing can break that cycle. It can break the cycle of fear and lack and scarcity and build a cycle of supply. It breaks my fear, and it builds my faith. There's another way, a kingdom way, of using resources. Whenever God supplies, the first thing we.

[C]

Do is we return to him a.

[B]

Tenth of what he gives to us.

[C]

We give to him first. And when we do that, the Bible says that God multiplies and he opens up the heavens and he provides for his people. And when God multiplies, it builds my faith, and my faith grows. And suddenly I'm giving more, and I'm becoming more of a generous person and.

[B]

Less afraid and more full of faith.

[C]

And it's really, really, really, really Easy to say God's first.

[B]

Until I put my money where my mouth is. Until the budget is tight and the.

[C]

First 10% says it demonstrates God, you.

[B]

Are greater than my fear. I am trusting you to be my source of my provider. And what was super interesting to know is that's the only place in the Bible that God says, you can test him in this. And that's what I needed when I was a new Christian. Because I'm telling you, like, this just messed with my mind. I, like, always wanted to feel like there was enough. And tithing scared me. And so the first time I heard this message, I did what I'd call an unbiblical tithe. This is not biblical, but they're like, give 10%.

[C]

So I thought, okay, okay, okay, I'm.

[B]

Gonna put 10% of my money to work. And so I went to Mardell. Now, Mardell, if you' is a Christian bookstore that has all sorts of things. And I gave them 10% of my.

[C]

Paycheck in return for some cassette tapes.

[B]

Some T shirts, and some really cool.

[C]

Crosses that I could use to be.

[B]

A witness for the glory of God.

[C]

And I was like, okay, there's my tithe. Well, that wasn't a tithe.

[B]

Cause that's not returning to the storehouse. That's where I started. That's how dumb I was. Over time, I got more convicted and I heard a really compelling message. I did a little research and said, okay, okay, God, if I can trust you to save me, I can trust you at 10%. And I had. That summer, I had done a tennis camp. It was like my little camp. And so I had a pretty decent income and a tithe of my. I thought, I'll just tithe off the last year. And so I gave a really. What to me was a really, really big check. And I never will forget the emotion of. I mean, I'm just. I'm gonna tell you right now, it's like going, okay, God, you saved me. I trust you. You saved me. I worship you. It was very emotional. And my mom is here. She'll tell you this is a true story. It's hard to believe. Her mom, we didn't know, lived the most simple life. Simple, simple life. She'd never done this before. And on the day that I tithed. The day that I tithed, she reached out to me and said, I don't know. I've been thinking about this, and today I just confirmed, I wanna do this. I feel like I'm supposed to buy you a car. She had Never done any. I mean, we're talking like $20 was a big gift for Christmas in a car. She'd never done anything like this. I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. And so she bought me a car. Not just any car. She bought me a Christian car. A Christian car. A Christian car. A Honda Accord. And if you know why that's a.

[C]

Christian card, help me out.

[B]

Because all the disciples gathered in one. Oh, a Christian car she gave me.

[C]

And that very gift from her, not.

[B]

Only did it build my faith, and I want to be super clear. What I'm not saying is if you tithe, you're going to get a car. I'm not saying that like, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that God will supply your needs. And it could be in different ways. It doesn't have to be material. And I'm not saying that that's what happened to me. And the story is more meaningful than you know, because I had been saving my money for a car. And when that happened, shortly after, an older fraternity brother, really old, like he was an alum, like 34, 35, ancient, came to me. He's actually a member here today. And he came to me and said, hey, would you like to buy my mom's house? I'm going like, I'm 19, I can't afford a house. And he walked me through the deal, and I ended up buying this house right here for $14,900. He carried the note. I put the down payment of the money I was saving for the car toward it. And at the age of 19, I bought my first rent house. Then I bought another one, and I bought several before I graduated from college. And I've been investing ever since. And so today, our ability to be generous traces all the way back to a faith filled gift. When I gave my very first tithe, I tested God and. And in a way that only he could do, he showed up for me. And here's the bottom line. And I'm not saying you tithe, you're gonna get a car. What I'm saying is when you tithe, God supplies. He opens up the windows of heaven in whatever way. Sometimes it's things better than money. Sometimes it's joy and peace and friendships and fulfillment and such. But when I gave to God my first 10%, here's what I learned. I learned the principle that God can do more with 90% and his blessings than we can do with 100% on our own. It's miraculous, it's supernatural, it's A spiritual principle that I do not understand. It is that God is good. You put him first. He opens doors you couldn't open. He meets your needs in ways that you didn't see coming.

[C]

He blesses you in ways, maybe financially.

[B]

Maybe in ways that are way more meaningful than financially. It teaches me to put God first. It breaks my fear. Jesus tells me to do it. Fifth reason. And this is super, super important. When I tithe, it connects my resources to eternal impact. It connects my resources to eternal impact. And this is so rich, because when I tithe to the storehouse, when I bring and return the tithe to God in the church, I'm not just helping pay the bills and keep the lights on, but what I'm doing is I'm investing in eternity. I'm taking something that's income and turning it into real ministry, something that's temporary, into something that's eternal. And it was Paul who said this. And it's very convicting to me to hear the power and the emotion behind his words. The Apostle Paul said this. He said, yes, you will be enriched in every way. And that's my prayer for you, that you would be blessed by God, not just financially, but in your health, in your marriage, if you're married, in your parenting, with your kids, with meaningful friendships, with community. That's significant. With a ministry that fulfills you. Cause I'm telling you right now, you can have all the money you want and you don't have a real ministry. Money don't matter nothing. When you have a ministry and you're making a difference in this world, when.

[C]

You'Re making an eternal impact, that changes everything.

[B]

That's a fulfillment that money cannot buy.

[C]

He says you'll be enriched in every.

[B]

Way, not so you can use it all in yourself. And yes, you can enjoy what you have.

[C]

Please do.

[B]

It would be pleasurable to God for you to enjoy some of what he gives you.

[C]

But he makes you blessed in every.

[B]

Way so that you can always be generous. You can see a need and you can meet it.

[C]

You can always be. You're blessed so that you can be a blessing. And he said, when we take your gifts, in other words, okay, you give your gifts to the ministry, to the church. When we take your gifts to those who need them, what do they do? They worship God. They thank God. And so this is what we do.

[B]

We're blessed in every way to be a blessing.

[C]

We let God's blessings flow to us.

[B]

And then through us.

[C]

And we make a difference in the world. And they glorify God. And this is what we do. This is who we are. This is what we do. Because that's what Jesus did for us. And this is the heart of our ministry. And we say it all the time that we will, as a church, we will lead the way with irrational generosity.

[B]

Why?

[C]

Because we truly believe it's more blessed to give than to receive. This is what we do. We worship God. We believe in God as he blesses us. We use what he's given us to be a blessing. And when I tell you that I'm humbled, if you can get your mind around it, just this last week, through you, through one church, through the body of Christ, born in our church, built in our church, given through our church to the world for free on 1 billion devices, the living word of God, the universal Bible app. I mean, I'm telling you what, every now and then, I think you might as well get a little charismatic and you could stand up for that, because this is the living word of God On a billion devices around the world for the glory of God. There are two things. Two things. Two things that live forever. Two things that live forever. There are two things that live forever. You sit back down. There's two things that live forever. Thank you.

[B]

That was really fun. Oh, you shocked me.

[C]

Oh, come on. Two things that live forever. The souls of people and the word of God. There are the souls of man and the Word of God. And when we give what God has given to us through the church, as the church, in the church, into the world, you're investing in eternity. The souls of people and the word of God. The flowers may fail, but the word of God lives forever. And when you leave this earth, you will live somewhere. Two things that live forever. And so we really take the words of Jesus seriously. We take the words, that of Jesus seriously. He said, clothe the naked, heal the sick, feed the hungry.

[B]

So we prayed about it. How can we help? Like, how can we help?

[C]

We.

[B]

How can we help? And God spoke to us very, very clearly. Do not recreate the wheel. Don't try to do it all. Do what we can do.

[C]

We can give the word of God away, but we can't do it all. So partner with the best of the best out there, the best ministries, and this is our strategy. This is our strategy. I don't.

[B]

I didn't talk about it. I don't know if anybody did. When the government shut down and people were struggling to eat, we just did what we do.

[C]

We just do it. We just went and found 54 different food banks we'd already given. Already given. Because we give. Every year, we gave an additional three hundred and something thousand dollars just to these food banks.

[B]

Why?

[C]

Because they're the best of the best of the best. And we can do it. And that's what we do. This is what we do. This is what we do. And that right there, to those. That is just one.

[B]

Category of dozens of categories.

[C]

Through the storehouse, when we together give.

[B]

Here, we partner with 165 local and global mission partners. 165 local and global mission partners.

[C]

And we don't just send money, but guess what? We send people. And we send people and we send resources. And together we are working with the best of the best of the best of the best. Hope Center, Hope Net. That means there's like three with the name. Hope Food Bank, Kansas City, Angels Kids Cancer Foundation, K Life, Leah's Hope, Oklahoma Baptist Homes, Riverside Hope Campus, the Father's.

[B]

Club, on and on, 165 different ministries. And I'm just going to tell you one story that touched me. One partner is called LifeNet. And we work with LifeNet to help train moms and help moms in parts of Africa who have a high death rate for them and their babies. We help them with postpartum hemorrhaging and help their babies that stop breathing start to breathe again. And I'm gonna introduce you to Stella and her baby Jade. This is Stella and Jade. And moments after baby Jade was born, she stopped breathing. No movement, no crying, no pulse. And the good news is, to the glory of God, Baby Jane is alive today. And let me tell you why. Because villagers were trained to act responsibly and with wisdom to help save lives. Let me tell you the results. Because of. Because of God using you. The resuscitation. Resuscitation, Agriculture, aggregation, farming. The resuscitation success. It went from only 8% when a baby died, our baby stopped breathing to 94%. With training from 8% to 94%, the.

[C]

Proficiency of treating moms with postpartum, postpartum.

[B]

Hemorrhage went from 15% survival rate now to 96%. Now, here's what I want you to see in the last five years. In the past five years, as you've given through the storehouse, there have been over 20,000 moms and babies saved. And this is one story, one partner out of 165. This is what we do. This is what we do. This is what we do. This is what we do. This is what we do. This is what that people Say, oh.

[C]

You'Re a big church, but listen. Yeah, absolutely. Big enough to impact the world and.

[B]

Small enough to care for the one.

[C]

Big enough, Big enough. This is, this is what we do. And so.

[B]

I hope you just hear my sincerity in this, is that you can be a part of this, but you don't have to. Like, sincerely, you can still go to heaven and not tithe. Do not hear this as a manipulative, you know, fear based thing. You can still go to heaven and not tithe. You can still matter to God even.

[C]

If you keep the part that the.

[B]

Bible says belongs to Him. He still loves you. And so I just want to tell you why I tithe and why I tithe is because it teaches me to put God first. It reminds me that God is my source, Jesus told me to do it, therefore that alone is enough to do it. Tithing breaks my fear and it builds my faith. It connects my resources to eternal impact. Basically, I'll say it this way, it lets everything else in my life know that God is.

[C]

Is first.

[B]

He is first.

[C]

He is Lord, he is Savior, he is King. He's my provider, he's my Redeemer. Therefore I worship Him. And I do not tithe because I.

[B]

Have to, because I don't. He'll still love me. I tithe because of who he is and what he's done for me. I tithe because he forgave me, because he saved me, because he's my provider, because he's my Lord. And I do not give in order to get. Just give freely as an act of worship. He gave me breath when I didn't deserve it. He gave me grace when I couldn't earn it. He gave me his son while I was still sinning. And so I do not tithe out of obligation, but I tithe out of worship and obedience to Him. I'm gonna tell you right now, If he never did another thing for me, he's already done more than enough for me to worship him with my first and my best. That's why I tithe. So, Father, today I pray that your Word would do what it can do. I thank you, God. There are two things that live forever. The souls of people and the word of God. God help us to invest our life in those things. Today, as you're praying, nobody looking around at all of our churches, those online, I always ask you kind of what I call an application question. I'm going to ask it very specifically this way. And again, not in a manipulative. I'm not even going to like challenge you to tithe. I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to just ask you how many of you want to. And don't raise your hands yet. How many of you want to honor God with what he entrusts to you? That's my question. Some of you that he's gonna speak to clearly and you're gonna put him first in finances. You are gonna tithe others you're already tithing. And you're gonna be prayerful about how to be more strategic and more generous. Others of you, you're gonna take a big step toward generosity. I don't know what it's gonna be, but God will speak to you. And so I'm gonna ask you and just sincerely, yes or no. This is the part I am gonna push you. No. How many of you wanna honor God with what he entrusts to you? If you do, lift up your hands in an act of worship and prayer today. Father, I thank you. I thank you for a church full of people that have experienced your grace. And God, in a response to your grace, we wanna be a blessing and be generous. God, I thank you for every person who worships you with the tithe. God, we know the joy, the thrill, the honor of obeying your word. And God, for anyone who would say they don't want to do that, God, I thank you that you still love them. We still love them. They've got a valuable place here. But I pray, God, that you would stir up within your church the gift of generosity, that we've been enriched in every way. Why? So that we can be generous on every occasion. God, and when we use what you've.

[C]

Entrusted to us to make a difference.

[B]

In this world, we thank you that people will thank God in heaven. God, stir us up to be faithful with what you've entrusted to us, all of it, our time, our talents, our treasure, our money, our resources. God, use us to represent your love in this world. As you keep praying today, there are those of you right now, and you know it. You can feel it. And this message, it pulls it out of you because you recognize you're really not serving Jesus. He's not first in any area of your life and you feel maybe guilty. What do I do? How do I work my way there? Let me just tell you the gospel as clearly as I can. For God so loved you. He loved the world, but he loved you that he sent his one and only son, Jesus, the Lamb of God, the perfect son, as a sacrifice while we were still sinning. The Bible says he gave first.

[C]

He gave his first and his best, his only son.

[B]

While we were still sinning, Christ died for us. And the good news is, as he died in our place for the forgiveness.

[C]

Of our sins, he didn't stay dead. But God raised him from the dead.

[B]

On the third day so that anyone, and this includes you, who calls on his name, would be saved. You're not saved by tithing. You're not saved by being holy enough.

[C]

You're saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus. So you can never boast. That's why we give him our whole life in return. It's our only reasonable response today at.

[B]

All of our churches. Those of you that don't know where you stand with God, take a step away from your sin.

[C]

Take a step toward grace. Call on Jesus to save you.

[B]

He will.

[C]

He'll forgive your sins.

[B]

He'll make you new. Today at all of our churches, those who say, yes, I need Jesus today. I call on him. Jesus, be my savior, be my Lord. That's your prayer. Lift your hands high right now, all over the place.

[C]

Lift them up and say, yes. Praise God for you. And right back there. Others say, yes, Jesus, right back over there. Call on his name. Right over here.

[B]

Oh, come on.

[C]

Church. Others today say, jesus, be the Savior.

[B]

The Lord of my life, life.

[C]

Those of you online, type in the comment section. Jesus, save me.

[B]

Jesus, forgive me of my sins. Let's all pray together. Pray. Heavenly Father, take my life. Jesus, save me. Make me brand new. Fill me with your spirit so I could know you, so I could serve you, so I could show your love. My life is not my own. I give it all to you. Thank you for new life. You have all of mine. In Jesus name I pray.

[C]

Can you say amen and amen? Amen. Amen.

[B]

Welcome those born into God's family.

[A]

We are celebrating with those of you who just made the decision to follow Jesus. Check out the show notes for helpful resources and next steps. Don't forget to take the short survey at Life Church podcast. Connect to. Tell us more about yourself. We'll see you next time for another encouraging message.