Tithing, Giving and the Scriptures [Part 6]

The Tithe of the Feasts (Deuteronomy 12:5-19)

5But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. 6There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you. 8You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— 9for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. 10But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, 11then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord. 12And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 13Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 14but in the place which the Lord chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

15″However, you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike. 16Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 17You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil, of the firstborn of your herd or your flock, of any of your offerings which you vow, of your freewill offerings, or of the heave offering of your hand. 18But you must eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all to which you put your hands. 19Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

The Israelites were instructed as to where to go to give their tithes (wherever the tabernacle/presence of God was), and the manner in which they should be eaten (as a family/nation, with rejoicing, especially including the Levites). Unlike the tithe described in Numbers, which was given to the Levites, this tithe was consumed by the ones doing the tithing, and was not specifically dedicated to the Lord. THIS TITHE WAS ASSOCIATED WITH THE FEASTS AND FESTIVALS.

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Currently the Live Broadcast Schedule for BlogTalkRadio is as follows:

Monday 6:30 p.m. est “Practical Christianity: Does What You Believe Work?” Series on the basics of our beliefs, the three realms of reality, sources of authority and our identity in Christ.

Tuesday 6:30 p.m. est “Getting Healed: Becoming Whole Spirit Soul and Body” Series on how to identify your temperament and your wounds, then how to go to God to get them healed once and for all. How to identify attacks from our enemies the world, flesh and the devil and how to overcome them. Fogiveness and giving up our rights.

Thursday 6:30 p.m. est “Knowing God: Developing an Intimate, Supernatural Relationship” Learning how to clearly and consistently hear from God, how to respond, divine guidance in specific situations, praying effectively, learning to minister as the spirit being you are.

Saturday 10:00 a.m. est “Prepare Q & A / Feedback” During this regular feature we answer questions and pass along feedback and comments that are likely to be of interest to the audience in general. All questions are responded to individually as promptly as time permits.

ARCHIVED PODCAST: If you are not able to listen to the live broadcast, you can join the majority of listeners who listen to the programs in their entirety via podcast. There are three ways you can listen to these archived programs: 1) Streaming/online. Once you find the archived progam you want to listen to from the BTR PREPARE Host Page, one of your options will be to play the podcast through your internet connection. [When loading the Host Page, the most recent Live Broadcast will automatically begin playing.] There are multiple formats that will likely be compatible with the programs already on your computer. 2) Downloads. Another option you have is to download the program in various formats, including .mp3, which you can listen to at your leisure on your computer or any compatible audio player (iPod, for instance). 3) iTunes Subscriptions. We are working on setting this up for easier use and hope to announce soon that the podcast is available as a standard iTunes Subscription.

[Hedz Up] What Is Real?

This week remember that your feelings are not always based on reality. So when you are feeling stressed or anxious, or even happy or excited, don’t make decisions based on these feelings. If necessary, wait until the emotions pass (and they will, eventually). Emotions are not reliable, and they rarely tell you the truth. Instead, as always, go to Father. “Daddy, what is YOUR Truth here? What do I need to do in this situation?” He will always give you wisdom.

Tithing, Giving and the Scriptures [Part 5]

The Tithe Goes to the Levites (Numbers 18:19-28)

19″All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever; it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you.” 20Then the Lord said to Aaron: “You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.

21″Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting. 22Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. 23But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. 24For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’ ” 25Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26″Speak thus to the Levites, and say to them: ‘When you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to the Lord, a tenth of the tithe. 27And your heave offering shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor and as the fullness of the winepress. 28Thus you shall also offer a heave offering to the Lord from all your tithes which you receive from the children of Israel, and you shall give the Lord’s heave offering from it to Aaron the priest.’”

Israel was directed to tithe directly to the Levites, the tribe of Israel that was set aside as a tithe of the people to be holy unto the Lord. It was to be their inheritance, or payment, since they would be completely devoted to the administration and implementation of the tabernacle of the Lord and its ordinances, feasts, etc. They didn’t even have any “land” of their own, but were given several regions from the other tribes in which to live. They were to spend all of their time ministering to the Lord and to His people. The Levites, in turn, were to tithe what they received to the Lord, in the form of a heave offering (which meant it was held up to the Lord), which was in turn offered to Aaron and his family, or whomever was the High Priest. THE TITHE DESCRIBED HERE WAS SET ASIDE FOR THE LEVITES AND HIGH PRIEST.

The Spirit & The Spiritual Realm

Spiritually speaking, there are only two kinds of people on the earth today — dead and alive! God first created man after His own likeness: as like begets like, Spirit begets Spirit. The thing brought forth depends on the seed.

Human Spirit?

There is no specific mention of a “human spirit” in the scriptures. The idea is expressed in a variety of ways, from spirit to heart and kidney in the Old Testament, yet the same word, pneuma, is rendered evil spirit and the spirit of God in the New Testament (for instance, in the first chapter of Mark the word “spirit” is rendered as the Spirit of God, Jesus’s spirit, and unclean spirits). In this case, the scriptures shed surprisingly little light on this issue, except that one of the purposes of the Word is to divide between an individual’s spirit and soul. This is important, in that it clearly differentiates between the two, even if there is no clarification of the boundaries, purposes or destiny of each (there is no mention of an eternal soul, or eternal spirit, for that matter). It is the spirit that communicates with and relates to God. Since we were born dead in our spirit, it took an act of the spirit to enable us to even hear God’s knocking. Without our spirits functioning, we had to make do with what we had control over — our soul (mind, will and emotions) and our body to meet our God-given needs for love, acceptance and value.

Spirit of God

Generally speaking, when we speak of something in terms of its being “spiritual,” what we are really saying is that it has a spiritual source and spiritual attributes. What are these attributes, and where do they come from? If like begets like, and Spirit begets Spirit, what is true of the seed is true of what that seed grows into, even if it appears different. For example, Jesus was begotten of the Father, by the Holy Spirit. What attributes are we speaking of here? Holiness, Righteousness, Peace, Eternal Life, Joy, Omnipotence, Omniscience, et cetera. All of the characteristics or attributes of the Father are found in the Son through the Holy Spirit! So for something to be truly Spiritual, it would have to have those same characteristics. Likewise the spiritual realm would be described in those terms; in the true spiritual realm, there is no shadow of turning, no mistakes, no doubt, no flesh. There is only the Perfect Presence of Love.

Out of This World?

The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas — a trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideals to which we are dedicated.

Ronald Reagan

Our true identity, as spirit beings, does not enable us to opt-out of the affairs of either the supernatural or natural realm. Quite the contrary. When we talk about learning to rule and reign, it is over both the supernatural and natural realms. To do so we must be able to distinguish our own preconceptions from direction from God. Through this time of processing, God refines our judgment, within our soul, to be able to use wisdom and understanding, leadership and persuasion, compassion and encouragement as He directs. These are tools; we must learn how to use them if they are to be available for God’s use in and through us. It is inevitable that those who truly know their God, and depend on Him, will affect the state of mankind and the course of history (for reference, see “Jesus”).

What is your worldview, and what specifically are you doing now to rule and reign tomorrow?

“Knock, Knock”

There’s this television commercial out now, maybe you’ve seen it, for a pest control company: The lady of the house opens the front door and there’s a 6-ft roach holding a stack of pizzas, asking for entry to the home. Her mind tries to get a grasp on this critter as she responds “I don’t think we ordered any pizzas.” Then, of course, the exterminator shows up (whew!).

Wouldn’t it be great if all of the threats against us were that obvious?! And that easy to deal with?

Because the enemies we contend with daily are much subtler, it really helps to know and be reminded of our individual vulnerabilities. Take the time and energy to know your temperament, your physical limitations (sleep, nutrition, etc.), and how you deal with stress, and be willing to make changes accordingly to prevent the creepy crawlies from getting in the front door.

There are enough points of entry that are challenging; let’s make sure we don’t overlook the obvious.

Prepare Radio Schedule

Just as a reminder, here’s our weekly Prepare Radio schedule on BlogTalkRadio [Prepare Radio link to the far right in the menu bar above].

Monday 6:30 p.m. est “Practical Christianity: Does What You Believe Work?”

Tuesday 6:30 p.m. est “Getting Healed: Becoming Whole Spirit Soul and Body“

Thursday 6:30 p.m. est “Knowing God: Developing an Intimate, Supernatural Relationship“

Saturday 10:00 a.m. est “Prepare Q & A“

Be sure to tune in for the live broadcast and join us in the on-site Chat room. All broadcasts are also available in the Archives soon after broadcast.

BlogTalkRadio!

See you there!

Believers in Kenya need help

Our Brother Samuel in Kenya has asked for financial help to buy food for his family, church and the homeless families and orphans they are caring for. Most of them survived the recent post-election civil war, and had hoped to begin rebuilding their homes and communites, but now the food shortages are so great that there are demonstrations and riots against the government.

Here’s the contact information to send money via Western Union:

Samuel Asonga Atema

Kenya

You will need to supply a “Test Question & Answer” for security purposes [example: name of dog / Spot].

Then email the MTCN number and “Test Question & Answer” to samuelasonga@yahoo.com. He will not be able to receive your gift unless he has all the information.

Any amount would be appreciated, suggest min. $25.

If you would rather not contact him directly you can send gift to me via paypal [you do not need to 'join' paypal in order to use their services--look for 'Don't have a PayPal account?'] and I will forward via Western Union. I have set up a separate paypal account for this purpose: wecanprepare@gmail.com. Here’s a link:

Thanks.

Tuesday’s Prepare Radio Program on BTR

We will resume our regular program schedule Tuesday night at 6:30pm est. We will be talking about Getting Healed, continuing to look at some of the reasons we’re not healed. Lately we’ve had some technical difficulties with the call-in switchboard, but hopefully those issues have been resolved. So if you have any comments or questions regarding the show, feel free to call in! See you there!

Be sure to tune in for the live broadcast and join us in the on-site Chat room. All broadcasts are also available in the Archives soon after broadcast.