10/10/10 - The Blessed Life PT1 - Pastor Tony Ashmore

Pastor Tony Ashmore begins a new series entitled "The Blessed Life" with part 1 in this Sunday service.

The Blessed Life Part 1
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, October 10, 2010

www.mylifegatechurch.com


Sermon Notes:

The Blessed Life…
1st Things 1st—God must be 1st
We want to put God first in every area including our Finances! Finances relate to every area of your life. How we handle our finances tells God “Who’s first in our lives!”
Matthew 6:21 “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”
You will never have a complete relationship with God until you understand and practice His principles of handling money.  (Matthew 6:24—cannot be loyal to both)

There are 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 on faith, but over 2000 on money and possessions. Jesus talked about money in 16 out of 38 parables.

2 examples of Blessed Life and Cursed Life: My dad and me.

3 Principles that must be understood if we are going to Live the Blessed Life:
     1.   The Firstborn must be sacrificed or redeemed.
     2.   The Firstfruits must be offered.
     3.   The Tithe must be 1st.


1. The Firstborn Must Be Sacrificed or Redeemed

Ex 13:1-2 “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Dedicate to me every firstborn among the Israelites. The first offspring to be born, of both humans and animals, belongs to me.”

Ex 13:12-13 “you must present all firstborn sons and firstborn male animals to the LORD, for they belong to him. 13 A firstborn donkey may be bought back from the LORD by presenting a lamb or young goat in its place. But if you do not buy it back, you must break its neck. However, you must buy back every firstborn son.”
Every time one of your animals delivered its firstborn, you had to sacrifice it, or if it was unclean, you had to redeem it with a lamb.
•   The firstborn clean had to be sacrificed
•   The firstborn unclean had to be redeemed.

Do you realize what this is a picture of?
•   Jesus, the Lamb, God’s firstborn Son, is clean.
•   We are unclean and therefore the clean was sacrificed for the unclean, and we were redeemed. (Purchased back)

The tithe is not legalism or religious duty. It’s about putting 1st things 1st! Jesus was God’s tithe!  God gave Jesus first in faith even when we were sinners. God didn’t wait to see if we would change or repent or get worthy.  The tithe is about putting God first! It’s about our heart!
•   Any first thing given is never lost. Any first thing not given is always lost. The First belongs to God!

Romans 11:16 (NCV) “If the first piece of bread is offered to God, then the whole loaf is made holy.”
•   The first portion given redeemed the rest.
•   All the rest after the first was given was redeemed.
•   The first portion is the redemptive portion.
•   Would you rather try to make it through life with 100% and all of it cursed, or with 90% and all of it redeemed and blessed?

Coming to Church is giving the first to the Lord.
•   Some people’s week begins on Monday to make deals.
•   Some people’s week begins on Friday to party.
•   For believers, our week begins on Sunday! The New Testament Church met on Sunday because of the principle of firstfruits.


2. The Firstfruits Must Be Offered: We don’t give them, we bring them!

Ex 23:19 “The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God.”

Proverbs 3:9-10 “Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase; So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.”

The first portion belongs to God! Why did God say that all of the Silver and the Gold from Jericho had to be given to the Lord’s house?
•   Because it was the first city in the Promised Land, firstfruits.
•   You can have all of the rest, but give the first to me.
•   God didn’t say, “After you’ve conquered the Promised Land, then give me 10%.”  (Or 10% of Jericho)
•   He said, “Give me all of the silver and gold from the first city” and that took faith!
Abraham offered Isaac, his first.
•   God didn’t go to Abraham when he only had Isaac and say,
•   “After you have 4 or 5 more sons,
•   I’m going to come to you and ask you for one of them.”
•   God asked for the first when he had one and only the promise of more.

God’s portion is devoted or consecrated to the temple, which means that it has a blessing. But if it’s not given to God, it’s cursed because it’s stolen.

Genesis 4:3-5 “And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering.”

Why did God accept Abel offering, but not Cain’s?
•   Cain’s was brought “in the process of time.”
•   It wasn’t first fruits but Abel’s was the firstborn!


3. The Tithe Must Be First

Leviticus 27:30 “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s. It is holy to the LORD.”

Is it possible to give 10% and not be tithing?
The Firstborn belongs to God. The Firstfruits belong to God. And the tithe belongs to God also but it must be first!
It’s the same principle!

If I gave you 10 1-dollar bills, (1) How much is the tithe? (2) Which one is the tithe?

Let’s say that you get paid on Thursday.
•   You pay all of your bills and then buy groceries. Then write the tithe check before you come to Church.

Is it really faith to give 10% after we’ve paid all of the bills first?  Aren’t we establishing our priorities when we willingly pay everybody else first and then see if there’s enough leftover to give God His Portion?

The First Portion is the redemptive portion!
•   There are so many blessings that go along with tithing
•   But it’s the principle of putting God first
•   And the principle of faith that initiates the blessings!
The first portion is the portion that redeems the rest.
•   The first portion carries the blessing.
•   You don’t want to give the first portion to the electric company! We fear the IRS, and GMAC, the mortgage company and the phone company more than we fear the Lord. Another way to say that is we respect them more or we put them first rather than the Lord. 

Tithing says, “I’ve got a stack of bills here but I’m going to give to you first just like you gave Jesus first.”

I’m not talking about being legalistic and getting angry with your wife if she writes a check to the grocery store before you write the tithe check. I’m talking about your heart and so is God!

It’s entirely possible that you’ve been giving 10% but not tithing because the tithe must be first!  It’s the principle of firstfruits and the firstborn. The bottom line is, “Is God first in your life?”

Matthew 6:31-33 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

Put God 1st and everything else just finds its place. Our priorities stay where they should be.