Brother Jesse Duplantis Visits Faith Christian Family Church, First Service 1/27/2013

Once a year for about the past decade Reverend Jesse Duplantis from New Orleans, Louisiana has visited my church, Faith Christian Family Church in Clovis, New Mexico. Today I personally had my second chance to see this wonderful man of God speak. I will post two blog posts on this today, summarizing his sermons, because I believe it is worthy of repeating and sharing with others.

Jesse's first sermon today was about WHY ISN'T MY GIVING WORKING? The Four Types of Giving. All my life I have struggled with the Law of Tithing. I've always had questions about the tithe, first fruits and all the other ways of giving I've read about in the Scriptures. Today, all of those questions were answered and it all made sense to me. Starting next payday I plan to correct my ways of giving to line up with these biblical principles.

The Four Ways of Giving are:
1. The Tithe - Your 10% that which belongs to the Lord
2. First Fruits - Our first increase of the year
3. Alms - Compassionate giving
4. Seed - Investing and watching the Lord return your investment 30/60/100-fold

Number One - The Tithe
The Law of Tithing is outlined in Malachi 3:8-12. It is the only area where God ASKS us to put HIM to the test. He promises us that if we give 10% of our income to him faithfully, then he will open the windows of Heaven and pour out blessings so great to us that we have not room enough to receive it. He guarantees that HE will rebuke the devourer for OUR sake, but if we do not tithe he cannot rebuke Satan on our behalf. Those of us who do not pay tithing the way that we are commanded to cannot wonder why we can't make ends meet. (I am definitely included in this category of people. Sadly, I often make the excuse that I cannot afford to pay tithing, since my medical bills are so expensive out-of-pocket.) But all we need to do is OBEY, and watch God work miracles on our behalf. The blessing is already there. Are we motivated enough to OBEY Him so that He can keep his promise to us? God ALWAYS keeps His promises. The only reason WE are not able to claim those promises is because we don't keep the law that He has asked of us.  Many people say, "You don't have to pay your 10% to the Church, you can use that 10% to donate to another worthy cause and it is still considered a tithe." WRONG. Many people make this mistake and then wonder why the windows of Heaven are not open to them. This type of giving is motivated by OBEDIENCE. God commanded us to give our tithe to the Church, so that the Church can further its ministries, and then we in turn will be blessed with food in our storehouses, and protection from times of recession and depression.

Number Two - First Fruits
The Scriptures says in Proverbs 3:9-10 to "Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all of thine increase, so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses burst forth with new wine." The way Brother Jesse explained the first fruits giving is that it is done once a year, with our first increase of the year. Back when the Scriptures were written, the economy was mainly agricultural, and people measured their first increase by the first fruits of their harvesting season. Therefore, they would take those first fruits and donate them to the Church or the Priest, and then the remainder of the harvest was theirs to do with as they would. This type of giving is motivated by GENEROSITY. It is a way of HONORING what the Lord has given to us. He promises us that our barns will be full and our vats will overflow with new wine, which, put plainly means that we will always have MORE than enough food in our storehouses. We will never go hungry. I have never done a first fruits offering, as I have never truly understood this. However, I am anticipating a raise in the near future, and I plan to give the first fruits of my increase (a whole $17.50) to the Church, and give it to an area of ministry. I will probably donate it to Celebrate Recovery, since that is an area of ministry I am actively involved in, or maybe Missions. Someday I hope to go on a humanitarian mission with my husband, to Latin America, where I can bless the lives of less fortunate people in cultures that I have a passion for.

Number Three - Alms
"Alms for the poor!" - We all know that saying. This is exactly what type of giving this is. This type of giving is motivated by COMPASSION. It is giving to the less fortunate, and in doing so, giving anonymously. In the Word it says, "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand is doing". This type of giving is to BLESS the lives of others, and to do so without bragging. We should never brag about how much or to whom this type of giving is done. This is to preserve the dignity of those we give to, and just to show that we care about others, not for our own gain. The Lord promises us that the gifts we give in alms giving will be repaid back to us dollar for dollar, that we shall not PROFIT from this type of giving, but that how much we give to others, as long as we do it humbly, will come back to us in kind. This is the only type of giving that does not promise an increase, but equal favor for the favor we show to others.

Number Four - Seed
When we plant a seed, we wait for the crop to grow and reap ABUNDANCE in the harvest. This is exactly how Brother Jesse explained this type of giving. This type of giving is motivated by FAITH & REWARD. What this means is that when we plant a seed in fertile soil (or INVEST in a good and worthy cause), we will receive back 30, 60 or 100-fold what we sow, depending on our faith, and how much we believe in that reward. This is the most abundant blessing we receive back to us, and it blesses not only ourselves but future generations. Those who do not sow seed will not reap the abundance that is promised. So donate to a worthy ministry or invest in a worthy investment and watch your seed grow and enjoy the abundance that comes back to you according to your faith.

This month's Covenant Magazine, a monthly publication by Jesse Duplantis Ministries, outlines in detail the first two types of giving, and next month's edition will detail the last two. This was a lot of typing for this post, so I will blog about what he preached during our second service today another time. It was just as powerful and wonderful. If you don't want to wait for me to post about it though, just read the title article in this month's Covenant Magazine, Believe the Unbelievable and Receive the Impossible. You can find this publication at Jesse Duplantis Ministries. I hope you enjoyed my blog today! I look forward to blogging more often this year. I hope I don't let you down! May you have a blessed week my friends! Thanks for stopping by!