AUGUEST THEME – “Seeing Revival from God’s Perspective”
Join us in prayer and celebration as Belmont Baptist Church celebrates our Year of Jubilee, marking fifty years of God’s amazing faithfulness and looking forward with grateful hearts to all He has yet to do.
BEATS FROM YOUR PASTOR’S HEART’S
IT’S EASIER TO GIVE GOD WHAT IS LEFT THAN TO GIVE HIM WHAT IS FIRST
Proverbs 3:9–10, “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.”
GOD DOESN’T WANT TO BE LAST IN A LIFE THAT CALLS HIM LORD
Yesterday we considered how it is easier to use God’s money than to discipline our spending. But that raises an even deeper question: Where does God fit into the order of my finances? It is possible to believe everything belongs to God while continually giving Him whatever happens to remain after everyone and everything else has been paid. We pay the mortgage, automobile, utilities, credit cards, subscriptions, groceries, entertainment, vacations, hobbies, and countless wants, and then look at what remains and decide whether we can afford to give to God. Yet throughout Scripture, God established a completely different principle: He comes first. This is not merely a financial principle; it exposes the order of our hearts. God cannot truly be first in my heart while I continually arrange my life so that He receives what is left.
THE TITHE REMINDS ME WHO OWNS IT ALL
The word tithe means a tenth. Long before the giving of the Mosaic law, Abraham gave Melchizedek “tithes of all” in Genesis 14:20. Under the law, Israel was specifically instructed concerning the tithe, and Leviticus 27:30 declares, “the tithe…is the LORD’S.” Malachi later confronted God’s people for withholding “tithes and offerings.” But beneath the percentage was a much larger spiritual truth: ownership. Giving God a tenth was never intended to mean, “God gets ten percent and I get ninety percent to do with whatever I please.” The tenth acknowledged that the entire hundred percent had come from God and remained under His ownership. The tithe was not merely God claiming a portion of their possessions; it was God reminding them that He was the Source of everything they possessed. That truth reaches directly into our lives today. We say, “My paycheck. My house. My automobile. My savings. My retirement. My possessions.” Yet who gave me the health to work, the mind to think, the opportunity to earn, and the breath to get out of bed this morning? Deuteronomy 8:18 says, “it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth.” Stewardship begins when I stop asking, “How much of my money should I give God?” and begin asking, “Lord, how do You want me to manage Your money?” That changes giving from an obligation into an acknowledgment of His Lordship. I will never understand biblical giving until I settle the question of ownership—and once God owns everything, giving Him something is no longer loss but stewardship.
FIRSTFRUITS REVEALS WHO COMES FIRST
Firstfruits carries the truth even deeper. Exodus 23:19 says, “The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God.” Proverbs 3:9 says, “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase.” “Increase” simply means what God allows to come into my hands—my income, earnings, profits, and provision. It is what I receive beyond what I had before. Before I decide what to do with my increase, I must remember that God is the One who made the increase possible. Notice the word first. The farmer did not gather the entire harvest, calculate all his expenses, satisfy his family’s desires, determine what he wanted to purchase, and then give God whatever remained. God received the first. That required faith because when the farmer presented the firstfruits, the remainder of the harvest had not yet been gathered. Firstfruits was faith saying, “God, I give You the first because I trust You with everything that comes afterward.” That is what makes firstfruits so convicting. Leftovers require very little faith because I already know what I can spare. Firstfruits requires faith because I honor God before I know how everything else will work out. It says, “God, You will not have to compete with my wants for what remains. I am establishing Your priority before anything else makes a claim upon me.” That principle reaches far beyond money. God wants the first of my day, the first claim upon my decisions, the first consideration in my plans, the first loyalty of my heart, and the first place in every area of my life. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.” Whatever consistently receives my first consideration is revealing what actually occupies first place in my heart.
THE DIFFERENCE — PROPORTION AND PRIORITY
There is a helpful distinction between these two biblical ideas: the tithe emphasizes proportion, while firstfruits emphasizes priority. The tithe confronts me with the question, “What portion am I returning to God?” Firstfruits confronts me with the deeper question, “Who gets considered first?” One teaches stewardship; the other exposes priority. Together they remind me that God is not merely interested in receiving something from me—He wants His rightful place over everything He has entrusted to me. God is not looking for a place somewhere inside my financial life; as Lord, He claims first place over the whole of it.
MY SPENDING MAY REVEAL THAT EVERYONE GETS PAID BEFORE GOD
This is where stewardship becomes painfully practical. Someone may sincerely say, “Pastor, I just cannot afford to give.” Sometimes that is the reality of genuine hardship, and we should respond with compassion rather than judgment. But there are other times when the real problem is not that there was nothing to give—it is that everything else had already been allowed to make its claim first. The mortgage claimed some. The automobile claimed some. Credit cards claimed some. Subscriptions claimed some. Eating out claimed some. Entertainment claimed some. Impulsive purchases claimed some. And by the time God was considered, there was nothing left. Sometimes “I cannot afford to give God anything” actually means “I have already allowed everything else to come before Him.” That is why this Heartbeat must connect with financial discipline. If I continually spend first and give last, eventually my lifestyle will expand until there is never anything left. Every raise will be absorbed. Every increase will acquire a new obligation. Every additional dollar will find another want. Firstfruits reverses the order. God first. His purposes first. Then I discipline my lifestyle around what remains. Instead of giving God what survives my spending, I determine that my spending must adjust itself around my surrender to God. A budget is more than numbers on paper—it can become a written testimony of what my heart has decided deserves to come first.
Imagine two Israelite farmers standing before fields ready for harvest. The first says, “I will gather everything first. I will make sure my family has enough, settle every obligation, purchase what I have been wanting, store enough away so that I feel secure, and if there is anything remaining, I will take something to the Lord.” The second farmer gathers the first portion and immediately takes it to God. He has not seen the entire harvest yet. He cannot guarantee what tomorrow will bring. But as he lays those firstfruits before the Lord, he is declaring, “God, before I see the rest, I trust You. Before I satisfy myself, I honor You. Before I know what tomorrow holds, I acknowledge that everything comes from Your hand.” Both farmers may eventually give something, but only one has demonstrated priority. The deepest difference between leftovers and firstfruits is not the amount placed on the altar—it is the faith and Lordship revealed by what was placed there first.
WHAT ABOUT THE NEW TESTAMENT BELIEVER?
We should teach this carefully and biblically. The New Testament does not simply reproduce every feature of Israel’s agricultural and Levitical tithing system as church law, but neither does grace lower the believer’s stewardship. First Corinthians 16:2 teaches regular, proportionate giving: “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him.” Second Corinthians 9 teaches generous, purposeful, and cheerful giving rather than giving reluctantly or under compulsion. Jesus warned against meticulous outward giving that ignored “judgment, mercy, and faith,” showing that God has always been concerned with the heart behind the gift. Grace does not reduce stewardship to, “What is the minimum percentage I must give?” Grace asks something much larger: “Since Jesus gave Himself completely for me and everything I possess belongs to Him, what does He want me to do with all of it?” For that reason, I believe the tithe gives us a powerful biblical starting point for disciplined stewardship, but Christian surrender should never become obsessed with discovering the least we can give and still feel obedient. The surrendered believer begins somewhere entirely different. He says, “Lord, You own it all. If You want me to give, I will give. If You want me to save, I will save. If You tell me not to buy it, I will walk away. If You want me to bless someone, my hands are open. My finances are available to You because I am available to You.” Grace does not ask how little Jesus requires; grace looks at Calvary and asks how anything I possess could possibly be withheld from Him.
THE HEART ISSUE — FOLLOW THE MONEY AND YOU MAY FIND THE THRONE
Jesus said in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Notice that Jesus connected treasure and heart. Our spending can reveal our priorities with uncomfortable accuracy. Look at where the first portion goes. Look at what we refuse to sacrifice. Look at what receives our best. Look at what we automatically fund while repeatedly saying we cannot afford the things of God. This is why giving is ultimately not about God needing our money—God owns everything. Giving exposes whether we understand who owns us. My bank statement may sometimes reveal the actual priorities of my heart more clearly than the words of my testimony.
GOD DOESN’T WANT THE LEFTOVERS OF A LIFE HE PURCHASED WITH EVERYTHING
Perhaps the greatest issue today is not ten percent, firstfruits, budgets, or bank accounts. Perhaps the question is simply, “Does Jesus really have first place?” If He is first, that will eventually touch my money. But it will also touch my calendar, ambitions, relationships, decisions, possessions, plans, mornings, future, and desires. We cannot place Jesus at the bottom of everything and continue calling Him Lord of everything. He gave us His best. He gave His Son. Jesus gave His life. Calvary was not God’s leftover. The One who gave everything to redeem me deserves more than whatever happens to remain after I have finished living for myself. So before you ask today, “How much should I give?” ask the deeper question: “Lord, are You truly first?” Perhaps there is a reason God is allowing money to expose something in us. Maybe this is not primarily about finances at all. Maybe He is putting His finger on the throne of our hearts and asking who actually sits there. The answer will not ultimately be found in what we say on Sunday; it will be demonstrated by the choices we make when nobody is watching. When Jesus becomes truly first, I stop trying to fit Him into my life and begin arranging my entire life around Him.
WARFARE PRAYER
Father, everything I have belongs to You because everything I am belongs to You. Forgive me for the times I have given You what was left while giving myself what was first. Expose every area where money, possessions, comfort, fear, pride, comparison, or materialism has taken a place that belongs only to Jesus. Break the grip of greed and the fear that says I cannot trust You. Give me wisdom to manage faithfully, discipline to say no to myself, courage to reorder my priorities, and faith to put You first before I know how everything else will work out. I surrender my income, possessions, spending, saving, giving, future, and entire life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Satan will not rule me through money, possessions will not master me through desire, and fear will not control me through scarcity—Jesus Christ alone will occupy first place in my heart. Amen.
DAILY CHALLENGE — LOOK AT WHAT COMES FIRST
Today, prayerfully look at your finances—not merely to see where your money went, but to discover what your spending says comes first. Ask yourself: “Does God receive my first consideration or whatever remains? What expense could I surrender? What habit needs discipline? What financial decision have I made without consulting Him? Is there something I say I cannot afford for God because I have already chosen to afford something for myself?” Then pray, “Lord, I do not want You to receive my leftovers. You are first. Teach me to arrange everything else around that decision.” Do not merely give God first place in your budget today—give Him first place on the throne of your heart, and let everything else in your life fall into order beneath Him.
TUESDAY’S PRAYER NEEDS
Darlene Kelley – Our Cousin _ Recovering from Cancer
Darlene Thaxton
Ginny Ford
Deanne Boynton
Anna Belle Taylor – Irregular Heartbeat – Jackson’s Special Friend
Rob Davis – cancer
Kim McClain’s Mother