Exodus 23:14-17 & 19 “Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: 15You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty); 16and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.17“Three times in the year all your males shall appear before Yahweh.
“Firstfruits, is a consecrated offering that you make before the harvest, and the tithe is what you bring after the harvest.”
Firstfruits, is based on consecrating and naming a specific offering, and with it, establishing a memorial before Yahweh concerning the expectation of the harvest that you expect to receive in the coming year.
19 The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Yahweh your Elohim.
The firstfruits offering was made when the barley was green in the ear. (The month of Abib) It was made before the harvest at the beginning of the year. (Spring Time)
Leviticus 2:12-14 As for the offering of the firstfruits, you shall offer them to Yahweh, but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet aroma. 13And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your Elohim to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt. 14 ‘If you offer a grain offering of your firstfruits to Yahweh, you shall offer for the grain offering of your firstfruits green heads of grain roasted on the fire, grain beaten from full heads.
The firstfruits offering was brought to the house of Yahweh once a year and then it became the High Priest portion.
Leviticus 23:10-11 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. 11He shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
Leviticus 23:17-20 You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to Yahweh. 18And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to Yahweh, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to Yahweh. 19Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering. 20The priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before Yahweh, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to Yahweh for the priest.
When the children of Israel brought a firstfruits offering to the house of Yahweh and the priest lifted it up and waved it before Yahweh it became a consecrated offering that established a memorial before Yahweh.
Remember, the feast and the firstfruits are all established, set apart times by Yahweh, not man. They are all established around the harvest seasons and the times of ingathering. They are times of celebrating, honoring and bringing our offerings to Yahweh. Those who appeared before Yahweh during these times did not do so empty handed.
Number 18: 12-13 “All the best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and the grain, their firstfruits which they offer to Yahweh, I have given them to you. 13Whatever first ripe fruit is in their land, which they bring to Yahweh, shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your house may eat it.
Ref. Numbers 18
Yahweh instructed Aaron the first high priest concerning firstfruits and who could partake of them.
Nehemiah 12:44-47 And at the same time some were appointed over the rooms of the storehouse for the offerings, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions specified by the Law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who ministered. 45Both the singers and the gatekeepers kept the charge of their Elohim and the charge of the purification, according to the command of David and Solomon his son. 46For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chiefs of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving to Elohim. 47In the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah all Israel gave the portions for the singers and the gatekeepers, a portion for each day. They also consecrated holy things for the Levites, and the Levites consecrated them for the children of Aaron.
This passage of scripture contains a principle truth and pattern that should be in operation today. However, in most cases, and more times than not, all of the firstfruits, tithes and offerings are being funneled through the local work where one man and a paid secretary are the only ones benefiting from the firstfruits, tithes and offerings of the people.
I want to establish up front with you, that this is an erroneous and heretical practice that is going to lead to the destruction and elimination of all those who continue to pump their finances into that system. I cannot tell you the number of true spiritual fathers that I have personally known that have been starved out of the ministry, and have all but been forsaken and forgotten by the people of Yahweh. It is an epidemic, that to this day still plagues the body of Messiah and most of the leaders who fall into this category are spending the firstfruits, tithe and offerings that come into the local work on themselves, toys and overhead. The tithe of the people was never supposed to be used to finance the overhead of local work. The tithe is supposed to be used to finance the ministry and the love offerings are supposed to take care of the overhead of the gathering place. I believe that this practice is blatant disobedience and gross disregard of the principle truths and patterns of Yahweh’s word, and will only serve to further limit and dwarf the body of Messiah in infancy.
Now, with that said, I am not bilaterally condemning the leaders that have been operating in darkness, ignorance or paralyzing paradigms. However, I am speaking to the spirit of mammon, greed and consumer lust that continue to drive and control much of the American Church System. I cannot tell you how many men and women that I have personally encountered that have been forced to leave the word, prayer and the people with whom Yahweh has joined them, in order to just scratch out a living and provide basic needs for their family. People of Yahweh, I declare unto you today that Yahweh is not pleased with this practice and there will be Hell to pay, both now and in the future if we do not repent and return to the principle truths and patterns of Yahweh’s word in our lifetime.
As you have surmised by now, I am tired of the falsehood, manipulation, devilish control and debauchery that exist in the body of Messiah, and at the risk of sounding self serving or trying to establish the apostle’s portion, I am going to make this teaching clear, plain and understandable. So if you have the stomach for it, please know that once I have released it, and you have read it, you will be responsible to do something about it.
I love you all; but I want to share my heart with you. If I am going to suffer in ministry at this level to serve the body of Messiah, you are going to have to hear the Father’s heart in me, and bear up in your hearts the burden of apostolic and prophetic fathers everywhere. If we do not properly discern the body of Messiah, and love the brotherhood the way that Yahweh has ordained, we will all end up in the same sinking ship. Because of these erroneous and heretical practices, we are all but dead in the water right now. If you can hear it, this is a new day and we have an opportunity to rise up in this new day and really make a difference. We can represent more change to the world, and this culture in the next seven years than our forefathers have been able to produce in the last century.
People of Yahweh, I beseech you in the name of Yahshua to hear my heart and to make some adjustments in the way that you consecrate your firstfruits, pay your tithe and give your offerings. I am not trying to tell you where or to whom you should be giving; but I am telling you that the scripture teaches that He set in the Ekklesia, first apostles and secondarily prophets.
1 Corinthians 12:28 And Yahweh has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.
If you can hear it, the Apostle is foundationally and governmentally to the Ministry and Ekklesia what the High Priest was to the Priesthood and the people in the Older Covenant. If you can receive that principle truth and pattern of firstfruits from the Older Covenant of the Bible, the only way that it can be practiced today is by honoring the Apostolic Ministry with the tithe of the tithe and the firstfruits of the people. A tithe of the tithe needs to become the apostle’s portion in every local for which apostolic oversight is being provided. If a work has not develop to the level that elders are in place that can tithe to the apostle, then there should be an apostle’s portion that is tithed out to the gross income of the work.
In that way the apostle will not be limited to one local work in a regional where he may be sent. If you are related to an apostle that you receive and recognize as an apostle, then you should be supporting him with no less than a tithe of the tithe of the work, and the firstfruits of the people. If you are an apostle that is providing long term care for the local work the same principle should apply to you as well. You should ultimately develop the work to a place that you receive a tithe of the tithe with the 90% of the tithe being used to finance the work of the ministry. When plurality of leadership is in place, the elders of the local work need to be paid out of the tithe. You are supposed to be sharing the leadership and tithe with the local elders and ministry team that have been raised up and set into the work.
If you are an apostle, you may also provide apostolic oversight for other works in your region and sphere of authority, and they too would then be responsible to support you with a tithe of the tithe and the firstfruit of the people. But I want to make it clear, as it pertains to the apostles and prophets that serve the body of Messiah working in and out of many regions, they should be supported by the local ministries and works for which they provide oversight and direction. I know by the Spirit that this will fly in the face of some of you reading it; but I have to say it, and you need to hear it.
Believe me when I say that I have heard every lame excuse as to why this will not work, or why we cannot do that; but none of them hold water in the light of what is right and the way things should be done. Love offerings should go to pay for the overhead of the work. Any other way will not work long term, and is contrary to the apostle’s doctrine.
Now, I realize that I have not come close to covering every possible scenario and work that is established out there; but I have given you enough information about how things should be done that it will provoke you to study and research. I am not trying to explain or answer every situation in which we have operated in the past, I am specifically addressing the apostle’s portion and from where it should come. Now, if you want to do the research I have given you a good place to start, or you can just write this article off as my opinion; but whatever you do with it, the truth still remains, that no matter how good or bad you think things are right now, they are only going to get worse if you do not listen to the voice of the Spirit and hear and obey His Word.
I challenge you to read and study the book of Acts and discover the missing components in the modern day Ekklesia when compared to the first century Ekklesia. The apostles of the first century represented something and were releasing something that caused the people based on obedience to the word that was coming out of them, as well as their mutual need to sell all that they had and come and bring the proceeds and lay them at the apostle’s feet. Think about that. What could they have been preaching and teaching that could have moved people to do something like that. I can tell you that they were preaching and teaching out of the heart of the Father concerning the apostle’s portion and financing the ministry of the day. Hear it. It will be the life of the ongoing work of the ministry and will further bring into view the structure of the house that Yahshua is building.
1Timothy 6:6-10 Now, godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Jude 1:3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
No comments:
Post a Comment