Kenneth Copeland - The Tithing Covenant Brings God’s Increase
Now, before I read this testimony, I want to remind you of something. We have people onsite here. When you call in for prayer and the prayer number appears on the screen, they are right here. It doesn’t go elsewhere. These are our individuals who are well-trained in intercessory prayer and spend time interceding, and they have access to all the scriptures. I call it a prayer manual, similar to what we’re doing today. When someone says, «I need the prayer of agreement,» you go to the 18th chapter of the book of Matthew, and it’s all there, and they’re right around. I’ve been up there and interrupted someone’s prayer the last time I was there. I said, «This is Brother Copeland.» Huh? I said, «Yes, it’s really me.»
So, that’s right on here. We’ve been hearing from my partner; listen to this. Nanette said, «When I was growing up, my mom watched BVOV all the time. I remember every Sunday morning, as we were getting ready for church, she would have it on and we would listen to it while getting dressed and eating breakfast. As a child, I had constant asthma attacks. We lived on six acres of land. Every time a cat came around, or if someone had been around horses before coming near me, it caused an asthma attack. My aunt was a doctor, and she kept me on medication that I had to take daily, as well as an inhaler for the onset of an attack. There were times I had to go to the doctor’s office to use a breathing machine.»
Now I want to tell you, I had asthma when I was a young boy, and they finally figured out the cause. Anyway, I remember nights when my mom would come into my room and sit with me all night. She’d read the Bible and pray over me during the day. She would play BVOV on the TV for me to listen to. I listened to Miss Gloria’s Healing School. My mom constantly filled me with the Word. When I reached my teenage years, after having absorbed all that Word, I decided I’d had enough.
On Wednesday night, I spoke out loud, «Tonight, when I go to church, I’m going to go down front and receive my healing.» I determined it in my heart. That night at church, the pastor prayed for me. Nothing significant happened except that I knew in my heart I was healed. A few days later, another asthma attack came on me. I shouted out loud, «No, I rebuke that. I received my healing the other night. You can’t come back on me. I’m healed.» After that day, I never had another asthma attack. I am now able to be around animals without any issues. Praise God! Isn’t that wonderful? These testimonies are just incredible.
Thank you, Nanette, for that wonderful testimony. Now, let’s go back. Brother Hagin said, «Let’s turn to our golden text.» Is tithing just in the first covenant, or is it in the new? Hebrews 7. Let me read back to the 20th verse. «Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him.» We’re discussing the blessing here now.
Now, verse six: «But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction, the lesser is blessed of the better.» For here, I’m talking about pastors, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers who are here now. They’re alive. «And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.» He’s referring to our High Priest, Jesus, in the third chapter. Praise God, he’s alive. So, when we tithe, keep this in mind. When you come before Him with the basket in your hand, know that he lives here, and it doesn’t hurt to say, «I receive your blessing on my tithe today.»
Thank you, High Priest in the heavenlies. Thank you, Holy Spirit in my heart. Thank you, my Father. I receive the blessings and the outpourings of the rights of a tither and the giving of offerings from Malachi. And He said, «You’ve robbed me in tithing and the giving of offerings.» Well, there are many different ways to give offerings, but the tithe will bring the offering money. You do the tithe first, and the tithing will result in offerings. We’ve experienced it over the years. As all of you have heard me say, when we went to Oral Roberts University, we didn’t have anything but $24,000 worth of debt that I created. She said, «You must have borrowed money on your tricycle.»
Well, no, I didn’t. There were two large amounts in there. We asked John and Kellie, and they said, «Here’s what we’re doing.» So, this Christmas… I bought, with all the money I had left. We were out of debt. I bought a can of firecrackers about that big and Kellie a little doll, and Chef Boyardee for Christmas dinner. Our resources were slim, but the debt was gone. I owe no man anything but love.
Now, let’s go back. Can I interject something here? When you were talking about when we were kids, I’m so grateful that from the time I was old enough to grasp a bit of it, you taught us about tithing and offerings. Even if it was just toys, we would give a toy away. But we always tithed. So, growing up, it never seemed foreign. People think, «Oh, you’re just a little kid.» But growing up in that environment, if you continue to do it for the rest of your life, it is beneficial. I think many people don’t even consider their kids’ tithing when they do chores or receive an allowance or whatever. They need to tithe.
— Oh, yes, sir. This belongs to God. So let’s put it over here. And this is His. Yeah, but it isn’t much. Think about the Almighty God that created the universe. Think about what he could do with 15 cents. You brought up something. Let’s go do it. Let’s go to the book of Joshua.
— Okay. Well, I didn’t mean to take you off wherever you’re going.
— No, listen, this is the Spirit of God.
— It just struck me how grateful I was that I grew up in that.
— This is the Spirit of God.
— Where’d you say go?
— Joshua. And the book of Joshua. Now let me, may I… the book of Yeshua. That’s been Englishized to Joshua. That’s Jesus' name. Yeshua. It’s been Englishized to Jesus. Just so you know. Now, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke unto Joshua, son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people in the land. Now come down here to the eight. Verse five, There shall not be any man able to stand before you all the days of your life. Now, tithing started in the book of Genesis. You have to remember that. Be strong and of a good courage. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night and observe, or you’ll be able to see and do according to all that is written therein. Then shall you make your way prosperous and then shall you have good success. Now, what translation are you reading there, Kellie?
— This is the Amplified. Read it there, please.
— In verse eight?
— Yeah. You shall have…
— For then you shall make your way prosperous and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.
— You will deal wisely. So the tither, be strong and of good courage. Don’t be afraid. Neither be dismayed for the Lord thy God is with you wherever you go. If you’re born again, the Lord thy God is with you wherever you go. If you’re filled with his Spirit, you can speak with him easily and deal wisely in the affairs of life. So I didn’t look at it like that then because I really didn’t understand this verse because Gloria and I both were scriptural illiterates at the time, but we prayed and prayed about it. Now, I already knew better than to send a faith check.
— What’s a faith check?
— You write it and send it hoping God will put the money in the bank before they get it.
— So you just don’t send it?
— No. I’ve written faith checks, but I didn’t send them.
— Well, that’s why. Yeah.
— Vision checks.
— I had to go bail a preacher out of jail one time for that. Anyway, that’s what we did. We just had a little desk about this big and we wrote all the checks, all 24,000 dollars. There were two large ones, the rest of them. And the money came, paid it. Money came, paid it. Money came, paid it. Two thousand of that was at my dad’s bank, State Bank of East Fort Worth, Mr. McCandless. I said, «Mr. McCandless, I want to apologize to you for that $2,000». I have the money to pay.
— Oh, Kenneth? He said, somebody came in and paid it. I said, «Sir»? Now, at this time, we had an old ragged car that, I won’t go into all that, but anyway, he said, «Somebody said I was to tell you to give Jesus the credit for it». Well, my dad had already talked about things like that. And he didn’t have any part of that loan anyway. Well, and I said, sir, we’ve got a car that’s just really not good. Have you found a good one? I said, «Yes, sir».
— How much is it? How many miles did it have on it?
— 14,000. And he said, «How much did it cost»? I forgot now what it was. He said, «Go write him a check. I’ll cover it». Well, of course, it had set up to have payments on. Now we have another one. The last $50, I paid it to him in person. A good Baptist man. Had a big desk and he was rather small in stature. I was so excited about it. I said, «Mr. McKinley…» he said, «Put me down»?
— Oh, yeah. Okay, sir. I said, «Sir, this is the last $50. We’re out of debt».
— Oh, Kenneth, that’s wonderful. Don’t be too hard on Thomas. Don’t be too hard on Thomas. He said, everybody’s doubted once in a while. But he said, «I see you don’t». That was it. The last $50. And we had a good low mileage Joesmobile and it began there. We were never afoot again. Praise God. Thank You, Jesus.
— It’s so solidifying in your faith. I mean, it is faith to know that you are backed up. He’s with you. And when he said that to Joshua, he said, be of good courage. And he said all that to him, «Be strong». But first he said, «I’ll be with you». And that’s when you wrote those checks and you put them in the drawer, that courage that he’s with you made those checks real. There was something behind it. It wasn’t money when you wrote it but when you sent them…
— And taking these tithing scriptures and meditate on them, just meditate on them. And as you’ve heard me say last words and first words, of course, I told Gloria, good night, my love. And then I love the Lord, my God, with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, my strength, which means my wealth. And I said, you gave me the power to get well. Because I was so broke, I couldn’t pay attention when we went to Oral Roberts University with an old car. And I get up and I got up this morning, I said, «Today’s my receiving day. And I bless You». You keep the blessing of the Lord on your mouth all the time. A lot of times I pray over the meal with the 103rd Psalm. In my heart and mind, I have a, well, I just, I talk to the Lord all the time. From the time I get up, I talk with him. If he were there, you’d think I was just, you know, talking to a real good friend.
— It happens all the time. I’ll hear you say something. I’ll say, «Did you say something»? He’s like, I ain’t talking to you. I was talking to God. Well, that word meditate, you know what it also means? To mutter. And I just visit with him all the time. It keeps him on my mind all the time. And, you know, in the pain that’s in my body now, which won’t last very long because it’s consistently better and better than it has been. But I’ll talk about it. I just want to thank You that I’m done with this pain.
— You know, nobody pays any attention to the guy that goes, well, that stupid thing. Grumble, grumble, grumble. And what good is it doing this every day? What good is it? And that is exactly what Malachi three, we read it. That’s what it says. It says, you know, nobody thinks that’s weird, but that’s the natural course of life.
— Words have been stout against me.
— He says, «You’ve said it’s useless to serve God. What profit is it if we keep his ordinances and walk gloomily as if in morning apparel before the Lord of hosts». And then he says, um, they go on to talk, but then it said, «Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another and the Lord listened and heard it». And a book when you’re saying these things to him, and he’s talking to you and you’re just saying, man, Lord, thank You so much. There is a book of remembrance that’s written before him of all those who reverenced and worship fully feared the Lord… and that thought upon his name. And he says, «They shall be mine». That’s why you can say, you know, he’s with you is when you have that constant back and forth, like he’s such, he is the source of your life.
— There’s a scripture in first John that says, We’ve known we’ve had intimate relation with the love of God and believed it. We have known and believed the love, but what does that mean? Well, I believe he loves me. He is love. There’s not anything you can do to make him love you more. There’s not anything you can do to make him love you less. You can grieve him, the scripture says, but with somebody that you talk to all the time and they’re your best friend, I mean, Gloria and I have been married 63 years without a fuss. Of course, you know, there’s a lot of yes ma’am involved in that, but no, really, we just loved one another all these years. I told her last night, I said, «You and I were on a 63 year honeymoon». She looked up at me and smiled and said, «Yeah, I know, no use to quit now». Doesn’t that sound like her? Well, I’m on a honeymoon with Jesus by his Spirit every night, you know, you go to bed. I’m your stick man in the middle of the night. So you have a running conversation with the One that loves you more than you can imagine. The One that loves you so much, he sent his Son to die and go to hell for you.
— There’s such a open door giving in generosity, tithing, giving generosity in that order. I think I mean, where you step into it purposefully, it’s such an open door to add to humility because when you decide to tithe, you are deciding to humble yourself and your finances and your future under the hand of God, under him as, and he becomes like you choose him as your source. But then when you start living like that, it gets easier and easier to be generous and how you raised us. I don’t remember ever being afraid if I felt prompted to give that I wouldn’t have enough because of the way you raised us. You just get into that, that humility before God, where your finances are concerned, that, that to give it or to obey him or to tithe, give that money. He’s your source. I heard a preacher one time on Network TV and he said, and that I really believe in his heart… Some of the argument against prosperity, you know, prosperity it’s taught, some people’s heart is to be humble about life. They want to be humble. And this man, I think this was his heart. And he said, «I don’t need to ask God for things and ask God for money. I can, I can do that». And his heart was trying to be humble. But humility is not to say, I don’t need God to do this. I don’t need God involved in this aspect of my life. That’s really the trick of Satan. And when you just step over that line and say, «No, I do need God in every area. And I need him as my source».
— Every, every, every, every, every, every thing. He’s not only the God that created the elephant, he created the ant. And sometimes people, well, people most of the time talk about how big he is. Well, let’s talk about how small he is. If he’s the biggest thing there is, he’s the smallest thing there is. That doesn’t make sense. No, it makes faith because someone that has existed forever. No, how can you exist forever when there is an ever, ever, ever, these things will be answered in his presence.
— I believe that tithing and then generosity becomes the answer to fear over finances, where you to be rid of fear over your finances, to have freedom where your finances are concerned. I think the other day you started telling the story of Brother Roberts and Ms. Evelyn in the house. And I think that is a true example of being rid of fear over finances.
— I want to finish that.
— Okay.
— So he was a pastor in a little church, $50 entire paycheck. He said, «It’s cold in January, but he said, it’s cold in that room». She said, «Well, you didn’t do that». He said, «Yes, I did».
— He gave the whole thing
— About three o’clock in the morning someone knocked on the door. Well, they’re living in a deacon’s house. He got up and answered the door. He said, «Oral, I’m ashamed of myself that I didn’t put any money in that offering tonight. I’ve been playing the stock market and it looked like I was about to lose my farm. So I dug these up to put in that. I’m a farmer and I know to get a harvest, you have to sow a seed». So the seedtime came before the miracle time. Four, $100 bills. He took them in there and fanned them out for Evelyn. He said, «Whoa, this is the harvest off our seed. We’d never seen a hundred dollar bill». And Oral Roberts, a tither’s tither. Praise God.
— He preached that message, seedtime and harvest all over the world. We’ll be back in just a moment.