I started tithing when I was a teenage boy. When I became a Christian I thought that whatever God told you to do you were supposed to do. And I didn’t have a Christian background and I didn’t know any other Christians intimately and so I just thought if God said it you were supposed to do it. Somebody told me shortly after I became a Christian that we were in a building program and they wanted me to sign a commitment card to give to that building program. And they also taught me as a part of that that the tithe belonged to the Lord. So as a teenage boy I started tithing. When I was working part-time I gave a tithe. When I was earning money to try to go to college I gave a tithe. When Cathy and I went off to Baylor and she was working in the library for 50 cents an hour and I was working in the maintenance department for 75 cents an hour, we gave a tithe. When I got my first full-time church making $67.50 a week, we gave a tithe. When I got my second full-time church making a $100 a week, we tithed. And as long as I can remember and we have always given at least a tithe and usually more than a tithe to God.
Sometimes it was hard to do. It was difficult to get by on $67 a week then. But somehow we made it. And we were always faithful to give as God had given to us. And I want you to know that today God has blessed me beyond anything I could ever have guessed or imagined back them. God has prospered me in more ways than you could ever imagine. Now you may say, “Well, preacher, that is because you happened to be in the right place at the right time.” If that is the way you want to explain it, that is fine. You may say, “Preacher, you just happened to have some friends who knew how to make money and they let you in on a deal.” If that is the way you want to explain it, that is fine. You may say, “Well, you just happened to know how to get into the right kind of deal.” If you want to explain it that way, that is fine.
But let me tell you how I explain it. I believe that God brought me to the right place at the right time and in contact with the right people who knew the right things and God taught me some things because I have been faithful to him down through the years and I see no other reason for it happening.
I believe that God will be faithful to you also. That is not why I gave. I never gave in my life one cent expecting anything in return. I never gave to get anything from God. I just gave it to God because I loved him and I was grateful to him because he told me to do it and because he is the one who has given me all things. Out of devotion and relationship I gave but in return God has blessed and I praise his name for that. I want you to be a part of that kind of experience also.