Freedom In Christ Ministries USA Int'l

Romans 5:8 - But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1 John 4:16 - So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

Romans 8:37-39 - No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 John 3:1 - See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Zephaniah 3:17 - The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Ephesians 2:4-5 - But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved

1 John 4:19 - We love because he first loved us.

John 15:13 - Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Jeremiah 31:3 - The Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

God absolutely loves you. It’s hard to get our minds around, but it is true. This is where the faith journey starts: understanding that God loves you. If you do not have an assurance of God’s love, your faith journey will not last long. Fortunately, reading the Bible can help to strengthen your faith in God's love. There is no force more powerful than the love our heavenly Father has for us, by becoming His children. His love can move mountains, stop the roaring seas, heal broken bones and wounded hearts, transform lives, and set free those held captive by sin and shame. So great is his love for you and me that he sent his only Son to die that we might live through him.

Respecting time goes both ways! You shouldn’t invite guest speakers and tell them you only have 20 minutes to deliver a message but yet you have kept them there for 4-6 hours before you even have them teach. You will close up the Spirit of God and it’s also not fair to the people who have come in the audience and certainly not to those who are giving up their time to minister.
GET IN GODS ORDER if you want GOD to establish you and maintain you. No reason to sing and dance and pray soulish prayers for 4 hours, then have someone begin to minister and tell them they have 20 minutes. GOD IS NOT IN THAT.

Yes, it is all about RELATIONSHIP ✝️🙏🏻❤️🩸

I can tell you what Prayer is not, it is NOT about shouting, 🗣️it is not about others seeing or hearing you pray. 🙏🏻 It is not about making a scene. Being loud does not reach the rooftop to heaven! It is the genuine cry and disposition of the person’s heart that reaches heaven, in case you do not know. Sometimes these churches look so foolish in their flesh shouting and making a scene. 🙄

Prayer is communication with GOD. We do this by praising HIM, confessing our sin before HIM, thanking HIM and asking HIM for our needs and desires. Prayer is communion with our Creator. When we pray, we engage in loving fellowship with the Maker of heaven and earth 🌍. We can do it quietly from our heart, and nobody even has to know we are praying, AND GOD STILL HEARS.

JESUS taught, “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men … but when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father who is unseen.”

Four Basic Forms of Prayer
Prayer of Blessing and Adoration (Praising GOD)
Prayer of Petition (asking for what we need, including forgiveness)
Prayer of Intercession (asking for what others need)
Prayer of Thanksgiving (for what God has given and done)

I believe the Power of Prayer leads to Four Things:

When we engage in Prayer, it leads us into HIS presence, the Spirit can prophecy and proclamation can come forth. Praying in the Spirit is powerful, it means to pray HIS WILL. We should have Reverence for the one to whom we pray, our Heavenly FATHER.
We should Realize just how needy we are before GOD., to rely on HIM.
We should have Humility — which includes repentance from sin.
We should Trust — We should be . . . encouraged to pray by a sure hope that our prayer will be answered in FAITH.

JESUS said that prayer should be a private time between GOD and the worshipper. JESUS does not mean that it is wrong to pray with others, but the prayers should be sincere and for the right motives that line up with GOD. TO PRAY OUTSIDE OF THAT PERIMETER IS WITCHCRAFT.

Prayer points are okay, but they should not be replaced or be a distractive guide that can hinder how the Spirit of GOD wants to lead.
Prayer should lead people to Repentance and transform their lives, and equip people to intimacy with THE LORD.
When I go into a church and I see them telling people what to pray, it’s a red flag 🚩 to me.

We call upon GOD every time we pray, as stated in Matthew 6:9: "This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven..

Prayer is acceptable to God only in Jesus’s name. But let me add, it is not just a “method”.

All access to God—including prayer—is possible only through the merits of who JESUS is and what he has done. JESUS made this plain in John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” But to pray “in Jesus’s name” is not accomplished simply by adding (often mindlessly) those words at the end of a prayer; rather, it is to pray with reliance on what JESUS has done for us and not the worthiness of who we are or what we have done. See also the emphasis made by Jesus on praying in his name in John 14:13 and John 16:23-24.

Prayer, apart from a relationship to God through JESUS, is heard—but not with a view to being answered. HE doesn’t have to answer.

God hears everything. HE hears the sound of every electron going around every atom in the universe. HE even hears our thoughts (Psalm 139:2). So in one sense, GOD hears every prayer uttered by every person. But HE does not hear with a view to answering unless we are in a relationship with him through CHRIST and IF we honor HIS WORD. As Proverbs 28:9 puts it, “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” Proverbs 15:8 adds, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.” Again, Jesus’s words in John 14:6 apply here: “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Prayer is a lifelong desire in all those indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit indwells a person, he gives him or her the voice of a child. Just as children by nature begin communicating with their parents as soon as their voice can make a sound, so when the Holy Spirit makes us children of God, He causes us to cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15). In other words, the work of the Spirit within us gives us a new Fatherward orientation. As a result, all those who are indwelled by the Spirit become people who genuinely want to talk with their Heavenly Father. HIS PRESENCE makes them prayerful people.

The HOLY SPIRIT helps believers pray.

The Holy Spirit not only prompts prayer in all believers, but he also helps us pray rightly. As Romans 8:26-27 explains, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Not only can the Spirit call to mind biblical truth to guide our prayers when do not know what to pray for or when we might pray for the wrong things, he can improve our prayers in the Father’s ears and even pray for us. Beyond that, the Spirit is able to take even our Godward groans and transform them into prayers that conform to the will of God. Thus, we should pray despite “our weakness” and uncertainty, and even when our hearts are so heavy that all we seem able to do is groan Godwardly.

In the Bible, almost every prayer includes a reason why God should answer.

The general reason why we could ever expect GOD to hear our prayers, as we’ve already noted, is because access to GOD is given to believers in Christ on the basis of what JESUS has done for us (see John 14:6 again, as well as Hebrews 10:19-22). Beyond this, the Bible teaches by example—in almost every prayer recorded in Scripture—we should give to GOD a specific reason why HE should answer. One of many possible examples is the prayer of Jacob in Genesis 32:11–12 where he pleads a promise from GOD as a reason why he should answer. Other reasons given in prayer why GOD should answer include an appeal to one of his attributes—HIS GLORY, our relationship to GOD, the request is God’s will, and more.

Doing it soulfully is in error too. Prayer shaped by the words of the Bible solves many of the most common problems in prayer. We should pray HIS VERY OWN SCRIPTURE back to HIM.

It’s normal to pray primarily about things pertaining to our own lives. And since our lives don’t change dramatically very often, it’s common to say the same old things about the same old things almost every time we pray. Even when we pray about matters regarding others it’s easy to pray repetitively (“Bless the missionaries.”) Not only can this result in mindlessness in prayer, it can come close to violating Jesus’s command not to “heap up empty phrases” (Matt. 6:7) in prayer. Religious prayers in repetition are empty.

A simple, permanent, biblical solution to this is to pray the Bible; that is, to turn the words of Scripture into prayer. The Psalms are ideal for this, but you can also go back and pray through part of your Scripture reading for the day. You’ll find that 1) you never run out of things to say, 2) you’ll pray about the things you want about each day but in new ways each time, 3) your mind won’t wander as often, 4) your prayers will conform more to Scripture and God’s will, and 5) you’ll frequently experience prayer for what it actually is: a real conversation with a real person. JESUS did this twice on the cross when he prayed words from the Psalms in Matthew 27:46 and Luke 23:46. The church in Jerusalem prayed from Psalm 2 in Acts 4:24-26 and “the place in which they were gathered together was shaken” (Acts 4:31).

Prayer is both natural and learned.

Prayer is natural for all those indwelled by the Holy Spirit, Our Father loves to hear our voices. Nothing is too small to bring to him. His word encourages us, “Let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6). There is another sense, however, that prayer must be learned, for it is possible to “ask wrongly” (James 4:3). To pray rightly we must learn the principles of prayer from Scripture.

Prayer should be practiced privately, with the family, and with the church, whereas in the Church it is open for those to come forward and seek prayer based upon their needs.

When we think of prayer, probably most Christians envision something they do in private. Indeed, Jesus said, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matt. 6:6). But we should also consider it a normal part of family life in a Christian home. Beyond a prayer of thanks at meals, Christian couples should regularly pray together. When Peter warned husbands to live with their wives “in an understanding way” and to show them honor (1 Pet. 3:7), he added “so that your prayers may not be hindered.” The prayers here are not the private prayers of the husband, but instead refer to mutual prayer; that is, prayers husbands and wives pray together. And surely Paul’s admonition to bring children up “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4) implies praying with them. Likewise, life together with the family of God should be unthinkable without the element of praying together. When God’s people gathered in the Book of Acts (Acts 4:23-31; Acts 12:1-17; Acts 13:1-3; Acts 16:13) and elsewhere in the New Testament (1 Tim. 1-2, 8, they prayed together. It was a normal part of life together in the body of Christ. The same should be true when churches gather today.

I have heard many reference what the Soul means and I have come to understand that many do not understand the true meaning of what a mankind’s soul is. Everything we look at, is from a Biblical perspective and what it teaches us, not that which a person thinks is his soul. A soul does not ever leave a living person as it is tied to them physically. A soul also does not leave a body and go somewhere else while a person is alive for ex: eating their dinner, or sitting in church, etc. A soul only leaves when a person dies.
A soul is the mind, body, emotions and will of a human being. It is NOT eraseable. The soul can be impacted in so many ways, through events that happen in our lives, and by the spirit. The soul is what makes up a person. A person’s soul can be affected and traumatized by certain life events. Therefore, a persons soul can be wounded. Have you ever went through heartbreak 💔? That is a persons soul that has been affected.

The Definition of Soul: Bibical Breakdown

The only Hebrew word traditionally translated "soul" (nephesh) in English-language Bibles refers to a living, breathing conscious body, rather than to an immortal soul.

While the soul is our life, the spirit transcends the soul and opens us to a life filled with God's mercy and grace. Some refer to the spirit within us as the spark of God given inside of us from birth. This spark is what awakens inside us when we choose to come to God by believing in his son Jesus as our Savior.

The soul, according to the Bible, is the combination of the physical body and the life-giving spirit of God that makes up a human being. It's the complete package! At the end of life, when a person dies in his or her physical body, the soul is laid to rest as well, until Jesus comes back to take His children to heaven.

This word strongly indicates that man is of three parts: spirit, soul, and body. The spirit as our inmost part is the inner organ, possessing God-consciousness, that we may contact God (John 4:24) For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.

(Romans 1:9) God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son.

Hebrew word for rendering soul is ((nepes)).

It appears 755 times in the Old Testament. The King James Version uses 42 different English terms to translate it. The two most common renderings are "soul" (428 times) and "life" (117 times). It is the synchronic use of nepes that determines its meaning rather than the diachronic. Hebrew is inclined to use one and the same word for a variety of functions that are labeled with distinct words in English.

(Nepes) in the Old Testament is never the "immortal soul" but simply the life principle or living being. Such is observable in Genesis 1:20, 21, 24, where the qualified (living) (nepes) refers to animals and is rendered "living creatures." The same Hebrew term is then applied to the creation of humankind in Genesis 2:7, where dust is vitalized by the breath of God and becomes a "living being." Thus, human being shares soul with the animals. It is the breath of God that makes the lifeless dust a "living being" — person.

(Nepes) is also used to designate parts of the body, primarily to stress their characteristics and functions. The Soul is physical-it can be hungry, it can be discerning, and breathing. It can be humbled, ensnared, endangered. It can have excessive desires- ex: gluttony. It can have unfulfilled desires,
Spiritual yearning is through the soul also, such as the desire for God ( Psalm 42:1-2 ), justice ( Isa 26:8-9 ), evil ( Prov 21:10 ), and political power ( 2 Sam 3:21 ). Emotions are expressed by (nepes) so that it feels hate (so used of GOD (Isaiah1:14 ), grief (Jeremiah 13:17 ), joy and exultation, disquietude ( Psalm 42:5 ), and unhappiness ( 1 Samuel 1:15 ).

Instead of splitting a person into two or three parts, Hebrew thought sees a unified being, but one that is profoundly complex, a psychophysical being.

In The New Testament. The counterpart to (nepes) in the New Testament is translated to psyche, six hundred times in the Septaugint.

Psyche, as its Old Testament counterpart, can indicate the person ( Acts 2:41 ; 27:37 ). It also serves as the reflexive pronoun designating the self ("I'll say to myself" Luke 12:19 ; "as my witness" 2 Cor 1:23 ; "share our lives" 1 Thess 2:8 ).

Psyche can express emotions such as grief ( Matt 26:38, ; Mark 14:34 ), anguish ( John 12:27 ), exultation ( Luke 1:46 ), and pleasure ( Matt 12:18 ).

The adjectival form "soulish" indicates a person governed by the sensuous nature with subjection to appetite and passion. Such a person is "natural/unspiritual" and cannot receive the gifts of God's Spirit because they make no sense to him ( 1 Cor 2:14-15 ). As in the Old Testament, the soul relates humans to the animal world ( 1 Cor 15:42-50 ) while it is the spirit of people that allows a dynamic relationship with GOD.

Soul and Spirit are not the same.

There are passages where psyche stands in contrast to the body, and there it seems to refer to an immortal part of man. "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell" ( Matt 10:28 ). While Scripture generally addresses humans as unitary beings, there are such passages that seem to allow divisibility within unity.

Definition:

A Soul," "living being," "life," "self," "person," "desire," "appetite," "emotion" and "passion". In the first instance it meant that which breathes, and as such is distinguished from basar, "flesh" (Isaiah 10:18; Deuteronomy 12:23); from she'er, "the inner flesh," next the bones (Proverbs 11:17, "his own flesh"); from beTen, "belly" (Psalms 31:10, "My soul and my belly are consumed with grief"), etc.

(2) As the life-breath, it departs at death (Genesis 35:18; Jeremiah 15:2). Hence, the desire among Old Testament saints to be delivered from Sheol (Psalms 16:10, "Thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol") and from shachath, "the pit" (Job 33:18, "He keepeth back his soul from the pit"; Isaiah 38:17, "Thou hast .... delivered it (my soul) from the pit of corruption").

The Soul is what the devil fights for, through your emotions, attacks the physical, and seeks your will to line up with his through agreement. Your soul is what causes a person anguish.
We must let the spirit of GOD minister to our soul and healing will come to our soul. Deliverance is needed in the soul and is usually where people struggle the most when coming to THE LORD.
Souls need healing. ❤️‍🩹 ✝️

Called to Africa

Biblical Definition of an Apostle

Many like to throw around titles, such as Apostle or Prophet but I want to teach the real meaning of who is an Apostle. It is quite possible for someone to be called and chosen, and carry two mantles of Apostolic and Prophetic. A Prophet can also be an Apostle and be sent with a message. For an Apostle specifically, there are a few qualities that set them apart in the Office of Apostle. Apostles bring order. I have further teachings on the Office of Prophet posted on this page, Freedom In Christ Ministries U.S.A.

The definition of Apostle is as follows:

In Mark 3:14-15 it says, “He appointed twelve – designating them apostles – that they might be with him, that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.” This passage gives us 3 basic qualifications as a starting place for apostles. Firstly they must be people who are close to Christ, secondly they must be completely obedient and willing to be “sent ones,” and thirdly they will have authority to do Christ’s work. These are also not exclusive because other believers preach, and command demons and also spend time with Christ.

The above are not the only qualifications an apostle needs. Other believers may also meet these requirements. Here are additional qualifications needed:

Submission to Christ – not a law unto themselves. (Philippians 2:5-8)
Willingness to suffer for Christ. (Colossians 1:24-29)
Holiness. (2 Corinthians 1:12)
Sincerity. (2 Corinthians 1:12)
Grace on their lives. (2 Corinthians 1:12)

In addition, we earlier discussed the nature of the apostle, and these qualities dovetail and overlap significantly with those. Apostles should be people who love wholeheartedly, who care for the whole Body of Christ (not just their own interests), who have a heart for the poor, the widow and orphans, and who have a sacrificial life. Jesus said “You will know them by their fruit.”

One big thing that really stands out to us is the motivation for someone who claims to be an apostle. If someone claiming to be an apostle only cares about their own ministry, they have by very definition failed the test, of being God’s representative to his people. An apostle is a servant to all of God’s people, and even if he doesn’t actually serve everyone, because that would not be possible, he would at least have a heart for the whole.

Some people believe that an apostle must physically see Jesus. This point is discussed in the following section. Certainly this is the example of some in scripture like Paul and the twelve, but the following post will suggest that this is not a requirement, but rather just God’s way of calling people at least some of the time.

Those who God calls, HE equips. That process is not quick, it is the work of years. There may be people who feel they are apostles, but are not yet equipped. There may be people who are called, but misunderstand what they are called to. The whole area of understanding what is, and the testing of apostles, is a work in progress. They often go through a lot of suffering and much training, through stripping of comfort.

*Apostles Bring GODS ORDER*

There is a huge and largely unrealized need for apostles. The Church is supposed to become one, to become like Christ and to reflect Christ, and yet the Body of Christ in the main seems to be unaware that this is essential. The Church cannot be how it needs to be without becoming relational, and that is an apostolic work. The 5 Fold Ministry is very important in the Body of CHRIST. Apostles bring governmental order in the places that they are sent. Most often, it’s even in business or their work place. Apostles operate in bringing forth righteous ways and exposing things that are wickedly. They are great carriers of faith and often do works of signs and wonders. They will be fruit of the Spirit of GOD at work.
Ephesians 4:11 tells us that God chooses the leaders. Those whom He chooses, He equips. A leader is not self-made or self-appointed. Instead a leader should be humble and always aware that he is where he is because of God's mercy and for the sake of God's people.

The apostle Paul said in 1 Cor 12:27-29 “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?”

The fact that God placed apostles in the Body, and placed them first, is hugely significant. Churches have a primary need for apostles and their ministry, and it cannot be understated.

Apostles are to be fathers or Mothers to the Church. As an apostle Paul was a father to those under his care, and from this place he wrote, “I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me.” 1 Corinthians 4:14-16

The need for fathering, and Mothering is prominent and clearly felt, especially by pastors and leaders who are generally sent out ‘as lambs among wolves.’ Apostles provide more than just accountability and covering, but heart relationship, apostolic covering and care. Various statistics abound regarding pastors leaving the ministry and experiencing burnout. You can be sure that when pastors find true apostolic mothers & fathers, that this will dramatically reduce.

Apostles carry genuine authority from Christ. They have been given the right and the responsibility to put things in order. We see examples of this in the New Testament where Paul, James and Priscilla others are able to work for the benefit of the whole Body of Christ because of their authority. Paul in particular expresses a clear gentleness in doing so, and a genuine apostle will also exhibit true gentleness.

They will genuinely love the people where GOD sends them and they will bring influence and have authority where GOD sends them.

Reasons Apostles are Needed:

Appointing Elders in Churches (Citywide Elderships). (1 Timothy 5:17-20, Titus 1:5-6, Acts 14:23)
Government in the Church. (2 Corinthians 13:10, Philemon 8-9, 2 Corinthians 10:8)
Provides Spiritual Covering. (This point is detailed well in Chapter 7 of “The Apostolic Revelation”)
To Equip Believers To Serve. (Ephesians 4:12)
To Build Up the Body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12)
To Bring the Body of Christ to Maturity. (Ephesians 4:13)
To Bring Believers to Unity (Ephesians 4:13)
Teaching and Instructing. (Acts 2:42-43)

Paul and Priscilla did much in way of example to us of what apostles do. They were needed. Imagine the early church without the apostles, and then imagine the current day church now having them.
The 5 Fold is essential

FALSE TEACHINGS ABOUT FINANCES

BEWARE🚨🚨🚨
STOP EXPLOITING GOD’S PEOPLE IN THEIR TIME OF NEED

Two extreme teachings about money and finances. One is the prosperity gospel, the other is the poverty gospel. The prosperity Gospel promotes living by certain rules and giving generously to a church or ministry of a teacher—>> in order to bring about financial blessing. In other words, if you do this, you’ll get that 👉🏻 ((WRONG)).
Beware of those who reach out and say, “I heard God tell me to tell you to give me $300 and your turn around will come. “
Some teachers are complete con artists while others are sincere but —->>sincerely wrong. They emphasize worldly wealth instead of the true riches of God, which is in everything. It’s a lie that takes advantage of many sincere followers, and The Father does not like it.

The Poverty Gospel is equally wrong too. There are also teachers of this gospel. They swing to the extreme opposite direction teaching that material possessions are evil, rich people are ungodly and that self-denial is a means to earn righteousness in God’s eyes. BOTH ARE IN ERROR.

Many in the world are enslaved by one of these extreme teachings. They don’t know that God is the owner and PROVIDER OF ALL THINGS and we are His stewards. We’re to be faithful with the little – or the abundance – he provides, characterized by what we give, not what we get.
Worldly wealth veils the true riches found in Christ.
“…those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”
(1 Timothy 6:6-10)
Let us agree with Proverbs 30: 8-9,“Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.”

One of the things THAT THE LORD HATES IS EXPLOITING HIS PEOPLE

The attitude of false teachers is not sacrifice but greed. They don’t seek to serve others, only themselves. 👉🏻PUT MONEY IN MY POCKET. Like some wealth-and-prosperity preachers today, Peter says the false teachers exploit people with fabricated, plastic words, not really from THE LORD. Those who accuse the apostles of actually being in error, are the ones inventing false words or listening to a wrong spirit. Those whom Christ supposedly bought are now trying to make money off those he truly bought, exploiting Christ’s own people.

Jesus and His disciples never paid tithes neither did they instruct anyone to do so. Paul wrote three quarters of the New Testament and had many opportunities to talk about tithes but he never did! He spoke a lot on giving and as a matter of fact giving is mentioned 176 times in the New Testament- nothing on tithes.

God had a covenant with Israel. God tells His people to bring the tithes to a place He’ll establish His name. He goes on to state that if that place is too far for them to bring their tithes because the Lord had blessed them with abundance, then they should ((exchange)) their tithes for money - bring it to the place and buy whatever their hearts desired, come and eat their tithes, and then SHARE WITH THE ORPHANS AND WIDOWS, Levites and strangers within their city gates - those who do not have a share in the land. You find this in Deuteronomy chapters 14 and 26. According to this, the Israelites partook of their tithes, they didn't just give it and leave. (This meant that everyone reaped from the tithes.)
Now, the famous Malachi 3 that certain Pastors like to stand on, was never speaking to Christians. God, in the whole book of Malachi was talking to the —->>priests who had started offering unacceptable sacrifices, and not even taking the tithes to the house of the Lord. So in Malachi 3:10, He tells them to bring the tithes into the storehouse so there may be food in His house. Food for whom? Remember, we already know that by now from Deuteronomy. All this is happening under the Law of Moses (Mosaic law). Malachi doesn't even mention how often tithes must be brought much less every week or month!
Christians are NOT under the Law, they are under Grace. In other words, when the people who were under the law they worked for their “salvation or relationship with God”. Christians don't have to because they have been saved by grace THROUGH JESUS. They are not required to slaughter animals and bring different kinds of offerings like if they were still under the law.
Briefly, the Old Covenant (Mosaic Covenant) was a two-sided agreement between Israel and Yahweh in which Yahweh would bless them if they kept their part of the agreement and He would curse them if they didn’t. It was an all or nothing package. A person was not allowed to turn this agreement into a smorgasbord, picking and choosing what suited one’s religious diet. They could not choose what to keep and what to throw out. James 2:10 tells us that "whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all."
Almost all denominations of Christianity have taken portions of the Mosaic Covenant, "Christened them," and added them to the New Covenant. Without being aware of it, this has made most Christians guilty of the whole Mosaic Law, which says it all must be kept. At the same time, they have "fallen from grace" because of mixing it with a covenant which no longer serves a purpose for those under the New Covenant. This is not to say that we cannot learn many wonderful truths from the Mosaic Law. We are just no longer in covenantal relationship with God through that covenant. We are in covenantal relationship with God through a New Covenant ratified by Jesus Christ, not Moses.

Let’s look, n Numbers Chapter 31, Israel "took vengeance for the Lord on Midian." (Num. 31:3) Twelve thousand Israelites went to war with Midian. First, they killed all the males. Forget the Geneva Peace Accord about proper treatment of prisoners. Kill them all! Remember how we feel when our troops are treated this way in war? We are outraged!
Next they took the women and children captive and brought them along with the rest of the spoils to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation. Now some ministers might be proud of a congregation such as this, but Moses was angry with them. "Have you kept the women alive?" he said. "Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man intimately. But keep alive for yourselves all the young girls who have not known a man intimately." (Num. 31:16-18)

Now we could talk about this passage of Scripture for days and still not run out of things to say, so we won’t analyze this incident beyond its relationship to tithing. Suffice it to say, that a minister who would try to bring the above command from the Lord into modern society, would find himself in jail or seated in the electric chair.
Just a few glances into the New Testament to see how Jesus treated Gentile sinners should shed some light on the difference between the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus and the Law of Moses. What did Jesus do to the woman at the well who had 5 "husbands," was living with a sixth who was not her husband? Did He stone her? What about the woman caught in the very act of adultery? Did Jesus cast the first stone? Jesus never commanded anyone to kill anyone! ((Moses did)). How should we as Christians treat our enemies? Do you remember? Could you, as a Christian, kill baby boys and women who were not virgins if your government or your Pastor told you to do it? I hope not! These examples and dozens more throughout the books commonly, but incorrectly named The New Testament should reveal to us that the New Covenant and the Old Covenant are radically different! Those things are of times past and done way with by the LORD JESUS.

Furthermore, it reveals some aspects of Moses Law which they would prefer laymen church members not to study too thoroughly. When a Christian truly begins to see the difference between the Old Covenant and New, deceitful ministers who use portions of the Old Covenant to hold God’s people in bo***ge, will become angry. They do not want to be exposed.

As we begin to try to decipher what tithing in Israel was all about after they left Egypt, keep James 2:10 in mind. This is a New Testament warning of the consequences of trying to mix the Old and New Covenant together.
"Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." The penalty is death!
The entire law goes way beyond the Ten Commandments. For instance, the one who wants to put the Mosaic tithe on others will also have to stone their rebellious son or daughter (Deuteronomy 21:18-21). This would eliminate quite a few second-generation preachers. Preacher’s children are notorious for entering into much rebellion in their teen years due to having to project the right image all the time.
Anyone who has eaten a rare steak or catfish or shellfish is excommunicated from the congregation and separated from the blessings of God. (Lev. 17:14; Lev. Chapters 11 and 12) I won’t give all the references for some of the rest of these items tithe keepers must also keep. Leviticus and Numbers are full of laws most Christians would not like to place themselves under. Pork chops and bacon, of course, are definitely out. If your sister’s husband dies without producing children, her brother would have to give her children. Those who practiced a traditional Christmas would surely be guilty of idolatry and put to death. The images in most churches, especially those that have pictures of Jesus in them, would also qualify the pastors to be stoned.
I think you are beginning to get the point. Those who want to use the Mosaic tithing system to finance their churches and ministries are not willing to accept the rest of the package. I am afraid it was, is, and always will be a package deal, all or none. If you don’t believe me, see what Paul called the Ten Commandments in 2 Corinthians 3:5-7.
"Our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious."
And what was the glory of the Old Covenant, whose glory was passing away even as Paul was speaking? It was the ministry of condemnation! People who love to judge also love to condemn. They love to lift themselves up by putting others down. That is the ministry of the letter of the law; the ministry of condemnation; the ministry of death! And we wonder why there is so little life in the church.
I cannot get into a long discussion about Mosaic Law versus Grace through Jesus Christ. I just want to point out that Jesus Christ came to fulfill all the requirements of the Mosaic Law for us. The ultimate requirement of the Mosaic Law really boiled down to an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life. The sentence of death was on every single descendant of Adam. In Adam all died. It took the death of an innocent man to set those in Adam free. Life for life. All descendants of Adam (which is all mankind) died because of Adam’s transgression.

I hope to show in this teaching that while many church fund-raising organizations and Christian ministries tell us that not paying "the tithe" is robbing God, the actual Biblical facts are that those who teach tithing as a Christian doctrine are, in fact, the ones who are robbing God by keeping religious law and insulting what JESUS DID ON THE CROSS. HE FULFILLED IT ALL.

My hope is that when we see how far off Scriptural ground we have come in such basic Christian teachings as giving, we will renew our desire to study to "show ourselves approved." Here is the statement: The tithe as taught by most Christian denominations as being 10 per cent of gross or net income is not contained on the pages of the Bible!

Ministers will condemn entire congregations who do not tithe. “As long as people do not tithe, they say, they have turned their backs to God and He cannot bless them. They are God robbers.”

Our Father makes it abundantly clear that we have nothing that does not even now belong to Him already. Offering 10 per cent of His goods or 90 per cent of His goods or all of it, means nothing to Him. He knows IT ALL BELONGS TO HIM. We are the ones who seem to have the problem of forgetting that. What HE is really after is our sincere thankfulness, our gratefulness for what He has given us!

Throughout the Bible, Old Testament and New, God makes it clear that He is really not interested in our "offerings of sacrifice."
"Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you; I am God, your God! I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are continually before Me. I will not take a bull from your house, nor goats out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine and all its fullness. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me." (Psalm 50:7-15)
"For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise." (Psalm 51:16,17)

"Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure." (Hebrews 10:5,6; Psalm 40:6-8)

God has not authorized church leaders to spend alot of what those tithes are spent on.
Let me ask you, "How did Jesus send out the disciples? Did He give them a Cadillac or an American Express Card in the name of the ministry like many modern American evangelists do today? No, He sent them out with nothing and they were provided for with all they needed as they went.
"Go your way; behold I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor script, nor shoes ... and in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give; for the labourer is worthy of his hire ..." (Luke 10:3,4,7)
Perhaps it should be made clear at this point, that Jesus did not use any money in the Treasury of Israel of which tithes on the land and livestock were certainly a part. As mentioned before, Jesus, Himself, being from the tribe of Judah and not the tribe of Levi, could not legally receive tithes. Jesus was financed through free-will offerings from various people.
We rely on GOD to provide for us in Ministry BY WILLFUL GIVING and not a mandated law.
Many need to REPENT for this false teaching and putting church members into slavery through their monetary system. You have been robbing the people and putting a yoke upon them to line your pockets.