Prepare
Opening Prayer
Lord, thank you for the blessing of reading your Word, the sunshine, and this new day. Help us understand and apply it to our lives. In Jesus' name, amen.
Read
Scripture Passage
The Tithe of the Levites
25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “Speak thus to the Levites, and say to them: ‘When you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to the Lord, a tenth of the tithe. 27 And your heave offering shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor and as the fullness of the winepress. 28 Thus you shall also offer a heave offering to the Lord from all your tithes which you receive from the children of Israel, and you shall give the Lord’s heave offering from it to Aaron the priest. 29 Of all your gifts you shall offer up every heave offering due to the Lord, from all the best of them, the consecrated part of them.’ 30 Therefore you shall say to them: ‘When you have lifted up the best of it, then the rest shall be accounted to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and as the produce of the winepress. 31 You may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward for your work in the tabernacle of meeting. 32 And you shall bear no sin because of it, when you have lifted up the best of it. But you shall not profane the holy gifts of the children of Israel, lest you die.’ ”
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Nu 18:25–32.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
The Levites must give a tenth of the tithe they receive, presenting its best portion to the Lord for Aaron and the priestly work. Faithful handling makes the remainder their reward without profaning Israel's holy gifts.
B — Best Verse
Which Verse Best Summarizes the Passage?
Numbers 18:26, 31-32
Bryan explicitly agrees with verse 26's tithe of the tithe and adds verses 31-32 concerning the Levites' reward and lifting up the best portion.
C — Called or Christ
C — Called to Do
Serve God with your best rather than leftovers. Store treasure in heaven, trust the reward he promises, and ask for strength to serve him faithfully each day.
Additional Notes
Scripture Reading: Numbers 18:25-32
The focus is on the verses from Numbers chapter 18, verses 25 to 32.
The passage details God's instructions to Moses regarding the Levites and their handling of tithes received from the children of Israel.
It emphasizes the responsibility of the Levites to offer a portion of their tithes as a heave offering to the Lord, highlighting the importance of giving the best part to God and the consequences of not doing so.
Discussion and Analysis
The conversation explores the meaning and implications of the scripture, emphasizing stewardship, obedience, and the concept of giving back to God what is rightfully His.
The Levites' role in the economy of God is discussed, alongside the expectations God has for them and by extension, all believers, in terms of offering and service.
The importance of serving God with the best we have, not just the leftovers, is underscored, with a reminder of the serious consequences of failing to honor God's commands.
Application and Prayer
The application drawn from the discussion is the call to serve God faithfully, with the understanding that rewards await in heaven for those who do.
It's acknowledged that serving God and giving Him our best is not always easy but is the right and rewarding path.
The session closes with a prayer asking for strength to serve God daily and to focus on storing up treasures in heaven rather than earthly gains.
Conclusion
The session ends with a blessing and a reminder of the peace and joy found in Jesus Christ, along with an invitation to continue the journey of faith in subsequent sessions.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
well good morning good morning good morning welcome to coffee and devotions this where every weekday morning you and I we get together we have a little bit of that was a long reach there to get my coffee we have a little bit of coffee we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together in this year 2024 Lord willing will make it through what [Music] uh numers Deuteronomy Hebrews Numbers Deuteronomy and Hebrews oh good job all right you have some coffee we'll pray and get into God's word you got your own coffee today huh or you think it's hot well I think you put a little bit warm on the kettle all right you ready to pray do you want to pray for the devotions or do you want me too me okay Lord we thank you so much for what a blessing it is to get to read your word this morning Father we thank you for the sunshine we thank you for this new day you've given Lord please help us to understand your word please apply it to our lives in Jesus's name amen I'm going to move your tea over here so it doesn't spill all right why don't we move you a little bit forward you ready towards the desk there we go all right so we are at Numbers chapter 18 Numbers chapter 18 to begin beginning at verse 25 it's just one paragraph So number 18 beginning at verse 25 so we're down here so do you want to start and just tell me when you're when you're tired and want me to pick up um sure okay then the Lord spoke to Moses saying Speak thus unto to the Levites and say to them when you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to the Lord a tenth of the tithe and your heave offering shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor and as the fullness of the wine press thus you shall also offer a heave offering to the Lord from all your tithes which you receive from the children of Israel and you shall give the Lord's heave offering from it to Aaron the priest of all your gifts you shall offer up every heave offering due to the Lord from all the best of them the consecrated part of them therefore you shall say to them when you have lifted up the best of it then the rest shall be accounted to the Levites as a produce of the threshing floor and as a produce of the wine press you may eat it in any place you and your households for it is your reward for your work in the Tabernacle of meeting and you shall bear bear no sin because of it when when you have lifted up the best of it but you shall not profane the holy gifts of the children of Israel like Le you die all right you didn't leave me anything to read all right well we got three questions a what's this about about B what's the best verse to summarize good and C what are we called to do called to do good so a what is this about what do you think the offerings yeah good right so the Levites right they uh they receive a portion of the offerings right MH and so what are they supposed to do with their portion uh so everybody else brings a tenth of their stuff they present it to the Tabernacle the Levites get a portion of that what are the Levites supposed to do give the offering is a heave offering well yeah but there's how much of are they supposed to give to the Lord a 10 so they tithe on the tithe right so everybody pays the tithe and the Levites pay their tithe tithe to the Lord who do you think it's that tithe uh the high priest Aaron and his sons yeah right Aaron and his sons and the the Furnishing of the Tabernacle these types of things right and so there's uh the Levites aren't exempt from this tithing right everybody gives unto the Lord why do you think everybody has to give unto the Lord because if they um because the priests are uh the priests need money too okay so you know the priests need to be able to cared be cared for also and so this is part of how the economy of God works right that's true who gave the people the land god who gave the Levites their work God who gave the priests their work God so God gave all this so who is It ultimately God so what's their job don't do that to uh give some of it back to God yeah they're supposed to be stewards right they're supposed to work the land they're supposed to work in the Tabernacle they're supposed to do these things and and they recognize that all of this was a gift from God and so they give back a portion of it to him and then it's distributed and kind of recycled right so uh business businesses and farms and stuff like that produce they make things the church this is just me kind of talking to you right the church recycles things right the church doesn't actually make right we recycle especially money uh we some people give it and then we use it or we give it to others right we try to do it for the benefit of others uh and then uh there's another entity that likes to take it but we'll leave that for another day maybe for your civics class so uh so anyways so the Levites what might they be tempted to do with with it just take a little bit more take a little bit more or when they give a tithe what might they be tempted to do if it's a livestock or grain or something like that what do you think they might be tempted to do um I'm looking specifically at verse 29 of all your gifts you shall offer up every he offering oh the best what might they be tempted to do just give the sickly animal yeah right well man that that sheep over there that's a that's a huge sheep we'll give God the little one and we'll get we'll take the big one home right they might be tempted to do that but the Lord says no no no no just like they gave the first fruits right they gave the best of their crops you give the best of the tithe back to the Lord because it's it's the Lord's it's one of the ways that they can show faithfulness but why did they get get a tithe at all what does it say at the at uh verse 31 why do they get a tithe at all it's their reward for what for serving the lord yeah right God's the one who told them they got work to do that's a reward right when you work should I give you a reward um like what like dinner or sometimes we might have extra chores and you might make extra money if you do extra chores right uh so there's an economy of God right but there's a reward right could you imagine if we just uh treated you like slaves around the house and didn't feed you and didn't care for you didn't clothe you be a pretty bad deal huh y yeah so then the last thing verse 32 if they if they don't do this what are they going to bear um death guilt and ultimately death right yeah so is this serious business or is this easy serious serious business does God take this seriously yes yeah okay well we've talked a whole lot about it you tell me what do you think is the best verse that you would summ that you think summarizes all this um 26 26 you know what I got the last part of verse 26 undine too a tithe of the tithe a tenth of the tithe that's what I got underlined but I also have underlined uh verse 31 for it is your reward for your work in the Tabernacle of meeting but then verse 32 and you shall bear no sin because of it when you have lifted up the best of it well we've talked a lot about this what do you think you're called to do in response to this um to serve him because our reward our rewards will be great in heaven okay serve him because your reward will be great in heaven that's an awesome application I love it good job yeah is it always easy to serve him is it kind of sometimes easy to give him our like our leftovers instead of the best oh yeah yeah we can do that he are you ready to pray okay God we thank you so much that you are our great and generous King and we thank you that you have given us the capacity to love you because you have first loved us Lord we pray that you would please help us to serve you for we know that great is our reward in heaven so Lord we pray that we would store up Treasures there not not where moth and rust would destroy but give us strength Lord to serve you each day in Jesus's name amen well may the Lord bless you may you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ we'll see you next time bye bye thanks for listening to this week's message from God's word for you a Ministry of Sharon RP Church in rural Southeast Iowa we pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week if you'd like to get more information about us feel free to go to the website Sharon rc.org we'd love to invite you to worship with us our worship time is 10:00 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue Morning Sun Iowa 52640 may God richly bless you this [Music] week