A question that comes up all the time and for most churches the one topic the preacher does not like to preach on, because it usually comes out or is heard by the congregation as begging for cash. Most people in the congregation do not know let alone understand the different types of giving in the Bible. There are actually four different types of giving in the Bible, the rules are written down for you to follow but Satan will do all he can to stop you from understanding it, change it around get it taught incorrectly and so stop all the promises and benefits that come with the giving.

If You do not follow the rules you do not get the benefits from any of them. If you keep these things the way God Almighty spoke them and wrote them down then there is no other outcome possible. God also follows His own rules and has written down all the benefits, rewards for each. So dont go shouting at me for believing what the Bible says and following the instructions that are written in it.

One preacher i heard, described it this way, I would rather have 90% of my money blessed than have 100% of my money cursed.

Some pastors I have heard have preached that the Tithe is under the law and no longer a requirement - I will state now that that is wrong, your tithe is still a requirement to be paid.

Let me back that up with the Bible, Genesis 8: 22: "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
This was spoken to Noah after the flood, is the earth still here? So the seedtime and harvest have not stopped.

Abram paid tithes, we read in Genesis 14: 20: "And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all."

'Seedtime and Harvest' and 'Tithing' are 2 of our 4 types mentioned in the Bible and they are both mentioned in the first 14 chapters of the Bible, long before the Law was even given to Moses, so they cannot be under the Law, however the Tithe is mentioned in the Law, but although the Law has passed, the earth has not passed away therefore they are still current.

So let me deal with each one in turn.

Tithe
This is simply 10% of your earnings that is given from your income. The verse you will hear quoted in most churches is Malachi 3: 10: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." King James version.
Notice if you do this then the reward is that God will open the Windows of Heaven and pour out a blessing on you. But if you read the chapter you will see that they have missed a few verses out. Read the portion again but I will start with verse 8 through to verse 12.
8: Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9: Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10: Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11: And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
12: And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.

Makes a little bit of a difference here doesn't it. If you do not give the tithes and offerings then you are stealing from God and you will be cursed for it. Ever wondered why everything always seems to go wrong for you? But if you do tithe then notice the start of verse 11, I, this is God speaking, will rebuke the devourer for you. Your stuff will not wear out, your harvest will not be destroyed, the only person who can destroy your reward is you. God is bound by His part in this, He has it written down so that you can remind Him if you ever need to, but beware the Devil has a few tricks he will try to stop you with. The devil as I have already mentioned will tell you from the pulpit or through daily conversation that the tithe was under the law and is no longer relevant. The devil will say anything to stop you getting the rewards, because this is just the start, this is the opening to all the other benefits God has already said you will get. So pay your tithe first.

Some people will say that the Tithe is no longer relevant, well let me say, the tithe is not a debt that I owe to God, but it is a seed that I sow. If I woke up tomorrow and found out that God is not real and that Jesus does not exist, then I would still continue to pay my Tithe because it works. The tithe is not a means to get to God, it is not a performance, it is done through obedience and love.

First Fruits
The simplest way to describe this giving is, if you are given a wage pay rise then the first fruit offering is the first payment of that rise. So if you have a pay increase of £10 per month and you are paid monthly, then when you receive that months pay you give that first £10 as your offering and that is it. If you are paid weekly, then you pay the increase for that first week. You only ever need to pay this once and that is it, but don't forget to increase your tithe.
This shows God that you are not ruled by money, that you are not a lover of money. God sees this and will allow you to have more increase in the future because you can be trusted to use the blessing from God correctly. You do this offering because you wish to be generous before God.

Alms / Charity
This giving, is given to man not God, all the other three types of giving are to God. But this one has some rules that you must obey.
First, this is to be done in complete secret, in Matthew 6 : 3 "But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth" in other words keep it secret for one reason, this is to keep the dignity of the person receiving the gift so that they do not feel embarrassed or awkward or even being shamed that they are in need. Another reason is because God will pay you back but only if you stay quiet.
If we read the previous 2 verses we see a warning, Matthew 6 : 1 "Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven." and Matthew 6 : 2 "Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward."
The scribes and pharisees would blow a trumpet as they were about the give some money, in effect saying look at me I am so great and generous to help this poor person. That is their only reward. and they will not be repaid for it.
If we read Acts 10 : 4 "And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God." and Acts 10 : 31 "And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God." we see that our alms giving becomes a memorial before God, there is no blessing or reward attached to this it is just a one for one repayment. You do this out of compassion for the person or charity, but God sees and remembers.

Seed
The Seed is the quickest way for total debt cancellation.
The Seed must be put into fertile soil for it to achieve the impossible in life.
OK that I realise are 2 very contentious statements and most people will stop reading right here, but dont judge, keep reading. This does not always have to be a monetary offering. I know people who had nothing and started this type of giving by prayer, praying for the ministry that they had heard teach this principle. They got up a little earlier and prayed for that preacher and his ministry, it wasn't very long before they saw the harvest. Keep reading, this is scriptural. 2 Corinthians 9: 6 - 12
6: But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
7: Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
8: And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
9: (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.
10: Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
11: Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.
12: For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;
This type of giving is not an order or commandment from God, it is done out of cheerfulnes. Our giving is directly linked to God's grace in our lives. Grace is Favour, and Favour is the same as Grace, they mean the same thing, so you would be correct in saying in verse 8: "and God is able to make all favour abound toward you." You can also say that Favour brings forth Blessing in Malachi 3 we have already learnt that God will pour out a blessing that you cannot contain.

Look again at those verses, and keep in mind that this is the offering that brings the 30, 60 or 100 fold return, that is why it is called the seed. Now when you plant a seed do you know what you will harvest? Of course you do, plant an apple seed and you will eventually harvest apples, not pears or plums. So the seed has a name, verse 7 "according as he purposeth" or according to it's purpose, what is the harvest you wish, clear your debt, then name the seed debt clearance and plant it into good fertile soil. That means make it an offering to a ministry that is going to use that gift correctly in the eyes of God and believes with you for the harvest, although you do not need to tell them that this is a seed offering and what it is for, you have told God.

Let me just point out that the word Blessing, Blessed means 'empowered to prosper', another meaning is to 'Excel to increase', to multiply, that was God's plan for man from the very beginning. God told Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden to be fruitful, another meaning for be fruitful is to producing in abundance. Now that is a long long way from the normal religious tradition, that says "you have to be poor and the more poor you are the more spiritual you are, because God loves poverty". Well you can throw that one in the trash can straight away. That is the reason most churches these days are only just scrapping by. That is the reason most people in churches these days are running around in lack. That is not in the Bible, in fact poverty is part of the curse, and we as Christians are supposed to have chosen blessing.
You have one requirement left once you have planted your seed into good soil (ministry), and that is the same as if you were planting a normal seed, apple or tomatoes etc and that is to water it. How do I water this seed it is with your scriptural confessions, speak words over it, pray for that ministry you have planted into that the money you have given achieves the best that it can. Once a day and you keep watering until you see your reward, and you will know your harvest because you have named your seed.

Now a little word of warning, do not get the 4 types of giving mixed up or you will not receive the reward that is attached to them. Your tithe is given as 10% of your income, a lot of people will go to church with their tithe in their pockets and one week listen to a Bible Society talk or another week hear a missionary talk and the pastor mentions that this weeks offering will go to whoever, charity, mission. If you put your tithe onto that offering plate, Big Problem, you have just changed your tithe into alms and so the windows of heaven are closed and the devourer has free reign over your goods. Keep your tithe separate from your other offerings, if your church has a missionary offering or any other charitable offering, do not put your tithe onto that plate, instead hold onto it and give it later. Another problem, here the charitable offering is not done in secret, so you will not be repaid and it will not become a memorial before God.

Always try to give your tithe as your first offering, then and only then can you give one of the other offerings. This is especially important if you are planting seed offerings. Yes I know a lot of people will not believe me, most people will not get this far down here in their reading, but let me say I know this works. There is no problem praying and asking God to prove to you that it is correct. By all means put God to the test, find a trustworthy ministry that will use your seed gift according to God's Word, e,g, ministering and teaching God's word to those in need and winning souls, and send them a small seed gift, and then wait for the harvest. If you need some inspiration for some good soil to sow into then look at my links page for a list.