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Store Up Treasures In Heaven For Your Soul
(Ps24:1, 100:3; Mt6:19-21, 24)

God is the Owner.
By His word He created all things and He is their Owner (Ps24:1) and
With His blood He purchased souls and He is their Owner (Ac20:28).
Those who joyfully give offerings to Him He rewards with eternal life in the age to come and
A hundredfold in this life (Mk10:29-30).

Faith is knowing that God is one’s Owner, that one has become His.
The life of this faith is loving my Owner and generously giving offerings to Him for my soul.

While religion is humans giving their contrived sacrifices to assumed deities for protection,
The Bible illustrates the offerings that God receives and testifies.
The sacrifices given by Cain and Abel (Ge4:1-7)
Demonstrate that God only receives a more excellent offering given by faith (He11:4).

The ancestors of faith are those who gave successful offerings to God:
Abraham received blessing and gave a tenth of the plunder (Ge14:18-20) and
Gave his only son as a sacrifice as instructed and his fear of God was acknowledged (Ge22:1-17);
For Isaac did not hold his father back from sacrificing him he also gave his own body; and
Seeking his father’s blessing, Jacob prepared some tasty food for him (Ge27:31) and
Vowed to give a tenth of everything upon returning home (Ge28:22).

When his offspring Israel was leaving their slavery of 430 years in Egypt
They plundered the Egyptians (Ex12:36) and took possession of Canaan (Nu21:3).
When they built the sanctuary in the wilderness, they obeyed and gave joyfully (Ex25:2, 35:21, 36:6).

The regulations regarding offerings were (Lev7:38, 20:22):
1) To be given in the sanctuary where the name Jehovah was (Dt12:5-6; Ps96:8);
2) An offering of livestock (Lev1:2);
3) Not giving the Passover offering = not keeping the Passover = sin (Nu9:13); and
4) The entire Israel including the priests were to give (He8:3).

The types of offerings were:
1) Tithe: a tenth of what their fields produced, of their herds and livestocks, belongs to God (Lev27:32; Dt14:22);
2) Offerings: (1) the first fruit of the what their fields produced, of their herds and livestocks, the firstborn of humans (Ex13:12, 34:26; Nu8:16-17);
(2) sin offerings (Lev4:14; Nu15:25); (3) thanksgiving offering (Mt8:3-4);
(4) ransom for life (Ex30:12-15; Lk21:1); (5) vowed offerings (Dt23:23) etc.

Curse fell on Israel for the priests who were appointed to give offerings and sacrifices (He8:3)
Considered it a burden and even cheated God of tithes and offerings (Mal1:6-13, 3:7-9).

Yeshua came and said, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days,” because
Through the death and the resurrection of the temple of His body (Jn2:19-21),
He would not in the name of Jehovah but in the Father’s name Yeshua (Jn5:43),
Give the perfect offering that is not of earth but of heaven, that is, His own body,
The incarnate Word, God who came as man, the body of the Son of Man (Jn1:1, 14; He10:5).

He commanded tithe but with
Justice (law), mercy (love), faithfulness (faith, becoming the owner of nine-tenths) (Mt23:23), and
The offering that Moses commanded to the healed as a testimony (Lk5:14), saying that
For yourself store up treasures in heaven for where your treasure is there will be your soul,
That you cannot serve both God and Money (Mt6:19-21, 24), and that
Offering is not about the amount but ratio (Mk12:42).

As He died, Yeshua said, “It is finished” (Jn19:30), declaring that He:
1) With justice, mercy and faithfulness gave to the Father the most excellent offering, His own body (Jn10:17-18; He8:3, 11:4);
2) Judged the thief the devil (Ge3:4-6; Jn8:44); and
3) With His blood redeemed all men and offered them to the Father (1Pe1:18-19; Rev5:9).

He resurrected and sat on the heavenly throne as the Lamb.
The Holy Spirit whom He sent lets believers
Love my Lord who paid the price of His precious blood and purchased my soul and made me His.

The Christian is he who generously gives his most precious thing to the Lord (2Co7:6-7, 16:2)
For he loves the Lord as his many sins have been forgiven (Lk7:37-50) and
Yearns to have his offering be a testimony of his faith, hope and love.

O Lord,
How can I say thanks for the things You have done for me…
Things so undeserved…
Your precious blood, redemption, forgiveness, the promise of eternal life…
O Lord, I truly love You!
For our souls, let us store up our treasures in heaven and
When we leave the world let us all be pulled up to heaven and be welcomed there! Amen.