Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

Nehemiah chapter 10 verse 35, we obligate ourselves to bring the first fruits of our ground

and the first fruits of all fruit of every tree year by year to the house of the Lord.

So this first comes in the middle of this rebuilding process among God's people.

So in the book of Ezra, the temple was rebuilt.

In the book of Nehemiah here, the walls around Jerusalem have been rebuilt and now the people

are committing themselves to the kind of lives they're going to live and the kind of community

they're going to be as God's people in Jerusalem. And they say in Nehemiah 10 verse 35,

we obligate ourselves like we commit ourselves to bring the first fruits of our ground and the

first fruits of all fruit of every tree year by year to the house of the Lord.

That word first fruits, you see it twice, is a clear reminder to us that God calls each one of us

to give our best in every way to his work. And so tithing or first fruits, some of these pictures

we see in the Old Testament, there's a lot of discussion about how much that applies and the

New Testament. And there's no question when we read the New Testament that that the kind of

giving we see in the Old Testament just goes to a whole other level in the New Testament.

We give generously, sacrificially, willingly, cheerfully, certainly from the start.

When we receive money, our first thought should be how can we give some of this for the work of

God to spread the worship of God and to do that generously, sacrificially, cheerfully, willingly.

And then in all of our lives, in every facet of who we are and what we have to say, God, here's

my best, use it maximally for your glory. I read 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 and see a picture of how

Nehemiah 10 plays out in New Testament giving. Oh God, we pray that you would help us to give

like this and pray that even right now and each one of our hearts and minds, you'd help us to

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