QT 27 Feb 12, Spiritual leaders also expect to give financially

Num 18:25-29 (NIV) The Lord said to Moses, 26 "Speak to the Levites and say to them: 'When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the Lord's offering. 27 Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress. 28 In this way you also will present an offering to the Lord from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the Lord's portion to Aaron the priest. 29 You must present as the Lord's portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.'

NOTE: While tithing no longer applies to the believer in the New Covenant (NC), the principle of giving still does. The difference is that rather than giving 10 percent twice a year and an additional tithe every three years, now a NC believer gives, not under compulsion, but freely and thankfully in response to all that God has done to save him (2 Cor 9:6,7). So, we can give more or less than the average (22-23 percent) that the Old Covenant (OC) believer gave in times past. But there is one other teaching here which is also a principle that continues into the NC, and that there is no distinction in who gives. In the OC, the Levite gave just as the people gave, they also gave their tithes. So, the full-time Christian worker, pastor, elder, deacon, and missionary all have a responsibility to give (of course, not under compulsion, but willingly).