(Deuteronomy 30:19 NLT) "Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

(Proverbs 2:11 NLT) Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe.

(Luke 16:13 NLT) "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

Lie #1 - - More money means more security.

(Proverbs 18:11 NLT) The rich think of their wealth as a strong defense; they imagine it to be a high wall of safety.

(Hebrews 13:5-6 NLT) Don't love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will never fail you. I will never abandon you." So we can say with confidence, "The LORD is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?"

Lie #2 - - What I own defines who I am.

(Luke 12:15 MSG) Speaking to the people, he went on, “Take care! Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot.” '

(Ecclesiastes 5:10 NLT) Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!

(Romans 4:7-8) Blessed are they whose sins are forgiven, whose wrongs are pardoned. Blessed is the person whom the Lord does not consider guilty.

Lie #3 - - My stuff is My stuff.

(1 Chronicles 29:11-12 GW) Greatness, power, splendor, glory, and majesty are yours, Lord , because everything in heaven and on earth is yours. The kingdom is yours, Lord , and you are honored as head of all things. Riches and honor are in front of you. You rule everything. You hold power and strength in your hands, and you can make anyone great and strong. '

• Tithing

(Leviticus 27:30 TLB) a tenth of all you produce... is the Lord's, and is holy.

(Malachi 3:6-12 NIV) "I the LORD do not change. . . Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. . . . "Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How are we robbing you?' "In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse--your whole nation--because you are robbing me.

(Malachi 3:10 NIV) Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

(Malachi 3:11 NIV) I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe," says the LORD Almighty.

(Malachi 3:12 NIV) "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.

• Tithe is a faith test.

(Malachi 3:10 NIV) Bring the whole tithe. . . Test me in this

(Malachi 3:9 NIV) You are under a curse--your whole nation--because you are robbing me.

(Malachi 3:10 NIV) . . . the open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

• The tithe is my honor.

(Psalms 116:12-19 MSG) 'What can I give back to God for the blessings he’s poured out on me? I’ll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God ! I’ll pray in the name of God ; I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do, and I’ll do it together with his people. ... I’m ready to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice and pray in the name of God. I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do, and I’ll do it in company with his people, In the place of worship, in God ’s house,

(Exodus 13:13-16 MSG) ... When the time comes and your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you tell him, ‘ God brought us out of Egypt, out of a house of slavery, with a powerful hand. ... That’s why I make a sacrifice ... God brought us out of Egypt with a powerful hand.” ...