Transformed By Malachi - Part 5

Transformed By Malachi - Part 5

Malachi 3:10 NKJV

10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.

Pray

Confession of Faith

I am not moved by what I see or by what I feel. I am moved by what I believe. I believe the WORD of God! The victory is mine! I have it now! I can see it through the eyes of my faith! In Jesus Name

Intro:

let’s address the elephant in the room!

Today in a world full of greed,

In a world full of excess

In a world full of materialism, it is not uncommon to hear about multi-million dollar salaries,

multi-million dollar bonuses,

and multi million dollar contracts.

You have Many athletes, many movie stars, many corporations , many executives , and many social media influence-rs, many gamers

receive more money than any individual should ever need!

The tragic thing is that much of the money is often spent on frivolous items that merely add to the list of the owners’ possessions.

And the reality is there are people going hungry, the homeless population is increasing manifold there are camps of people living alongside freeways and in dangerous places people are living in substandard housing, and doing without basic necessities—oftentimes right around the corner from those who seem to have it all.

There are masses of people in the world are starving from famine, disease, and the impact of war.

This is crazy, especially knowing that resources are available to meet the needs of every man, woman, and child here in America and around the world!

The challenge is the answer to this problem is quite simple.

It is the acceptance of the answer that is so difficult.

The answer, is the Jesus.

If people were truly living for the Lord, they would be obeying Him and giving back to Him what is due, what is rightfully His.

If all professed believers all followers of Jesus Christ were doing this, the world would be a much better place.

God’s church would be able to reach the world for Jesus Christ and help meet people’s needs.

The problem is many believers fail to obey God in this area. Just like it was in Malachi’s day.

Malachi 3:8–9 NKJV

8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation.

Malachi 3:8–9 NLT

8 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me.

Here we see in the text that the People of God were disobeying God’s Word,

And God gave clear instructions to them.

They were robbing God by not giving Him sufficient tithes and offerings.

These same people were also rebelling against God. In particular, they were questioning the value of serving Him

Then they added that those who were in sin, living daily operating daily in sin were Blessed.

Because of this, God continued to show His people what the sin was and challenged them to repent.

Okay, In real simple terms, the people or today, we return to God by repenting,

We return to right stand ing with God by faithfully obeying His Word.

Reminder, Repentance means listening to and obeying all of His commands and instructions.

So here is an example, God pointed to one specific and very serious sin of which they needed to repent:

Back then and even today, people were robbing God of tithes and offerings.

To make it more palatable People were cheating God because they were not giving

Luke 6:38 NLT

38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

Luke 6:38 NKJV

38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

So today, just like in the days of Malachi

The people asked “How?” They wanted to know specifically how they were cheating God.

So God answered them!

In Malachi’s day , the people were not tithing. Some of the people were not tithing at all while others were tithing too little or begrudgingly.

Today, people are not giving, some people are not giving at all

some are giving too little

some are giving begrudgingly

Whatever the reason = there is a serious problem with the people of God giving back to God!

That is a problem with their attitude towards God!

This is a problem with our attitude towards God today!

Remember this has nothing to do with what happens with the giving after you we give, we are commanded to give!

So, with this attitude rearing it’s ugly head, some other sins showed up to the party!

Selfishness shows up

Greed shows up

Mistrust of God to be my provider shows up

This spirit of - “I don’t have to give and I’m still going to have take care of me and mines!!

The spirit of mediocrity shows up

The spirit of being insincere shows up!

When that spirit shows up, people no sincere desire to give or to serve the Lord but, rather, only to fulfill their obligations.

The ungrateful spirit shows up!

People are ungrateful for what the Lord had given them and were unwilling to return anything to the Lord

When this spirits show up in people, we fail to realize that all we have belongs to God

Everything they owned had been given to them

and everything we have has been given to us by God!

Can I go a little deeper

The tithe was to be a tenth of all the people owned—back in Malachi’s day!

For them , that included livestock, harvests, and income from trade or property, or any other source of income!

For us giving comes from the source of income giving to us!

The purpose of the tithe was to support the priests and Levites, God’s servants!

The purpose of the tithe was so that work of the temple could be performed.

Today, the purpose of giving to the church is so, that the man or woman of God can be supported!

The purpose of giving to the church is so that the brick and mortar facility, building can be maintained

Today, just like with many church it cost maintain online services!

So clearly, the tithe with offerings in the old testament or giving and offerings in the new testament

is to support the work and workers in the church or temple!

Also, to support those who are struggling financially in a biblical way

To support disadvantaged widows in a biblical way

To support orphans or those in foster care in a biblical way

to support foreigners in a biblical way

To support others in need in a biblical way

Without sufficient tithes and offerings, the church can’t do what it was called and created to do and the world suffers!

Our nations suffer

Our States and Cities suffer Our communities suffers

Our homes suffer

Malachi 3:9 NLT

9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me.

God’s Challenge!

Malachi 3:10–12 NKJV

10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. 11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the Lord of hosts; 12 And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the Lord of hosts.

So God’s challenge is two parts

First, the people were to bring all their tithes into the storehouse, the temple (church).

Only by giving the Lord what was rightfully his could the people begin to enjoy the blessings of God.

Second, the people were to test and prove the promises God was making—to try Him and see.

If the people lived up to their end of the covenant, their responsibilities, He would surely live up to His.

Now God gave them a three fold promise

But here is what I want you to see God could have granted these blessings at any time He wanted.

But to do so while the people lived in sin would have sent the wrong message.

God was not willing to bless His people when they were unwilling to bless others.

Therefore, I believe it was essential that God teach His people the importance of giving!

Even today, we were saved to be a blessing to others

We were saved to be a people of light

We were saved to be a testimony of God’s love to this crazy world!

So God says test me!

God said he would He would open the floodgates of heaven and pour out unlimited blessings.

God Says test me

God said he would give you abundant harvests

God says test Me

God said he would bring prosperity to the nation

God says test me

He Said he would protect your crops from insect and disease

God says test me!

God said He would give the obedient giver a life that was greatly blessed—a life full of joy and delight.

In fact, other nations would actually notice their abundance and call them blessed.

They would thereby become strong witnesses to the world—a true light unto the nations.

So today many of us fail to realize that we are robbing God when we fail to tithe, give too little, or give any less than what He lays on our hearts to give.

We also need to keep in mind that God asks for more than our money.

Jesus requires us to use our time and talents to further His kingdom.

We are guilty of disobedience when we fail to tithe our time and talents.

We are guilty of disobedience when we Fail to seek, discover, and use our spiritual gifts to further the Kingdom of God!

To me , That is a waste of our God-given blessings.

That’s a tool of the devil to steer us into disobedience to the Lord.

When we fail to do any of these things, we show disrespect for God and His Word.

God’s Word is very clear about our duty as believers to tithe and give:

2 Corinthians 9:7 NLT

7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”

Test God and watch him be true to his word!

God Bless you and Keep you until we meet again