 All right, here we go, Malachi chapter 3, very powerful portion of Scripture found in verses 6 through 12. I'll read verses 6 through 12 here in Malachi chapter 3 and give to you our evening study here in the book of Malachi, Malachi chapter 3, beginning at verse 6, reading to verse 12, for I am the Lord, I do not change, therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob, yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from my ordinances and have not kept them, return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you said, in what way shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me, but you say, in what way have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings, you are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and prove 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, 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. And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land, says the Lord of hosts. So that tells me you didn't read ahead, because we're talking about giving tonight. There you go, don't get scared. Get those buckets ready, man. No, don't get scared. So here we go. Let's begin by saying this. Let me remind you of some things, as we've been going through Malachi. Throughout the book, God has had a running argument against the nation of Israel. From the very first chapter, the Lord has been revealing the sins of Israel and how they have rejected him. So a pattern has been established. What he does is he issues what is called an indictment. He issues his indictment. And then the people argue with him. I was mentioning to you that in various places they have been arguing with him. They have argued with him concerning his love for them. They've argued concerning their honor and reverence for him. They've argued about the unfairness of God, not receiving their offerings. And they've argued about their poor representation of him. You see, the priests of Israel have been most guilty of misrepresenting God to the people. And so this argumentative attitude that we've seen all the way up to this portion of Scripture reveals a lack of fellowship with God on the part of the nation of Israel. The priests have been spoken to. God has specifically been addressing them because they've been derelict in their duties. They have been failing to teach the people of God, God's whole counsel. You see, it was God's intent for the nation to be blessed as they obeyed the commands that he gave to them. When you look in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Old Testament, Deuteronomy, when you look in chapter 4, it says in verses 1 and 2, now O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe that you may live and go in and possess the land which the Lord, God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Then he goes on in verses 5 and 6 to say, Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore, be careful to observe them for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the side of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. So people around you, he's saying, are going to say this is a wise and understanding people and how is it that they became wise and understanding? It's that they observe the commandments of God. That's how the world knows there's wisdom and understanding in you. You see, some people think that God's commands are rigid, they're unjust, they're burdensome, they're stifling. But in reality, God's commands were intended to produce blessings for the people. God in Deuteronomy 5, continuing, went on in verse 29 to say it like this. He said, Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever, that they would obey me so that they would be blessed. And not only would they be blessed, Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would, they would, and their children could be blessed alongside of them. God's word is intended to bring life to us. They're not burdensome. His commands are not irksome to us or grieve us to us. They're intended to, to, to be obeyed that we might be blessed. So our attitude toward God's command, we will reveal in a New Testament sense, will reveal something about our Christian faith. In 1st John, in chapter five, verse three, John said, this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. So when you're reading the word of God and this is thou shalt or thou shalt not. And you say, Oh, what a bummer. That really shows where our hearts are with the Lord. Because he said, Oh man, that is grievous. That is burdensome. And he says, No, they're not. They're intended to bless you. Oh, that you had such a heart in you that you would obey them. Not only would you be blessed, but your children will be blessed alongside of you. You see, by not being taught the word of God properly, the people of Israel have been misled. The people have misled the people. The priests have misled the people. They've led them to live contrary to the commandments of God. We had seen it in chapter two in verse eight, where he had said, you have departed from the way you have caused many to stumble at the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts. And so you've caused people to stumble by misleading them and not teaching them the right way. See, God's word ran contrary to their opinions. So they didn't believe him when confronted by Malachi. And the questioning reveals their heart. They truly do not regard the Lord. And so as we enter into this passage here, Malachi continues bringing charges against the nation of Israel. Notice how he begins in verse six of chapter three, when he says, I am the Lord, I do not change. Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. I am the Lord, I do not change. I do not change, speaks of God being constant, his constancy. The fact that he doesn't change, he's not fickle, results in our ability to trust the one who does not change. Someone wrote, God is unchangeable in his nature, perfections, purposes, promises, and gifts. He being holy cannot turn to that which is evil, nor can he who is the fountain of light be the cause of darkness. He does not change. You see, scripture is very clear concerning the fact that God does not change. In the book of Ezekiel, in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, for example, chapter 24, verse 14, we read, I am the Lord, I have spoken, it shall come to pass, I will do it, I will not go back, I will not spare, I will not relent. According to your ways and your deeds, you will be judged, declares the Lord, God. Numbers 2319, God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? First Samuel 1529, also the glory of Israel will not lie or have regret. Or he's not a man that he should have regret. New Testament, James 117, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there's no variation or shadow of turning. I am the Lord, he says, I do not change. And so God had made a promise to Israel. He had promised that he would be their God and that they would be his people. Again, in the Old Testament book of Leviticus, in chapter 26, verse 12, he said, I will walk among you and be your God, you shall be my people. The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah in chapter 7, verse 23, said it like this, this is what I commanded them, saying, obey my voice and I will be your God. You shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I have commanded you that it may be well with you. So God's desire is to bless and he does not change. He is not subject to change. His plans are gonna continue to be fulfilled as he desires to be a blessing God to the nation of Israel. So because God is merciful, Israel has been spared extinction. You see, they had been in Babylonian captivity. They could have been lost forever, but they weren't. If you look around today, and it's easy to prove that, if you look around today, just look for some of the Old Testament people that you read about in the Old Testament, the Jebusites, the Canaanites, the Parasites, the Hivites, Amorites. You see, so many different names, people group that are there, Philistines. You see, all these names of all these people, they don't exist anymore. They're annihilated, they're extinct, they're not here with us anymore. But the Jews, God has continued his hand of mercy and grace upon that nation. All these hundreds of years, these centuries, he has kept his hand of mercy on them. You see, when they were in Babylonian captivity, they could have been absorbed into the Babylonian culture and they could have mingled within and ended up going extinct, and yet that didn't happen. God had actually brought them out. Remember Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 10, where it says, thus says the Lord, after 70 years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you and cause you to return to this place. So God had made a promise, I am the Lord, I change not. God had made a promise that after 70 years are fulfilled, I will bring you back and God had kept that promise. He brought them out according to his promise. They returned to the land. Now that should have been celebrated by the priests. They should have been thankful because that reveals God's mercy towards them and that also reveals his faithfulness to them. You see, in the book of Lamentations, chapter three, verse 22, it says, through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed because his passions fail not. And that ought to have caused them to rejoice at the goodness of God, how that God was faithful to his promises and all and the priests should have been celebrating the goodness of God as they were teaching the word of God to the people, but the people were not being taught. And so Malachi is making it clear instead of arguing against the Lord, you should be blessed that he keeps his promises, but they had a history of rebelling against him and many of the lessons they learned were repeated. The question is asked in the book of Romans in chapter two, verse four, do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? Don't you see what God is exercising towards you? God could have wiped you out the moment you have, you were born really, you were born with a nature of sin and you're a sinner by nature, but he didn't. He has shown you compassion, he's shown you patience, he's been very, very patient with all of us and we ought to rejoice at his goodness. But what is their history? What is their practice? Well, he says in verse seven, from the days of your fathers, you have gone away from my ordinances and have not kept them, return to me and I will return to you says the Lord opposed, but you said, in what way shall we return? And so as it continues, he's pointing out Israel, you have a history of rejecting God. That's because you have lost the fear of God. In Psalm 106, verses 43 through 45, the psalmist said many times he delivered them, but they rebelled in their counsel and were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless, he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry and for their sake, he remembered his covenant and relented according to the multitude of his mercies. He heard their cry and he relented. He heard their cry, he showed them mercy. Charles Feinberg, a messianic Christian once wrote, just as God is unchangeable in his goodness, so they have not changed from their evil ways. For a long while now, even from the time of their fathers, they have gone astray from the commandments of the Lord. And so what does God say in verse seven, return to me, return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. What is that? Well, that's a call for repentance. He's saying, return to me, repent from your sin to evil ways and return to fellowship with me. What this is is an invitation. He's extending an invitation that is fueled by love, mercy, and grace. In Isaiah, in chapter 55 verses six and seven, we read, seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. It's an invitation. Come to me, even as the Lord Jesus Christ is in Matthew 11, come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. It's an invitation. And so God is saying that to them. He's saying, return to me. Come back into fellowship with me because when you return to me, I will return to you. Well, their answer is interesting. In what way shall we return? So they're arguing with the Lord. Isn't that kind of dumb? I mean, to argue with God, you know, and yet that's what they're doing. They're continuing their argument. In what way should we return? What is it in other words that we're supposed to turn from? What is it that you're saying we're supposed to repent from? What evils have we done? Or what evil can be charged to us? You know, they're saying our hands are innocent. We have done no wrong. That's the way that we can be. That's the way humanity is. I haven't really done anything wrong. I haven't done anything that bad. And so again, Feinberg says in their self-righteousness, in the self-righteousness of the ungodly majority, well, they were satisfied in their careless ways. They didn't see the need for real turning back to the Lord. And so they ask, in what respect do we need to mend our ways? And so your unfaithfulness is clearly evidenced by your carelessly neglecting your offerings to me. He asks the question in verse eight, will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, in what way have we robbed you? And his answer in time is in offerings. Okay, man, get the buckets ready. No. Let's look at this for a minute. Under the law, Israel was to worship God through tithes and offerings. In Leviticus 27, verse 30, the scripture reads, one-tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy. The word tithe, when he speaks of tithes, literally means tenth. So that's what he's referring to. He speaks of offerings. The offerings in this particular context relate to the meat offerings that they would make, the breast and shoulder of the peace offering that would be given to the priests in order that the priests could use that. So God was saying that a genuine return to him is evidenced by giving their offerings and gifts to him. Their faithful giving to God is intended to be built on prioritizing him as first in their lives. Now the obvious fact is it's easier to sing a song than it is to give financially. A.W. Tozer once said, Christians don't tell lies, they just go to church and sing them. That's a good one. You see, I think that a lot of times we fail as believers to understand that our gifts to the Lord are our worship. And what we have done is we have actually categorized worship in certain ways. And so we will say, well, when I sing my songs to God I'm worshiping him. And yes, of course, we make melody in our hearts. We sing psalms and hymns to the Lord. Yes, that's part of our verbal worship to the Lord. We worship the Lord in a variety of ways with the entirety of our being. We worship him with our head because we take in into our mind his word. And we worship him with our hearts in that we have our intellect centered on him and we worship him with our hands in that we will serve him. And those are the aspects of our humanity, but we also will worship the Lord in our gifts to him. And that's what the Lord is challenging them concerning. And a lot of times people will say, well, I do worship the Lord. And who am I to say they're not? I'm not saying they don't at all. I'm simply saying we can substitute certain things. And God is making that very clear right here. We can substitute certain things and not be giving him the entirety of our worship. And that's what he's speaking about. When he says to them, you have not kept my word. And he says, return to me. And you have said, in what way? And then he asks this question, will a man rob God? The word rob means defraud or keep back from God. Will a man rob God? And they say, in what way have we robbed you in tithes and offerings? And so he's speaking concerning the fact that they're withholding from him that which belongs to him. Again, let me develop this with you and go a little bit deeper. Remember that God graciously brought these people back to Israel from Babylon. As mentioned a moment ago, they had been in captivity for 70 years. God kept his promise to return them to the land. So they were able, under the leadership of men like Zerubbabel and Ezra and Nehemiah, they were enabled to come back and establish their roots in the land that they had been uprooted from. And as they had been back, the temple has been rebuilt, the city's being restored, and sacrifice is once again being offered. Israel once again is dwelling safely in the land. And yet in the time that they had returned to the time that Melachi is writing, they have become calloused to the things of God. You see, when Israel first returned, the work of rebuilding began. But when they began their rebuilding process, opposition and persecution began to be experienced. And the opposition was so strong that the people first became discouraged, and then they became apathetic. The work that they had begun with such vigor, the work that they had begun with such excitement, that work that they had begun in that way stalled. It stalled for 16 years. And as they had begun to do all of this work and they were rebuilding and things were happening, and then the opposition comes and all, and then they just stalled. What happens is God at that point after 16 years raises up prophets to speak to them. He raised up a man by the name of Haggai. He raised up another one by the name of Zechariah. And these prophets were intended to stir the people of Israel up to get back to the work. You see, the country was under economic stress, and they began to use the finances that they had for their own comfort, for themselves. And they began to withhold from the Lord what belonged to him. And they began to say amongst themselves, well, you know, it just isn't time to finish building the temple. So they even developed an argument as to why it was okay to take what was belonging to God and use it for themselves. And so when you read Haggai in chapter one, let me read it to you in verses four through 11, this is what is said. Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses and this temple to lie in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You have sown much and bring in little. You eat, but you don't have enough. You drink, but you are not filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one's warm. He who earns wages, earns wages to put them in a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts. Consider your ways. Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple. That I may take pleasure in it and be glorified says the Lord. You looked for much, but indeed it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why says the Lord of hosts? Because of my house that is in ruins while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men in livestock and all the labor of your hands. You're working and working and working and never getting ahead. You're saying it's not time Haggai was saying to them, the Lord is really speaking to them through Haggai. You're saying it's not time to finish the work of the temple, but it is time for you to live in your custom homes. That's what he means when he says to dwell in your paneled houses. He's saying it's time for you to live in your custom homes but it isn't time for you to finish the temple so that my glory might dwell amongst you and in this mentality you are defrauding the Lord. So he's been dealing with this with the children of Israel for some time. You see, in the giving of their tithes and offerings, they reveal their understanding of God's grace to them. It also reveals their dependence on him as the giver of all good things. God created all things and God owns all things that have been created. In Deuteronomy 10 verse 14, it says indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God. Also the earth with all that is in it. It all belongs to him. Since God created and owns all things, he has no need of anything. So that helps us to see that giving to him is something deeper than simply financial. In our giving to the Lord, it reveals our relationship to him. It reveals faith. It reveals honor and it reveals reverence for him. Again, remember Melachi one verse six where he said, if I am the father, well, where's my honor? And if I am a master, where's my reverence? So giving in faith demonstrates a trust in him as well as obedience to him. Now, going a little further as an act of worship, tithing predated the giving of the law of Moses. Giving gifts to the Lord is recorded in the book of Genesis which predates Moses. This particular portion predates Moses by 600 years. In Genesis 14, for example, verse 20, it speaks of Abraham giving a tithe of his goods to Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High God. In Genesis 28 verse 22, Jacob told the Lord of all that you give me, I will surely give a tenth to you. And so there was already a giving to the Lord taking place and it was what they would have called the tithe, but that eventually found its way into the law of Moses. Now under the law of Moses, the tithe is carefully laid out. It's broken into various tithes. In numbers 18 verses 21 through 30, 10% goes to the support of the priest. It went to the support of ministry. In Deuteronomy 12, 10% went toward the various festivals and the feasts. In Deuteronomy 14, every third year 10% was given for strangers, widows and orphans as well as the Levites. And Nehemiah 10 speaks of what is called the temple tax for the upkeep of the building. You'll actually see that, those of you who are traveling with me through Matthew, you'll see that in Matthew chapter 17 when the question is asked, does not your master pay the tax? It's in reference to what is called the temple tax. And so that is something that had been going on from as early as Nehemiah. So the people had been taught to give their tithes and offerings, but they're holding back and that's what the Lord is speaking to him about. And that's why he says in verse nine, you are cursed with a curse for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. You see in their failure to give God what was rightfully his, they were guilty of defrauding him, of robbing him. By neglecting to honor him, they were actually harming themselves. And he says, and you are cursed with a curse. Now, that's an interesting phrase, you are cursed with a curse for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. What is he speaking about when he says you are cursed with a curse? Well, once again, looking at the Old Testament a little bit earlier, we remember that God had brought the people of Israel out of the bondage in Egypt, gave them the land of Israel. They received houses that they had not built, vineyards that they had not planted. So the land was given to them is an inheritance for them to possess and they came and dwelt in it. So the giving of the tithe was a recognition that all that they had was given to them. Everything they possessed was given to them. In the New Testament sense, all we have to do is ask ourselves, is there anything that we earned for ourselves that wasn't first given to us? So all things belong to the Lord. And when you give to the Lord, you're not giving to him that which is not his, you're simply giving him that which belongs to him. And that's why the Lord is speaking to them in the way that he is. You know, when Moses was about to die, he gathered the children of Israel and he began to admonish them. He wanted them to keep the law of God. In Deuteronomy 2710, he said, you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God. Observe his commandments and his statutes. What I command you today, observe these things, hold fast to them, obey them. And then he divides the tribes of Israel into two groups and he put them on two different mountains. One on Geradzim, the other on Mount Abal and they were facing one another. And some of the tribes began to recite what are called the blessings of God, blessings that God had promised. But the others were to recite the curses. In Deuteronomy 28, one through 14, we have the blessings. But in Deuteronomy 28, you see at verse eight, how he says, the Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all which you set your hand and he will bless you in the land which the Lord your God has given you. So God has made a promise to them, I will bless you. But he goes on and he gives the curses in Deuteronomy 28 verses 15 through 68. And these curses included curses on the agriculture. In Deuteronomy 28, 39 and 40, you shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither eat of the drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worms shall eat them. You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil. Your olives shall drop off. And that's what the Lord is speaking of here when he said, you are cursed with a curse for you have robbed me. The curse of Deuteronomy 28 has been placed on you. So in robbing God, they are not being blessed and they're not being generously cared for as he intended. They were receiving the promise that God had given in that they were cursed with a curse. Now it's not hopeless. Malachi gives them a pathway of blessing. He says, return to God, obey him as he commanded. He will bless you abundantly. Look what he says in verse 10 and 11, bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and proof 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. 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. And so he makes a promise. Now we'll look at that in some detail. Notice in verse 10, he says, bring all the tithes into the storehouse. The word storehouse can also be translated in some do treasury that there may be food in my house. When he says bring all, it appears that they were giving him partial gifts but they were keeping part of it for themselves. So bring it all to me. And then he says in verse 10 and proof 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. Prove me in this. Now isn't this interesting because that's the one place that you find in scripture where God says test me in something. Test me in this. Prove me in this. And see if I will not honor your faithful giving by blessing you in such a way that you can't even contain it. That's his promise that he's making to them. You see they're going through difficult times. They're going through drought and they're going through an infestation and it's more likely an infestation of locusts because when he says in verse 11 I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes. Commentators are saying that the devourer that they're referring to could very well be an infestation of locusts that are devouring all their crops. They're not giving to the Lord. So he's allowing these locusts to come and destroy that which actually belonged to him. When you look into the book of Joel Joel was written 835 years before Christ. It says in Joel chapter one verse four what the chewing locusts left the swarming locust has eaten but the swarming locusts left the crawling locust has eaten but the crawling locusts left the consuming locust has eaten. It spoke about the locusts coming and swarming and eating all of their agriculture and so that's possible that that's what he's referring to here. And so he's saying listen if you repent I will once again bless you even as I have in the past. He's saying I will open the windows of heaven and I will rebuke the devourer for you. That's what he had done in the time of Joel in Joel chapter two verse 25 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locusts has eaten the crawling locusts the consuming locusts and the chewing locusts my great army which I sent among you I'll restore it. And so he's calling them to repent and he says prove me prove me now in this if I won't open up the windows. Prove me and I will show you my faithfulness. Prove me and I will show you my promises and I will pour out a blessing. Do your part and watch me when I do mine. I was I was ministering out of Matthew the other day some of you perhaps were with me and I was sharing with you about unbelief perhaps some of you were there. If there's any if there's any tangible expression of my faith to the Lord one of the most tangible expressions of my faith to the Lord and one of those expressions that really requires faith and what would keep me from doing it would be unbelief as I was mentioning the other day. And remember I was sharing with you that he did not many mighty works there because people wouldn't come to Jesus because of the sin of unbelief. Listen, I'll try and make this as clear as possible without it sounding like improper like I'm trying to do anything other than teach. I really believe that a man's heart in his wallet have a chain, the wallet is stuck to the heart. I can sing songs and raise my hands to Jesus tell him how much I love him. It's not hard to do that. It's not, is that hard? It's not hard to do that. All you need to do is come to a few church services you learn the different songs and you can sing worship to God. That's not hard to do. But what was a challenge in my own life is exactly what I'm trying to teach you right now which was to trust the Lord when he said prove me in this and see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out such a blessing that you can't contain it. The one place where the Lord challenges us to prove him is when it comes to being faithful to him in our giving, isn't that interesting? And it is true that a lot of believers in the 21st century think that giving to the Lord is an option when in reality it's still a command. It's still something that we do. We give to the Lord as an act of worship. We still do and God still is intending to bless us. He's intending to do that and he says this is something where you don't understand. I want to bless you. You see when you give to the Lord he is going to honor your obedience to him and your faith. He says there will not be room to contain what I'm gonna pour out. That reminds me of what Jesus said in Luke 6.38. Jesus said give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be in your bosom for with the same measure that you use it will be measured back to you. How many of you have ever gone to what's it called, Mongolian barbecue? Anybody in here? I want to see some hands, yeah. Okay, Mongolian barbecue. I like Mongolian barbecue. I went there the first time years ago. I don't even remember when. I think a real Mongolian on his shield was actually making the food. That's how long ago. Because that's what that's supposed to be that, anyway that's taken me far afield. Anyway, when you go I went with somebody and they had gone before and I never had and they said, have you ever eaten at Mongolian barbecue? And I said, no barbecue? Oh, I like barbecue. Mongolian, that's a new twist. So I had no clue. What is a Mongolian barbecue? What is that, right? So we go and there's all these vegetable, they're salary and grass roots and that doesn't look like barbecue to me. So what they do, for those of you who haven't gone, what they do is they give you a bowl and it has meats in it, whatever you want, chicken or beef or pork or whatever and it's thinly sliced and it's put into the bowl and then you go and you put your toppings on it and then you put it and they put it on top of this like a wok and they fry it up and it's absolutely delicious, I love it. But here's the point, I'm leaving, I'm gonna go right now, I just made myself hungry. The person I went with said, you got to do this and they took their fist and they pressed it on the meat and kind of grossed me out but they were pressing it like that. See because the meat fills up the bowl and you're supposed to put topping on it and so what they did is they pressed it really hard so it became compressed and when it became compressed then you go and you put the toppings and then they'd get the spoon and smash the toppings on top of that and man that thing, it weighed 10 pounds it was huge and then they pile all these grass whatever that is on the top and then you put, so your bowl can be that tall and so how carnal am I? When it says press down, shake it together, press down. That's what the Lord is saying. He's saying I'm not just gonna drop it there like this and it's all fluff, I'm gonna press it down so you get more. Now isn't that a great, now that's a promise. That's a promise, you know. I like that, makes sense but he says that's what I'm gonna do. He says I want you to give and it will be given to you. Now we believe, listen, we believe that when Jesus said if you come unto me I will in no wise cast you aside, right, do you believe that? By the way you have to if you're saved, right? You have to believe that if you're saved that's how you got saved, that's how you got saved. You took him at his word, he made a promise. You believe that you're going to heaven, don't you? Because of Jesus Christ, don't you? You believe, I do too, you believe you're going to heaven because Jesus died on a cross, was buried, the third day he rose from the dead, he ascended to heaven the 40th day, sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in those who believe in him, seal this with the spirit of God and one of these days he's gonna say come up here and we're gonna go and be with him. We believe that, but where did we get that idea from? Where'd you get that from? You got that from God's word, didn't you? Is that where you got it from? You didn't get it from Hal Lindsey or some prophecy book. You got that from God's word. Yeah, that's right, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. I go and prepare a place for you. If it were not so I would have told you, if it were not so I would have told you, I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again, receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also. Is that a promise from God? Yes, absolutely. Do we believe it? Yes. Don't we? Don't we? Behold, we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, right? Bang, we're gonna be with the Lord. We believe that, or at least we should. I believe that Jesus told me the truth. Do you? Do you believe that? Well, I think we do. Do you believe though when he says give, and it will be given to you? Not everybody does. Not everybody does. That's where it becomes sticky. That's where the wallet gets hung up in the back pocket. Well, you know, he understands, right? He understands. He's saying, I wanna bless you. Just as sure as heaven is yours, my blessings are yours. I will press it down and it'll run over. It will, do you believe that? The answer, I would say high percentage of Christians say, that's where it gets real. Because I wanna take a vacation, right? Because I wanna go on a trip. Because I gotta, and that's where it gets sticky. And what am I doing? And I'm not saying this to you. Please don't take this personally, unless God says to. I think he is saying it. He wants to bless you, but we don't believe him. We really don't. You know why? Because I can feel a five dollar bill. But I don't know how he's gonna bless me. I have a bill I have to pay and it doesn't go away. It's still there. And I don't know that he really meant it. There are so many promises God gives to us. This is one of them. And that's what he is saying here. I will open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. If I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for me because his word says it. If I believe that he was buried, but that he rose from the dead the third day because his word says it. If I believe that he ascended to heaven, sent the Holy Spirit to those who believe in him because the word says it. If I believe that he says, I'm gonna come and receive you unto myself simply because the word says it, then I need to also believe that he says, I will bless you this way too. And when God said to the nation, prove me and see if I am not good to my word. He still says that to those who trust him. I will show you this. God again, he does not need my possessions. God isn't poor. He lacks nothing. He says in Psalm 50 verse 12, if I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. The world is mine and all its fullness. In Job 41, 11, who has preceded me that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is mine. Romans 11, 35, who has first given to him and it shall be repaid to him. God has never said to me, can I borrow five bucks? Right? So giving reflects the work of God in a person's life and it reveals faith. It demonstrates a person knows the Lord and it demonstrates that that person understands that God is generous. How much more generosity can he show me? God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. What is more valuable than Christ himself? In Acts 20 verse 35, Paul simply said, it's more blessed to give than to receive. So we give in faith. We trust that he will respond and we trust that he will bless our lives. You see again, the act of giving is an act of faith and it comes because we've been transformed. What we set our mind, affections and thoughts on is what motivates our behavior. And in 2 Corinthians 9 verse 6, Paul said it like this. He said, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. In verse 70 he goes on to say, so let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. The word cheerful, God loves one who hilariously, it's actually a word that we can call hilarious. Why would someone be a hilarious giver? Ha ha ha ha, kind of giver. Because he knows that in giving to the Lord, God is going to give him a super abundant blessing as we saw and boy, the enemy has lied to us long enough and he's told us, no, you can't trust God. But if I can't trust God to bless me financially and I do, I do trust him to do that, to take care of me and he does. He said, I will give you according to your need, not according to your greed. It's not as if I'm going to sue him for breach of promise. You said you'd bless me and I've been keeping a tally of this last year and I didn't get super abundantly blessed. Somebody actually did sue a church for breach of promise because the pastor had taught a passage like this and so he, for a year, this is a true story. This is a true story. He kept running account of the gifts he gave every week for a year and didn't see a super abundant blessing therefore sued the church for breach of promise. That's a fact, that's a true story. He actually did. I don't think God honors that. It isn't a scheme, it's not some kind of scheme to, you know, oh boy, I'm stupid if I don't give, no. It's an expression of my love for Christ, my knowledge that my God is a giving God, he gave his son and he's saying you can never out give me. That's faith and I don't wanna be stuck in unbelief. I wanna see the Lord provide cause he promised to do and he does and he does. When we moved into this property here years ago now, I didn't know this. We didn't receive offerings at that time. I didn't know this but, and I don't even know how it was that I didn't know this. It simply wasn't, I wasn't, it wasn't communicated to me but after the fact it was and that was, we didn't receive offerings. Our church was the third the size that it is now and it was contingent, our moving in was contingent on us having over $100,000 that we didn't have and we didn't receive offerings. And without me even knowing, I never came out and said a word. I think, I wish I could give you the exact, it's been over 20 years now but it was in a three week period the offerings that we didn't, again, we didn't have the buckets passed at that time we had a coffee boxes. But the amount of money that we needed which was well over $100,000 came in without me ever even having to make a statement because God was in it, because God was in it and later on my administrator said, oh, by the way, we needed, it was something like $180,000 extra dollars that we didn't have. That's a lot of money, especially when you're looking back into like 1990, 1991 or whatever it was we moved in here. It's a lot of money and I didn't even know, you know what, my God shall supply, my God shall supply and he puts it on the heart of people to do the work and they say, I'm gonna trust the Lord and as they trust the Lord and they give, God is able to do what God would have, what he would have us to do, that's how it works. That's why he says, bring this into the storehouse and see if I will not bless you because when you bring it into the storehouse, the storehouse is gonna distribute to the priests and those who have need so that the work can continue so they can repair the temple when it's at need to be repaired in all of those things and as you faithfully trust me, I will continue to pour out my blessings on you and finally he says, verse 12, and all nations will call you blessed for you will be a delightful land, says the Lord of hosts. I will bring rain, I will rebuke the devourer, I will bless your harvest and the blessing that will be so obvious will cause people to say, I have been blessing you. Proverbs 11, 24 and 25, there is one who scatters yet increases more, there is one who withholds more than is right, it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich, he who waters will also be watered himself.