We are back to the book of Malachi, the final book of the Old Testament, which is considered a minor prophet, not a major prophet, and that's because Malachi is one of the shorter books. It's not because it's not as important, but it's just a lot shorter than Ezekiel and Isaiah, so we call it the minor, one of the minor prophets. There's 12 of those. So we're in Malachi chapter three, verses six through 12 today. If you want to turn there, if you don't remember where that is, the easiest way is to go to Matthew and then just hang a quick left back to Malachi. So Malachi, as we're going to see, and just to remind you, brings a prophetic voice and it rings out with challenge and with grace. as we see once again this disputational style, this diatribe, the back and forth between God and his people. So let's read it together. I'm gonna read it from the New King James Version. We've been getting familiar with this version because with four kids at Trinity School, we memorize in the New King James, so we've become more familiar with it and appreciate it. So this is Malachi chapter three, verses six through 12. It says this. 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 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, 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 the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land, says the Lord of hosts. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for your word. We praise you that you speak to every area of our lives, including our finances. Lord, we pray as we've just sung that you would be our firm foundation. and that you would show us Christ and that we would be satisfied in him alone, not in our stuff or in our possessions, but we'd be satisfied in you. Speak to us now as we just sung to reveal to us in your word what you have. Bring conviction and encouragement where needed. And we pray all this in the strong and kind name of Jesus. Amen. So our passage today is a famous section of scripture, and it's for a good reason. Israel is criticized for their failure to be devoted to God as God's covenant people. And you heard that back and forth, and as I read it, I realized that it's a little hard if you're not actually looking at it, because it's like, which part is the people saying, and what is God saying? So as I read it, I could almost hear myself. I'm making sure I emphasize which parts are the people, and which is God speaking to His people through the prophet. So God's speaking and he's calling them to give the old covenant tithes as they were commanded. And there's a lot of bad application around these verses. Some of you grew up in context where that was true. And we need to be careful how we apply that in light of our standing as new covenant believers in Jesus. Our passage today has a lot of rich and weighty points of emphasis, God's character, our calling as faithful stewards, and his promises to his people. They're all intertwined. We're gonna get into that. Malachi spoke to a people who were drifting in doubt and disobedience. They were a people that were faltering in their faith. Yet God's voice, he cuts through, through the prophet Malachi, with clarity and with hope. So we're gonna explore our three, this text with three points today. They're on the back of your handout if you wanna see that. First, God's unchanging nature as the foundation of our faithfulness. Second, tithing as an act of worship, not obligation. And third, generous giving as a pathway to God's blessing and joy. So let's look at our first point, verse six. Verse six and seven is the heart of our first point. It says this, for I am the Lord, I do not change. Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. So before God addresses Israel's failures, He declares who He is. He is Yahweh. He is the great I Am, the One who exists, the unchanging, self-existent God who never had a beginning. And this is the foundation of everything we're going to unpack today, is verses 6 and 7. Malachi's audience, they lived in a fragile time. I think we've talked about it on another message that this is about 450 BC. Remember, this is the last prophetic voice before Jesus comes on the scene, before John the Baptist and then Jesus. So they had the people of Israel, God's covenant, old covenant people, they were brought back into the land out of Babylonian exile. And they've returned, but it's a broken Jerusalem in many ways. It's a shadow of the former glory of the old temple of David and Solomon. It's not the same. Yes, the temple was rebuilt. Remember Nehemiah, all those other prophets going up into that? So it was rebuilt, but the people's loyalty was compromised economically, they scraped by. Politically, they were still small players on the scene, on the big stage of the Persian Empire. Yet God is saying, through Malachi, I don't change. In a world of flux, then, like now, there's crops that were failing, empires are rising and falling, but God remains constant. He stood constant. He didn't shift or falter. God doesn't wake up exhausted or irritable, like some people do after a nap. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, Hebrews 13, eight says. James calls him the father of lights, with whom there's no variation or shadow of turning, James 1, 17. So his unchanging nature in fancy theological terms, we call that immutability. Everyone say immutability. Immutability. It's a teacher in me coming out. I think sometimes I was meant to be a gym teacher, but God had different plans. But I like to channel my inner gym teacher sometimes with bold kids. with coaching the Trinity basketball team, the track team, I just love it. I love teaching, I love encouraging, I love challenging, and that's a huge part, is repeating and repetition, reminding, it's a part of being a teacher. But it's because of this immutability that Israel wasn't consumed. From Sinai's golden calf incident, you know about that one, All the way here to Malachi's day, a thousand years of rebellion and faltering faith at best. And God's chosen people, what did they deserve? They deserved destruction. But God's hesed, his covenant love held them fast. And it's not because they earned it. It's not because they deserved it or they were better in any way. It's because and only for this reason, He is who He is. Some more loose translations. I think it's helpful sometimes to look at those paraphrases or those loose dynamic translations like the New English Bible. Sometimes in our family devotions, we read some of the, I think it's the New International Kids version And sometimes it illuminates certain things. You know, you want to also read the word-for-word translations like the New King James or the ESV or New American Standard, but this is in the New English Bible, it says this, verse 6, and you also have not ceased to be sons of Jacob. Or even more plainly, that Bible I just mentioned said, because of me you haven't been destroyed. God's mercy spared them, but their stubbornness didn't stop. They were still Jacob's children. We know about Jacob, right? Scheming, wrestling, unchanged in his defiance to have it his way. He was a rascal. And the people of Israel, their history, As we read in Exodus and Numbers, Chronicles and Kings, it reads like a catalog of faithlessness and turning aside from God's decrees. Yet God didn't annihilate them. They deserve judgment, but God says, you're still here, huh? Why is that? You know why? Because I don't change. That's why you're here. because his covenant with Abraham, renewed through the ages, stood firm and was driving forward with a purpose. And what was that purpose? To welcome the Messiah and the master plan of the ages, which is to make all things new in King Jesus. Amen? Revelation 21.5. This hits home in 2025, doesn't it? How often do we feel consumed by the economic pinches of the last four years of the Biden economy, of family strains? Maybe it's personal, personal guilt or shame, whatever it is, there's 10 million reasons that you may feel like the waves of life are crashing on your beach. Maybe you're here thinking, I've failed and faltered way too often, and I'm not sure there's any light and life and love left for me at this point. Well, hear this. If that's you, you're not consumed because God doesn't change. His grace in Christ is as sure today as it was on the cross. Romans 8, 38 through 39 promises that nothing can separate us from his love. For I'm sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Insert your issue, your thing, your sin, If you're His, no thing can separate you from His love. Why? Because unlike you, God doesn't change. By the way, just a quick aside. A friend of mine was doing a Bible study in another state at his over 55 residence community. good ministry opportunity, over 55 communities. And the Bible study he was leading, the theme was the top 10 chapters in the Bible. So modern and click-baity, isn't it? And he asked me, he says, what would you put as your number one? What's the best chapter in the Bible? What's the greatest chapter in the Bible? And I said without hesitation, I said Romans 8, the great eight. And he said, oh, I don't have that one. And I said, how could you not have Romans 8 on your list? What is your list without Romans 8? I said, if you asked 100 theologians, the kind that are worth their salt, that actually believe the Bible is God's word, not the kind that are pagans that just do it because of the academic part of it. But if you go to those good theologians and you say, what's the greatest chapter in the Bible? I bet you dollars to donuts. I bet you 90% of them would say, maybe not 90, 80% of them would say Romans 8. It's on everybody's top three, let's say that. Maybe you came here today wondering what the greatest chapter in the Bible was, but there you go, bonus material, no charge. But here's the connection. Here's the connection. God's unchanging nature shapes our faithfulness. It is what it is. He is God, and we are not. But because he is who he is, our faithfulness in our walks can be shaped for his alignment, and only because of that. Faithful obedience to God isn't simply a sterile checklist of do's and don'ts, but it's a response to who God is and his mercy given to us in Christ when we rightly identify our identity. We have to get our identity right. Identity is the hidden governor of life. It's a secret governor of life. When you get who you are and who God is, it changes everything. Jesus says in Matthew 6, one through four, don't do good for human applause, but for your father who sees in secret. Our audience matters. When we fix our eyes on an unchanging God, faithfulness by his grace flows from worship, not duty. Malachi's Israel had returned from exile, but their hearts lacked the true devotion they were called to. And God pleads through the prophet, return to me and I will return to you. The word return, you guys know this, for those of you who have been around. I've been here, what, almost 17 years. Olivia's gonna be 17, can you believe it? I remember over in Haldon, Unbelievable how fast time goes. But if you've been around here for any time, you know return is repentance. It's a heart turning. And it's not just a hat tip and a head nod. And the people here in Malachi's day, they rebuilt the temple, but their devotion wasn't there. They ultimately had a shallow commitment because we see it in the superficial outputs. Remember? They were bringing their lame sacrifices. They were divorcing their wives. They were robbing God of what was due, as we just read. And Malachi is calling the people to real repentance, real returning, which is not just changing of the mind. It's more than that. It's changing of the mind. It's changing of the actions. It's changing of behavior. It's turning away from evil and turning towards what is good. But it's more than that too, isn't it? It is that, yes. It's turning away from bad habits and turning to good habits. But this is the key. And like I said, you've heard this many times. Repentance is also highly relational in scripture. It's personal. It's not just changing from the bad things to changing to the good things, or feeling rightly aligned in your emotions. Remember what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 9? Remember we did 20 sermons through 1 Thess? Remember? He said, about the Thessalonians, he said, they turned from idols to serve the living and the true God. So it's not just a turning from, but it's a turning to a person. Repentance means you turn from idols to God, to God himself, and your spirit is renewed in right relationship with him. When we repent, we turn back to God the Father in relationship. Yes, we do turn away from evil, but we're not just turning away from bad things, we're turning to the God who has loved us in Jesus Christ. I heard a story from a brother who shared how he was encouraging another guy in his church to repent. And the guy that he was sharing with and challenging, he lamented that he had been living in this particular sin for so long that he didn't think anyone would believe him, that they would believe his repentance was real. But the brother rightly said to him, he said, who are you repenting for? Are you repenting for people? So people will be convinced? Or are you really turning to God as your only hope in life and death? And the guy didn't get it. He wasn't picking up what he was laying down. And my friend said to him, he said, that's your problem. You're blind to what repentance is. You're not thinking of God. You're missing the whole vertical connection here. And you're only thinking of the horizontal, of what people will think of your repentance. Let me say this. If you're here today and you're not a Christian, you're not following Christ as your Lord, as your Savior, God calls you to turn away from other things that you worship, whether it's creature comforts and pleasures, whether it's money and success, whether it's sex or whatever it is, all the fancy idols of our culture that they're marching out in front of us. God calls you to turn away from those things and to repent and turn to Him, to give yourself to God for forgiveness and cleansing and peace with Him. You can pay for your sins yourself. That's one of the options. You can pay for your own sins in everlasting judgment. Or you can take the substitution payment. and that forgiveness and that cleansing and that substitution payment that comes only through the life, death, resurrection and atoning work of Jesus Christ, amen? You're not forgiven because of your goodness or what church you were a part of growing up or what church you're a part of now. None of us is good enough in what we can do. We're forgiven because we turn to Christ who atoned for our sins, took our sins upon himself so that we, when we trust him, we have, by his grace, we have new life and we can walk with him in peace and in joy in relationship. That's the best news in the world. There's no better news. That is at the heart of what God is doing in the world and making all things new. He makes people new, he makes families new, he makes countries new, and he's making the whole world new in Christ. Yet Israel resisted. What did they say? How shall we return? They were blind to their drift. They were numb to God's absence. One Puritan preacher recalls a church that He was at preaching and he said that God's presence was palpably gone. His words bounced back to him. It was a spiritual desert. They didn't notice that the Spirit of God had withdrawn. Ichabod had been written large over the church door. Now, ultimately, we don't know what God is doing here or there or anywhere. We're aware of maybe 100 things, maybe. But God is doing 10 billion things. So we never presume we know really what God is doing in any one situation. But it sure looks like thousands of churches are in operation every Sunday all over our country, and Canada, and the West, all over the world. They're in operation, but they have Ichabod written over the door. The Lord has departed. And sadly, many of those churches have the word reform in their names. Brothers and sisters, do we cherish his presence here? Our spiritual condition matters. God pleads here with them through Malachi. Return to me. The call to you today is not, hey, try harder, do more. That's a dead end. Effort, effort, effort. Now there's a place for effort in the Christian life and fighting for your joy and faith, yes, but it's about relationship first, about your identity as a son or daughter of a good, wise, and holy father who loves you and welcomes you back. This is our foundation, an unchanging God who calls his people to change, to return to him. And that's the foundation of our next point in our outline, point two, which is tithing as an act of worship, not obligation. We'll be looking at verses eight and nine. Look at verse eight. Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me in tithes and offerings. Israel's sin wasn't a math error or a bookkeeping problem. It was a heart issue. They held back what was God's. What God gave them For them to give back to him as a token, they were holding it back and God calls it robbery. Now we know that this isn't about God needing cash or needing money. Psalm 50 verse 10 reminds us that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Everything belongs to God. The point is about what they're giving revealed. In the Old Testament, there were multiple tithes. You know about the tithes? There's a whole lot in the Old Covenant about that. That's how their operation was funded. Tithe, that word tithe means tenth. There was a tithe for the priests and the temple administration. There was another 10th or a tithe every three years that was given for the poor. And there was another tithe for the festivals. Those are all laid out in Deuteronomy 14. Now some scholars estimate that it wasn't 10 to 20%, maybe 20 to 25%. Different scholars say different things. what this total amount was to support the temple and marking God as their God and them as his people. Deuteronomy 14 paints a joyous picture of the old covenant tithe and bringing or giving of their tithes. And they did it cheerfully. They did it as part of a celebration. But Malachi says they skimped here. They offered the blemish sacrifices. Remember that? We had a whole sermon on that. God says, I want this kind of sacrifice. And they were like, no, get the one-legged goat. Get the one with the spots. Get the sheep that we just stole. That's what they were doing. They weren't bringing their best. They weren't doing what they were called to do. What does this mean for us? Is tithing a requirement for the church? Are we supposed to bring 10% of what we make? Are we bringing it on the net or the gross? What are we doing here? Well, that first question I just asked you, is tithing a requirement for the church, was a 20-minute teaching that our dear brother Jimmy Montasano gave us 13 years ago almost to the month, right downstairs. I listened to it again over the last month. And it's quite good if you wanna go back and listen. I remember, it stuck out. It was one of those church meetings after the service and it was just so well put together and delivered that it stuck in my head. So that 13 years later, I'm at this text and I go, I remember Jimmy gave a lesson on this. Let me go find it. There it is, sermon audio, how beautiful. So in a nutshell, what Jimmy argued for was the New Testament focus is not on a number. It's on believers giving of our time, our finances, and our lives as stewards of God's grace, not under compulsion, but driven by grace. Basically, we're not under the old covenant. There's no temple, there's no Levite priests, there's no festivals, there's no theocratic nation. The New Testament doesn't demand 10%. It calls us to give generously, sacrificially, and gladly, 2 Corinthians 9, 6. So the principle, here it is. The principle is not a number. The principle is a posture. It's not a percentage, but it's a priority in your life. The tithing of the old covenant wasn't meant to be like a mobster's cut. You know, pay up, give me your 10%, give me your 26%, or I'll take it all. It's not like that. When they gave what they were saying, the people of old, when they gave to God, they brought to God what he had given to them first. When they did that, what they were saying was, Not, now, okay, here's your share, God. Now, leave me alone, will you? Leave the rest to me. What they were saying when they were doing it rightly was, all we have, our breath, our jobs, our kids, belongs to you, God. This portion, this first fruits, is my amen to that. That's what they were saying. And I want to do this in a disciplined way, because I need to understand that everything belongs to God. We all do. We all tend to, oh, thank you, Lord, and we close it up. I need to understand that everything belongs to God. You know who doesn't need to understand that everything belongs to God? God doesn't need to understand. One author I like put it this way. He said, God doesn't need our money. We need God to have our money. I need to understand that the lungs I have and the air that I breathe, it's not even my possession. I can't even exist without breathing and living on his sustenance to get my next breath. The life I'm living is not my own possession. The house I live in is not my own possession. The cars I drive are not my own possession. The family that God gave me is not my own possession. I don't own anything. I'm a steward of all the good things that God has given me, and I present my first fruit tribute so that I will understand that God is the owner of everything. For some, it's 10%. 10% is a good start. For others, like R.J. Letourneau, some of you know who that is, firsthand, because your kids went to that school. R.J. Letourneau, he gave 90%. He said, I'm living on 10%. I'm giving 90%. It's not a percentage. Remember, it's about priority. The principle is the posture of humility and generous devotion before God. And if you do this, which is our next point, I'm not going to jump ahead too much, because we're going to get there. What does God say he's going to do? I will open the windows of heaven, and I'm going to pour out an abundance on you. This is the way it works. God has decided in his wisdom, in his ways, in his holy providence, to bless those who demonstrate an understanding of what true Christian financial stewardship is like. Call it the stewardship principle. You've been faithful in a little, I'm gonna give you some more. You're gonna be faithful with a little more. Faithful in little, faithful in much. I said to my kids the other day, I said, what's the best indicator of someone's job performance when you're interviewing them? I said, the best indicator of the future performance is past performance. I said, no, it's not. It's just when you're interviewing. I said, stuff happens, and you falter, and you get shaken. But how are we looking forward? This is it. God is saying, the stewardship principle, That's what he's saying here. Not giving because I have to, but giving because I get to. My family read last night through Luke 21, the story of the widow. That was in your devotion notes. Some of you might've read that. The widow gave everything she had. And then the rich guy, he gave his leftovers. And Jesus said, she gave more. Why? because her gift was worship. It wasn't duty. The rich saw giving as an obligation, and she saw it as generosity and devotion to the God who gave her everything she had. Israel was playing games here. You go, oh, life's tough. We're giving enough. Okay, I gotta give you what now? I gotta give you my spices. I gotta give you my sheep. I gotta give you money. When does it stop? God says, no, you're robbing me. And what came was a curse of locusts. We read devour, what do you think devoured? Locusts, God sent locusts and barren vines. You want your grapes to grow? Yeah, I control that. Now, practically, how do we give to the work of the ministry here at Bread of Life? Because we want to be brothers and sisters that support the work of the ministry of what God is doing in this church. Those who labor diligently, We want to bless those brothers with financial support and our respect and praise God for his work in our church. At the last financial meeting a couple months back, we heard the good news, the good report of what God is doing in the annual budget meeting. Modern technology makes giving easier than ever. There's a box in the back. That's something I appreciated from early on. We're not passing a plate or a bag trying to make you give under compulsion here. No, your gifts, you bring to God what God has put in your heart between you and God. Now, there's outlined a framework of why we do what we do and why we need the support in this church. But I'm thankful we don't pass the plates, and a lot of churches are moving away from that with the online giving anyway. The method doesn't matter. The motive does. Deuteronomy, if you remember that, there was a party when they gave. They rejoiced before God. We get to be a part of this, and that's how our giving should be too. We get to participate. It's part of our worship. We get the privilege to participate in the work of God in the local church. So just a quick story about how I grew up. My mom and dad, I saw growing up them joyfully cutting checks to all kinds of ministries. And they did it, like I said, joyfully. They felt like they were partners with this missionary or that missionary or this different ministry. And every week I used to see my dad take the check out of his shirt pocket and put it in the offering plate. And that's powerful for a young kid to see. And I remember my dad saying, God, I remember saying, wait, you're just giving, you're connecting the dots when you're a little kid, but you're giving, just write a check? Yeah, well, the building. the people who are serving us and ministering to us throughout the week, shepherding our souls and all the ministries that we support. It comes from the work of the body of Christ that God has put out in the world to do the work of of the ministry, like God, remember, the work, the elder's job is to shepherd and to prepare us to go out and do the work in the ministry, wherever that is, as a teacher, as a cop, as a businessman, whatever that is. But I remember my dad specifically saying, like, he had, in this way, he's like, well, you know, I have an open hand. God gives, God takes it out. I don't want to close on it. He can't give us anymore. But he had that mindset, and it was very powerful for a young kid. In the new covenant, we know we're freed from the old covenant rules. We don't have all those tithes for this and for that, but the principle endures. Giving reflects our hearts. Are we generous, sacrificial, and glad? Or do we hold back and rationalize like Israel with a, how have we robbed you? That's what they said. When we see God rightly as a good, wise, holy, and unchanging father, and we see ourselves rightly as his children by grace through faith, we're then freed to live as the faithful stewards that he calls his people to be. Point three. Generous giving as a pathway to God's blessing and joy. Look at verse 10. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, and try me now in this, if I will not open for you the windows of heaven. I have an uncle, actually through marriage. Some of you know him. He is a one of a kind guy. There's certain people in life you meet, you're like, that guy is one of a kind. And this guy is. Some of you know him. He has a whole lot of happy vowels in his last name. Uncle Gary. And whenever he hears about someone who has money, this is just his funny thing that he does. And God blesses people, brothers and sisters in the church with money. God blesses them with money. Not everybody, but he blesses some people. When he hears about someone who has a lot of money that's a brother or sister in the Lord, he goes back to his Bob Jones, Greenville, South Carolina accent. And he says, and he just did this the other day. He didn't even know I was preaching on this text. He said, I say, boy, bring your tithes to the storehouse. Like that. And he just has such a way about it. Actually, that sounded a little like foghorn leghorn right there. Who told you this was a chicken song? But in our text, did you catch that? God says, try me. Test me. Wait, isn't it sin to test God? Yes, it is. Israel in the wilderness, Satan tempting Jesus, don't do it. Multiple spots throughout scripture, but here it's different. Why? It's like a dare here. God saying, prove me faithful. Let me show you who you're dealing with. That's the message from Malachi. For Israel, this meant tangible blessings, right? Crops that were spared from the locusts, fruitful vines filled with grapes and olives, and other nations calling them blessed. That's our text. So if they obey, heaven will be opened and blessings will pour down. The old covenant certainly tied obedience to prosperity. So what about us? We're not under the old covenant, we're under the new covenant. There's no promise as some, unfortunately, some TBN TV preachers might say where, you know, you can tithe for a private jet or something like that. Health, wealth, and prosperity guys, unfortunately, really twist God into a cosmic vending machine. Far too often. Put the money in, press the right buttons, bingo. Look what I got. That's not it. It never was it. But you know what it was, and this hasn't changed. The principle of generosity doesn't change. Generous giving from the heart brings blessing. Let me say that again. Generous giving from the heart brings God's blessing. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9, I mentioned it before, he who sows sparingly, reaps sparingly. He who sows bountifully, reaps bountifully. God loves a cheerful giver. Here's the key, and the TV preachers don't understand this. This is it. The harvest isn't always material. It's not always money. But it's far greater, it's far greater, it's supernatural, it's spiritual. The generous, grace-driven giver reaps the intangible realities of God's presence. And what comes with that? His accompanying peace and joy in believing. No, you can't quantify that in a cup or a box. but they are more real than a sunrise or the air we breathe every second. Selfishness and stinginess will shrink the soul, but generosity grows us. And we as believers of Jesus Christ are called to give out of joy to increase our joy. It's a whole nice section on that, but I'm gonna pass on it just because of time. God doesn't need it. He owns everything. And in Malachi, God didn't lack money or grain or paprika or cumin or any other spice for the temple or any money that was maybe needed. God didn't lack. You know who lacked? Israel lacked. Israel lacked trust. Giving was for their benefit, not his. God's not after a percentage. He's not after a quota. He's after our hearts. So start where you are. In the most biblical way possible, test him. Prove him faithful. Not to manipulate him, but to trust and prove him faithful. 10% may be just the right starting point for some of you. In tough times, 2025's economic pinch, giving feels risky, but God says, prove me faithful. This topic has really hit home over the last year for my wife and I, and we're wrestling with these things in a fresh way. We have five kids in private school. and the dryer breaks, and the boiler breaks, and the well pump breaks, and knee surgery for one of the kids, and insurance is going up, and braces, and 20% inflation. It's easy to just close the hand and say, hey, look at these bills. I got nothing to give. And we've been under conviction about this. And God has been kind to remind us that he can give it and he could take it away and he can increase and he could decrease however he sees fit. But we're called to be faithful stewards with open hands. That's what we're called to be. The Lord reminded me of this in a unique way, very unique, it was a strange occurrence, highly abnormal, so don't go looking for this. But we believe God is in control. There's no coincidences in the Christian life. There's no maverick molecules or atoms floating around outside of God's sovereign control. We believe that. Amen? Amen. God doesn't have any problems, only plans, as Corrie ten Boom said. So I was in Manhattan, walking from one of my sites, one of my locations, back to catch the ferry. And I'm thinking, some of you know how this works. You're doing one thing, but there's 97 things just like, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, like a pinball machine in your head of all the things you're thinking. And I'm thinking of this invoice I have to pay, and then that bill coming due, and I'm feeling a little anxious. And I'm forgetting that God takes care of the sparrows, and he clothes the lilies. I forgot that part. You know the feeling, right? Have you ever done that? And I'm walking right in front of the federal courthouse, and I look down, and there's money. I stop. Nobody's around. So what do I do? Do I leave it? Well, look at that, two $100 bills. That's nice. Somebody else might find it and buy drugs or alcohol. I have no choice. I have to take it. Later on, I was like, is there a scam where people put drugs on it and make me pass out? $200, I'll put that. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. But the message was clear. As I sat on the way home, it was like God wasn't talking to me, but it was like God was saying, I'm the giver. I can give whoever I want, whatever I want. The question is, Meyer, are you going to be faithful? Not just in dollars, but in all areas of your life. As our brother Jimmy Montasano challenged us in his teaching, it's not just money, but it's our time, our energy, our loves, and our very lives as his grace-driven, big-hearted, faithful stewards. That's what it's about. Why? Because everything that exists belongs to him. And we are doubly his, because he redeemed us. So how are we receiving this word today, brothers and sisters? Like the people of 2,500 years ago in the days of Malachi? It wasn't supposed to be a guilt trip for them. It's a mission of mercy. Malachi was a gift of God to speak to them. A call from God to set things right and walk faithfully as his stewards by his grace. God's unchanging nature assures us we're not consumed, but welcomed back into fellowship. Tithing, we don't use that word around here, and that's fine, I don't usually use it, but bringing our first fruits to God, giving to God as worship, it frees us as, and that ownership, this is mine mindset. It frees us to a mindset of stewardship and big-hearted generosity. Generous, grace-driven giving opens us to joy and spiritual blessings beyond measure. Because it's about relationship, it's not just duty and transaction. If you're not a Christian here today, I implore you, I challenge you, turn to Christ through his cross, through the forgiveness that's offered, his life and the joy and the peace that's offered in the gospel. As Augustine said, and I repeat it, your heart will be restless until it finds its rest in Christ. Stop running, turn and trust. And brother and sister, where are you after hearing this? Has your heart drifted? If your devotion is not what it should be, the message of Malachi today, God pleads, return to me. Hear his call. He's not screaming, let's go, go harder. He's calling, turn and trust, come home. No more do, do, do. but believe him that it's done, done, done. Are you sowing sparingly or bountifully? Or even maybe, are you robbing God? Not just with your money, but with your trust, with your time, with your life. Release it in worship. Stop clutching what's his. Bring your tithe, present your offering. Whatever portion you've purposed, Not as duty, but out of delight, out of a heart of gratitude for his goodness to you. Test him with generosity. Don't fear scarcity. Trust his abundance of grace. Give generously, sacrificially, and gladly, and watch the windows of heaven open wide, not with gold, but with grace, peace, and God's presence. May we not just respond to this sermon with generosity for today, but respond by living a life of generosity. By His grace, may we live as faithful stewards of our unchanging God. For His glory and our everlasting delight in Him. Amen.