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you you There's a reason why we have
titled this portion A Condition of the Heart. And that is because
God is dealing with issues of the heart, and He's revealing
His heart to the people of God, and He's allowing them for a
moment to see a picture of their own hearts that they vainly believe
were A-OK. It reminds me of what Paul told
the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians chapter number 6, when he said,
you are straightened in your own bowels, but not in ours. And he said, we pray you be enlarged
in your heart. What literally that was saying
to them was this. They felt like they were all
squared away, that they had everything straightened out. And yet they
were dealing with all kinds of corruption and iniquity within
the body of Christ. And they felt like it was OK
for them to continue on with the iniquity that was in the
body of Christ, that they had it under control. And the apostles
said, look, you're straightened in your own mind, but you're
not straightened in our minds. And we are objectively looking
at the situation and saying, you don't have it all straightened
out. And these people, before God, felt as if they had everything
straightened out. Because when the Lord asked them
questions, and there are eight specific times in this book that
the Lord, through the prophet Malachi, questioned the people
of God. In every case, they answered
with a prideful, insolent reply. Like, Lord, we're not seeing
it. We've got everything handled
here. We're still going to the temple. We're still doing this
and that. We're still offering sacrifice. But the reality was
that their heart was not in it. And you have heard it said, and
I have said it from this pulpit, that long before a person ever
walks out the door of the church house to go into a life of willful
living, apart from fellowship with the people of God, before
they ever take that step, in their heart they have taken that
step. They may still be there and justifying
a noncommittal spirit and saying that I'm still doing all the
same things that I ever did, but you know what? Their heart
is not in it. It reminds me what the Lord said of the Pharisees,
that this people draw nigh to me and bless me with their mouth
and their lip, but their heart is far from me. And so tonight, I believe that
we need to understand that the Lord first, as we have established
already, gave them a window into the heart of God by telling them
in chapter 1 that I have loved you. Chapter 1 and verse 2. And
then in verse 6 of chapter 3, He says, I'm the Lord, I change
not. I'm not going to stop loving
you. And that was the basis by which
He called them To himself. Because as we read on, the Lord
then says, return unto Me. He didn't say, as we've mentioned,
get back to tithing, you wicked, dirty, rotten sinners. He didn't
say get back to going to church or teaching a Sunday school class.
He said, return unto Me. I want you to come back to Me.
Why would you want to go back to God? I'll tell you why. Because
He says, I love you and I'm always going to. And you know, you can
come safely into the arms of a God who says, I love you and
I never change, so I'm always going to keep loving you. And
so when we find ourselves estranged from the Lord, understand this,
that God didn't alienate you from Himself. His whole work
was to reconcile you unto Himself. His whole posture is to draw
you to Himself. That's everything that God has
tried to do since the Garden of Eden all the way through.
Have that crimson thread of redemption that is woven from Genesis to
Revelation. It is all about the heart of
God beating for you, calling you to be reconciled to Him. Calling you to come to Him. And so, when we understand the
heart of God, It helps us to further understand our own heart.
And, you know, the Bible says in the book of Jeremiah that
the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
And who can know it? You know, Brother Hilmer, you
know, there have been times where as a pastor, we've had testimony
services and someone will arise to give a testimony. And sometimes
in a rather pompous way, they'll put their hand over their heart
and they'll make a statement like this. Well, if I know my
own heart and then they'll start to pontificate. Do we know what pontificating
means? They'll start to really try to impress others with themselves.
And so I and they'll be really impressed with themselves as
well. Well, brother, if I know my own heart and you know, the
truth is you don't. The Bible says who can know it? And the answer is a rhetorical
one, because the only one who may know the heart of man is
God. And so God is confronting these
people who think in their own heart, I may okay. God said,
I want you to return to me. And they said, where are we going
to return? We never left you, Lord. We're
right here. And God said, look, you're a
long way from me, dude. You understand? I asked the question
a couple of weeks ago of the of the wives. How many how many
ladies in here have a husband? OK, I want to admit it. OK, there's
a few like that still. And and, you know, have you ever
just felt like that maybe you weren't clicking with your spouse,
that maybe there wasn't that real intimacy and communication
there that you really were longing to have with them. And have you
ever said, you know, I just don't feel like we're connecting. I
don't feel like we're communicating. And your husband, in his inimitable
sort of a way, looks at you and says, what? You know, I bring
home the bacon, pay the bills, you know, watch television, eat
your food, don't complain. What's the problem, right? Huh? I'm still here, right? Some of you ladies are laughing
like you know exactly what I'm talking about here. Right? And
you feel, I don't even know this person anymore. And he's thinking,
you know, we got a good thing going on. And you know, he's
thinking I'm all squared away in my mind and you're thinking
like the Apostle Paul, you're not straightened out in my mind,
right? You might think you got it all
going on, and you know, sometimes that's the way it is with the
Lord. We think just because we show up and we occupy some space
and we go through the motions, dropping a little in the plate
from time to time, that everything is A-OK. And that's what they felt. And
that's why every time the Lord tried to show them a condition
of their heart, they wanted to contend with the Lord. Like,
what's the problem, God? They never saw it. They thought
they understood their own hearts. But guess what? They really didn't. God knew their hearts. And so
God showed it to them and he showed them the deceptiveness
of their own hearts. And the reason that God was calling
them to himself was not because he wanted something out of them. Do you know what he wanted? Them. He didn't want something from
them. He wanted them. But do you know,
as it has been since the beginning of time, even until now, and
what we read in the New Testament, and that is this, that when God
has us, He has everything that we possess. You think about,
if you would, for just a moment, the Macedonian church that Paul
called to the remembrance of the Corinthian church, and there
in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, He said that in a great trial of
affliction, their liberality abounded, despite the fact that
they were in poverty. And then he said something that
was profound. And this they did, meaning they
gave monetarily, even though they were in deep, the Bible
says in that place, they were in deep poverty. Does anybody
here know what deep poverty is? Anybody here ever experienced
deep poverty? Some of you are experiencing it now. Some of
you think you're experiencing it now, right? And sometimes
we worry that we're going to be in deep poverty. But here's
what here's what he said. This they did. Meaning they gave
unto us financially, not as we hoped, but first. Gave themselves unto the Lord. And unto us by the will of God. You know what they did? They
said, God, we're giving ourselves to you. You know what they did?
They came to God and they said, God, I'm giving you me. God wasn't
trying to get something from his people. God wanted his people. And the indicator that He had
them was that they were willing to give of that which He had
prospered them with as a token of the sincerity of their hearts'
love for God. And the Bible teaches us in 2
Corinthians 8 and verse 10, And also in verse 9 and 10 and verse
number 24, it teaches us that our giving financially to God
is a token expression of the sincerity of our love for God. I have seen the bumper sticker
as you have seen it. Don't honk if you love Jesus.
Tithe if you love Jesus. Anyone can honk. Right? Have you ever seen that? Sometimes
we want to love relationship with Jesus and we want to worship
and we want a praise that sacrifices nothing. But I challenge you
to go into the Word of God and find pure worship that is not
accompanied by some degree of sacrifice. I challenge you to go in and
find meaningful praise of the Lord that at times does not cost
something. And that's why the writer of
Hebrews said in Hebrews chapter 13, By Him, therefore, let us
offer up the sacrifice of praise. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks unto His name. And when we come to worship God,
out of a heart of love like Mary of Bethany did when she took
her life savings and she broke that alabaster box of ointment
and she anointed the feet of Jesus with the hairs of her head
in that oil. It was an expression of the sincere
hearted love that she had for the Lord Jesus Christ. She gave
out of her riches to express the sincerity of her love For
the Lord, you know, the Bible is very specific when it comes
to this matter of giving of our finances to the Lord. You know,
the Bible says the book of Proverbs chapter three, it says, Honor
the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine
increase. So shall thy barns be filled
with plenty and thy presses shall burst forth with new wine. So
what God is calling us to is to himself. Not because God wants
something out of you. Not because the church or the
preacher wants something out of you. But let me say this.
You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving. Because the nature and the definition
of love itself would indicate that we give. For God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son. And love is quite
simply giving of myself to meet the need in another. It may be
the resource and the treasure of my time. It may be the resource
of finances. It may be the resources of prayer.
It may be some intangible thing that I give, but when I love,
when I see a need, I'm going to give that which I have to
express my love. Do you see that? In the New Testament
church, it may not have always been just money. It may have
been from the crop that they had received. It may have been
an animal to help with the needs of the early church, because
most of the believers in that early church period were ostracized
from their communities. They were disowned and disinherited
by their families. They lost their jobs and their
fortunes. They were tortured and they were
beaten and they were driven into places of hiding. And so they
brought together what little they had and they gave to every
man according as he had need. And the way that they express
their love to the Lord was by giving to his body. Even in that
early church period before they really even had a completed word
of God. They understood from having come
out of that Hebrew culture that giving was something that God
ordained millennia ago. It wasn't just something that
that Moses conceived of when he wrote down the law. Now, I
want to say this to you, that the issue of tithes and offerings
are an issue of the heart. The Bible says, keep thy heart
with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of the heart,
out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And we know
this, that the Bible tells us in Matthew chapter six and verse
number 24, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also. It's talking about in terms of
giving and giving to the work of the Lord. Do you know who
should give to the work of the Lord? according to the Word of God,
I believe. You know who should give to the work of the Lord?
You know who should give offerings unto the Lord? Who? Everyone. Everyone. The Bible
says in 2 Corinthians 9, every man, according as he purposeth
in his heart, so let Him give. Not grudgingly or of necessity. In other words, I'm not just
I'm not going to be guilt tripped into it where I don't want to
do it, but I do it because somebody might find out about it if I
don't. I'm not going to do it grudgingly. I'm not going to
do it of necessity. And that means I'm only going
to give when there's a need present. Some people like to give that
way. It's like, oh, there's a need. I'll break loose and give a little
something to it. You know, there's nothing wrong
with that. There's not too many bad ways to give the work of
the Lord. But God says, here's here's the plan. Every man, according
as he purposeth in his heart. So we've got to make a decision
in our heart. So let him give. not grudgingly or of necessity,
for God loveth a what? Cheerful giver. And the word
cheerful is also rendered hilarious, which means that we give with
a joyous heart. Folks, can I say this to you
with you understanding? I have to pay my taxes. Right,
but I get to give to the work of the Lord. Do you know what
the difference is? One says the law, the law says
you do this or else. Right. And, you know, there are
a lot of people that say, well, tithing, tithes and offerings,
that is Old Testament. OK, that is legalism. OK, I get that. I hear that. But let me say this to you, if
I may. And that is this, that I am one who happens to believe
in the power of love. Do you? How many of you believe
in the power of love? OK, how many of you believe that
love is stronger than law? Let me see your hands. You really
believe that you believe love is stronger than law? OK, now,
if the law is going to extract a tenth from you. Is love stronger
than that? Yes or no? You know, we can we
can look at some examples in the Bible. OK, so. There's something
here for everybody. You might be here saying, you
know, the tithe is Old Testament. It's legalism. It's not church
doctrine. We can't say that storehouse
tithing translates to Malachi 3. You can still believe that,
but if you're really a Biblicist, what you're going to understand
is this, that the grace of God will lead you to do exceeding
abundantly more than the law could ever require of you. And
one indication in the Bible of that is found in Luke chapter
19, and it's the story of Zacchaeus. And how many of you remember
hearing the story about Zacchaeus when you were a kid? Zacchaeus
was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he. He climbed
up in the sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. And as
the Savior passed that way, he looked up in the tree and he
said, Zacchaeus, you come down. For I'm going to your house today,
for I'm going to your house today. I remember singing that song
and I remember thinking, you know, I was like Zacchaeus because
I was always a little shorter in stature than everybody else.
And I could always kind of put myself up there in the tree.
One thing I could never relate to about Zacchaeus, though, he
was rich and I wasn't. I still can't relate to that.
He had a lot of money. He was a tax collector. He was
a publican. He was despised by everybody
in the Hebrew culture. In fact, because he had entered
into an unholy alliance with Rome and was stealing from the
people of God, he was disallowed from entering into the inner
court of the temple. He had to stay in the Gentile
court if he wanted to come at all. And really, I'm sure, did
he ever even make his way to the temple because he was so
ostracized from his culture and society because of his love for
money. Now, folks, When Zacchaeus got
saved, when salvation came to Zacchaeus, you remember what
he said? He said, Lord. If I have taken
from any man falsely, he said, the half of my goods I'm going
to sell, I'm going to give to the poor, if I have taken from any man
falsely, I will restore him what? He said, fourfold, fourfold. So he was saying, look, if I
if I stole 10 shekels from Judy, I'm going to give her 40 back
in restitution. You know what the law said he
should do? 20 shekels. Do you know what grace led him
to do? Twice as much. Twice as much. Folks, listen. Sometimes people ask me, am I
going to be cursed if I don't tithe? You know, I don't believe
in this age of grace that God is in the business of imposing
curses upon us. I think we can invite situations
into our lives. But do you know what God wants
to do? He wants to break curses, doesn't he? You ever read that
in the Ten Commandments there in Exodus
chapter 20? You know, I think that Sometimes
people, they get all twisted up in the law and they can't
see. Because they've been totally blinded, but the Bible says the
third commandment or the second commandment, thou shalt not make
unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that
is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that
is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a
jealous God. visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children under the third and fourth generation
of them that hate me. Now, this is what people call
generational curses. How many of you have heard of
that before? And thinking that, you know, my grandfather was
an alcoholic, my father was an alcoholic, and I'm an alcoholic.
I have the curse on me. My grandfather was a womanizer.
My dad was a womanizer. It fell to me. It was a generational
curse that was visited to the sons of the third and fourth
generation. But they never read any further than that, do they? But do you know what it goes
on to say? It says this. and showing mercy of the thousands
of them that love me and keep my commandments. You know what
God wants to do? He wants to mercifully allow
those generational curses to be broken because of love. He wants to show mercy to those
people. He doesn't want to measure out judgment upon you because
of what your great grandfather did. You see that? He wants to break all that. Now,
folks, listen, sometimes we just do everything that flies in the
face of what God has asked for us to do. And we expect everything
to go well. Friends, let me just say this
to you. God is not going to bless your deeds of unrighteousness. You see that? Sometimes we think,
well, I can do anything I want. I'm going to heaven. Yes, you
can. And yes, you will. But folks, that doesn't mean
you're going to lead a blessed life. God wants to lead you in
paths of righteousness for his namesake, not in paths of unrighteousness. So you can choose to go an unrighteous
way just like the sons of Judah did in Malachi. But don't expect
that God is going to add blessing to that. Sometimes I have people
that will come to me and they're they're shacked up, they're cohabiting
and and I'm not sitting in the seat of judgment. I know that's
where many of the people are that we meet and we love them.
God loves them. And there's no curse upon them. We want to help
them. But, you know, they'll say, hey, would you pray for
me and my girlfriend here and, you know, so forth that we'd
have a Christian home and, you know, we start doing the right
thing. And I say, look, I'll pray for you. I will do that. But listen. This isn't a situation
that God delights to bless when you decide you want to get the
situation right. That's a place that God can begin
to really pour out a blessing upon you. But it's a choice that
you have to make before you and God, you understand that sometimes
people. and say, oh, pastor, pray for
me that I get a job. They don't have any intention
of being a blessing to others beyond those that live at their
house. They don't have any intention of being a blessing to the Lord
and giving back to the Lord that which God has prospered them.
But they want us to pray that they'll get a job. So they want
a job. Why? So that they can consume those
resources they earn upon their own lust. And is that a situation
that God would delight to bless? So then why should I pray for
you to get a job? if you're going to do something
with those resources. You say, you know, I never give
homeless people money. I always take them down to McDonald's
and I buy something for them if they want it. And we kind
of pride ourselves in the fact that we're not helping to facilitate
someone's habit. I think everyone has seen somebody
give a person on the street some money and that person goes out
and buys beer or drugs or something with it. Right. The other day
I was getting off the freeway. I saw a guy standing there and
said, I'm not going to lie. I need beer money. And, you know,
people are handing money, you know, and I'm thinking, didn't
you read the sign, you know, and this is their sign, you know,
but you didn't see that one. No, but anyhow. But look. You say, I'm not going to help
by being a partaker in their habit and their poor choices. If they need food, I'll buy them
a sandwich, but I'm not going to give them drugs or alcohol.
OK, right. How many of you agree with that?
OK, all right. We'd all tend to agree with that.
So then why do I want to help you with the prayer that I offer
up for you if you don't intend to do right with the job that
I'm asking God to give you? It's the same principle, isn't
it? If you follow your logic to that conclusion, you'd have
to say, look, I want to be blessed with the Lord. So I don't want
to just say, OK, God, you know, give me a job. But I want to
say, God, I want to glorify you with this job. I want to be a
witness in that workplace. I want to have a job so that
I can do what the Bible teaches a person who has a job should
do in Ephesians chapter four and verse number twenty eight,
which says, Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let
him labor. That means get a job. Working
with his hands, the thing which is good. And here's why you would
do it. That he may have to give to him that needeth. Did you
see that? Do you know why God wants to
bless you with a job? So that you can have to give
to him that needeth. Starting with the people that live at
your house. Right? But it doesn't stop there. And
every man needs to be a participant in that. And that's why the Bible
says in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, upon the first day of the
week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath
prospered him. Now, I'm not a Greek and Hebrew
scholar. I took several semesters of Greek
when I was in college, and I wasn't a scholar by any stretch. I can still probably read it,
not with a great deal of comprehension. I probably still know a couple
hundred words of Greek, but I have a good lexicon. I have some great
resource materials, but I haven't stayed up. You don't use it,
you lose it. right up on the Greek and the Hebrew. I can use
the helps and I know enough about it to get around. I can pronounce
some words in it and things like that. Write out the alphabet,
parse some verbs in the Greek, you know, and but but listen. There are those that say when
the Bible tells us here in verse 10, bring you all the tithes
into the storehouse. It's the same. As what the Bible
says in 1 Corinthians chapter 16 in the Greek, it would translate
like this over into the Hebrew. It translates into the Greek.
It says upon the first day of the week, let every one of you
lay by him in store as God hath prospered him. What does that
mean? That means that I'm going to bring into the storehouse. My offerings to the Lord. And
then Paul said that there be no collections when I come or
no gatherings when I come. In other words, that the needs
would be met sufficient that we don't have to continually
keep passing the hat until we have enough food to make a meal.
Now, I don't know, as far as I'm concerned, we don't put a
lot of pressure. If you've been here the last
two Wednesday nights, that's the only two services you've ever been to. You might
think all they ever talk about is money. But you know what?
Listen, there's about 777 sermons, I think almost, or 776 sermons
on Sermon Audio. And you know how many of them
would be about money? Do you have any idea? I challenge you to go look. Maybe
four or five. Maybe four or five out of almost
800. So no honest person could say all they ever talked about
is money. Really, no honest person could say that. But it's something
that. We must see, because the Bible
really and if you take God's word and you begin to study it.
One out of every five verses in the Bible. If you take it
quantitatively as a whole. relates specifically to the stewardship
of material things, including money, one out of every five. OK, now we don't preach one out
of every five messages on that. We don't talk about it a lot
because most people get really squeamish and skittish when you
talk about money, because that's sort of, you know, getting close
to home with them. Right. That's why the Bible says,
look, the love of money is the root of all evil. It doesn't
say money is the root of all evil. It says the love of money
is the root of all evil. But can I tell you what people
do when they start deciding I'm not going to give any money to
the work of the Lord? They first err from the faith.
They affect a compromise with the devil in their belief system. So how do you know that? Well,
because the Bible says in First Timothy, Chapter six. For the
love of money is the root of all evil. which while some, having
coveted after, have erred from the faith and have pierced themselves
through with many sorrows. What did they do when they started
loving money? They ceased loving God. And so
what they did in order to continue loving money is change their
belief system and vainly believe that as long as I did a little
something and as long as I still showed up, it was OK for me to
be in love with material things, even though the Bible says plainly
in 1 John 2, love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world, All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are not of the
Father, but are of the world. And the world passeth away, and
the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth
forever. And so we're commanded to love
not the things of this world. What are we commanded to love?
We're commanded to love God with all of our heart, soul, and strength.
And folks, I'm just simply saying, If we believe that these are
principles that we could worship and show our love to the Lord
with, then tithe and give offerings to the Lord. If you believe that
that's Old Testament and we're under grace, then do more than
that. And if you can't, at least tithe. You know, there's a lot of times
I've had people come in and they've said, Pastor, I can't afford
to give anything to work, Lord. I just feel so bad. I've had
people come in and say, I want to join the church, but I can't
join the church. And I say, why can't you join
the church? And they say, because I can't give anything yet and
I don't want to become a member until I can be a contributor.
And I'm thinking to myself, this is the kind of member we need.
I'm going to pray you get a job. I'm teasing. That's not what
I'm thinking. But look, sometimes they say that. And here's what
I tell them. You know what you should do? Tithe your way out
of financial doom and gloom. You say, why do you tell them
that? Because it's a place to start. And God says every man
can give. The Bible teaches us in Second
Corinthians, Chapter eight, that the Macedonian believers were
in deep poverty and they gave liberally, in fact, so much so
that Paul was embarrassed to receive it. And so they had to
beg him to take their offerings because they were so poor. And
Paul was telling him, look, feed your babies. You guys need it.
Where should I do? I'll make a tent. I'll do something. I'll
get by. God will take care of me. And they're pleading with
him to take upon him. The fellowship of the Ministry
of the Saints. It was a fellowship that they had gotten together
giving that they could further the work of God. And every one
of them was involved in it. And that's why Paul told the
believers in Corinth, every one of you, according as God purposes
in his heart, so let him give. Let every man lay by him in store. Let every one of you lay by him
in store. It's an all inclusive thing. So I tell folks, listen.
Just decide, I'm going to begin tithing. I'm just going to give
a tenth of whatever I have and then see what God will do from
there. You know, listen, you're not
going to hurt yourself giving to the work of the Lord. You
know, I sometimes talk to people like, oh, you know, I can't even
pay my bills. Look, if you're that far in the hole, that one
dollar isn't going to be the ruination of you. You're already
ruined. You just haven't arrived there fully yet. Do you know
what I'm saying? You know what? For years, I told
people in my church, I've said this. If you find yourself in
a position of financial hardship and you think I can't give, I'm
going to challenge you to do something. Become a giver of
record. OK, keep the record, fill out
an envelope or pay by check so that it's recorded. And at least
tithe and as God prospers, you give offerings and do that for
six months. If at the end of six months you're
not in a better place financially. I will meet with the deacons
and we will cut you a check. For all that you gave during
that six month period of time. OK, it's counted as a savings
plan. Your Christmas account down at
the church, OK? I said that for years to thousands
of people, you're in a financial difficulty. I challenge you to
do this, become a giver of record. and begin at least tithing, and
as God prospers you beyond that, give of the work of the Lord.
And if at the end of six months you're not in a better position
financially than when you began, we'll write you a check for the
sum of what you gave of the work of the Lord. Do you know how
many people have taken me up on that in perhaps 15 or 20 years? Not a single person. I've had
a lot of people say, I'm taking you up on that, preacher, and
you're going to have to write me a big fat check. And I said,
I'm sorry, you don't have any faith in God. And you know what? There have been people who have
said, I'm going to try that out. And you know what? At the end
of six months, they forgot about it because God had blessed them
so much. And so. I believe this, that tithing
was established before the law was given, because Abraham paid
tithes under Melchizedek. Before the law was given, Jesus
commended the giving of tithes during his earthly ministry.
And so it's contained in the Gospels. And though it is not
per se, tithing per se, a New Testament church age doctrine,
there is yet a principle there that applies to us all. That
you can give without loving, that you cannot love without
giving. And there's giving in every dispensation, giving unto
the Lord. And as I understand and interpret the word of God,
grace always does more than what the law demands. When I tell
people that and confront them with the truth, it's amazing
to me how much they want to stop talking about tithing being legalistic. It's a matter of the heart. People
get sensitive about it. You know why? Because they're
in love with things. If you were in love with Jesus and you said,
Hey, I belong to him. Everything I have belongs to
him. Everything I'll ever get comes from him. Every good gift
and every perfect gift is from love and coming down from the
father of life with whom is no variable and see the shadow of
turning. And if I believe that with all of my heart. I'd say, amen,
preacher, preach harder, preach harder, preach longer. Tell folks
to give. Challenge me to give. And when
I get to heaven, I wish you to preach longer. I wish you to
preach harder. I wish you to preach harder.
And I wish I would have given him more. You come and look me up your
first hour in heaven and tell me if you thought I preached
hard enough, you'll probably say, man, you were so milquetoast,
you just never even gave it to us. You know, look, if I started
preaching hard a little bit lately, blame it on Linda or maybe the Holy Spirit, but
or both. You know what? There have been
times where she said, honey, when you go up there to preach tonight,
you preach like you're preaching at a pastor's conference in the
Philippines. Don't hold anything back. Right. You said that to me, it's your
fault. Tell Joe. I'm just kidding. You know, listen,
this is a scenario of sensitivity. It's revealing a condition of
our hearts. God didn't want money out of
them. He wanted to see where their hearts were. And he said,
I want you to come back to me. And you know what would be the
indicator that they had? That they would begin giving to him
out of a heart of love. How can we do anything less?
You know what the Bible says, he despaired not his own son,
but freely delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with
him also freely give us all things? And Jesus looked at his disciples
and said this freely, you have received. Freely give. You know what the law doesn't
say freely give, it says you better give. You know what grace
says? Freely you have received. Freely
give. Reveals a condition of your heart.
Condition of your heart. Do you know what? I'm excited
about our stewardship banquet coming up. You know why? Because
it's going to give Linda and I an opportunity to move forward
in our faith in God. It's going to give us an opportunity
to stretch what measure of faith we have and see what God will
do. Folks, we know what it is, what it feels like to have needs.
We have six kids. I've got a son getting married
this weekend. I had one girl get married in August. I've got
a boy Tuesday having a seventh birthday. You know, we have Christian
school tuition. We have Christian college tuition. We have you name it. I'm just
saying we know what it's like to have needs, you know, we know
we're in the same boat and sometimes we tremble with fear. We know
what that feels like, you know, and just waiting on the Lord
to provide, but we believe. That when we so love the Lord
and his body is moving forward, that he would have us not just
encourage others to give, but to provide leadership by our
examples and give out of a pure hearted love for Christ and then
just see what God will do. What the world calls idiocy,
God might see as love. And when we love the Lord that
much, you know what? He's not going to be a debtor. If you
give him ten kisses, he'll give you a thousand. You know, I mean,
he's going to smother you with it. And sometimes we think, OK,
God will give you a shovel of money your way. I'm glad that
my God has a way bigger shovel than what I've got. Amen. And I hope that you're as excited
about just demonstrating your love to the Lord as we decide
to move forward by faith. And and I didn't time these sermons
to land like this. God did, because I started back
before Thanksgiving thinking, OK, God, what do you want me
to do? And he led me to go to Malachi one. And I thought I
was just going to preach out of chapter one. And I just kept
going in November. You remember. And here we are
just Three weeks away from an event in our lives, our church's
life, and we're talking about the condition of the heart. And
this is going to say something about the heart condition of
Freeway Baptist Church. I believe it. And I believe that
the heart is strong, don't you? And I believe that this church
has a heart that really wants to move forward for God. And
I'm not trying to rah-rah-ree be a grandstanding cheerleader.
I'm just trying to stir you up with a biblical motivation. He said, I love you and I'm never
going to stop loving you. What I want you to do is come
back to me. Return unto Me. And here's how I know that you
have. It's when everything that you have is surrendered to Me.
He doesn't want something out of you. He wants you. But when
He has you, He'll have your offerings. You see that? It's all based
upon love. Folks, that's what it is in Malachi
chapter 3. I'm not preaching curses on you.
I'm not putting you under the law. Do you see that? I'm motivating
you by love. you
A Condition of the Heart Part 3
Series A Condition of the Heart
| Sermon ID | 31112203340 |
| Duration | 43:57 |
| Date | |
| Category | Midweek Service |
| Bible Text | Malachi 3:6-12 |
| Language | English |
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