Malachi chapter 3, we'll be reading verses 7 through 12. Malachi chapter 3 and verse 7, Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings? Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into this storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house. And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing. The year shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground. Neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed, for you should be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts." Title of the message tonight, Robbing God, Robbing Yourself, Part Two. Let's pray. Father, thank you for tonight. Thank you for your precious word. I pray that you would use it tonight. That you would speak to our hearts. Lord, I pray that you would be exalted and honored in all that we say, all that we do tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. We left off last time with the fact that God wants to bless us. God wants to pour out His hand of favor upon us. We think that we can somehow get ahead by being tight-fisted with God. We want to keep all of the blessings for ourselves. We want to just soak them in and not give out. We want to act like everything we have is ours. That we earned it. It's ours. We're going to keep it. God is not up in heaven trying to stay ahead on some celestial Ponzi scheme and he needs us to give. No, he doesn't need us to give. We need to give. We need to be givers. We were created to be givers. God says all the beasts of the field are mine. I own the cattle on a thousand hills. If I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you. God owns everything. It all belongs to Him. God is not limited tonight. He's not limited in His resources. He's not limited in His ability to bless us. He wants us to give because we're a different people when we give. When we want to just take in and keep it all to ourselves and become very self-centered, very selfish, selfish people are always miserable. God wants us to give. It's in giving that we have great joy. Proverbs 28, verse 27, it says, He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack. You have that word from God. But he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse. The man that wants to keep everything for himself. The man that does not want to give out. God says he'll have many a curse. Proverbs 22 and verse 29. He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his bread to the poor. That word blessed meaning happy. He that hath a bountiful eye. He that will give out. He that is not selfish. He'll be blessed. He'll be happy. Proverbs 19, 17. He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord. And that which he hath given will he pay him again. God considers that his righteous duty. God pays his debts. He says you give unto others, you become a giver, God will pay you again. God will pay you back. Proverbs 3, 9 and 10. Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase. All your increase. However God blesses you, whatever increase comes into your life, he said honor God with that. So if we do not honor God with that, we're dishonoring God. God blesses you in a thousand different ways. Sometimes we think in the terms of a paycheck, but God can give you resources. God can give you blessings in a thousand different ways. He says, honor the Lord with that. Acknowledge that it's God that gave it to you. So I'm the one that found that $20 bill. God enabled you to find that $20 bill. Honor the Lord with thy substance, with the firstfruits of all thine increase. And so when we don't, we say, well, this is mine. We dishonor God. We dishonor the blessor, if you will. We grab onto the blessings and dishonor the one that blesses us. Honor the Lord with thy substance, with the firstfruits of all thine increase. He goes on to say, so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. So if you'll honor God, God will bless you in turn. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6 says, but without faith, It's impossible to please Him. If you're struggling financially, you say, well, man, I don't know if I can afford to tithe. First of all, you can't afford not to tithe. But secondly, God wants us to walk by faith. God wants us to step out by faith. God wants us to trust Him. You might be looking at the bottom line and looking at your finances and figuring it all out. According to my calculations, if I start tithing, we'll not be able to make the rent payment, we'll not be able to pay the mortgage, or we'll not be able to buy groceries, whatever it might be. God wants you to trust Him. God wants you to trust Him. God's big enough to take care of your needs. God's big enough to supply that which will keep you going. And without faith, it's impossible to please Him. We want to calculate it all out, and when it all makes sense, when it all seems mathematically possible, if I get a raise, if I can get some money here or there, well then I'll start tithing. That's not faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please Him. Not rare, not difficult, but impossible. He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is the great I am, and that He is who He claims to be, and that He is a rewarder, a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. 2 Corinthians 5, 7 tells us we walk by faith, not by sight. Oh, we're so comfortable walking by sight. We want to walk by sight. We want to stay in our comfort zone, in whatever area of comfort we find ourselves in. Sometimes financial comfort zone is, I need everything I can get. I need everything that's coming in. I can't afford to tithe. Romans 14, 23 says, He that doubteth is damned if he eat, referring to the passage there, referring to the meat, offered idols and all of that. It says, He eateth not of faith. But the last part of that verse, for whatsoever is not of faith, is sin. It's sin. When I trust in my own resources, I trust in my own calculations, I trust in my own wisdom, my own abilities, and I'm not willing to walk by faith. Bible says not only do I not please God, it's impossible to please God, but he says that is sin. Exodus 34 verse 24 is an interesting verse. God says, I will cast out the nations before thee. I'll cast them out and enlarge thy borders. Neither shall any man desire thy land. Well, God had told them that three times a year, in fact, in the previous verse, thrice in the year, shall all your men's children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. So three separate times in the year, all of the men would go. They'd go to Jerusalem, they'd go for the feast days, and God required them to appear before God to observe these feasts. Well, think about that. In a land where there was constant fighting, and fighting for land, and fighting for possessions, fighting for dominance, you had to be on guard three times in the year? All of the men would basically vacate most of the land of Israel to go down to one city to observe these feasts. Logically, you'd say, well, wait a minute, God. We're going to be wide open. The enemy can just come walking right through. We're going to send, we're going to just clear out the Galilee region, all of these cities up here, and send them all down south. And everybody's going to congregate there, all the men. Our city is going to be defenseless. That's a crazy scheme. Think of that today. Think of if the countries of the world knew that, let's just say, every July 4th, all the men in America would converge on Washington, D.C. There wouldn't be any men defending the whole rest of the nation. Well, in times of war, that would seem really foolhardy. And just even in regular times, it's like, well, we're leaving our nation kind of unprotected here. And yet, how quickly we could scramble and get people back in their right places if there was a threat. But back then, they didn't even have that luxury to be able to get someone there in a matter of minutes or a couple of hours or whatever it might be. They were vulnerable. And God says, look, if you'll just trust me, I'll take care of this. I'll take care of all of the hostile nations around you that want to overthrow you. If you'll just trust me, I'll keep them from desiring your land during those three week periods that you're going to be required to go and observe the feast days. I'll protect your land. It doesn't make sense, humanly speaking, to do what I'm asking you to do. But I'll protect you. I'll take care of you. I'll meet your needs. Don't worry about it. And so it is with tithing. You say, man, I can't afford to do this. And God says, would you just trust me? Without faith, it's impossible to please me. And if you don't walk by faith, you walk by sight, you're actually living in sin. So don't expect me to bless you if you're going to live in sin. I want you to trust me. God has a thousand ways to bless you and more. And he has a thousand ways and more to dry up your blessings. Leviticus 26 26. He said when I've broken the staff of your bread ten women shall break your shall bake your bread in one oven and they should deliver You your bread again by weight and ye shall eat and not be satisfied He's referring to if they were not right with him and they gone astray from him He said you may have what you think is gonna nourish you you may have what you think is gonna satisfy you He said but it's not gonna satisfy you Psalm 106 verse 15. He gave them their request and but send leanness into their soul. And so they thought, well, I've gotta have this, I've gotta have this, and they're fixated on this, and God says, I'll go ahead and give it to you, but I'm gonna give you dissatisfaction in your soul. So when you get what you thought you wanted, you're gonna not want what you got. I'll give you your request, but I'll send leanness into your soul. I'll take away the capacity, the capability of enjoying it. And so you have all of this, and you think, okay, good, I got what I wanted. He said, but you're not gonna want it when you get it. You're going to have leanness in your soul. Why? Because they had not honored God. In Psalm 78, 33, Therefore their days did He consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. Referring to the children of Israel as they would wander through the wilderness and God had taken away their ability really to enjoy the journey, enjoy life, because they were not right with Him. And so their days were consumed in that which was a waste, if you will. Ecclesiastes chapter 5 and verse 10, it says, he that loveth silver, silver meaning money, that was their means by which they could buy and sell and get gain. He said, he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver. He said, no, I don't really want to tithe, I don't want to give God the first fruits, I don't want to give God a tenth, I don't want to give God any special offerings. I want me to have it, I want to keep it all myself. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver. When we love money more than we love God, he says, you'll never find it satisfying. You'll never find it's enough. In fact, if you've ever had occasion to really know closely wealthy people, I've known quite a few wealthy people in my lifetime and those that did not put God first, that no amount of money could satisfy. No amount of money would be enough. They always wanted more, always wanted more. Even when they have hundreds of millions of dollars, billions of dollars, they still want more. He that loveth silver, when that becomes so important in your life, I've got to have this, says you'll never be satisfied. He that loveth abundance the things that money can buy he says you'll not be satisfied with that increase. This is also Vanity it's a waste it leaves you feeling empty in verse 11. He says when goods increase They are increased that eat them the more things you have The more you have to maintain them, the more you have to take care of them, the more problems you have, the more things you have to break, the more things you have to get stolen, the more knickknacks you have, the more things you have to dust. He said, when goods increase, they are increased that eat them. What good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? sometimes people think well I'm gonna collect this or collect that and it's okay to have a collection of this or that but sometimes when that becomes so important you gotta have another one another one another one and you can never have enough and uh the the merchants of the world know that and you can get on little programs or they'll send you this little knickknack or whatever every month automatically and you can get another knickknack and and pay your thirty dollars a month and you put it on the shelf and you keep filling all the shelves and eventually Are 103 knickknacks better than 102? 105 knickknacks better than 104 knickknacks? The law of diminishing returns really kicks in here. But yet people are like, I gotta have the latest little edition of whatever it might be, this latest figurine or whatever it might be. He says, what good is it? You can just look at it. One more thing, one more trinket, one more toy. In verse 12, he says, the sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much. But the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. Will not allow him to sleep. The man that has everything invested in the stock market. Boy, he's not sleeping too well right now. He's wondering when it's going to rebound, when it's going to come back, and he's worried. Maybe he gets up in the middle of the night and just checks the prices again, and maybe checks a foreign stock market, and their reports have just come out. And boy, he's troubled. The abundance of the rich, all of that financial portfolio that he's trying to manage and keep up with, and he's losing sleep over it. He says, just the common labor, just goes and works, earns his money, he goes home, he sleeps well. Verse 13, there is a sore evil which I've seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. You think, well, the more a man has, the better off he's gonna be. God says, no, oftentimes that's not true. The more he has, the worse off he is. And when our life is so wrapped up in money, we no longer possess the money, the money possesses us. And we worry about it constantly and worry about those that are trying to get it. And I have a friend that has just scores and scores and scores of restaurants. And he was telling me he gets sued all the time. Every month or two, he gets sued by somebody that slipped and fell in one of his restaurants. He has to constantly deal with that. Boy, it's just easier to not have all that to worry about. Have your sleep go from you and and worry about all that and verse 16 He says this is also a sore evil that at all points as he came So shall he go? What profit hath he that labored for the wind? What a question when when my whole focus is money my whole passion is the pursuit of things and trying to accumulate and He says, you're gonna leave as you came. Came into this world with nothing, you're gonna leave with nothing. And if all you've lived for is what you can get and what you can gain, you've lived for the wind. You've lived for the wind. What point is there in living for the wind? It has a short shelf life. There's no lasting value in that. If we do not have an eternal perspective, if we're not using our resources in a God-pleasing way, It's going to leave us feeling empty. It goes on to say in verse 17, all his days he eateth in darkness and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness. It hasn't profited him. It hasn't helped him. In verse 18, behold, that which I have seen, it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor. They taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him for it is his portion. those that can have the right priorities, that they're not overly consumed with money and things, and they just enjoy what God gives them, they're not making haste to be rich, as Proverbs says, and the mistake of that, they're not consumed with things, and they're just taking the blessings that God gives them, He says, man, that's good living. And if God blesses you, there's no need to feel guilty about that, but use those resources in a responsible way and learn to be a giver and learn to bless other people and ministries and all of that. He said, if you'll do that, and then God will bless you. In verse 19, every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, God gives it to him. He's not just constantly striving to get it and constantly living for that. And hath given him power to eat thereof and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of God. Enjoy life. Don't be constantly striving to get ahead and to get more and to get more and it's never enough. No, just enjoy what God gives you. Enjoy each day. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Don't be striving to get ahead tomorrow and get more tomorrow. Enjoy what God's given you. Verse 20, he's not much remembered the days of his life. Chapter 6, verse 1, there is an evil which I've seen under the sun is common among men. A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honor, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth. Yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it. This is common. Man, they just try to accumulate, get all that they can, and they're gonna leave it behind. They don't even enjoy it when they have it. So many people are striving to get ahead, striving, striving, constantly working, working, working, working, trying to get ahead, and they don't even get a chance to really enjoy it. They're so consumed with wealth. And on their deathbed, they're not saying, man, I'm glad I strove my whole life to get ahead. I wish I'd spent more days at the office. No, they realize they missed out. It's been said that a man will spend his health to get wealth in his youth. And then in his old age, he'll spend his wealth to try to get health. And he loses on both ends. What a tragedy. What a tragedy. Ecclesiastes chapter 2 and verse 10, Solomon says that whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor. This was my portion of all my labor. Verse 11, that I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought and on the labor that I had labored to do. And behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit. Vanity, emptiness, all was a waste. He was striving to get ahead, striving to accumulate. Solomon, a great hoarder, trying to get as much as he possibly could. He said it was all vanity. It was all empty. And vexation of spirit is frustrating. It left me feeling frustrated. And there was no profit under the sun. Wrong priorities. living for the things of this life, living for money, living for silver and gold, living for things. By the way, Solomon got more than anybody else. It's not like, well, he just didn't get enough. No, he got way more than a thousand men needed, but it didn't satisfy, didn't meet his needs. In fact, in verse 17, he says, therefore, I hated life. Here, this man that seemingly had everything, not just wealth, power and prestige, and he had seemingly everything. He said, I hated life. I hated life. Didn't satisfy. Riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. Jesus would say, a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. You'll never get ahead being tight-fisted with God. Hanging on to, I gotta have this, I gotta have that. No, your life doesn't consist in the abundance of the things which you possess. That's not what life is made of. And you can get all kinds of things. And maybe your financial portfolio tonight, man, you say it's balanced and it's hedged against inflation and it's hedged against market crashes and I'm protected on every side and I'm diversified. Who cares? Who cares? All of that can never satisfy the deep needs of the human heart. All of that will not comfort your soul in the times of life when you need comfort. It will not mean anything to you. Here Solomon had all of this. therefore i i hated life in 2nd chronicles chapter 25 and verse 5 moreover amaziah gathered judah together made them captains over thousands and captains over hundreds according to the houses of their fathers throughout all judah and benjamin and he numbered them from 20 years old and above and found them 300 000 choice men able to go forth to war that can handle a spear and shield. He hired also 100,000 mighty men of valor out of Israel for 100 talents of silver. So Amaziah is getting ready to go to war. He looks at his army and decides, you know, he could use some reinforcements. And so he handles, he hires, if you will, some mercenary soldiers. At this time, the kingdom's divided, as you know. He hires some mercenary soldiers out of Israel for 100 talents of silver. But there came a man of God to him saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee. For the Lord is not with Israel to wit with all the children of Ephraim. And so the preacher shows up and says, hey, king, you're making a mistake here. Israel's not walking with God. Israel's not living for God. And you're going to hire a nation that God's not blessing right now. God's not using Israel. God's cursing Israel. He's not blessing Israel. And you've hired them to go with you, and that's going to hurt you. It's not going to help you. Verse 8, if thou wilt go, do it. Be strong for the battle. God shall make thee fall before the enemy. For God hath power to help and to cast down. King, if you insist on going through with this, you insist on going, I'm telling you, you're going to be defeated in battle. You're not only going to just lose all the money that you gave to hire Israel, but God's not going to bless the nation of Judah. You're going to fall in battle. And so you can think you've made yourself strong in battle by hiring these reinforcements, these mercenary soldiers, but I'm telling you, God's going to curse that. Look at verse 9, Amaziah said to the man of God, but what shall we do for the hundred talents which I've given to the army of Israel? I've already paid the money. I'll be out the money. If I don't have these soldiers come, I've hired them for nothing. I've wasted the money. Look at the answer that he got. The man of God answered, the Lord is able to give thee much more than this. The Lord is able to give thee much more than this. Don't worry about that money. Just let it go. God's able to give you a whole lot more than that. How many people say, you know, but if I tithe, it's not, it's the math, the numbers, they're not adding up. I've crunched the numbers. I've crunched them a bunch of times, and it's not adding up. To take 10% right now, hey, the Lord's able to give you much more than that. The Lord's able to bless you in ways you can't even fathom. The Lord's able to bring increase into your life. And here, King Amaziah said, you know, but look, this money. And the man of God says, no, no, don't worry about that. God can give you a whole lot more than that. You say, but 10%? Hey, God can give you a whole lot more than that. You're never going to come out ahead thinking, you know, I'm keeping all this. I'm not going to give God what he wants from me. I'm going to keep it, and I'm going to be blessed in doing so. God can bless in a whole lot of ways that you can't even think about tonight. And God can curse in a whole lot of ways as well. 2 Chronicles chapter 31 verse 6 is now when all this was finished all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah and break in pieces cut down the groves threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin in Ephraim also in Manasseh until they had utterly destroyed them all then all the children of Israel returned every man to his possession into their own cities And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, the priests and Levites for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the tents of the Lord. He appointed also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, to wit, for the morning and evening burnt offerings and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths. And for the new moons and for the set feast as it is written in the law of the Lord. Moreover, he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites that they might be encouraged in the law of the Lord. And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance. firstfruits of corn wine and oil and honey and of all the increase of the field and the tithe the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly and concerning the children of Israel and Judah that dwelt in the cities of Judah they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the Lord their God and laid them by heaps the holy things which were consecrated unto the Lord and then Hezekiah verse 9 question with the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps and verse 10 Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him and said since the people begin to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord we have had enough to eat and have left plenty for the Lord hath blessed his people and that which is left is this great store He says, well, what is all this? He says, you know, since the people just started giving to God, we've got a lot left over. We have so much left over, and God has blessed the people's generosity. God has blessed His people, and they in turn have brought these offerings, and we have more than enough. You'll never get ahead by being tight-fisted with God. The whole message of Malachi, of these people that thought, you know what, let's just give God the leftovers. Let's just be cheap with God. We're supposed to bring the sacrifices. Okay, we'll bring the sacrifices. I'll just kind of use it to improve the state of my flock. I'll bring the lame, bring the sick, the diseased, the blind, and I'll cull out the runts of the litter, and I'll bring that to God. And so, hey, we're going through with the sacrifices, with the offerings, and I'm improving the quality, the grade of my stock. And God says, it's not going to work that way. It's not going to work that way. He's I've I've cursed your blessings. I'm not going to bless you anymore. I'm a curse your blessings 31st Chronicles chapter 29 1st Chronicles chapter 29 will end with this passage tonight 1st Chronicles 29 In verse 1, Furthermore David the king said unto all the congregation, Solomon my son, whom ye alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great. For the palace is not for man, but for the Lord God. Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, the silver for things of silver, the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, wood for things of wood. Onyx stones and stones to be set, glycerine stones and of diverse colors, and all manner of precious stones and marble stones in abundance. Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of my own proper good of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, even 3,000 talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, 7,000 talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the house with all. The gold for things of gold, the silver for things of silver, for all manner of work to be made by the hand of artificers, and who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord? Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel and the captains of thousands and of hundreds with the rulers of the king's work offered willingly, 1st Chronicles 29, 6. They offered willingly. their hearts were involved and David had set his heart to the house of God and his affection was there and he wanted to be a blessing verse 7 and gave for the service of the house of God 5,000 talons and 10,000 rams and of silver 10,000 talons and of brass 18,000 talons and 100,000 talons of iron and they with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of the Lord by the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite And then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord. And David the king also rejoiced with great joy, wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation. And David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our father, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness. The power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. God, it's all yours anyway. It's all yours to begin with. You're the one that made all of this. You're the one that created it. You're the one that's blessed us with it. It goes on in verse 12 of 1st Chronicles 29, both riches and honor come of thee. Thou reignest over all. In thine hand is power and might, and in thine hand it is to make great, give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious name. But who am I? What is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. Oh, that we would learn that. Things come from you God all things come from you and everything we give back to you. We're giving from what you gave to us Giving from what you gave to us You know It's kind of like when the little a four-year-old boy five-year-old boy wants to buy His mom a gift for Mother's Day or buy his dad a gift for his birthday And so he goes to his parents to ask for money so he can go and buy them a gift He's just giving back to them what they've given to him really with with our offerings. That's what we're doing. I With our tithes, that's what we're doing. God gave it to us to begin with. God gave us the wherewithal, Deuteronomy 8, 18. God is the one that gives us power. God's the one that's given us the wherewithal to earn money. It comes from Him. He's the one that gives us that. He's the one that gives us opportunities. He's the one that takes away opportunities. so he says of your own you gave this to us to begin with and of your own we're just giving back to you of thine own have we given thee all things come of thee verse 15 for we are strangers before thee and sojourners as were all our fathers our days on the earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding he's got we're just passing through we're just pilgrims here we're just kind of renting for a while if you will we're just kind of leasing for a while this none of this belongs to us we're going to leave it behind passing through we're giving back to you what you've given to us oh lord our god verse 16 all this store that we have prepared to build the in-house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand and is all thine own yeah over and over he's gonna say lord we're just giving back to you what's yours i know also my god that thou tryest the heart and has pleasure and uprightness as for me the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things and now have I seen with joy thy people which are present here to offer willingly unto thee O Lord God of Abraham Isaac and of Israel our fathers keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people and prepare their heart unto thee O God that we your people would always understand this Lord, help us not lose sight of this. Help us to understand that everything is yours, that everything we have, you've just entrusted to our care to steward for a while. Lord, keep this forever in the thoughts of your people. May we always have a giving heart. Lord, always let us realize that everything we have is just borrowed. The things that we say are ours are really just borrowed. You lent them to us. Help us steward well. Keep this forever in our thoughts and give unto Solomon, my son, a perfect heart. to keep thy commandments thy testimonies and thy statutes and to do all these things and to build the palace for the which I have made provision and David said to all the congregation now bless the Lord your God and all the congregation bless the Lord God of their fathers and bow down their heads and worship the Lord and the king and they sacrificed sacrifices unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings unto the Lord on the morrow after that day even a thousand bullocks a thousand rams a thousand lambs with their drink offerings and sacrifices and abundance for all Israel and did eat and drink before the Lord on that day with great gladness that's a great passage it talks about God's people saying you know what we're going to bring all of this we're going to give it to God that David's son comes to reign on the throne, Solomon, could build a magnificent temple unto God, that we would have sacrifices in abundance to offer unto God. And if you caught the spirit that was present there, and you notice the words that are used, as we read through that passage, it talks about great gladness, great gladness. They're giving, they're not receiving. they're not getting said they're giving they're giving they're giving and there's great gladness and it mentions twice that they rejoice they rejoice and it talks about joy and it talks about their great joy and it talks about them willingly six times it says they willingly not like oh okay i guess i better do something no willingly six times willingly they offered It talks about they had a perfect heart and words like affection and praise and bless and pleasure and blessed and thanked and worshipped. All of those, all through that passage, as they're coming and they're bringing this abundant offering, they're rejoicing. There's great joy in their hearts. We think the more we can accumulate, the more rejoicing there is, the more pleasure there is. No, the more we can give. The more we can give. We were made to be givers. And here at this point in Israel's history, everything's going well. The people are giving. And David says, God, would you keep this in our hearts? Help us not lose sight of this. And of course, tragically, even Solomon would lose sight of it, his own son. He would lose sight of it. And every generation after, tempted by, this looks really good, I want this, I want that, I want this, until you come down to the time of Malachi's day, and even to give a lamb without blemish, to give the best of the flock, no, I'm not gonna do that. That'd be a waste, that'd be a waste. Kill a lamb, this is good stock. This is good for breeding. This lamb, he's a perfect specimen. Now I'm going to take this crippled lamb. Not even sure this lamb can bear young. I'm going to take this lamb to the temple. I'm going to take this lamb and offer it for a sacrifice. And God says, I take no pleasure in you. I don't want your offerings. If that's what you're going to bring, just stay home. That's basically what he says in Malachi. I have no pleasure in it. I have no pleasure in it. Oh, how we ought to have a heart to give. And if we don't, we ought to pray. God, give us a heart to give. And the best thing you can do, you say, well, I just don't have a heart to give. Just start giving. Just start giving. And say, God, I'm gonna give. I'm gonna give out of obedience. Maybe you say, I don't even have enough faith to give. I think if I give, I don't know how we're gonna pay the bills. They say, well, but you know what? God's commanded me to give. I don't even have the faith, but I'm just going to give to be obedient. And God, I have so little faith, so little belief. Help thou mine unbelief, like the man prayed in the New Testament. Help thou mine unbelief. But God, I want you to be first in my life. I want to seek first the kingdom of God. I want to put you first. I want to be a giver. I want my heart to be right. And, Lord, right now, I'm probably more given out of duty. Help me to give with a joyful heart. Help me to give with be a cheerful giver. God, help my faith to grow. Stretch me in this area. Help me to learn what it means to be a giver. Don't spend your life being a taker. How sad. How sad. where you want everything to come to you, you want to accumulate, you want to hoard, you want to have more, more, more, more, more, always more, never enough. What a sad life that is. Oh, the lesson of Malachi, you're never gonna get ahead by being tight-fisted with God. You say, well, look, I've got this car, and I've got this, and I've got that, and you don't have the capacity to enjoy it like you would. God's given you your request, maybe, but sent leanness into your soul. Oh, far better that you take those blessings that God gives, Enjoy the blessings of God, and be a giver with that, and steward it well, and continue to enjoy the blessings of God. If you don't, oh, you're robbing God. Will a man rob God? Yes. But you're not just robbing God. You're robbing yourself. You're robbing yourself of the enjoyment of life. You're robbing yourself of more blessings from God. You're robbing yourself of learning what life's all about, and all that God can do in you, and with you, and through you. If you just say, you know what, I'm going to be a giver. I'm going to step out by faith. I'm going to trust God. I'm going to believe God. I don't want to walk in unbelief. I don't want to walk by sight. I don't want to displease God. I don't want to dishonor God. I'm going to step out. I'm going to do what God's commanded. And then you'll experience the blessings of God. And you'll know what it means to be right with God and the fellowship that comes as a result of that. Robbing God? And robbing yourself, don't do it. Father, thank you for your word tonight. Lord, I pray you'd use it in our lives. Help us to purpose in our hearts that we're not gonna rob you. Lord, that we're gonna be givers that you've created us to be.