Why Tithe? | Tyrone P Jones | ThanksGiving | Full Service

** FUNKY OUTRO MUSIC ** Good morning Church for the City! How are we doing today? I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We're all grateful to be back in the house of the Lord. If you're not standing, I ask you to please stand with us right now if you're able. The verse I want to share with you this morning is from the book of Joshua, chapter 1, verse 9, and it says, This is my command. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Now this was God talking to Joshua when he was getting ready to have him lead the Israelites into the promised land. And I know not many of us are getting ready to lead a group of people into a new country, but we all go through things. We all have times where we feel alone or discouraged or get upset or stressed. But have faith and comfort and know that God is always with us, every one of us, no matter what we go through. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for bringing us all together back again to your house. Lord, I pray that you open the hearts and the minds of everyone here and that we can hear this message you have for us and we can apply it to our lives in a way that glorifies you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's worship. The cross of salvation was only the start. Now I am chosen, free and forgiven. And I have a future and it's worth the living. I wasn't made to be tamed in a grave. I was called by you. Born and raised back to life again. And I was made for more. So why would I make a bed in my shed when a fountain of death is running my way? I know I am yours and I was made for more. And I know who I am. I know who you are. The cross of salvation was only the start. Now I am chosen, free and forgiven. And I have a future and it's worth the living. I wasn't made to be tamed in a grave. I was called by you. Born and raised back to life again. And I was made for more. So why would I make a bed in my shed when a fountain of death is running my way? I know I am yours and I was made for more. Sing Hallelujah. You called out my name so I'll sing out your praise. Hallelujah. You buried my past so I'm not going back.

Hallelujah. You called out my name so I'll sing out your praise. Hallelujah. You buried my past so I'm not going back. Cause I wasn't made to be turned into grave I was called by name, born and raised, back to life again I was made for more So why would I make a bed in my shame When a mountain of grace is running my way I know I am cause I was made for more Cause I wasn't made to be turned into grave I was called by name, born and raised, back to life again I was made for more So why would I make a bed in my shame When a mountain of grace is running my way I know I am cause I was made for more Hallelujah If you call out my name So I'll sing out your praise Hallelujah If you bury my past I'm not going back Hallelujah If you call out my name So I'll sing out your praise Hallelujah If you bury my past I'm not going back Cause I wasn't made to be turned into grave I was called by name, born and raised, back to life again I was made for more So why would I make a bed in my shame When a mountain of grace is running my way I know I am cause I was made for more Come on, church. You're so worthy. Give me praise. Well, hey, church, we've got a baptism in the house today. Let's turn our attention to the screen if somebody goes public with their faith. Hi, my name is Hunter, and I am eight years old.

I have decided to be baptized because I love Jesus and I want to follow Him. I've been learning about God by reading my Bible. I like reading the stories about Jesus and how He helped people and loves them. When I read my Bible, I feel like I understand more about who God is and what He wants me to do. I know that Jesus loves me and He died on the cross for my sins so that I can be forgiven. Two years ago, I told my parents that I heard God speak to me. I realized that I wanted to give my life to Him and live the way He wants me to. I also feel like God is calling me to be a missionary someday so I can tell other people about Him and share His love with them. I ask Jesus to come into my heart and make good choices. I want to show others that I believe in Him, and I want to live my faith out loud. And that's one of the reasons why I want to be baptized today. Baptism means that I'm part of God's family and that I'm choosing to follow Jesus for the rest of my life. Today, I'm going public with my faith. Hunter, Jesus said every disciple should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And because of your confession of faith, today I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. And according to Scripture, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Come on, let's give the Lord a shout of praise. What a powerful testimony. Let's continue to worship today. Come on, let's give the Lord a shout of praise. ♪ A crown of thorns to the one who took ♪ ♪ The lash and scourge for the hands and feet ♪ ♪ That were pierced by nails for the sacrifice of God ♪ ♪ That has torn the veil ♪ ♪ We crown Him, we fall face down and we worship ♪ ♪ We all cry out, you are worthy God ♪ ♪ You are worthy God ♪ ♪ We crown Him, we fall face down and we worship ♪ ♪ We all cry out, you are worthy God ♪ ♪ You are worthy God ♪

♪ So worthy, so worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ To the one who spared me life away, took upon himself ♪ ♪ To the one who spared me life away, took upon himself ♪ ♪ All our guilt and shame, make an honored word ♪ ♪ For the worthy love of His precious blood ♪ ♪ Precious meant for God ♪ ♪ We crown Him, we fall face down and we worship ♪ ♪ We all cry out, you are worthy God ♪ ♪ You are worthy God ♪ ♪ We crown Him, we fall face down and we worship ♪ ♪ We all cry out, you are worthy God ♪ ♪ You are worthy God ♪ Come on, church, let's lift our hands towards heaven. To the Lamb who was slain. ♪ You are worthy God ♪ ♪ To the one who endured all the shame of the cross ♪ ♪ To the Lamb who was slain as a torment for us ♪ ♪ To the Son who overcame all the power of death and grave ♪ ♪ For the stripes, for the wounds, for the pain you bore ♪ ♪ For the tears, for the blood that was willingly poured ♪ ♪ For the mercy formed in full majesty, your love ♪ ♪ To the one who endured all the shame of the cross ♪ ♪ To the Lamb who was slain as a torment for us ♪ ♪ To the Son who overcame all the power of death and grave ♪ ♪ For the stripes, for the wounds, for the pain you bore ♪ ♪ For the tears, for the blood that was willingly poured ♪ ♪ For the mercy formed in full majesty, your love ♪ ♪ We bow before faith and we worship, we all cry out ♪ ♪ You are worthy God, You are worthy God ♪

♪ We bow before faith and we worship, we all cry out ♪ We all cry out, You are worthy God. You are worthy God. To the one who endured all the shame of the cross. To the man who was slain as atonement for us. To the Son who overcame all the power of death, we pray. For the scars, for the wounds, for the beating heart. For the tears, for the pain that we're living for. For the blessing, for wonders, for magic, save Your name. We bow, we fall face down and we worship. Come on church, sing it out. We all cry out, You are worthy God. You are worthy God. We crown You, we fall face down and we worship. We all cry out, You are worthy God. You are worthy God. In the darkness we were waiting, without hope, without light. Till from heaven You came running, there was mercy in Your eyes. To fulfill the law and prophets, to a virgin came the Word. From a throne of endless glory, to a cradle in the dirt. Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit. Three in one, God in glory, majesty. Praise forever to the King of kings. To reveal the kingdom coming, and to reconcile the lost. To redeem the whole creation, You did not despise the cross. For even in Your suffering, You sought to the other side. Knowing this is our salvation, Jesus for our sake You died. Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Spirit. Three in one, God of glory, majesty. Praise forever to the King of kings. In the morning that You rose, all of heaven held its breath. Till the stone was rolled for good, for the Lamb had conquered death. And the devils from their tombs, and the angels stood in awe. For the souls of all who come, to the Father are restored. And the Church of Christ was born.

Then the spirit of the Faith, and the spark of truth arose. Shine on me, and show me Your face. God is good, and can do good. In this freedom I am free, for the love of Jesus Christ. ♪ Who has resurrected me ♪ ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪ ♪ God of glory, majesty ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of Kings ♪ ♪ Oh, praise forever to the King of Kings ♪ King of Kings, he's worthy of it. So good to be in the house of God, to be with you this morning. Wonderful place to be. It's Sunday after Thanksgiving and usually tryptophan is still working in your blood, in your veins, but you seem like you're alive. The worship was amazing. Can we just give it up for the praise team this morning? Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Love the baptism. What a great celebration. Congratulations. That blesses any family to see a child being baptized. Listen, I wanna give a shout out to those who are watching us online, those that are in prison. We're in 35 states across the nation, every prison in 35 states and those that are in Yuma County jail.

So good for you to be with us. Welcome to Church for the City where we'll teach the word of God, we'll encounter the presence of him and we'll spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're on a journey with us to help people that are far from God find life in Christ and you're doing a great job. What a great church. I love serving you. There are those moments when I just wanna stay in worship, but I know you pay me to preach, so I'm gonna preach, but I could have just hung out in the presence of the Lord this morning and worshiped him. He's so worthy of it. He really is. So you're gonna take a minute. You may be near somebody you don't know. If so, please introduce yourself and we'll get ready for the word of the Lord. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ All righty, just a couple of things I wanna go over before we get into the message. This Wednesday is First Wednesday. We love to come together on the first Wednesday of the month.

We usually do a two-hour service. It's a time of prayer and worship, and we bring in a guest that's gonna bring a good message and we get to follow that up in more times of worship. And it's just been amazing since we started this in August. September, I believe. No, yes, September. And what a tremendous time we've had. So First Wednesday, this Wednesday, 6 p.m., you're gonna love being in the presence of the Lord. That same couple that we're bringing for First Wednesday will also be part of leading and teaching on our date night. So Friday the 5th is date night. That is open for 100 couples, so there is still some space available, not a lot. You wanna get registered for that. Doors will open at 530, and we'll begin at 6 p.m. It is $60 a couple. That includes the dinner, the materials, and everything that's happening that night, and childcare is available. Space is limited on childcare, but again, if you tap to this or go to the Connect, to the website or to the Connect table, you can get all the information you need for that. So date night, this Friday night, the 5th. I do wanna thank you for your generosity. Every time you come into the building, there's opportunities to give, and I thank you for that.

As we gear up going toward the end of the year, of course, we'll be doing quite a bit of year-end giving as we normally do to local agencies, churches, et cetera, places the Lord puts up on our heart that we wanna invest in. in and celebrate them. And so your generosity helps us do just that. So thank you for doing so. All right, I think I am ready to pray and go right on into the word of the Lord. So I'm gonna, I know you just sat down and I went through that kind of quick, but just pretend we're Catholics for a minute and stand up again if you would, if you don't mind taking off your caps. And I want you to turn to Malachi chapter three. Malachi chapter three, I'm gonna read verses six through 12. Malachi three, Malachi is the very last book of the Old Testament. Very last book of the Old Testament. So if you hit Matthew, Mark, Luke, you've went too far. If you're still in Psalms, Proverbs and Isaiah, you need to keep moving. Very last book of the Old Testament. Verse number six, Malachi three. Here's the word of the Lord. For I, the Lord, do not change, therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside

from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, how will we return? Will man rob God, yet you're robbing me? But you say, how have we robbed you in your tithes and contributions? You're cursed with the curse for you're robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house, and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts. If I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need, I will rebuke the devourer for you so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil and your vine, and the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts. So far, the reading of the word. Lord, I wanna thank you now for this opportunity to be in your house with your people. Lord, it's here that we get to gather. We get to gather here in peace, where there's those that are attempting to gather in various places around the world, in fear and trepidation. People that are in India, people that are in Nigeria,

people that are in other countries, Lord, that are facing persecution, just to gather and worship their God. But here, we get to do so in peace. We get to do so with others who love you. We get to do so in your presence and have a glorious opportunity to extend our hands and to lift our voices to you, the God of heaven, our Lord, our God. And Father, I pray that you will continue to be with us during our time together. Lord, as we engage in the word, Lord, no matter what I've prepared, I wanna trust the Holy Spirit to speak and to guide and to direct. I pray, Lord God, that the Holy Spirit and the word of God will be louder than my voice. And Lord, I pray that ears of people will be open, hearts will be open, minds will be open. Lord, that the message will produce fruit in their lives. Lord, I do thank you for witnessing, Lord, again, just another baptism. Thank you for the Kirkus family, the Lee family, Lord, the investment of years of pouring into their family in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. And may you continue to bless them as a whole. Lord, I thank you also for everyone here that serves, that comes together to help us gather, that we may all be able to embrace in peace and in safety what the spirit of Christ is saying.

Lord, I pray for every church in this county. Our hearts desire, Lord, is for every church in Yuma County to grow, for the pastors to lead in health and lead in strength, for their teams and volunteers to surround them. We desire, Lord God, that the kingdom of God will be expanded in our county, that Christ is exalted and glorified and lifted up. So we pray blessings upon every church that's gathering in Yuma County this morning. Lord, I pray for the families of the young people, Lord, that was lost in the, that worked for, that were in the National Guard in the shooting. I'm not sure, maybe one, the young man may still be alive. If so, Lord, I pray, Lord, that you will help him to recover. I know the young lady's family is walking through a loss and a grief. Lord, we pray for them. Lord, we pray for our nation again. Lord, we we pray week after week that the hostility, Lord, will go down and the love and value of mankind will increase. Lord, that we may look into the eyes of people that you died for and love people in spite of our differences. And so, Lord, I pray that you help us as a church to be the first in that, the first in that exalting you, speaking well, Lord God, to to fellow men. Father, I pray for every first responder again. National Guard, our border patrol customs, fire, fire departments, police department, military that are serving here and abroad, pray for safety.

Pray for every pilot in the air. I pray for every man on the ground, every woman on the ground. Lord, that you would be with them. Give them comfort. Give them peace. Lord, I just I pray indeed that. We would be part of the the family of faith that lifts up Jesus Christ. The scripture is clear that righteousness exalts a nation. Help us be people of righteousness, people of faith, people that love you and people that carry your name. Father, you're awesome and amazing. And we thank you in Christ's name. We pray. May the people of God say amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. You you may be seated. Now we're in the third week of this series on on Thanksgiving. And we've taught on provision that was in the first week we talked about that, what it means for God to provide for us. And last week, because we were going into Thanksgiving, we taught on gratitude. This week, we're going to be teaching a subject on tithing. Why tithe? What the Bible talks about tithing and where the where the heart is of generosity. There's there's a few key statements, again, that I want to make. I've made these every week and will continue to do so. And the statement reads is this. When God's people practice continual gratitude and joyful generosity, they live in the flow of his promise provision.

When we practice continual gratitude and generosity. Another statement that you've heard the last couple of weeks, when you cultivate a thankful, grateful and generous heart. You position yourself to experience God's faithful provision in every area of your lives. Again, this is biblical truth that when you cultivate a heart that's thankful, a heart that's grateful, a heart that's generous, you position yourself to receive God's provision. Last statement, as you live with hearts full of gratitude and hands open in generosity, you'll see that the Lord supplies all you need. And that's a fact. And I absolutely believe that we have a household of witnesses on that. And so on this subject of tithe, which means a tenth, we'll define that a little bit more. It's a biblical principle that aligns with every other spiritual discipline that we have. Sometimes we just simplify it by talking about giving. Sometimes we simplify it by talking about generosity. And the truth of it is, it really does start with a heart. And every one of us as Christians should have a heart of generosity. We should have a heart of generosity because we're people of gratitude. And why are we people of gratitude? Because we're grateful that the Lord redeemed us, that he saved us, that he delivered us, that he rescued us. And so we live with a grateful mindset and a heart of gratitude. When it comes to this principle of tithe, and again, there's several reasons on why people don't tithe. Some people are just new in the faith and just basically uninformed. They just don't know about it, never been taught, so they don't do it.

There's some that's heard the word tithe. And if you've been at CTC at any length of time, you've heard it, but maybe don't know how that applies to you. Some people know what the meaning of it is, but just don't sense an urgency or even a need to be obedient to it. Some people just don't prioritize it in their budget, just don't make it a priority. And then there's others. that just don't believe it's taught in scripture. And so, I wanna run this down to you. This word tithe, and I believe this will be on the screen. In the Hebrew, the word is aser, aser, and it means 1 10th. Now, here's the verse in Genesis 28, 20 through 22. It says, then Jacob made this vow. Maybe need to go back a little bit. Jacob was eventually, his name was changed to Israel. So, he is the father of the people of Israel in that sense. The 12 children that were his became the 12 tribes of Israel. So, this is early on in Genesis. You got Abraham, had a son named Isaac. Isaac had a son named Jacob. And so, this is early on in our Bible. And Jacob is heading toward the land that the Lord had promised to what was to become the people of Israel. He recognizes God's faithfulness in his life, and there's so much to this story. Actually, there's so much to this story

that's even very personal to me, but there's so much in this story to bring out. But just so you know who Jacob is, is Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob became the father of the children of Israel. Here he has this encounter with the Lord. And verse 20 says this, then Jacob made this vow. If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, and if I return safely to my father's house, then the Lord will certainly be my God. And this memorial pillar that I have set up will become a place for worshiping God. And I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me. Here is that word, asar, where Jacob said, I recognize that God is my God. I recognize that God is with me. I recognize that God is protecting me, and that God is the one that's providing for me. And because he is, he says I'm making this commitment that a tenth of everything he gives me goes to him. And so, this is a statement that's made before the law, because some people teach that tithing was the law.

No, it's actually, it's included in the law. But it was before the law. But the heart of it is, Jacob makes this commitment because he's noting, I'm doing this unto the God of whom I know is with me because of what he does for us and what God has done for me. Now, that same word is in Deuteronomy 14.22. Here it is. You shall truly tithe all of the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. That's in the New King James. The New Living, I won't say it, read it all, but it says it this way. You must set aside a tithe of your crops, one-tenth of all your crops each year. Now, this is a, I always say this word wrong, but I believe the word is agregorian community, meaning that it's agriculture-oriented. And so everything that they'd done was agriculturally related. All of their income, of course, they, in time, they, just like every other culture, developed shops and things where they sold things that they made and done. But the source of what they did was based on raising crops, raising livestock, et cetera. So that was their basic income.

And so each year, of course, depending on the produce, depending on the livestock, they're saying, we take a tenth of that, a tenth of what comes. So if I produce, if there's 10 cattle produced, I take one cattle and I set it aside. That's given unto the Lord or taken to the place of worship. If I, just being real, I guess, silly and simple, if I get 10 tomatoes, then one tomato is set aside. So you get the idea. Based on what they harvest or what's produced, a tenth of that was set aside. New Testament, the teaching of the tithes was a consistent thread. And even Jesus made mention of it in Matthew 23, 23. He said this, "'What sorrow awaits you, teachers of the religious law and the Pharisees?' This is Jesus getting on to the religious leaders. He said, "'You hypocrites, for you're careful to tithe,' here's that word again, "'to give a tenth even of the tiniest income "'from your herb gardens, "'but yet you ignore the more important aspects of the law, "'justice, mercy, and faith. "'You should tithe, yes, you do not neglect, "'but do not...' Neglect the more important things.

So Jesus is telling them, if your heart is right, and you tithe everything that comes in, then your heart should be right in doing the things that's good, merciful to people, being just to people, exercising yourself in faith. So if the heart is right, then everything else should also be done in a manner that's right unto the Lord. Now, understand this, that a tithe is not a tip. Which, to be honest, most of the time, we probably give more tip to a waiter or a waitress than we do to the house of the Lord. Because most of us go by either 18% tip or a 20% tip, depends on how generous you are. Which I will say this, one of the best ways to bless people is to tip them well. It's one of the best ways to bless people. And so sometimes it's easier for us to give 15%, 18%, 20% on a meal than it is to give to the house of the Lord 10% of your income. But a tithe is not a tip, it's not a payment. It's not a membership fee. It's a hard issue. Not, yeah, not a membership fee. Yeah, I got some personal issues going on with membership fees with the country club, but that's a different story. But anyway, but it's a hard issue. Mark 10, 17 through 22, it says, as he was setting out on a journey,

a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus responds, he says, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother. He said, teacher, I've kept all these things from my youth. I love this line. Looking at him, Jesus loved him. That's so special. And said to him, you lack one thing. Go sell all you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me. But he was dismayed by this demand and he went away grieving because he had many possessions. It's unfortunate sometimes people take this passage and they teach poverty, they teach sell all you got. And I mean, there's just all kinds of ridiculous teachings on this. That's not at all what Jesus is teaching to each of us. What Jesus was doing here was addressing a man's heart. What he was saying to this young fella is, you know what, you got all that right, but there's a hard issue. There's some things that actually you are not willing to part from because you believe they belong to you.

It's a hard issue. Matthew 19, 21 says, Jesus said to him, this is another translation, if you want to be complete, if you want to be complete, if you don't want to be disconnected, if you don't want to be out of alignment, go and sell your possessions, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Come and follow me. I like the fact that Jesus loved a guy. I liked him that he looked at him with love and certainly expressed that first, that this ain't even about me loving you. This is not even about having possessions. Possessions is not a problem, never has been a problem biblically. The amount of possessions you have does not indicate at all where you are spiritually. Can I just say this to you? I hope this is a prophetic word. I wish everybody in here was rich. I really do. I want people to be blessed. I want God to bless you. It's not about possessions. It's when the possessions have a hold of you that is really the issue that Jesus is dealing with. And so Jesus here tells him, basically, if you submit to this area where you just willing to let your heart

absolutely be surrendered to me in all things, that'll keep you from being disconnected. And here's what you know. You even know this in your everyday life even if you don't think about it. Wherever your treasure is, that's where your heart's gonna be. Oftentimes we get that the other way around. We'll say, you know, we'll think where the heart is, everything follows. No, that's not true. As a matter of fact, the heart is deceptively wicked according to Jeremiah 17, 23. You can follow your heart and make some horrible decisions. You ever been there? I have. I'm just following my heart, and it was the most ridiculous decision that I ever made, but my heart felt like it was the right thing to do. No, here's what Jesus teaches. Where your treasure is, your heart follows, meaning whatever is the most precious thing to you, you gonna line up your heart to go right at it. If it's your spouse, everything that you do is wanting to please that person. If your spouse is your treasure, everything you wanna do and what you do in life is to please that person. If your treasure is some sense of achievement, whether it be making it in pro sports or making it to the top of the skyscraper

for it to be a CEO or if it's to be the most accomplished person in your family, if that's what your treasure is, everything about your heart is gonna go in that direction. What you do with your time, what you do with your talents is gonna go in that direction. Wherever your treasure is, that's where your heart's gonna go. You're gonna gear all of your life toward that treasure. If your treasure is Jesus, which it should be, which it should be, you're getting weak. I can almost hear a rat licking ice. If, if, if, if your treasure is Jesus, if you really believe that's the most precious thing you have is this life with Christ, everything about your heart is gonna line up in that direction. It's gonna go that way. And so Matthew 621, I told you all that without giving you the scripture, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And so the tithe is really a simple act of obedience that counters heart distraction, that counters being disconnected, it counters deception. Now Malachi is an interesting book. It's the last book of the Bible. And the Lord is pretty much fed up with the children of Israel. He's fed up with the nations.

One of them, they split off through all kind of nonsense. The only one you got left is Judah. The Lord is pretty fed up with them. And he had promised a Messiah. So what he does, what happens here in the book of Malachi, this is right before the Lord shut heaven. For over 400 years, there was no word from heaven. No prophet that was speaking. They were still going through the motions of going through the synagogue to some degree. But there was some wars that went on also that done some damage with that, with the Greeks and some of those that broke off from the Grecian Empire. So there was some real stuff going on where the temple was decimated and without going into all of that. But so for 400 years though, they heard nothing from heaven. The next voice they heard after the book of Malachi was John the Baptist. So for 400 years, Malachi declares this word. No more prophet speaking. The next voice they hear speaking for the Lord after 400 years was John the Baptist crying in the wilderness. Why did he do this? Why did he shut down heaven? He had told them that the Messiah was coming. But he's basically telling them your head and your heart and your pursuit of me is just not right. I'm gonna keep my word.

I'm bringing a Messiah. But you are so out of line. The priest was doing polluted offerings. They was profaning their covenant with God, meaning they weren't even living according to the principles of the faith. They were violating relationships. By no means was they trusting God as their God and their father. And that's where the verses that we read come into play, verses six through 12. For he said that I'm the Lord and I don't change. But he said here, I want you to know that I'm the Lord, but I don't change. And the good news that I don't change is because I haven't consumed you. Meaning I am the Lord. I don't change what I asked of you. But here's the good news. I haven't blown you up. I haven't burnt you all up. I haven't brought my wrath down. Why? Because I'm promising that the Messiah is gonna come and save you. As a matter of fact, he says when the Messiah comes, it's gonna turn the heart of the children, which is us, to the Father. We're gonna turn our heart back to him. But he says, listen, you've turned aside from me.

And because you've turned aside from me, there's just a curse upon you. Now, God doesn't curse us, so I don't want you to misunderstand that. But our own disobedience or lack of obedience can bring some judgment in our life. And so he says, that's the issue. So I'm gonna give you four things, and this won't take me long. You've got a little too quiet. I can speed this up with a few amens, but it's up to you. I don't mind. I get paid to be here all day long, so it'll be fine. But let me just tell you just four things that he's saying in this passage. And one of them is this. Typhon is returning what is the Lord's already. Typhon is returning what is the Lord's already. Listen to what he says here. Return to me, and I will return to you. So he's saying, listen, this is already mine. Again, he talked about a whole lot of other things if you read Malachi chapter one through four. But when he talked about this specifically, he says, listen, you return to me what belongs to me. Leviticus 27.30 says, every tithe of the land, whether the seed of the land or the fruit of the trees, it is the Lord's, it's holy to the Lord. And we'll talk about the reasons

on why the Lord established the tithing, but he said, listen, it's mine anyway. In other words, when you get your check or however you do your earning, when you get that 100%, you do realize, I hope you realize, that really none of that is, you know, we're only stewards. The reason that you know that you really don't own anything is when you die, there ain't nothing going with you. If you owned it, why wouldn't you take it? You can't take it because it doesn't belong to you. You know, we're only stewards. Now, I could talk about that in every arena. You know, you're only a steward of your wife or your husband. You don't own that person. You're only steward of your children. You don't own them. I know some of y'all probably heard just like me when I was growing up, I brought you into the world, I can take you out. You know, I heard that too. Threatened all the time, gonna get taken. I got taken out so much times, they built Star Wars after me. I mean, I got taken out so many times. But we don't own anything. It's all that the Lord is trusting us with, including when it comes to what we earn, what God blesses with. So he says, a tenth of that, a tithe of that,

however you get it, belongs to the Lord. First Chronicles 29, 13, and 14, it says, "'O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name. "'But who am I and who are my people "'that we could give anything to you? "'Everything we have has come from you, "'and we give you only what you first gave us.'" It's beautiful. And so everything comes from him, and the Lord is asking that a 10% be returned. Now, here's the second thing. Tithing supplies a local church for ministry. Notice this word, bring all the tithes into the storehouse. He's talking about, of course, the local church, that the local gathering there, of course, was the temple where they would bring all of the tithes, they would use it for the various things, and even taking care of the poor, which there's a whole lesson on that I could go to. But he says, bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house, meat in our house, where people can receive. I'm telling you, it's because of people responding to the scripture in this that we get to gather here week after week, where stuff is paid for. I think you get it. I think you understand that when you come in, APS will cut you off if you don't pay them. Now, they can't cut off our water,

because we own a well, but wells break down. I mean, I could go right on down the line. So just from the standpoint of the house, that's one thing. But listen, every week, 250 kids gather here every week and hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that can change their life, so that they can go out into the world and make a difference. Our youth ministry has over 200 young. Come here on a Wednesday night. You do on first Wednesdays, but pop in here on a Wednesday night when it's not first Wednesday, and see 200 young people crying out to God, lifting their hands down on their faces, seeking after him. We got young folks in this congregation that have started Bible clubs in their school, where they're getting 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 kids coming to their high school school clubs. Why? Because there's meat in the house. There's meat in the house. We get to witness baptisms like we did this morning. We get to have communion in the presence of the Lord. All the missions work. we do, church planting that we've done all over the world. That's because there's meat in the house. There's meat in the house. I wanna just quickly walk you through a project that we're engaged in right now.

Curt and Kelly VanEckeren, Dan and Chrissy Winters. Curt and Kelly started, Kostas, Dan, and Dan works on the board there. Tremendous work, I think you're gonna see some pictures in order, I hope so. This first picture should be this family. The couple on the right, yeah, would be my right, both of them were in prison. And while in prison, of course, they had a real encounter with Jesus Christ, spent their time, I don't know how long they were actually in prison, but came out with the desire that they were going to, whenever they got out, they were going to do what they can to help people who got in situations that they were in. Christina's her name, I can't remember his name, shout it out to me. Ruben, Ruben and Christina. So they come back and they go to the part of San Luis, Mexico, the Jiros, it's right in the dump area. They go there and they begin to minister to people in the dump, begin to establish places where they can help people who have just hit the dreads of life, whether it be through addictions, whatever various circumstances has got them to that place, feeding people on a daily basis down there. I wanna show you one picture of one young man of before and after, do we have that before? That's what he looked like when they met him. That's what he looks like now.

Somebody better give it up for Jesus. That's life, that's ministry, that's life changing. Let me send one more family here. This is the family, Alexis and Kenny and their dear children. Alexis was with us here for a while. He's from, the family's from Venezuela and Alexis played pro baseball, et cetera. That's how he ended up in the United States. Long story short, their family was with us and doing some work down in Mexico. We sent them back down to Venezuela to plant a work down there in Venezuela. While I'm on the subject, I keep forgetting to do this. Maybe I should, I don't know, I can't do it now but I will tell you this story. When we sent them back down to Venezuela, where they're from, they built a work there. We bought some property there, done some things. They started doing a great work down in Venezuela. When we sent a team down there, which was Andy Torres, Abel Garcia, I don't think, me and Ricardo couldn't get into Venezuela but long story short, I'm gonna get back to those pictures in a moment. Sent a team down there to check on them and how they were doing. While they were there, they'd done some ministry but there was a six-year-old girl that had never walked, had never walked. She was there in the gathering with the rest of the people

that they had there gathered. Abel Garcia, and I don't think Abel is here. He usually wakes up late so he comes to the late service but Abel laid hands on that six-year-old girl that had never walked. They sent us a video of one week later of the girl running. She had never walked and she was running. One week later, we got that video. So Alexis, because of everything that's going on in Venezuela, we brought them as far as we could, which was, well, we had a plan to bring them back to San Luis, Mexico. I want you to show some pictures now. What Alexis is doing is working under Curt and Casas. They're building a building down there and you'll see pictures of this building, working on it every day to build a church down there, which helps, of course, the gathering that they were doing outside, the feeding center, et cetera. Listen, folks, this is because of your giving. That's meat in the house. That's meat in the house. And so tithing supplies the local church for ministry. The third thing is this, tithing invites God to bless you. Notice he says this, he says, do this. If I will not open up the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. But by no means do you ever hear me teach

what some people call a prosperity doctrine, where everybody's gonna be rich, everybody's gonna be this, all of that kind of nonsense. You can find those preachers at any given time. If you can't sleep, pop them on at 2 a.m. in the morning because that's when they on, telling, if you give me this and if you give me that, the Lord's gonna do this. By no means do I teach a prosperity gospel. But I tell you what I don't teach, I don't teach a poverty gospel either. I don't teach a poverty gospel either. I believe God's Word, that God blesses His people, period, when we trust and obey Him. There are some people that are naturally wealthy, and they're naturally wealthy, born into it, whatever, family, somewhere down the line, done good stuff, great stuff, and set the family up for years, generations. Some people are naturally wealthy. There are some people, like me, that are just supernaturally blessed. Not everybody is naturally wealthy. Some people are blessed supernaturally because of faith, obedience, trusting, and confidence in God and His Word. Am I talking to the right church? I'm almost on the landing point, if you're with me. I'm almost there. And so it's in alignment, it's obedience, it's looking to Him in faith and trust. But here's the final thing. Tithing, it's a true test. I put you on a mission. Here's your opportunity to find your pastor to be wrong, because it ain't been many. Just thought I'd throw that in. But here's a chance. Find me where I'm wrong. Show me another place in the Bible where the Lord said, you test me in this and see. Find another place. This is the place where the Lord said, test me and see on this issue. I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of the ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field. Listen to what the Lord is saying. If you test me in this, you ain't never got to worry about your crops. You ain't got to never worry about your livestock. You test me in this and watch and see if I don't prove it to be true. Deuteronomy 14, 23, bring this tithe to the designated place of worship, the place the Lord your God

chooses for his name to be honored, and eat it there in his presence. He's talking about when they come, not only do they bring their tithe, but they feast together. This applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn males of your flocks and herds. Doing this will teach you all ways to fear the Lord. It's not a fear of the Lord in the sense of where you're terrified of him. The actual word really means to have an awe of God, to honor the Lord, to recognize there's a dependence upon him and putting him first. What you do first affects the rest, and you know that with your day. How you establish your day, what you do first usually determines how the rest of that day is going to go. And here's the thing as I close out, and this is Exodus 23, 19. As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the Lord. That's basically what the Lord is saying. You give me the first of your day, you give me the first of your week, give me the first of what I've given to you. That's what the Lord is saying. Team, you can come. I was with a fellow in our church this week, and we were just talking about various things about just life, church, et cetera. And then he said, man, I want to share something with you. He referenced to a time, and some of you might remember this, when I talked about tithing and I used the story that my grandfather said to me when I told him, man, when I was making $300 a week, it was only $30. When I started making $600 a week, it became $60 that I had to give. And I told my granddad that was too much money to give. And he said, it's only a dime. No matter how you slice it, it's still only one dime of every dollar. That's the great thing about God. He's not like the government. You ain't got to do a whole bunch of returns and forms, and the Lord look at it and say, oh, that's how much you ought to give. No, no, straight. That's why I believe in flat tax if you want. That's another political issue. But anyway, 10%, it don't matter. It don't matter how much you earn. It's still only a dime of every dollar. So the fellow was sharing that with me, and he says, I got to tell you a story. And it absolutely was connected to our tithing. They had been to the church for a while, maybe a year, and anyway, heard a message or two. The Lord started working on their hearts. And they knew it was going to be tight for them to make that decision, but they made a decision to tithe. And he said to me, after we tithe, he said, this was a direct. We had been fighting and struggling with how to pay our insurance. They're, I don't know if I could say older, they may be offended by that, but he was retired, still does a little side stuff, and she was no longer doing what her career was. But long story

short, they were pretty much set on a fixed income. But he said, we knew we needed to make this commitment. We knew we needed to do it. So they made the commitment. He said, let me tell you, before we started tithing, our health insurance was, it was the number in my head, $14,700 a year is what their health insurance was. He said after they started tithing, they got a letter in the mail that their health insurance went from $14,700 a year to catch this, $150 a year. I don't think enough of y'all is rejoicing on that. I'm telling you. And he says, there is no doubt in my mind it's because we committed to trusting God in what God does. And so I'm just giving you a few practical things here. Just recognize that everything belongs to God. Just recognize that. And don't give God the leftovers. Don't give God what's left after you've went to Juliana's and after you've went to Starbucks and after you've went to Target and after you went to Walmart and, you know, and you bought new shoes and you got new purses and then say, okay, now here's what's left for God. Don't do God that way. God doesn't do you that way. The father sent his son to die on a cross for you. He didn't send an angel. He didn't send some believer like an Abraham or Jacob who might have been good enough. No, no, no. He sent you the very best that he had, not a leftover. He sent Christ. He sent the only begotten son so that your life may be saved. View tithing as a spiritual discipline, just like prayer, just like fasting, just like coming to church. View it as a spiritual discipline, knowing that the giving supports the work of the Lord. All right. I did call the team up. Everybody stand, if you would. I'm going to pray for you and pray with you. For some of you, this might have been a message of affirmation. Some people, this might have been a hard lesson. Some people, maybe something you had never heard before. I'm just going to pray. Altered people are always here to minister to you. And so I'm just going to pray that the spirit of the Lord just speaks and works wherever. And you hear the voice of God. You know who you are. You belong to him. He's your God. He's your Savior. And you respond to this however you know is right to do. But these folks are here to pray for you for anything that's happening in your life. And of course, the most important concern that I have for everybody here is that you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That's first and foremost. I'll repeat it again. The Father sent his only begotten Son to save you. You're that important. You're that valuable. You mean that much to him. And everybody's eyes that I look into, when I look into the white of your eyes, I'm looking at people that Jesus died for

without reservation. He didn't get off that cross and say, man, this is too much. He didn't get off that cross and say, I took on more than I can handle. No, no, no. He endured to the end because he loved you. He loved you and wanted you to be rescued, wanted you to be delivered, wanted you to have eternity with him. This is the God that you can trust in, not just for salvation, but in every area of your life, you can trust him. Father, I thank you now for the opportunity we've had to share the word, to minister, Lord God, to your people in a manner, Lord, that I know best. This is the best I got, Lord. So I pray that you take what I've said, you take the words of Scripture, you take the Holy Spirit and minister to the hearts of everyone here. And above all, those that you're working towards salvation, they felt your drawing, they know the Spirit of God has drawn them. They know that you have a purpose and a plan for their life. Lord, may they surrender today and allow you to be the Lord of their life. Father, we love you and we thank you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. God bless you. Have a great day. All right. What a wonderful message from pastor. Just want to remind you, the altars are open. If you need prayer for anything, no matter how big, how small, come up front. Don't be ashamed or embarrassed. Prayer is the most powerful weapon we have and the greatest weapon also. Also, I want to remind you, if you ask Jesus in your heart today and you want to know what's next, you can come up and talk with them or you can tap the disc on the back of your chair in front of you. You can also stop by the Next Steps booth out in the back if you need any questions about joining a life group or getting baptized. Just thanks again for coming. Let's have a good week. We'll close with one more song of worship. ♪ From their tombs and the angels stood in awe ♪ ♪ For the souls of all who'd come to the Father are restored ♪ ♪ And the church of Christ was born ♪ ♪ Then the Spirit lit the flame ♪ ♪ Now this gospel truth of old shall not live and shall not faint ♪ ♪ By His blood and in His name in His freedom I am free ♪ ♪ For the love of Jesus Christ who has resurrected me ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son, praise the Holy Ghost ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one ♪

♪ God of glory, majesty ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Oh, praise forever to the King of kings ♪ Hallelujah, we love you so much church. God bless you and we'll see you next Sunday.