Malachi – Now church, I’m just going to go line by line and precept upon precept. Now I can preach, but I don’t get as much done when I preach as when I teach. Now I can get yaw stirred up, I can get a lot of “Amen’s”, but if I can get you thinking, your life will change.
Now, in Malachi, the third chapter, the Bible says “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in my house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts if I will not open up the windows and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it”.
Church, can we be honest in this house? Has anyone ever seen a thither that had so much that he couldn’t receive anymore? Now isn’t that amassing? Isn’t that what it says? He’ll open up the windows, pour you out a blessing and there won’t be room enough to receive it.
Have you ever seen a thither that said “Don’t give me a new automobile”? I got six sitting’ in the rain right now, and I got no place to park ‘em and “Please don’t give me a hundred thousand dollars, I’m sixteen weeks behind on my counting.” Have you ever heard anything like that? Well, don’t you like what the Bible says to see it happen? The Bible says “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” Did you ever see that happen? Ok, that’s good. The Bible says “I’ll fill you with the Holy Ghost so you will speak with other tongues.” Did you ever see that happen? The Bible says “With His stripes we were healed”. Did you ever see that happen? But this thing never happens.
The church has a problem here: Now, let me share the problem with you and you’ll have a clear answer on this.
Now, the King James Bible has a unique feature in it. It’s not the only translation, but it has a feature that no other Bible has.
If a word does not appear in the original language, it sill be in italics in the King James.
The King James tell us, if you read about how the King James was written, it is alright to leave out any italicised word and you will not change the original meaning – because when you translate from one language to another, you can’t translate word for word.
Sometimes it takes two words to say something in a language that could be said easily with one word in the first language.
But now, look at the last ten words of Malachi 3:10.
Note that seven of the last ten words are ALL in italics. The words “there shall be room to receive it”. It is the most italicised portion of Scripture in the Bible. Now, you can one or two words italicised but you don’t have seven words in italics. But, let’s leave those words out and see what it says:
It says “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in my house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts if I will not open up the windows and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it”.
Now, look at the eighth verse – how many robberies are mentioned in this verse? Only Tithes and offerings are mentioned.
Now, the Holy Ghost would not bring up Tithes and Offerings and then not deal with all of them.
How many of you know that you have to give to God before God gives to you? Is that the truth?
All right then how many of you also know than when you have tithed you haven’t given anything to God? Why? Because Lev 27:30-31 says “the tithe is the Lords and if you touch the tithe, God will charge you 20% interest” (if you just touch the tithe). In other words, it you use it (the tithe) for yourself, God says ‘You owe me the Tithe PLUS an additional 20%)! Got it now?
So what are we really seeing here?
Many people say “I tithe, but it doesn’t work”. No one ever tithed without it working.
The Bible says “God will pour you out a blessing” – but in order to ‘pour” some measure has to be used.
Now, to illustrate – if you take the verse, come to church, say “Lord, here is my tithe” – the windows of heaven open up Now, what do most of us do? We take your little teaspoon offering and that is it.
But, that is Not enough! Your offering determines the measure that God can use – Luke 6:38 says “give and it shall be given unto you good measure – for with the same measure you give, it shall be measured unto you again.”
Your tithe opens the windows of heaven, but you offering determines the measure of blessing you shall receive.
Know this: If you don’t understand it, you cannot have it. Christianity has nothing to do with your need. God is not moved by your need. If God were moved by need, he would only move in India – why would he move in a prosperous area? But two thousand years ago, God was moved by you need, and he moved on you need with a Work at Calvary and He added 27 Books to the Bible so that you would more clearly Understand.
Understanding: In the Book of Mark.
23rd verse, ”if any man has ears to understand, let him understand. And He said unto them ‘with what measure of understanding you give it will be measured unto you, and you that understand the more shall be given.” – the more you understand, the more you will be able to receive.
My understanding determines the measure that God can bless me with. Now, back to Malachi:
Now: here’s what happens: Most folks say “Lord, here’s my tithe.” = bang, the windows of heaven open up. Your tithe is your covenant connector – it connects you just like an electrical adapter. The tithe hooks you up to the blessing. But, you have to determine the measure.
Example: We bring our tithe – the windows of heaven open up – But, then we say “Lord, my understanding is increasing – I know that if you give with a cup, I’ve got to give with a cup (more than a teaspoon).”So, if you are not happy with what you are receiving, increase the measure that God uses to bring you the blessing of heaven.?Got it?
Now, let’s go further:What is the tithe? 8.5%? 10%?
Everyone knows how to tithe, but it is the offering that brings the blessings.
But, how do you give an offering that God will accept? Just because the church accepts your offering does not mean that God will accept it – and if God does not accept it, it will not be multiplied back unto you.
The Bible opens with a rejected offering: Cain’s offering was rejected. The Old Testament closes with a rejected offering – in Malachi 110 the last phrase says “I will not accept an offering at your hand.”
Jesus says “When it’s time to give, take care – for if you have issues with your brother that remain unsettled, you are just wasting your time.” - - first, settle accounts with your brother.
How do you give an offering that the Bible says God will accept?
In 2 Cor 8:12 (8 and 9 are totally financial in 2 Cor) – “for if there be first a willing mind, the offering is accepted, according to what a man have and not according to what they have not.”. There are two steps to making an offering that God says He will accept:
Let’s go further – how many feel limited?. Did you know what word (limited) only appears one time in the Bible? In psalm 78,
Did you know that we are born limitless? Now, let me illustrate:
Every little kid thinks they can fly – I remember when I though I could fly; and then some adults talked me out of it.. Never did I ever get up thee nerve to try it again, but I thought so.
Did you know that every child, every one of you, they are born first class?.If you don’t think so, get on an airplane with one of your kids..
As soon as they see the first class seats, they’ll say “Hey, let’s sit up here.”.
You’ve got to train a kid to ride in the cattle car – you have to train them to go to the back of the bus.
We are born limitless but they are limiters everywhere..Now, let’s see a limiter that everyone is exposed to:
Somewhere in eight or ninth grade, you were given the aptitude test – And it came back average – half as good as the best, twice as good as the worst..
Average is an awful place to be – it is one of the biggest limiters that there is.
Now, each one of us took this test and believed what it said: On the aptitude test in America there is a paragraph written by James Dyer. It is from the book “the Real Magic”.James Dyer took the test and wrote the reason that he wrote the book – James Dyer missed the question: the aptitude says that HE DID NOT KNOW why he wrote the book.Now, can you trust a test like that to determine whether you’re smart or not?. But when you hear it, and believe it, you have got it for life.
Don’t you believe that you are a genius? Well, I am a genius..I have the mind of Christ, I am a genius.When you watch the pastor teaching the Word, you are watching genius at work! .
Now, here is a little test: two men are stranded in the desert with a motorcycle:
One is a rocket scientist with a 180 IQ and the other is is a motorcycle mechanic with a.96 IQ – and the motorcycle is broken..Who’s the genius?.
There are all kinds of limiters out there, things that are trying to limit you – things trying to stop you, things trying to keep you from moving into what God has for you..
Here are a few limiters that get a hold of you in church.2 Kings, 4th chapter..Listen Closely: There are no Small Miracles..You can make a miracle small with your mentality, with lack of faith but when a miracle comes from heaven, it comes from God with no limits.
Now, this woman’s husband has died – she goes to the prophet, says “my husband has died and my children are going to to work for our creditors” – and Elisha asked her, “What do you have in your house?” = the woman replied, “I have a small bit of oil.”.Then Elisha said “Go borrow all the vessels you can find” and she then borrowed 19 vessels. God did not tell her how many vessels to get, she decided how big the miracle was going to be..
Now, let’s say that she borrow two half-pint milk cartons...She poured it out, shows it to the man of God and he replies, “Woman, you have severely limited your God.”.
If you trust God with your soul, why won’t you trust him with your money?.Only start realizing that what you put into the collection plate, determines what comes back into your life..Quit looking at What You Can Afford!.As long as you give what you can afford, you will extend what you already have – because that is where it came from: from what can you afford, as opposed to moving on into a new dimension that will break you through. .
What is this miracle for?.To get here out of debt?
Look at Verse 7 – “Then she came and told the man of God and he said, ‘Go sell the oil and pay thy debt and live thou and thy children of the rest’”. – it was up to her how big that miracle was going to be..
You can limit God with your little thinking..Giving what you can afford locks you in on what you have..There is no growth in your comfort zone, you always have to leave your comfort zone to grow.
Does this apply to you?.Furthermore:
Luke 5:1 “And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon Him that He stood by the Lake of Nazareth and saw two ships standing by the lake.
The fisherman were gone out of them and were washing their nets..And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s and urged him to cast off a little from the land and he sat down and taught the people out of the ship.”.“Now when He had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Launch out into the deep and let down your net’ and Simon answering said unto Him, ‘Master, we have toiled all night and have taken nothing’”.
Simon said, “Nevertheless at your Word I will let down the nets” – Simon Peter has nets (plural not singular).
Some of you have nets that are not used, you are trying to give from your surplus, but what if GOD know about that?
Most of us have nets, but we are playing a game with God – and we wonder why nothing ever comes of it.
Simon Peter limits God and lets down one net – he knows that the fish are getting into the net – the nets start to break – he calls for help from his fellow fisherman – both ships are now loaded and the ships are starting to sink – no wonder Simon Peter said two years later “Silver and Gold have I none.”
You had better not miss the day that God says “This is your breakthrough day” – let down the nets..