MOST HEINOUS ROBBERY IN HISTORY
9/13/09 Malachi 3:6-10
1. Sermons proportionate to Scripture
a. 500 Vs. on prayer
b. LESS THAN 500 VERSES ON FAITH,
c. 1 of 10 Vs – Gospels-288 subj. of money.
d. 16 of 38 Parables money or possessions
e. MORE THAN 2000 ON MONEY & POSSESSIONS!
2. pastor of a struggling church – people not taught to tithe
"Brethren, I have THREE sermons this morning.
I have a $1000 sermon that lasts only five minutes.
I have a $500 sermon that lasts one hour.
And, I have a $200 sermon that lasts two hours. We’re going to take up the offering, and see which sermon you folks want preached!"
3. 4 times word rob or robbed used
a. very serious charge
b. no one likes to be called thief
c. rape & murder keep close company w/robbery
4. at least 3 victims of this Great Robbery
a. God
b. God’s Church
c. God’s People
A. ROBBERY OF GOD’S PERSON
1. Criticism of God Vs. 7
a. Spiritual apathy & decline
b. God says return and they say
Malachi 3:7 (MSG)
You have a long history of ignoring my commands. You haven’t done a thing I’ve told you. Return to me so I can return to you," says God-of-the-Angel-Armies. "You ask, ’But how do we return?’
2. Claim of God Vs. 8- Rhetorical Question
a. Who would have the audacity/nerve?
b. “Yet you have robbed me.”
c. Denial that makes it worse
d. God spells it out
i. tithes- simple word meaning 10th part $100=10
ii. offerings- gifts as tributes or praise
2. Curse of God
a. very strong meaning being defiled w/filth
b. covered so as to make life miserable
Genesis 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life:
Genesis 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because you have hearkened unto the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life;
B. ROBBERY OF GOD’S PLACE
1. Command of God
a. Personal – Bring Ye
b. Pointed – All the tithes
c. Positional – into the storehouse
2. Cause of God
a. that there may be meat in mine house
b. provided strength to do God’s Work
c. Church – Amen Corner – led by Deacon Brown
Let the church walk – Amen let the church walk
Let the church run – Amen let the church run
Let the church fly – Amen let the church fly
If the church is going to fly its going to take money
Lets just let the church walk Preacher!
The Butterball Turkey Company set up a consumer hotline to answer questions. One woman called to ask about cooking a turkey she had kept in her freezer for 23 years. The operator told her it might be safe if the freezer had been kept below zero degrees the entire time. But the operator warned the woman that, even if it were safe, the flavor had probably deteriorated, and she wouldn’t recommend eating it. The caller replied, “That’s exactly what we thought. We’ll just go ahead and give it to the church.”
• Catholics gives 1%.
• Methodists - 1.3%.
• Jews-1.4%.
• Lutherans - 1.6%.
• Presbyterians - 2.2%.
• All other Protestants - 2.5%.
4. According to the 1995 records, the membership of the Southern Baptist Convention was 15,668,077. The giving for the same year was $5,635,014,266. That breaks down to approximately $360.00 a year per person.
5. Such figures lead to 3 conclusions: Many Christians are not tithing and giving to God at all. Many are not giving a 10% of their income to God. There are a lot of robbers in the Church.
6. The IRS had determined that the average taxpayer gives only 1.7% of his adjusted gross income to any type of charity whatsoever, including the Church.
7. Ron Blue, the noted financial counselor, says that if all Christians were reduced to a welfare income, and they tithed on that amount, the church would double its receipts.
C. ROBBERY OF GOD’S PEOPLE
1. Growth
a. Tithing takes faith to tithe
b. Tithing reminds me of God’s ownership
c. Tithing proves that God can trust me w/more
2. Gifts
a. Only other time uses in connection w/flood
b. means a down pour that inundates
c. Jesus said Luke 6:38 (KJV)
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
A boy and his mother were in a drug store and there was candy on the counter and the owner spotted the boy looking at the candy, when the mother went up to pay the owner said to the boy “you want some of this candy”. The boy nodded, and the manager said well go “ahead and take some”. Well the boy just stood there, and again the owner said “go ahead and get a handful of candy”. The boy still stood there then the owner reached in the jar and pulled out some candy and gave it to the boy and the boy filled his pockets. When they got outside the mother said why didn’t you get a handful of candy the man told you it was O.K.. And the boy said, “because his hands were bigger than mine”.
Let me ask you whose hands do you want to live out of.
3. Grace
a. we see how blessed we really are
b. once we practice tithing our desire will be to increase more and more.
I did a bad job of preserving references; all illustrations came from Sermon Central Contributors. Sorry I can’t cite.
