The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have LIFE, and that they may have IT (LIFE) more ABUNDANTLY. (John 10:10 NKJ)

• How do we as believers step into this Abundant Life? By developing A giving Heart!
• This is how we develop a giving heart:

1. Recognize that everything belongs to God
2. Respond to giving with a willing heart (A willingness to give)
3. Deal with a selfish heart (Selfishness attacks you before you give)
4. Deal with a grieving heart. (Grief attacks you after you give)

• Today we will add one more layer to this foundation: The Principle of Tithing.
• Definition of the word tithe: one tenth of what you have and you set aside for God.
• While it is important to be a good steward of your time and talents by serving God, the word tithe is specifically referring to income.

“FOR I AM THE LORD, I DO NOT CHANGE; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. ⁷ Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. RETURN TO ME, AND I WILL RETURN TO YOU,” Says the Lord of hosts. “But you said,‘In what way shall we return?’ (Malachi 3:6-7 NKJ)

• God does not change. He is the same God of the OT as He is of NT. He does not change and nor does His principles.
• Then God says you “gone away from my ordinances” Ordinances are God’s principles.

“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. ⁹ You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation. (Malachi 3:8-9 NKJ)

• God is saying because you have moved away from this principle of tithe, you have placed yourself under a curse.
• A curse is a consequence.
• He has given us stewardship over 100%

STATEMENT: Within this 100% stewardship. God has given all of us a test. It is called the tithe!

HERE IS POINT #1: TITHING IS A TEST. (A test of the heart)

• Remember the word Tithe means the 10^th part or 10%
• Why did God choose a percentage? Because it is fair to everyone. Whether you make $100 a day or $1000 a day.
• Many times when you see the #10 in the Bible, it represents testing!
• Tithing is a test. You are not the only one taking this test. God is taking the test right alongside you. It is a 2-way test.

¹⁰ BRING all the tithes into the STOREHOUSE (The place where you get fed spiritually, your local church), That there may be food in My house, And TRY ME NOW IN THIS,” Says the Lord of hosts,

• That’s the only place in the whole entire Bible where God says: Try Me! Or Test Me.

POINT #2: TITHING IS BIBLICAL

• Does it make you a bad Christian if you don’t tithe? Absolutely NOT!
• But here’s the truth many Christians do not know that it is in the Bible. Some believe that it is not for us today because it was under the law and now we are under grace.

¹⁸ Then Melchizedek king of Salem (peace) – (Melchizedek, The King of Peace) brought out bread and wine (representing Holy Communion); he was the priest of God Most High. ¹⁹ And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; ²⁰ And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all. (Genesis 14:18-20 NKJ)

• Melchizedek is a representation of Jesus – Priest of God Most High.
• Hebrews says, He has no genealogy. No mother. No father. No beginning of days and No end of life.
• Abraham, our spiritual father according to Galatians, gave God a tithe of all. And he did it even before the law existed. At least 500 years before the law.
• So the principle of tithe even pre-dates the law.
• Genesis 28:22, Leviticus 27:30, Deuteronomy 26:2, 13-15

The Principle of Tithing is not a matter of law but a matter of the heart

²³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay TITHE of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. (Matthew 23:23 NKJ)

• Addressing the Pharisees and Scribes: You pay tithes not just on your finances but also on the spices that you put on your food. But your heart is not in the principle. The motivation of your tithe is not love but your motivation is evil.
• That’s why Jesus said: you have neglected: justice, mercy and faith- (matters of the heart)
• Here Jesus connects tithing directly to a test of the heart.
• Then Jesus said: “These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone”
• In other words, by showing justice, mercy and faith you keep heart in the right place. And when your heart is in the right place, you tithe.

TITHING IS A MOTIVATION OF THE HEART

POINT #3: TITHING IS A BLESSING

Tithing is not only a test… but a test that produces a blessing.

¹⁰ BRING all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And TRY ME now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts,

• Since tithe is a test of giving heart, God would not just take it from us
• Since tithe is a test of a giving heart, God wants you to bring it: willingly, obediently, with a pure giving heart.
• God will not take. He wants you to bring it to the storehouse!
• The storehouse is the house of God, the place where you are fed spiritually.

“IF I WILL NOT OPEN FOR YOU THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN AND POUR OUT FOR YOU SUCH BLESSING THAT THERE WILL NOT BE ROOM ENOUGH TO RECEIVE IT.

¹¹ “AND I WILL REBUKE THE DEVOURER FOR YOUR SAKES, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” Says the Lord of hosts; ¹² “And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land,” Says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3:11-12 NKJ)

• Not only will God open the windows of heaven for you, He will also rebuke the devourer. The enemy. The one who comes to steal kill and destroy.

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have LIFE, and that they may have it (LIFE) more ABUNDANTLY. (John 10:10 NKJ)

• I don’t know if you realize this: Malachi 3 is connected to John 10:10 – Abundant Life
• This abundant Life is not magical formula!
• This abundant Life as a result of us living under God’s Principles.

CONCLUSION:

• What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?