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Malachi Lesson 6: You Can’t Rob God :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: by RR7

Chapter 3:8-12

“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. 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, ‘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.”

Many people, even God’s people, don’t understand the intimacy of God’s interest in and with our lives. From the very beginning, God has been seeking intimate and close relations with the people He created. God is interested in every aspect of your life, including your finances. This may be shocking to some of us, but money is the one thing that we are so secretive about. We don’t talk about how much each other makes, we don’t ask what one’s hourly wages are, and many spend an inordinate amount of money appearing not to be poor.

I work in the Car Sales business in my secular job, and I encounter people who are what we call car-poor. They have bought way more car than they need, and they find themselves not able to afford the payments, the insurance, and the gas. In southern Ontario where I live, more and more people are becoming house-poor. The housing prices in the Toronto and surrounding areas are simply out of reach for most people, even with both mom and dad working.

We are going to talk today about money and the relationship it has with us and God. How we treat money says a lot about our relationship with the Lord. Jesus spoke about money often: the rich man and Lazarus; the rich farmer with the bigger barns who died and lost his soul; money (mammon) should not be our God. Money is there to serve us and the Kingdom of God. You are a child of God, not the other way around. Even Jesus needed money for His earthly ministry. In Luke 8: 1-3, we find these verses,

“Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities—Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.”

God does not hate money. God does not require us all to live as monks, completely destitute of money and things. That is not the case. There were many wealthy men and women in the New Testament church as you read through the book of Acts. But our relationship to money is what is important. That relationship is best shown by who we pay first and how we pay.

We are going to discuss the controversial doctrine of tithing here; some will be upset, and that is okay. But it is in the Bible, it is pre-law, and it is still in effect today as the main demonstration of a proper relationship to money. I never heard of anyone disagreeing with tithing until I came to North America. Even among what I call conservative Bible teachers, there is division on this. A while ago, I read that the average attendee of a service gives about $20.

So, if you walk into a church on Sunday morning, they will receive on average $20 in the offering for each person there. Now, I pastor a church that is small, and we do way better than that. Our people more than tithe on many occasions. But one can see that there are many people in the local church that made more than $200 that previous week. We are in a financial struggle in North America; many churches are simply not getting what they should in money coming in to do the work. But we digress. Let us start at the beginning.

  • The First Tithe, Genesis 14: 18-20

The very first time that we see the act of tithing is in this chapter. Abraham, called Abram at the time, wages a war to rescue Lot, his nephew. The Lord blesses him with a victory, and when he returns, he is met by a man named Melchizedek. He is the King of Salem (later to be called Jerusalem), and he is called the High Priest of the Most-High God. In Hebrews 7, a more accurate description of this Melchizedek is made; he is indeed the King of Salem, also the King of Peace, and he is King of Righteousness. He has neither father nor mother and neither beginning nor end. And, as great as Abraham was as the father of the Jews, he paid a tithe to this man. This was none other than Jesus, a Christophany, in the Old Testament.

Abraham was rich, to begin with. He had many servants and a lot of livestock. He had enough servants to mount a formidable attack against kingdoms and win. Yes, the Lord was with him, but he had the resources to wage war from the number of servants in his household. He was a wealthy man. When he returned from the victory, before he did anything else, he paid a tithe to the King of Salem. He paid God, in the form of Jesus, a tithe. By the way, Jesus is still the King of Salem and the High Priest of the Most-High God; the book of Hebrews lays that out for us.

Tithing, then, was not a part of the Old Testament covenant; it was established by Abraham as part of honoring God when He gives you more. The OT law did not exist for hundreds of years later, and so this principle has not been put aside because we are under a new covenant. In our time, in the New Testament era that we live in, the only authorized agency of the Lord is the New Testament church. When we come together, we should tithe to the Lord through her. Revelation 1-3 clearly establishes that the Lord is the Head of every true NT church; as such, you are paying to Him as Abraham did.

  • The First Fruits, Leviticus 23:10

Hundreds of years later, the Jews crossed the Wilderness, leaving Egypt and traveling to the Promised Land, and God gave them the Law. In the Law, there is a statement about the ‘first fruits.’ In Leviticus 23:10, we see that the Jews are commanded to bring a sheaf of the first fruit of their crops to the Lord as a thank you to the Lord for prospering them with their crops. They were required to bring the first fruit of the sheaves to the city of Jerusalem and eat them before the Lord. They were not to be sold or consumed in any other way.

In 1 Corinthians 15:20, Jesus is called the ‘First Fruits’ of the resurrection. He resurrected, and immediately the dead began to resurrect as well. If you read Matthew 27:53, you will see that the effects of Jesus’ resurrection were immediate.

“and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”

The feast of First Fruits was a celebration of the resurrection before anyone knew there was going to be a resurrection. But the principle that the Lord gets the first fruits of your increase was established. Yes, this is a part of the Law, but it is also a picture of the life of Jesus at His first coming. The Passover was His sacrificial death, the feast of Unleavened Bread pictures Jesus taking away the sins of the world, and then the feast of Firsts Fruits pictures His resurrection. The next feast was Pentecost, some 50 days later. The idea that we should give to God first when we are prospered is established in Abraham and then in the book of Leviticus. In the OT era, the Levites collected the tithe and the first fruits, and they tithed from that as well. In Deuteronomy 14:28, there is even a tithe for the poor.

If more of our people honestly tithed to the local churches and the churches managed this money well, we could help a lot of poor people, and maybe God would get the glory and not the government for helping the poor. We will not get rid of the poor; Jesus told us that. But it is the responsibility of the Lord’s people to help the poor. We have abdicated this responsibility to the government, and we are paying for it.

There are many other kinds of giving to the Lord in the OT. In Exodus 30: 11-16, we have the Temple Tax; this was still in effect in Jesus’ day, and we can read that in Matthew 17:24-27 and 22:15-22. Each male over 20 years old was required to pay half a shekel weighed in silver or gold. The amount was still the same in Jesus’ day but now paid using drachmas. No matter one’s financial status, rich or poor, if you were 20 years old or older and a man, you paid the Temple Tax.

A fun fact: in Matthew 17: 24-27, Jesus provides money for two, Peter and himself, to pay the Temple Tax. This means, as Jesus followed the Law perfectly, that only he and Peter were 20 years and older. The idea of these old and bearded men as the apostles needs to be questioned. It would appear that Jesus was followed by young men, a lot of them.

  • The First Mistake, Malachi 3:8

We are the most arrogant people. We tend to forget the hand that feeds us, and this is what was happening here in Jerusalem in the time of Malachi. The people were not tithing, not giving the Temple Tax, and not giving the first fruits, not remembering the call to bring things into the storehouse. They were robbing God. This never goes well. One ends up cheating himself. God does not require us to give as if He is in need. He requires us to give as a part of worship and gratitude.

There are many charlatans on our airwaves that pitch the idea of giving to them as the way for the Lord to bless you. They have all these schemes allegedly from God, that if you will give $77 on the 7th day at the 7th hour, God will bless you 7-fold, or some other allegedly Biblical numerical equation that they got from God to get your money now. Oh my, what hogwash! Actually, that is an insult to hogwash. Do you understand that if they truly believed that, they would send you money, and God would bless them? We have this promise from God that He will provide for us all that we need. He never promises to make us rich. What He promises is to provide what we need each day.

In the book of Acts 4-5, we see that the people in the NT church there in Jerusalem did not consider their possessions to be their own, but there for the service of the Lord. Even in the incident with Ananias and Saphira, we learn that they were free to give all or a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the land; they just could not lie about it and make themselves look to be giving more than they did. Paul tells us that each man should give according to as he has set in his heart (see 2 Corinthians 9:7) and that we are to give cheerfully; the word means hilariously. We are not to bring an offering to the Lord begrudgingly.

The principle of the tithe began with Abraham, and it has not been abolished by any means in the NT era. But we are also to be way more generous than we are in many cases. We should give so as to feed the poor, and we should give so as to maintain the facility if we have one, or the minister, and Paul tells us that ministers should live off the Gospel. They should be paid like the OT Levites were. In this passage today, God lays out two kinds of offering: tithes and offerings. We should seek to do both, not to get rich or to have God make us rich; that is not the motive. Abraham was already rich.

Rather, we tithe and give because He dealt abundantly with us, and whatever we have is already more than we deserve. I don’t know about you, but I can testify that God has provided for me and my family, “pressed down, shaken and over flowing.” It is our privilege to tithe and give offerings. It is the least we can do after all God has done and shown to us. All that we have is from His gracious and generous hand. We want to be gracious and generous as well, and to Him be the glory.

If you are not regularly giving to your local Bible-preaching NT church, then you should begin. Start with the tithe, which is 10% of what God gives you on your paycheck. Yes, I know the government takes taxes up front; you have no control over that. So, deal with what you can; when you get a paycheck, pay God first. Then do what needs to be done with the rest.

Will I get rich? No, I cannot answer that, and the Bible never promises that. But God promises to supply all your needs, and that is as far as anyone can promise.

God blesses those who honor Him with their finances; God blesses those that put Him in their finances. Sometimes, God does not give you more, but what you have after giving to Him goes further. Cars may last longer, clothes may last longer, and on we can go. Give to God and to His work; give to His people and invest in the eternal kingdom. The money you have came from God; He let you have a job, allowed you to be healthy enough to attend the job, and allows the company to be profitable enough to pay you. Put Him first in your finances, and our churches will stop struggling financially, and we can expand the kingdom. No, a man cannot rob God, but he sure cheats himself when he does not put God first in his finances.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding

Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How To Connect with Us

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Online: https://www.mississaugamissionarybaptistchurch.com/ (under construction)

Email: missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

Revelation – All Will Be Revealed :: By Lynda Janzen

Published on: by RR7

“… there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed” (Matthew 10:26).

In our English vernacular, we say this little adage: “The truth will out!” It means the truth will always find a way to be known.

My Mother and Dad told us, from a very young age: “Always tell the truth. You will never be punished for being honest. The truth will always come out anyway, so you might as well tell the truth up front.”

It seems all five of us took these sentiments to heart, so much so that all of us have had to learn how to grow honesty filters in dealing with others. Not everyone is ready to hear, “You’re really fat, aren’t you?” Honesty filters are not lying, per se. But it is the little white lies that oil the machinery of social discourse in our modern world — which keep friendships friendly and make transactions go more smoothly.

Unfortunately, in the recent past, we have seen a giant leap from social nicety white lies to all-out mendacity and subterfuge. While nations have probably always employed spies to figure out what is really going on in other countries, these days it feels as though Big Brother really is watching us. Even our own governments can’t be trusted not to spy on us, nor to tell us the truth. Whether that is a new phenomenon, or has always been, is a moot point.

One secret our governments have been keeping close to their chest for over 75 years is what they really know about UFOs. All of a sudden, governments around the globe are getting ready to ‘reveal’ what these phenomena really are. According to National Public Radio in the States, a new report on UFOs is going to be released to Congress later this month by no less than the Director of National Intelligence.

So after three-quarters of a century of top-secret, eyes-only treatment of UFO reports, the public is going to be finally told “the truth.” Um-hm. The question is, “Why?” And the other question is, “Why now?”

At the same time as the UFO disclosure comes an absolutely amazingly gigantic animatron, built with 21st-century technology, which, supposedly, will be appearing in 21 cities in the world over the next few months. Since there is no way to do it justice with words, please access the video at https://youtu.be/wF2JaU7KMwk

I watched this clip thinking I’ve heard about something like this before … a giant image given the power to speak. Rev 13:15. It almost seems, with the rolling out of COVID Vaccine Passports and now this gigantic statue, that governments have been reading the Book at the back of the Bible and are trying to lay some groundwork for future events.

As God’s Word tells us, everything that has been hidden will be made known.

We Will Understand It Better, By and By

1st Verse:

Trials dark on every hand, and we cannot understand
All the ways that God would lead us to that blessed Promised Land;
But He’ll guide us with His eye, and we’ll follow till we die;
We will understand it better, by and by.

REFRAIN:

By and by, when the morning comes,
When the saints of God are gathered home,
We will tell the story how we’ve overcome;
We will understand it better, by and by.

2nd Verse:

Oft our cherished plans have failed,
Disappointments have prevailed
And we’ve wandered in the darkness heavy-heated and alone;
But we’re trusting in the LORD, and according to His Word,
We will understand it better, by and by. REFRAIN

3rd Verse:

Temptations, hidden snares often take us unawares
And our hearts are made to bleed for some thoughtless word or deed;
And we wonder why the test, when we try to do our best,
But we’ll understand it better, by and by. REFRAIN

SCRIPTURE READINGS: Matthew10:26, Mark 4:21-22, and Luke 8:16-17

Matthew 10:26 “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.”

Mark 4:21-22 “He (Jesus) said to them, ‘Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.'”

Luke 8:16-17 “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.'”

Seventy-four years ago, three momentous events occurred on planet Earth:

1.) The first fragments of ancient Scripture scrolls were discovered in the caves at Qumran, above the Dead Sea.

2.) Resolution 181 passed at the United Nations, allowing for the partition of the Holy Land and paving the way for the return of a Jewish nation.

3.) The term UFO came into common usage due to many sightings, as well as the unfortunate crash of an Unidentified Flying Object which the U.S. Army claimed was one of their weather balloons in Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947.

An ancient prophecy was coming to pass — the re-flowering of the nation of Israel — while ancient Bible texts were being revealed for the first time in over 2,000 years! Meanwhile, U.S. Air Force pilots were recording both sightings and interactions with UFOs, while the U.S. Army quickly put a lid on information about whatever it was that had crashed at Roswell, New Mexico.

While we may appear to be playing, “One of these things is not like the other,” I believe they are all connected.

Jesus said in our three Scripture passages that there is nothing hidden that will be not be disclosed, made known, brought into the open, or brought into the light.

For hundreds and hundreds of years, Christians reading the Book of Revelation either trusted God’s Word and Prophecy or decided that the Church had taken the place of Israel for the last days. Israel was nowhere in sight for well over 1,800 years! For centuries, even those who accepted the Bible as God’s Truth wrestled with the idea of a nation of Israel, populated by Jews. Some teachers reasoned that since God doesn’t lie and cannot be wrong, they needed to interpret Revelation and the other End-Times prophecies about Israel in a different way.

Then in the late 1800s, Zionism took hold of the imagination of Jews who longed for their homeland to be restored. They began buying up parcels of land in the area the world called “Palestine.” By the time of the First World War, the movement was gaining great momentum. When the horrors of the Second World War came to light, the United Nations passed Resolution 181, which would partition the Holy Land to make room for the Jewish people to ‘go home.’ Of course, it wasn’t that easy. The Jews ended up fighting for the life of their barely-birthed nation. There are so many accounts of Divine Intervention in these early skirmishes and wars that it becomes pretty clear the LORD God was ready to see His Holy People back in their own land. The nation of Israel was revealed to the world on May 24, 1948.

In November of 1946 and February 1947, three Bedouin shepherds had come upon a cave in the hills above the Dead Sea in which they found jars containing scrolls. Among the first found were the Isaiah Scroll and a commentary on Habakkuk, written in Biblical Hebrew.

For one thing, the scrolls, hidden in caves in these mountains, showed the world that the Jews indeed had a legitimate claim to the area, as the land God had given to the Israelites. For another, these scrolls established for once and all that the Bible was an ancient text and that modern Bible texts were excitingly accurate.

The LORD God does nothing that He has not made known to us beforehand. “For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.”

Now to the UFO story … As mentioned, the crash at Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947 has been a conundrum for 74 years! There were eyewitnesses who swore they saw bodies of strange little people amid the wreckage, as well as large pieces of an alien-looking metal. The Army Air Force took immediate control, classified all evidence at the scene, and forbade the eyewitnesses to talk about it. Later, they claimed it was the crash of a weather balloon and invited the media to a press conference where pieces of the balloon were displayed. Eyewitnesses said the stuff in the news photos was nothing like what they’d seen. The Army damage control included debunking the whole shebang as a conspiracy theory, accusing anyone who spoke out as being a tinfoil hat wearer.

Now, I don’t know what actually happened at Roswell. I wasn’t there. But there is credible evidence that people in the area were very much afraid. I have seen weather balloons. I doubt such a thing would be terrifying.

So why are we even talking about these things? Well, as I pointed out in the introduction, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence is bringing forth a report that many are speculating will blow the lid off the whole UFO secrecy. Once it is revealed in Congress, it will come to the attention of the public.

Here’s the thing: There are those who believe the Rapture is closer than anyone can imagine. While the majority of the world gives no credibility to this belief, there are some in government who play the game of ‘what if.’ How will the governments of the world explain the instant disappearance of millions of people? Well, one way is to make UFOs real to the public. Some are even speculating that these phenomena are related to the Nephilim, spoken of in Genesis 6:4 and Numbers 13:33.

Apostle Paul said, “Listen, I tell you a mystery …” It will be the greatest mystery the world has ever encountered, not to mention the greatest catastrophe for those left. The idea of blaming UFOs is not my idea. In fact, it has been floating around (!!) for some time. The fact that the Intelligence community is ready to bring their 75-year accumulation of files to the light of day means something is afoot.

Couple that with the news stories of late that the government is ready to announce UFOs are real, and I don’t think this is too far-fetched.

So, here we have another revelation … a revealing of what was concealed being made known, as the Scripture says. You have to admit it is interesting to contemplate.

One more revelation … this gigantic sculpture called “The Giant” is almost just a little too ‘pat’ for words. For those of you who haven’t seen the clip, the “Giant” is a sort of animatronic, ten stories tall – not ten feet – ten stories! It is a permanent display. Using the most up-to-date technology, this Giant can move its head and arms, can speak and even sing, and can be made to look like anyone in the world, even you. People are invited (no doubt for a hefty price) to enter a booth that will scan you, displaying you on the giant. It is the ultimate of selfies! Our friend Denis B. remarked, “Specifically note that this particular ‘Giant’ represents worship of the achievements of man, his heroes, celebrity and, of course, the greatest idol of them all, ‘self-adoration.’

It doesn’t take much imagination to see the image of the beast as outlined in Revelation 13:14b-15 in this ‘Giant.’ It could be made to look like whoever the anti-Christ will be and be made to utter all sorts of vile blasphemies and lies. And the makers of the “Giant” want to bring it to 21 cities of the world in the next few months, ostensibly as a tourist attraction!

Brothers and sisters, Jesus says in several passages, “Let those with ears to hear, hear, and eyes to see, see.”

The Son of God came to earth to redeem His fallen creation and has promised to come back and take us ‘home’ to be with Him forever. How this all actually looks when it plays out is anyone’s guess. But Jesus said, “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).

Maranatha!

LET’S PRAY …

Dear Heavenly Father:

How glorious is Your Holy Word! Thousands of years ago, men wrote prophecies about what would happen in the last days. They couldn’t possibly know about the technology that we have now, yet they have given us a good account of what to expect. Father, it looks as though we are beginning to see these things come to pass.

Please keep our eyes and ears on You, for the world is full of deceit, both for the eyes and for the ears. Be praised forever, LORD Almighty. Thank You for eternal life in and through Yeshua Ha’Maschiach, our LORD and Saviour forever.” Amen.

If anyone reading this article has not yet received Jesus as their Saviour, but God has touched your heart by His Holy Word, please email me (amadea649@gmail.com) or find a Bible-believing local church and ask the Pastor what you must do to be saved in Grace. In the meantime, please consider the ABCs of Salvation:

A – Admit

Admit what you have done wrong and ask forgiveness.

Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin is death.”

1 John 1:9 ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

B – Believe

Believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again as payment for your sins.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

C – Confess and Choose

Confess and choose to allow God to be in charge of your life.

Matthew 16:24 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

Romans 10:9 “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:13 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

This article, based on God’s Holy Word, was written by the inspiration of God’s own Holy Spirit. All glory to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.