Opening the Windows of Heaven

Sermon OverviewScripture Passage: Malachi 3:7-11By definition, stewardship is our relationship with money: how we obtain, save, invest, spend, and give our wealth.God is interested in this relationship—in how we care for the things He places in our hands. Satan, who is also very interested, would love to keep us in financial bondage.Malachi 3 shows us how to open the windows of Heaven and receive the blessing of financial freedom.“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 3:7).If we want freedom, we must first recognize our failure; financial bondage is not just debt. If money increases our worries, or if we have plenty in the bank, but no treasure in Heaven, we are in financial bondage.Second, we need to renew our fellowship; God isn’t interested in our money, just our hearts.When we remember tithing is God’s way of revealing our priorities to ourselves, we will see tithing as a great blessing. It is our privilege to show God that He is first in our lives and everything else is second.After we return to our fellowship with God, we need to release our finances to Him.Adrian Rogers says, “If you can’t trust God with your finances, how is God going to trust you with true spiritual riches?”“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” (Malachi 3:10).According to Scripture, tithing is ten percent given to the temple of God (church), for the work of the temple. Giving to charities or ministries is good, but it is not a replacement for our tithes.When we learn to give back to God freely, we’ll see a spiritual renewal. God will renew our faith, rebuke our foes, and restore our fruitfulness.Apply it to your lifeAre you seeking freedom from an indebted spirit? Recognize your failure and renew your fellowship with God. Understand that He wants you, first and foremost. Then, show your faithfulness through tithing.