Participants: Wes McDonald
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000403
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00:30 Hello, I'm Wes McDonald and I would like
00:33 to welcome you today to Faith Chapel. 00:35 I'll be sharing with you a message in a few 00:37 moments from the God's word but before 00:40 we go to God's word, let's go to God in prayer, 00:42 shall we bow our heads? Father in heaven, 00:46 thank you that we can go to your word and 00:48 learn from you, I pray that you will grant us 00:52 knowledge and wisdom from your word and 00:54 give me the words to speak that will be a 00:57 blessing to the viewers and hearers today, 01:00 in Jesus name, amen. Today's message is 01:05 entitled Holey Bags. Now that's not Holy, 01:09 isn't something divine, but that's holey. 01:14 Kind of like a bag with holes in it. 01:17 It's kind of like your pockets. 01:18 Have you ever felt like everything that you 01:20 put into your pockets as far as money was 01:22 running out the bottom as fast as you could 01:24 put it in, like your pocket was a bottomless 01:27 hole through which everything that went in, 01:29 went out as fast as you could earn your money. 01:32 Are you getting ahead or are you always behind. 01:36 Can you use some of God's blessings? 01:39 Have you ever felt as though God's frown was 01:40 upon you? Today's message will be for you. 01:45 Today we wanna talk about some of God's 01:47 great blessings that are found through 01:50 stewardship and that's being faithful and 01:52 returning to God that which is his. 01:55 Now today I'm going to begin our passage in 01:58 Haggai, the first chapter. Haggai is near 02:04 the end of the Old Testament. If you go to 02:06 Matthew and then back up one book, 02:08 two books, three books that's Haggai. 02:12 Now the Israelites had been held captive and 02:17 they were now being allowed to return to 02:19 their land to rebuild the house of God and, 02:26 God is speaking to them. And beginning with 02:28 verse 2, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, 02:31 saying, This people say, The time is not come, 02:35 the time that the Lord's house should be built. 02:39 Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai 02:42 the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, 02:46 O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, 02:49 and this house lie waste? Now how many 02:52 of you attend a church where the upholstery 02:55 on the pews is not as good as the upholstery 02:58 on your couch? How many in fact have the 03:01 upholstery in their car better than the 03:03 upholstery of church. Hopefully that is not the 03:06 case for you but is it clear that sometimes 03:10 our set of priorities is not God first but it's 03:15 me first, it's you first. Haggai is speaking to 03:19 us as well as to the people in his time and he 03:23 continues on. He says consider your ways, 03:27 Ye have sown much, and ye bring in little; 03:32 ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, 03:36 but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe 03:39 you, but there is none warm; and he that 03:41 earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a 03:44 bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; 03:47 consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, 03:50 and bring wood, and build the house; 03:53 and I will take pleasure in it, 03:56 and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. 03:59 We need to be more concerned about 04:02 glorifying God than glorifying ourselves. 04:05 And you know everything we earn we 04:08 buy a new car, we buy a new house it all 04:10 depreciates our time and in fact it depreciates 04:13 so much at the end of the time that it burns 04:15 up when Jesus comes. Now that's depreciation 04:17 friends. Jesus counsels us to lay up treasure 04:20 in heaven where moth and rush or fire or 04:22 anything else will corrupt it. So anything we 04:26 put into heaven will never be lost everything 04:29 we put into here on this earth will all be lost. 04:32 Where do you want to put your funds? 04:35 Where are they gonna do the most good, 04:36 or the least good? So he tells us, 04:41 ye looked for much, and, lo it came to little; 04:44 and when ye brought it home, I did blow on it. 04:48 Why? saith the LORD of hosts. 04:49 Because of mine house that is waste, 04:53 and ye run every man unto his own house. 04:57 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed 05:00 from dew, and the earth is stayed from her 05:02 fruit. And I called for a drought upon the 05:05 land, and upon the mountains, 05:06 and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, 05:09 and upon the oil, and upon that which the 05:11 ground bringeth forth, and upon men, 05:14 and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of 05:18 the hands. That's a bad drought friends, 05:21 far better to do it God's way and be faithful 05:23 to him and glorify him rather than having to 05:27 deal with all of that. And in verse 12, 05:30 then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, 05:33 and Joshua the son of Josedech, 05:36 the high priest, with the remnant of the 05:37 people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their 05:40 God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, 05:44 as the Lord their God had sent him, 05:45 and the people did fear before the Lord. 05:49 Then spake Haggai the Lord's messenger in 05:53 the Lord's message unto the people, 05:55 saying, I am with you, saith the LORD. 06:00 You know when God's people repent, 06:02 God is instantaneous in his response to bless 06:06 them, he may withhold his blessings when 06:09 we go our own way but he always blesses 06:13 us with the life and health and breath and 06:15 sunshine and all of those things. 06:17 But when we repent to God we get the 06:21 full blessings of God when we do things His 06:24 way. And friends we need to be doing that. 06:26 Let's focus in just a little bit on verse 6, 06:31 let's read it together as we go to verse 6. 06:37 Ye have sown much, and ye bring in little; 06:41 ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, 06:43 but ye are not filled with drink; 06:45 ye clothe you, but there is none warm; 06:49 and he that earneth wages earneth 06:51 wages to put into a bag with holes. 06:55 Friends, I don't want to be doing that I've 06:58 done that in the past but I'm not doing it 07:00 now and I want to put, help you to be on 07:02 the right track with God. In order to be 07:06 on the right track with God we need to learn 07:07 a few things about stewardship, we need to 07:09 learn a few things about returning the tithe 07:12 to our Savior. In Malachi, we find the passage 07:17 in Malachi 3 verse 7 through 12 and I want 07:22 us to take a look at that and read that 07:23 together, let's read it together. 07:26 Even from the days of your fathers ye are 07:29 gone away from mine ordinances, 07:32 and have not kept them. Return unto me, 07:36 and I will return unto you, saith the Lord 07:39 of hosts. But ye said, wherein shall we 07:42 return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have 07:49 robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we 07:53 robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 07:57 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have 08:00 robbed me, even this whole nation. 08:04 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, 08:08 that there may be meat in mine house, 08:11 and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord 08:13 of hosts, if I will not open you the windows 08:16 of heaven, and pour out a blessing, 08:20 that there shall not be room enough to 08:22 receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer 08:25 for your sakes, and he shall not destroy 08:28 the fruits of your ground; neither shall your 08:31 vine cast her fruit before the time in the 08:33 field, saith the LORD of hosts. 08:36 And all nations shall call you blessed: 08:40 for ye shall be a delightsome land, 08:43 saith the LORD of hosts. In Malachi, 08:48 we find that God is not pleased with his 08:51 people because they have not been faithful 08:53 in returning to God that portion which he 08:56 has claimed as his own. Indeed everything 09:00 belongs to God in the first place, amen. 09:03 Is there anything that, let me tell you this, 09:07 do you wanna know how you can tell if 09:09 you really own something, you really own 09:12 something if you can take it with you when 09:14 you die. So now how much do you own? 09:17 Nothing. Right? You came into this world 09:20 with nothing, you go out with nothing, 09:22 therefore someone has to own everything 09:24 and it is God. And God owns everything and 09:28 yet is a way of our expressing our love and 09:32 allegiance to our Savior and our master, 09:34 and our King and our God. He says give 09:37 me back the tenth, give me back ten percent 09:41 you can keep 90 percent and do what you 09:43 want to with it. I'm just asking for the 10th. 09:47 And so God is now telling Israel that they 09:49 have been unfaithful to Him, in that little 09:53 tiny little commandment just to return 09:55 ten percent, it's not that much considering 09:58 He owns everything and He allows us to 10:00 keep 90 percent. And so He is telling them 10:04 He's upset with them, He is withholding 10:05 His blessings because of that but if they will 10:08 be faithful in returning to Him what already 10:11 is His to begin with that he will be faithful 10:15 and returning back to them tremendous 10:17 blessings. You may say Wes what about if 10:23 I do not agree with what the leadership 10:26 in the church maybe doing. Should I still 10:29 return my tithes because I don't wanna be 10:30 held responsible for anything that they might 10:32 do that I don't fully see as right. 10:36 What should I do Wes? What should I do? 10:39 It's interesting if you read all of Malachi 10:42 together. The first two chapters of the 10:45 Book of Malachi, God is quite upset with 10:49 some of the leadership in the church at 10:51 that time, not all of them were bad but 10:52 there were some problems there. 10:54 And he is showing his displeasure towards 10:57 that but then in chapter 3 God is very 11:00 upset with the people for not supporting 11:03 their church even though there were in 11:05 some cases some leadership who were not 11:09 in harmony with everything that God 11:11 designed for them to be in harmony with. 11:14 And still He holds his people responsible 11:17 for supporting the church at all times. 11:20 I'm reminded again of another instance in 11:23 scripture in the New Testament. Jesus and 11:26 His disciples were there in the temple. 11:29 This is three days before the crucifixion, 11:32 it's a Tuesday. And Jesus and His disciples 11:37 are observing the people come by the treasury 11:39 and put in their gifts into the treasury box. 11:43 They see the rich people come in and they 11:45 have a lot of money and they were giving 11:47 some generous, what we were think of as 11:50 generous gifts. And then he see a little 11:52 widow come up and she put in two small 11:56 coins called mites, two mites. 12:00 And she was giving all that she had, 12:02 she had nothing left and she gave 12:04 everything that she had to the very church 12:08 that would use that money part of it would 12:11 go for the support of the very Scribes and 12:14 Pharisees and priests who would be 12:16 responsible for condemning Jesus to death 12:20 only three days later. And Jesus in support 12:25 for his church and in support of this woman 12:28 basically said, she did a good thing. 12:32 And that this story would be told around 12:34 the world for all time because she gave her 12:38 all and He pronounced a blessing upon her 12:40 for having returned money to the very 12:43 church that might in some cases some of 12:46 their leadership are going to misuse it and 12:48 in fact have Christ crucified. 12:51 In my mind this should forever and I hope 12:54 in your mind should forever relieve us of 12:58 any burden that we might have regarding 13:00 the support of the church. We're to support 13:02 the church at all times with our tithes and 13:05 with our offerings, as God blesses us we 13:08 need to bless others. Well how do you 13:11 calculate the 10th? Well it's simple. 13:16 You have ten fingers; one of them is the 10th. 13:19 Now with God's church we don't have a 13:21 lot of loop holes and things like that which 13:25 would allow us to get out of certain 13:26 obligations it's a very simple thing. 13:29 The 10th is the 10th is the 10th. 13:31 10 percent is easy to figure, move the 13:34 decimal point one that's what you give to God. 13:37 To help us understand a little bit more 13:40 clearly let's go to Genesis 28th chapter 13:44 and the 22nd verse, let's turn to 13:47 Genesis 28:22, And this stone, 13:51 which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's 13:54 house: and of all that thou shalt give me 13:57 I will surely give the tenth to thee. 14:01 We find here that Jacob has decided to return 14:07 back home and to the land and he is afraid, 14:12 he is afraid, he is going to suffer some evil 14:16 along the way and he asked God for his 14:17 blessings and he says if you bless me, 14:19 if you bring me back I will surely give the 14:21 10th to you. Let's go to Leviticus 27 and 14:26 verse 30 and we'll read that together. 14:29 And all the tithe of the land, whether of 14:32 the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the 14:35 tree, is the Lords: it is holy unto the Lord. 14:40 There was an agricultural work economy at 14:42 that time and they literally returned tithe 14:46 and the seed of their land or the fruit of 14:48 the trees. Now in Leviticus 27:32, 14:53 two verses later it's an interesting story there, 14:57 let's read that together. And concerning 15:00 the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, 15:03 even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, 15:07 the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. 15:10 Recently in church I was listening to a 15:14 gentleman tell a story about when he was 15:18 in Zimbabwe. He was an educator, 15:21 he was an academic dean of a religious 15:25 college there in Zimbabwe and once a year 15:29 they used to go out to different very 15:31 remote areas and take the theology students 15:34 so that they could ever camp meeting in 15:36 different individual villages. They went out 15:38 to one village which was very remote and 15:40 they had several days of meetings with the 15:43 people to give them the benefit of the 15:45 spiritual instruction and as they were about 15:49 to leave the chief of the village says wait 15:51 pastor, it is time for me to return the tithe. 15:55 You must take it with you I have raised cattle 15:59 this year, I have had an increase of 30 cows. 16:03 Three cows are for the Lord. So you got 16:06 all of the cows in a big pin and he started 16:10 to stir them up in and the cows went round 16:12 and round and round this pin in a circle and 16:15 they opened up a gate and one by one the 16:18 cows came up and they went underneath 16:20 the rod. And they counted one cow, 16:24 two cows, three cows, four cows until they 16:29 came to the 10th cow, he pulled them aside 16:31 and he said this cow is for the Lord. 16:34 And the cows were continuing to go around 16:37 and around and around in circle and one 16:39 by one they would filter out as they came 16:41 to the 10th one, that one would be for 16:43 the Lord. And then they continued on and 16:47 on and on and on and now they came to 16:51 the time when the 10th one would come 16:53 out and there was a little boy, 16:56 the chief's son, his eyes caught big as he 16:59 saw that cow leave and he was so excited 17:02 and the missionary wanted to know why he 17:04 was so excited, so they called to him and 17:06 the little boy was a little bashful says why 17:08 were you so excited when that last cow 17:11 came out. He says my Father gave me several 17:15 heifers to raise this year and he says that 17:18 one was my heifer and I was so excited 17:21 that my heifer had decided to be the Lord's 17:24 heifer. Friends, isn't that wonderful, 17:27 isn't that wonderful shouldn't we be so 17:30 pleased and so excited that we have the 17:32 privilege of returning to God in response to 17:36 his faithfulness and love and kindness for us, 17:39 I think so. Let's go now to Proverbs 3 and 17:44 verse 9. Honor the Lord with thy substance, 17:49 and with the first fruits of all thine increase. 17:53 If you try to return to God your tithe and 17:57 you wait until after you pay your bills you 18:00 will always have trouble. But if you give God 18:04 that which is his first you will always have 18:06 enough. Do the most important thing first 18:10 everything else will fall into place. 18:12 God is more important. Now I know your 18:15 creditors think that they're most important 18:17 but God is really most important. 18:19 You return to him and he promises you that 18:23 he will give you blessings like the windows 18:26 of heaven being opened. In fact friends 18:30 let's just go to Malachi 3 and read it for 18:34 ourselves. In Malachi 3 verses 8 to 11, 18:39 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. 18:44 But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? 18:47 In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with 18:50 a curse for ye have robbed me, even this 18:52 whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into 18:56 the storehouse, that there may be meat in 18:59 mine house, and prove me now herewith, 19:02 saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open 19:05 for you the windows of heaven, 19:08 and pour you out a blessing, that there shall 19:11 not be room enough to receive it. 19:13 There is only one place else in scripture 19:16 where it mentions the windows of heaven 19:19 and it was in the days of Noah when God 19:21 send a flood and he opened the windows 19:23 of heaven and the earth was drowned with 19:26 the water. So when God opens the windows 19:29 of heaven to bless you is it clear that the 19:31 blessings are more than you can receive it. 19:34 In the days of Noah when God was not 19:36 blessing the earth but he opened the windows 19:38 of heaven to pour out water upon it and to 19:41 flood the earth, the earth could not receive it. 19:44 So I want to have the blessings of God that 19:46 are just like the deluge of God, I want to 19:49 be swapped in his blessings. Friends, we can 19:53 have that when we maintain faithfulness 19:55 to God and faithfulness in our stewardship 19:58 in returning our funds to him. 20:04 In every way we are to be faithful to God. 20:07 God promises us in Deuteronomy and 20:11 verse 7, excuse me chapter 7 and verse 15 20:17 that he will keep us healthy even as we 20:21 return our bless as we return our tithes 20:23 and obey his word. And in verse 15, 20:27 and the Lord will take away from thee all 20:30 sickness, and put none of the evil diseases 20:34 of Egypt, which thou knowest upon thee; 20:35 but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. 20:39 Even blessings upon our health are because 20:42 God is blessing us in response to our 20:46 faithfulness to him. Now is money the only 20:50 thing we need to be faithful with God, 20:53 what about our time? How much time do 20:56 you really have? God asks us for a 7th of 20:59 our time. He asks us to reserve the Sabbath 21:02 day, the seventh day of the week for him. 21:06 One minute less than the whole day is not 21:08 the whole day. Imagine what a privilege it 21:11 is to have a 24 hour appointment like a 24 21:16 hour date with God where he has granted 21:19 you the privilege of this undivided attention 21:24 where you and him can become more 21:25 intimately acquainted. As we give that time 21:28 to him and we're faithful the rest of the 21:31 week with our time. God blesses us as well. 21:36 How much time do you have throughout 21:37 the rest of the week, let me ask you. 21:39 Well you say Wes, there's 24 hours of day 21:42 but you're in bed at least eight hours and 21:46 then you work at least 8 hours and then it 21:48 takes a certain amount of time to all go 21:51 about your daily duties, you have to get 21:53 dressed, you have to bathe, you have to 21:55 eat, you have to drive to work, 21:57 you have to take care of the children and 21:59 all these many other things, 22:01 when everything has been subtracted that 22:03 you must do. I think most of you will realize 22:08 that you have at most one to two hours 22:11 left of discretionary time, time in which you 22:14 can actually make a choice what you're 22:16 going to do with it. Since time is so limited 22:20 for us and since the earth's time is so limited 22:24 and since there are so many thousands of 22:26 people who have not accepted Christ as 22:28 their Savior, who will be lost for eternity with 22:31 unconfessed sin, would it not be who of us 22:35 to make the best use of that time. 22:39 Friends, I believe that each one of us must 22:42 give a higher commitment in our 22:45 resources. If it's time we need to give it 22:49 to God. If it's money, we need to give it to 22:52 God, if it's our health we need to give it to 22:55 God, if it's our influence, we need to give 22:59 it to God. Because the world is not doing 23:02 that and the world is going to perdition 23:05 very rapidly, we're in the last days. 23:07 There are two classes of people, 23:09 those who are drawing closer to the 23:11 Savior and those who are going the other way 23:14 and the difference widening and it's becoming 23:17 greater and greater all the time between 23:20 those who serve God and those who 23:22 serve Him not. Friends, in our stewardship 23:26 we need to be faithful. The gospel is free 23:29 but you know the last time I checked it 23:31 didn't go around the world for free. 23:33 It takes money to bring this broadcast to 23:35 you here at home. It takes money to pay 23:37 ministers to bring the gospel to people who 23:39 have never heard it, in mission lands where 23:42 they will, where they've never even heard 23:44 the name of Christ. You know on the 23:46 developed countries we've heard of Christ. 23:47 We almost take it for granted and we should 23:49 not. But friends, we need to be faithful in 23:53 that. In Luke 9 and verse 23 and he said 23:59 unto them all, if any man will come after me, 24:02 let him deny himself, and take up his cross, 24:08 and follow me. Friends, have you denied 24:13 yourself anything for God. Have we actually 24:17 followed God by sacrifice, sacrifice is when 24:21 we give up something that we really want, 24:23 it's not giving God our leftovers. 24:26 It's giving God our firstovers. 24:29 It's not giving him what is it the tail, 24:32 we're giving him the head, we are giving 24:33 him the first fruits, not the last thing. 24:37 We write out the tithe check, the first 24:39 check after we receive our check that goes 24:42 to God then everyone else. 24:46 If God has our love he will have our heart. 24:52 My question is, does he have your heart? 24:57 You know I can tell where your heart is and 25:00 God can tell where your heart is, 25:02 I should just say he can tell, by observing 25:05 how we spend our time and by examining 25:08 our checkbook. The Bible tells us for where 25:12 your treasure is there your heart will be 25:16 also. Have you examined your own checkbook 25:20 lately to see where you're spending your 25:22 money? Do a little calculation on how you 25:27 spend your time and ask yourself have you 25:30 devoted enough of that to God? 25:33 Are you eating and drinking to glorify God 25:35 or you eating and drinking based upon 25:38 other reasons? Friends, we need to give 25:41 everything all to Jesus. It all burns up 25:45 anyway soon when Jesus comes, 25:48 nothing more matters other than the number 25:50 of souls that we can bring into the kingdom 25:52 of heaven. How is it with you at home? 25:56 Do you find that you need a little help in 25:59 this area? Are you like Israel that you've 26:02 held back from God that which is rightfully 26:05 his with respect to your tithes and your 26:07 offerings? If so God's message to you is to 26:12 return it all to God, that which you've 26:15 robbed you need to return. And you need 26:18 to be faithful from this point forward as well. 26:21 And if you've robbed him more than you 26:23 can possibly ever return. Trust yourself 26:27 in the, into the arms of loving savior who 26:30 will forgive you of your sins and will have 26:32 compassion because he loves you. 26:36 But friends, let us all be faithful to God 26:39 from this point onwards. Those win 26:43 everything make God first and last and best 26:47 are the happiest people in the world. 26:52 Friends, I want joy to the full, how about 26:55 you? We can only do that if we are fully 27:02 committed to God. Would you pray with me, 27:03 would you pray with me today that we will 27:04 give our hearts fully and completely to God? 27:09 I would like to ask you to pray with me now. 27:11 Father in heaven, I ask for you to come into 27:15 our hearts, help us to not reserve anything, 27:20 help us to give all to you, our heart our soul, 27:25 our mind, our body, our resources and 27:28 everything. Help us to be faithful so that 27:32 Jesus can come soon and then we may all 27:35 be up together in heaven with thousands 27:37 that maybe saved because of our faithfulness 27:39 and your spirit working through us, 27:42 in Jesus name, amen. Friends, I'm so 27:46 glad that Jesus loves us. And he's given us 27:50 all these things to honor him with, 27:52 let's be faithful. |
Revised 2014-12-17