Tommy Barnett Giving Messages

Take your Bibles, turn with me too Malachi, chapter 3, you really don’t need to look for it because you all know what I’m going to read here right now. It is found in verse 8:

‍Can a man rob God? Let’s stop right there. I wonder really, the question has been asked; can little man rob a big, great, omnificent, omnipresent God? Can he doit? Well, He’s too big for a little man to think about robbing a great big powerfulGod. However the Bible tells us there is a way that takes place and let me just tell you briefly how it is.

You know when we don’t pray and seek the Lord, the Bible says that you have not because you ask not. I don’t think you realize but this church is experiencing and unprecedented revival. God has done more things this year than He’s ever done in the history of this church. It started January, oh by the way, consequently in January I asked every one of you to pray for the month ofJanuary. I asked you to make a commitment that you pray, that you read yourBible every day, that you would fast one day a week, that you would tithe, and that you would bring an unsaved person every Sunday. And you would commit to do that during the month of January.

What took place in the month of January is, well, it is unprecedented. Financial miracles, growth miracles – an example is Wednesday night at our church. We figured out the other day now if we’d have everybody together on Wednesday night, we would have a crowd equal to Sunday morning, not Sunday night. The crowds have just exploded without any push, without any begging.

The things that we have always done through the years, the Special Days, we do with less effort and more response with greater people finding Jesus than ever before. It seems like the windows of heaven have been opened up in our church.Leo told me this morning that in his couples’ class they had up about 360 chairs, and that would have been record attendance, and they didn’t have enough. He said there must have been 400 people just in the Young Married Couples’ class today. Give the Lord a good clap offering. God is sending revival in our midst.[Applause]

You see, we rob God when we don’t pray because He said, “I want to answer your prayer.” He said, “I want to bless you but you’ve got to ask if you want to receive, you’ve got to knock [knocking].” So we rob God when we do not pray.

How do we rob God? We rob God when we don’t read His Word for how canHe guide us if we do not use His Book. How can He direct us and teach us whenHe said He wanted to teach us in all things? Say a good “Amen.” [Amen]

But there’s a third way that we rob God. And that’s when we withhold His tithe and offering. Did you notice that I said “His”? Because the tithe is not ours; the tithe is the 10% that God says is “Mine”, and you’ve been made stewards to take care of it.

I think the best way to explain it is in a story I’ve told you before. Brother Oral Roberts told me this story one day when he came to visit me here for a couple of days in Phoenix. He said, “My son, Richard, wasn’t living for God. My hear twas burdened and I went to visit him at Kansas University where he had been given a scholarship on the golf team. Richard didn’t want any part of the work of God. I talked to him that day and fellowshipped with him. Before I left I said,“Richard, I wish you’d get right with God, I wish you’d come back to Tulsa and help me. I need you – you’re so talented. You could sing on the program and minister...and, oh, I need you and I could do so much for you if you’d just serve the Lord.”

And Richard said, “Dad, don’t mention serving God to me. I don’t want that route. I’m not going that direction any more. Dad, don’t talk about it to me – I don’t want to hear about it.”

And Oral Roberts said “I went out and got in my car. I laid my head on the steering wheel and I just wept. I said I’d like to do so much for Richard. I’d like to bless him, God, but he won’t let me bless him. He is robbing me of my ability to bless him because he won’t serve You.”

And he said, “God spoke to me and said, ‘Men are robbing me. I want to open up the windows of heaven. I want to bless them financially. I want to rebuke the devourer in their lives. I want to open up the windows of heaven to pour out more blessing that they cannot contain. I want to do it. But they’ve robbed Me of that blessing because I cannot violate My word. There are principles that have to be kept like ‘give and it shall be given to thee’.

Today as we gather God’s tithe, don’t you rob God of blessing you. When you withhold the 10%, you rob God of being able to bless you and prosper you because He has to keep His word when He says, “give and it shall be given unto thee”. Today as we receive this offering and we give of our tithe and the offering above it that is a seed that we sow, let’s give abundantly.

Many of you are going to begin to tithe for the first time today and God might be released in your life. Let’s give an offering at this summer time for the work of the Lord.

Let’s pray. Father, I love to teach Your Word on giving. Lord I used to think thatI was doing the people a favor by not teaching on giving. But, Lord, I realize thatI was robbing the people of the blessings of God. Today, Lord, as we receive the offering, bless the people as they all give abundantly as we joyously right our tithe and our check to God’s work. In Jesus’ name and everybody said, “Amen.”