Based on the sermon:

The Missing Blessing: What Happens When We Trust God with Our Finances

Have you ever heard of FOMO—the fear of missing out? It’s that anxious feeling that somewhere, something exciting is happening, and you’re not there to experience it. But there’s another kind of missing out that’s far more consequential, and many of us don’t even realize we’re experiencing it.

The Warehouse of Missed Blessings

Imagine this scene: You’ve passed from this life and arrived in heaven. During your heavenly tour, you’re shown a massive warehouse filled with wrapped packages—all with your name on them. When you ask about these mysterious gifts, you learn they were blessings God intended for you during your earthly life, but you never received them because you didn’t trust Him in a key area: your finances.

This is the powerful picture painted in Malachi 3, where God addresses a profound question: “Will a man rob God?” The surprising answer is that many of us do exactly that, and in doing so, we forfeit incredible blessings He wants to pour into our lives.

How Can We Rob the Creator of Everything?

The very idea seems preposterous. How could we possibly steal from the One who owns “the cattle on a thousand hills”? Yet God says plainly in Malachi 3:8-9: “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!”

The tithe—a tenth of our income—belongs to God. It’s not something we give; it’s something we return, because it already belongs to Him. When we withhold it, we’re actually taking what isn’t ours.

The Three-Step Path to Blessing

So how do we move from robbing God to experiencing His “blessing until it overflows”? Malachi outlines three essential steps:

1. Return to Him with Your Heart

God begins with an invitation: “Return to Me, and I will return to you” (v.7). This is where it all starts—with a heart fully devoted to God. As Jesus emphasized, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Our financial choices reveal and affect our heart’s condition.

2. Stop Robbing Him

The practical outworking of a returned heart is to stop withholding what belongs to God. This means bringing “the whole tithe into the storehouse” (v.10). Throughout Scripture, from Abraham (400 years before the law) to Jacob to Jesus Himself, tithing is commended as a practice of faithful stewardship.

Some argue tithing is an Old Testament concept that doesn’t apply to New Testament believers. But Jesus never lowered God’s standards—He elevated them. If anything, our gratitude for Christ’s sacrifice should make us even more generous than those under the law.

3. Start Trusting Him

God issues a remarkable challenge: “Test me in this” (v.10). This is the only place in Scripture where God invites us to test Him. Why? Because He wants to prove His faithfulness and pour out blessings we can’t contain.

Tithing is:

• A test of faith
• An act of worship
• An essential element in combating greed
• God’s vehicle to bless you and use you

What Happens When We Don’t Trust God with Our Money?

The prophet Haggai describes it vividly: “You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it” (Haggai 1:6). When we withhold what belongs to God, He may allow our resources to drain away through unexpected expenses, poor decisions, or missed opportunities.

The truth is, you can bring the tithe that belongs to God, or He can extract it—but either way, that portion is His. And wouldn’t you rather participate in the blessing that comes with faithful stewardship?

Building for Eternity

There’s an old story about a wealthy businessman who arrives in heaven to discover he has only a tiny shack while others enjoy magnificent mansions. When he questions this, he’s told: “We build with the materials you sent ahead during your lifetime.”

Jesus reminded us, “Don’t store up treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-20). Our financial faithfulness now has eternal implications.

The Choice Before Us

God’s challenge through Malachi remains just as relevant today: Will you forfeit blessings by robbing God, or will you trust Him with your finances and experience His overflow of provision?

The question isn’t whether you can afford to tithe—it’s whether you can afford not to. When you honor God with your finances, you position yourself to receive blessings that spill over into every area of your life and enable you to be a blessing to others.

The choice is yours. Will you start trusting God today?