The Overflow: “Robbers In The Church”

The Overflow
“Robbers In The Church”
9/28/25
Pastor Mark England

Malachi 3:8-10 (NASB) “Would anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.⁹ You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the entire nation of you! ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and put Me to the test now in this,” says the Lord of armies, “if I do not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.

God doesn’t need our ; He wants our .

Malachi 3:7 (NASB) “From the days of your fathers you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

One of the most straightforward ways our hearts are tested is through .

In Malachi 3, God calls out His people for Him, not in secret like a but boldly like a .

Tithing isn’t just a issue, but it reveals a issue.

recognizes that everything we have already belongs to God. He’s the , and we are simply .

The tithe – the – is set apart for , meant to sustain the work of and support those .

Leviticus 27:30 (CSB) “Every tenth of the land’s produce, grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.

Deuteronomy 12:6 (CSB) You are to bring there your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tenths and personal contributions, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

Hebrews 7:1-2 (CSB) For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, met Abraham and blessed him as he returned from defeating the kings, ² and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.

Hebrews 7:17 (CSB) For it has been testified: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Jesus is of the line of Melchizedekian priesthood.
We should treat the same way treated Melchizedek himself.

Many of us operate in instead of , holding on to what was never to begin with.

Why does God ask for a tithe when He already ?

1. So you may learn to and know He is .

Deuteronomy 14:22-23 (CSB) “Each year you are to set aside a tenth of all the produce grown in your fields. ²³ You are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, and fresh oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, in the presence of the Lord your God at the place where he chooses to have his name dwell, so that you will always learn to fear the Lord your God.

Trust , not .

Deuteronomy 14:28-29 (CSB) “At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and store it within your city gates. ²⁹ Then the Levite, who has no portion or inheritance among you, the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow within your city gates may come, eat, and be satisfied. And the Lord your God will bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

2. God’s Kingdom Agenda has an and a and they need to eat in His house to experience .

When we rob God, we expose the condition of our and invite the curse of into our lives – no matter how much we , it never seems to be .

Malachi 3:9 (NASB) You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the entire nation of you!

Deuteronomy 28:38-40 (CSB) “You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because locusts will devour it. ³⁹ You will plant and cultivate vineyards but not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. ⁴⁰ You will have olive trees throughout your territory but not moisten your skin with oil, because your olives will drop off.

When it feels like we can never , it is a strong indicator that you are living under a that is rooted in .
You feel like you’re and is happening.

Only of the American Church gives .
The rest of the gives or less.

But God, in His , gives us a challenge: “ in this.”

Malachi 3:10 (NASB) Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way,” says the Lord of Armies. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.

He dares us to Him with our , promising that if we do, He’ll open the floodgates of heaven and we won’t have room to contain.

Malachi 3:11 (NASB) Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruit of your ground; nor will the vine in the field prove fruitless to you,” says the Lord of armies.

He will rebuke the devourer, taking away the being drained by the enemy, keeping us in .

Our in giving positions us to be a to others, showing the world what it looks like to .

As believers, we don’t have to question whether God . He’s already that He will.

Malachi 3:12 (NASB) All the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of armies.

The question is whether we will enough to let go of .

Will we while expecting His , or will we become , giving Him what’s ?

We are called to be , not .