Sermon Notes

Malachi 3:6-10
1. Tithing is a test.
Malachi 3:10 “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse”
Jer 17:9
Ps. 97:2

2. Tithing is Biblical.
Genesis 14:20 “And he give him a tenth of all”
Scriptures on tithing before and after The Law:
Gen 28:22, Lev 27:30, Matt 23:23, Heb 7:8
2 Chron. 31:4-10
3. Tithing is a blessing.
2 Chron. 31:10 “for the LORD has blessed His people”

Sermon Notes

Deut 15:7-11
1. Giving helps us deal with a selfish heart.
Vs. 9. “Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart”
The Seventh Year “Debts are forgiven”. Deut 15:1-6
2. Giving helps us deal with a grieving heart.
Vs. 10 “...and your heart should not be grieved when you give to
him”
Psalm 24:1
3. Giving helps us develop a generous heart.
Vs. 11 “You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your
poor, and your needy, in your land”
Deut 15:12-15
4. Giving helps us develops a grateful heart.
Vs. 15 “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of
Egypt”
Deut 6:20-21

Sermon Notes

4 Things Everyone Needs to Build a Dream:
Ezra 8:1-35
1. Dreams need a gathering place to become a reality.
Vs. 15 “Now I gathered them by the river”
2. Dreams become reality through sacrificial leadership.
Vs. 21 “that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek
from Him the right way”

3. Always remember that God is the creator and completer of the
dream.
Vs. 31 “And the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us.”
Hebrews 12:2
4. The goal of achieving a dream is to produce worshippers.
Vs. 35 “The children of those…who had come from the captivity,
offered burnt offerings to God.”

Sermon Notes

II Cor 3:5-6 KJV
Ezra 6:13-19 NKJV
1. God brings supernatural power to a God given dream.
Vs. 14 “and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the
prophet and Zechariah”

2. The dream brings joy and celebration to a new generation.
Vs. 16 “Then the children of Israel…celebrated the dedication of the
House of God with joy”

3. Building Godʼs dream brings repentance to our lives.
Vs. 17 “and as a sin offering for all Israel twelve male goats”

Psalm 32:1-5
4. Building the dream causes you to step out in faith.
Vs. 18 “They assigned the priests to their divisions and the Levites to
their divisions over the service of God in Jerusalem”

5. Building the dream brings people to the blood like never before.
Vs. 19 “And the descendants of the captivity kept the Passover”

Sermon Notes

Ezra 4:1-6 Resistance to the God given Dream
There are 3 kinds of resistance. The resistance of (1) our sinful nature,
Rom 7:23, “warring against”; (2) a sinful world, John 16:33, “In this world
you will have tribulation;” and (3) the “Man of Sin,” the devil. Rev 12:10,
“the accuser of our brethren.”

1. Attacks on a dream come first to the leaders.
Vs. 2 “they came to Zerubbabal and the heads of the fathers”

2. Resistance to a dream comes from opposing essential beliefs.
Vs. 2 “Let us build with you, for we seek your God…as you do”

3. An attack on the dream always aims to destroy unity.
Vs. 3 “But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathersʼ
houses of Israel said to them”
2 Cor 13:11

4. There is always a season when the dream seems to die.
Vs. 24 “Thus the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased”
Ezra 5:1-2 & Zechariah 4:6-9