Big Idea
Tithing is a testimony of trust in God, not a transaction He needs — and we'll never experience the freedom, purpose, and joy God has for us until we surrender our money to Him.
Living intentionally with our money means trusting God enough to give Him the first and best, not just our leftovers. When we surrender this area, God does something in us, declares something through us, and uses what we give to bring lasting change we get to be part of — and on the other side of that trust is real freedom, peace, and joy.
Key points
1Tithing is a testimony, not a transaction — it's for us, not just from us.
Pastor Bill frames the whole message around the idea that God doesn't need our money; He asks for it because giving does something in us, declares something through us, and lets us join Him in lasting change in the world.
2Pastor Bill's own story of resisting the tithe as a young, underpaid youth pastor.
He admits he gave his leftovers and called it a tithe while justifying it with his low pay and long hours. His wife and his friend Randy Deal confronted him, pointing out he told students to trust God with their lives while ignoring what God asked of him financially.
3A rapid walk through Scripture shows giving has always been about trust, not obligation.
He moves from Cain and Abel's sacrifices, to Abram's voluntary tithe to Melchizedek, to the command in Leviticus, to Moses' warning in Deuteronomy not to forget the Source of our wealth, to bringing tithes to the storehouse in Deuteronomy and Malachi, to Jesus affirming tithing in Matthew, to the radical generosity of the early church in Acts, and Paul's call to cheerful, proportionate giving in 2 Corinthians.
4Malachi exposes the curse of withholding from God: not judgment, but a life gripped by fear and never having enough.
Pastor Bill explains that after the exile, Israel raised their standard of living while lowering their standard of giving. He connects the curse in Malachi to his own childhood anxiety around money and shows how that same fear keeps people stuck today.
5Every person sits in one of three responses to God's ask: fear, frustration, or faith.
He unpacks fear as fleeing (the 'I can't' and 'I could' fears), frustration as fighting (throwing up defensive questions as smokescreens — Is tithing Old Testament? Does it have to be 10%? Can I give elsewhere? What about my time?), and faith as the only path to freedom.
6When Pastor Bill finally tithed in faith, God provided in ways he never could have engineered himself.
He and his wife tithed 10% off the top despite razor-thin finances, and over the next year the church helped them get a house with a lower payment than their rent, he received an unexpected $35,000 raise, and it positioned them to later step out in faith to plant Rock Point.
7Money is the light or darkness that determines the direction of the whole heart.
Working through Matthew 6, Pastor Bill shows that wherever we choose to put our treasure is where our heart will follow, and that serving money instead of God traps people in restlessness, fear, and a blind spot they can't see past.
Application
Pastor Bill's charge is to move from fear or frustration into faith by taking real steps toward tithing this week, starting wherever you are.
Name whether you're fleeing, fighting, or trusting
Be honest with yourself about which of the three responses — fear, frustration, or faith — you're actually in when it comes to money, the way Pastor Bill had to sit before God and admit his own resistance.
Drop the smokescreen questions
Stop using deflections like 'I give elsewhere' or 'it's Old Testament' to avoid the real heart issue; add up what you actually give and be honest about it.
Take real steps toward the tithe now
If you're at 0%, move to 2%; if you're already giving, increase by two percentage points toward 10 and beyond, giving through your home church as your primary place of worship.
Give first and best, not leftovers
Decide to give off the top before anything else, trusting God with your need before you know you're okay, the way Abel did and Cain didn't.
Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI
