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What Does Generosity Really Mean? | Cornerstone Church | Pastor Linn Winters · Rewind

Cornerstone Church

36 min

Linn Winters · Aug 4, 2026 · 4 min read · 36 min listen

The big idea

You cannot bring God the tithe without bringing Him your heart, and you cannot withhold the tithe without withholding your heart — so tithing is really a test of who your master is.

In this message

The big idea
Point 1 of 7God's people had chased other gods for the sake of wealth, and He calls them back through the tithe
Point 2 of 7God doesn't need the money, He needs the heart that's attached to it

Point 3 of 7You cannot serve two masters — money and God compete for the same seat
Point 4 of 7The widow's two pennies mattered more to Jesus than the wealthy people's large gifts
Point 5 of 7The tithe belongs to God already, and it must be given first, not from the leftovers
Point 6 of 7Tithing is a New Testament expectation too, and every excuse for skipping it falls apart under questioning
Point 7 of 7God invites His people to test Him with the tithe and see Him open the floodgates of blessing
Take it into your week
Transcript

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Scripture in this message

Malachi 3:6-8
Matthew 6:21
Matthew 6:22-24
Mark 12
Leviticus 27:30
Proverbs 3:9-10

Rewind AI drafted the Big Idea and some point headings shown here from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Linn Winters · Aug 4, 2026 · 36 min watch · 2 min read

What Does Generosity Really Mean? | Cornerstone Church | Pastor Linn Winters

In this message

Big Idea
Key points
Application

Scripture in this message

Malachi 3:6-8
Matthew 6:21
Matthew 6:22-24
Mark 12
Leviticus 27:30
Proverbs 3:9-10

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

You cannot bring God the tithe without bringing Him your heart, and you cannot withhold the tithe without withholding your heart — so tithing is really a test of who your master is.

Money is not really a math problem, it's a heart problem. Because your treasure and your heart are inseparably linked, God asks for the tithe not because He needs your money, but because He wants what your money is attached to — your trust and your love. Tithing is simply the way you show, rather than tell, that God is truly first in your life.

Key points

1
1God's people had chased other gods for the sake of wealth, and He calls them back through the tithe
Pastor Linn sets the scene in Malachi 3: Israel looked at prosperous neighboring nations and turned to false idols hoping to get rich. God tells them to return to Him, and when they ask how to prove they're sincere, He points them to the tithe rather than church attendance or singing louder.
2
2God doesn't need the money, He needs the heart that's attached to it
Pastor Linn explains that God knows people cannot bring the tithe without bringing their hearts with it. He turns to Jesus' words in Matthew 6 that where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, arguing that a bank statement reveals what someone actually loves.
3
3You cannot serve two masters — money and God compete for the same seat
Building on Matthew 6, Pastor Linn shows that Jesus said no one can serve both God and money; one will always be master. He ties this back to Israel worshiping idols not because they liked the idols but because they wanted the wealth attached to them, and applies it directly: refusing the tithe is choosing money as master.
4
4The widow's two pennies mattered more to Jesus than the wealthy people's large gifts
Pastor Linn retells the story of Jesus at the temple treasury, jumping to His feet when a widow drops in two small coins because it was everything she had. He says she loved and trusted God more than her next meal or rent payment, modeling the exact love and trust God is after.
5
5The tithe belongs to God already, and it must be given first, not from the leftovers
Using Leviticus 27 and Proverbs 3:9, Pastor Linn argues the tenth already belongs to the Lord, so keeping it is like spending money from a stolen wallet. He illustrates with ten one-dollar bills that giving the first one takes faith, while giving from what's left over after all bills are paid takes no faith and isn't really a tithe at all.
6
6Tithing is a New Testament expectation too, and every excuse for skipping it falls apart under questioning
Pastor Linn works through Jesus' words to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:23, showing Jesus affirmed tithing even while rebuking legalism. He then dismantles common excuses — waiting until there's more money, or claiming there's not enough — noting statistics show wealthier people tithe less, and asking who you'd rather disappoint, Visa or God.
7
7God invites His people to test Him with the tithe and see Him open the floodgates of blessing
Returning to Malachi 3:10, Pastor Linn highlights that this is the one place in Scripture God invites people to test Him, unlike Satan's temptation of Jesus to test God in the wilderness. He frames this as God caring more about proven trust than spoken words of love.

Application

Pastor Linn's challenge is to ask God, "what are you hoping I'll do today?" and answer with action, marked on a card, not just words.

Take the ninety-day tithe challenge
Commit to tithing for ninety days as a test of God's faithfulness; if God doesn't come through, the church promises to refund everything given during that time.
Give for the first time
If you've never given before, mark the card as a first-time giver and give a gift that reflects your love for God, even if it isn't yet a full tithe.
Become an intentional, consistent giver
If you've only given occasionally, choose a percentage — maybe 5% or 2% — and commit to giving it consistently, growing toward a full tithe over time.
Move into generous giving
If you're already tithing, consider giving consistently above the tithe, as Pastor Linn and his wife have done, to be part of more lives changed and more kingdom work.
Mark the card honestly and drop it in the basket
Take a moment to pray and mark whichever box reflects your decision, or drop in a blank card with no pressure if you're not ready to commit.

Take it into your week

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

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Scripture in this message

Paraphrase of the transcript
I, the lord, do not change, so you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed... Return to me and I will return to you says the Lord Almighty... In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse
Read the whole chapter →
From the transcript
“for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. He said, I understand you as humans well enough to know this”
From the transcript
“the eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within”
From the transcript
“Jesus is sitting outside the treasury of the temple. People are coming with their tithe. They're dropping money in the offering plate”
Paraphrase of the transcript
The tithe of everything of the land... Whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees... it is holy to the Lord
From the transcript
“honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops. Then your barns will be filled overflowing and your vats will brim over like new”
From the transcript
“what sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law, you Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb”
Paraphrase of the transcript
bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house... Test me in this, says the lord almighty and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven

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

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

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Day 1

Pastor Linn opened us in Malachi, where God calls a drifting people back to Himself. Israel had wandered off chasing prosperity from false gods, and when they finally ask, "How can we return to You?" God's answer catches everyone off guard. He doesn't ask for more songs or louder worship or nicer words. He points to the tithes and offerings they had been holding back. That's a startling place to begin a conversation about coming home to God. We tend to assume return is mostly a matter of feeling — sincerity, remorse, renewed intentions. But here God locates the return in something concrete we had been keeping for ourselves. It suggests that our relationship with Him had already wandered off somewhere we hadn't noticed, and that the money was the trail marker showing where our hearts had actually gone. This week isn't about guilt. It's an invitation. God is the One reaching out first, saying "Return to Me." Before we get to challenges or cards or any next step, it helps just to sit with that. God wants us back. And He's honest enough to tell us where to look for the part of us that drifted.

For reflection

Where might my everyday spending quietly show a part of me that has drifted from God without my noticing?

Pray

Pray for honesty about where your heart has actually been living lately.

Day 2

"Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be" (NLT). Pastor Linn made a point that reframes the whole subject: God isn't greedy for our cash. He doesn't need the money. What He's after is what the money is attached to — our hearts, which have a way of following our treasure wherever it goes. That's not a threat; it's an observation about how we're built. We can't hand over something precious without a piece of us traveling with it. Pastor Linn told the story of trading in his own engagement ring to buy Lisa hers — giving up something that mattered to him because love wanted to prove itself, not just say itself. That image lands because we recognize it. The things we sacrifice for reveal what we love. So the question underneath money is really a question about affection. Where does my heart actually want to be? Notice Jesus says our heart follows our treasure, not the other way around. That's oddly hopeful. It means where I put my resources can gently retrain what I love, drawing my heart toward God rather than waiting to feel the love first. Direction matters more than perfection here.

For reflection

If I traced my treasure this month, where would it say my heart has been going?

Pray

Pray that God would draw your affections toward Him, not just your money.

Day 3

"No one can serve two masters" (NLT). Pastor Linn was direct here: money or God will be first — never both. It isn't that money is evil; it's that it competes for the throne, and whichever one we refuse to release quietly becomes our functional master. Jesus doesn't leave us a comfortable middle. Pastor Linn noted how a misunderstanding of money can darken our whole perspective, the way a smudged lens distorts everything we look at. And he connected this back to Israel, who worshiped idols precisely because they promised wealth. The idol wasn't a statue so much as the security they thought it bought. That's worth sitting with, because most of us don't imagine ourselves serving money. We just want to be responsible, prepared, safe. But safety can slide into a master when we can't imagine loosening our grip. Pastor Linn asked plainly what it means if our answer to God on this is no. That's a hard question, and it's meant to be asked gently to ourselves, not used as a verdict against anyone. Fear about money is real and human. The invitation isn't to shame but to notice, honestly, which master our hands are actually clinging to.

For reflection

What would I find hardest to loosen my grip on, and what does that tell me?

Pray

Pray for the courage to let God, not security, sit on the throne.

Day 4

Pastor Linn retold the story of the widow dropping two small coins into the temple treasury. What struck him was Jesus's reaction — He gets excited, not over the amount, but over what the amount cost her. The wealthy gave impressive sums out of their surplus; she gave everything she had to live on. Jesus saw a woman who loved God more than her next meal and trusted Him to provide anyway. That's the part I keep returning to: her gift proved both her love and her trust at the same time. It wasn't a performance for the crowd, who probably didn't even notice. It was between her and God. This story quietly dismantles the idea that giving is about keeping up or reaching some threshold. Jesus measures by the heart the gift reveals, not the size of it. That's freeing for anyone who feels they have little to offer. The widow had almost nothing, and Jesus called attention to her over everyone with more. Her circumstances were genuinely hard — this isn't a tidy fable about easy faith. It's about a woman who, in real scarcity, decided her trust in God would be shown by what she did, not only what she said.

For reflection

When has giving actually cost me something, and what did it reveal about my trust?

Pray

Pray for a heart that measures giving the way Jesus did.

Day 5

"Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce" (NLT). Pastor Linn drew out one word from this and from Leviticus 27: first. The tithe is meant to be the first tenth, not whatever survives at the end of the month. He made this vivid with ten one-dollar bills. Giving the first bill takes real faith — you're trusting that God will make the remaining nine stretch far enough. Giving a leftover tenth, after every other need is already met, takes no faith at all. That distinction reframes the whole thing. It was never mainly about the ten percent as a number; it's about the order, because the order is where trust actually shows up. Pastor Linn even put it bluntly — since the tithe already belongs to God, keeping it back is like spending from someone else's wallet. That's a strong image, and it's his, not mine to soften or sharpen. What I take from it is that "first" is a spiritual posture, not just a budgeting tip. Giving first says, before I know how the month will go, I'm placing my trust in God at the front of the line. This is genuinely hard, and Scripture doesn't pretend otherwise.

For reflection

What would change if God came first in my finances instead of last?

Pray

Pray for faith to put God first, before you know how things will add up.

Day 6

Pastor Linn took on the excuses head-on, and I appreciated his honesty. The first is that tithing is an Old Testament relic — yet here in Matthew 23:23 Jesus rebukes the religious leaders for tithing their spices while neglecting "justice, mercy, and faith," and then says they should have done these "without neglecting the other" (NLT). Jesus doesn't cancel the tithe; He affirms it while insisting the heart behind it matters too. The second excuse is "I'll give once I have more." Pastor Linn pointed to the sobering pattern that generosity often shrinks, not grows, as wealth increases — which means "later" rarely arrives on its own. The third is "I can't afford it," and he reframed that as an honest question about who we're most afraid to disappoint. These aren't meant as clever comebacks to win an argument. They're meant to clear away the fog so we can see the real decision underneath. And notice Jesus's balance in this verse — He never lets the mechanics of giving replace mercy and faith, and He never lets a heart-focus become an excuse to skip the concrete act. He wants both. So do we, if we're honest.

For reflection

Which of these reasons have I quietly told myself, and what is it really protecting?

Pray

Pray for clarity to see the real decision beneath your reasons.

Day 7

We end where Pastor Linn ended: with an invitation to act. In Malachi 3:10 God does something He does nowhere else — He invites His people to test Him. "Try it! Put me to the test!" (NLT), He says about the tithe, promising to open the windows of heaven. Pastor Linn noted the striking contrast that Jesus refused to test God when Satan tempted Him, yet here God Himself extends the invitation. He isn't naïve about our fear. He knows this is scary, and He still asks for trust proven through action rather than only spoken in words. So what does this look like in the ordinary week that begins tomorrow? Pastor Linn's challenge was simple: stop deciding with words and start deciding with something you actually do. He asked each person to pray one question — what is God hoping I'll do today? — and then respond honestly, whatever that step looks like for you. That step is private, between you and God; the amount was never the point. As this new week starts, the question isn't whether you said the right things this week. It's whether, come Monday, love for God gets to show up in a real, concrete decision.

For reflection

As this week begins, what is one honest action God may be inviting me to take?

Pray

Pray the one question Pastor Linn asked — what is God hoping I'll do today?

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

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

Think of something precious you once gave up to get something that mattered more — like Pastor Linn trading in his old ring to buy Lisa hers. What's a trade like that you remember making?

Discussion questions

1
Read Malachi 3:6-8 aloud. When the people ask how to return to God, what surprises you about the answer He gives them?
2
Jesus says, "Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be" (NLT). What does it suggest about the connection between where people put their money and what they actually love?
3
Read Matthew 6:24. What do you make of Jesus's claim that a person cannot serve two masters, and why might money in particular compete for that first place?
4
In the account of the widow's offering, Jesus responds to her two small coins rather than the large gifts around her. What is He noticing about her that the amount alone can't show?
5
Pastor Linn used ten one-dollar bills to picture giving the first tenth versus giving a leftover tenth. Why might giving first ask something of our trust that giving from what's left over does not?
6
Pastor Linn pointed to Malachi 3:10, where God invites His people to test Him in the tithe. Sitting with that invitation quietly between you and God this week, how might it reshape the way we think about trusting Him with what we have?

Pray together

Ask God to align our hearts with Him, that our love and trust would be shown in action and not only in words.

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

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Go deeper

Where these passages are preached

Malachi 3 Matthew 6 Mark 12 Leviticus 27

Explore related topics

Generosity Idolatry Tithing Trust in God

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