The video of this lesson follows the notes.

Malachi 3:7-9 NLT
[7] Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to
obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Heaven’s
Armies. “But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’ [8] “Should
people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When
did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. [9]
You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me.
Malachi once again uses his format of God making a statement, Israel asking a question
and God answering in this part of Chapter 3. God has said He would return to be Israel’s
God if they would just return to Him. Israel doesn’t believe they have moved away from
God. Then God asks, “Should people cheat God?” Israel wants to know how they have
cheated God. His response is that the whole nation has not been giving the tithes and
offerings that are due to God.
God adds to their many other sins the failure to bring in the tithes and free-will offerings
He has commanded them to give. God could say the same to the Christian church today.
I have often heard it said that no assembly of believers would struggle financially if
everyone would simply give tithes and generous offerings to the treasury of the church
body.
In this country, those who tithe make up 10%-25% of any given congregation.
Nationwide, only 5% indicate they tithe. And even though “a tithe” refers to 1/10th of an
income, the average amount given in church offerings in this country is only 2.5%.
Perhaps now the quote about financial stability of a congregation makes sense.
If God felt Israel was robbing Him of the tithes due Him in Malachi’s day, He very well
could say the same about us today.