I'm glad to see our visitors
with us. Let me ask you to turn to 1 Corinthians 16. You can't put a price on a teachable
spirit. And for all the error that there
was at the church at Corinth, there were those in their midst
whom the Lord had given a heart to be taught by God through His
messenger. They wrote to him, and in 1 Corinthians
7, verse 1, he said, now concerning the things which you wrote unto
me, and he dealt with marriage. Then in chapter 8, verse 1, he
says, now as touching things offered unto idols, he dealt
with those things. These are things they wrote asking
him about. He said in chapter 12, verse 1, now concerning spiritual
gifts. And then here in chapter 16,
verse 1, he says, now concerning the collection for the saints. As I have given order to the
churches of Galatia, even so do ye. The collection that he
speaks about was for the needy saints at Jerusalem. in the beginning
when the Lord called out his sheep at Jerusalem through the
Spirit of God, the Lord prospered them spiritually and temporally
so that they had all things common amongst themselves and they supported
one another and the furtherance of the gospel so that it went
out into the other parts of the world into the Gentile nations. And then through that work, through
that ministering that the Lord had put into the hearts of those
saints and how He had blessed them both spiritually and temporally
at Jerusalem, the Lord prospered, called out, blessed, prospered
His saints at Corinth, blessed them both spiritually and temporally. And now that same God of all
grace who worked all that together and sent a famine to Jerusalem
to those saints at Jerusalem. And now through that same Spirit
of grace, through that same blessing whereby He has prospered those
saints at Corinth, He's given them a heart to be taught by
Paul an orderly manner to go about taking up a collection
to send back and support those needy saints at Jerusalem. Now
that just thrills me. Do you see God providing for
His people in that? Oh, that's a blessing. That's
a blessing. Now, the title of the message
this morning is First Things First. First Things First. Verse 2, Paul says, Upon the
first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store,
as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I
come. And when I come, Whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters,
them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. And
if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me." Paul
had asked them individually to write him to recommend who they
would from amongst their midst to go with them to bring this
gift to Jerusalem. And he said, when I'm there,
I'll send them, and if it's meet, And I go to Jerusalem, they can
go with me. But I want you to focus your
attention on verse 2. And here's some things we're
going to look at this morning on this privilege of giving.
First of all is the time to give. Secondly, the persons involved. Thirdly, the motive. Fourthly,
the motive. Fifthly, the measure. And sixthly,
the end purpose. of it all. Alright, the first
thing we see here is the time to give. Verse 2, Paul says,
upon the first of the week. Now this was a particular collection
for the saints at Jerusalem that they were taking here, which
was a special offering they were taking. But this is good for
us to consider when we think about our giving and our offerings
here here in this place on an ongoing basis. He says here,
the first of the week, in all things God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ shall receive all preeminence. Our triune God
is first. If somebody said, came to me
and asked me advice on anything, whether it be a career or a or
any choice that they're about to make, or any decision they
have to make. I'll tell you the best place
to begin. In the beginning, God. Start
there. Start right there. Go to God
first. He's first. That's how everything
begins is with God. The first in importance in the
wilderness was the worship of God in the tabernacle that He
had set up. and promised where he would meet
with his people. Let me read you a few scriptures.
Exodus 40 verse 2 says, On the first day of the first month
shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. This was first things first now.
Set up the tabernacle. This is where God promised to
meet with his people. That's first. That's first. In
the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall
do no servile work therein. This is first. Even if the appointed
time wasn't the first of the month, often it was the first
day. The first. And this time, the
significance here of Paul saying, do this on the first day, is
this is when the saints would be gathered together to worship
the Lord. And he says, on this first day,
do this. We're told throughout the Scriptures,
when the law entered in, the Lord commanded, along with the
with blood, with the lamb that you are to bring. He said, give
of your first fruits, your first fruits, the first of your first
fruits on the first day of the week. And the Lord does this
to put us in remembrance and to settle our hearts right from
the first where they should be settled and on whom our attention
should be focused. Thou shalt not delay to offer
the first of thy ripe fruits and of thy liquors. The firstborn
of thy son shalt thou give unto me also." He said, "...the first
of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house
of the Lord thy God." What's the significance of this? Where's
the focus? Why are these first of the first? Why are these first things first? The picture is Christ is first.
Christ Jesus is the first to rise from the dead and ascend
to the Father and present His people to the Father in whom
we have all our acceptance with God. He is the first. He is the firstfruits. Look at
1 Corinthians 15, verse 20. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. Colossians
1.18. Turn there with me if you like.
He says, I'll give you a chance to get there. Colossians 1.18.
He's the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have
the preeminence. This is the significance of first,
of the first things being first. Romans 8.29, this is the purpose
of God according to election. This is why God chose a people
and why salvation is by grace through faith, and it's not of
yourselves. It's that the purpose of God
according to election might stand. For whom He did foreknow, them
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Why is it
important to give on the first of the week? It's important so
that we begin first in remembrance of our Triune God and of Christ
our King and our Righteousness. Why is it important that we meet
on the first day of the week? Same reason. Why is it important
that we begin each day seeking first our Lord in prayer and
reading of the Scriptures? Why is that important? Same reason. Why is it important
that we seek first God's revealed will in everything we do and
everything we plan on a daily basis? Not just saying, if the
Lord will, I'll go here and do that, although we should say
that. We should bear that in mind that it's always the Lord's
will if we live and do this or that. But also looking at God's
revealed will in His Word and see, is this interfering with
what God has said shall be first things first. Is it going to
interfere with my worshiping of God on the first day of the
week? Is it going to interfere with my giving of the first things
first? What I have left over, I'll look
at some plans after that, but is this purchase or this trip
or this plan, is it going to interfere with that? Is it going
to interfere with me seeking first the Kingdom of God and
His righteousness Every day, every hour, in every situation. Is it going to interfere with
that? Seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
First things first. That's important. Very important. Here's the second thing. The
persons who are entitled to this privilege. Verse 2. Let every
one of you, let every one of you, Who's going to understand
and who's going to delight in this privilege of God? Only those born of the Spirit
of God. Only those who have been given a heart to see what great
things God's done for them in Christ are going to delight in
this and see this as a privilege from which they don't want to
be kept from. Let every one of you. That's
who He's talking to. Every one of you. You see, this
is a privilege. We don't want to be kept from
it. We don't want anything to interfere or cause us to shy
away from it whatsoever. Because everything we have, we
have in common. Scripture says, both he that
sanctifieth, Christ the Lord, and they who are sanctified are
all of one. He that's joined unto the Lord. Are you joined unto the Lord,
Scott? Are you joined unto the Lord, Eric? Are you joined unto
the Lord, Pete? He that's joined unto the Lord
is one spirit. One. We've all been made through
the Spirit of God to partake in this heavenly communion with
the Father. by one Spirit. We've all been
made to drink of that same spiritual rock of which our brethren drank
in the wilderness, and that rock is Christ, all of one, and the
multitude who were saved at Jerusalem in the beginning. The Scripture
says, look at this, Acts 4, verse 32. I want you to see this. We're
going to turn to some Scriptures this morning. Acts 4, verse 32. And the multitude of them that
believed were of one heart and of one soul. That's this glorious
oneness we're talking about through the Spirit of God's grace, through
creating His people anew. They were of one heart and of
one soul. Acts 4.32. Neither said any of them that
all of the things which he possessed was his own. But they had all
things common. Everything common. Temporally
speaking. Not only spiritually speaking,
but temporally thinking. Just as we're one with the Father,
one with the Son, one with the Holy Spirit, of one body, of
one faith, of one baptism. We're all of one Spirit. Just
as we're made one by the Spirit of God's grace. Everything that
we own, we have in common. It all belongs to each other. That's so. That's so. The governments
of this world have always tried to imitate the king of kings
and lord of lords and how he rules his kingdom. Do you remember
in Samuel's day when they rejected Samuel, the children of Israel
did, and they said, we want a king like the other nations have.
Where did the other nations get an idea to have a king? They tried to imitate God our
king and the government he had of his people. Man has been trying
to make himself a God and rule like God rules ever since the
fall of Adam. But where this oneness of heart
is not present and created by the Spirit of God, no matter
how the governments of this world try to bring it about, it will
be nothing but corruption. Nothing but corruption. But the
King of Kings and Lord of Lords works this work effectually in
the heart of His people and gives us this heart. If you don't have
it now, just hang around a little while. You'll find out pretty
soon when you're made to leave all those things to your brethren,
you're going to see. You really did have them all
in common with them. Just hang around. Well, here's the second
thing we see, or the third thing we see. It's
the motive. The motive. It's in this one little word,
let, in verse 2. Let. This is not law. It's grace. This is what God
creates when He gives a sinner a willing heart. Let. Don't you stop them. Don't prohibit
them. Let them. Let them. Look over at 2 Corinthians 8.
And you can hold your place here. We'll be back here in a moment. 2 Corinthians 8. Every man according as he purposeth
in his heart, I don't see yours and you don't see mine. This
is between you and God. Every man as he purposeth in
his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly, I'm sorry, verse chapter 9, 2
Corinthians 9, 7. Every man according as he purposeth
in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity,
for God loveth a cheerful giver. Now I started on purpose with
making this point that it's a great blessing when God gives His children
a teachable spirit. And I said it that way I said
that in the beginning because whenever you preach a message
on giving, you start getting some funny looks and invariably
somebody gets mad, somebody gets angry. Let me say this to you
and hear this now. If that's how you feel, if you
have a spirit, a grudging spirit and feel like this is a necessity
that's being laid on you, don't give, don't give. Listen, God
don't need your gifts. You got everything you got from
God. And this church don't need your gifts. That's right. I'm
saying that to you as your pastor who is utterly dependent on what
God provides using folks like you to provide it. And I'm telling
you, God don't need your gifts. I don't need your gifts. This
church don't need to show guilt. If that's how you feel, don't
guilt. And it's better that you don't. Better that you don't.
Because you're going to do it expecting a reward for doing
it. There's going to be strings attached.
And this is free, willing grace worked in the heart. That's what
we're talking about here. Alright? This is a privilege by grace
to cheerfully guilt. Here's the fourth thing. The
manner. the manner. Now back there in
verse 2, 1 Corinthians 16, 2, he says, lay by him in store. Now, not only is there a willingness
that God has given in the heart to do this, but do it. Do it. Actually do it. 2 Corinthians,
back there to chapter 8, verse 8. Why is that necessary? Look at what Paul said. He says,
I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness
of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. He said, you were
willing a year ago to do this. Now look down at verse 11. Now
therefore perform the doing, that as there was a readiness
to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which you have. You see, not just a willingness,
but do it. Lay by in store. And do it. Prove
the sincerity of your love. Now, He gives us an example here
in 2 Corinthians 8. And you hold right here for a
little while. We're going to camp out. 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. Here's
the example He gives. The example He gives of the proof
of the sincerity of love is Christ the Lord. Watch this. 2 Corinthians
8 and 9. For ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now back there in our text in
verse 3, when He said, I will send to bring your liberality
unto Jerusalem, that word liberality and this word grace right here
is the same word, exact same word. He said, when you send
your grace and your favor to Jerusalem, and He said, now you
see the grace and the favor and the liberality. You know this
grace and favor and liberality of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
9, that though He was rich, How rich was he? How rich was he? He was in the form of God. He
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. This is God we
are talking about. This is He by whom all things
were created. Everything in heaven, everything
in earth, visible and invisible, thrones, dominions, principalities,
powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. Without Him,
there was not anything made that was made. I want you to place
here, 2 Corinthians 8, I want you to see Psalm 50. Psalm 50,
verse 10. This is who we're talking about.
This is how rich Christ Jesus was. Verse 10. Every beast of the
forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know
all the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field
are mine. Look at verse 12. If I were hungry,
I would not tell thee. I would not tell thee. For the
world is mine, and the fullness thereof. This is the one we're
talking about. That's how rich he is. Now turn
back there to 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. Look at this next word. Yet. 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. Yet. For your sakes. Who are we talking about here? As far as you can imagine the
riches that this one possesses, now you go to the other extreme
and try to imagine the depths of poverty that you can possibly
imagine. We are talking about sinners
who are so bankrupt, who have no goodness in them, no soundness
in them, who are absolutely void of all righteousness, of all
holiness, of any acceptance with God whatsoever in themselves. We're talking about sinners dead
in trespasses and in sins. Abomination unto God. Abomination unto God. That's
who we're talking about. Those who were on the dung heap. Those who were in the gutter
of human depravity. Those whom God chose by His own
free and sovereign grace, not based on any good or any evil
in them, simply according to the sovereign will and purpose
of His own grace. Those that He chose. Those whom
He entrusted unto His Son before the world ever began in the everlasting,
unbreakable, unchangeable covenant of grace. This is who He did
this for. And what did He do for your sex? Verse 9, He became poor. How poor? How poor? How poor are you? How poor were
you? How poor were you born into this
world? How poor were you? You and I yet don't know just
how poor we are. in ourselves. We don't really
know how poor we are. If we were to base how poor He
became based on how poor we can enter into who we are, we'd come
short of how poor He became for us. He left heaven's glory and
He took the form of a servant. And He was made in the likeness
of men. He said, the foxes have holes
and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath
not where to lay His head. Think about that now. He was
despised and He was rejected of men. Not just He had a run-in
with somebody at work and He had to kind of avoid them walk
down another hallway or take the stairs for a week or so until
everything settled down. Not that he had a neighbor that
he couldn't get along with and they had a disagreement and it
took him a while to work things out. Despised and rejected by
God-haters. Everybody he came in contact
with. Totally, absolutely, the diametric
opposite of what he was in the flesh, despised and rejected,
acquainted with grief. And we, the very ones he came
to save, who were so poor that we thought we were kings and
princes and as gods and rich as we could be and had need of
nothing. And so we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He
was despised and we esteemed Him not. And being found in fashion
as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient even unto
death, even the death of the cross. This One came. And when we were yet without
strength, in due time, in His time, in the season of His love,
He died for This is a big word. A big word. We need to think
a long time on it. He died for the ungodly. For a righteous man, some would
dare to die. A good man, some would die. But
this is how God committed His love for us in that while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He was made to bear our sins
in His own body. The chastisement of our peace
was laid upon Him. He was wounded for our transgressions. So poor, God forsook Him. God forsook Him. in holiness and righteousness
and justice that you deserve and I deserve, God forsook him. That is as poor as you can get. He receives the preeminence in
sinking to the depths of poverty. He receives it in all things. Christ Jesus receives all preeminence
in all things. But, with His stripes, we are
healed. We are healed. What did He do
by this grace? In sinking to this height This
utter depth of poverty, what did He accomplish by that? Look
there at verse 9. That ye through His poverty might
be rich. How rich? Rich in eternal life. Rich in newness of life through
the Holy Spirit. Rich in righteousness which God
demands. Rich in holiness which God demands. rich in complete acceptance with
God, made a joint heir with this one whom God has appointed heir
of all things. That's rich. That's rich. Now, that's how the sincerity
of God's love is manifested. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be satisfaction
for our sin. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. Alright, here's the fifth thing.
The measure of the gift. How do I know how much to give?
How do I know how much to give? Here's how you measure it. Verse
2. 1 Corinthians 16. as God hath prospered you." Now,
in light of what you've just heard, how has God prospered
you? That's what Paul told the Ephesians.
To the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace toward us, in His kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. And Paul said unto me, Who am
the least of these saints, is this grace given, that I should
come bearing these riches to you, and preach these unsearchable
riches. You know what an unsearchable
riches are? You ever see those money counting
machines, you know, that you put, when your money's just,
you got so much you can't count it, you have to put it in one
of those machines, you seen those? I wouldn't know what one of them
looks like, but if you put your money in there, I see them on
TV and they just count money as fast as, I mean, just rattle
it off, count it. You've heard on some of these
documentaries of these drug dealers and things how that some of them
are boasting about how much money they made and it got to the point
where we couldn't count our money, we just weighed it and estimated
how much it was. These riches can't be counted.
Start counting them and you won't come to the end of them. Start
searching them and you can't get to the end of these riches. They're unsearchable. They're
beyond our comprehension, beyond our counting, beyond our measuring,
beyond our understanding. Unsearchable riches. Has God
prospered you? Has He? You see, this thing of
giving, is an act of faith. Do you know that? This is what
He said. He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up
for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us... He's given us all these unsearchable
spiritual blessings, these spiritual riches. How shall He not with
that same Son whom He gave these things to us, give us freely
all things? All things. Our providing for
the furtherance of the gospel. Our making first things first.
Our coming to this place on the first of the week. Letting nothing
interfere with the worship of God. Our giving ourselves first. And then our substance. For our
brethren. For the furtherance of the gospel. So that this good news of this
One who is enriched us so can be heard wherever we can send
somebody. And that the needy be provided
for among us and among the other saints in other places. In all
these things, He said to us He will freely give us all things. The measure of how much we really
believe Him is not in how much we give, That's not the measure
of it. It's how much we hang on to.
That's the measure. That widow that came there and
she gave her two mites, she gave everything she had. That's what the Lord, she's given
everything. She's given all. You know why? She was fully persuaded. that
God had given her all things in Christ and that He would freely
give her all things. That's right. And God said she's
given more than all these wealthy folks that have given, actually
given percentage-wise, monetarily-wise, they gave a lot more. But you
look at what they hung on to. She's given more than they are.
That's the measure of faith. That's the measure of faith. Look over at 2 Corinthians 9.
Do you believe Him? Do you believe Him? What He's
saying to us, brethren, is this is proving the sincerity of the
love. Are we constrained in the heart
by the love of God? This is the proof of the sincerity
of it. Do you believe Him? Do you believe
that He's blessed you with all spiritual blessings or do you
believe there's something left for you to do to be accepted of God?
Folks that believe that way have to be made to tithe. They've got to be made to give
a certain percentage. God's people don't have to be
made to do anything because they really believe Him. And by grace
working in their heart, they're not looking at a percentage,
at a ten percent. I don't want to do anything that
remotely resembles the law. I want to do that which is above
what God says. I want to do that which is above.
Why? I believe Him. I believe Him. I'm talking to me right here,
brethren. I've been struggling with this since I've been here.
I really have. It seems redundant for me to
give when, you know, our biggest expense is me. But, you know, when we give it
goes other places and things. You know, I'm always there with
that and I'm always there in other things too. But this is
something I'm really of my own thinking. I think, you know what?
I don't care. I need to be giving. I need to
be doing this. I need to put myself in remembrance. of these things. I don't care
if it goes in the basket and then goes right back to big. It doesn't matter. Where did
this come from? It came from God. And I believe this. Look at verse
8. God is able to make all grace
abound toward you that ye always, having all sufficiency in all
things, may abound to every good work. As it is written, he hath
dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness remaineth forever. You see that word? It can't be
taken back. His righteousness remaineth forever. Now he that ministereth seed
to the sower both ministereth bread for your food and multiply
your seeds on and increase the fruits of your righteousness.
Now I want you to think on this real quick. Just think on this
thought. The Lord who is able to give and who is able to take
away. The Lord who has given you that
breath you just breathed caused you to blink your eye that you
just blinked. that can just as easily take that away from you.
The Lord who gave His only begotten Son, the Lord who has prospered
you with health and up to this point provided you with what
you need, everything you need, so that His seed has not gone
begging bread and not gone without, but has been provided for, everything
that He has given to you. This Lord who can give and take
away. This Lord It's the one who, we need to
think of it, whatever our station is right now in this life, whatever
it is right now in this life, all things belongs to Him. And all things belong to my Redeemer. And I'm a joint heir with Him.
And all things belong to me. And this one who gives and takes
away. You might look around you and
carnally speaking, you might say, well, it looks like that
unbeliever over there has got more than I do. That brother
over there has got more than I do. And you may look around
and see that and think that, but don't lose sight of this
glorious fact. All things are yours. All things
are yours. And you have all things common
with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit in Christ
Jesus along with all your brethren. Because they belong to Him. And
He can turn the heart of that king. He can turn the heart of
that wealthy man. He can turn the heart of that
poor man. He can turn the heart of that believer. He can turn
the heart of that unbeliever. And He can provide for you. Just
like He provided for His saints at Jerusalem in the beginning.
so that he could provide for those in Corinth and now turn
around and bring poverty on those in Jerusalem and provide for
those in Jerusalem through those in Corinth. And what does he
do these things for? Why does he bring us into the
realization of this by working all things together according
to his purpose? Why does he work these things like this and cause
us to behold this wonderful, wonderful, unspeakable gift of
God? Why does he do these things for
us? that you no longer glory in men, you no longer glory in men, for all things are yours. Paul
said whether it's Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life
or death or things present or things to come, all are yours
and you're Christ's and Christ is God's. Do you believe it? I want to jump up and down. Can
you believe it? Well, here's the last reason.
Here's the end purpose. 1 Corinthians 16. The end purpose
for this instruction. Verse 2, the very end. That there
be no gatherings when I come. Now, According to this, in this
collection of these saints of Jerusalem, it's obvious. Paul
wanted this to be ready when he got there, so they could speedily
get it to these saints of Jerusalem. There's another reason for this.
There's another reason for this. The end purpose of this instruction,
to do this on the first day of the week, to let, let there be
a willingness to every one of you be privileged to do this,
as God has prospered you, lay by in store, The reason of all
this is that you, the giver, gets the full benefit of this
privilege of giving. What is that? You think about
how often, let me give you the most practical example I can
give you. I know, I know this, I'll give
you several examples. How often have you let something
interfere with you and not come to this place on the first of
the week or how often have you at the very last minute got here
just just in the nick of time or a little after time and come
in and you've been arguing with one another the whole way here
and everybody's been fussing and fighting and trying to get
the kids dressed and the hair is combed everybody's straightened
up nobody seems to cooperate you finally get in here and get
settled and now you're just thinking about everything else in the
world and you so mad you can't even concentrate Has that ever
happened to any of y'all? Never happens to me. And I have
to stand up and preach. Well, how many times have at
the last minute you thought, oh, I need to write a check for
the offering this morning. I mean, you sit there and you
do it and you throw it in there and you don't give it a second thought. But, in all these things, first
things are first. And we've come here, haven't
stayed out late and wore ourselves out the day before. We've got
a good night's rest. We've come here. We get here
early. We sit down. We've had some time to clear
our thoughts, to look at the bulletin and get our minds refreshed
from last week. Be ready to hear the Gospel preached
this week. And we can be settled here. We're ready, settled, first on
Him that is first. And so it is with this giving.
If we sit down when we're about to give, and we think about it,
do it with some thoughtfulness and some order, and we think,
what has God, how has He prospered me? Let me try to do an inventory
of that which is unsearchable. Then, whatever you do, Whatever
the willingness God has given in your heart, this is where
the cheerfulness comes from. It's in beholding Him who has
prospered us beyond measure. And so Paul is telling them,
don't wait until the last minute on this thing. Get it done that
it's ready and that you've received the full benefit from this great
and glorious privilege God has given you. That's the purpose. That's why these first things
need to be first. And as you think on these things
and your heart is rejoicing in these things, you know what happens
in the heart? Anybody here like to drink wine?
I like to drink wine. And when I drink wine, if I'm
really, really tired and I have a glass of wine, it cheers my
heart. That's what it does. You know
what the Scripture says about this thing of giving. Honor the
Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine
increase, so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy
presses shall burst out with new wine. It starts here, in
the heart. It's cheered like new wine cheers
the heart. Our little bit that we give,
that we lend back to the Lord, that He's lent to us, you know
what it is? It's repaid tenfold as we behold
Christ in these unsearchable riches and as He continually,
constantly provides everything we need in this life. Is that
not right? I pray that's a blessing to you.