It won't be by faith. It won't
sound it. It'll seem so simple. And just
saying the Lord's words out loud takes an immense amount of God-given
faith to say. I wonder so often, do I truly
walk by faith? When was the last time I truly
lived by faith? When was the last time God's
will and His Word said to do something and I said, that's
impossible? There is no way that can happen. Now do it. Does that happen often to you?
I'm shaking my head east and west. Not for me it doesn't.
Maybe for you, not for me. But when I truly said this is
absolutely impossible, that's our salvation isn't it? Believe
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. There
ain't no way that could be it. There's no way. For me, For me,
God has to give the faith to say, I believe Him. And to believe
Him. Not to say it. Everybody say
it. You can train a parakeet to say it. But to give a new
heart that believes Him and loves Him. Our brother, Laird Chris,
is down in Alabama, Sylacauga, Alabama, and their house got
flooded out. And there was a way up in Danville preaching when
it happened and their homeowner's insurance don't cover it. They
don't have flood insurance. And so there's several churches pitching
in together to go down physically to help to remove the mud and
start cutting drywall out. And then there's those that are
able to help financially. And that's a great trial. The
Lord gives his people generous hearts. And that's a great trial
for Larry and his wife. It's also a great trial for them
to receive. That helped. Not to hinder someone that's
willing to give. That God's put a generous heart
in. That's hard. Especially if you've been one
that's provided so much and given so much. And the Lord's just
given you that grace to give. Abundantly. That's easy. Here,
take it. He gave me that, He'll give me
more. But to receive is difficult. To receive is difficult. The
Lord said that it's better to give than to receive. But I hope
we'll see you this morning. I was going to title this, Believers
or Liberals? That will wake you up, won't
it? Bet you won't. Bet you won't go to sleep on that one. Abraham
gave tithes. We started looking at this last
week. We saw there in verse 17, Genesis 14, 17. Abram had went
and rescued Lot. He had whooped four kings that
had beat five kings. Really, he defeated nine kings
and their armies with 318 men. Is that possible? God said, go get your brother,
not your nephew. Well, something changed, didn't
it? That's your brother. Go get your brother. Let's go. That's walking by faith. And
they won. and is walking back. And it says
here in verse 17, And the king of Sodom went out to meet him
after his return from the slaughter of Chedolahomer, and the kings
that were with him at the valley of Sheba, which is the king's
dale. And Melchizedek came of Salem,
king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was the
priest of the Most High God. And he blessed him and said,
Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven
and earth, and blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered
He has delivered thine enemies into thine hands. You're blessed,
Abram, because the Most High God has given you everything
you have. All that you have right now, God gave you. The breath
in your lungs, that's what Christ is telling Abram in flesh right
now. And Abram, he gave tithes of all. Of what? Of all. Do you think he gave, that means
a tenth percent, a tenth of tithe, ten percent. Do you think he
gave ten percent of praise to God? I thought about that all
week. It's 10% of my words to my Lord. Thank you, Lord. Oh,
high and lifted up should be your name. Or is it my petitions
of what I need? How I want things different.
That's just contrary to his will. What if everything's just going
south and everything's so bad? Do you get mad? Do you get mad
when you watch the news? That's his news. That's his government.
That's his world. He's controlling every molecule
in. Who am I mad at? I'm mad at whatever buffoon they've
elected into office. No, that ain't who I'm mad at,
is it? It ain't. I'm mad at God. We believe in
a sovereign God, that's who we're mad at. Walking back from this
battle, arm in arm with all the women and the people and all
the goods and lot, his now brother, here they come, probably still
got blood on him, from that massacre. Melchizedek comes to Abram and
they have the Lord's table. the high priest of them, the
high priest, the most high God, brings the bread and wine. Come
here, Abram. God is honored. Abram is reminded
of God's blessings to him one more time. I wish that happened
this morning. One quick paragraph, one quick
verse in the Scriptures. If we could have the bread and
wine and be reminded one more time of a holy God that's accomplished
all in His Son for His people and how blessed we are in His
Son. Is that complicated? No, but boy, I could sure spend
eternity learning about it, couldn't you? Tell me more of it. Abraham willingly gave. He gave
him tithes of all. He gave him a tenth of everything.
He willingly gave because of the grace and the love of God
towards him. He gave out of what he had. Not
out of what he didn't possess. He didn't give out of the spoils
of France, did he? No, he didn't have that. He gave
of what he had. He did this voluntarily. No one
asked him to do it. The law didn't tell him to do
it. There was no law. Law hadn't been around yet. Just
as we looked at Melchizedek as a priest, was the Levites established
yet? No. Abraham hadn't even had eyes
again. This is something that's eternal.
He was voluntarily, did it. He cheerfully did it. No one
made him do it. And who did he give this to? gave it to Melchizedek. He gave it to the Lord. That's
what we looked at last week. Christ is this Melchizedek. He
gave it to the Lord. What'd he do with it? Anything
he wanted to do with it. Why? Don't you trust him? You
think he'll do wrong with it? Judge this earth will do right
on him. Abraham was taught this. This was put in Abraham's heart. That's what the Lord put in him.
He put a new heart in him and then he taught that new heart.
We need taught too. We need to talk. I need to talk. Children aren't born knowing
everything. We need to be taught. The Lord gave this tithe, a tenth,
to provide for the Levites, those that kept the tabernacle and
those that preached and served the Lord. And there was eleven
of the tribes that gave one-tenth, everything they had. You raise
a jalapeno plant, the first fruit, you take ten percent of it and
go down there to the temple and give it to them. Head of cattle, everything. It didn't matter what it was,
you give it to them. The Lord said, that way they shall be meat in
my house. This house is going to be taken care of. And he gave
them 11 tribes. Everybody gave 10%. He gave 110%.
Why? Them Levites are going to have a lot of people over for
dinner, ain't they? They got some extra costs that they incur
than the other 11 tribes, don't they? Did God provide? You bet
he did. You bet he did. Turn over to
2 Corinthians. We'll see what... Paul lays...
tells us plainly what happened here. He tells of Macedonia. 2 Corinthians 8. At Church of Macedonia, they
weren't well-to-do. They were very poor. You can
read the first five verses when you get home. I'm in 1 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 8. The church at Macedonia was poor.
It was having trouble times. It wasn't a big city. It wasn't
the people with the big jobs. They were struggling. And the
church at Jerusalem was struggling. The big city, the one with all
the big jobs. They were in need. And Paul told
those in Macedonia, throughout Macedonia, and said, hey, those
brethren down there are suffering. There's a need. And they said,
we're going to help out. We're going to help you." And
then Paul says, they gave more than we even expected. If y'all
gave us 25 cents, we'd have been real happy with that. It's not
just the thought that counts, it's the action that counts too,
isn't it? You put your money where your
mouth is. You act on it. Act on that love. And we expect it.
He said, they did more than we could even bear record of them.
Like great in abundance they gave for that church at Jerusalem.
And he says here in verse 6, 2 Corinthians 8.6. He said, In so much that we desire
Titus, that he had begun, so would he also finish in you the
same grace also. What was this thing that the
church at Macedonia did? They gave to their brethren in
need. What does he call that? A grace.
A grace. Titus was given to be the pastor
down there. He was a pastor in Corian. And he said, He's already
begun this in you. He started telling you about
you. And you all have been around for a long time. He comes down,
this is started, and he hopes that it would also finish it,
perfect this in you. What? This same grace. Grace. What's Paul saying? I pray, Tyus
would enter and grow you in grace. The Lord will use him through
the preaching of his word to grow you in grace. Teach these
things. The Lord put Noah and his family in that ark, didn't
he? He put them in the ark. He sealed them in the ark. He
pitched it within and without. They were secure in that ark,
and the floods came. Do you think they just run around that ark
haphazardly? Time to feed the chickens. I
ain't worried about it. God'll do it. If he wants them chickens fed, he'll
feed them. No, he's a God of order. They were taught. I don't
know how to feed chickens. Come here and I'll show you.
That's how you feed chickens. And if you mess it up, it's OK.
They'll eat anyway. You throw it too hard and still sprinkle
it, that'll be fine. They had to be taught, didn't they? That was
ordered. And so Paul's praying that Titus will go down, this
work has begun in him, this grace that's begun in him, that it'll
be perfected, it'll finish, it'll come to fruition. It'll grow
in grace also. And this grace is given. Just
like in Matthew, they had a heart to go above and beyond to take
care of those in the flesh. That's what the scripture says.
Man's worse than an infidel if he don't take care of his own.
It says, don't take care of his own, especially those of his
own house. What means his own might not
be just the ones in his house, isn't it? We had to grow in that
grace a heart to give. Why? Because Christ had a heart
to give to us. Where'd that heart come from?
He laid down His life for us, didn't He? That's where it all
begins. That's where it all comes from. Grace. Grace comes first. People say, well, I am what I
am by the grace of God. No, you're not. That's wrong.
By the grace of God, you are what you are. That's what comes
first. His grace comes first. Now in verse 7, it says, Therefore,
as ye bowed in everything, and faith. We're bound in here. This is true in that church of
Corinth and that's true right here. You all bound in faith.
Did you know that? You believe God. You know what a rare thing
that is? Everybody believes God. Not THE
God. That's a remnant. He said so. That's a precious
thing. He said so. But ain't everybody
needs a son? A handful. You believe him. and
you abound in it. The Lord is growing you, growing
me. Isn't that amazing? Aren't we blessed and thankful?
You abound in everything, in faith, in utterance, knowing
what to say. I don't say the things I used
to say. Do you know that? Why? God taught me better. I try my
best not to say awesome. He's the only one that's deserving
of awe. a motorcycle or airplane or anything, it ain't. He is.
I want to change. I want to change my utterance.
Words come out of my mouth. Bounded in utterance and knowledge
and knowing the scriptures and in all diligence. It's one thing
to say something, another thing to do it, isn't it? I always used to tell my mom,
I said, well, I hate eating and running. She said, if you hate that bad,
you wouldn't do it. She wanted me to stay. In all diligence. You grow in diligence. You start
out not being that disciplined. You get more and more, make your
bed. That's a good place to start. Make your bed, everyone. You
were in the first battle. Don't hit the snooze. That might steamroll into work. Sweep that floor where nobody's
looking. Work a little harder, because you're working unto the
Lord. That's good. Diligence is a good thing to
grow in. We have to be grown in it, be taught to. And in your love to
us. Apostle, you grew in faith. You grew in what to say. You
grew in knowledge. You grew in diligence. And you love us. I've
grown in love towards you. You know that? I loved you. I gave up everything
I had. I told my family, you're giving
up everything you had. You got a daisy. And we're coming
out here for you all. I loved you enough to do that.
And Lord's grew me in love towards you. I praise you. Grown you in love towards me.
It says, and see that you bound in this grace also. The Lord's
grew us in all those things, now grow us in giving. He prays
He grows us in giving, in liberality. Our sin-filled mind goes straight
to filthy lucre. Goes straight to money, don't
it? And then our wicked, lazy, old man says, oh, well, we ain't
under the law, quit tithing. That's the first thing, quit
doing it. Do something else. We need to be taught these things.
God has to. It says, in this grace also, giving is a grace
just like everything else. The Lord in grace gave us faith.
He gives us the words to speak out of our lips in season. He
gives us understanding and knowledge. He teaches us. He gives us diligence,
a desire to accomplish His will. He gives us the love because
He first loved us. And we need to abound in this
grace also. He has to give that. He has to be faithful for me
to abound in faith. He has to speak to me before
I have utterance. He has to teach me before I have knowledge. He
has to love me first. He has to give to me before I can give.
For anything I have come from, it came from Him. Every good
gift and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the
Father. James said that to us. What good gift do I have? Does
that make me special? I've had people tell me my whole
life, from a young man, I believe God. I believe His Word. And
I wish He would do it for me more. Walk in this world as somebody
who believes God. That little boy said, if Christ
is in you, He's bigger than me. Wouldn't He stick out? Oh, He'll
sure stick out. No, they'll know. People around you will know.
I've walked through this world, and people say, you think you're
something special. I said, no, that ain't the case.
They say, you just think you're better than everybody else. That ain't
it. Paul said, for who maketh thee to differ from another?
And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Anything. Now if thou didst receive it,
you get that gift from above. Physically, flesh or in the spirit,
it doesn't matter. If I have hair on my head, God
gave it. If I receive that gift from above, why dost thou glory
as if thou didst not receive it? I built that. Them words
foolishly came out of my mouth. And as a loving, caring father,
he chastened me and taught me better. That way my utterance
don't sound as foolish. And I don't know what foolish
things come out of my mouth on a daily basis now I'll need correcting
over. But he will, he'll be faithful, he'll be right in doing so. He'll
be right in doing it. Children of God have an understanding
of the grace of giving. We've been given so much. We're
the only ones that can truly understand it. The rest is just
the way it goes from my possession, my bank account to your bank
account. Thank you, I gave you a compliment. Your hair looks
nice today. Now, we understand giving. We
truly do. The Lord gave His Son for us.
We understand love. Nobody can understand love but
a child of God. You can know some things about love or what
man calls love, but until you see the love of God, you don't
know what love is. That's our standard. Now we know
what we're talking about. Now we've defined our terms.
His love. His love. His grace. His giving. I wrote that down. Think about
it. Our needs are met. Right now, our needs are met.
We don't know what difference a need and a want. We got a roof
over our head, food in our bellies, back there waiting on us. My
cheeks ain't sunk in. My belly's not distended. My
needs are met, and most of my wants. Think about it. Now I can want until the moon's
in my pocket, but most of our wants. Most of our wants. If
you're all hot, go back there and push that button. Watch what
happens. Can you imagine that? The Lord
gave us that. The more I'm able to give, the
more blessing it is. A man said one time, he said,
well, to an old preacher, and he said, well, that fellow over
there, he's more able to give than I am. And that wise pastor
said, not so. He said, he's more able to give
than I am. He said, not so. He may be able
to give more, but he's not more able to give. The ability to
give was grace. Don't you have no grace? Ask
God to be gracious to you. Ask Him for the grace to ask
Him to be gracious to you. He's a source. Abraham was blessed.
Melchizedek told him. He had all his armies defeated
and the women and children recovered all. He recovered all and then
some had to spoil the war. And Melchizedek said, you're
blessed and God blessed you. God was gracious to Abraham,
wasn't He? Look down at verse 8, 2 Corinthians 8, 8. Paul says,
I speak not by commandment, I'm not telling you a law, I mean
not a law, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, just
somebody in need, and to prove the sincerity of your love. You
love them? You love Christ in them? I know
what's going to happen. That's what Paul's saying. There's
necessities that we have that need to be taken care of. Rent's
got to be paid. Internet has to be paid so we can send the
gospel out. There's over 500 people listening
to that last featured message throughout the world. What's
that worth to you? That's got to go out. That has to be taken
care of. I've got to be paid. I have a
wife and four children. And those bills, that's not the
priority. It's not in that order that we've got to pay it. There's
things that are necessity, but there's love. There's love. The Lord told us that in Malachi. He said, you've robbed me in
tithes and offerings. There's a difference there, isn't
there? There's love. I don't like the term love offering.
I don't like that. If an offering is not out of
love, keep it to yourself. We'll see that in a minute. It
takes faith to say that and to believe it. If it ain't out of
love, don't do it. Don't do it. Keep to yourself.
I sure don't like the word benevolent gifts. If you write that on something,
you don't know what that word means. We'll get to that in time.
It don't mean love offering. There's a difference between
giving to a need and giving out of love. And I think the Lord
gave me a good illustration for this. Do you know the difference
between giving out of a need and giving out of love? These
lights got to be turned on. We understand that, don't we? We need. Do you
give to SDG&E? No. They have a need. Is that
a need? That's a need. You have to give
money to them. How do you do that? Well, it's like paying
your taxes. Grudgingly. I don't want to pay them. Well,
that's too much, isn't it? But you write it. It's necessary.
Why? We have lights on. We've got to send the gospel
out. That's the means the Lord's gave us in this generation. You
need to give to SDG&E, don't you? You buy your wife a Christmas
gift? You buy your children something?
I've got to buy them something? You pay a penny? Do you go to
SDG&E and say, let me give you $2,000? Thanks SDG&E. No, you don't.
That's foolish, isn't it? We understand that. What about
your family? Now this Christmas we're only
gonna buy, we're spending $20 each. You think I'm gonna adhere
to that rule? Not if the Lord lets me walk and work for a living. Y'all don't buy me nothing. I'm
gonna buy, I'm gonna spend more than $20 on you. You, I tell
you that. Why? Love. Love gives, doesn't it? Kimberly's got a birthday coming
up. I better do well after this message to do good on her birthday. Sincere love gives in abundance. It doesn't give what's needed.
It gives in abundance. It's not a lot, Bill. It's love. It's family. That's what this
is. It's family. The family of God. His body,
isn't it? Paul shows us that in verse 12. He says, 2 Corinthians
8, 12, For if there be first a willing mind, It is accepted
according to that a man hath and not according to that he
hath not." Where did that willing mind come from? You've got to
thank it, don't you? The Lord saves us through the
preaching of the Word. It's not some miraculous thing,
some man on a mountaintop becomes an apostle because the Holy Spirit
comes to him. God don't save that way. He says He doesn't.
Through the preaching of the Word. That Word goes in the ear.
It goes through our brains and into our heart if He's pleased
to do so, doesn't it? Well, where's our mind come from? We got a
will of mind. You know what? That brother's in need. I'm going
to go above and beyond. What can I do? Or just wake up.
I'm going to send him a note today. I've had people bring
me soup. They might be hungry. Just take
it in love, isn't it? Where does that come from? Paul
said over in 2 Corinthians 9, Every man according as he purposeth
in his heart, so let him give. Not grudgingly or of necessity.
God loveth that you are a forgiver. As they purpose in their heart.
The Lord puts it in their heart. Their brain thinks of it and
then they act on it. And they do it. From a willing
mind. Because of that grace of God.
Because of the love of God. Believers give of themselves
to the Lord. And to other believers and to
all mankind. They're generous. That's what Paul was talking
about in the Church of Macedonia. At first they gave themselves to
the Lord. Then they gave to them brethren in Jerusalem. And they
forced it on Paul. They said, you take it. Hush
and take it. Put it in your pocket. If you don't, we'll sneak it
in your suitcase. Made them do it. They're liberal. They're bountiful. They're cheerful.
How did our Lord give Himself for us? Here's the nuts and bolts. You can get your checklist and
say, this is what God's sheep do and I'm going to do everything
they do. You'll get tired. It might take 30, 40 years. You'll
wear out and you'll prove yourself to be a goat. But you can get
your checklist of all those things that don't do nothing. How does
a true child of God know that? How did Christ give Himself for
us? By the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. Oh, if
we could enter into that. willfully give of ourself. Willingly
He laid down His life. No man takes it from me. I lay
my life down. Pitying on Him? Well, I want
to give my life to Him. He gave His life for me. I want
to serve Him, His gospel, and His people. I want to give it
all I got. Like in churches in Macedonia,
I want to give myself to the Lord. And then, what's a biscuit
or five dollars? That ain't nothing, is it? I'm
gonna lay my life down for the brethren. He sacrificed himself. Love does without what others,
when others need. This old song says, I deny my
own self before I see you without it. Lord looked upon us in that
field like that baby discarded, bloody, a mess, uncovered. And
He took His robe off and covered us, in turn becoming us and suffering
the wrath of God on our behalf. He did without so we would have. Isn't that something? Who are
we giving to? It starts in grace. It's in love. It's cheerful. It's willing.
It's from a willing heart, a willing mind. We're not robots. We give
unto the Lord. Macedonia gave those tithings,
that offering they gathered up to Paul and Titus, that they
were graciously given to the Lord who they were given to.
That's who they were given to. To support those that labor in
the Word, that the Gospel would go forth to what they were doing.
Turn over to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew 6. Matthew 6.1 says, Take heed that you do not your
alms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise you have no reward
of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine
alms, whatever you give, do not sound a trumpet before thee as
the hypocrites in the synagogues and in the streets, that they
may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. In fact, if you want to be seen
of men, you just got it. Right now. But when thou doest
alms, let not thy left hand know what the right hand doeth, that
thy alms may be in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret
himself shall reward thee openly. What does it matter if somebody
else sees? I'm giving to the Lord. If you're giving to a person,
you want that person to see. If you're giving to an organization,
you want honor and praise from the organization. If he's gave
it to you and gave you heart, you give to him. We give to Him. How do we work? We work unto
the Lord. How do we give? We give unto
the Lord. Who do we give praises to? We support our brethren. We be kind to them. We give praise
to the Lord. Glory goes to Him. It's to Him. David wrote of this. He said
in Psalm 29, Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty. Give unto the Lord
glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory
due unto His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. Give all your strength to Him.
Wow, He gave me strength. Give all the glory to Him. Wow,
it's His glory. Every bit of it. Abram gave to the Lord right
in front of him. That's who was standing in front
of him, wasn't it? And he was given to the Lord. Here. Giving honor and praise and glory.
Giving acknowledgement to Him. That's what He's given. And grace
and love unto the Lord. Now how much am I supposed to
give? This is good for young people. How much are you supposed
to give? Turn over 1 Corinthians 16. Melchizedek came, observed the
Lord's table before there was ever such a thing, or a precious
thing. He said, God, the change is not.
He gave his bread and his wine. And Abram said, give him a tent.
How'd that come about? What's most convenient for you?
I've got a whole army over there and all their stuff. You just
take that one. You ain't got to walk this part. I don't know
how it come about, but the Lord purposed it in his heart and
his mind, didn't he? He was increased by those things. It says in 1
Corinthians 16, verse 1, Now concerning the collection for
the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even
so do ye." You do the same as your brethren does. How do they
do it over there? Well, let's see why. Why? Is
it according to the Word of God? Let's do it that way. Even so
do ye. 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." Paul says, when
I show up, I don't want to see it. I don't want to see it. There's
a box in the back. We'll see why in a second. Y'all
do that. That ain't none of my business. Todd and Ivers said,
it'd be real hard for me to preach to somebody if I know what everybody
gave. Those that gave a bunch, I'd be real kind to, and anybody
else, eh. I don't want to do that. Y'all
may see what I give and say, all right. How much have I been
prospered? Says every man according to his
prospered in his heart, so let him give. Not grudgingly. Them Levites are up there just
hanging out all day. I don't want to give. What are
they doing with that? I went up there to watch TV.
And out of necessity, well, I ought to do it. It's the right thing.
It needs to get done. No, he said out of love. For God loveth
a cheerful giver, doesn't He? That has to be of a willing mind.
That's the order, isn't it? First day of the week is what
the Lord gave us. There's order to it. That's when we give. We
have priorities here that we have to cover. And your homes,
you do that too, don't you? Well, I got to pay my TV bill
and then I'm going to buy food. Well, not if times are tough.
You worry about that TV bill, you worry about getting food,
ain't you? There's a priority. We need to support the missionaries
as the Lord grows us here in years to come. Support those
missionaries, but we got to take care of here first. Once the
work here, the Lord sustained this, then He'll allow us to,
He'll bless us to sustain others. They said the first day of the
week, as the Lord has prospered, giving of what you hath, not
of what you hath not. You can't give what you don't
have. Unless you become slave to somebody else, you can't give
what you don't have. I provided for my family as the Lord provides
for me. I can't give them something I don't have. When do we give?
First day of the week. Why? That's the Lord's day. The
first fruits. the firstfruits. That's what
the Old Testament says. You give the firstfruits to the
Lord. Abram gave to the Lord and then he turns around and
then he gives to the King of Sodom doesn't he? Now I'll pay my bills. You want a good budget form? I don't get into practical, though
I've lived in this world and done pretty well in it. You want
a written budget for your month? Do you finance every month? First
line on it, giving. Give that first. The Lord will
provide the rest of it. He'll be fine. As a man hath People quote Malachi 3. Heretics
and charlatans go around saying, I'll give you seed money. Nonsense. Lord don't need your money, you
keep it. If he's going to sustain the work, he'll sustain it. This
ain't an investment opportunity. This ain't the stock market.
He said, Malachi 3, he said, he'll pour out blessings upon
you. He said, you try it out and give
me. He doesn't say he's going to pour out money. You may say, I'm going to, I'm
going to indebt God to me and I'm going to write a check for
everything I got in my savings account. Well, you might end up broke. But if He
gives you a heart and a mind to do it, the grace and the love
behind it, that's the motive. Now you'll get a blessing. Well,
I'm going to have to do without. Yeah, my brother, he was took
care of. My sister was took care of. Glad to do it. The Lord blessed
me in my heart because He showed me Christ again. That's what
the blessing is, to see Christ again. God requires the firstfruits
in the law. The first one to break the womb.
What'd He say? That's mine. First one separated
from the womb. That first grain of mustard seed,
that first cilantro, cumin, coriander. He said, that's mine. Why? It's
all His anyway. He does that to teach us something.
To teach us something. To teach us to look to Christ
first and always. That's what we're doing. I write
a check out every month, first week of the month, and I send
myself an email so I remember the checkbook tomorrow. I forget
it. That happens to you too, don't it? I bring it Wednesday.
I physically write out a check every month and put it in that
box back there. That check don't matter, the money don't matter,
because I'm looking to Christ. I get to see Him one more time
and thank what He gave me. Did He give me money? Yeah, that
ain't nothing. He gave His life for me, to be reminded. That's
good, isn't it? And He tells us that. He said, Seek ye first
the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be
added to you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for
the morrow shall take thought of itself. Sufficient unto day
is the evil thereof. Don't ever make a covenant with...
If I ever do that, you whip me. We're not making pledge cards,
and I promise to give this much, and if we do that, I'll give
that much. You may not have tomorrow. We give today what we've given,
don't we? The daily bread we're given. A prayer in the evening
might be more petition than praise, but a prayer in the morning will
make a day more gracious. If we seek His kingdom first. He
gets the first fruits, but if we wake up in the morning praying
to Him, if He allows us to do that, my day goes so much better.
The ball joints went out, the bolts on the strut I was replacing
was rusted, took me six hours to do it, and I did this and
I did that. But you know what, I woke up that morning and He reminded
me of Him. That day went a whole lot better. At the end, I'll
still be His. I'll still petition Him. I'll
wait till the end of the day. If He makes me wait till the
end. Who's supposed to give? 2 Corinthians 9, 7 it says, Every
man according as he hath purposed in his heart. Everybody. That
starts with me. I'm a man. I'm a sinner saved
by grace. Ain't no different. I give. It starts with me. I'm every
man too. I had that example growing up. And thankful the Lord's put
it in me, so that way these young folks can have that example.
My children can have that example. One, they can have the place
the gospel's preached. That's important, right? What
would you give for that? I'd give everything I got. And
so they have an example. I get paid, I get increased once
a month, so I write a check first Sunday of every month. That's
in proportion, isn't it? I've seen churches that make
a show out of giving. They take two-year-olds and have them walk
up and put their offering in. That's a dog and pony show is
what they do. That's hogwash. And you're teaching children
to be religious zealots and worship themselves and not God from an
early age, isn't it? Parents ought to be whipped.
Stuff like that happens. Paul said that in Galatians 6. Let
him that is taught in the word communicate, give, unto him that
teacheth in all good things. Who's supposed to give? Everybody
that benefits from the gospel. And I don't have to whip nobody.
I ain't going to ever have a bake sale. We ain't ever going to
have a fundraiser. No car washes. It ain't going
to happen. If God's blessed your heart, you'll take care of the
means He used to bless you on it. And don't forget. I do. Read there in Hebrews 13. But
to do good and communicate, that's the giving, forget not. For with
such sacrifices, God is well pleased. How often I forgot my
checkbook. That's shame, isn't it? What am I reminded of whenever
I forget my checkbook? Why I didn't give, I didn't go through that
religious ceremony of motion and exercise. No, how often I
forgot God's grace. You ever get flustered and worried
about things in this world? How often I forgot He's merciful
to me, a sinner. Oh, if I could remember that.
If I could not forget that. That's what's important right
now. Remember Him. Remember Christ and Him crucified,
seeking His Kingdom first. Forget not. Well, it says there
in 2 Corinthians 8. 2 Corinthians 8 verse 7, Therefore
as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge,
and all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound
in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but
by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity
of your love. For ye know the grace," that's
where it all started, wasn't it? "...the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
became he poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. And herein I give my advice,
for this is expedient for you, advice of an apostle." who have
begun before not only to do, but also to be forward a year
ago. Now, therefore, perform the doing of it. Do it. That
as there is a readiness to will, so there may be a performance
also out of that which she had. Don't just have a, oh, I'd like
to do it. Do it. Do it. My hand wrote that
one time way. I may hit me Me he says you're
walking. I said you what church ought
to who's the church? us Me Church I'll paint that
wall. Let me go get me a gallon of
paint get after do it For if there first be a willing mind,
verse 12, it is accepted according to the man hath not, according
to the hath not. For I meant, I mean not, that other man be
eased, and ye burdened. I'm not saying, well, so and
so gave. I can back off now a little bit. No, no, that's individual,
isn't it? Or meets us where we are. But by equality, by equality,
by liberality, that now at this time your abundance may be a
supply of their want, you have more now, their need. that their
abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there may
be equality. As it is written, he that hath
gathered much hath nothing over, and he that hath gathered little
hath no lack. There's so many churches the Lord's established
and he's grew them and through his word and he's taught them
and grew them in their hearts and grace and love and willingness
and diligence and faith and they help other churches. There's
churches that help us. They send an offering to us every month,
because they're in that phase, just like a human, isn't it?
You start out young, you can't give nothing, we start giving
some chores. Take out the trash, sweep the floor, that ain't much,
is it? You're getting everything for free, you just got to take
the trash out. And as you get a little older and then you start
working, well now you got to keep getting a little more, you know. to teach
you, to train you. Then there'll be a season in
life where you get to work hard. You hear about my age. Everybody
I've ever met growing up, you hear about 40, 42, they work
until their fingers fall off of them because they see retirement
coming and they're scared to death. They do all the overtime
they can. Then they get to an age finally when you're good
and old and you can't do nothing, now you can't do as much. You
can't provide for others, and somebody has to provide for you.
Isn't that what God says? Whenever you get old, your hair
turns white. Why? Now you took care of so many for so many years,
now you've got to be taken care of. And there's churches right
now that's taking care of helping us out. And as we grow, years
to come, we'll be able to help others. And then there'll come
a time when I ain't got no business to stand up for no more. That
church in Fairmont, West Virginia took care of Scott Richardson
for years, decades, and then he couldn't preach no more. And
you know what happened? They called Marvin Stoner to come
up and preach for him. And you know what they did? A bunch of
coal miners. Fairmont, West Virginia, ain't that big around. They got
one McDonald's. They provided for two pastors, because Scott
couldn't preach no more. They provided for both of them.
And they provided for the Church of Pocahontas, that first flood they had. Sent
a ton of money down there to help them out. And provided for
churches all over. Helped out Rocky Mount. Hoo,
a bunch of hillbillies up there in the hills, isn't it? I can
say that, don't you? So what the world seems is nothing.
God used them mightily, didn't he? He screwed them. Well, now,
are they still in that phase of life? When we get strong,
maybe we take care of them, huh? How do I give to the church?
How do I give to the gospel? How do I give to the Lord? That's
who I'm giving to. My pastor's asked that question
one time, and he preached a series of messages on this that just,
oh, it got a hold of me. And I saw Christ's love in it,
His grace, His love, and His mercy in it. And I had a true
understanding. I'm well-versed in it. I get
it. God taught me through Him. And what that person asked was,
you know, like, where do I put the check? And they got a whole
two sermons out of it, didn't they? We got a box in the back.
You know why we got a box by the door with a hole in the top
of it? 2 Chronicles 28 and 2 Kings 12. That's what they did. They
put a box with a hole in it at the back of the gate. You put
it in, it's no vast to see. Now back in Genesis 14. I've
went too far, but it needed covering. Genesis 14. Abram just defeated all this.
That's the most significant thing they've probably ever seen in
the history of the world up to that point. He just defeated all these armies.
Melchizedek comes to him with the bread and wine, blesses him,
tells about the holy, perfect God that blessed him. Praises
and honors God, doesn't he? And Abram gives a tithe. Gives
a tenth of everything he's got. Gives an offering to the Lord,
standing right in front of him. That's a church service, isn't
it? They said first Sunday for us. Immediately what happens? Verse 21, And the king of Sodom
said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to
thyself. I'd go up and smack him. That's
Satan speaking. Talk about somebody possessed
of the devil. Right there he is. Oh, you gave to the Lord? I'm
going to give to you. I'll give more. About to have
that sweet little voice, didn't it? Choke him to death. Get thee
behind me, Satan. We'll see this next time. This
king of Sodom comes to him. The world comes to him and says,
you owe me. You owe me people. You want stuff? Take a stuff. Oh, you can have it. How many
preachers around this world says, move up? You get promoted. Well,
we've preached here long enough, now I've got to get up a little
bit. The kids are getting older. I need a bigger van. I need a
bigger house to raise them in. Well, a Porsche wouldn't hurt
nothing. I'll get a helicopter. It happens every day, don't it?
They're offered prosperity for what? The persons. What's Satan
do? Took our Lord and was tempted
like this, wasn't he? Took him up and said, you see all this
land? I'll give it to you. You just worship me. Give me your
people. What a temptation that'd be.
give me the souls." People trade their souls for material things
that will burn. He said, give me the persons
and I'll take thy goods thyself. You can be rich, Abram. And Abram
said to the king of Sodom, we'll see it in a second. Think about
this. He just killed all his kings. Here's a king standing before
him that gave him a wonderful job opportunity. Abram said to
the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand to the Lord, the most
high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take
from from a thread, even to a shoelatch, and that I will not take anything
that is thine, lest thou should say, I have made Abram rich,
save only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of
men which were with me, Aner, Eshkol, Mamre. Let them take
their portion. These worldly people happen to
be here with me, let them take what they want. I ain't taking a shoelatch
from you. Give me them souls. You know
what we can do to increase business up here at the church? I don't
want the thread to sew a button on a shirt. Leave it alone. The
Lord will take care of it. The Lord will take care of it.
He'll provide. He'll provide. Oh, Abram just
offended a king and gave to the world what the Lord gave him.
He picked a fight and went broke. You get that? That's as simple
as I can put it. He said, you want to go to war?
You ain't getting none of these. That's what our Lord did. He gave of
Himself to keep His people. You think He was scared? Look
at all the stuff we got, man. Boy, we just finally made it.
We finally made it. We made it big. We got everything.
We took it all. And now this King, I just gave
it all away and I made Him mad. Genesis 15, verse 1. After these
things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision,
saying, Fear not, Abram. Why? He was afraid. I just made
a horrible decision. Fear not, Abram. I am thy shield. I'll protect you. That fight
you just picked, don't you worry about it. And thy exceeding great
reward. People talk about their reward
in heaven. Rewards in heaven. You can keep it. If it's rubies
and diamonds, I don't want it. I want him. I want him. That's who I want. I hope that
was a blessing to him.