Unknown: Today I have a message called blessed to be a blessing, or I could call it the law of sowing and reaping, or living to give. I don't know. You can pick whatever you want from those titles, but let's go to Proverbs, Chapter 11, verse 24 and 25 and I want to do this because I believe that sometimes we get carried away in life about what we're doing and what's going on with our jobs and careers, and everything that goes on in our lives, children and we can forget really why we are put on this earth here. And one of the reasons you are put on this earth we are put here is to help everyone else, and God has put some laws in place to help us with that. So I want to talk about that today a little bit, but I want to get the Word of God into you. Say the Word of God we are to renew our minds to the Word of God. It transforms us from the inside out and when by faith, we can do things we never thought possible. We can see things that we never thought possible. And we and I want to encourage you to enlarge your vision. Today, turn to someone say, enlarge your vision.
Unknown: Enlarge your sphere, enlarge your scope and your understanding of who you are. I was just reminded, yeah, I visited Robin beem the other day, and he reminded me of dr, Patterson. Patterson, not Doctor, is he? I don't know what he is, James, James, Jim, Jack, John, James. I don't know what his name is. Pattison, right?
Unknown: That rich guy who gave, I don't know how many millions to build that Children's Hospital in Saskatoon here, Jim, don't call me Jim. Thank you. It's Jim. So he gave a lot of money, right?
Unknown: And, you know, he's generous, and someone told me that, since he gave and he's given his his income just increases. His business ventures increase, they prosper. And we need to realize that he we, not just him, we are all called to be a blessing.
Unknown: Israel, by the way, was instituted by God, and God has blessed the Jewish nation over the years, and he did it because he wanted them to be a light to all nations. He wanted them to bless all the nations. God told Abraham, if you listen to me and follow me, follow me. He says, I will make of you a great nation, and out of you all the families of the earth will be blessed.
Unknown: And that encompasses a lot of things. And God blessed Abraham with everything. It says he was rich in everything, with favor, with cattle, with silver, gold, everything. And so I would like to, I think that we all need to raise our vision of what we could do on this earth.
Unknown: How many of you are with me? You I don't know where you come from, I don't know how much money you make, I don't know what your heart is like. I don't know anything about you other than the fact that I know that I have to, we all need to raise our vision is, well, what I can do to help in this world. What can I do?
Unknown: What could God do with me if I let him?
Unknown: How could God bless me so much that I could be just, just a conduit, conduit to help other people. Because I believe that's what we're called to do proverbs 11 here says, generosity brings prosperity, but withholding from charity, giving brings what poverty. Those who live, I like this part, those who live to bless others will have blessings heaped upon them. How many of you would like to have blessings heaped upon you. And it says, And the one who pours out his life to pour out blessings on others will be saturated with favor. I don't know about you, but I'd like to have favor. How many of you know God wants to give you favor out there, favor in your workplace, favor with other people favor with business favor in everything. But we need to realize that it doesn't come cheaply. The cost is generosity.
Unknown: Let's all say that the cost is generosity.
Unknown: So are you a generous person?
Unknown: How generous Are you?
Unknown: And I'm not just talking about money, by the way, prosperity is about money, but it's also about a whole bunch of other things.
Unknown: It's not just about money. I think people who've heard preachers preach about prosperity, they they've. And some of them have done it wrong and some have done it right. But we need to realize that prosperity is more than money.
Unknown: But don't throw the baby out with the bath water either. It's also about money. I don't know if you guys have noticed that if you have no money, you can't help anybody now. You can help them with in other ways. And that's part of what I'm saying today, is that we need to learn how to give of ourselves, right? Not just with money. Some Christians are like, Well, I'm not going to do anything else. I'll just give money. So every time there's a need, they give the money and they say, Well, that's it. I've done my thing. Okay, that's good. There's nothing wrong with that. That's what you should do.
Unknown: But did you know that you can give more than just your money?
Unknown: What else could you give of your What did you say time?
Unknown: I think that was the first thing that came out. See, we used to spell love with another four letter word.
Unknown: You know what that word was, right?
Unknown: You guys think I'm joking, right? It's T, I m, e, that was called Love, right? And so if you're stingy with your time and your time, it's only about you and what you do and what you gotta, you know what? Then you're not showing any love.
Unknown: It's the first word you guys came up with. What else could you do that we could construe as giving?
Unknown: That's not money serving.
Unknown: How many of you are serving?
Unknown: Where are you serving today in the body of Christ?
Unknown: Where are you helping in the body of Christ?
Unknown: Or where are you serving and helping? You? Know, outside the church doesn't always have to be in the church. But see, we can't just live for ourselves if we live our lives for ourselves.
Unknown: We're essentially called selfish, and everything we do in life then one day just gets burnt up, it just gets thrown away. And if you live to give, if you live to serve others, if you live to be a blessing to others, then you are going to have a really good life here, and in the next you're going to get a really good reward. Now I know this brings up questions, like some people are like, well, I don't want to be greedy, like some people, you know, I'm good with my own little house and my own little money and my own little life. And that sounds so spiritual. Sounds so religious.
Unknown: There are two kinds of thought in religion. One is the poor.
Unknown: The poor way, you know, I'm going to be a monk and give away all my stuff, and I'm just going to live in my little area here, not bother anybody. And, you know, meditate all day long.
Unknown: That's the poor route that some people think religion is all about, and they're wrong. Of course, the other side is some people think that religion is about gain, getting everything gaining. Well, that's wrong too.
Unknown: But how many of you know there is a middle Psalm somewhere? And I want to encourage you to live in that middle ground.
Unknown: Don't be over there, don't be over there, but realize that God wants to bless you so you can bless somebody else in whatever shape or form, right? So we need to understand you don't throw the baby out with the bath water like so many people do in Christianity, because they see a misuse of something, they just chuck it out. But you can't chuck it out. You have to look at the word of God say, what does the word say? The word doesn't say, live in poverty.
Unknown: The word doesn't say that at all. In fact, God is the opposite. God is the overflowing more than enough god. Did you know that whenever God blessed people, it was always more than enough? God is never the God of just enough.
Unknown: Do you guys know that he's never just getting by?
Unknown: How are you doing today? I'm just getting by. You.
Unknown: Many know that's not God? God's not just getting by, by the way, he owns everything. He's rich.
Unknown: His streets are paved with gold.
Unknown: You'll be surprised when you get there.
Unknown: It's gold. I can see right through it. It's so clear. Look at that.
Unknown: There's all kinds of really cool things there, amen. So let's talk about sowing and reaping.
Unknown: Galatians 67 says, Do not be deceived. God is not mocked.
Unknown: Say, mocked for whatever a man sows that he will also reap, God is not mocked, whatever a man sows that he will also reap. The Trans the passion translation says, Make no mistake, God will never be mocked for what you plant will always be the very thing that you harvest. Now listen, he's not talking about corn here and wheat. He's talking about money. He's talking about being generous. Is actually the context is to share all good things with your teacher.
Unknown: You guys know that's the context people are like.
Unknown: So I want to tell you, there are laws. Everybody say laws. God put these into there's a natural law. There's spiritual laws, and there's a law of faith too. And the law, the natural laws, are put in place to protect us and help us. One of those laws is gravity, right? Some people say, I don't believe in laws. I don't believe in gravity. Okay? Well, climb up on the building and then jump off sometime and tell me if you don't quickly find out that there's a law of gravity, right? And the only way you can supersede that law is by airplanes who use thrust and lift and other physics things to, you know, to supersede that law. And so, but the law is there to help us. The law of sowing and reaping is there to help us too. And so God says, I want you to sow that so you can reap. Isaac in I forget where it is in the Old Testament, there it says, Isaac sowed in a time of famine and reaped 100 fold.
Unknown: Did you guys know that he sowed when everybody else was, nothing was growing and everything was it was a drought, the famine.
Unknown: There's nothing going on. And he plants, and he prays and he believes God, and he reaps 100 fold. How many of you know you could reap a hundredfold if you plant, but you have to plant something. Some people say, Oh, wish God would bless me. Well, what did you What have you planted? What have you sown? And we say sowing. We told we mean planting. You know, the word of God is a seed. Money is a seed.
Unknown: Everything you give away is a seed. We don't often understand that. But God put the law back in Genesis. He said, from now till kingdom come, he says, I'm going to put these laws in into place. He said, seed time and harvest, summer and winter, etc, etc. These laws are natural.
Unknown: They are there. But he said you can't mock God, meaning a couple of things. Number one, you only get what you sow, right? So if you want corn, you've got to plant corn. If you want some money, you've got to what you plant money. If you want friendship, you've got to plant, what friendship? How many of you know what I'm saying? If you want more spiritual life, you've got to plant spiritual life.
Unknown: You've got to, you know, live in the Spirit, not live in the flesh, right? So every one of us, and God did this for a reason to make it fair for everybody. We all have the same, you know, understanding or ability to do walk in these principles. It's not the preacher, it's not Jamie or Jenny or these guys who sing better than most of us. You know, they have gifts. But you know what sowing and reaping applies to all of us, and we can all partake of it or not partake of it. I remember a guy came into the old church years ago, and he was really mad. And so I said, I'll talk to him. And he was so mad. He was cussing and swearing his best say, hey, settle down, man. Why are you so mad? Well, he said, Well, I gave money and I never got anything back. So I said to him, Well, when did you when did you give some money? We said, Well, yesterday at church, he said I gave $1 so I pulled out my pocket. Said, here's two. There you go.
Unknown: Anyway. He left mad. He was cussing and swearing. He's mad at God. Well, what did he think, if you plant today, will you get a harvest tomorrow.
Unknown: No reaping a harvest takes what time. Planting Seeds takes time.
Unknown: But make no mistake, what you plant is what you sow. The other way to mock God that people think they can mock God is that they could plant evil and expect good to come in their life. Or we can plant disobedience and expect some great thing from God out of that, that you can't mock God like that. Either, see, I love that God did that. See, none of us, whether we understand it or we don't understand it, we cannot mock God. His laws are absolute. And what are they you reap, what you sow, and that's many times in the Bible. This is just one verse here, so we need to understand that I like that it evens the playing field, and so everybody can be blessed. Say everybody. It's not just blessings are not just for rich people.
Unknown: God has no favorites. It.
Unknown: He is good to all. It doesn't matter how much money you make or what you do, you can be blessed by God if you'll sow something, right? And so we need to understand that, that we need to sow. And of course, there's the last law of cade there's a law that does supersede, supersede all this stuff, and that is the law of faith. There is a. Law of faith. Can you say that law of faith, and the law of faith will supersede these other laws? Just like the law of lift in an airplane can supersede the law of gravity, so can the law of faith supersede this natural life? You say, Well, what do you mean? Well, think about this. See, you can't it's not all it's not just there is sowing and reaping, but there's also the grace of God.
Unknown: There's also the supernatural.
Unknown: There's also the law of faith that can happen. So let's say a person like you, maybe, who lived your whole life as an evil person doing wrong, and you were enmity, at enmity with God. You were not, didn't like God. You cussed God out. You or doing evil things all the time, and one day, by faith, you receive Christ as your Lord and Savior, and your whole life is transformed. You see, well, that doesn't seem right, because if it was just the law of sowing and reaping, then don't you think that guy, he would not have reaped that so quickly, right? You see, the law of faith supersedes natural law. That's why faith is so important. By the way, maybe you guys should go home and study the law of faith. There's a good assignment for you, maybe for all of us, right? We walk by what faith, not by sight. So you've got to learn to walk by faith, not how you feel and how you think and how you see and what's out there in the world in a natural life, the law of faith supersedes all that. The woman with the issue of blood, like my wife talked about, came up behind Jesus, touched them, and she was totally healed. Someone could eat. I'm just throwing stuff out there. You could eat poorly for 50 or 60 years and be totally sick and have problems, and by the law of faith, you could be healed, you see?
Unknown: Well, that doesn't compute. I know. I didn't make it up. God did.
Unknown: See, God can supersede his own laws, right? That's what the supernatural is all about. Super natural. Here's the natural.
Unknown: Super means it's above. It's better, it's greater, it's awesomer, natural, right? That's another acts 1038, says How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the what Holy Spirit and with power, or what's a power who went about doing good? That word, good, by the way, is a Greek word philanthropic, and it means someone who is a philanthropist, one who is a generous person, who goes around blessing others with whatever they need. See, that's what Jesus did, even when I think somewhere I forget in the Bible, where was it that the table where?
Unknown: Yeah, I should say, I don't know where it is, but somewhere along the line, Judas got up and left.
Unknown: Oh yeah, that's when he betrayed Jesus, when they were having their dinner, and Judas got up and left. And it says all the disciples thought he was going because Jesus sent him to take money and give it to somebody.
Unknown: See, Jesus had a habit of blessing people. He took money out of the Treasury and he blessed them, and he sent Judas the thief, to go do it. How many of you would trust a thief?
Unknown: How many of you are thieves?
Unknown: Any working thieves. Here today, Will a man rob God?
Unknown: What's the answer? Yeah, yeah, in tithes and offerings, right?
Unknown: You thief. Don't be a thief. If you're not tithing giving offerings, you are robbing God.
Unknown: You are a thief. You are robbing yourself of a blessing, and you're robbing God of what belongs to him, and you're robbing the church to be able to do what it's supposed to do.
Unknown: That's just three things.
Unknown: Galatians 610 says take advantage of every opportunity to be a blessing to others. Take advantage of every opportunity to be a blessing to others. I want you to think about that.
Unknown: Take advantage of every opportunity to be a blessing to others. See, in our lives, we need to be walking around looking for an opportunity, see the most of us don't. We're so involved in our careers, our jobs, our kids, our families, driving to the store, getting groceries, or whatever it is we're doing, that we don't even realize, hey, we're supposed to be looking out for opportunities to be a what a blessing.
Unknown: People get so absorbed in their own little lives they don't realize they were called to something greater today. So it says, take advantage of every opportunity. Listen to this, especially to our brothers and sisters in the family of faith, especially to the family. So when you hear of a need, or you hear of something, oh, there's something I can take advantage of. There's an opportunity I can get in. To You. Amen, Proverbs, 1124 says this. Listen to this, you guys. Here's a law of sowing and reaping. One person gives freely, yet gains more. I want you to think about that. One person gives freely. They're just giving all the time, but they get what more? Well, how does that compute?
Unknown: You give away all your money and you end up with more another withholds. What is right? Do you know that you can withhold what is right to give and it only leads to poverty. See, we need to realize that this you can almost you can gage yourself about whether or not you are a generous person. When you give something and you see your bank numbers go down, how does it make you feel? Come you guys know what I'm talking about, right? Something comes up, and you're like, I think we should give something. And then you look at your brain code, Oh, rats, if I give then it's going to go down.
Unknown: How does it make you feel? Are you guys hearing me today? See what it should make you feel is, yes, I have an advantage. I got an opportunity. I have a place where I can bless somebody.
Unknown: Hallelujah. Oh, my money is going down. Don't matter. It's coming back up.
Unknown: That's not from me working.
Unknown: That's God's hand.
Unknown: God says, If you give he'll give it back to you, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.
Unknown: See you need we need to realize, you know, money is just for helping people, and you can't take it with you anyway. I defy any of you to put all your money in a lockbox in the in the hospital when you died, and grab it on the way out and see if you can take it with you. You can't.
Unknown: You could only use it here.
Unknown: You need to realize that you can only use it here. Take every advantage. Use it here. You say, What if I end up with nothing?
Unknown: Well, so what you started with nothing, you're going to end up with nothing, but what's going to count is what you did with it.
Unknown: And I can't give you every scripture and story and parable in the Bible to teach. It takes 10 months. But God is a lot in the Bible about money. It's about giving and helping. Again, it's not just about money, right? But generosities is the key to prospering in every area of life. So start sowing, start helping, right? You can't you cannot think like this. Well, I just want enough for myself that my friend is faulty thinking.
Unknown: And you also cannot say this.
Unknown: You can't say I can't afford it either, and I'll get into that later.
Unknown: But how many of you remember the talents? The Parable of the Talents, I'm not going to turn there. And the owner gave three people talents. He gave one to one person. He gave five to the next right, and he gave 10 to the other one. And he said, Go do something with it. And we all know that the five and the 10, they went and they invested it, and they did stuff with it, and whatever they did, and they got back more right? Well, what did the guy do with the one?
Unknown: What did he do? Buried it in the ground.
Unknown: He thought, Oh, my master. He's a tough guy. I'm just going to hide it in the ground here that I'll just keep it safe. I'll keep my little one safe. He thought he was doing, God the master, a favor. When the master came and checked on everyone, he was like, Oh, that's cool. Look at the 10 guy doubled and the five guy doubled. And how about you one guy? You didn't have that much, it'd be pretty easy.
Unknown: And what did he do? So I was afraid, and I hid it.
Unknown: See, a lot of people are afraid.
Unknown: They're afraid to give. They're afraid to be generous.
Unknown: They're like Scrooge Christmas time Ebenezer and God took from he took the one from the guy, how many? How many know God's not fair. And I need you to understand this. If you want to live in God's world and kingdom, you need to know this God is not the fair God.
Unknown: You need to understand that he doesn't take from the rich and give to the poor to invest.
Unknown: He takes from the poor and gives it to the rich to invest. You guys didn't like that, did you?
Unknown: Let me go over here talk? Maybe these guys are listening. He takes from little and he gives it to someone who can do something with it.
Unknown: Doesn't mean he doesn't take care of the poor, but he doesn't bless them to do something because they're not going to do anything with it.
Unknown: Not everybody. Generally, you guys know what I'm saying, right? Generally speaking, right? See, that's how God operates. He's not fair. He's not like we're all children in the nursery over there, and my wife comes and hands out a piece of gum, and they're all crying.
Unknown: Ah, what a piece of gum. So you got to give them all a piece of gum. Hey, that seems right in the nursery, and it is, don't get me wrong. But in the real world, in the kingdom of God, that's not how God operates. God even talks about what you have, looking after what you have, spiritually speaking the Word of God that you have. And if you don't take care of it, it says it will be taken away from you by force.
Unknown: In other words, whatever you have, somebody is trying to get it.
Unknown: It's either the devil or God.
Unknown: Somebody's trying to get it. If I were you, I would give it to God.
Unknown: Don't let the devil take it.
Unknown: Is this too much for you guys?
Unknown: Maybe we've limited God. Maybe we've limited ourselves.
Unknown: I said, we need to stop limiting. God, we do. Increase our vision.
Unknown: Increase your vision. What could you do with your money? What could you do with your time?
Unknown: What could you do with your strength? Just sit at home, watch TV all the time, waste your life away, live for yourself, only just me and my family, just, that's all I do, my little my little hen, Chick family, there's, that's what I look after. You can do it, but it won't end up for you very good.
Unknown: There's nothing gained by it.
Unknown: You have to look after them. I get all that. Okay. Second, Corinthians, nine, verse six says this, but this, I say he who sows sparingly. Everybody say sparingly. What does that mean?
Unknown: Sparingly? Little will also reap little.
Unknown: And now remember, I'm not saying this. This is Paul writing. This is God's words, okay? And he who sows bountifully, what does that mean?
Unknown: Will also reap bountifully.
Unknown: In order to reap bountifully, you gotta have a bountiful heart. How many of you have a bountiful heart? How many of you really enjoy giving?
Unknown: How many of you get off on giving Jim put his hand half mast?
Unknown: That's pretty good. Thank you for that hand. I see that hand.
Unknown: See we should be looking for ways to give and feel good about it. I like to give. When I get money, I always give something.
Unknown: I tithe, they give an offering.
Unknown: I find someone to give it to.
Unknown: When I get blessed, I want to bless somebody else, amen. And it says, So let each one of you give as he purposes in his heart. Everybody say purposes, purpose. That means as you intend to do in your heart. You know, I think the body of Christ has got it wrong. And I've heard for years and years and years, someone would take up an offering, and they'd say, there's a need. We all want you to bow your heads and ask God what he thinks you should give. And, you know, and I think that's wrong.
Unknown: Now I'm not saying that once in a while God will say, Hey, give this much. But you know what? It doesn't say that here it says, it doesn't say, let each one give as God has put into their hearts to give. It doesn't say that. He said, Let each one give as they what say it again as they what purpose in their own hearts. See, God doesn't want robots and automatons. You're not a robot.
Unknown: We're not robots. See, if we're just robots, we just listen to God. I just give.
Unknown: Us that money to go help describe to be like Ryan Snyder, no smile, just like, you know, what's that guy on that show?
Unknown: The vast Eric the VAT, no, what's that guy? Stoic, the vast.
Unknown: That's right, I always think of Ryan whenever I watch that show, stoic, the vast. Ryan is always stoic. We don't want to be robots. God gave us emotions.
Unknown: God gave us feelings. God gave us Hey. He says, Be listen what he says here. So let. Each one give as he purposes in his heart, in his life, everyone we purpose in our heart. Oh, a project comes up. Something happens. I see someone. I see someone on the street. I gave money to a guy the other day. I purpose in my heart. Here you go. He has no idea. He's just dumb. But you know, I don't do it for him. I do it for me. You Oh, and I do it cheerfully. It says, not grudgingly or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. I love that everybody say, look at some say cheerful, cheerful giver.
Unknown: Hallelujah, when you give you should be smiling. It's happy.
Unknown: No, my bank account is going down. I do that with bills, but not giving it to God. When I pay bills, I go, when I give to God, I go, Yeah, you know why?
Unknown: Because I'm going to reap what I sow. When's it going to happen?
Unknown: I don't know. It's not my problem. That's God's problem.
Unknown: My problem is to believe in the word of God. Do you guys believe the Word of God? Some people are like, I don't believe that. I don't believe that. Well, good.
Unknown: You're never going to see it.
Unknown: Don't worry about it. Go somewhere else. Leave the church. Go play, go, do whatever you want. You're never going to see it. You can't see it because you don't believe it. Believe it. It's okay, lots of unbelievers out there, but we're not called to be unbelievers. We're called to be believers.
Unknown: Have faith. Faith pleases God, right? And it says, Here, here's what's going to happen if you are one who purposes in your heart, you give not grudgingly or out of necessity, and you do it cheerfully. And God is able, everybody say, Abel, who is able? God is able, not me, not the guy next door, not my friend, not my rich uncle. And God is able, say, God is able to make all grace abound to you.
Unknown: What's grace that's giving what you need that you listen to this always having all sufficiency in all things. May have an abundance for every good work.
Unknown: Look at those words, every and all and abundance. They're all those big words. They're overflowing words. They're not stingy just enough words.
Unknown: They're overflowing words. Why he wants you to have enough to meet your needs, your family, your whatever, and then have enough to give to every good work that comes along. We're supposed to look for that with our extra money, our extra time, our extra strength, our extra help, our extra serving, our extra time, our extra love, our extra words. Are you guys hearing me today? How many of you want to be blessed? How many of you want to live a life of blessing? You got to get into this program of God called sowing and reaping? It's a great program, by the way, every one of us can partake, say, every one of us, every one of us. I only have a few more minutes left, as he grudgingly, grudgingly means do I have to how many of you ever done anything grudgingly? Grudgingly is what your kids do when you ask them to do dishes or take garbage out and they go do it, and they say, I'm obedient. No, you weren't. You did it. But see, we're supposed to be obedient with joy, right?
Unknown: Obedience with joy out of necessity means like reluctantly or out of compulsion, the guy preached for an hour. Okay, I'll give some money. She talked about serving and helping. Okay, I'll go do it. Your wife elbows you. Okay? I'll go haul chairs away. See, that's not God, that's not what he wants. That's not what you are supposed to be.
Unknown: You were supposed to be better than that. You were supposed to have a heart to serve and to help and give. Because Jesus Christ died for you, gave his very life for you, suffered on the cross for you to show you how to give God so God for God, so loved the world that he what gave his only begotten Son?
Unknown: People say, Well, God, what did he do? He gave His only begotten Son just suffer and die on the cross. How many of you would send your kid to suffer or die on the cross? I shouldn't say that. Maybe you might do that.
Unknown: Don't do that, but God did it.
Unknown: He loved us so much that he sacrificed something that's love, right? And so do you feel blessed when you give? Or does it feel like loss, joy or sadness, excitement or depression, hope or despair?
Unknown: These are markers that kind of tell us where our hearts are.
Unknown: Are at right now, because listen to me, Acts 2035, I have shown you in every way by laboring that you must support the weak and remember the words of our Lord Jesus, that He said, See, Jesus said this to his disciples. Paul is quoting the disciples. He says It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Unknown: Now we all know that scripture.
Unknown: We've all heard it before, but how many of us operate in it?
Unknown: How many of you feel blessed when you can give? See that's why we have to change our hearts. And something has to happen. A transformation has to take place where you get to the place where, when you give, you're like, Oh, that felt good.
Unknown: Oh, I mean, you might get, you're going to get something too. How many of you like getting stuff? I like getting things. I like receiving Christmas is great. We get stuff, but you know what? I like giving more blessing when you get when you learn how to get blessed by giving, then you're going to have purpose in life.
Unknown: You're going to be satisfied in life. You're going to feel useful in life. Now, a lot of people, they feel useless, well, that's because they don't do anything when you might be feeling useless, because you never do anything. If you never help out, you never serve, you, never give, you never love, you never you know you're going to feel useless. After a while, you can be a Christian love God still feel useless, right? God wants you to feel useful.
Unknown: There's a lot of satisfaction, a sense of importance, purpose in our lives when we learn how to give.
Unknown: And some of you need to learn how to give, but we all need to learn how to give, just about done, by the way.
Unknown: Second Corinthians 98 to give you hope.
Unknown: Here's a scripture I want you to put your faith into. Okay?
Unknown: Second Corinthians, nine, eight, it says, And God is able to make every grace to flow overflow to you. Everybody say, overflow.
Unknown: See, God is the God of overflow.
Unknown: So you got to get out of the mindset of just, I just want enough. No, no. Say, God, I want overflow. Why do I not want to overflow? So that in every way, always having everything you need. You may excel in every good work. See, I want to have lots more so I can excel in every good work. We're going to plant a church. Want to be able to pay for that. We need something here built. Want to pay for that. Want to reach people with the gospel. You got to pay for that.
Unknown: Come on, it's not free.
Unknown: Nothing is free. Not much is free.
Unknown: Even salvation wasn't free.
Unknown: Jesus paid for it.
Unknown: Somebody pays for something. If you have a good life today, somebody paid for it.
Unknown: You're not sitting here freeloading.
Unknown: You are, but somebody paid for it, right?
Unknown: Second, Corinthians, here's a I think it's my last scripture.
Unknown: Yeah, it is so be at ease. Okay?
Unknown: I said before, like, some people say, Well, I don't have that much to give. Okay, that's the wrong thinking. There's another, that's another erroneous thought that you need to get rid of. The widow that Jesus watched, when people gave to the Treasury at the temple, and the Pharisees would come and other rich people, and they threw lots in out of their abundance, right?
Unknown: And then that little widow, I don't know if it's a widow, widow. Did it say widow woman? I don't remember, but she came and she didn't have much, and she only gave in two mites. I don't even know what two mites is, but in Jesus' eyes, it wasn't very much. And he said, Look at this woman. He said, No. He said, Look at these guys. He's teaching his disciples. They came and gave out of their abundance. And that's that's good too, don't get me wrong.
Unknown: But he said, Look at this woman.
Unknown: This is her last money, basically, and she gave out of her poverty and out of her need, and she gave it anyway. Now don't you think when Jesus is standing there that he would have said, he might have said something like, YAHWAH, bless you.
Unknown: And she goes home and there's money in her mailbox, or something. They didn't have mailboxes, and God made a mailbox for her.
Unknown: How many of you know what I'm saying, right? Or somebody in the street come and give her some money, or something happened? I guarantee you something happened to that lady, because Jesus doesn't watch that. And go, Oh, that's cool.
Unknown: See you later. No, there's no proof of that.
Unknown: I can't say that, but I'm gonna find her one day, she's gonna tell me, yeah, I was blessed after that, right? How about Elijah? You guys know the story of Elijah? He went to the widow.
Unknown: Woman, her son is dying, right?
Unknown: Well, no, they're dying. And he comes to her, and he says, Give me something to eat.
Unknown: And like a good prophet, he says, well, feed me first.
Unknown: We don't like that, right? We always like, Ah, don't give to the man of God, don't give to the church. Don't give to them. They're just a bunch of greedy so and so's and the Prophet says, Give it to me first. So she told him, Well, me and my son, we don't have nothing, and I just gathered a few sticks and the last of the oil. Going to make some. We're going to eat it, and we're going to die. She was like, We're dying. And he says, Oh, that's okay. Thank you. You're going to die. Feed me first, full of compassion.
Unknown: But you know what, if he'd have said, you feed yourself first, they would have died, and he would have had no nothing, and then he would have left.
Unknown: But you know what, because he was there, the man of God, he said, No, no, I got a better plan? Feed me first. And she says, okay, so she feeds him first. I don't know what she fed him, sticks and oil. I don't even know what you make out of that. I used to make mud pies when I was a kid. But anybody make mud pies and eat? No, you didn't do that. Okay, horse manure. You didn't play around it.
Unknown: You guys ever seen that dog run up there and just, yeah, sorry, I'm stay on target. Okay. So the woman, she makes the stuff, gives it to the Prophet. He eats it, and then he goes, does he say? Who knows the story better than me? He says, Go get some jars. I think that's the one. I could be wrong. I don't I think it's jars. And then he says, pour. What's she pouring? It just started pouring. He said, pour. And guess what? Oil. Big Fat, get the cup, shoe, everything. And then it was done, and he said, Ah, should have had more, more pots sold it made money, and she was able to and then he heals her son. I think that's how it all right, he dies, and he heals the son.
Unknown: These people don't realize these concepts. They're spiritual concepts that work. So what last scripture? About two minutes.
Unknown: Second, Corinthians, eight.
Unknown: Verse 12 says, but if the eagerness is there, everybody say eager. And Paul is writing here talking about giving.
Unknown: Second, Corinthians, 6789, is all about giving. Okay? And they were going to give to the saints in Jerusalem revere time. This is all about giving. But he refers to manna. Here he's referring to the times when they had to gather manna in the camp.
Unknown: And God told them you can only gather much, so much for today and on Saturday, or Friday, or whatever it was, you gather for two days for the Sabbath, because you can't gather on that day, because it's, you know, no work, right? So he said, Just gather for today. And this is what he says, if the eagerness is there, it's not, it's accepted according to what one has. Everybody say one has not according to what one does not have. So you might be sitting there and we say, Hey, give to this need, or going to give to something, or going to give something. And you say, well, all they got is $20 you say, Well, I don't have $1,000 well, I don't have a million dollars, and I don't have $75 million and God would say to you, what's in your hand. Every time in the Old Testament, they would say, What's in your hand? Oh, I'll give that. Oh, okay. See, God doesn't care. He can, he can. He can win a battle with two guys as easy as he can with 2 million guys.
Unknown: He can change your life for 10 seconds.
Unknown: Cents. You say, Well, I need 10 million. God says, well, give $5 give what you have. He says, accept it according to what you have, not what you don't have. And I think too many people, they don't give because they're saying, Well, I can't give because I don't have it. But he says, No, give out of what you do have. So whenever something comes up, you look, okay, I can give this. That's what I do. I don't get I'd give 500 or five.
Unknown: I can give 100 or 50, or whatever I have. I can give it.
Unknown: You say, Well, I was saving that for a rainy day. Don't need it.
Unknown: And then it can rain. What? You save it for a rainy day for you will die and the rainy day won't come.
Unknown: Then what are you going to do with it? That's what that's what the Lord said to the rich farmer who stored it all in his bins and said, Well, what are you going to do with it? It's just this day. Your soul is required. You're gonna die today. Someone else is gonna get what you gonna do with it.
Unknown: I know this bothers a lot of people on natural principles.
Unknown: He says, Listen, give to what according to what you have, not what you don't have. It is not that there may be relief for others and hardship for you. No See, so God says, Don't give you don't have to get your credit card out. You don't have to go into debt. You don't have to do something dumb. So I'm not trying to make it hard for you.
Unknown: He says this, and a hardship for you and relief for others. But it's a question of equality.
Unknown: Everybody say equality. He's talking about a body of Christ or Israel as a whole, or whatever he says at the present time, your surplus. Everybody say surplus is available for their need, right? So that their abundance may also become available for our need someday.
Unknown: That's how it's supposed to work. One day you'll have bunch, and someday you might have a little. Doesn't matter. God says, I'll look after you, so that there may be equality, as it is written, the person who gathered much did not have too much, and the person who gathered little did not have too little. So they gathered manna, and one guy only gathered was able to gather a little, but in the end, it was still enough to feed his whole family, then a guy gathered. He gathered too much, and it only lasted for his family.
Unknown: That's a totally different thing. But can you see? Can you see what I'm saying?
Unknown: God is supernaturally works in our lives, as he did with the Israelites gathering manna, and Paul uses it in reference to giving. And I, honestly, I don't know everything about this. I'm not a big scholar, but there's something in there about just giving what you have. My wife has a great story when she first came here, and I forget the story you only gave. I forget a little bit that time. Remember, but then God opened up the windows for you and blessed you greatly at that time. See, it's not about money, it's about God.
Unknown: It's about what he can do. It's about having faith in a great God who's bigger than all of us, who's not bound by our natural laws and the law of faith can come into play in your life, but I want to encourage you to start sowing. You only have so many years in life, you better start now. Right? See, give out of what you have, give out of what you have. So in closing, we understand that God has given us certain laws. Use those laws.
Unknown: God has also given us the law of faith. Use that law too, right?
Unknown: Whenever you give, it's never a waste. Whenever you give, it's never a waste. When you give, you're not throwing it away, if you spend it on yourself, you're throwing it away. I'm gonna say that again. If we just spend it on ourselves, we lose it. If we give it, we gain it in this world and the next. I hope you guys can hear this message today. It's really important, and so don't let religion, your past upbringing or values get in the way of the Word of God here today, and God is not mocked. Whatever you sow, you will reap.
Unknown: You can't do whatever you want always, and just expect God to give you grace. Either you have to start sowing good, right, teach your children sowing and reaping.
Unknown: And the Lord told me that yesterday as I was praying, said, Write that down. Teach, tell them to teach their children about sowing and reaping. Start them young, so by the time they're full grown, they say, Oh yeah, I've reaped a harvest already. And change your thinking. And I'll end with this. Let's stand up band. Come on back up here. Just one little thought. I went six minutes too long. I think Jesus said somewhere. Said, even if you give a cup of cold water to one of these little ones, you will in no way lose your reward.
Unknown: Even if you give a cup of water to a little one, he said, there's a reward. And people are funny like, well, I don't want, I don't want a reward. I just want to go to heaven, yeah, well, maybe you'll get there.
Unknown: God wants to give you a reward.
Unknown: God wants to bless you.
Unknown: God wants to fill your barns with overflowing.
Unknown: He wants to fill your coffers.
Unknown: He wants to fill your bosom. That's what it says, Give and it shall be given. Press down, shaken together, running over. Shall men give? Actually? What that really means is that you take your fabric of your robe and lift it up, and men will fill it up with coins. That's what that means. Did you guys know that?
Unknown: You didn't know that? Did you That's because you're not as smart as I am. You don't know that's what it means. So I'm just trying to change your thinking today. Just Abracadabra. Just that that's Bewitched, isn't it?
Unknown: Twinkle.
Unknown: Twinkle can't do that, right?
Unknown: Man, right? Can't do that, okay? How many of you get in the mindset? Change your mindset, expand your vision, expand your thought. Too loud, expand something, expand your vision, expand your thinking, expand your your outreach, expand your life. What could you do with what could God do through you? I believe there's so many in here. God, you have no idea what he could do through you yet or wants to do. But don't, please. Don't limit yourself. Don't limit your life.
Unknown: Don't limit your thinking. Don't limit who you are. Don't say, Well, I'm not that guy, or I'm not that rich guy or I'm not that doesn't matter. God can use you greatly to be a blessing. So let's look for every opportunity turn your neighbor say, every opportunity to be a blessing, and you will be a great blessing. Amen. Why don't we worship? I don't know what to do anything else, so let's just worship the Lord for a bit.
Unknown: Amen.