Build By Giving Ep #4

now during the month of february this is our final session on build by giving everybody say giving is important everybody say giving is important tell your neighbor giving is important all right uh we have been discussing of course different avenues if you will for giving we've talked financial we've talked uh last week with sacrificial giving uh the fact of the matter is what we discover is that uh the very act of giving is a biblical concept that has to be passed from one generation to another you give right then you teach your children to give and they would of course teach their children hopefully and on and on that cycle goes uh i i tonight i want to echo what i've been saying if you will that this is not just coins and dollar bills okay this is giving the the act that you you think through you process whether it's money whether it's equipment whether it's time whether it's your talents whatever it is you you process it you decide and then you act and then you turn loose of that thing whatever it is okay um you do give your time of course anybody give time to god how do you give time to god prayer is probably the easiest one we talk about and we'll talk a little more about that tonight but uh we have to understand that giving is greater than getting okay we all like to get but the facts remain that when you give something happens in your physical being in your mind in your emotion that causes you to feel joy have you ever given somebody something and and it just light them up huh you know what i'm talking about it's just what this is the greatest thing ever and their life goes how does that make you feel well i wish i hadn't done that that was dumb they're they're smiling what a silly thing no what do you feel wow how cool man you know i'm just glad i could be there yeah that was me that was praised me you know yeah that was all me uh the fact is is that when you give whatever that happens to be there is actually a heaven connection to it let's look at something together tonight i want to talk about giving we build by giving of ourselves okay by giving of ourselves acts the sixth chapter uh gives us one of the givings that i want to talk about giving to prayer acts six and four but we will give ourselves continually to prayer everybody say prayer to the ministry of the word now this particular setting in acts chapter 6 is is a great example of a church a local church assembly of course on your own time and maybe you've already studied it out the bible said that the churches were growing things were happening fact daily things were happening in the church people were coming to the house of god people were giving to the house of god they were selling goods and possessions they were bringing it they were imparting it to the apostles and the bible says specifically that these apostles then would take and give to those who had need especially of the household of faith those who were part of the body this is very important to realize because you and i understand when we study the activity of that day the church is very very young okay the church is very young these guys who had come out of idol worship they had come out of false gods worship they had come out of so many things religion in and of itself if you'll study matthew mark luke and john you'll discover that religion basically had come become a form wasn't any power really to it there wasn't any stability to it except for the ability to still continue to understand and study the law of moses we see in the life of jesus just an example when he comes that they actually hand him one of the scrolls anybody remember this story would you read it'd be an honor for you to come and to read this in front of us and so jesus i'm sure he felt like compelled to do so so he begins to read the habit at that time what was normal is when when you began to read you had to finish what was handed to you to read or what was decided to be the word for the day because with god you cannot leave things out you have to complete it that's how important it was jesus starts the reading gets to that liquid point takes what he's been handed to read turns to the one in charge of it and he simply sits down into all the eyes in the room or what they're looking at him what in the what do you think you're boy you're our uncouth you are you don't know nothing what is wrong with you right he had broken what they said or they had established stay with me they had established to be the ritual of religion jesus comes in and he simply sits down in the midst of reading and everybody all eyes are on him why because he didn't do right now what was jesus response get over it i'm done i'm tired of reading i don't want to read no more i don't like that portion who wrote it that way that's silly no you know what jesus says i've come today not to just read that but watch me go what do you mean i'm gonna fulfill what you're reading about what y'all have been reading about i've come to fulfill that law now wait now can you imagine stay with me can you imagine those sitting in the room that day he's going to fulfill this law i don't understand excuse me i have a question what jesus knowing their response before they gave it are we okay with that he now says there has been a stages set that people now are going to begin to see the working of the spirit now churches are birthed out of the experiences that these disciples these apostles these followers of jesus they had learned you remember that you remember when jesus he ascended into heaven and he said i'm not going to leave you you know i got to go because where i'm going i want to prepare a place so that where i am you can you can come and be there too but you can't get there now you don't have the ticket punched you don't have the goods yet it's coming to you in fact even gave it a name called comforter i won't leave you comfortless but the comforter will come to sound like any words you heard prior from an old apostle or from an old prophet that very possibly jesus read that time wonderful counselor are you with me stay with me for a moment now jesus he is giving to them instruction he leaves now these guys are standing down here trying to figure it out they may have just had to figure out a job how many smart folk we got in here turn to your neighbor and ask are you smart don't ask them if they're smart e the difference between a smarty and a smart right are you smart enough to establish an entire way of life that would be like you today sitting down with i don't know somebody on the boat in 1607 that came over and founded jamestown hey how did y'all do that or one of the shakers that came in 1620 and landed on plymouth rock hey what made you do that and then how did you do it because it hadn't been done here too for right so that's what that would be like so they're starting the church they're figuring it out we're in acts the sixth chapter the fourth verse there's a whole lot of you can take your time when you got time add this to your reading i'm telling it's very intriguing you got widows and orphans not wood orphans like wood or widows and orphans you got people that are needing things we are early in the church days holy ghost has been poured out but yeah was just in chapter six of the writing that luke was putting down understanding that there's a whole lot of people saying wait a minute there's needy they're sick there's diseased there's widows there's orphans there's things that jesus specifically said to us except for the little chip thing take care of the widows make sure this one's taken care of make sure this is dumb they they're trying to assimilate a plan to make sure that they are doing exactly what jesus had instructed them all of this was done to set a precedence for the body of jesus believers please understand when in the book of acts they were selling goods giving to the apostles so that it could be distributed why do you think that those guys in that group were doing that kind of action activity why were they selling lands why were they selling possessions why were they doing things because jesus said i'm going i'll be right back and in their mind what any day here he comes hold on nope not him all right any day here he comes nope not him here he no still not 2022 guess what we're still with eyes wide open so all of this stuff's going on in this church in the church the disciples were so overwhelmed with all of the need all the things all the circumstances going on the bible says that some people came to him and said look guys we got people that are doing without we got all this stuff that's been given to us we got to make sure they're taken care of and so by the wisdom that the holy ghost gave to them they said what we're going to pick some guys and we want you guys to take care of them and so seven names are mentioned in the scriptures you can go in there and find them and study them out and these guys were put over taking care of the needs of the church so the disciples though the apostles the ones who were doing the the instruction the guidance and the things that were needed as far as leadership of the church this is what they said we're going to give ourselves continually to prayer now how does somebody again tonight we're talking about building by giving how does someone give themselves to continual prayer shouldn't we all be continuously praying doesn't paul tell pray without ceasing so how is it that these guys get separated for that maybe maybe you've already figured this out or you it's never you never thought of it hang on to me a moment when you build by giving you have to understand the precepts precepts and the concepts of what's being said we're going to give ourselves to continually in prayer and ministry of the word why because what is going to transpire when we get our act together is people are not only going to come and connect with what we're doing and what's called i don't know let's call it the church i don't know where's that town smyrna with let's call them christians let's do these things and when we do people are going to begin to bring all kinds of issues and troubles and things into into the church body we need to be able to address those so we're not going to try to do this by our lonesome have you ever tried to make a decision on your own without first asking god anyone how'd that turn out for you probably pretty good you're probably still paying for it now please understand when we talk the will of god when we talk direction from the the spirit of god that is not a mystical way out there hebiji type thing that you have to throw a potion on and wave a magic wand and look into the glass to get understand this god trusts you as a person to make decisions for an example why are you wearing the shoes you are wearing right now anybody because they they match i had to make sure what i had on now have you ever wore shoes that don't match whose opinion was that because as far as you were concerned they were fine you ever wear two different shoes now there's another topic for another day here's the point do you have to pray lord jesus mighty god savior my soul redeemer of all creation what shirt should i put on my back today does anybody do that in your home okay besides ian over there no anybody no what do you do what's clean huh does he i'm gonna ask a really silly question i'm trying to help you all understand this anybody can have a closet this wide anyone this wide go ahead identify this why that's all you got this wide anybody huh probably none of us but the most intriguing thing happens to all of us is what that's how many clothes we wear out of our closet that's this one am i right you got these few but you got all these for what just in case come on somebody help me uh even even even fond memories i remember when i could wear that boy if it was summertime i'd have it on y'all know i'm telling the truth right because it's just this in fact i said honey are we gonna wash clothes this week yeah why i need those pants you got six of them i need them what difference is trust me it matters listen to me carefully i'm telling you this because as humans as human beings we have the ability to be able to make choices and decisions agreed why do you pray and bless your food when you eat it anyone you don't want to well you don't want to get sick you want to pray the calories out come on i tell folk all the time in a restaurant i don't know who's in that kitchen back there now my house i might could skip a prayer but i don't want to get out of the habit you understand i'm saying huh here stay with me you got now these these these preacher guys these church leaders that are just getting overwhelmed with those details and so now they've got somebody that can help do you guys realize it is after the book of acts that the church of philippi was established and the church of corinth was established and the church at galatia was established in ephesus these churches now are being popped up all over the place because paul is making missionary trips and other ministers are traveling from here to there there's letters being written that's that's how we got the letters in the new testament written to the church the body of believers the letter would be written would be sent they would read it out loud they would probably make a copy of it and then they would send it on to another church it would be read out loud guess what they'd do make a copy of it and they'd send it on are you with me we got to give ourselves to prayer now 2022 let me tell somebody something today understand in our day in an age in which we live you better not ever trust yourself without power of prayer working in your life i mean it don't matter if it is about that one shirt that your favorite or those shoes praying about things is important when i go somewhere when before i climb out of the car i shut the engine off jesus i need you to help me right now and put my foot on the ground i don't know what's about to happen to you when i walk into a store when i go into a job lord i'm going to need you now i'm going to need you now i cannot tell you how many jobs that i have gone to in my business and the only way that it worked was prayer see that's my favorite song thank you sam i don't know who called it's not mine that's somebody's ringtone right i don't know how i can tell you every job that i've ever installed before i ever flip the switch what did i do lord now you know i ain't smart enough for none of this and i got a lot of questions about what's about to happen here let it work and don't let it kill nobody and don't let it fall and don't let it break in a million pieces and me stand here and not be able to go eat lunch because i'm hungry right now and i flip the switch and as i'm flipping the switch in jesus name why am i doing that y'all think it's silly i'm praying continuously about things now i'm talking i realize ingest on a lot of these because i realize it's silly it doesn't make a lot of sense or maybe it's just things that you do out of habit but listen to me carefully when we build by giving we got to understand giving ourselves to the things of god always reap heavenly rewards if you'll give yourself to prayer god will intervene he will move and he will do things in your life give yourself to prayer you got to understand something that if you're going to commit your ways to god god is going to be there for you it is those in our world who refuse to submit to the plan and the will of god they're the ones that are suffering trying to figure out why they're walking around in chaos and darkness come on the church should never have that attitude we should always say in everything i pray in every situation i pray what do you do first you pray what do you do second you pray what do you do last you pray but i got this to doing that then pray the way god is leading you to pray pray in the spirit when you can pray with understanding lord i need to grasp a hold of this concept because if i give myself to prayer it evidently worked for the church because here we are today come on now there are things that happen there's always needs there's always a measure of strife and trials and things that's going on in the world right there's there's that same thing that actually sticks its head up occasionally in the church how do we fix problems in the church huh do you fix problems when they show themselves in the church family now i realize none of us are are are willing to say that somebody's able to make mistakes but it's true in fact i've seen the enemy work in the middle of a church service apostolic anointed preaching and teaching and writing a smack in the middle of it the devil show up i've seen that with my own eyes multiple times a holy ghost pouring out in an altar people speaking in tongues laid out in the spirit right in the midst of that the voice of the devil began to speak i've seen that so how is that even possible that in the midst of of an anointed glory-filled place that the enemy can begin to slither his tongue out there i'll tell you why because we're people look at your neighbors say you're a person you're human you have the ability to make bad choices and bad decisions in the midst of all the good going on in your life i've come today to tell you if we're going to build by giving you better give yourself to prayer you better give yourself to prayer the bible tells us luke chapter 10 i'm not going to read this story i'm certain most of you have read it luke chapter 10 in fact part of this or i should say all of this story in luke chapter 10 is written in red in your king james bible the bible says that jesus is speaking to the group and he talks about a priest and a levite and a samaritan and in this story he gives an account to where this guy goes out from one town to the other and he falls among thieves now i've got my own logic on this i wouldn't have fell there i miss saying if i'd had a flat tire i would have kept driving you know you got to get away from that you get your drive you can change the tire down the road i know why jesus though by studying this example why he's giving this a priest a levite isn't that the same weren't the levites part of the priesthood so why does he mention them twice why is it that a priest and a levite is mentioned possibly because the priests you would consider to be close to god somebody say amen but a levite may or may not be a priest but would be in the priesthood a worker in the tabernacle he was a levite he understood the law that god gave to them the levitical law would have been in his brain in his heart in his makeup so it doesn't matter if you stand behind this desk or you sit on that chair you need to understand jesus was talking to you he was talking to me this guy falls among thieves they beat him up they steal his stuff he is left for dead the priest i'm just going to give you the short version mom and dad this would be good for you to talk to your kids about the priest walks by and says boy i hate that for you glad they didn't get me eyes prayed up okay never mind i come out of a good service so therefore i didn't fall among the thieves i walked by the one that fell among the thieves or the levite who should have known the law he would have known the law and he should have been able to apply the law to this guy now we understand that the law of course would have been if you touch this if you're in this if you're in the midst of that if you do if you touch something a carcass of an animal that's unclean it's overall we get that right also we understand lord help me right now we understand the levite would have understand understood perfectly that if he would have therefore fell in amongst that even if he didn't know where he was falling into as well then he would have been held a liable for touching the blood that this man would be pouring out who do you realize oh lord don't let me get sidetracked you know what that would have cost him he would have had to go back to the tabernacle to make it right now he's got to drag an animal i got to sacrifice this now because i got to make it right and so you and i today in 2022 we could probably understand the guy may not have had an animal to kill so it was to his advantage not to touch the blood on that man now see what had happened preacher was i i brought a table to donate to the church that's the one that's broken because i bought myself a new one see i just meddled didn't i but that's how it works you know i i'm gonna make can y'all use a cabinet i got one i'm about to throw in a trash can the church use it i i get those questions a lot i'm gonna throw out a bunch of stuff anything the church wants y'all to have it why didn't you go buy the church a new one that's just a thought because that's not the way we work as people we consider it lord i'm meddling now help me lord help me we consider it the blessing of the lord to say i worked hard for this thing and so i went and bought it and god look what the lord has done i wonder sometimes what this levite should have thought so you got a priest you got a levite understands all of that but then you've got this man of samaria he finds the guy and not only does he touch him but he actually binds up his wounds pours oil you know how expensive the oil would have been especially for a samaritan who was a dog nobody wanted no doubt it would have cost him money even the vinegar the wine that he had would have been used for preservation he took that that would have meant something to him and he pours it on this man's wound not only that he picks the dude up and chucks him on his animal boom hold on and he takes off interestingly enough he takes the guy to an end gives him okay i need a room for my guy here what's your name anyway fred fred needs a room he's been beat up everything he's got stolen uh i know there's blood oozing out of him i know that he's got this he's got a broke bone whatever it is i know he smells bad looks bad whatever listen i'm a businessman i've got to go do my negotiations but i'm going to tell you what i'm going to leave the money needed here to make sure this guy's taken care of some of y'all are here what i'm saying what this samaritan who had no right reason nor even caused to touch the man decided it's because i'm a nobody i figure helping a nobody ought to be in a good thing that ought to remind us every day we climb out of bed you ain't nothing without god it's grace and mercy of god if we're going to build a church we're going to have to learn how to build by giving of ourselves what if it's uncomfortable then trust god what if you don't you know i i realized that that we've come through a very trying time as a as a nation even our world that old brother coveted who tried to come in and just dominate all things he he was dealt with kindly not in some situations but there there there's a lot of folk that's just simply tolerated oh brother covered i found out recently though that it's it's now getting less and less anybody else hear that yeah um my precious wife she took care of me when i was sick she didn't have to do that well she did too nobody would cut the grass this summer anyway um i don't know what i i i mean anybody anybody here have covert to where you were talking out of your head anybody here have it like that i was saying she what are you saying it's old man talk and i just lay my head back i wake myself up what are you doing nothing i mean you know what was it 125 temperature you know every time i tell the story it keeps going right you know how that is right i don't know i i mean i was just out there i was on death's row y'all i mean that's door making sure y'all are listening huh she still hadn't gotten it i know she's just stubborn and won't healed or blessed lord knows i couldn't help her honey i don't it's like when she was pregnant with the kids that yeah baby oh gee jeez just geez jesus you know because i don't i didn't do well with all woo all that you know some of you are like you just wait yeah it's exciting things here's my point you build by giving which means you have to determine the value of what you are giving to the samaritan felt this man was worth giving money time effort and energy to him he even said to the innkeeper what i'll be coming back and if there's anything that owes what so the innkeeper's now involved buddy i'm going to take him for all he's worth that's 300 yeah i had to buy gauls inflation too but the the samaritan was trusting now y'all think this is silly listen carefully he was trusting the reason i am mentioning this story tonight is because i'm convinced this is why jesus placed this in between so many other lessons in luke chapter 10. there are some things that we can understand and learn as apostolics in our day and age god give me wisdom to know the right and the wrong where i can help and help me lord if i've got to trust you to be able to simply trust you on things now i realize as a church we get a lot of phone calls you know people want i'm not really sure that i understand why you'd want cable bill paid when you can't pay the electric bill to have i don't know but that's typically the one we get y'all help with cable bill sure we'd love to have you paid your electric bill no this is probably not going to work real well i mean look at the tv and you can tell everybody that comes by in the dark yeah we got cable but you can't turn off and this is me i ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer but i can figure this one out i probably want my electric bill paid first so i have to i have to pray as a pastor i do i have to give sister sarah some some insight on things you know the first first several times folk would call she was ready to save the world and she she finally learned let me call pastor pastor this guy's called and he's just in a really bad place and it's just it did she go through this story and i'm saying yeah but yeah yes yes i yeah i know i know and has he called anybody else no you know what i'd call them back and they it's so amazing to me uh yeah my name's pastor raymond so i'm calling you you called earlier to uh what church you with i'm probably on page number four out of the phone book where you went through and called all these churches oh no see i just i've been trying to yeah here's my point guess what when i prayed about it god helps me to understand there are times when god gives me a specific word you know what i've used this a lot come to the church sit through our service and afterwards we'll sit and talk invariably somebody somebody told me they wanted money for for an uncle or an aunt and i stood there and listened and when they finished i said you know i'm in the middle of the building over there i go gap it's it's just a frame structure and i'm saying you know i don't i don't have i'm out here i don't you know i don't i'll say but we can pray right now what's your uncle's name no i don't i don't want your prayer okay but they said because faith when that works is dead i said you're right i got faith that you ain't working did i handle it right i don't know her i had to pray after that when they pulled out of the lord i i didn't know how it was to handle that one but i had a lot of faith they wasn't doing much stay with me i'm using that story guys because when you give there are going to be times when god wants to bless you but he wants to know if you'll bless others pray about that another way that we build by giving is when we give ourselves to the work of god i mean actual labor work for the kingdom building is an action word you can't think of building into the ground you can't think something out of the out of a project it has to be work somebody's got to get sweaty somebody has got to do the physical huh the physical there's a there's an open opportunity in every task and everything for supervision and a lot of folks try out for that job now i just i just came to support i just came to to just support lord give them strength lord help them help them lord help them give them strength help them and i'm standing saying you know the greatest help right now would be that broom in your hand no see what happened oh stay with me nehemiah you ever heard of this guy this guy was so tore up because of his heritage being destroyed four and six so we built the wall all the wall joined together under the half thereof and the people had mined to work that gave themselves to the work of god the folks put their in their minds and in their hearts they put the desire to be actively working for god they worked they gave themselves to the working of putting this this this gate this wall back together and all the things they were doing was for a purpose they understood the glory that once was at jerusalem could actually return if they could protect jerusalem nehemiah rallied the people not to come and talk about it not to have a meeting or zoom conference where they could consider the opportunities but he said pick up the sword and pick up the trowel and lay a block in its place all the while looking about put a block in its place all the while looking about put a block in its place all the while you th what do you think was being told here in that story to you and i today you better work for the things of god and you better look for the enemy to try to come in and stop you but if you've got a mind to work guess what god will bless it giving ourselves to prayer and giving ourselves to the work of god when you labor for the building of the church i'm not simply talking about block and stone i'm not simply talking about your tithe and offering and the thing i'm talking about a mind that says lord you put me here for a reason i am going to do my part to build the church if it's mopping the floor i'll do it but if it's knocking the door i'll do it if it's fixing a meal i'll do it if it's learning a song i'll do it i'm not going to put myself in a box to where i can only do three things for god you want to ask me oh pastor how could i be used i'm glad you asked pray oh i can do that i know you can now how good are you praying how much are you praying how much are you investing and praying because i know that if i ask you to do something besides praying if you don't get prayer down first your work is going to be in vain but if you'll learn how to pray when it's time to work god's already told you get up and go work i know that the spirit speaks that get up and go you know i i anyway brother duran and i we had these conversations and we were doing work around here man long days long nights just a whole lot to do where's everybody else and my only response i could give their home praying they got to be interceding how do you know because they ain't here well how do you know they're praying positive thinking what do you think they're praying about lord don't let me have to go there only i can think of say with me when we understand that giving ourselves to the labor of the church it's not an edifice but it's an actual body of believers that meet at a place that have something that have structured in the city and in the community in which we are in that includes where we meet but that also includes things that we are doing in this city do you realize that we support missionaries halfway around the globe that we have never met somebody's got to work though to help give to that cause so that fund doesn't go in the red every year yeah this last year couple thousand dollars that that fund the mission fund went in the red that was the only fun that went in the red you know what i told brother david brother david stop paying the missionaries there take care of that i didn't say that i said brother david if we have to take it from everybody else we will not negate our responsibility to those missionaries they deserve better than that so whatever we have to do to pay that we are going to it is just like a bill we are going to make our commitments to our missionaries why because you tell me friend what else are we supposed to do you want to put a value on a soul good you run the numbers and when you come up with the amount you pay that amount tell you what better said i'll try to figure out a way for you to figure out your value that's hard to win it christian ooh that's hard cause somebody may come up and say you realize you are not all that in a box of cracker jacks in fact i think you're worth six dollars or 42 cents i'll just that's you know that's a number i'm just making it just hypothetical hypothetical stay with me you cannot forget guys that in our time where we are living right now we are investing in the things of god we pray by giving give by praying also giving of our time time to the things of god this is one of the topics i talk about in my discipleship class because i want folk to realize that being a part of something that's bigger than you means at cost and it's worth the investment time is money right have you ever tried to sit down and figure out how much your time is worth brother draw would you come how much is your time worth anybody you have 24 hours in a day what's that worth 24 hours that's what it's worth how much monetarily what would you attach to your 24 hours it depends on what what you're doing my time on vacation guess how expensive it is my time when i'm on a job site guess how much it is my time when they call me in the middle of the night to fix something they broke oh yeah you know it here we go god gives all of the same amount of time when we give in our prayer and we're given our work our action our activity in the building of the things of god we've got to now figure out lord you have given me time i want to give my time back to you in all areas of our life whatever time you have you have to decide where to invest it where it goes agreed your parents you want to spend time with your children bless you your parents you want to spend time with your children husbands you want to spend time with your wives wives you might want to spend time with your husbands you decide is that right because here's the thing i guarantee i promise you in the culture in which we are living now is just like every other society that has ever been on planet earth we choose so how important are the things of god to you how much worth do they have i can tell you this this past sunday worship service i told my mother on tuesday when i called her tuesday morning early because monday was we were out of town but mom said how was church on sunday i said mother do you know how long it has been since i have had to simply say to the church family stay as long as you want and i walked off this platform and picked up my stuff i don't know if anybody watched the clock sunday it's about 40 minutes that y'all stayed very few i mean i was bored at the door back there i was hoping to cut all you know i run to the door you may notice that i do that for a purpose i want to make sure i shake everybody's hand if i can now there's two doors and i'm like but y'all wouldn't leave why would anybody take anything for that 30 or 40 minutes sitting in the presence of god how much value is that you notice nobody was saying anything nobody was coaxing it was just simple desire just simple desire because in the presence of the lord there is fullness of joy i i i wanted to mention that tonight in this lesson because that's something that i can't generate as a pastor i can't teach you how to do i can't give you a b c one tooth i can't it's not i don't have to say to you i could preach i can t do whatever but the truth is is when a people hunger just to be in god's presence god gently walks into the room and stands there he was here sunday and he just stands and what you were feeling on sunday i've come to tell you is the desperation and the excitement of the possibility that god's going to do something was there anybody here nervous about leaving because you didn't want to miss it what would it be like to give to the things of god give yourself to the things of god to the work of god to prayer seeking after god and to come every time with that feeling what would it be like to come early lord i noticed on the prayer list this week that someone's so sick had been sick but lord today i understand they're going to be in the house of the lord oh i don't want to miss church i don't know what god's plans are to you but i know this if i pray and i give myself to the work of god to the things of god to the building of the things of god my time god is faithful stand with me tonight which is 806. you decide you invest and then you see the reward you decide what i got to do and then you invest it and then you see the reward i'm convinced that in the hour in which we live we've not walked to this place before past generations have they have it was called planting the church time tonight does it permit me to tell stories that i know personally of my grandparents building church just doing it it's just what they did third grade education barely read but a love for the things of god i six nights a week in church loved it loved it two hour drives to a youth rally or a revival service get home at two in the morning get up at five a.m go to work next day thought nothing of it well yeah because they was a little weaker minded or they didn't have all we had or whatever truth is is they were building a church time doesn't permit to talk about the tomatoes thrown at the tent the eggs thrown in the tent cars will drive by and scream out the window holy rollers and jesus freaks in there i was there for some of that as a kid there's something to be said about a little old lady that walks up to the preacher that's pounding the tent stakes in the ground gonna put a new church in that little town and he's standing there with his suit pants on and his white shirt and tie tucked into his shirt pounding tick stakes in the ground and my grandmother walking up to him and opening up her bible to acts 2 38. do you believe this do you baptize this way yes ma'am baptize me but i haven't preached yet i already saw that i've been waiting for you guys in mid-stride of pounding a steak okay church had to be built my grandfather's a builder guess what come on what y'all doing tonight why are you asking what do you think i'm doing tonight same thing you are where are we going church what are we going to build we're going to build how's it going what's the color i don't know what difference to make let's go you understand what i'm saying just do that why because when you build by giving you give yourself in so many ways i'm done bishop mccool in knoxville he tells one of the coolest stories i've ever heard built the church there a little obedient church it had a five six steps that went down went into the church house and he named it was all gravelly he called it he's this tall so he's telling it that way you're gonna ask him today about the story he just loves to tell it lord told him in prayer time to put steps on the church lord we can't afford to pour the concrete in it lord say i want you to go take the lumber that you've got out there where you've been building i want you to frame up the sidewalk and the steps that go down make them nice okay so he calls the guy who's been helping him we're going to meet the church i'll meet you what are we going to do today preacher we're going to build steps we got money for concrete no but god said put the steps in how we're going to do it put the steps in what we're going to put the steps yes sir we're gonna put steps in so get over there and take all the nails out put the two before two by six to get everything framed up up the thing the sidewalk up to the sidewalk down the edge of the road and the guy looks at him lays his hammer down puts a shovel down and says we're ready now where's the concrete i don't know about that time concrete truck drives by guy stops backs up in the drive the neighbor across the street backs up into his driveway sits in the truck he looks across the street and he sees brother mccool and this other guy working and trying to get it he hops out of his truck walks over and says excuse me sir this is going to seem really strange we got called in an order for concrete i picked up the order to bring it to a job site didn't know that already been taken by another guy because he didn't mark it off the board brother cool says huh he said i'm so sorry to bother you i'm sure you've probably already ordered your concrete but do you mind if i dump this concrete here brother mccool said i was going in to order concrete but yeah you can come on bring it go and put it right there be fine i asked him the story so the guy back oh that'll keep me out of trouble truck driver backs up everybody everybody work concrete like that that's cool it's it's hard work work work dump dum dum dum dum dum dum cool said we're out here doing we gotta get he said i need about that much more so he his buddy hey climb up in that truck guy climbs up climbs up gets up there with a shovel he taps on it brother mccool says lord you know what we need and the guy drew his shovel down and it went everything's filled now here's the story truck driver gets in his truck drives away guy saved my life the guy that's helping brother mccool looks at brother mccool and says what just happened brother mccool says to him god just saved my life now here's the point a lot of things and working for god that you've got a faith but i am convinced a hundred times over god has always been faithful if you're praying and you're working you're giving god's faithful this church knows more than any other church the power of giving two years ago our church building hit the ground in a tornado but for ten days following we saw the hand of god hamburgers pizza tarps nails shovels wheelbarrows more anybody remember those days pray with me right now lord help us tonight we build the things of god by giving by giving of our time and our talent our treasure our testimony to you that's that's how you build the things of god now lord we know you could speak it out of the air it's you've proven that from the beginning you can simply say let there be and it will be god we know that to be true but god i am fully convinced that you are allowing us to be a part of the miracle tonight in this room lord we are concluding uh four lessons talking about giving i pray i pray and i believe that if we god if you will allow us to understand the gift of giving the power and the authority that comes from when we give our time our talent our treasure to the things of god that you god will show up in a way that will simply blow our minds and the supernatural will become natural i pray lord for the church family oh god help us to realize it's all from you it's all about you it's not about us it's about us submitting to your plan i believe you're for it lord you're helping us to build a church here for your glory you know god where the next step is for our congregation lord we're going to trust you because right now we're going to work and we're going to continue to work lord until jesus i'm trusting you god yeah i know lord that you've already got it worked out but we lord are in the season god of growing and understanding your will lead us lord let us understand the power of giving it is more blessed to give than to receive help us to understand that principle god it is a scriptural biblical godly principle help us to realize lord that if we will god open our hearts and our minds and open our understanding and our power and strength that you give us in our bodies that you god will make up the hedge i plead your blood over the church help us god to understand the power of giving help us lord to build for the glory of the kingdom of god i plead your blood over the church let us grow let us prosper lord give us i pray lord give us what we need to accomplish what we need to let us find favor lord god in the eyes of our city the name of jesus i plead your blood over the church keep us lead us guide us lord jesus help us lord to exercise our faith and trusting you god for great things in the name that's above every name jesus come on there's somebody just wants to love him for a little while come on you just want to love him for a little bit lift your voice lift your hands to him you are the mighty god you are the everlasting father you're jehovah you are elohim yes you are else shall i you're good you're gracious you're holy and right lead us lord in the way god i pray for it let our vision lord god let it be on the plain path lord i know jesus you work it out you make a way help us lord to yield ourself to you to build by giving god in the name of jesus as individuals as a church help us lord to open our hands and give god the way that you would want us to in the name of jesus we pray in the name of jesus we believe in the name of jesus great things god come in your name help us oh god lead us lord jesus show us the way we pray for it in your name jesus somebody say amen turn to three people close to you and say give unto the lord i love you guys have a great rest of your week be blessed don't forget friday night couples we're back here on sunday lord bless y'all shake hands and be friendly yes