Greater Giving

All right, let's again, you got your notebooks out. There should be a page marked with today's date, uh, Wednesday the 4th. You can take some notes in it. Um, there's u I enjoy all the sessions. Um, last month of course we we talked about greater vision and this month we are talking greater giving. Let's go to the book of Luke. We'll start right into uh ver I'll watch the clock for a few minutes anyway and that way we'll kind of stay on track.

Luke chapter 6 verse number 17. Now there's an entire stack of verses so I'm going to slip on my glasses so I don't have to guess. Luke 6:17 simply says this. He came down with them and stood in the plain and the company of his disciples and a great multitude of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem and from the sea coast of Tyrie and Siden which came to hear him. Notice how that verse 17 ends. and to be healed of their diseases. And they that were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were healed. The multitude sought to touch him, for there went virtue out of him. Can somebody say out loud what it says next? Sorry. Come on, everybody say that with me out loud. And he healed them all. Wouldn't that be cool to watch? There's sickness, disease, there's people vexed with spirits. The Bible says they came and they stood in this plane in this open space. And the scripture says that they came for a reason that they wanted to touch him because virtue was coming out of him. Notice this though. All right, we do you see the the picture? This is where we are. We are in the midst of miracles. We are in the atmosphere of the miraculous taking place. How many you know when miracles happen, people are aware? Come on. I I don't think of anybody in this room that if God healed you from a disease that you wouldn't be beside yourself and both of y'all worshiping, you and the one you're beside. Are you with me? But notice verse 20. He lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said again this this atmosphere is charged right here. He said, "Blessed be the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye when men shall hate you and when they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast you out cast out your name as evil for the son of man's sake. You see this atmosphere is charged with miracles. Imagine, woo, woo, glory, hallelujah, glory. Shouting and jumping. And Jesus goes, people going to hate you. Poor, you're blessed. We You're blessed. Thank you. You're, you know, you're all that. You're you. I mean, honestly, I'm in the middle of this vi the electricity in the air because the Bible says he healed them all. He took care of their situations. And then Jesus is talking to his followers. And I don't know about you, but this pep rally is not doing much. Hey guys, listen. Let me tell y'all something. See all Yeah, that lady got out of the wheel. Yeah, she look up. He walking right there. That one there. Yeah. Eyes right there. Yeah. Yeah. This one. Yeah. See, that's all. All right. Let me tell y'all something. They're going to hate y'all. I mean, this is me. I I can only imagine James going, "Yes, I love to be hated." Andrew going, "Hate me. Hate me." I mean, that's foolish. Jesus is not doing much here to encourage his followers. Now, what this is all intentional. Keep in mind that in the Gospels, it was told that these accounts, they were told, notice what happens here. They're going to hate you. They're going to push you away. You need to in verse 23 this is what happens when all this happened. Says rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy for behold your reward is great in heaven for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. So whenever all this stuff happens and all these bad things happen you need to take one thought rejoice. Come on. Some of us have a stubbed toe and we ain't no rejoicing going on. Okay. But Jesus is telling them, you need to rejoice because they are treating you like they treated the prophets of old. Now, here we go. Hold on to me for a while. And again, this lesson tonight is deep and wide. Verse 24. But woe unto you that are rich. Anybody? Is that is that saybody? Can anybody help? Somebody read that for me. Stop. What's that? What's that right there after the word rich? What's that mean? Oh, I wish I had money. Whoa. Whoa. Rich. Wo to you. Okay. I wish I didn't have that much money to be woed at. But y'all with me? This is mid midweek university. Woe unto you that are rich. You have received your consolation. Verse 25. Woe unto you that are full. Is it up here? What's that one, man? I mean, he is he is he is exclamationing this. WOE TO YOU THAT ARE RICH. WOE TO YOU THAT ARE FULL. THIS IS SO intriguing how that they're in this plane and you got all these people throwing down their beggar clothes, throwing down their blind man's clothes, throwing down their their sick clothes and and the all the stuff and there's this big pile. Everything's just in chaos. And Jesus says, "Woe to you that are rich. You've received your consolation. If you're full, you're going to be hungry. Woe unto you that laugh now." Is that up here? Anybody see that man? He is serious. Never forget this is translation from the Greek to English. So the Greek translators, they said, "How do we translate this, man? I don't know, but you better make sure they understand it." They put an exclamation there. This is not just the way that you and I would have seen it. This is absolutely with emphasis intentionally. The beauty of that is this guys. They had just seen all this wonderful things. And Jesus says, "Woe to you that are rich. You've received consolation. Wo to you that are full, you'll be hungry. Woe to you that laugh now, you'll mourn and weep. Woe unto you when MEN SHALL SPEAK WELL OF YOU." HUH? You see it? See that one? Well, I'm glad I got this big screen over my head. Here's the thing. For so did their fathers to the false pro to the false prophets. But I say unto you which hear verse 27. Are y'all with me? Capital L. There's a comma here. Again, these are translated terms. How do we make this to where they understand the purpose and the what they're insinuating here? Love your enemies. See the capital L? That is not a little bitty L. Again, these are little details I'm trying to help us to recognize in tonight's lesson the impact that the words of Jesus. Anybody have the King James version open? What color are these letters? This is what they said. Jesus would have said this. This is the words from the master. He says at this point, he then says, "Love your enemies. Do good to them which hate you. Bless them that curse you. Pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek, smite him back." No, sorry. They If they smite you on the one cheek, what do you do? Offer the other one. Now, boy, wouldn't that be strange in our day? Hey, do you just smack me good? Do this one. You hear what I'm saying? Again, watch that. Watch how this works. If he takes away your cloak, forbid him not to take your coat. That's the two garments. You had a cloak, which was the outer, and then you had a coat. Give to every man that askketh askketh of thee of him that taketh away thy goods. Ask them not again. Verse 31. and as you would that men should do to you, do you likewise, do also to them likewise. What is that known as? The golden rule. Do unto others before they do. Now, as you would have them do unto you. This is the basis for that, guys. Listen to me. This moment in history is so powerful because this incred he healed them all. sickness, diseases, the lame, the the lepers, the ones that had mental issues, the ones who had all kinds of problems. He healed them all. And then he clears his voice, per se, and he turns to his followers and he says, "Listen, he starts down this list of things." And now he's telling them that if they smack you, give them the other. If they take, don't ask for it back. What is he saying to them? He is saying, "As men would do to you, do like to like likewise to to them likewise." Verse 32. For if you love them which love you, notice what he says. What thank have ye? For sinners also love those that love them. That's just nature. If you love me, I'll love you back. But if you don't love me, I won't love you back. Somebody say that's humanity. Verse 33. And if you do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do even the same? If you lend, verse 34, to them of whom you hope to receive, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners and receive as much again. Verse 35. Is there a volunteer that would read this for me out loud with the loudest voice you can muster up? Verse 35. Somebody read that for me, please. verse 36. Read that one loud. So you've got love your enemies, do good, lend, don't want nothing in back. There's a great reward because you are the children of the highest. Somebody help me understand something here. Jesus walks into this plane, flat space, place where people are. Multitudes came after him looking for a healing, a touch. Virtue was moving. It's interesting to me. Follow this. In the midst of moving virtue, there are some of the greatest explanation and instruction to be found. Has anybody here ever been miraculously healed of something? Would you raise your hand? You know that you know. How quiet were you about that? How quiet I mean that's a that's a good question. How quiet were you? I think Okay, somebody Yeah. Okay. Man, I ain't been able to stand in years and all of a sudden I can stand. I hadn't been able to do this in I don't know how long. But look, okay, now I can go eat. No. What? What happened you? What? How many bodies did you tell? Everybody that would. Am I Is that right? Listen to me. Well, it doesn't matter because it happened to you. It happened to you. And so, you know what? As far as I'm concerned, you may not believe it, but guess what? I know that I know that I know. And you've come too late to try to talk me out of the miracle. Here's the thing. Jesus is standing now in the midst of that environment. No way to deny that the miracles of Jesus happened. And in that, he is saying to them, "Love your enemies. Do good to those who despitefully use you." This is some teaching that is going to be so difficult. So now, not only are the miracles flowing, but this education from Jesus looks 180 degrees out of phase with humanity. Not at all what normally happens. All right, no show of hands. Have you ever been wronged by somebody and you took it personal and you sought you sought out a way to try to get back at them? That's called vengeance. Don't answer that out loud. I dare say many of us have us one way or another. We've been caught in that loop to where they wrong me, so bless God. I don't know why they have to say that first. That's what I'm going to do to them. I guess that makes it better. Anyway, here's the thing. Jesus says, you know what? If they need something, give it to them. Your reward's going to be great. That doesn't matter what they do with what you've gi. I'm not teaching this tonight. I am reading the words that have already been taught. What happens here is Jesus is simply saying, you know what, he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. 36. Notice this. And believe it or not, we are we are on giving. Be you therefore merciful as your father is also merciful.

Judge not, you shall not be judged. Condemn not, you shall not be condemned. Forgive shall be forgiven. Give shall be given unto you. Good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you meet with all shall be measured to you again. Talking about greater giving. I I I went into this particular part of the gospel for this purpose only. Jesus was blowing the people's minds with this instruction. It makes zero sense to humanity. The miracle worker clearly displayed is now looking at these that came to receive from him and he is telling them things that make no sense to the human mind. Come on now. You know, they may take my coat, but I'm going to keep my cloak. They may hit me on one side, but they ain't about to hit me on, you know, I I know that there's got to be something here that says that that I mean, you know, I ought to be able to eye for the eye and tooth for the tooth, right? I ought to be able to come out swinging at least once. You know, as long as they touch me once, I can come out against them. And Jesus is shooting down every bit of this human theology full of holes. He is speaking to the emotions and the attitudes of people that want to listen to him. There's no way that they're not going to listen to the one that just raised them, healed them, changed them. Something is transpiring. A as you are part of the miracles and the greatness of God, something happens in human nature. If the Lord's been good to you and he's made a way for you in whatever situation in life, if the preacher gets up here or the worship leader gets up here and says, "Somebody say, "Thank you, Lord, for touching my body." Everybody in the room or at least the majority would say, "Thank you, Lord." And there's that surface right there where we simply responded to what the preacher or the worship leader said. We checked the box. But there's something to be said when the the nature of a person changes to where now you don't even have to ask them to praise the Lord. I can give you example after example. Barameus. Anybody remember that guy? Sh. Hush. Be the quiet. Am I right? Don't bother the guy. He didn't text him. Would you please have mercy on me? He didn't write it on a chalkboard and hold it up. What was he doing? yelling at the top of his proverbial lungs, "Have mercy on me, son of David." Jesus goes, "Wow, bring that guy over here. I'm convinced for a second. I'm 100% convinced if you had a situation and you needed an answer and you knew Jesus was going to be here, you would weigh in the balance whether it was worth shouting or not." Huh? Oh, they they're gonna think I lost my mind. Oh, they're they're going to think that I'm I'm down and out. I'm gonna lose my position in society if I get all that. I mean, the old time I I I know I I'm I'm not the oldest guy in the room. Hallelujah. I'm getting older to the oldest guy or closer to the oldest guy in the room. What I do know is this. Something something has happened in the church world, the apostolic church world even, not just religion. It used to be that folk came to church looking for Jesus. And now we come for Jesus to look for us. Because if he looks for us, he needs to like what he sees and how we interact and how we communicate and how we carry ourselves. Barnameas didn't care nothing about any of that. Didn't matter. He had zero to lose. Hold on a second. Didn't I cleanse 10 of you guys? Yeah, but I'm the only one turned and came back to give you thanks. Where's the other ones? Oh, they're going, man. They're off. They're running. They don't want to hear. They don't want to hear chapter two. Oh, but look at your faith. You know what? You're whole. You go home. You don't need to go to the priest. You just everything's complete in your life. Here's the thing about that. Humanity says we have to act a certain way. We have to interact a certain way. When to open our mouths, when to close our mouths. What what if the what if just again this is that pie in the sky scenario when everybody we got but we got unicorns and rainbows and Skittles all that stuff. What would it be like if on a Sunday the entirety of the church body were to come through the doors coming in having to and somebody got up there and said can somebody say praise the Lord and the entire church lose their ever loving mind and start to praise God. That just sounds even non Hollywood. It's amazing to me Hollywood's I'm not going to get on a tangent, but I just want to say something here about humanity. It's amazing to me that Hollywood would say that the apostolics, the Pentecostals, those Jesus freaks, if you will, man, they're just crazy. They'll they do all these weird things and they'll make a movie with nine billion zombies that we know are not true and have a following for 25 seasons. And I'm like, and I'm weird. Anybody? I'm the one that's crazy. Here's here's the point to that. Jesus knew that about humanity standing in that plane, that flat space, even knowing that he had just healed them. He knew, listen to pastor, he knew that those that were miraculously touched, he healed all of them. Nobody left there sick. Nobody left there IN A LITTER DRAGGING across the ground. Nobody left in a in a wheelchair or crutches for crying out loud. This would have been A GREAT GREAT TIME for somebody who sold crutches to go get all the broken ones and take them and sell THEM AGAIN. I'M JUST SAYING this is a point where things are different. And Jesus knows that in that rawness and in that subjectiveness to the miraculous things, Jesus says, "Now, I'm going to get to you because you know what? You can be healed of the worst disease ever and walk out of that room completely whole and pick up every nasty habit and every nasty thing going on outside the walls. You don't believe that? Watch somebody that's been touched by the Lord in an altar somewhere before they get to their seat. There's something going on. I'm not I'm not saying all this is negatively destroying folk. What I'm saying is is we don't if we are not cognizant of the fact that there is life and then there is abundant life. There's such a thing as crawling out of bed, but there's also another life that says, "I'm up. I'm up." COME ON, DEVIL. WHERE YOU AT? I'm up. Huh? Some of us are good Gideonss. Oh Lord, I don't know if I if I can even face the devil today. Ain't that where he was? Hiding behind a rock trying to get a handful of corn. It was the enemy that had to say, "Whoa." Listen to me. Here we are. The natural makeup of humanity. Jesus knows it. And he says, "You got to understand something. As humans, you know when and where to draw the line. you know how to show up and show out, but you're not really there understanding the power of what I have just done in your life. Jesus comes and he says, "You know what? We're going to flip this over." Boom. If somebody takes, give. If somebody smacks, let them do it again. If somebody asks you, don't ask it back. And he's giving them these words and they're standing here going, "This makes no sense whatsoever." And the entirety of it, they didn't know. Y'all with me? It's 7:30 for us clockwise. They didn't know. But what Jesus was doing for them standing there in that plane is he was training and teaching and impugning them with something that in just a few chapters later on the day of Pentecost they would be filled with a power from on high. Anybody in that chapter what did they do? They went and did what? Sold and brought. Man, I got to get rid of this stuff. It means no. Wait now. I thought you were supposed to hold this stuff. Not now. I just came in contact with something that's out of this world and this stuff that I've been hoarding trying to think that I've got it. I don't need that anymore. Come on. Here you go, apostles. Do with it what you want to. That's what Jesus was training them for. Contrary to what everybody else was doing in that day. Y'all with me? Let's look deeper then at why Jesus why why he wanted the church to intermingle. Follow this with the attitudes and actions of the world. Follow me for just a moment. We are in the world. Absolutely. Did anybody today get out of bed out of this world? Quit pointing at your neighbor. Um, no. We all woke up today with aches and pains and issues and why is my hand doing that now? Anybody know what a trigger finger is? I I've had that for the last few months. I wake up in the morning, it I can hear it. Anybody else? I looked it up. It's called trigger finger. I said, "Okay, what causes that?" Age. I went, "Okay." And then I got this hand and it's I'm like, "What's going on?" I just I just was I just laid down and I woke. Anybody? No. Okay. Some of you young folk are like, "Nah, I'm invincible. I'll last forever. Great. Great. Do that. Jesus comes and he says, "You're in the world, but you don't have to be of the world." Wait a minute. What does that mean? That means you better listen what I'm telling you. If you are walking in the vein that this world is walking in, you're in the wrong vein. Listen carefully. Jesus has never been accepted in his society ever. In fact, the death of Jesus was prime example, example 101 of what the religious folk think of him. We need to stop him. We need to kill him. We need to snuff out his voice. Why religious world? Because he is turning everything upside down. And now what are these not? those who have turned their world upside down. This is the teaching that brought that group of believers to that. If we are in the world, but we're not of the world, then how do we sustain ourselves day in and day out? Jesus is given the prime example here. Let's let's look at this. All of these followers that are walking with Jesus, they were all healed. Why? Why would Jesus heal all of their ailments and diseases and sicknesses and mental capac? Why would Jesus even care to do that? And then once he healed all of their diseases and set all of them free and put all of them in their right mind, why then would he take time to teach them about possibilities and actions and attitudes of humanity? I can tell you why. Blessed are the poor. Why would he say that? Blessed are the hungry. Blessed are the weepers. Blessed are the hated. All of these human actions we have dealt with ourselves. Anybody here ever been poor? Some of y'all like, "Well, I guess I mean compared to the starving dogs on TV." No. You know, that's the same commercial with the Africa. I'm just saying we see that and we're like, "No, no comparison, right?" I know. I've seen poverty myself with my own eyes and I Yeah. The bellies, all that. I've seen that. And that's poor. There's no way I can say poor. But isn't poor? Isn't that relative? If you're sitting in a room full of billionaires, I'd be the poorest guy in the room. Now, I may not look like it. I'd stand here. What is it? You got a what? Louis Baha. No, mine's a Stafford. All right. Listen to me. Jesus is looking at the outcast, the hurting, the neglected, the sorrowful, and the broken. And they have just had their lives changed because Jesus healed everything that was wrong with them. All of the things that nobody wants to be. Nobody wants to be an outcast. Nobody wants to be neglected. Nobody wants to be broken and busted. Nobody wants to be sorrowful. Nobody wants to hurt. Jesus is now in the midst of the greatest miracles. That day was an incredible amount of miracles that had transpired. And in that environment, Jesus says, "I need to talk to you about what this world thinks of you." And he goes about what they're wearing. He goes, "I mean, this is again, y'all know my my my thoughts sometimes are kind of weird. You got a guy that's been a beggar, literally, and Jesus just healed him." The reason he was begging wasn't because of the wonderful world of begging. He was begging because he had nothing and there was something wrong. Jesus heals him. Now Jesus looks at him and says, "If a guy takes your coat, give him your cloak." He's going, "Man, I ain't got a shirt. Guy smacks you on one side, turn the other one. Dude, I've been stomped and kicked." Jesus was speaking to their rawness to let them know something has to change not only in your physical makeup but in your attitude because you're going to walk away from here and you're going to listen to me. You're going to go out in this world and the church is going to mold you to be one of them. You don't believe it. Anybody here remember vaguely the day that you received the gift of the Holy Ghost? The day you were baptized. How did the world look? Anybody? I mean, things were different. Huh? I I've heard people say birds chirped louder and I've heard folks say the blues were bluer and the greens were greener because something changed. I have heard in our assembly, like it or not, I've heard in our church, man, they're just all zealous over there. They're Well, they're new convert. Woohoo. They're just bouncing off the walls all and I have heard with my own ears, just give them some time. True story. And we all sit here and go, "Well, that's crazy." Is it? Because we may not say that give them some time, but we can do this. And then until the until they finally do what? Gotcha. I didn't know. I didn't know. That's good. That's high enough. Okay. Because I'm trying to watch my time. It's greater giving. Stay with me. Years ago, I heard a incredible explanation of humanity. If we're in a line, there's 10 of us standing in a line. We're all shouldertoshoulder in a line. And Jesus, the light, is in front of us. And his light is shining. I mean, he's brilliant as the light. And there's a whole line of 10 guys standing here. We've been changed. We've been made new. We've been forgiven. We've been washed. Every one of us, we're the same, right? The lights in front of us shining. Jesus is saying, "Okay, come. Come here." So, all 10 have to make a decision. Do I step forward or not? Here's the thing. If one out of that 10, I'm using this as the scenario that this this preacher used. Okay, one out of the 10 says, "I'm willing and he steps closer to Jesus." Now, he's here. The other nine are scattered out back here. Now, in the face of Jesus, everybody still looks the same because the light's the same. But now, what does this guy on the left and this guy on the right see to the one who stepped forward? the darkness of his shadow and that makes them incredibly uncomfortable. And now they begin to talk about this guy because who does he think he is? How does he think he can get closer? And all they see is the darkness in his past and all the stuff behind him. And this guy standing here has to make a decision. I either stay where I'm at and I listen to all this or I get back in line. And every one of us are guilty of that. Don't say you're not. Faith says, "Lord, I believe." You know why the scripture says if you had childlike faith? What does that mean? What does that mean? Not childish faith. Childlike faith. What does that mean? You hear it. They say it. You hear it. There it is. Easter bunny. Yes. Yeah. Why not? We're going. Yeah. We're getting what? Absolutely. That's what child you said you COULD HEAL ME. BOOM. I'M THERE. HEAL ME. Childlike faith says, "I believe everything comes out of your mouth." Stay with me. When we understand what Jesus was doing, all of the things that nobody wants to be, Jesus looks it in dead in the eye and he says, "You know what? This is not how the kingdom of heaven will be. sorrow, weeping, brokenness, and strife will not be on the streets of gold. Not going to happen. If he's speaking to the opposites, if you will, poor, rich, hungry, eaten, be filled, weepers, laugh, hated, are seen as helpers of the gospel. All the things that you and I as humans would would consider to be crazy, Jesus is saying, but you need to understand something. The opposites in all the ways that they are, it is not at all opposite to who Jesus is. Is there any bad in Jesus? If that's the case, what Jesus is doing is he is gently and very directly with exclamation points talking to the things that affect humanity. Jesus looks it in the eye and he says, "You know what? You may not understand it, but if you only have love when you are loved, and if you only give when you have it given to you, and if you only see the way the world sees, then your vision is short. Your expectations will never reach Calvary. And that is the way your life is going to be. And you're going to build yourself a kingdom that will not look at all like heaven. Love your enemies. Do good to the ones who do you wrong, be merciful, judge not, condemn not, forgive them, and then it returns to you. All of these things. And then notice how he ends this particular series of of instructions. He says, "Give and it shall be given unto you." Greater giving. Took me 40 minutes to get here. Greater giving. And all the things that you and I struggle with in life the most. I would almost guarantee the biggest struggle is when we have to open our hands and give. True story. It's evident in the restaurant you go to. Well, I ordered a $32 steak. Why does my steak taste like a $16 steak? Uh, ma'am, excuse me. Was I not supposed to get a piece of bread with this? Never satisfied. That's a simple. You our culture today is illuminating this attitude of humanity on the streets, in the courous, in the church houses, on the football fields, on the political realm, on the education realm. They are exempling this human nature of I deserve this. I'm entitled to this. Don't they know who isn't it? Don't I how come and all the things that Jesus is saying he's looking at you and he's saying if you can't get a hold of your giving and if you don't understand the value of opening your heart and your hand I'm not talking just money. No sir the money is irrelevant to Jesus. Come on. You want you want to talk money one day if you live your life right you'll be walking on gold. Money means nothing to Jesus. But what we've got to understand is the value of what Jesus is talking about here is this. If you'll give, it will be given to you. There you go. Hold on a minute. Not just given to you, but what? Come on. We've quoted this verse a trillion times at least. good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, all of those four things. Good measure. You know what that means, right? That means that they didn't cheat you in the market on the scales that had a little bit of where they could slide the weights a little bit. The measures correct. This, this, press down. That doesn't mean, you know, that they're going to pump it full of air or or at Wendy's they're going to put Frosty in the cup, put the lid on before they hand it to you, and it's this far from the top. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's good measure. It's pressed down. It's even it's even to the place to where when they put it in the cup because some things and elements can can can air can occupy the space shaken. So all the air is taken out of it. And not only is the air out, not only is it good measure, not only is it pressed down, but what? It's what? It's running over. God's not given that to you. Who is? What's it say? Well, they don't have my verse up. Verse number 38. Give it shall be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over shall men give unto your bosom. It's going to come laterally, not vertically. Now, how is that? I can tell you why. You are sitting in a place that is a living example of that. God has been so I can't do the math. It makes no sense. It makes no sense. None for us to build a facility $28,000 square feet at $250 a square foot in the city of Chattanooga. One of you math guys, how much is that to build? No. How much? 28,000 square feet times $250 a square foot. Come on, somebody's got All right, ask Siri. He'll tell you. How many? 7 million. And the Lord blessed us with this for one. Makes no sense. Now, he also blessed us with a lot of work. That's my fault. I said, 'Lord, send us workers.' The Lord said, 'Fine, here's your building for a million, but now you got to work for it. And I'm like, okay, God, what an opportunity for us to grow and mature together. Listen to me carefully. Greater giving if we'll ever understand that the things of God do not equal the things of this world. Time, talent, treasure, and testimony. The purpose in giving is this. God is trying to get out of you what human nature has put in you. Can you deny that Jesus healed every sickness and disease? No. It says it happened. He healed them all. You can't deny that part. But what you can look at is the one who standing there listen to him talk about if they smack you on one side, give the other. If they steal something, give it. In fact, if they ask you then don't don't expect to get it back. Just let those things go because the end of it says you give and it will be given to you by men. Men will walk up. I don't know why the something told me to write YOU THIS CHECK. MAN, I can't even tell you how many times the Lord has done that in this church. People driving by. That's not because of me or you. It's because as a church, if we understand greater giving, the purpose that God is doing in us is to say, STOP LOOKING AT YOUR stuff and start giving to him, looking to him, offering yourself to know and realize, Lord, the miracles you have done in and of themselves is so strong and powerful enough that it literally cannot be denied. I have to stand and say, "You've been good to me. You've been good to me. Who am I to think that I can do a good job with a $20 bill, Lord, when I can give it to you and it can go so many places? Who am I to think that what I own or possess is worth more than anything else in this world? And the fact is is when I'm dead and gone, they're going to be arguing over my stuff, and it's probably going to get thrown in a dumpster or put in a yard sale. I don't mean to be mean, but that's how things happen. Stand with me please. Greater giving the purpose in giving. Giving of our time. We all have the same amount of time. So we have to figure out how do we give sufficient time to God. Our talent. We all are given something that we can present to Jesus as a talent that he's given to us. Not bury it but turn it and give it back to him for his glory. Our treasure. where our heart leads us into giving to the things of God and then our testimony as we share what he has done through us to us and in us. Jesus is changing lives always and he is allowing us to be more like him in a way that if we will simply know Jesus the miracles you can do that quick but everything else listen to me everything else Lord you are trying to teach me how to deal with me you're teaching me how to deal with this and until I get this I'll never understand that if I give, it'll be given to me. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. Out of men's hands, they will give. I'll speak to men and they'll give it to you. This is not a prosperity doctrine. This is a doctrine that says, you know what? The Lord's purpose is right in me. I have to learn the value of giving. Lift your hands right now. Would you, Lord? Come on, somebody. Examine yourself. Lord, if my attitude's wrong and if I'm selfish, if I'm self-centered, if I've forgotten all about the real reason for giving, Lord, help me tonight. Help me, Lord, to pursue you, God, and to follow after you, Jesus. I need you, Lord. I I know that you want us to be like you. As strange as it is, God, in our current world, Lord, I I know that we can subject and submit ourselves to you, and you can move in our lives. you can change us and make us Lord what we need to be. I pray right now for our CAC church family. God, I pray that you would speak into this church family that we would understand the value of submitting to you, changing our attitudes and changing our understandings to be more like what you would want us to be. And in so doing, God, I know that we'll be hated of men. I know, God, that things are going to happen that we won't understand. But Lord, if we are in your will and your purpose, you will be God in our lives and our church family will grow and multiply as we see the hand of God working. Lord, we know you can do miracles. We know that you can heal, you can make free, you can do things, God, help us, Lord, know to work on ourselves and our giving in the name of Jesus. Is there somebody for the next minute while the classes are coming in? Would you just lift your voice and lift your hand to the Lord? Lord, help me to be a giver. Help me, Lord, to understand the principle and the

purpose of giving. Come on, somebody. Lord, I love you. I bless your name and I believe in you forever. Help me, dear God. Lord, lead me in the plain path. Come on, somebody. Believe the Lord for the miraculous tonight. I am trusting you, Lord. I know, God, that you can use me in this hour, Lord Jesus. Our world needs the revelation of giving more than ever before. In the name of Jesus, we pray. In the name of Jesus, we pray. The purpose of giving is to get us out of the way and let God be God in our lives. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Somebody say, "In Jesus name."