WEBVTT

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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Amen, here in chapter nine,

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we're continuing the thought of chapter eight.

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It starts out with the word verse four, meaning because

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and he's trying to relate this comment

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to the previous context of chapter eight

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was just giving money to the poor saints at Jerusalem.

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Now he says, four, as touching the ministering

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to the saints, it is superfluous

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for me to write to you.

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The word superfluous means something

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that is unnecessary, vain.

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It doesn't really have any meaning.

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And so he's saying, I don't really need to

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tell you guys about ministering to the saints

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because you guys, you know, by his testimony,

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you guys are already all in.

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You really want to do this.

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This is something that you excel at.

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It would be kind of like me telling soul winners

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how to give the gospel or telling a bunch of people

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on the missions trip, like,

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hey, preaching the gospel is important.

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It's kind of like superfluous in his mind

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because it's like, oh, you guys are already got this down

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or you guys already nailed this.

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You guys already showing this zeal.

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So he's saying, you know, I don't really need to

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write this to explain this to you guys.

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He says in verse two, for I know the fordness of your mind

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for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia

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that Akaiya was ready a year ago

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and your zeal provoked very many.

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So he's saying, I didn't really need to write this

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to tell you about the importance of ministering to the saints

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because you guys have already said this yourself

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and you've already proven that you want to do this

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and you've talked about this

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and I personally have been boasting of the fact

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that you guys are really interested

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in ministering the saints

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and that you're very zealous

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for ministering into the saints.

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And so you've provoked other people.

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Now, Akaiya is like the southern portion of Greece

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and Macedonia is the northern portion of Greece.

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Akaiya is capital city is Corinth.

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So Corinth is like the main city of this region

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like the southern region of Greece.

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And so that's just kind of labeled Akaiya

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and then the northern portion is Macedonia.

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And so he travels up to that portion of Greece.

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And so you kind of have this rivalry in a sense.

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You kind of have the southern region.

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You have the northern region.

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And he's saying like this southern region,

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their zeal for giving

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and their zeal for ministering the saints

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has provoked the northern region to be like,

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well, we want to be like them

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and we want to follow like suit.

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And so, you know, sometimes your faith

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and the things that you do

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not only affect your local area,

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but they can affect other regions

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and other parts of the world

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and provoke other people undoing good.

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You know, we're supposed to love people

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and we're supposed to revoke them unto love

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and good works is what the Bible says.

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And so, you know, by going to church

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and going soul winning and going on missions trips,

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sometimes you don't realize the impact

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you may have on another church

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or another area or Christians in another part of the world.

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And, you know, unfortunately most people

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we're just very influential.

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We're not, we're not these lone rangers

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where we just kind of just do our own thing.

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We're very impacted by the things that we see

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and we hear and we experience

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and whether this be positive or negative.

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And unfortunately, we just don't have very many people

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that are good influences in the world.

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You know, we talk about this social media

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and the internet now,

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a lot of people strive to be called an influencer

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and, you know, whatever they are saying

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is going to majorly impact the minds and the hearts

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and the affections of a lot of people

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and that's the point of the influencer.

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But the influencer kind of in some ways

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has an ability to actually put people

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in a particular mood that they want.

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If they want to be positive,

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they can kind of impact a lot of people

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to be really positive.

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And if they're negative,

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it can cause a lot of people to be negative.

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And, you know, when major events happen

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or there's something in the public discourse,

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oftentimes whatever the leaders say

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many people will follow suit.

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You know, they'll put up the France flag

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on their profile picture.

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They'll put on the mask.

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I mean, how many people just put on the mask?

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And it was just based on, well, everybody's doing this.

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And so, you know, we have to realize that

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by and large humanity is very influential

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and it can be influenced very easily.

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It's just very adaptable and it's like sheep.

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And that's why the Bible uses these kind of terms

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is that people will really be impacted

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by what they see and hear.

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And so that's why it's important to have leaders

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and have good leaders pushing good narratives

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and good works and good things

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because it will revoke many people under good works.

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And we can't dismiss the impact of good works

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and zeal and faith and being steadfast.

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And notice this region wants to give.

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And so it impacts a lot of people to want to give.

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If they were stingy, then it may have impacted

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the Macedonians to be stingy and like suit.

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And so it's important the decisions you make.

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It's important how you approach faith and Christianity.

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It provokes a lot of people.

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You know, your church attendance

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impacts other people's church attendance.

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And there's some people, they're just kind of waiting

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for someone to be negative or positive in their life.

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You know, there's some people that are just waiting

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for someone to be like, hey, let's go to church.

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And then they're gonna go to church with them.

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And then there's some people that are saying

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they're kind of waiting for you to say,

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let's skip church today.

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And they're kind of like, yeah, let's skip church.

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And it's like people are just kind of very influential.

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People are kind of ready to be influenced one way or another.

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And so that's why it's important for men

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to be a positive impact and a positive influence

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and to lead their families and actually do the right thing

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because you can provoke many people to want

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to do good things, to have a good impact.

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And so, you know, this church is impacting a lot of people

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that want to give money to the poor.

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And that's a good thing.

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And without their example, without their zeal,

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and you know, the Corinth church kind of gets a bad rap.

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You know, let's just be honest.

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First Corinthians is a rough book.

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I mean, if we were to like,

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just go through First Corinthians

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and just kind of look at every single page,

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it's just like idolatry and weird fornication

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and they're eating meat sacrifice in idols

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and they've got the weirdest fornication.

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And I mean, they've got some major, major issues.

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People don't even believe in the resurrection.

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They've got a strange speaking and tongues thing going on

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and chapter number 14.

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I mean, it's kind of messy.

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There's a lot of problems, but you know what?

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They got some good things too.

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And you know, I think that also goes to illustrate

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the complexity of humanity that people are complex

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and that even if they are screwed up

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in some areas of their life,

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that doesn't mean they're screwed up in every area.

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In fact, you can almost argue

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that while they are screwed up in some areas,

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they're kind of like excelling in others.

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Like, oh, okay, well, they are screwed up

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on church discipline.

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They're screwed up on the Lord's Supper.

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They're screwed up on, you know, some doctrinal issues.

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But you know what?

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They have a lot of charity

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and they have a lot of love for the saints.

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And you know what?

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Love covers a multitude of sins.

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And so, you know, we don't want to sit here

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and just think that, well, this person's bad

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in this one area, so there's a bad person.

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There's nothing redeemable about them.

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You know, we sometimes need to also focus

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on the good attributes

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and the good things they have going for them

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and not always just picking them apart

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for not being perfect.

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You know, most people are just not gonna be perfect.

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Most people don't have it altogether.

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Most people aren't just excelling

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in every ministry, in every area.

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And I'm not saying we don't call it out.

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I'm not saying that we don't try to help them

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to improve in those areas.

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You know, sometimes it's also beneficial

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to recognize the good.

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You know, recognize the good in your children,

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recognize the good in your spouse,

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recognize the good in your church,

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in your pastor.

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You know, I'm not a perfect pastor.

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I'm sure I have many deficiencies.

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I'm sure that we don't excel

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in every single program and every single ministry.

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I'm sure I'm not, you know, the best in every category.

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And that's okay.

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But you know what?

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Why don't you appreciate your pastor

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for the things that he does do well

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or the things that he is doing good at

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and the things that you can learn from.

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And you know what?

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That's what we should try to do in life

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is not always only focus on the negative

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but focus on the positive.

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And here's the other good thing

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is even if you are screwed up in a few areas,

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we'll lean into the things that you got going well

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for you at least.

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You know, like, hey, you got this area that's bad.

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Okay, well, that doesn't mean

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you can't still do good in this other area.

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It's like some people, it's like,

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well, I'm getting bad in one area

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so I'm just gonna give up or quit.

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It's like, no, how about you just,

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you know, keep doing the good thing

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and we'll work on the problem areas.

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We'll work on your issues.

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But you know, people are complex.

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People aren't just all good or all bad.

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Churches aren't all good and all bad.

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Ministries aren't all good and all bad.

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You know, sometimes it's a mixed bag.

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And we don't wanna just sit here and say,

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oh, the Corinth Church is all bad.

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It's got some good in here.

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In fact, it's not just got good, it's got great.

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Because it's saying this is a church that's provoked many

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and this is an important ministry

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and it's gonna help a lot of people.

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And you know, it's gonna be easier for this church

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to just tweak like a few church discipline issues

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than it is for a church to go from being really stingy

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to just being really charitable.

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Like it's probably easier for them to just fix

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that church discipline issue

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than it's gonna be to get a church

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to go from all being really stingy and covetous

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to end up being very generous and charitable.

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And so, you know, even though

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you might look at a lot of their issues,

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some of their issues are easy to fix and can change

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and they'll never have to work on that again.

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Whereas you just being an uncharitable person

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and just being kind of a covetous,

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greedy, stingy human like Uncle Scrooge or something,

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then, you know, that's even more difficult to change.

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That's even more difficult to fix.

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And so, you know, you don't wanna just be overly critical

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because maybe you're a little bit more doctrinally sound

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but you're just kind of a stingy grumpy person

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and this other person that's a little bit, you know,

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squirrely, undoctrined

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but it's just a really loving, charitable person.

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They might be able to fix themselves way sooner than you

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and end up even being a better Christian than you anyway.

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So, you know, you don't wanna necessarily just judge people

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because you got one area right

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or you're better than them in some other area.

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You know, we're complicated, we're a mixed bag

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and you know, Paul is commending this church.

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He boasts about this church often.

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I mean, think about it.

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This is like a screwed up church.

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You'd kind of wanna like be like,

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I don't even wanna talk about them.

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Like, they've got weird issues.

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In fact, when he brought up the issue

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in 1 Corinthians chapter five,

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don't you remember he was saying like,

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this is like being widely reported?

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Like, everybody's talking about this.

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So, you kind of think like,

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oh, I don't even wanna bring them up

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because they've got this issue.

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But you know what?

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He's like, hey, yeah, they got that issue

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but you know what?

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They're really charitable

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and they really love ministering the saints.

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So, that tells me, you know what?

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You can like people that have problems.

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You can like people that you don't even agree

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with everything they do

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or everything that's going on in their life

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or that's made mistakes.

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You know, it's like, oh man, you support this person

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but you know they have this issue.

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It's like, okay, but everybody has issues.

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And even if I did technically disagree with them

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in some areas of their life,

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doesn't mean I can't just be friendly or support them

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where I can and where I like and whatever.

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You know, there's preachers

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where I hear them preach a sermon,

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I don't agree with it.

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Okay, well then, don't agree with it.

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But you know what?

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That doesn't mean you can't agree with other sermons

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or other ministries

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or other things that they're doing.

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The Apostle Paul is promoting the Corinth Church

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and bragging and boasting about the positive things

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they have going on.

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And so, you know, we wanna make sure

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that we don't just demonize people based on one thing

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and not considering the whole package,

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not having grace, not having mercy.

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And you know, I see that the Apostle Paul is able to

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praise people where they can be praised

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and to correct or approve

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where he needs to correct and reproof.

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So we wanna be like the Apostle Paul

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and we don't wanna just go one way or the other.

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We don't wanna just go all grace.

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Well, I'm never gonna address sin or issues or problems.

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But we also don't wanna go fully like,

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well, they're just bad.

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And I only wanna correct them and just rebuke them

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and I want nothing to do with them.

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It's like, he's kinda trying

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to blend these two ideas a little bit here.

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And you know, I think that's why we should approach

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a lot of things that we care about and love.

12:45.020 --> 12:45.940
You know, with your children,

12:46.540 --> 12:49.540
don't only focus on the criticisms, love them,

12:49.700 --> 12:51.680
appreciate them, talk positively to them.

12:51.860 --> 12:52.800
You know, encourage them in the areas

12:52.800 --> 12:54.040
that they have going well for them.

12:54.360 --> 12:56.160
But at the same time, you don't wanna do the opposite.

12:56.680 --> 12:57.940
You don't wanna only, you know,

12:58.160 --> 13:00.840
just sugar and candy canes and roses

13:00.840 --> 13:02.260
and you never discipline them.

13:02.360 --> 13:03.140
You never tell them the wrong.

13:03.340 --> 13:05.240
You know, we need a healthy level of both, don't we?

13:06.180 --> 13:08.700
And that just, we should learn from these lessons.

13:09.040 --> 13:11.040
But one of the things that's just really important

13:11.660 --> 13:13.320
and just one of these things that,

13:13.320 --> 13:15.420
it seems like it's very hard to change

13:15.420 --> 13:17.880
in someone's personality is just being a generous person.

13:18.740 --> 13:19.440
And you know what, this chapter

13:19.440 --> 13:21.920
is really emphasizes being generous

13:21.920 --> 13:24.480
and just being someone that loves ministering

13:24.480 --> 13:26.140
to other people and cares about other people.

13:26.280 --> 13:27.940
And you know what, it's hard to cause people

13:27.940 --> 13:29.400
to really have a lot of love for others.

13:30.180 --> 13:31.860
You know, the Bible warns about the end times

13:31.860 --> 13:33.280
that the love of many shall wax cold.

13:33.820 --> 13:35.760
And you know, it's kind of a sad thing

13:35.760 --> 13:38.400
when you see people that are just only out for themselves,

13:39.160 --> 13:41.040
they only are working for themselves

13:41.040 --> 13:43.240
or considering themselves and they don't love others.

13:43.740 --> 13:44.860
You know, that's not Christianity.

13:45.180 --> 13:49.300
Christianity is a true faith of loving other people

13:49.300 --> 13:50.520
and ministering to other people

13:50.520 --> 13:53.300
and finding people that need help and need love

13:53.300 --> 13:55.600
and you're trying to help those individuals.

13:55.720 --> 13:56.460
This has a verse three.

13:56.900 --> 13:57.900
Yet if I sent the brethren,

13:58.660 --> 14:00.320
lest their boasting of you should be in vain

14:00.320 --> 14:02.860
on this behalf, that as I said, you may be ready,

14:03.280 --> 14:05.380
let's happily, if they have Macedonia come with me

14:05.380 --> 14:06.340
and find you unprepared,

14:06.480 --> 14:09.380
we that we say not ye should be ashamed

14:09.380 --> 14:10.960
in this same confident boasting.

14:11.200 --> 14:12.700
Now, the apostle Paul is saying,

14:12.920 --> 14:15.220
it's not necessary that I write this under you

14:15.220 --> 14:17.260
because you guys already said you're gonna do this,

14:18.300 --> 14:22.180
but what I didn't want to happen is you said all this,

14:22.480 --> 14:24.080
I went and bragged about how you're gonna give

14:24.080 --> 14:26.120
all this money and then we show up

14:26.120 --> 14:28.320
and they're like, oops, we didn't collect any of the money.

14:28.700 --> 14:30.740
So we're sending a few guys ahead of us

14:30.740 --> 14:33.980
and these guys are gonna come and remind you

14:33.980 --> 14:36.000
and help you prepare this gift

14:36.000 --> 14:38.580
so that when we show up with all those people

14:38.580 --> 14:40.260
from Macedonia, we're like, hey,

14:40.640 --> 14:41.940
remember how I was bragging about it?

14:42.020 --> 14:43.220
Well, here's the gift that they're gonna give

14:43.220 --> 14:47.640
and they've ready and so my statements match reality here

14:47.640 --> 14:50.080
and that you guys aren't caught

14:50.640 --> 14:52.520
not having delivered on what you said.

14:52.960 --> 14:54.960
I don't look like a fool for having bragged

14:54.960 --> 14:57.240
and boasted about your love and generosity

14:57.800 --> 15:00.040
and so things are kind of lining up.

15:00.180 --> 15:02.320
So he's just kind of trying to tell them,

15:02.380 --> 15:03.320
hey, this is one of the reasons

15:03.320 --> 15:04.720
why I'm sending these guys to you

15:04.720 --> 15:07.700
is to make sure you are good on your word

15:07.700 --> 15:09.980
that what I've been boasting and bragging about you guys

15:09.980 --> 15:14.160
you really want to do and then it works out

15:14.160 --> 15:16.320
because it would be kind of embarrassing if you say,

15:16.320 --> 15:18.620
hey, hey, in a year you're gonna need money,

15:18.720 --> 15:20.680
no worries, I got you.

15:21.000 --> 15:22.700
And then it's like a few weeks away

15:23.100 --> 15:24.800
and you haven't even been thinking about it

15:25.660 --> 15:27.720
and it's just like, it's kind of nice to be like,

15:27.800 --> 15:28.700
hey, remember how you promised

15:28.700 --> 15:30.000
to give some money to this guy?

15:30.520 --> 15:32.080
Yeah, in three weeks he's gonna come to collect.

15:32.400 --> 15:33.680
It's like, oh, thanks for letting me know

15:33.680 --> 15:36.100
so I can be prepared, get my finances ready

15:36.100 --> 15:38.880
so I can honor that promise, I can honor that word

15:38.880 --> 15:41.240
and I can deliver on that so that it's not,

15:41.360 --> 15:42.280
you're just caught unaware

15:42.920 --> 15:44.860
and you had to replace the air conditioning unit

15:44.860 --> 15:47.180
or you had to do whatever and you're just like, oh crap,

15:47.480 --> 15:50.280
I wasn't gonna help you but then I wasn't thinking about it

15:50.280 --> 15:51.320
and then I wasn't prepared

15:51.880 --> 15:55.040
and look with money, sometimes money takes preparation.

15:55.920 --> 15:58.880
Finances, getting your money in order, timing

15:58.880 --> 16:02.000
and stuff like that and so planning is important.

16:02.200 --> 16:04.140
So he's sending these people, they're planning.

16:04.960 --> 16:07.660
You know, often you don't really accomplish things

16:07.660 --> 16:08.980
that you don't really plan to do.

16:10.320 --> 16:13.320
You know, you're not gonna just get someone saved

16:13.320 --> 16:14.060
without trying.

16:15.220 --> 16:18.000
Like you're not, I know there's like lifestyle evangelists

16:18.000 --> 16:19.300
that they go out there and they try to teach

16:19.300 --> 16:20.740
like people are just gonna walk up to you

16:20.740 --> 16:21.840
and ask how to get saved.

16:22.400 --> 16:24.800
But here's the thing, if you've never even tried

16:24.800 --> 16:26.520
to figure out how to get someone saved,

16:26.660 --> 16:27.520
even though you may be saved,

16:27.760 --> 16:29.520
you may not do a very good job.

16:30.260 --> 16:32.460
You know, I've seen people that are not prepared

16:32.460 --> 16:35.440
in giving the gospel and then when they get put

16:35.440 --> 16:37.540
in that pressure cooker, they kind of freeze up,

16:37.920 --> 16:39.720
they can't remember where verses are,

16:40.220 --> 16:42.180
they're not really good at explaining things

16:42.640 --> 16:45.300
and so that's why it takes a little bit of preparation.

16:45.580 --> 16:47.160
So you know, think about the verses you wanna say,

16:47.300 --> 16:48.660
think about how you would communicate that,

16:48.900 --> 16:51.180
watching other people, how they kind of handle

16:51.180 --> 16:53.100
different situations and different objections

16:53.100 --> 16:56.460
and different scenarios and stuff like that.

16:56.920 --> 16:58.980
You know, getting someone saved takes some planning,

16:59.100 --> 17:00.020
it takes some preparation.

17:00.020 --> 17:02.680
You know, learning verses, preparing yourself,

17:03.020 --> 17:06.200
going out, seeing it, then just getting some experience

17:06.200 --> 17:07.280
of actually talking to people

17:07.280 --> 17:09.940
and trying to actually persuade them to repentance,

17:10.260 --> 17:11.260
to change in their mind.

17:11.680 --> 17:13.220
Now once you've done it several times,

17:13.300 --> 17:14.600
you start getting the confidence and you know,

17:14.680 --> 17:17.360
hey, I am able to deliver the gospel effectively

17:17.360 --> 17:19.200
when given an opportunity.

17:19.640 --> 17:20.840
You know, even if you're really good

17:20.840 --> 17:23.480
at giving the gospel, if it's a family member

17:24.160 --> 17:25.440
or someone you really care about,

17:25.840 --> 17:27.880
it's still kind of nerve-wracking.

17:27.880 --> 17:30.060
Like it's still kind of difficult, you know,

17:30.120 --> 17:31.640
for whatever reason, giving the gospel to a stranger

17:31.640 --> 17:32.720
is easy, you know?

17:32.780 --> 17:34.660
And just like, I'm never gonna see you again, I don't care.

17:35.060 --> 17:37.400
It's like someone that you love though

17:37.400 --> 17:38.920
or someone that you care about

17:38.920 --> 17:40.220
or that someone's that close to you,

17:40.760 --> 17:43.300
isn't it just like way harder and more like,

17:43.760 --> 17:45.260
they're more anxiety and giving them the gospel?

17:45.360 --> 17:47.100
Who would say, yeah, it's way harder to get,

17:47.180 --> 17:47.600
yeah, exactly.

17:47.900 --> 17:49.660
I mean, it's just, it's the interesting phenomena.

17:50.220 --> 17:52.040
But you know, if you really care about that person,

17:52.140 --> 17:53.900
you wanna practice on some strangers

17:53.900 --> 17:55.540
before you even get in that scenario.

17:56.040 --> 17:58.600
And so, you know, oh, I wanna get someone saved.

17:58.780 --> 18:00.580
Yeah, it takes planning, time, effort.

18:01.360 --> 18:02.120
I want a good job.

18:02.420 --> 18:03.700
Well, you know, you want a good job?

18:04.060 --> 18:05.680
It's not gonna just magically happen.

18:07.300 --> 18:09.120
You know, you gotta actually put some planning,

18:09.280 --> 18:11.120
some time, some effort, some energy,

18:11.580 --> 18:13.320
you know, whether that be going to school,

18:13.780 --> 18:15.660
getting a degree, getting some kind

18:15.660 --> 18:19.340
of a technical experience, getting on job training,

18:20.040 --> 18:22.900
you know, interviewing, you know, working your way up.

18:23.280 --> 18:24.640
I mean, and you're gonna have to put

18:24.640 --> 18:27.720
a lot of effort and energy to acquire a good job.

18:28.000 --> 18:28.860
You wanna buy a house?

18:29.220 --> 18:30.540
It's not gonna just happen overnight.

18:31.260 --> 18:33.600
You gotta put in, you know, a lot of diligence,

18:33.840 --> 18:35.760
a lot of time, even when you have the money,

18:36.400 --> 18:37.620
buying a house can be very difficult.

18:38.220 --> 18:40.560
Just the market could be, the timing

18:40.560 --> 18:41.860
and the market could be difficult.

18:42.360 --> 18:44.500
Interest rates are constantly changing.

18:45.180 --> 18:46.740
You know, there's all kinds of different factors.

18:47.300 --> 18:49.580
There's been many houses that I put offers in,

18:49.720 --> 18:51.360
was excited to buy, didn't happen,

18:51.620 --> 18:53.160
fell through issues.

18:53.160 --> 18:55.800
You get the house and then the inspection comes back,

18:56.220 --> 18:58.300
everything's broken, everything's a train wreck

18:58.300 --> 19:00.180
and then you still buy it because you're crazy,

19:00.380 --> 19:00.700
I don't know.

19:01.240 --> 19:04.320
But I mean, there's all kinds of different scenarios

19:04.320 --> 19:06.600
but I'm just telling you, you wanna accomplish something good,

19:06.820 --> 19:07.720
you wanna accomplish something,

19:07.820 --> 19:09.340
you have to put time, effort and energy.

19:09.920 --> 19:11.320
And you know, giving a special gift,

19:11.440 --> 19:13.420
giving a big gift as a church to another church,

19:13.780 --> 19:14.660
it takes some effort.

19:14.960 --> 19:16.380
You may not just be able to do that overnight.

19:17.580 --> 19:19.620
You know, things that are worthwhile,

19:19.940 --> 19:21.340
take a lot of effort, take a lot of planning,

19:21.560 --> 19:22.340
take a lot of diligence.

19:22.740 --> 19:24.920
You know, and as a church, we have lots of goals

19:24.920 --> 19:26.120
and we have lots of visions

19:26.500 --> 19:28.360
and you know, they're not gonna just happen automatically,

19:28.480 --> 19:29.540
they're not gonna happen magically.

19:29.920 --> 19:32.560
We are gonna have to plan and put in the hard work

19:32.560 --> 19:36.160
and put in the diligence in order to accomplish those goals.

19:36.320 --> 19:39.520
And so we should realize, hey, you wanna be a giving church,

19:39.840 --> 19:41.180
you wanna be a mission sending church,

19:41.620 --> 19:42.360
you wanna do these things,

19:42.440 --> 19:43.880
you have to put in the diligence, the time,

19:44.000 --> 19:44.820
the planning, the effort

19:44.820 --> 19:48.080
and you don't want to be unprepared.

19:48.400 --> 19:49.500
You wanna be prepared.

19:49.640 --> 19:51.100
And you know, if someone is helping you

19:51.100 --> 19:53.140
to keep your word and to be prepared,

19:53.580 --> 19:54.500
don't hate the messenger.

19:55.120 --> 19:57.260
Love the person that's coming to you.

19:57.440 --> 19:58.780
You know, these guys are gonna be sent to them

19:58.780 --> 20:00.120
to help them be prepared for this.

20:00.480 --> 20:01.780
So, and you know what, you're gonna have people

20:01.780 --> 20:03.160
in your life that are helping you prepare.

20:03.580 --> 20:04.700
You know, who's the number one person

20:04.700 --> 20:05.400
helping you to prepare?

20:05.800 --> 20:06.960
Is your parents for life.

20:07.840 --> 20:09.620
You know what, you should be listening to your parents.

20:10.080 --> 20:12.700
And even as a teenager, listening to your parents

20:12.700 --> 20:14.520
because they're preparing you for the world

20:14.520 --> 20:15.740
and they're preparing you for life

20:15.740 --> 20:16.940
and they're preparing you for marriage

20:16.940 --> 20:18.680
and they're preparing you for all kinds

20:18.680 --> 20:19.900
of different situations.

20:20.400 --> 20:22.180
Preparing you to be a parent one day.

20:22.620 --> 20:24.320
And you know what, in those final years,

20:24.500 --> 20:27.040
it's really easy to want to be dismissive to your parents

20:27.040 --> 20:30.500
and not care and not be interested in what they have to say.

20:30.880 --> 20:32.160
You know what, you should really consider

20:32.160 --> 20:34.000
what they have to say in those final years.

20:34.520 --> 20:36.420
And even beyond, obviously, consider

20:36.420 --> 20:37.560
still getting their advice.

20:38.000 --> 20:40.500
You know, they're preparing you for this world.

20:40.580 --> 20:42.420
And you know, this world is difficult, it's tough,

20:42.660 --> 20:45.880
it's mean, it's not fair, it's dark,

20:46.320 --> 20:47.260
it's filled with Jews.

20:47.930 --> 20:50.100
Now it's being filled with Muslims and Hindus

20:50.100 --> 20:51.940
and all kinds of crazy stuff.

20:52.280 --> 20:55.000
Politics is screwed up, which has never was good,

20:55.440 --> 20:57.080
but it seems like it's getting worse.

20:57.720 --> 20:59.960
You know, it seems like it's getting worse in some cases.

21:00.420 --> 21:02.020
The economy is difficult.

21:02.700 --> 21:06.080
The job market is changing quicker than it has in the past.

21:06.560 --> 21:08.660
I mean, there's a lot of challenges in this world.

21:09.020 --> 21:10.320
Feminism is on the rise.

21:10.880 --> 21:12.280
You know, finding the right kind of spouse

21:12.280 --> 21:13.320
is gonna be difficult.

21:13.680 --> 21:15.440
There's challenges spiritually.

21:15.440 --> 21:18.700
Our culture is becoming less Christian every second.

21:19.460 --> 21:20.640
Colleges are getting crazy.

21:21.360 --> 21:24.520
The fornication and adultery is out of control in our country.

21:25.240 --> 21:27.140
Drugs are out of control in our country.

21:27.620 --> 21:29.720
There's all kinds of just crazy things in this world.

21:29.860 --> 21:31.340
You know what, listen to your parents.

21:33.020 --> 21:35.180
They're trying to prepare you for this world.

21:35.360 --> 21:37.260
Just like this church, hey, what are they saying?

21:37.340 --> 21:38.820
We don't need these people, we don't care.

21:38.980 --> 21:39.840
We're just gonna do our own thing.

21:40.120 --> 21:42.140
Well, then you're gonna be caught ashamed

21:42.140 --> 21:43.440
and caught embarrassed.

21:43.960 --> 21:45.940
And you know what, when you don't listen to your parents,

21:46.020 --> 21:48.180
often you'll be caught and you'll be embarrassed

21:48.180 --> 21:50.460
and ashamed of a lot of the bad decisions you've made.

21:51.280 --> 21:53.840
You know, listening to your parents about who to date

21:53.840 --> 21:57.120
and who to marry, this is an important thing.

21:58.120 --> 22:02.740
You know, I heavily consider the opinions of my parents

22:02.740 --> 22:05.680
on who I was dating and who I would consider marrying.

22:06.460 --> 22:09.060
And you know, my mom was very opinionated

22:09.060 --> 22:10.020
in this subject, okay?

22:10.700 --> 22:12.700
She was extremely opinionated

22:12.700 --> 22:15.580
and she was very negative towards lots of women

22:15.580 --> 22:17.260
and calling them whores and whatever.

22:17.560 --> 22:20.720
But you know, she didn't want me to marry someone like that.

22:20.940 --> 22:23.420
She had very high standards for me.

22:23.760 --> 22:26.100
And look, I'm not trying to disparage anybody.

22:26.800 --> 22:28.560
I'm not even saying that you have to do this.

22:28.920 --> 22:31.040
I'm just telling you that my mom would say like,

22:31.440 --> 22:33.600
you're not allowed to marry anybody from a broken home,

22:34.040 --> 22:35.680
women that aren't going to church,

22:36.020 --> 22:38.820
women that are dressing in a hoarse outfit.

22:39.360 --> 22:41.020
And you know, to her that was short shorts,

22:41.020 --> 22:42.280
to her that was a short skirt.

22:42.980 --> 22:43.860
You know, to her that was people

22:43.860 --> 22:44.940
that didn't care about church.

22:45.440 --> 22:47.000
You know, she had all these different things.

22:47.160 --> 22:49.980
She said, if a girl calls you, she's a whore.

22:51.440 --> 22:52.760
You know, like, I mean that,

22:53.160 --> 22:55.480
I'm just telling you the advice my mom was giving me

22:55.480 --> 22:56.740
and the kind of the thought she had.

22:56.820 --> 22:57.800
Now, maybe things changed.

22:58.500 --> 23:00.880
Obviously, I'm not saying people couldn't be redeemed

23:00.880 --> 23:02.740
or changed from some of those bad habits,

23:02.820 --> 23:04.400
but you know, she had high standards

23:04.400 --> 23:05.320
and you know, I considered them.

23:05.780 --> 23:06.720
And she was right.

23:07.940 --> 23:09.240
You know, a lot of these girls

23:09.240 --> 23:12.800
that I was maybe interested in or thought of, you know,

23:12.900 --> 23:14.940
in hindsight, it's like, wow, she was a train wreck.

23:15.080 --> 23:16.400
Wow, she was a bad person.

23:16.560 --> 23:18.540
Wow, I'm just so glad I wouldn't even consider

23:18.540 --> 23:19.560
going down that road.

23:19.940 --> 23:23.500
You know, when I was younger in junior high

23:23.500 --> 23:26.880
and high school, some of the girls that I was interested in

23:26.880 --> 23:29.220
or I thought were really pretty or I liked at the time.

23:29.660 --> 23:31.060
Boy, it changes.

23:32.080 --> 23:34.180
And you know, don't get so invested

23:34.180 --> 23:36.100
when you're in junior high, okay?

23:36.640 --> 23:38.780
Because things change, people change.

23:38.780 --> 23:41.500
The cool kids are not as cool, you know,

23:41.580 --> 23:43.140
from junior high, even to high school.

23:43.580 --> 23:44.980
You know, a lot of things change,

23:45.160 --> 23:46.060
a lot of things develop.

23:46.580 --> 23:48.260
You know, you don't have to get married

23:48.260 --> 23:50.280
when you're in junior high, okay?

23:50.600 --> 23:53.820
Now again, I'll be honest, I was kind of like interested

23:53.820 --> 23:56.920
in girls as far back as I can remember, okay?

23:57.540 --> 23:59.100
I think when I was in second grade,

23:59.180 --> 24:00.980
I proposed to my girlfriend, all right?

24:01.140 --> 24:04.160
So, you know, it was weird, all right?

24:04.780 --> 24:06.320
I am not recommending that.

24:06.540 --> 24:07.820
I'm not suggesting that.

24:07.820 --> 24:09.400
I don't think you should do it, okay?

24:09.440 --> 24:12.000
I'm just telling you that like, hey, I was ready.

24:12.520 --> 24:13.420
But you know, that's silly.

24:13.540 --> 24:14.140
I don't even know who,

24:14.260 --> 24:16.160
I don't even remember her or anything about it.

24:16.180 --> 24:19.640
But it's just like funny because obviously things change.

24:20.060 --> 24:20.720
People change.

24:21.800 --> 24:23.920
You know, when me and my wife, we went to school together

24:24.460 --> 24:26.640
and probably when we first were aware of each other,

24:27.060 --> 24:28.740
I mean, I might have been like six

24:28.740 --> 24:30.280
or eight inches shorter than her,

24:30.640 --> 24:32.440
maybe even a foot shorter than her, I don't know.

24:32.760 --> 24:34.600
And I was probably extremely annoying.

24:34.840 --> 24:36.100
And you can ask her opinion, okay?

24:36.100 --> 24:37.500
But she'd probably say amen.

24:37.800 --> 24:40.360
But you know, I was probably not someone

24:40.360 --> 24:42.420
she would even consider dating, you know?

24:42.520 --> 24:43.940
And it's just like, yeah, but then things,

24:44.100 --> 24:46.260
then I grew, things changed, all right?

24:47.120 --> 24:49.280
Obviously girls like taller guys or whatever, you know?

24:49.340 --> 24:49.580
I don't know.

24:50.100 --> 24:51.300
I was just tall enough.

24:51.460 --> 24:52.780
I just met the mark, all right?

24:53.380 --> 24:54.460
But here's the thing.

24:54.640 --> 24:56.960
It's just like things change, people change.

24:57.740 --> 25:00.680
And you know, you don't want to just necessarily

25:01.180 --> 25:03.620
just get your heart set on things

25:03.620 --> 25:05.240
when you're a teenager and when you're a kid

25:05.240 --> 25:06.540
because you may not know what's best.

25:07.040 --> 25:08.500
You need to listen to your parents

25:08.960 --> 25:10.520
and they're there to prepare you.

25:10.920 --> 25:12.380
Just like these people are sent to this church

25:12.380 --> 25:13.620
to prepare them for this gift.

25:14.220 --> 25:14.580
You know what?

25:15.100 --> 25:16.840
Marriage is a gift and marriage is special.

25:17.160 --> 25:18.760
You should consider what your parents have to say.

25:18.960 --> 25:20.440
Consider what advisors have to say.

25:20.940 --> 25:22.700
Hey, even consider what your pastor has to say.

25:22.820 --> 25:24.160
Consider what ministers have to say.

25:24.640 --> 25:25.880
You know, they're looking out for you.

25:26.260 --> 25:29.580
You know, it's not like I want my kids

25:29.580 --> 25:31.260
to marry a bad person for them.

25:32.600 --> 25:34.220
It's not like I want bad things

25:34.220 --> 25:36.060
to happen in other churches and stuff like that.

25:36.420 --> 25:37.840
You know, that's why it's important

25:37.840 --> 25:38.940
to consider these things.

25:39.400 --> 25:40.980
You know, some people take this so far

25:40.980 --> 25:43.940
that they have like courting and like parents pick

25:43.940 --> 25:46.120
the spouses and stuff and all these crazy,

25:46.320 --> 25:48.040
I'm not saying you have to do that kind of stuff.

25:48.140 --> 25:51.040
I'm not saying I'm approving of arranged marriages, okay?

25:51.560 --> 25:52.140
But you know what?

25:52.220 --> 25:54.020
I'm also not going to say that arranged marriages are bad.

25:54.600 --> 25:56.500
I don't have anything negative to say about it

25:56.500 --> 25:59.340
because frankly speaking, if you asked me,

25:59.380 --> 26:00.740
like, do you think you'd pick a good spouse

26:00.740 --> 26:01.240
for your kids?

26:01.320 --> 26:02.860
I probably would, you know?

26:03.340 --> 26:04.720
But am I going to do arranged marriages?

26:04.920 --> 26:06.300
No, I'm not going to do that.

26:06.640 --> 26:07.480
But you know what?

26:07.640 --> 26:10.400
I do think it would be bad to ignore your parents' advice.

26:11.240 --> 26:14.620
I do think, again, if your parents are not even saved,

26:14.900 --> 26:16.920
they hate God and they don't want you

26:16.920 --> 26:20.060
to marry a Christian lady or something, okay,

26:20.180 --> 26:21.340
maybe there's an exception there.

26:21.620 --> 26:23.340
But I bet even unsaved people will be like,

26:23.440 --> 26:25.020
yeah, I like her, she's nice, she's sweet,

26:25.140 --> 26:25.740
she's a Christian girl.

26:25.800 --> 26:27.840
They probably wouldn't even be mad about it, okay?

26:28.320 --> 26:29.700
But boy, when they're just saying,

26:29.780 --> 26:31.980
this guy is a bozo, this guy is a weirdo,

26:31.980 --> 26:34.460
this guy is a freak, this guy's not going to provide well.

26:35.040 --> 26:37.800
You know, this girl seems like a rebellious girl,

26:38.160 --> 26:39.260
she doesn't obey her dad,

26:39.640 --> 26:41.060
she doesn't care what her dad thinks,

26:41.280 --> 26:43.760
she's constantly just doing bad things.

26:44.160 --> 26:45.740
Like hey, those are things to consider

26:45.740 --> 26:48.560
and to be aware of and say, hey, I don't want to be around,

26:49.320 --> 26:51.060
I don't want to disregard my parents' advice

26:51.060 --> 26:52.820
because I guarantee they're going to give you good advice.

26:53.360 --> 26:54.440
And you probably don't care,

26:54.560 --> 26:55.580
but I'm just going to tell you anyways.

26:55.720 --> 26:56.560
You know what, listen to your parents.

26:57.980 --> 26:59.040
Consider their advice.

26:59.420 --> 27:02.380
You know, my parents totally approved of my wife.

27:02.880 --> 27:05.040
I asked both of my in-laws, I took them to lunch

27:05.040 --> 27:06.680
and I was asked both of their permission

27:07.140 --> 27:09.360
before I even asked my wife to marry me.

27:09.880 --> 27:11.940
And you know, I think that that's really important.

27:12.440 --> 27:14.360
And I would have been, it would have been,

27:14.400 --> 27:15.260
I would have been heartbroken

27:15.260 --> 27:17.180
if that wasn't even on the table or was an option.

27:17.640 --> 27:19.140
I don't know what I would have done for sure

27:19.140 --> 27:20.280
because I really loved my wife.

27:20.620 --> 27:22.960
But you know, getting the parental blessing

27:22.960 --> 27:23.980
was a big deal to me.

27:24.460 --> 27:25.900
And you know, I know that's not necessarily

27:25.900 --> 27:27.760
directly the context of this passage,

27:27.760 --> 27:30.340
but I think just in general, you know,

27:30.500 --> 27:32.780
taking the advice of people trying to prepare you

27:32.780 --> 27:35.040
for important decisions and things that are important,

27:35.320 --> 27:36.740
you should consider their advice

27:36.740 --> 27:37.680
so you're not ashamed.

27:37.980 --> 27:40.380
So you're not embarrassed later.

27:40.620 --> 27:41.160
Verse five is,

27:53.740 --> 27:56.740
So he wants to go there.

27:57.280 --> 27:58.840
I'm sorry, he's sending people there.

27:59.220 --> 28:01.780
And these people are going to help them prepare a gift

28:02.240 --> 28:03.040
that's a bounty.

28:03.840 --> 28:06.780
And again, the bounty, what it's meaning here

28:07.200 --> 28:11.400
is it's meaning like gift of your abundance.

28:12.100 --> 28:14.260
It's bountiful in the sense that like you're not,

28:14.340 --> 28:15.880
you're not obligated here.

28:16.400 --> 28:18.740
And again, he's using the word covetousness

28:18.740 --> 28:20.280
as being stingy.

28:20.640 --> 28:22.580
So they're kind of, they're kind of

28:22.580 --> 28:26.020
a little bit more difficult words to understand.

28:26.020 --> 28:28.100
Maybe what is really being communicated.

28:28.640 --> 28:32.640
But the bountiful is like generous and free will

28:33.340 --> 28:36.900
and the covetousness is kind of like being stingy

28:37.420 --> 28:40.240
and not, and kind of feeling like maybe giving out

28:40.240 --> 28:41.940
of obligation in a sense.

28:42.300 --> 28:44.120
And so he doesn't want them to just have

28:44.120 --> 28:46.700
some small gift that they felt obligated to give.

28:47.040 --> 28:49.960
He wants them a large gift that seemingly

28:50.380 --> 28:52.460
is out of their desire.

28:52.460 --> 28:55.780
And that's explained in the next few verses more clearly.

28:56.520 --> 28:57.720
But he says here in verse seven,

28:57.940 --> 29:00.580
every man according as he purposeth in his heart,

29:00.900 --> 29:04.340
so let him give not grudgingly or of necessity

29:04.700 --> 29:06.840
for God loveth a cheerful giver.

29:06.920 --> 29:09.040
So notice he's really clarifying what he means here

29:09.040 --> 29:11.840
by the bountiful and by the covetous

29:11.840 --> 29:15.180
that he doesn't want someone to just be giving

29:15.180 --> 29:19.580
the grudgingly, but they want to in their heart.

29:19.720 --> 29:21.700
They desire to give this.

29:21.700 --> 29:22.800
They love these people.

29:22.860 --> 29:24.180
They want them to have this.

29:24.560 --> 29:29.780
And that should just be your mentality anytime you're giving.

29:30.140 --> 29:33.540
Shouldn't really be giving out of a grudging attitude,

29:33.620 --> 29:35.720
but it should be out of generosity,

29:36.140 --> 29:37.960
out of love, out of a compassion,

29:38.560 --> 29:40.120
out of what you want to do.

29:40.780 --> 29:44.840
You love this person and you desire to do good unto them.

29:45.500 --> 29:49.680
And so we should give not grudgingly or of necessity,

29:50.500 --> 29:53.060
but cheerfully, meaning you're happy

29:53.060 --> 29:54.080
to give somebody something.

29:54.800 --> 29:57.240
You're not like, I guess I'll give you this money

29:57.240 --> 30:01.400
or whatever, here, have $20, you know.

30:02.020 --> 30:03.980
It's like, no, you have 40.

30:04.400 --> 30:05.800
I want you to have this money.

30:05.940 --> 30:07.380
I'm so excited to give to you.

30:07.860 --> 30:10.480
I would feel honored to be able to help you.

30:10.540 --> 30:11.960
I feel honored to be able to bless you

30:11.960 --> 30:14.660
and to do good and I'm excited to help you.

30:15.060 --> 30:17.140
Not so that you can feel good about yourself,

30:17.140 --> 30:20.080
but so that they can accomplish what they need to do, right?

30:20.620 --> 30:23.580
You think about, hey, there's this church

30:24.080 --> 30:26.280
that needs this money so they can go on a missions trip

30:26.280 --> 30:30.000
or they can fund some work and you're like,

30:30.120 --> 30:32.260
I'm excited to give the money so they can fund the work.

30:32.860 --> 30:35.500
It's not that I like getting anything out of it.

30:35.580 --> 30:37.340
I just want them to be able to accomplish their work

30:37.340 --> 30:38.300
and accomplish their goals.

30:38.480 --> 30:39.600
And I want to give this money

30:39.600 --> 30:41.920
so their pastor can be taken care of

30:41.920 --> 30:45.260
and that, hey, the pastor is having a good time

30:45.260 --> 30:47.940
and that he's not having to feel bad

30:47.940 --> 30:49.620
or the missionaries are doing good

30:49.620 --> 30:53.140
or we want Christians to be excited about the work

30:53.140 --> 30:55.600
and we want Christians to be able to do their work

30:55.600 --> 30:57.160
and we don't want them to be held back

30:57.160 --> 30:59.180
because they're just something simple like money.

30:59.700 --> 31:01.980
And so there's some people in this world, God bless them

31:01.980 --> 31:03.980
that genuinely just want to give money

31:03.980 --> 31:06.120
to the work of the Lord and to poor saints

31:06.120 --> 31:07.040
and to poor people.

31:07.460 --> 31:09.480
And it may not even be related to church work.

31:09.600 --> 31:10.920
It could just be you want to bless somebody

31:10.920 --> 31:12.920
that needs help with their car or with their house

31:12.920 --> 31:14.900
or with their family or with bills or whatever.

31:15.440 --> 31:17.980
And you just want to be a blessing to that person

31:17.980 --> 31:19.880
because you just love them and you want to help them

31:19.880 --> 31:20.960
in their walk for Christianity.

31:21.720 --> 31:23.400
And that is what God loves.

31:23.520 --> 31:24.960
God loves that cheerful giver.

31:25.700 --> 31:27.040
It's not about the money.

31:28.000 --> 31:29.340
It's not like, well, I gave $10

31:30.200 --> 31:31.980
and this person gave $10,000.

31:32.800 --> 31:35.620
Yeah, but maybe the $10,000 was grudgingly

31:35.620 --> 31:37.320
and the $10 was cheerful.

31:38.140 --> 31:40.020
And it's like he actually prefers,

31:40.020 --> 31:42.800
God actually prefers the heart giving,

31:43.200 --> 31:45.480
the cheerful giving over the amount of money.

31:45.560 --> 31:46.900
It's not about the amount of money for God.

31:47.320 --> 31:48.480
It's about the heart.

31:48.900 --> 31:51.540
Now obviously if someone comes to you needing,

31:52.940 --> 31:55.920
hey, I really need like, let's say it was $1,000

31:55.920 --> 31:57.100
or something and it's like, well,

31:57.320 --> 31:58.960
I'm really happy to give you this nickel.

31:59.760 --> 32:01.320
It's just like, well, now you're kind of like

32:01.320 --> 32:03.900
venturing in on like James chapter two

32:03.900 --> 32:07.080
where it's like, be warmed and filled.

32:07.520 --> 32:08.640
And it's just like, okay,

32:09.380 --> 32:10.780
look, if that was all you had

32:10.780 --> 32:12.820
and you're willing to give it, go for it.

32:13.040 --> 32:16.280
But obviously not actually supplying their need

32:16.960 --> 32:19.900
isn't necessarily like gonna help them either.

32:20.140 --> 32:22.620
So you kind of wanna find that balance

32:22.620 --> 32:25.040
of meeting their need, it being cheerful.

32:27.460 --> 32:30.180
Obviously, it's for a purpose that makes sense too.

32:30.360 --> 32:32.800
The Bible says that the righteous

32:32.800 --> 32:34.660
consider it the cause of the poor.

32:35.360 --> 32:37.560
It's like, well, okay, are you using this

32:37.560 --> 32:39.740
to get drugs or using this to get alcohol?

32:40.400 --> 32:44.120
Are you using this to skip church and to not serve God?

32:44.680 --> 32:47.720
And you know, I mean, I've had somebody

32:47.720 --> 32:50.500
ask me for money so they could divorce their spouse.

32:51.660 --> 32:52.580
I'm not joking.

32:53.660 --> 32:56.000
Like they wanted a charity handout from the church

32:56.560 --> 32:57.840
so they could divorce their spouse.

32:58.020 --> 32:59.960
And it was just like, the long speech

32:59.960 --> 33:01.800
was just about how bad their spouse was

33:02.220 --> 33:04.780
and the lead up to, so I need this money

33:04.780 --> 33:06.700
so that I can divorce them and get away from them.

33:07.480 --> 33:09.300
And I'm just like, well, I can't,

33:09.300 --> 33:11.260
I can't in good conscience give you money for that.

33:12.000 --> 33:14.760
You know, even if you thought it was justified,

33:15.120 --> 33:16.360
which I don't personally believe that,

33:16.400 --> 33:17.460
but I'm just saying like, even if you believe,

33:17.780 --> 33:19.980
and again, the story is the person's a reprobate, whatever.

33:20.160 --> 33:22.200
And it's like, some people see that as a justification.

33:22.540 --> 33:24.400
Even if you did see that, like I just not,

33:24.500 --> 33:25.940
I gotta give money in that way.

33:26.600 --> 33:29.040
Now look, obviously if someone needs help,

33:29.420 --> 33:30.420
maybe I'll give them a job

33:30.420 --> 33:31.780
and I'll give them money for that job.

33:31.840 --> 33:33.700
Now if they use that money for whatever means,

33:33.700 --> 33:34.460
then so be it.

33:34.980 --> 33:35.380
But you know what?

33:35.400 --> 33:37.860
I'm not gonna just directly fund sin.

33:38.200 --> 33:39.880
I'm not gonna just directly fund something

33:39.880 --> 33:42.640
that violates my conscience and that I don't agree with

33:42.640 --> 33:44.600
and that I don't think is right.

33:45.340 --> 33:46.340
You know, and then in some cases,

33:46.700 --> 33:48.800
I may not even just give money to people.

33:49.200 --> 33:51.120
I may give them a job and then just,

33:51.180 --> 33:52.840
and then just pay them generous or something.

33:53.000 --> 33:54.320
Just pay them something that wouldn't even

33:54.320 --> 33:55.980
really make sense to pay.

33:56.400 --> 33:58.240
So, you know, at least they get to work for it.

33:58.300 --> 33:59.060
You know, that's discretion.

33:59.420 --> 34:02.080
That's for you to discern how you wanna operate.

34:02.080 --> 34:05.540
But you know, we should consider the cause of the poor.

34:05.940 --> 34:08.900
Obviously liberals and Democrats today,

34:09.420 --> 34:13.000
they wanna just give our money away through taxes

34:13.000 --> 34:14.800
to fund bad things.

34:15.080 --> 34:17.640
To fund women not living with their husband,

34:17.840 --> 34:20.280
divorcing their husband, single motherhood,

34:20.600 --> 34:23.020
planned barrenhood, all kinds of like things

34:23.020 --> 34:23.680
that are sinful.

34:24.220 --> 34:25.700
And it's like, oh, well, we didn't give the money

34:25.700 --> 34:26.880
to the abortion directly.

34:27.500 --> 34:31.200
We just gave them money to pay their electric bill.

34:31.720 --> 34:34.600
It's like, oh, okay, look, that's silly logic.

34:35.480 --> 34:36.520
That's just an excuse.

34:37.060 --> 34:39.220
That's just, you know, Republicans still funding abortion,

34:39.420 --> 34:40.800
whether they wanna admit it or not.

34:41.220 --> 34:43.260
Well, it didn't go to the abortion fund.

34:43.420 --> 34:44.980
Well, by paying all the other bills,

34:45.480 --> 34:47.120
that bill money then went to the abortion fund.

34:47.200 --> 34:48.600
So, yes, you did fund it.

34:48.900 --> 34:50.240
Yes, you did support it.

34:50.540 --> 34:54.040
And you know, that's not what God is talking about here.

34:54.800 --> 34:56.820
God's also not talking about giving people

34:56.820 --> 34:58.120
other people's money.

34:58.750 --> 35:00.940
It's like, you're giving your money

35:01.510 --> 35:05.540
that's in your power that you want to give,

35:05.960 --> 35:07.360
that's what giving should look like.

35:07.460 --> 35:08.140
That's the right heart.

35:08.280 --> 35:09.040
That's the right mentality.

35:09.460 --> 35:10.640
He says here in verse eight,

35:10.920 --> 35:12.900
and God is able to make all grace abound toward you,

35:13.280 --> 35:14.720
that ye always having all sufficiency

35:14.720 --> 35:16.780
and all things may abound to every good work.

35:17.020 --> 35:19.280
As is written, he hath dispersed abroad,

35:19.460 --> 35:20.360
he hath given to the poor,

35:20.480 --> 35:21.960
his righteousness remaineth forever.

35:22.520 --> 35:24.000
Now, he that minister cede to the sower,

35:24.100 --> 35:25.460
both minister bread for your food

35:25.460 --> 35:26.720
and multiplier cede sown,

35:26.720 --> 35:28.780
and increase the fruits of your righteousness,

35:29.260 --> 35:31.900
being enriched in everything to all bountifulness,

35:32.100 --> 35:34.600
which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

35:35.100 --> 35:40.600
So, this is a wordy thing that he's saying here.

35:40.960 --> 35:43.900
And again, the language in Second Corinthians

35:43.900 --> 35:45.180
is a difficult language.

35:45.640 --> 35:46.920
But what is he saying?

35:47.120 --> 35:47.840
He's he saying, okay,

35:48.320 --> 35:51.080
if you give to these poor saints,

35:51.780 --> 35:56.500
then God can make all grace abound toward you,

35:56.900 --> 36:01.300
meaning that now God is gonna try and be gracious to you

36:01.300 --> 36:03.560
and help you financially

36:04.280 --> 36:07.680
because you are giving grace to these saints

36:08.040 --> 36:09.620
and helping them financially.

36:10.000 --> 36:13.840
And notice he'll make all grace abound toward you,

36:14.200 --> 36:18.540
that ye always having all sufficiency

36:18.540 --> 36:22.420
and all things may abound to every good work.

36:22.600 --> 36:23.420
Did you notice that?

36:23.800 --> 36:25.760
It's having all sufficiency

36:25.760 --> 36:29.540
and all things to abound to every good work.

36:29.820 --> 36:30.720
What is he trying to say?

36:30.800 --> 36:33.920
He's saying, well, if you give to this ministry,

36:34.020 --> 36:36.220
you're giving to help fund this work,

36:36.620 --> 36:39.920
then God will make sure that you guys have the money,

36:40.360 --> 36:41.640
the finances and the assets

36:41.640 --> 36:44.460
to accomplish all the works you guys wanted to do.

36:44.900 --> 36:48.240
So it's like God doesn't wanna rob Peter to pay Paul.

36:48.880 --> 36:51.400
God doesn't want like steadfast Baptist church

36:51.820 --> 36:54.800
to give money to some ministry so that they can do soul winning

36:54.800 --> 36:56.880
and then we now can't do soul winning

36:56.880 --> 36:59.700
or now we're funding this mission's trip over here

36:59.700 --> 37:02.560
so then we can't fund this other mission's trip

37:02.560 --> 37:02.980
or something.

37:03.560 --> 37:04.260
What is he saying?

37:04.420 --> 37:06.320
You have to have by faith trust God

37:06.920 --> 37:08.840
and that if you are helping others

37:09.240 --> 37:11.500
to fund their ministries out of a cheerful heart,

37:11.720 --> 37:12.740
out of cheerful giving

37:12.740 --> 37:16.040
that God will then give you grace and will fund you

37:16.390 --> 37:19.020
so that you can continue and your work

37:19.020 --> 37:21.860
because he doesn't want to rob Peter to pay Paul.

37:21.940 --> 37:24.280
He doesn't want to cripple the guy

37:24.750 --> 37:26.220
that's funding everyone else.

37:26.420 --> 37:28.500
He wants to continue blessing that person.

37:28.780 --> 37:30.840
But again, this takes faith, doesn't it?

37:31.000 --> 37:35.160
Because there isn't just like some carnal guarantee.

37:35.800 --> 37:37.980
There isn't something that we can see with our eyes.

37:38.200 --> 37:39.680
It may not make sense to us

37:39.680 --> 37:42.300
how God could possibly fund our operations

37:42.300 --> 37:43.980
or give us the things that we need.

37:44.540 --> 37:45.640
It's by faith.

37:45.980 --> 37:47.920
But what he's saying is if you do this,

37:48.040 --> 37:49.400
this is a promise that God makes.

37:49.540 --> 37:51.500
This is the promise that God delivers unto us

37:51.500 --> 37:53.200
that he will take care of you

37:53.200 --> 37:54.400
and that he will bless you

37:54.400 --> 37:57.020
and that he will cause grace to abound towards you.

37:58.100 --> 37:59.860
He says, as it is written,

38:00.920 --> 38:02.440
he hath dispersed abroad.

38:02.600 --> 38:05.260
He hath given to the poor his righteousness.

38:06.500 --> 38:07.920
Here, what is he saying?

38:08.320 --> 38:09.080
Remaineth forever.

38:09.080 --> 38:12.120
Now, these are some quotes that we have in the Bible.

38:13.560 --> 38:14.340
Let's go to a couple.

38:14.480 --> 38:15.460
I'm gonna Psalm 112.

38:15.920 --> 38:16.980
Keep your finger and go to Psalm 112.

38:17.500 --> 38:19.780
That is what's being quoted here in verse number nine.

38:21.240 --> 38:22.740
Is Psalm 112.

38:25.580 --> 38:27.840
And honestly, it's kind of a shorter Psalm.

38:28.800 --> 38:31.120
So I kind of want to just read through it quickly.

38:31.720 --> 38:32.540
But notice that it says,

38:32.760 --> 38:33.440
praise ye the Lord,

38:33.600 --> 38:34.920
blesseth the man that feareth the Lord

38:34.920 --> 38:36.340
that delighteth greatly in his commandments.

38:36.900 --> 38:39.200
His seed shall be mighty upon the earth.

38:39.340 --> 38:41.000
The generation of the upright shall be blessed.

38:41.680 --> 38:43.360
Wealth and riches shall be in his house

38:43.360 --> 38:44.840
and his righteousness endureth forever.

38:45.320 --> 38:48.160
Onto the upright there arise a light in the darkness.

38:48.400 --> 38:50.200
He is gracious and full of compassion and righteous.

38:50.760 --> 38:53.560
A good man showeth favor and lendeth.

38:54.100 --> 38:56.120
He will guide his affairs with discretion.

38:56.680 --> 38:58.060
Surely he shall not be moved forever.

38:58.240 --> 39:00.100
The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.

39:00.680 --> 39:02.240
He shall not be afraid of evil tidings.

39:02.380 --> 39:03.740
His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.

39:04.120 --> 39:04.940
His heart is established.

39:04.940 --> 39:06.820
He shall not be afraid until he sees his desire

39:06.820 --> 39:07.440
upon his enemies.

39:08.040 --> 39:10.980
He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor

39:10.980 --> 39:13.300
his righteousness endureth forever.

39:13.840 --> 39:16.700
His horn shall be exalted with honor.

39:17.220 --> 39:18.800
The wicked shall see it and be grieved.

39:18.900 --> 39:20.480
He shall nash with his teeth and melt away

39:20.480 --> 39:21.780
the desire of the wicked shall perish.

39:21.960 --> 39:24.860
Now, verse nine is what's being quoted.

39:26.240 --> 39:27.720
It's, he hath dispersed.

39:28.300 --> 39:29.320
He hath given to the poor

39:29.320 --> 39:30.960
his righteousness endureth forever.

39:31.640 --> 39:34.620
You know, the Bible often speaks in this,

39:34.780 --> 39:37.680
this double meaning or this double situations

39:37.680 --> 39:39.900
where it's talking about a person

39:40.440 --> 39:43.100
and then it overlaps with the Lord and with God himself.

39:43.480 --> 39:46.280
And so, of course, we can first understand

39:46.280 --> 39:48.940
that it's talking about this person.

39:49.360 --> 39:51.160
There's this person that he's talking about.

39:51.220 --> 39:52.240
There's a person that's righteous

39:52.820 --> 39:54.580
and how does God describe this person?

39:54.700 --> 39:56.320
Someone that's doing right all the time.

39:56.420 --> 39:58.160
That's following all of God's commandments.

39:58.740 --> 39:59.720
What is gonna happen to him?

39:59.720 --> 40:02.000
Well, his seed's gonna be mighty on the earth.

40:02.200 --> 40:03.900
Verse three, his wealth and riches are gonna be in his house

40:03.900 --> 40:05.940
and he's gonna show favor.

40:06.280 --> 40:08.540
And then verse six, he's never gonna be moved ever.

40:08.840 --> 40:10.660
He's not gonna be afraid of evil tidings.

40:10.900 --> 40:12.060
His heart's established.

40:12.600 --> 40:13.820
But then what is he like?

40:13.980 --> 40:16.300
What is the type of person that has all this stuff?

40:16.680 --> 40:17.440
He hath dispersed.

40:18.560 --> 40:19.500
He hath given to the poor.

40:20.080 --> 40:22.500
So someone that actually is considered righteous

40:23.120 --> 40:24.420
that is following God's commandments.

40:24.560 --> 40:26.120
It's someone that's distributing to poor people,

40:26.240 --> 40:27.000
giving money to poor.

40:27.380 --> 40:28.940
He's helping the poor people when they need it.

40:28.940 --> 40:32.000
And specifically his righteous is in the earth forever.

40:32.240 --> 40:32.940
His horns should be exalted.

40:33.120 --> 40:34.440
And then of course all the enemies

40:34.440 --> 40:35.500
are just gonna be so mad

40:35.500 --> 40:36.480
they can't destroy this guy.

40:36.740 --> 40:37.780
It's like you can't beat him.

40:37.860 --> 40:38.660
You can't defeat him.

40:40.480 --> 40:43.200
And taking this in some applications,

40:43.540 --> 40:44.780
it's like, yes, someone,

40:44.980 --> 40:46.260
and I mean, let's just think about it.

40:46.580 --> 40:47.520
Especially in America,

40:48.200 --> 40:49.460
I get in some countries

40:49.460 --> 40:50.720
we may not have same opportunities

40:50.720 --> 40:51.800
and ability to climb the ladder.

40:51.960 --> 40:54.600
But in America, you have still a pretty

40:54.600 --> 40:57.600
big opportunity to succeed, by and large.

40:57.600 --> 40:59.640
And the main reason why people are not succeeding

40:59.640 --> 41:01.660
in this country is themselves.

41:02.180 --> 41:04.340
Because if you were to take God's law,

41:04.500 --> 41:05.620
if you were to take God's principles,

41:05.720 --> 41:08.280
you're gonna take the proverbs and apply them correctly.

41:08.800 --> 41:10.940
Where you are working diligently.

41:11.440 --> 41:13.260
Your work six days shout thou labor.

41:13.580 --> 41:16.340
You're getting wisdom and you're studying

41:16.340 --> 41:17.240
as hard as you can

41:17.240 --> 41:19.380
and you're seeking the Lord with all your might.

41:19.620 --> 41:21.760
Everything that you find to do at work,

41:21.940 --> 41:23.500
you never have eye service.

41:24.020 --> 41:26.160
You're always doing everything that's right.

41:26.160 --> 41:28.660
You're seeking the greatest wisdom.

41:28.880 --> 41:30.380
You're working as hard as humanly possible.

41:30.660 --> 41:31.520
Like you will succeed.

41:31.920 --> 41:32.980
Like it's not a question.

41:33.440 --> 41:35.440
And of course, you're gonna be able

41:35.440 --> 41:36.940
to use your money with discretion

41:37.520 --> 41:38.860
and you're gonna invest

41:38.860 --> 41:39.960
and you're gonna do all these things.

41:40.200 --> 41:41.740
You're gonna be so financially stable

41:42.300 --> 41:43.840
that even if inflation hits

41:43.840 --> 41:45.420
and even if COVID hits and all this stuff,

41:45.720 --> 41:46.660
like it doesn't even matter.

41:47.380 --> 41:49.020
And this is what people don't even understand,

41:49.020 --> 41:51.080
especially in our economy and especially in our world.

41:51.620 --> 41:52.780
You know, when you have money,

41:53.420 --> 41:55.320
here's the sad thing that I explained to you.

41:55.320 --> 41:58.620
When you have money, inflation doesn't hurt you.

41:59.320 --> 42:02.220
It hurts everybody that doesn't have money, okay?

42:02.700 --> 42:04.820
When you have assets and you have money

42:04.820 --> 42:06.960
and you have a 401k and you have all this stuff,

42:07.280 --> 42:08.120
you know what inflation does?

42:08.340 --> 42:09.420
It gives you even more money.

42:10.180 --> 42:12.400
Like you just keep getting, it's like monopoly

42:12.960 --> 42:14.180
and you just put all the houses

42:14.180 --> 42:15.580
and the hotels on the property.

42:15.900 --> 42:17.140
When they land on your spot,

42:17.420 --> 42:18.980
you're not getting a little bit now.

42:19.320 --> 42:22.660
You're getting triple quadruple, 10 times, 20 times.

42:22.940 --> 42:23.760
It's multipliers.

42:24.360 --> 42:25.300
It's like, hey, you own,

42:25.680 --> 42:28.500
I mean, these people that owned real estate in COVID,

42:29.020 --> 42:30.500
they got multipliers

42:30.920 --> 42:33.820
because all the property values went up a lot.

42:34.020 --> 42:35.620
I mean, houses in the DFW area are going up

42:35.620 --> 42:38.500
$100,000, $150,000, $200,000 each.

42:39.000 --> 42:41.100
I mean, you own 20, 30, 40, 50 properties.

42:41.420 --> 42:44.300
You just made millions of dollars doing absolutely nothing.

42:45.440 --> 42:47.500
And so it's like evil tidings inflation.

42:47.820 --> 42:49.660
But you know, for all of us living paycheck to paycheck,

42:50.900 --> 42:52.320
inflation is bad.

42:53.140 --> 42:53.860
Inflation's rough.

42:54.360 --> 42:55.940
For those of us that have no assets,

42:56.180 --> 42:58.220
getting assets just got that much further away.

42:59.040 --> 43:01.360
And it's just like, it's just, it's more difficult.

43:02.140 --> 43:04.280
And again, I'm not, I'm not trying to criticize the poor

43:04.280 --> 43:06.460
and I'm not trying to like shame the poor.

43:06.720 --> 43:08.220
But what I am trying to say is like,

43:08.320 --> 43:10.640
hey, you know, the guy that's doing all this stuff

43:11.060 --> 43:12.940
is probably gonna be fine.

43:13.740 --> 43:14.920
But you know what's one of the characteristics

43:14.920 --> 43:15.840
of this high version?

43:16.140 --> 43:17.260
It's someone that's really generous.

43:18.040 --> 43:18.960
And that seems backwards.

43:19.140 --> 43:19.900
You think like, no, no, no,

43:20.000 --> 43:21.100
the guy that's got a lot of money,

43:21.620 --> 43:25.020
he is, you know, saving everything he's got.

43:25.140 --> 43:26.660
He's stingy, he's uncle Scrooge.

43:26.780 --> 43:28.480
It's like, no, actually the righteous guy

43:28.480 --> 43:30.740
is someone that's actually a very generous person.

43:31.080 --> 43:32.960
He's kind to people and he loves people.

43:33.540 --> 43:35.280
And you know, here's what you don't understand

43:35.280 --> 43:36.780
about how God's economy works sometimes

43:36.780 --> 43:37.880
is that when you're generous,

43:38.520 --> 43:39.060
you know what you do?

43:39.420 --> 43:42.220
You gain favor with people and you make connections.

43:42.640 --> 43:44.580
And those connections last a lifetime

43:44.580 --> 43:46.660
and you have a good name and you have a good reputation

43:46.660 --> 43:47.700
and people like you.

43:47.960 --> 43:49.980
And just all this favor and blessing

43:49.980 --> 43:51.500
and grace works towards you.

43:51.760 --> 43:53.800
Whereas when you're stingy and ungrateful,

43:54.180 --> 43:55.480
then everybody calls you a Jew.

43:56.240 --> 43:58.560
And they don't like you and they don't wanna work with you

43:58.560 --> 44:00.540
and you run a lot of your connections

44:00.540 --> 44:03.380
and you kind of like don't have things.

44:04.120 --> 44:06.080
You know, even really rich people in our minds

44:06.080 --> 44:06.980
don't even have money.

44:07.100 --> 44:08.640
I mean, there's how many professional athletes

44:08.640 --> 44:10.180
and actors and whatever,

44:10.340 --> 44:11.860
they've made millions and millions of dollars

44:11.860 --> 44:13.860
and they're broke or in debt or have nothing.

44:14.560 --> 44:16.780
You know, it's more important to have wisdom

44:16.780 --> 44:19.480
and knowledge and hard work than it is

44:19.480 --> 44:21.280
to just have a bunch of money poured in your lap

44:21.280 --> 44:23.920
because a fool with money will stay a fool

44:23.920 --> 44:24.720
and he'll lose it all.

44:25.160 --> 44:29.420
A wise man with little can build and have great wealth

44:29.420 --> 44:30.940
and have all the things he needs.

44:31.020 --> 44:34.480
Now again, our life is not about building wealth

44:34.480 --> 44:36.540
and having money and being rich and all that stuff.

44:36.840 --> 44:38.380
We're supposed to seek you first, the kingdom of God.

44:38.780 --> 44:39.880
But here's the interesting thing.

44:40.100 --> 44:42.800
You seek God first and you still follow the commandments.

44:43.160 --> 44:44.860
He just adds all those things within anyways.

44:45.120 --> 44:45.980
It's what the Bible teaches.

44:46.400 --> 44:47.380
It's what the Bible says.

44:48.520 --> 44:49.920
And think about it.

44:50.060 --> 44:52.500
If our kids were actually wise

44:53.200 --> 44:55.600
and they don't just waste $200,000

44:55.600 --> 44:57.220
playing beer pong for four years

44:57.700 --> 44:58.940
and get behind the eight ball

44:59.500 --> 45:01.520
and go get a job that's skillless labor

45:02.140 --> 45:03.720
and just do whatever the man says

45:04.140 --> 45:06.440
and waste all their money on frivolous things

45:06.440 --> 45:08.120
and just stupid things and whatever.

45:08.720 --> 45:10.780
I mean, I worked for a software company

45:12.720 --> 45:14.960
and there's like 10 of us that were developers

45:15.360 --> 45:17.620
and I was like the only one that was married, I think.

45:17.980 --> 45:19.060
I was like the only one that was married

45:19.660 --> 45:21.860
and all of us were making very good money

45:22.360 --> 45:24.580
and they were all making six figures

45:24.980 --> 45:26.960
and this was like way before COVID.

45:27.340 --> 45:28.960
This is like several years before COVID.

45:29.020 --> 45:30.800
This is when six figures meant something, okay?

45:31.400 --> 45:31.960
All right.

45:32.560 --> 45:34.060
Sorry, it doesn't even mean anything anymore.

45:35.080 --> 45:38.820
But like these guys, they would waste their money

45:38.820 --> 45:40.980
on the dumbest things I've ever seen in my life.

45:41.700 --> 45:43.140
I mean, when it came to Halloween

45:43.620 --> 45:46.300
they all had like professional outfits.

45:47.640 --> 45:49.940
They had like Pokemon outfits

45:49.940 --> 45:53.860
and like Harry Potter outfits and like ninja suits

45:53.860 --> 45:56.500
and like this one guy had like four motorcycles

45:57.120 --> 45:58.800
and like they would come to work.

45:58.880 --> 45:59.700
They were super into Pokemon.

45:59.920 --> 46:00.200
I don't know.

46:00.440 --> 46:02.760
It was back when it was like the Pokemon go

46:02.760 --> 46:03.900
or catch them or whatever.

46:04.020 --> 46:04.360
I don't know.

46:04.640 --> 46:05.880
I didn't understand it

46:05.880 --> 46:07.900
but I was the only one that didn't play in the office.

46:08.080 --> 46:08.220
Okay.

46:08.960 --> 46:10.100
They would come and they'd be like

46:10.100 --> 46:13.700
I bought this actual Pokemon ball online.

46:14.160 --> 46:17.480
It's like $450 and I'm just like, what is wrong with you?

46:19.200 --> 46:21.040
Like this person is making so much money

46:21.040 --> 46:23.460
but it's like, but they live in an apartment by themselves

46:23.460 --> 46:26.840
and they waste all their money on stupid dumb crap

46:26.840 --> 46:28.580
that they don't even care about.

46:29.020 --> 46:30.640
And it's just weird.

46:31.160 --> 46:34.620
And it's like, having wisdom will help you

46:34.620 --> 46:35.980
with what money you have.

46:36.360 --> 46:37.480
You can make less

46:37.480 --> 46:39.980
and with wisdom end up having more overall

46:39.980 --> 46:42.540
than the guy that makes a ton and has no wisdom.

46:43.020 --> 46:45.600
And while you might think this is inverted

46:46.080 --> 46:48.740
giving is not gonna stop you from building wealth.

46:49.080 --> 46:50.220
According to the Bible,

46:50.460 --> 46:52.320
being generous is actually a good thing.

46:53.880 --> 46:55.200
And you never know.

46:55.960 --> 46:57.840
Lots of people have plenty of testimonies

46:57.840 --> 46:59.560
where they give and they're generous, they're cheerful

46:59.560 --> 47:02.300
and God somehow just like does something in their life.

47:02.340 --> 47:04.600
They weren't expecting and God just blesses them back.

47:04.600 --> 47:07.000
And you know, that's how God's economy works.

47:07.580 --> 47:09.040
But you know, it also is God.

47:09.200 --> 47:10.740
God is the one that's dispersing.

47:11.060 --> 47:12.380
God's the one that's giving to the poor.

47:12.780 --> 47:14.620
God's the one whose righteousness endures forever.

47:15.080 --> 47:16.980
And God's the one whose horn is gonna be exalted.

47:17.380 --> 47:18.820
You know why God likes a cheerful giver

47:18.820 --> 47:19.720
because God's a giver.

47:20.900 --> 47:22.820
God gave us the gift of eternal life.

47:23.140 --> 47:24.020
God gave us life.

47:24.480 --> 47:25.740
God reigns on the just and the unjust.

47:26.180 --> 47:27.400
God's the one that gives us the power

47:27.400 --> 47:28.040
to get wealth anyways.

47:30.760 --> 47:32.380
And sometimes we demonize the rich

47:32.380 --> 47:35.180
but I'm like, why would God give someone the power

47:35.180 --> 47:37.760
to become wealthy and then be mad at him for getting wealthy?

47:38.760 --> 47:42.320
Like, hey, I'm giving you his brilliant brain,

47:42.780 --> 47:45.040
mind, opportunity, and I want you to work

47:45.040 --> 47:47.820
as hard as possible, then he uses his brain,

47:48.160 --> 47:49.940
effort, energy, works really hard and makes money.

47:50.060 --> 47:50.960
He's like, why are you making money?

47:52.240 --> 47:53.300
Idiot, you fool.

47:54.020 --> 47:55.500
Like, no, you know what he wants?

47:55.640 --> 47:57.160
He just wants the guy to say, okay,

47:57.400 --> 47:58.960
even though I have this power and ability

47:58.960 --> 48:00.180
and even though I'm making money,

48:00.280 --> 48:01.500
I'm gonna still put God first.

48:02.480 --> 48:04.820
And I'm gonna take some of that wealth that I built

48:04.820 --> 48:06.320
and I'm gonna give it to poor people.

48:06.860 --> 48:09.200
You know, the Bible talks about the rich man in 1 John.

48:09.500 --> 48:13.020
He says, hey, that guy is supposed to give under the poor.

48:13.580 --> 48:15.780
But you know, if no one's rich, then no one can give.

48:15.980 --> 48:17.160
And then, you know, that stinks.

48:18.180 --> 48:19.820
We want the rich guy.

48:20.000 --> 48:20.980
We want the guy that works hard.

48:21.060 --> 48:22.360
We want the guy that builds wealth.

48:22.480 --> 48:24.280
We want the guy that works, you know,

48:24.420 --> 48:25.840
so that he can help other people.

48:26.440 --> 48:28.320
And you know, that's what the man does.

48:28.520 --> 48:31.240
I mean, the man, we work to take care of that family

48:31.240 --> 48:32.540
and they're not bringing anything in.

48:33.200 --> 48:35.320
You know, for most of us, our wives don't bring anything in.

48:35.820 --> 48:37.400
Our kids really don't bring anything in.

48:38.000 --> 48:39.640
And you know, you have to work really hard

48:39.640 --> 48:41.140
to provide for all these other humans,

48:41.440 --> 48:42.260
all these other people,

48:42.760 --> 48:45.260
and not even just you and your family and your kids,

48:45.420 --> 48:46.100
even other people.

48:47.100 --> 48:48.160
It's a different mindset.

48:48.340 --> 48:49.040
It's a different mentality.

48:49.480 --> 48:50.980
It's kind of similar, you know,

48:50.980 --> 48:52.200
and I rag on single guys,

48:52.380 --> 48:53.640
but you know, I'm gonna continue doing it.

48:54.260 --> 48:56.840
It's funny that it's like when I go on a trip

48:56.840 --> 48:58.720
or I travel or I'm working with men,

48:59.200 --> 49:01.440
it's like somehow the guys that are married

49:01.440 --> 49:03.920
and have a family and a job and all this stuff going on,

49:04.180 --> 49:07.340
they're more helpful and they have more time

49:07.900 --> 49:09.040
and more energy to give

49:09.040 --> 49:11.320
than the guy that's single with nothing going on.

49:11.660 --> 49:13.520
And I'm just, I'm like, I don't even get it.

49:14.000 --> 49:15.200
And it's just like, well,

49:15.520 --> 49:17.560
it's like God just makes these things work, you know?

49:17.960 --> 49:18.900
And when you have a mentality

49:18.900 --> 49:20.820
where you've been working to give to other people

49:20.820 --> 49:21.740
and helping other people,

49:22.140 --> 49:24.680
it's just like God somehow is able to use that.

49:24.900 --> 49:26.500
Whereas if you're only thinking about yourself

49:26.500 --> 49:27.720
and you only care about yourself,

49:28.200 --> 49:30.380
well, then you're not gonna necessarily,

49:30.620 --> 49:31.320
you're not gonna be as blessed.

49:32.020 --> 49:34.160
And you're better being blessed by God

49:34.660 --> 49:38.540
and having little than being cursed by God and having much.

49:38.700 --> 49:39.980
Go for Isaiah 55.

49:40.760 --> 49:42.500
Isaiah 55 has the second part of this quote.

49:43.420 --> 49:44.860
It says, now, hear that minister seeded the sower,

49:44.980 --> 49:46.200
both minister bread for your food

49:46.200 --> 49:47.460
and multiply your seed sown

49:47.460 --> 49:49.120
and increase the fruits of your rights.

49:49.300 --> 49:51.100
And so this is quote from Isaiah 55.

49:53.680 --> 49:55.440
Let's just start with

49:57.820 --> 50:00.060
verse 10, for as the rain comeeth down

50:00.460 --> 50:02.740
and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither

50:03.160 --> 50:06.100
but water of the earth and maketh it bring forth

50:06.100 --> 50:08.740
and bud that it may give seed to the sower

50:08.740 --> 50:09.580
and bread to the eater,

50:10.040 --> 50:13.220
so shall my word be that go forth out of my mouth

50:13.220 --> 50:14.860
that shall not return unto me void,

50:15.060 --> 50:16.500
but it shall accomplish that which I please

50:16.500 --> 50:19.800
and it shall prosper and the thing wherein to I sent it.

50:21.300 --> 50:23.540
So some interesting things here in the book of Isaiah,

50:23.720 --> 50:25.600
but notice he says in verse 10

50:25.600 --> 50:27.260
that the rain comes down and snow

50:27.260 --> 50:30.220
and notice this, it says it returneth not thither

50:30.740 --> 50:31.600
but water of the earth.

50:31.760 --> 50:33.660
It's saying like when the rain comes out

50:34.160 --> 50:36.220
it's not gonna just go straight back up into a cloud.

50:36.600 --> 50:38.700
What the rain is gonna do is gonna soak into the ground

50:38.700 --> 50:39.640
and it's gonna bless the ground.

50:40.120 --> 50:41.300
So this is the idea of giving.

50:42.020 --> 50:43.520
You know, you're not, it's not alone

50:44.120 --> 50:45.440
because you're not getting it back.

50:45.940 --> 50:47.180
It's not alone with interest.

50:47.620 --> 50:48.660
It's not the rain comes down,

50:48.820 --> 50:51.360
soaks up the extra moisture and then goes back up.

50:51.780 --> 50:53.720
No, it's going down to bless the earth.

50:54.100 --> 50:57.080
The rain is truly going out and so it's a real gift.

50:57.080 --> 51:00.020
It's really being given and it's not gonna be coming back.

51:00.480 --> 51:02.340
Obviously if you understand the water cycle

51:02.340 --> 51:03.900
eventually we understand the water recycles.

51:04.120 --> 51:05.640
But what I'm saying in the context

51:05.640 --> 51:06.940
is just saying at that moment

51:06.940 --> 51:09.480
the water's not going back, it's going in the earth,

51:09.600 --> 51:10.480
the earth's gonna soak it in

51:10.480 --> 51:13.180
and the earth's gonna then use that to what?

51:13.640 --> 51:18.160
To produce fruit, to grow, to actually prosper the seed

51:19.060 --> 51:20.860
and it bringeth forth the bud

51:20.860 --> 51:24.220
that it may give seed to the sower

51:24.700 --> 51:27.160
and bred to the eater.

51:27.700 --> 51:30.600
So the sower is the one who sows the seed.

51:31.020 --> 51:34.180
But here's the thing, he can't eat seeds.

51:35.420 --> 51:37.660
I can sunflower seeds or something

51:37.660 --> 51:39.580
but I'm just, you're not gonna survive on seeds.

51:40.200 --> 51:41.360
You need some bread.

51:41.880 --> 51:45.140
And he's saying, well, this guy can't just live

51:45.140 --> 51:47.020
if he's just always sowing seed and he gets nothing.

51:47.520 --> 51:49.680
No, God's gonna cause him to get bred too

51:50.160 --> 51:52.740
so that he can eat so then he can continue sowing the seed.

51:53.310 --> 51:54.640
And what is our parable?

51:54.880 --> 51:57.720
Well, in verse 11, so shall my word be

51:57.720 --> 51:59.520
that goeth forth out of my mouth.

52:00.600 --> 52:03.940
So he's trying to illustrate this parable.

52:04.040 --> 52:05.480
Now we could use other parables

52:05.480 --> 52:07.980
to kind of help figure out what we're talking about here

52:07.980 --> 52:11.600
but the sower sowing the seed in Luke chapter eight

52:11.600 --> 52:13.040
and in other gospels is what?

52:13.480 --> 52:15.760
Someone preaching the gospels, preaching the word of God.

52:16.580 --> 52:17.760
Now here's the thing, as that sower

52:18.290 --> 52:19.880
you wanna preach the gospel,

52:19.980 --> 52:21.240
you wanna be a consistent soul winner

52:21.240 --> 52:24.100
but you can't do it if God doesn't give you the bread.

52:24.760 --> 52:25.880
And what is he trying to say?

52:26.220 --> 52:27.700
Hey, if you're a faithful soul winner,

52:27.780 --> 52:28.860
if you're a faithful evangelist,

52:28.900 --> 52:30.460
if you're a faithful preacher of God's word

52:30.460 --> 52:32.740
then God is gonna reign on you,

52:32.880 --> 52:35.080
that God's gonna shower blessings on you

52:35.080 --> 52:37.020
and God's gonna take care of you financially

52:37.590 --> 52:39.540
so that you can continue to preach the word

52:40.070 --> 52:42.340
because God cares about the word being preached.

52:42.780 --> 52:46.820
And if you're generous with your time, effort, energy

52:46.820 --> 52:48.980
and money, God is gonna take care of you

52:48.980 --> 52:50.580
so you can continue being generous

52:50.580 --> 52:53.080
with your money and preaching the word of God

52:53.080 --> 52:55.620
and so he's gonna take care of you in that illustration.

52:55.980 --> 52:58.300
So the apostle Paul is taking those passages

52:58.300 --> 53:00.040
and bringing them in here to remind you,

53:00.260 --> 53:03.300
hey, God is gonna take care of you when you put him first.

53:03.620 --> 53:05.700
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness

53:05.700 --> 53:07.960
and all these things shall be added unto you.

53:08.260 --> 53:09.320
Talking about the food and the rain

53:09.320 --> 53:10.620
and the clothes and everything else.

53:12.040 --> 53:14.380
Of course, part of that is us being generous

53:14.380 --> 53:17.260
and part of that is taking care of other people

53:17.260 --> 53:18.580
when they need things.

53:19.020 --> 53:20.880
Go to it back to 2nd Corinthians, chapter nine.

53:21.780 --> 53:24.020
And we see in verse number 11,

53:24.900 --> 53:28.120
being enriched in everything to all bountifulness

53:28.120 --> 53:30.440
which cause it through us thanksgiving to God.

53:30.920 --> 53:33.700
So when God does end up blessing you financially,

53:33.900 --> 53:35.280
when you get a promotion at work,

53:35.600 --> 53:37.160
when your bills are paid,

53:37.360 --> 53:40.180
when you get that unexpected bonus, money, whatever,

53:40.640 --> 53:41.980
we are to thank God.

53:42.340 --> 53:43.740
We are to praise God.

53:44.260 --> 53:47.640
We are to be always thankful to the Lord

53:47.640 --> 53:48.800
for the things that He gives us.

53:49.360 --> 53:52.540
And sometimes we try to separate our lives

53:52.540 --> 53:54.000
from a carnal and a spiritual.

53:54.680 --> 53:57.720
Look, God giving you a job is a blessing.

53:57.980 --> 53:59.160
It's something to thank God for.

53:59.300 --> 54:00.820
He cares about your real job.

54:01.020 --> 54:02.180
He cares about your knowledge.

54:02.280 --> 54:03.240
He cares about your promotions.

54:03.400 --> 54:04.300
He cares about your work.

54:04.540 --> 54:05.540
He cares about your business.

54:05.680 --> 54:07.100
He cares about everything about you.

54:07.480 --> 54:08.740
And you know what, you should be thankful

54:08.740 --> 54:10.060
to God for these things.

54:11.920 --> 54:13.940
But if you don't work hard,

54:14.080 --> 54:15.180
you don't follow God's commandments,

54:15.520 --> 54:16.780
you're not a generous person.

54:16.780 --> 54:17.980
When you're not preaching the gospel,

54:18.320 --> 54:20.380
well then you shouldn't really expect to God

54:20.380 --> 54:21.700
to be that generous to you

54:21.700 --> 54:24.360
and have all grace abound toward you.

54:24.980 --> 54:26.040
You know, I want that grace.

54:26.820 --> 54:27.360
What is grace?

54:27.500 --> 54:28.300
I don't deserve it.

54:28.980 --> 54:29.580
It's a blessing.

54:30.040 --> 54:30.960
I didn't earn it.

54:31.360 --> 54:31.840
It's grace.

54:32.880 --> 54:34.680
You know, there's a lot of things in my life

54:35.080 --> 54:38.300
that I've probably in my past especially thought,

54:38.560 --> 54:40.160
well, I kind of got this because of me.

54:40.640 --> 54:42.840
And in hindsight, I'm realizing it was grace.

54:43.840 --> 54:45.620
I'm realizing it was God helping me

54:45.620 --> 54:46.440
and blessing me.

54:47.160 --> 54:49.620
You know, it's like someone doing investments

54:49.620 --> 54:53.160
for the first time and a bull market, okay?

54:53.860 --> 54:55.420
And this may go over a lot of people's heads,

54:55.560 --> 54:58.040
but it's like, a lot of people like to try

54:58.040 --> 55:00.340
and play the stock market for the first time, okay?

55:00.380 --> 55:02.260
And there's this thing called a bull market, a bear market.

55:02.740 --> 55:06.060
A bull market means the market's just going up, okay?

55:06.140 --> 55:07.560
It doesn't matter what's happened, just going up.

55:07.860 --> 55:09.880
A bear market means going down, no matter what.

55:10.300 --> 55:12.640
And some people they think like, oh, I'm just so smart.

55:12.640 --> 55:14.920
So they start buying money, buying stocks

55:14.920 --> 55:16.600
and investing during a bull market.

55:17.020 --> 55:18.420
And they're like, this is easy money,

55:19.000 --> 55:20.440
but they've never really done it before.

55:20.640 --> 55:23.880
And they don't realize that a bear market's coming, okay?

55:24.220 --> 55:26.280
And they end up just losing even way more

55:26.280 --> 55:28.560
than they ever gained in their little bull market

55:28.560 --> 55:30.580
because they're just immature and silly

55:30.580 --> 55:32.500
and they don't realize what's going on.

55:32.880 --> 55:34.500
And I think for a lot of people,

55:34.960 --> 55:36.840
they have good things going on in their life

55:36.840 --> 55:37.740
and they think it's because of them

55:37.740 --> 55:38.700
and they don't realize it's God.

55:39.020 --> 55:40.600
And when they don't give God the glory

55:40.600 --> 55:42.160
and when they're not seeking the Lord,

55:42.680 --> 55:44.000
that bear market's gonna come

55:44.000 --> 55:46.200
and they're gonna realize, wow, I wasn't that special.

55:46.480 --> 55:47.920
Wow, I wasn't really that smart.

55:48.160 --> 55:49.640
Wow, I wasn't some genius

55:50.300 --> 55:52.320
and I don't really know that much

55:52.320 --> 55:54.600
and I actually need God's favor and God's wisdom

55:54.600 --> 55:55.460
and God's blessing.

55:58.020 --> 55:59.600
It's easy to get puffed up,

55:59.760 --> 56:02.060
it's easy to think that you're special,

56:02.300 --> 56:05.040
but we need to have grace and we need to have humility

56:05.040 --> 56:06.240
and we need to realize that the blessings

56:06.240 --> 56:07.080
are coming from God.

56:07.880 --> 56:09.400
He says here in verse number 12

56:09.400 --> 56:10.920
for the administration of this service

56:10.920 --> 56:12.720
not only is applied at the one of the saints

56:13.360 --> 56:16.400
but is abundant also by many thanksgivings under God

56:16.400 --> 56:19.120
while by the experiment of this administration

56:19.120 --> 56:21.200
they glorify God for your profess objection

56:21.200 --> 56:22.220
under the gospel of Christ

56:22.220 --> 56:24.920
and for your liberal distribution under them

56:24.920 --> 56:26.320
and under all men

56:26.320 --> 56:28.020
and by their prayer for you

56:28.020 --> 56:29.620
which long after you

56:29.620 --> 56:31.120
for the exceeding grace of God in you.

56:31.300 --> 56:33.420
Now again, this language is very difficult

56:34.000 --> 56:37.120
but I believe what he's trying to say here

56:37.640 --> 56:41.100
is that not only is this ministry

56:41.100 --> 56:42.700
not only is what's happening

56:43.300 --> 56:46.220
are we gonna be able to thank God for the actual money?

56:46.740 --> 56:49.220
Okay, so it's like you got saints in Jerusalem,

56:50.500 --> 56:51.940
Corinth gives them money.

56:52.380 --> 56:55.800
Well, Corinth can say thanks for the money, right?

56:56.300 --> 56:58.020
That's one really obvious thing

56:58.020 --> 57:00.900
that we can all thank God that I got money

57:01.480 --> 57:05.020
but more than just being thankful for getting money

57:05.740 --> 57:08.200
they're thankful that the Corinth church

57:08.200 --> 57:10.300
is spiritually mature enough

57:10.880 --> 57:12.360
and seeking the Lord so much

57:12.360 --> 57:14.660
that they will want to actually give a gift

57:15.140 --> 57:17.720
that they're thankful to God for this service as well

57:17.720 --> 57:20.780
because it's exercising their spiritual maturity,

57:21.080 --> 57:24.140
it's exercising their willingness to serve God

57:24.580 --> 57:26.420
and of course by them giving to the Lord

57:26.420 --> 57:28.120
it's gonna cause them to seek the Lord more

57:28.120 --> 57:30.400
and for God to bound more grace towards them

57:30.400 --> 57:31.900
and to do good under them.

57:31.900 --> 57:34.980
It's kind of like kids sometimes don't even realize this

57:34.980 --> 57:38.260
or maybe employees don't always realize this.

57:38.480 --> 57:39.840
Sometimes you're being tested.

57:40.340 --> 57:42.400
Sometimes you're being tested by a parent

57:42.400 --> 57:44.260
or an employer or whatever,

57:44.440 --> 57:46.700
they give you a little bit and they see how you handle it

57:47.180 --> 57:50.080
and you don't know that they wanna give you so much more

57:50.080 --> 57:51.520
and they're just seeing how you do with it.

57:51.900 --> 57:53.320
It's like the parable of the talents.

57:53.780 --> 57:55.260
God gives the one, five and 10

57:55.770 --> 57:57.600
and it was really to see who he's gonna give

57:57.600 --> 57:58.900
10 cities to

57:59.740 --> 58:01.640
and it's like you're so excited

58:01.640 --> 58:03.540
not only do they gain the 10 pounds.

58:03.980 --> 58:05.480
Good job, you got the 10 pounds,

58:05.720 --> 58:07.100
that was good and I'll say thanks for that

58:07.100 --> 58:08.580
but what we were really trying to do

58:08.580 --> 58:09.840
is we really wanted to give you 10 cities

58:10.520 --> 58:12.240
and so it's like, hey, this church,

58:12.500 --> 58:14.580
God wants to bless with so much more grace

58:14.580 --> 58:15.540
and so much more money

58:15.540 --> 58:17.140
and so much more spiritual blessings

58:17.680 --> 58:20.620
but they're not gonna get there until they do this task

58:21.140 --> 58:23.580
and so the saints in Jerusalem are not only thanking God

58:23.580 --> 58:25.480
that they got the money, that they got the relief

58:25.480 --> 58:27.160
that they're gonna be able to accomplish the work needed

58:27.160 --> 58:28.940
but they're thankful that this church

58:28.940 --> 58:31.840
is gonna now be abounding in more spiritual blessings

58:31.840 --> 58:32.980
and more spiritual graces

58:32.980 --> 58:36.060
and that God can pour out onto them even more than they need

58:36.060 --> 58:39.460
because they've been faithful in God's word.

58:40.140 --> 58:41.820
And you know, more important to a parent often

58:42.360 --> 58:45.340
is, you know, their kids being good kids.

58:46.420 --> 58:48.660
It's like, it's like Mother's Day.

58:49.260 --> 58:53.040
You know, your mom will be thankful

58:53.040 --> 58:54.400
for the gift you gave them

58:54.980 --> 58:56.680
but you know what, they're more thankful

58:57.120 --> 58:58.640
that you gave them a gift

58:59.060 --> 59:01.860
meaning that you love them and you were thinking about them.

59:02.200 --> 59:05.180
So it's like, they're just happy that you're on a good path

59:05.180 --> 59:06.400
and that you're a good child.

59:06.940 --> 59:10.620
They care more about that than they did the actual gift.

59:11.160 --> 59:12.320
It's like, thanks to the gift

59:12.320 --> 59:14.040
but I'm even more thankful

59:14.040 --> 59:15.760
that you wanted to give me a gift.

59:15.940 --> 59:17.780
I'm even more thankful that you thought of me.

59:17.960 --> 59:19.940
I'm even more thankful that you're a good daughter

59:19.940 --> 59:20.800
or you're a good son.

59:21.060 --> 59:23.000
I'm even more thankful that you're loving your kids.

59:23.000 --> 59:25.260
I'm even more thankful that you're walking in truth.

59:25.560 --> 59:27.160
And so it's just like he's trying to say,

59:27.540 --> 59:31.500
hey, yeah, not only does it supply the want of the saints.

59:31.820 --> 59:34.000
So not only is it actually just satisfying

59:34.000 --> 59:35.280
that financial request,

59:35.760 --> 59:39.400
but it's abundant also by many thanksgiving into God.

59:39.760 --> 59:43.440
He's saying, while the experiment of this administration,

59:43.600 --> 59:44.740
he's like, hey, it's like a test.

59:44.880 --> 59:47.280
We're experimenting to see how much faith

59:47.280 --> 59:48.000
you really have

59:48.000 --> 59:50.800
if you're gonna really follow God's commandments here.

59:51.340 --> 59:53.840
They glorify God in your professed subjection

59:53.840 --> 59:55.360
unto the gospel of Christ

59:55.360 --> 59:57.920
and for your liberal distribution in them and unto all men.

59:58.640 --> 59:59.880
And by their prayer for you,

59:59.980 --> 01:00:02.140
which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.

01:00:02.480 --> 01:00:04.320
So it's like, I'm praying that this church

01:00:04.320 --> 01:00:05.400
would be spiritually mature,

01:00:05.820 --> 01:00:07.180
which submit to the gospel,

01:00:07.520 --> 01:00:09.060
would be faithful to the word of God.

01:00:09.540 --> 01:00:10.520
I want them to do this.

01:00:10.660 --> 01:00:12.960
And then by them giving the money,

01:00:13.440 --> 01:00:15.480
they're saying, wow, not only I get this money,

01:00:16.040 --> 01:00:17.000
my prayers are working.

01:00:17.120 --> 01:00:18.040
They are growing in the Lord.

01:00:18.100 --> 01:00:18.720
They are mature.

01:00:18.800 --> 01:00:19.840
They do love the gospel.

01:00:19.840 --> 01:00:20.940
This was a test.

01:00:21.080 --> 01:00:24.020
This was an experiment to see how much they really love God

01:00:24.020 --> 01:00:25.340
and how much they really love the gospel

01:00:25.340 --> 01:00:27.140
and they passed the test.

01:00:27.820 --> 01:00:29.640
And so thanks so much to God

01:00:29.640 --> 01:00:31.520
that not only did we supply the want

01:00:31.520 --> 01:00:32.600
of the need of the saints,

01:00:32.720 --> 01:00:34.400
but more importantly that their heart was tested

01:00:34.400 --> 01:00:35.640
and it came out gold.

01:00:36.200 --> 01:00:37.420
Because at the end of the day,

01:00:37.680 --> 01:00:40.340
it's like God wants you to give the 10 talents

01:00:40.340 --> 01:00:41.180
and work with them

01:00:41.180 --> 01:00:43.040
and gain more 10 talents in this world.

01:00:43.320 --> 01:00:44.080
But you know what?

01:00:44.160 --> 01:00:46.860
He cares more about, oh wow, that's a good heart

01:00:47.380 --> 01:00:49.120
that I can bless in the future.

01:00:49.120 --> 01:00:51.480
And I'm just more excited about their maturity

01:00:51.480 --> 01:00:53.280
and their heart and their service to God

01:00:53.280 --> 01:00:54.940
and this objection to the gospel than anything.

01:00:55.800 --> 01:00:58.520
And you have to realize that this life in some ways

01:00:58.520 --> 01:00:59.280
is just an experiment.

01:01:00.740 --> 01:01:02.000
You're just being tested.

01:01:02.640 --> 01:01:03.780
You're going through an experiment.

01:01:04.540 --> 01:01:05.820
And what is that experiment?

01:01:06.360 --> 01:01:09.380
The experiment is when given complete free choice

01:01:09.380 --> 01:01:10.280
and complete free will

01:01:10.280 --> 01:01:11.320
and you can do whatever you want

01:01:11.320 --> 01:01:13.980
in a country that has the most freedoms at this time

01:01:13.980 --> 01:01:15.160
with the most prosperity

01:01:15.780 --> 01:01:17.560
and the most excuses,

01:01:17.560 --> 01:01:18.520
the most vanity,

01:01:19.020 --> 01:01:20.080
what will you choose to do?

01:01:20.660 --> 01:01:22.040
Will you go to church on Wednesday night?

01:01:23.600 --> 01:01:24.900
Will you go soul winning this week?

01:01:25.760 --> 01:01:26.700
Will you read your Bible?

01:01:27.680 --> 01:01:29.200
When your husband asks you to do something

01:01:29.200 --> 01:01:31.060
you don't want to do, will you say yes, Lord?

01:01:32.660 --> 01:01:34.000
When your parents aren't looking,

01:01:34.560 --> 01:01:35.740
are you going to obey their rules?

01:01:36.780 --> 01:01:37.900
Are you going to work hard?

01:01:38.300 --> 01:01:40.380
When your boss isn't looking, are you going to work hard?

01:01:42.300 --> 01:01:44.160
Are you going to accomplish the things that you said?

01:01:45.800 --> 01:01:46.700
You're being tested.

01:01:47.080 --> 01:01:48.340
We're all being tested right now.

01:01:48.740 --> 01:01:50.180
Will you continue going to church?

01:01:50.400 --> 01:01:51.420
Where will you be in five years?

01:01:51.540 --> 01:01:52.580
Will you be on the 10 year plaque?

01:01:53.520 --> 01:01:55.220
Will you die a faithful Christian?

01:01:55.860 --> 01:01:57.960
You are being tested.

01:01:58.600 --> 01:02:01.040
Oh, I would love to give money to somebody, okay?

01:02:01.500 --> 01:02:02.880
Here's the person, here's the time.

01:02:03.060 --> 01:02:04.000
Are you going to write the check?

01:02:05.320 --> 01:02:07.480
You know, that's what's happening in this is,

01:02:07.880 --> 01:02:08.880
hey, this is an experiment.

01:02:09.000 --> 01:02:09.680
This is a test.

01:02:10.240 --> 01:02:10.780
Who are you?

01:02:11.660 --> 01:02:12.880
What's really going on?

01:02:13.200 --> 01:02:14.440
And you know, you're not usually tested

01:02:14.440 --> 01:02:16.820
by the good things, the easy things.

01:02:16.900 --> 01:02:18.620
You're tested by the hard things, by the difficulties.

01:02:19.080 --> 01:02:20.940
Hey, when there's protestors, we still go to church.

01:02:21.520 --> 01:02:23.160
Hey, when your job is asking you questions

01:02:23.160 --> 01:02:24.060
on where you go to church.

01:02:25.100 --> 01:02:26.620
I don't know, somebody told me, they were like,

01:02:27.600 --> 01:02:29.320
they were like, there was a paper that said

01:02:29.320 --> 01:02:30.400
something about steadfast, better church.

01:02:30.500 --> 01:02:31.820
And they're like, hey, don't you go to this church?

01:02:31.960 --> 01:02:32.140
Whatever.

01:02:34.180 --> 01:02:36.220
Like, I know not the man, you know what I mean?

01:02:41.520 --> 01:02:43.840
I mean, hey, you know Christ?

01:02:44.440 --> 01:02:45.520
Do you believe the Bible?

01:02:46.380 --> 01:02:48.880
You know, are you going to support the man of God?

01:02:49.020 --> 01:02:50.260
Are you not going to support the man of God?

01:02:50.300 --> 01:02:51.140
Are you going to believe the Bible?

01:02:51.260 --> 01:02:52.120
Are you not going to believe the Bible?

01:02:52.460 --> 01:02:54.180
Are you going to marry who God wants you to marry?

01:02:54.620 --> 01:02:55.480
Are you not going to?

01:02:55.580 --> 01:02:56.480
Are you going to obey your husband?

01:02:56.640 --> 01:02:57.260
Are you not going to?

01:02:57.500 --> 01:02:59.400
You know, some people are having some tough tests.

01:03:00.840 --> 01:03:02.980
Do you stay married when you have a screwed up marriage?

01:03:05.020 --> 01:03:06.980
The answer is yes, by the way.

01:03:07.700 --> 01:03:09.140
Do you commit fornication?

01:03:10.660 --> 01:03:10.980
No.

01:03:11.740 --> 01:03:12.560
Do you do drugs?

01:03:12.740 --> 01:03:13.660
Do you go back to the alcohol?

01:03:14.100 --> 01:03:15.900
Do you stay away from the people

01:03:15.900 --> 01:03:18.260
that 1 Corinthians 5 is telling you to stay away from?

01:03:19.800 --> 01:03:21.240
Do you stay faithful to church?

01:03:21.940 --> 01:03:23.540
Are you reading your Bible consistently?

01:03:24.480 --> 01:03:26.100
You know, these things you're being tested on

01:03:26.100 --> 01:03:27.180
and we see who you really are,

01:03:27.180 --> 01:03:28.280
what your character is really like.

01:03:28.840 --> 01:03:29.580
And you know what?

01:03:29.960 --> 01:03:31.380
Not only is this church passing

01:03:31.840 --> 01:03:32.900
by just giving the money,

01:03:32.940 --> 01:03:34.980
they're passing by their subjection under the gospel.

01:03:35.360 --> 01:03:36.840
They care about the gospel succeeding.

01:03:37.520 --> 01:03:38.160
Hey, how do you,

01:03:38.260 --> 01:03:39.220
what do you think about this missionary?

01:03:39.440 --> 01:03:40.260
Are you going to support this missionary

01:03:40.260 --> 01:03:41.040
when times are tough?

01:03:41.480 --> 01:03:42.480
Are you going to give to the Lord

01:03:42.480 --> 01:03:43.200
when times are tough?

01:03:45.000 --> 01:03:47.140
You know, hey, oh, money's getting tight.

01:03:47.340 --> 01:03:49.220
Are you still going to, you know, go to church

01:03:49.780 --> 01:03:51.800
and preach the gospel and do the right things?

01:03:52.420 --> 01:03:53.420
You know, you're being tested.

01:03:55.160 --> 01:03:56.140
He says in verse 15,

01:03:56.300 --> 01:03:57.920
thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

01:03:58.320 --> 01:04:01.200
You know, it's not like God's going to ask you

01:04:01.200 --> 01:04:02.340
to do something he's not willing to do.

01:04:03.280 --> 01:04:04.360
You know, when he was tested,

01:04:04.920 --> 01:04:07.620
when Jesus was tested, he succeeded.

01:04:08.560 --> 01:04:11.300
When he was in the garden, not wanting,

01:04:11.840 --> 01:04:15.140
he said, not my will, but thine be done.

01:04:16.160 --> 01:04:17.440
He was willing to go on the cross.

01:04:17.600 --> 01:04:19.120
He was willing to learn obedience.

01:04:19.580 --> 01:04:20.960
He was willing to submit himself

01:04:20.960 --> 01:04:22.360
and subject himself under the gospel.

01:04:23.040 --> 01:04:25.140
And as the Bible describes it in an unspeakable gift,

01:04:25.600 --> 01:04:27.180
it's kind of hard to even understand what that means.

01:04:27.840 --> 01:04:29.880
But the Bible uses that language in other places.

01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:33.120
It says about, you know, unspeakable words in chapter 12.

01:04:33.380 --> 01:04:35.580
It talks about joy unspeakable in 1 Peter 1.

01:04:35.940 --> 01:04:38.740
It talks about Romans 8, words that cannot be uttered.

01:04:39.000 --> 01:04:41.240
In Ephesians 3, it talks about knowledge,

01:04:41.580 --> 01:04:43.240
or things that pass the knowledge

01:04:43.660 --> 01:04:44.940
or pass all understanding.

01:04:45.720 --> 01:04:47.160
I think what it's trying to say

01:04:47.160 --> 01:04:49.660
is that while we can communicate the gospel

01:04:49.660 --> 01:04:51.300
and while we can talk about God's gift,

01:04:51.720 --> 01:04:54.720
words alone are almost insufficient

01:04:55.480 --> 01:04:58.680
to how sacrificial, how generous,

01:04:59.220 --> 01:05:00.820
and how good God's gift was.

01:05:01.560 --> 01:05:04.420
It's almost like it's indescribable in a sense.

01:05:05.060 --> 01:05:05.980
We do our best.

01:05:06.420 --> 01:05:08.080
The Bible describes it for us,

01:05:08.260 --> 01:05:11.860
but it's almost like you can't say enough good things

01:05:11.860 --> 01:05:12.560
about the gospel,

01:05:12.760 --> 01:05:15.200
enough about how good God's gift was to us.

01:05:15.620 --> 01:05:17.720
And that should be our picture and motivation

01:05:17.720 --> 01:05:19.740
for the things that we do when we give,

01:05:19.880 --> 01:05:21.520
when we sacrifice, when we're obedient,

01:05:21.680 --> 01:05:22.800
when we subject ourselves.

01:05:23.440 --> 01:05:24.920
And you know, don't despise the people

01:05:24.920 --> 01:05:26.300
that are sent to you in your life

01:05:26.900 --> 01:05:29.840
to prepare you for the works

01:05:29.840 --> 01:05:30.880
and the gifts that you have to do.

01:05:31.840 --> 01:05:33.840
Hey, we're sending these people to you to give this gift.

01:05:33.840 --> 01:05:35.380
But you know, let's take that application

01:05:35.380 --> 01:05:36.440
to all areas of our life.

01:05:36.560 --> 01:05:38.500
Don't despise the parents God gave you

01:05:38.870 --> 01:05:39.980
to prepare you for life.

01:05:40.360 --> 01:05:42.360
Don't despise the pastor and the ministers

01:05:42.360 --> 01:05:43.980
and the preachers that God gave you.

01:05:44.520 --> 01:05:47.320
Don't despise the people in your life

01:05:47.320 --> 01:05:48.780
that have been given to you to help prepare.

01:05:49.100 --> 01:05:52.180
You prepare and realize that you are being tested.

01:05:52.280 --> 01:05:53.920
You are going through an experiment right now

01:05:53.920 --> 01:05:56.160
of your Christian life and who are you.

01:05:56.460 --> 01:05:58.580
And whatever you do now in this life

01:05:58.580 --> 01:06:00.240
is gonna follow in the next.

01:06:00.560 --> 01:06:02.600
Your rewards, your place in heaven,

01:06:03.340 --> 01:06:05.060
how pleased God is with you.

01:06:05.180 --> 01:06:07.460
And you know what, I hope that many of us,

01:06:07.840 --> 01:06:10.640
if not all of us, Jesus and God will look at

01:06:10.640 --> 01:06:12.720
and say, well done, the good and faithful servant.

01:06:13.540 --> 01:06:15.320
It's not slave, because it's King James Bible,

01:06:15.500 --> 01:06:15.820
you know what I mean?

01:06:18.880 --> 01:06:19.280
Servant.

01:06:21.840 --> 01:06:23.660
And you know, I just, you know,

01:06:23.760 --> 01:06:25.760
this is a kind of a easy chapter.

01:06:25.940 --> 01:06:27.460
Just kind of skip over and not worry about

01:06:27.460 --> 01:06:28.580
and not really think that much about.

01:06:28.840 --> 01:06:31.120
But let us just think about, you know,

01:06:31.120 --> 01:06:35.300
hey, am I preparing myself to do a good work for God?

01:06:35.420 --> 01:06:37.680
And you know, you're never gonna do something great

01:06:37.680 --> 01:06:38.540
for God on accident.

01:06:40.560 --> 01:06:41.820
We gotta prepare ourselves,

01:06:42.040 --> 01:06:44.120
we gotta plan to give a special gift.

01:06:44.600 --> 01:06:45.780
And you know what we're supposed to give?

01:06:46.140 --> 01:06:48.640
We're supposed to give our lives as a living sacrifice.

01:06:49.620 --> 01:06:54.240
So let us prepare, let us take the weight of our lives,

01:06:54.400 --> 01:06:56.240
let us recognize God as an unspeakable gift

01:06:56.240 --> 01:06:57.080
he's given into us.

01:06:57.420 --> 01:06:59.660
And let us do our best to give back to him.

01:07:01.120 --> 01:07:01.860
And you know what you do?

01:07:02.040 --> 01:07:03.400
He'll establish you and he'll bless you

01:07:03.400 --> 01:07:05.360
and he'll have all grace bound towards you

01:07:05.360 --> 01:07:06.500
and you'll have great rewards in heaven.

01:07:06.660 --> 01:07:11.020
I mean, it's a win-win, but it takes one thing, takes faith.

01:07:12.600 --> 01:07:13.760
Let us have great faith.

01:07:14.020 --> 01:07:14.460
Let's go some prayer.

01:07:14.580 --> 01:07:15.900
Thank you Heavenly Father so much for your word.

01:07:16.040 --> 01:07:17.340
Thank you so much for your unspeakable gift.

01:07:17.820 --> 01:07:19.700
Thank you for the sacrifice of your son

01:07:19.700 --> 01:07:20.980
and his willingness and obedience

01:07:21.420 --> 01:07:23.040
to die on the cross for our sins

01:07:23.040 --> 01:07:25.580
and be buried and rose again to empty himself

01:07:25.580 --> 01:07:29.040
of all riches and glory and just be a humble,

01:07:29.860 --> 01:07:31.900
unknown servant to be born in a manger

01:07:33.380 --> 01:07:36.540
to just rid himself of all the glory and riches

01:07:36.540 --> 01:07:39.100
and just come in the form of a humble servant.

01:07:39.640 --> 01:07:43.380
And I pray that we could too also have a desire of humility

01:07:43.380 --> 01:07:45.600
that we could have a desire to be serving

01:07:46.040 --> 01:07:48.220
that we could work hard, not for our own self

01:07:48.220 --> 01:07:50.260
or selfish gain, but rather to be a blessing

01:07:50.800 --> 01:07:51.680
to help others.

01:07:51.820 --> 01:07:53.800
I pray that when we give, we'd give out a cheerful heart.

01:07:54.080 --> 01:07:55.900
I pray that we'd bless ministries and churches

01:07:55.900 --> 01:07:58.600
and saints as we see opportunity

01:07:59.100 --> 01:08:01.040
that we'd have that cheerful and willing heart.

01:08:01.460 --> 01:08:02.880
I pray that you would not only prepare us

01:08:02.880 --> 01:08:05.260
for financial giving, but also that you prepare our hearts

01:08:05.800 --> 01:08:07.620
to give of ourselves, to give of our time,

01:08:07.700 --> 01:08:08.400
to give of our energy.

01:08:08.960 --> 01:08:10.540
I pray that you'd help prepare the young people

01:08:11.300 --> 01:08:13.700
to look up to their parents and to their pastor

01:08:13.700 --> 01:08:15.400
and to their teachers and to those

01:08:15.400 --> 01:08:16.520
that are ministering in their life

01:08:16.520 --> 01:08:17.860
to take their advice seriously.

01:08:18.440 --> 01:08:20.760
I pray that you'd help raise up a generation of people

01:08:20.760 --> 01:08:22.040
that love you, that work hard,

01:08:22.120 --> 01:08:22.920
that follow your commandments

01:08:23.440 --> 01:08:24.860
and that are very generous people.

01:08:24.860 --> 01:08:25.960
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.