Cheerful Giving

Something I think that we all do when we read the Bible, maybe even hear it preached. These new song books, it's interesting, while Caleb was announcing a song and using the red book, I had the other book. So I would look it up in the index, the song, and turn to that song in that different book.

And as I'm singing along, I'm realizing that some of the words have been changed in this book and it's different words. And so as I'm singing, what's interesting is I'm singing along and I'm looking at the words and yet I'm singing the words that I have in memory. And so I'm singing the word, even though I'm looking at the word, I'm singing the wrong thing that I'm looking at, which is kind of a strange feeling.

And so I'm singing the song out of what I know it's been sung for many, many years and I've sung it over and over again, but I'm not singing what it says in that book I'm looking at. And it just shows me the power of, you know, the way we were first taught something. And a lot of people, because the way they were first taught something in many different religious sects and groups, they come to the Bible and even though it says something, they can't get past it.

They can't get past it because they just, that's not the way I was taught and I just kind of don't see it. And so I was singing words that I was, I was looking at the word, but I wasn't singing the word. I was singing something that I was taught or something that was in my mind already.

And so that's something we need to be careful of when we read the Bible. A lot of people read the Bible and you look at something and they're like, can't you see that? No, I don't see that at all. Because of all the ways I've been taught.

So it's a real challenge just to say, okay, I'm going to sing this song the way it's written. And that's the way we ought to come to the Bible. Accept it the way it's written and change our past, renew our mind, and to think properly.

So let's look at 2 Corinthians chapter eight. This morning, we're moving right along. 2 Corinthians chapter eight.

And we're going to be talking some here about giving, about generosity, about equality. And these are always challenging times. We don't spend a lot of time here talking about money.

We don't pass an offering plate. By the way, some of you are new. There's a box back there.

It's kind of hidden and that's good. Up on the top of the mailbox is there. You can't even see the slots.

But we do, if you'd like to contribute, we do have three slots there. There's the first three slots. The first one is for the ministry, which is myself right now.

And if you'd like to give an offering for the ministry, you can put it in that slot. The second slot is for the general fund, which deals with all of our bills that we pay. We're paying off this building.

We're plastics and cups and all the things, the heating bill. That goes from the general fund. And then there's a third slot, which is the alms.

And the alms fund is used for people who have needs. Maybe there's a special need, a medical bill, or someone has a special need. It comes out of the alms fund.

So feel free if you'd like. And we're gonna talk some about that because Paul is addressing that here in this chapter and even into the next chapter. So we'll be talking about these type of things here for the next, well, actually next week, we'll be up in Fredericktown next Sunday.

So 2 Corinthians and chapter number eight. We're gonna start in verse number one, and I'm going to go down through here to verse number 15 today. We'll take a big chunk.

But before I do, I want to give you some background because this is important, some background information. There evidently is a dearth of some kind. You might remember Agabus who came to the church at Antioch.

He mentioned a great dearth coming in all the world and especially there in some of that region. But there was some dearth and famine in and around Israel and in and around Jerusalem during the time here of Paul. And there were struggling Christians.

There were struggling Christians in Jerusalem and in around that area. And Paul has a burden for these struggling Christians. And if you remember in the book of Acts, we did touch on this a little bit.

But in Romans chapter 15 here, Paul writes a letter to the Romans. You don't have to turn there, but he says, "'But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints, "'for it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia.'" Now we're gonna see those two because the church at Corinth is from Achaia. "'It has pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia "'to make a certain contribution for the poor saints "'which are at Jerusalem.'" So there's things going on in Jerusalem.

Now there are still saints at Jerusalem. I know probably 20 years prior that Saul came through and made havoc at the church and saints were spread all over the place and went everywhere. And it says the apostles stayed there in Jerusalem, but there is a church there in Jerusalem.

And I don't know how many saints are there in Jerusalem, but these saints are going through some difficult time. And I'm just gonna throw this out. I know I emphasized this as we went through the book of Acts, but you remember that Paul should not have made this trip down to Jerusalem.

Do you remember the spirit said to him a couple of times, don't go to Jerusalem. And we talked some about that, but he went ahead anyway, and he went to Jerusalem. Now this letter, this letter in 2 Corinthians is written around 57 AD.

Now think about this for a minute. It's written around 57 AD, what we're gonna read today. And we know from history that Jerusalem is going to be destroyed, literally destroyed in 70 AD.

That's 13 years. And that time goes by pretty fast. So 13 years.

So as Paul's writing, his concern is about these struggling saints in Jerusalem, but keeping in mind, I don't know if Paul does, he knows it's coming, but he doesn't know the timeframe. But we do keeping in mind that 13 years from now, this whole city is gonna be leveled and the saints are gonna be scattered. I want to read to you here, just by way of a background, what Jesus said in Luke chapter number 19 about this coming destruction.

Luke 19, he says, and when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it saying, if thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the day shall come upon me that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and can pass thee around about and keep thee in on every side, besiege your city and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee. And they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

So the Lord has already prophesied. He didn't give a date here, but he already has said that Jerusalem is gonna be leveled. And of course, historically, in the writings of historians, you'll see this being one that in 70 AD, the Roman army came in, surrounded the city and basically destroyed the whole place.

And the Jews were scattered, the great diaspora, the Jews were scattered all over the known world. Many of them were killed. And remember, Jesus gave a sign.

He said, listen to those who are Christians. And when you see Jerusalem come past with armies in Luke 21, know that the desolation thereof is near. Let them which be in Jerusalem flee into the mountains.

And so that was a sign and it happened just that way. And they had an opportunity, those who were left to get out. And so, and I'm just throwing this out by way of a speculation.

You know, Paul's heading down there to Jerusalem. We know that he's not really to go down there, but he's bringing this offering for these poor saints in Jerusalem. And as I put this together, the message, I just began to think about the possibility.

You know how the Lord works. He's gonna judge. If you're thinking of you're the Lord, you're gonna judge Jerusalem.

You know, it's 70 AD and you got your people. Some of the Christians are still there. And so you're trying to get them out.

You know, you don't want them to wait till the last minute, although he gives them a sign. Here, I'm warning you to get out of town. And so there's a good chance, this from my perspective, that this poverty, this famine, this great difficulty is coming to these saints to try to get them out of town.

Remember the prodigal son. He was the famine in the land. He was eating the husk of the swine to eat it.

And it moved him. It moved him to say, I'm gonna go back to my father. I'm going to get out of town.

And so I'm just speculating here, but here's Paul taking relief to these poor saints that maybe the Lord is trying to get out of town. Now, I know that's kind of a strange thought there, but you know, there is the perfect will of God and there is the permissible will of God. I believe those things.

I believe that sometimes the Lord allows things. And here, Paul has a heart for these saints in Jerusalem and he's gonna go down and he's gonna get out of town. And the spirit of God is saying, don't go there.

Don't go there. He says, I'm going, I've got this offering. There's poor saints down there and that's a good heart.

But this trip to Jerusalem is not sanctioned. And we learned that as we went through the book of Acts. And so let's just keep that in mind as we go here to 2 Corinthians chapter number eight.

So judgment is coming and Paul has a concern here about these saints down in Jerusalem. So Paul is establishing churches and he's been establishing them. Do you remember he got the vision there in Acts to go to Macedonia and he travels to Macedonia.

He plants a church or two, three churches there. And then just south of Macedonia is Achaia and that's where the church at Corinth is. So you have Macedonia and Achaia and there's churches planted there.

There's God's people in different places. And so with that in mind, Paul wanting to help the saints. So if Paul established this church, he'd say, hey, there's saints, there's poor saints in Jerusalem.

Let's help them. Let's help them. Let's minister to them.

Let's take up an offering. And so with that foundation in mind, let's start reading here because he's gonna address this whole issue starting in verse number one. I'm gonna just go down through and teach this here.

Verse number one of chapter eight. Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. He's talking about the churches up north.

How then in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record. He likes to boast about his churches here.

For their power, I bear record. Yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves, praying with us much entreaty, with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God.

And so Paul here is making another boast and that's a good thing. He's making a boast of these churches in Macedonia. Macedonia is a little north, the KIA is bordering it on the south and there's churches.

I don't know how many churches there are. There may be five, there may be 10 churches, little churches, house churches, whatever, but the people of God are there. And these people, verse four says, they very much wanted to take part in this offering that was heading down to Jerusalem.

Look at verse four, praying with us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. So these churches in Macedonia had really got into this and Paul had told them about the poor saints there in Jerusalem and they were, yeah, let's do it, let's participate. And Paul, we would love you to take this offering, this gift down to these poor saints.

And so we have churches here that really desire to participate. I wanted to comment also in verse number two, it says, how then in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded under the riches of their liberality. Now, usually we don't think of joy and poverty together.

But here, the Bible teaches that joy does come through our willingness to give and to lay our life out for others. Usually we think of joy and riches going together, but the Bible doesn't put joy and riches together. The Bible puts joy, or excuse me, riches and sorrow together.

I thought about first Timothy chapter six, verse 10, it says, for the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Many sorrows. And you look out there, I think of these men who are extremely wealthy.

I think of Elon Musk. And if you've been following some of the things going on in the political world, Elon Musk seems to be a happy man, but he has some great sorrow. He has some great difficulty.

He had a son who committed suicide and was just involved in some transgender things. But if you go down the list, remember Howard Hughes and Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe and all these vastly wealthy people, you just look at the tragedies and the sorrows that they face in life. So the idea that riches is gonna make me a happy person is not always the case.

You don't need money to be happy. Amen. Jesus said, my joy give I unto you.

And he had nothing. He had nothing. As a matter of fact, if you look over here in chapter eight and look down with me to verse number nine, it says this, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor that you through his poverty.

Again, Jesus was impoverished that you through his poverty might be rich. And so Jesus can have joy. He says, my joy give unto you.

And yet he was one who was in poverty. Then we can live in a life of simplicity, a life of frugalness and have plenty of joy. Amen.

So we don't need to follow the course of this world that says that only riches are going to bring you happiness. So let's keep reading here in verse number six. In so much that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you this same grace also.

Now Titus, Paul is writing this letter to the Corinthian church. Titus is there. And Paul is desiring that Titus would finish in them this same grace.

I want you to have the same heart that the churches in Macedonia have. I want the church at Corinth to be generous and to participate in this offering that we're taking down to the poor saints in Jerusalem. So Macedonia, he starts out, Macedonia has done a great job.

I mean, I'm so impressed with Macedonia and the churches up there. Now you, Corinth, how about you? Let's see if you can participate in this offering. And I read these verses last week, but look ahead in chapter nine, verse one.

He says this to the church at Corinth, for as touching the ministering unto the saints, it is superfluous for me to write unto you, for I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boasted you to them of Macedonia. So he's not only boasting about Macedonia to Corinthian, he's boasting to the Corinthians about Macedonia. That Achaia was ready a year ago and your zeal hath provoked very many.

Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf, that as I said, you may be ready. Lest happily, if they of Macedonia come with me and find you unprepared, we that we say not ye shall be ashamed in this same confident boasting. So he's got two provinces with churches in each province and he's boasting about them and he's not in Corinth, but Titus is in Corinth and he's saying, Titus, Macedonia is doing great.

I'm coming to Corinth, I'm gonna pick up the money. And so just get things ready and encourage people to give. And we'll see how this story goes on here for the next couple of weeks.

And so Titus is there. Let's keep reading. I have some things I wanna challenge us all here.

I think this is a good challenge for every one of us here today, but let's keep reading in verse seven. It says this, therefore, as you abound in everything in faith and in utterance and knowledge and in all diligence and in your love to us, see that you abound in this grace also. So Paul recognizes that the grace of God is working in them in faith.

You all have great faith. In utterance, you're all speaking boldly. In knowledge, the grace of God is there too.

In diligence, the grace of God is there. In your love to us, the grace of God is there. Now see that you abound in this grace also, this grace of generosity and giving to the poor saints, which are there in Jerusalem.

Verse eight, I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others and to prove the sincerity of your love, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. Now he elevates the life of Christ here, and you can just imagine the life of Christ. Here he is sitting in heaven.

He's got all the wealth of heaven and the beauty of it all, and he chooses to come down and to be an impoverished individual. He didn't even have a home. It says, I have not a place to lay my head.

He didn't have probably an animal to ride. He basically had the shirt on his back, and he lived from day to day, probably taking whatever offerings it says there that many of the women were ministering unto him of their goods. He lived a very low life as far as we would think of it with regards to wealth.

He says, look at Jesus, and Jesus says, follow me. And so he's this example of someone who is vastly wealthy, but he laid it down for our sake. Amen, he laid it down, and he came to make us rich.

By the way, if you're a Christian, you're a joint heir with Christ, and so you're vastly wealthy. You've got nothing. Elon Musk has nothing on you.

You're a child of God, you know? So that's what the Lord did, and he uses him as an example. Jesus says here, I will be willing to be poor to make others rich. That's the heart of Jesus.

We have this example of Christ. Moses is a great example of this. Moses was in Pharaoh's house.

He was in line to be Pharaoh himself, and yet he walked away from it all, and he went down to be a slave with the children of Israel. My, what a decision. Says he made it by faith because he understood what real value was.

It's the whole idea of just losing our life for Jesus' sake and the gospel. I'm gonna read to you here a passage. First Timothy, you don't have to turn there.

First Timothy says this. Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded. Ah, I'm somebody, you know? I drive a nice car.

I live in a nice house, you know? You oughta look up to me. I'm high-minded. Charge them that are rich in this world, that they not be high-minded, nor trusted in certain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, and here's what the lesson is, that they do good, and that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.

That means communion, fellowship. Fellowship is not just what we have here. We talk to each other, but fellowship is sharing our goods.

It's communing, having all things in common, communicating, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. Lay hold on it. That means get a good chunk of it.

Entering the kingdom with, what's that word Peter says? A abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so being a giver, that's a good thing, especially if we have. Let's keep reading. I'm gonna get down here.

We'll have a lesson for us. I know this is already a lesson some, but let's keep reading, verse 10. And herein I give my advice, for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago.

Now, therefore, perform the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which you have. Now, a year ago, Paul says, there was a good start to this thing. A year ago, they were moving to gather up an offering, but it seems to be derailed.

You remember, you know how human nature is? Good intentions. Someone comes in here and presents a program like Suffering Saints somewhere in the world, and your heart's immediately like, wow, we should help them. Then you leave, and a week or two later, and we should help them, and well, we never get around to it, and that need never is addressed, or it's very little is addressed, and so Paul had evidently stirred them up to the need there in Jerusalem with the poor saints.

They had got excited about helping, but now a year has passed, and things have kind of dwindled. They had good intentions. They were willing, and so oftentimes, we see a need, and you intend to help, but you never get around to it.

Everybody experience that one? Oh, my, you know, I heard about so-and-so, and just never get around to it. I remember here in the church, met a lot of different people back then. What was it, 15 years ago? We read that down in Haiti, they were eating, they were making cookies out of clay, just mixing a little bit of food, and we read it, and some of the brothers said, man, that's awful.

Here we are eating these. We ought to do something. We got in a brother's meeting.

We signed three men. I think it was Brother Mannion and Brother Miller up there. Tim, Tim Miller and someone else.

We sent him to Haiti, gave him a couple thousand dollars to just go down there and feed people, these people in this area. We made a decision. We not only had a willingness, but we went ahead and we did something about it, and so they see there in Corinthians, they saw the need, but they had good intentions, but they never got around to it.

Now back in 1 Corinthians 16, and you have to turn there, it says this in verse one. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do you. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him and store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

So a year earlier, Paul had written and said, let's start this thing and let's get moving. Every Sunday, let's put together an offering and let's lay up and store as God has prospered you. Then verse three says, and when I come, whomsoever you shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.

So this is back in 1 Corinthians letter. Now it's 2 Corinthians letter, and Paul is concerned that there's not gonna be any money there when they get there. And so he's exhorting them.

Verse 12, for if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man has and not according to that he has not. Now this is an issue of the heart, a willing mind or a willing heart. Do you have a willing mind and a willing heart? You know, the idea of, yes, I want to help.

I want to help. And God accepts that heart. Yes, I want to help.

It says on the basis of what you have, not what you don't have. You know, I might say, oh, I would love to help, but I only have $2. Well, that's good.

And God accepts that on the basis of your $2. You know, you could say, I would love to help. And if I could have a million dollars, I know I don't have it.

If I have a million dollars, it'd be great. But just like the woman who came and offered up two mites. Bible says, Jesus said, she gave more than anybody else.

You know why? Because all she had was two mites. That's all she had. And when the Lord saw her heart, she gave all that she possessed.

Even though it was a small amount, it was everything she possessed. And that's how the Lord judges our giving. Is it sacrificial? It's a heart issue.

She had a willing heart. And so we need a willingness, a willingness to help others. That's a work of God's grace.

Look at 2 Corinthians 9 here. We'll get to this a little bit later. 2 Corinthians 9, talking about this very thing, starting in verse five.

"'Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren "'that they would go before unto you "'and make up beforehand your bounty, "'whereof you had noticed before "'that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty "'and not as of covetousness. "'But this I say, "'he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, "'and he which soweth bountifully "'shall reap also bountifully, "'every man according as he purposes in his heart.'" Now here's this willing heart. "'Every man give as he purposes in his heart, "'so let him give not grudgingly or of necessity, "'for God loves a cheerful giver.'" I like that, I like that.

I preached a sermon on that one time. I've told you this story. Cheerful giver, I look that up in the word, if you look it up in the concordance under cheerful, it's hilarious, hilarious.

God loves a hilarious giver. He says, not grudgingly. I'll pick on James again.

James, you got, you say, what, your car broke down? You don't have the money to fix it? All right, James, that's, did I help you last week? All right, I'll give you a little bit to help you out. There you go, grudgingly. You think God is pleased with that? Not at all, not grudgingly.

Even it says, it says, not of necessity. I have to, it's a need. I have to, I'm kind of like, I'm forced to.

Not of necessity, but God loves a cheerful giver. It's from the heart. And I remember you, I've heard you, I've told this story to you.

I was preaching at the Friends Church. My grandma was French. I was a young preacher.

I made mistakes back then, but I wanted to illustrate this. So I got, I think I got 50 or $100, $1 bills. And it came time to describe what a hilarious giver was.

So I pulled $100 bills. I just began to go out and just throw them all over the congregation like that. Kids were scrambling for the money.

And just being hilarious about my giving. God loves a hilarious or a cheerful giver. Not something that is forced upon you or not something we make a rule about that you have to do it.

And here's the difference between two words, communion and communism. Communion and, very similar, very, it's the same word, communion and communism. Communion is this.

I have a willful heart, a willing mind, and I come and I share my goods and give to my brother because it's coming from a cheerful heart. I'm not forced to, I'm not compelled to. I'm willingly giving.

That's the way God intends for us to give. However, the communist says, yeah, we need to share, but I'm gonna force you into sharing. I'm gonna take your goods.

If you've got a lot, I'm gonna give them to the one who doesn't have much. We're gonna make this equal, but it's a forced equality. It's a top-down equality instead of a bottom-up.

Like, I'm gonna just do this from my own heart. And so when you see these politicians, well, the Bible says we should have equality. The Bible says we should all share.

Yes, we should share out of the willingness of our own hearts, not because some politician says you're gonna take your money and give it to someone else. That's communism. And so this whole idea of equality, let's keep reading here in 2 Corinthians.

I wanna spend a little time here in verse 13. It says, for I mean not that others' men be eased and you burdened, but by an equality that now at this time your abundance, and they must have been doing well, may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there may be equality. Boy, that's a big word today, equality, equality.

Everybody wants to have this equality. Verse 15, as it is written, he that hath gathered much has nothing over, and he that hath gathered little has no lack. Now that's a story from the Old Testament.

We're gonna look at that here in just a minute. But equality that is a biblical equality comes from grace out of the human heart. It's a willing equality.

It's not a forced or imposed equality. So here's how it works, just by way of illustration. Let's take, well, we won't make names, but let's take a brother who had a very good year.

He prospered, he's doing well. And then you have another brother over here that's not doing well. I'm gonna share a little bit about being lazy here in just a minute, but we're not talking about lazy.

We're talking about two people who are trying to make it and trying to do their best. And so what happens, or what the Lord's desire of equality is is this individual, out of the abundance of their heart in grace, they see the situation and they cut off this part of their prosperity and they drop it in here. And all of a sudden, now there becomes an equality.

An equality. And this is something that gets praised to God. This is not a forced equality by some ruler or some government politician.

This brings praise to God. Lord, thank you for that dear brother. He shared out of his abundance and he helped me in my need.

I give glory to God. See how many communists over there in Russia and place are giving glory to God because of their forced equality. So this gives glory to God as we, with a free will, supply for our brother's need.

Now it should work by the spirit of God here. It should work in such a way as God compels us as we walk in the spirit by his grace to see people in this congregation and other congregations who are low, who are struggling, who have very little and those who have much to say, hey, I need to make some equality here. You know, I don't wanna live like way up here and my poor brother or sister's way down here and barely making it.

Let's level out the field. And it's not something that Pastor Jerry is forcing upon us by some rules. It's no, it's something that I, by faith, bring forth out of my own heart.

I say, I wanna do this, I just a cheerful giver. I love my brother and so I wanna help them. And I want there to be an equality.

Is that something in your heart today? Do you desire equality? I know there's people in here that struggle. Struggle, struggle to make it. And some here are doing really well.

And so the idea is you need to take off of your abundance and supply that which is lacking because as the Bible says, there's coming a day when you might end up on the lacking side and the one who's lacking will end up on the abundant side and you'll expect them to help you. And all to the glory of God. So the Lord here, thank you, James.

The Lord here is giving us an example. He says in verse number 15, as it is written, and he that hath gathered much has nothing over. And he that had gathered little had no lack.

It's talking about this story in Exodus 16. I'd like you to turn back there with me. And the Lord helped to teach us what this means in this story, Exodus 16, starting in verse number 17.

Now let's go back to verse 16 here. In Exodus 16, the children of Israel out in the wilderness, they're been delivered from Egypt. And here in verse 16, it says, this is the thing which the Lord hath commanded.

Gather, this man is coming down from heaven. He's feeding the people. Gather it of every man according to his eating, an omer for every man according to the number of your persons.

Take you every man for them which are in his tent. And the children of Israel did so and gathered. Notice this, some more and some less.

And when they did meet it with an omer, when they did measure it out, he that gathered much had nothing over. In other words, God did something here. He that, let's take an example.

You got a family here. I'm the head of the family. I got six boys that are rambunctious, Tommy and Zach, two of them.

And okay, boys, it's time to go out and let's gather up some manna today. And boy, they're really hard workers. And they're out and they're gathering and gathering and gathering.

And man, we get back and say, we got way too much. And we measured out and oh, that was interesting. It just kind of, this is what we needed.

And then you have this poor widow woman who is maybe paralyzed and she's wanting to go out and gather someone. And she gets out and maybe gets just two or three. And she puts that in her purse and she goes home with hers and hers is measured out and she's got 50 in now.

God did a miracle. Just like he did when the disciples fed the 5,000. He did a miracle with the basket.

And so those who had gathered much, they had no more extra. And those who gathered little, they had plenty. It all worked out.

And that's the heart of God, amen. So here we are sitting and some of you are gathering a lot, gathering. You're getting a lot of manna, you're young.

Maybe you're prosperous and things are working great. So okay, free will, let's say, let's level this playing field a bit. Some of you are gathering little and you need help.

And I believe by the spirit of the Lord, he wants to do the same work here in our congregation, amen. And so let's be mindful of that. And I'm not for a common purse.

There's some groups that try to do the common purse thing, but I'm for individuals responding to the grace of God in their heart. And they see what's happening. They look around, they see this person just doesn't have like we do.

Let's level the playing field. Let's make an equality here. And I'm not gonna get up here, you know, and ask everybody to give their income and how much money they have.

And so we're going to figure this whole thing out and we're gonna make an equality here. Half of you'd probably leave anyway. But I do think that we ought to be mindful of the fact that I have an abundance.

So I should choose by faith the right thing. Now, I want you to notice here in Exodus 16, something that's important. In verse 17, it says, and the children of Israel did so and gathered some more, some less.

And when they did meet it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over and he that gathered little had no lack. They gathered every man according to his eating. Notice this word gathered.

Everyone was out working. Here's the problem with our society. I want you to help me, bring me up to equality and I'm not willing to do any work.

Well, you know what the Bible says about that person? If any man does not work, what? Neither should he eat. And so everyone was out working or they did their best to, and I know some couldn't work as hard, but they tried whatever they could. And some could really work.

I mean, there's some people here that can really work. And so they worked. If you sit at home and do nothing, you should get nothing.

But if you're diligent and you're working and you're struggling, you should have a brotherhood and sisters who are mindful that, wait a second here, there should be an equality here. Something's not right. So there were no doubt here in this story, there were sick people, there were elderly people.

There were others who had problems that couldn't gather as much, you know? I can just imagine some of the young men and that's why I'm getting. And then some of the feeble people trying to get some stuff. And so let's be mindful.

I know the spirit of God in us is wanting to quicken us to that reality. Like he wants an equality, right? Am I on the right page here? Yes, an equality. So you look around and you see someone that just doesn't have it, doesn't have much and it's they're trying.

And you have plenty, you ought to say, whoa, whoa, whoa, let's just do something here. Let's, it's not right. And I think the early church was very mindful of that.

It says they had a daily ministration to the widows and they helped them. And there are some ladies here that don't have husbands. There are some single ladies here that don't have husbands.

Some of them don't have husbands. There's probably some brothers here that are struggling. I want to read to you a passage and tell you my story.

I've probably told it here 10 times, but again, some of you are new. You don't hear all my illustrations, but in Ephesians chapter four, it says this, "'Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that has need.'" Let him labor so he can get some of this to drop it down for the one who doesn't have. And so I'm working with Clifford Holmes, who was a very influential man in my life.

I went to Bible school, I was probably mid twenties and I met this gray head man about my age. And he was going back to Bible school. He was pastoring a church.

He wanted to learn more and going back to Bible school. He was a painting contractor. And so I met up with him and he wanted to hire me as a painter.

So I said, okay, I'll try painting. Never painted before in my life. So that was a challenge.

I started painting, but he was a man of the Bible, man of the word. All day long, he'd just share the word. We'd talk about all kinds of things and just had a love for the word of the Lord.

And never forget it, one day I'm painting this house and I think it was a Saturday or no, it was a Friday. And he was trying to get a job done and he said to me something like, I can still picture where I was standing. He said to me something like, hey Jerry, you know, I'd like to get this job done.

Do you think maybe you could work Saturday and help out and get the job done? And I don't know what exactly he was saying, said there, but some reason I said, no, I'm doing fine. You know, I don't need any extra hours. I'm paying my bills.

And you know, 25 year old kid, here's this 60 year old man, gray headed man who knows the Bible inside and out. And he just leveled me. You know, one of those rebukes from an older man basically said to me, listen, Bible says you're not to labor just for yourself, but to give to them that have need.

You know, you're just thinking about yourself. That's all you're thinking about. What about people who have need? Why don't you labor for them? Doesn't it say that? That he may have to give to him that has need.

I'll never forget that rebuke. Yes sir, I'll work tomorrow. And I'll build up a little bit so that I can drop some in here for that poor widow or that young man who has been sick for two or three months, hasn't been working.

He needs help. So here you've got the poor saints in Jerusalem. They're going through difficulty.

They're famine. There's poverty there and policies. Wait, wait a minute.

You in a KI, you in Macedonia, you're doing good. The economy is great. You guys are making lots of money.

It's time for some equality here. Let's take up offerings. Let's move some funds over to this part of the body.

You know, here's our body. You know, we want blood flowing to every member of the body. We don't want to starve members.

First John, you don't have to turn there. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Now some of us think of that as he got on a cross and that's true, but it also says that he left the riches in heaven, the treasure in heaven and came down to poverty.

He laid down his life for us. And then it goes on to say, but whoever has this world's goods and seeth his brother have need and shut it up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? How can we sit and have plenty when others have very little? And say the love of God is in me, right? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. So when Paul was trying to encourage these churches in Macedonia and Achaia, you guys, the economy's great here, you guys are doing well.

You have plenty. Hey, there's some poor saints over here. The body is struggling in this side.

Why don't you guys take some of that stuff and drop it in here? And Paul says, I'll take the offering. You know, there wasn't any PayPal back then or cash apps. Can you imagine him taking all that? It was probably gold and silver and traveling down to Jerusalem.

Well, let us not love in word, neither in tongue. You know what? Good intentions. Oh, I'm sorry, brother.

I'm sorry, sister. You're struggling so much. You know, I would like to help you.

Yeah, I think I want to do something, but then a week, two goes by and we forget it. And that person keeps going on and on and on. You have good intentions.

I don't think anybody here doesn't have good intentions, but it says here, let us not love in word. God bless you. May the Lord bless you and provide for you or in tongue, but in deed.

In deed and in truth. Good intentions, but no action. So maybe we could do more of that here.

You know? Who needs this, right? And help out. You probably know people right here that are having a hard time financially. And you're doing well.

Got plenty in the bank. Well, maybe it's time to start moving things around. And it's not something we're going to do here and force and rule, but maybe the spirit of the Lord says, time for me to move a few things around here and help some people out.

That there may be unequality. And I believe that's God's heart. And it's not a forced equality.

It's an equality where a brother will come or doesn't even, hey, here's the best way to do it. Drop it in that alms back there in that third container and put on there a name and just say, I don't want to know. I don't want anybody to know my name.

Know what the left hand, know what the right hand does. And I want this person to be blessed. And that person will receive it.

And you know what they'll do? Good chance they'll say, praise be to God. Thank you, Lord. Right? And you'll get rewarded for it and they'll glorify God.

And it'll all work out. So let's do more of that. Let's be mindful of where everybody's at in their situation and strive for equality.

All right, we'll pick up. We're gonna take another couple of weeks. Although next week, we're gonna be over in Fredericktown.

But we'll be talking about this subject for a few weeks. All right, do we have good intentions? Shall we move past intentions to good works and deeds? Well, here's the thing. The good thing about this is that we'll talk about it in two weeks and probably in three weeks.

So we'll be able to remind us to help. And all right, let's have a word of prayer. And we'll open it up for anyone who'd like to share.

Lord, we thank you for the instructions in your word. Lord, these dear people there went out to gather the manna. And how you taught us that some can get a lot.

Some can't get a lot. And we need to share and have an equality. So Lord, may the spirit of God here in this congregation, just right here, I ask that the spirit of the Lord would work in my heart and others' hearts that those who are low can be lifted up.

Those who are struggling can be lifted up and can be helped. And those who have can be rewarded for their gracious heart and their spirit, responding to the spirit of God that's in them. So Lord, work in us mightily to do your will for your honor and glory.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.