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Number two, we'll read just two
verses as Paul is writing the church as church at Corinth,
and that means the saints that's there, of course, and he's given
some instructions right here. And so let's read two verses
of 1 Corinthians chapter 16 tonight. 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse
number one, verse number two. First Corinthians chapter 16
verse one, now concerning the collection for the saints as
I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week,
let every one of you lay by him in store as God has prospered
him that there be no gatherings when I come. You may be seated
tonight. We are dealing with the will of God as far as the
series that we're talking about, the will of God as Paul had prayed
for the saints the Hebrew saints and requested his desire for
them was that they might do the will of God. That they do, that
means to pursue a course of action in the will of God. And that's
our desire for you, that's God's desire for us. And sometimes
that's a hard thing to know. What is the will of God for my
life? If we're gonna find the will
of God for our life, we need to start with the written will.
We'll never know the unwritten will of God until we're willing
to pursue a course of action in the written will of God. We'll
never know the unwritten will of God until we pursue a course
of action in the written will. Now, sometimes there's some things
that God's will and for how we're to live and what we're to do
that's just a little bit beyond our capability of doing it within
ourself. Now, God will enable you, but
if you're not willing to pursue that course of action, trying
to walk down that path, then you can mark out the unwritten
will of God. You'll never really know it,
never really fully know it, and probably will never really completely
be in it if you're not willing to do what God wants you to in
that. And I know you say, well, how
can we be made willing? in the day of His power. Psalm
110 verse 3 said, in the day of His power you'll be made willing.
That's what we need. His power manifested. He's all
powerful. I mean, He made the clouds to
move today and the sun and all the rotation of the earth and
the planets. I don't even know all about them, but they're still
consisting. It means they're on perfect track
and perfect order. Somebody said the other day,
the reason they think maybe we're a little bit, weather's messed
up here is because of the fact that that tsunami, that when
it hit over yonder, that it shook the earth so much that it rocked
it off of a couple of degrees or a degree or so. Well, if it
did, that's all right. God's still in control of that,
amen? He controlled the tsunami. I don't know all about that.
caught up in all that, and they talk about evolution, they talk
about this and talk about that. God is still in control, amen?
And it's His, we need to find His will and pursue that course
of action walking in it. Now, we looked at the written
will, we talked about, first of all, it's His will that you
be saved. God's not willing that any should
perish, but all come to repentance. if somebody said, well, it's
just not God's will for me to be saved. That's not so. God's
will for you to be saved. He loves you enough. He sent
his son to die on Calvary that you might be saved. His blood's
been shed and the price has been paid in a sense. In other words,
there's nothing else got to be added to that. I know it takes
the work of Holy Ghost conviction, but it must be that his will
is for you to be saved and you need to and pursue that course
of action of obeying the life that God's give you so that you
might fulfill the will of God by being saved. And it's not
you doing it, it's not me doing it, it's His doing and He'll
get the glory. Another thing we need the will
of God is to give thanks in everything give things, didn't say thank
him for everything, because some things that you can't really
thank him for, you can say, but in that, while they're going
through it, God protected me, God took care of this, and he
took care of that. So in those things, we can still
give thanks. And then it's his will that we
labor, both physically and spiritually, we need to labor. It's his will
that we be subject to the higher powers. We've studied about that.
The higher power is God, even though we are to be subject to
our government and kings and presidents and so forth, as long
as they're in the will of God or in the word of God and the
truth of God. But if they're out, then we need
to obey God. God comes first. That's what
Peter said, better to obey God than man. It's his will to suffer
sometime. And he said, we ought to suffer
for well-doing, not for evil doing. and then it's his will
to live clean. We need to pursue a course of
action to live clean as God, even on the narrow way, when
God speaks to your heart, there's some things you need to lay aside.
Now, sometimes you can't have victory over them, but if you'll
pursue it, God will enable you, God will help you. That's His
will that you live clean. Then we said also, as we dealt
a little further about the will of God, it's His will that we
assemble in the Lord's church. Hebrews 10, 25, not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but
exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see
the day approaching. Now, that verse didn't have the
will of God in it, but it's a command of God and all of God's commands
are his will. He wouldn't commanded us to do
those things unless it was his will. So therefore, we need to
assemble in the Lord's church. Basically what he's saying, come
see me. He wants to meet with us in the
church. I know you can meet with him anywhere if you'll meet with
him in his church. But if you won't meet with him
in his church, you're not gonna meet with him anywhere else,
amen. He's not gonna meet you out there, unless you're willing
to get to where he wants. And so he says, come see me.
Now that's his will, because it's his command. But he also
says, come see me and bring me something, all right? Bring me
something. So what'd you bring the Lord tonight? Well, you say,
what do we bring him? Well, 1 Corinthians 16, two,
we talked about here where he said, upon the first day of the
week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath
prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. Now,
I've talked about the first day of the week, and this is not
the first day of the week, but you see, he also said in Hebrews
10, 25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, but as
the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, encouraging one
another, and so much the more, as you see the day approaching,
folks, the stirrup is rattling on the white horse. Revelation
6, we're close to it, amen? Closer than we've ever been before.
And as we see that day approaching, know there's gonna be some hard
times. I'm not talking about just hard time where we lose
money as far as famine is concerned and this thing and that thing.
There's going to be some hard times. It's going to get down
right where we live. We're going to suffer, and it's His will
that we suffer sometime. But as we see that day approaching,
we're going to have to come together more and more to draw strength. Ask God just to give me a nugget.
You ever ask God to give you a nugget in the night hour? Ask
him to protect your dreams. Boy, I tell you what, I need
to let the Lord protect my dreams more. I need to ask him more
and more. Sometimes, oh man, I'm telling you, I don't know
where they come from, and yet I do know where they come from, about
three miles south of here, amen? Right out of hell is where some
of them come from. But we need God to give us a nugget in the
night hour, and we need nuggets in the midweek. And as the day
approaches, we're gonna need nuggets to keep on being strengthened
day by day, to keep on going. So we need to come see the Lord
and bring him something, he said, in other words. And of course,
that word where he talked about there, where he said, let every
man lay in store upon the, as God has prospered him, all that
is a continuous action verb. It means habitual lifestyle.
Our lifestyle ought to be together together on the Lord's day, but
we need to bring him something. Now, in context, he's talking
about the collection for the saints. Now what had happened,
there was a severe famine in Jerusalem and the poor saints
in Jerusalem were in dire need. They were in dire need during
that time. That's even recorded in secular history. But yet Paul
went around to the churches and said, you need to make a commitment
to something that you, we call it, we use our faith prayer missions
or faith promise missions based upon the principle he told the
churches at Corinth. all the other churches to do.
In other words, give even beyond your means. And the only way
you can give beyond your means is to do it by faith. And so
therefore, he said, you need to lay in store every first day
of the week that there be no gatherings when I come. And Paul
was going back on his second missionary journey, his third
missionary journey, and he went by and confirmed the churches,
encouraged the churches, and he said, I'm coming to get the
collection that you said you would give to the poor saints
at Jerusalem, and he said that you lay in store, you have it
in store so that I'll be able to have it when the time comes
to carry. So he's talking about an offering
is what he's talking about. But now, when the Lord says come
and see him and bring him something, what are we to bring him? Well,
I said last week as we talked about it, I said we need to bring
him some, our tenderness, our love, you see. We need to bring
him our love. And the only way you can do that
is for God to put love in you. And I know the Bible says that
love shed abroad in the hearts of all the saints of God because
of the Holy Ghost who moves inside. But we read and studied about
The woman, probably Mary Magdalene, had seven demons, where the Bible,
Jesus himself said, she hath loved much, broke an alabaster
box on his feet and anointed his feet, and as a result, she
loved much with agape love. God put that there. You'll have
no agape love unless God places it there. But when he awakens
you, even if you're not saved, there's a certain desire, there's
a certain amount of love that he places there. And you're responsible
to him who much is given, much is required. So you need to come
see him and bring him something. Bring him your tenderness, your
love, if you please. In other words, Colossians chapter
three, verse number two, he said, set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. Then Psalm 212, and I dealt with
this last week, but he said, kiss the son lest he be angry. So come together, bring him something,
bring him your love, bring him your tenderness. And then bring
him, you need to bring him your time. You need to give him your
time for him and spend some time with him. Ephesians 5, 15 and
16, he said, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools,
but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. So
you need to bring him your time and put it all in his hands.
Listen, your time is not, you're not your own. You're bought with
a price. You're not your own, neither is your time your own.
You need to give all your time. And even though you have to work
and do these things, that's all part of what God wants you to
do. You need to let him direct that. That's the will of God
in that. So you need to bring him your time. And then you need
to bring him your talent. As I said last week, Well, somebody
said, well, I can't sing. I can't carry a tune in a bucket
with a lid on it. Well, that's all right. He said,
that's not all the talent you have. You see, talents are gifts
that God gives you, and he places them in you when you're born.
They're there. You're gifted. Whether you realize it or not,
you're gifted. Use them for the Lord. Now, when
you're saved, that's when you really turn over, I guess, to
the place to where you begin using them for the Lord. But
there's men out there that wouldn't have nothing to do with God.
They're still gifted, and they're using them for the devil, amen?
And so, some people say, well, when I got saved, God just poured
all these gifts in me. No, they was already in you.
You may not have recognized them, and you sure didn't use them
to the Lord till he stirs them. But they've already been there.
They've already been there. I mean, it's just like muscles.
He don't open you up and give you more muscles, but as you
exercise your arm, it becomes stronger and your muscle grows
in that sense. And so when you've got gifts
and ability, talents, if you please, use them for the Lord.
Come see me and bring me something. Bring me your tenderness. Bring
me your time. Bring me your talent. In other
words, and then I also said, we'll get on this today. In other
words, you see, we need to bring him our tithes. Our tithes, well,
I know that's, we don't have too much problem here, but a
lot of places, boy, that's a no-no, that people don't want you to
talk about that, but that's part of it, bringing your tithes.
Now, here in context, in 1 Corinthians 16, 2, he's not talking about
tithes. He's talking about giving something. You can't give anything
as a freewill offering until you've paid your tithes. A tithe,
somebody said, what is a tithe? Well, the word means a tenth. A tenth of what? Well, the Bible
says in Proverbs chapter three, verse nine and 10, he said, honor
the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine
increase. Verse number nine says. In other
words, he says honor him with all that, with thy substance.
Folks, God wants you to honor him with 100% of what you've
got. 100% of your time, 100% of your talent, and 100% of what
substance God gives you. And we usually think of it in
terms of money. It's material possessions in
that sense. And yet money is what I know, what we operate
on in our society today. But time, what is it? It's a
10th part of the increase. It's called the first fruits
of thy substance. If you think about the first
fruits, that means right off the top. Somebody said, well,
I teach my children to count. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. That's not right. You ought to
say 10, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Amen. That's because it's the
first fruits. Now, you go down, you work it. If you draw a paycheck today,
Uncle Sam thinks he owns it all. I mean, you know, I understand
that. Somebody said they're going to shorten the 1040. Make it
just two little simple pages and two little blanks and questions. It's going to be real simple.
They're going to get it down real simple. And that first page
says, how much did you make? And the next page says, send
it in. Well, it's just about that way. I know a lot of ways. And it seems like Uncle Sam gets
a big hunk out of it. Well, just suppose you make,
say you made $1,000. That's how much your actual gross
would have been if Uncle Sam hadn't of dibbled and dabbled
in it. And he took out about $300 of that. You might have got home with
$700. I would just put it that way. And that'd be pretty good,
I guess, if you did that much today and if you was on that
kind of a salary. But how much is your tie? Somebody
said, well, it's $70 because that's how much I brought home.
No, that's not the first fruit. You're giving Uncle Sam the first
fruit. The first fruit's off the top. You see, you need to
count a tie. Two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine, 10. And if your salary was $1,000,
you pay the tithe that you owe it to God, and that's $100, 10%
of that, and then Uncle Sam gets the rest. Now then, if you come
back and get back a bunch of income tax at time, you don't
have to pay on what you paid already paid in. You've already
paid tithe. Your tithe has already been paid
on your income tax. You got back, now listen, let
me say this, now we've got this earned income credit and some
of that stuff, some involved in, that's just something that's
being given to you, so you've got to figure out how much is
increased and how much is not. I mean, you get back a big hunk,
you might owe some tithe on some of it because it's an increase,
amen? But if you paid in something, so pay off the top and you won't
have any worry about that. Somebody says, what about my
retirement? I put into my retirement account. I put in so much, well,
if you'll keep up with how much you put into your retirement
account, you wouldn't have to pay tithe on that part you got
back, but you pay tithe on the increase. In other words, because
there's going to be some taxes, there's going to be some interest,
you hope. Amen, if it's in a certain kind of stock market, it might
be a loss, amen. But the thing about it is you
pay on the increase, on the increase. For instance, if you was in business
and you bought a car and you bought it, let's say you bought
the car for $900 and you sold it for $1,000. Somebody said,
well, you owe $100. No, that's just your profit.
The increase is $100. If you paid the tithe on the
900, you only pay on the 100, okay? I'm just trying to give
you some examples because that's the increase. And the first fruits
of the increase would be $10, would be all you'd owe on that.
Because if you didn't, you'd be paying all your profit. You
wouldn't have nothing to eat for mom and dad and the kids
to eat on, you see? So you've got to figure that out in that
sense. Now, it don't hurt to, somebody
said, well, I'll chisel it down. Some of the ushers in some places,
I believe, They'd probably find a penny cut half in two with
a chisel somewhere, trying to get it down to just the right
place. Well, you don't have to be that way with it, amen? But
you've not given. See, he said tithes and offerings
he spoke about. Come see me and bring me something.
You've not given anything until you've paid your tithe. And so
it's what is a tithe? It's a 10% of the increase. It's 10% of the increase, you
see. If you've been tithed in all
your life, you've already paid tithe on what you invested in
something, and then so therefore just the increase of what the
profit. would be in that sense. Well, at any rate, it's the increase. It's a debt. It's a debt we owe
the Lord. In other words, come see me and
bring me something. Pay me what you owe me, is what
the Lord says. And honest Christians pay their
debts. Amen. Honest Christians pay their
debts. Well, you see, I don't know,
I guess if you need any other examples, we'll talk about that
outside. But yet, maybe that'll help you
to understand. It's first fruits. That's off
the top. 10% of the increase, of the increase. Not the gross necessarily, if
you're in business, but the increase on that. Now, why do you tithe?
Why are you to tithe? Because it's scriptural. You
say, but preacher, that's under law. Tithing was under law. Let
me say, I've got news for you. Tithing was before the law. Before
the law ever came into existence, Abraham started tithing by faith. In Genesis chapter 14, verse
number 20, after he had fought the battle with Shaul the Lomer
and got back all the spoil of Sodom and Gomorrah and all those
cities, he come back, and the Bible says in verse 20, and he
met Melchizedek, and he said, blessed be the most high God,
which hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand, and he gave
tithes of all. Abraham gave tithes of all 10%
of the spoil that he'd taken in that battle. He gave it to
Melchizedek, who's the type of the Lord for sure, a type of
the Lord, and therefore the high priest, and as a result, he did
that there. So he started in tithing before
the law, and he wasn't even saved at that time. Abraham wasn't
saved until Genesis 15, six, and that was Genesis 14, 20,
and so therefore, but he gave tithes before. paid his tithes
before he was even saved and before the law ever came into
existence. And then we'll find Jacob continued
tithing before the law. Now Jacob wasn't a saved man
and he was, he was on up in years. He was kind of an older fellow
before he ever met his wife and had all of his children. Somebody
think about him being, you know, he's 75 years old before he ever
met Rachel, had to work for her for 70 years and wound up marrying
her at 80, about 82 years old and had, between then and the
time he was about 94, he had 11 boys and one girl, amen? But yet what happened before
when he was going over to the other country, running away from
Esau, in Genesis chapter 28, we'll find that he met God at
what we call Jacob's Ladder. Now a lot of people will say,
well, there's where Jacob was saved. Not so. Jacob couldn't
have been saved there because he made a deal with God. He did meet God, but he made
a deal. He said, if you'll bless me and
bring me back to this land, then you'll be my God. You don't get
saved by making deals, but that's exactly what happened. For 20
years he was gone to another land, but the thing about it
there is there Jacob made a statement at that time in verse number
22 of Genesis chapter 28. He said, in this stone, there
at Bethel, where we call Jacob's ladder sometime, and this stone
which I have set for a pillar shall be God's house, and of
all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth.
There we have the tenth is listed for the tithe that Jacob said
I'll give. He made that commitment as a
lost man before he was ever saved and before the law ever came
into existence. The law had never said do it.
He probably learned it from his daddy. and his granddaddy because
of what they had done, Abraham, Isaac, and now Jacob is tithing
before the law. So you say, tithing's under the
law. No, it was before the law. And
then what happened during the law, Moses, in cooperating tithing
into the law in Leviticus chapter 27, verse 30, and he said, And all the tithe of the land,
whether of the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree, is
the Lord's. It's holy unto the Lord. In other words, Moses put
inside the law that tithing was scriptural, that they needed
to do that. And then we find that Nehemiah,
of course, the children of Israel went into captivity, the children
of Judah. went into Babylonian captivity
for 70 years, and they neglected the house of God, even after
Nehemiah came back and rebuilt the walls and had a place for
them to worship, if you please, and the temple had already been
rebuilt at that time, and yet the very temple, they let old
Sanballat move right inside that thing. When he moved back into
his job as a cupbearer to the king of the Medo-Persian empire,
and you realize something, The priest had to go back to the
field, they couldn't even minister in the temple. And he got in
bad shape and he come back and he said, why is the house of
God forsaken? Man, I mean, it was trouble.
Well, what happened was, Nehemiah restored tithing after that captivity
as he came back, he set things straight. Nehemiah chapter 13,
verse number 11 and 12, he said, then I contended with the rulers.
and said, why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered
them together and set them in their place. Boy, he is a pretty
staunch Baptist preacher, if you please, amen. And then brought
all Judah, the tithe of the corn and the new wine and all under
the treasury wine. In other words, the priest was
able to go back and minister in the house of God because Nehemiah
restored tithing after the captivity, okay? And then Malachi commanded
it as well at the end of the Old Testament era. after the
captivity, of course, with Malachi chapter 3, verse number 10. Malachi
said, this bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there
be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord
of hosts, if I'll not open you the windows of heaven, and pour
you out a blessing, that there shall not be a room enough to
receive it. So therefore, you realize he
commanded tithing in Malachi chapter three, verse number 10.
You see, that's under the law. It was before law, it was during
law, and then even after the law, When Jesus made this statement,
he commended tithing when he was condemning the Pharisees,
but he said this in Matthew chapter 23, verse number 23, as he's
speaking about to the scribes, the Pharisees, and the hypocrites
here, he said to them, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,
for you pay tithe of mint, anise, and cumin. Now, in other words,
they would actually go out to the herb garden and picked those
little leaves or whatever it was, those herbs is what it was,
small, insignificant, and they were so stickler in their religion
because the Lord commanded tithing, they were so stickler in it,
and they wasn't saved by the way, amen, but they went out
there and they would take and they would make sure they give
one to pay tithe to the house of God. They'd bring it into
the storehouse. And he said, you've done that.
He said, in other words, he said, whoa, he said, for you pay tithe
of mint and nice and coming and have omitted the weighty matters
of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought you to
have done. You ought to have tithed. But
you shouldn't have let go the things of God as far as judgment,
mercy, and truth. In other words, they weren't
saved. They didn't come God's way. In other words, you should
have done those things that you did, but you should not have
left the other undone. In other words, people today
say, well, I'm tired. I'm okay. If that's all you've got, you're
like the Pharisee. You see, that's not gonna hold
water. You see, the will of God is that you be saved. It takes
the work of the Holy Ghost to bring you there. And it's good
to tithe, it's right to tithe, even as a lost person, because
Jesus commended it after the law. He said, this ought you
have done, and Jesus said, you oughta done it, you oughta done
it, amen? In other words, he said you needed to do that, and
therefore he commended that. Now, why is it the New Testament
doesn't say so much about tithing? Somebody asked that question.
I'll tell you why it doesn't say so much about tithing. Under
the law, they were commanded to give it, and then Abraham
and Jacob, before the law, volunteered to do it, but yet under the law,
they were commanded to give a tenth part. And if under the law, we're
commanded to do this and that, but under law, how much more
under grace should we be willing to give? In other words, come
see me and bring me something. Not just a tithe, but an offering,
in other words. Giving, in other words, beyond
what we owe the Lord. You've not given anything until
you've paid your debt. And an honest Christian, as I
said, pays their debt in there. So therefore, that's why it's
not so much, not much said about it, because he knew that the
Holy Ghost lives inside your heart, that you're gonna automatically,
you're gonna give more than that. God's going to bless you. He'll
bless you. Well, where are we to tie? Well, Malachi 3.10, he
said, bring all the ties into the storehouse. You know where
the storehouse is today? It's not the temple of the Old
Testament. You see, God's operating in his church, the church he
built, that he said the gates of hell will not prevail against
it. Matthew 16.18, upon this rock, upon myself, I'll build
my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
That's the storehouse. That's the place where we're
to come. How are we to tithe? We're to bring it, not send it.
Radio preachers sometime will tell you, send me your tithe.
That's not scriptural. That's not right. You're not
to send tithe over the rent. You might wanna send an offering,
that's okay, if you wanna do it. And some of them don't need
that, amen. You don't need to cast your pearls before swine.
But the thing about it, you bring your tithe. That means forsake
not the assembling of yourselves together. Come see me and bring
me something. Bring me a tithe into the storehouse. In other words, he said, how
do we do it? We're to bring it. How do we
do it? Cheerfully. Well, you know, God loves a cheerful
giver. Did that not what he said in
2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 6 and 7? He said, but this I
say, he that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and
he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every
man according as he purposed in his heart, so let him give,
not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful gift.
In other words, you pay your tithe and then you give, but
he said you ought to do it cheerfully. The word cheerfully means hilarious,
means you're glad to get to go to the house of God and give.
Now he said do it as you purposed in your heart, not because it's
a necessity. You know when sometimes when
people really move to give is whenever there's some kind of
a, somebody presents us something and that's all right. But yet
you still need the purpose in your heart to do it, that God
wants you to do that for the will of God to give you time,
to pay you time. But you see, just because there's
a need, just because there's a necessity, doesn't mean that
you're to necessarily give, amen? Because you've got to have some
motive involved in all that. So he said do it cheerfully. I guess Myrtle, Mississippi is
the first time I ever seen anybody giving cheerfully, amen? I mean,
people would shout and run the aisle and run down there and
put something in the offering plate and say, I get to give. I never
will forget the first time we was there. Old boy got up on
the, he was from Georgia too, by the way. He got up on the
platform. We was sitting over here on this
side and he got up there and he said, God said, and I believe
he was from the Carolinas. That was a different one from
Georgia that night. But he got up and said, God said, empty
your pocketbook. Empty your pocketbook. And he
emptied his pocketbook, you know. What was amazing, he must have
went back to the dorm and got some more, because he had to
empty it again before the week was over. But the thing about
it, they was rejoicing over that, you see. Rejoicing to give. And
I know people get caught up in things like that sometimes, the
emotion of it. But you need the purpose in your
heart. What does God want me to do? Don't matter what somebody
does over here, or somebody over there, or what somebody says,
or gets up and says, I give this, or I give that. That doesn't
matter. What does God want you to do? You see, that's all He
asks you to do, just to be faithful, do what He says you to do. That's
the will of God. But do it cheerfully. And then
how you do it, not only bring it, not only cheerfully, but
to do it regularly. What did he say there? Verse
number two, he said, let every man lay in store upon the first
day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store. There's
a storehouse. Lay in storehouse, you see, on
the first day of the week. That's the Lord's day, that's
on Sunday. And so therefore, that's the way you are to bring,
come see me and bring me something, the tithes and the offerings
if you please. Now what's the results of paying
your tithes or paying your debt? What's the result? It'll keep
the curse off of you. It'll keep a curse off of you.
Now, I know if you're saved, you're not cursed as far as damned
to hell, but folks, a curse is an evil or injury be called down
upon you. And the Bible says this in Malachi
chapter three, verse number eight and nine about Israel after they
came back after captivity. They wasn't doing all they should
have done, wasn't doing things right. And the Bible says this
in Malachi 3, eight. He said, will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed me, but you say wherein have we robbed thee?
And then he answers them, in tithes and offerings, you've
robbed me. And a result, you're cursed with
a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. Israel
was cursed with a curse, for they robbed God. Now, the word
robbed there is a different word from what we use sometimes today
for robbing, yet we use the word embezzled. Now, you know the
difference between being a bank robber, man goes into a bank,
pulls a gun, tells the teller, said, I want your money. It's
not his, it's not his to handle, it's not his to touch, but he's
also, he's a bank robber. We call him a robber, right?
Well, the word robber here is like embezzler. For instance,
you take somebody that works in the bank and they're a teller
and they slip a little bit out and try to get by here or there.
They had the right to handle that money. They were supposed
to handle that money, but they wasn't to misappropriate it.
If they put it in their pocket, though we would call them an
embezzler, they stole from the bank. And you see, God gives
you every penny you've got, every material possession you've got,
every good you've got. And as a result, he wants you
to handle it appropriately. He wants you to use it all for
God's glory. See, he wants you to use 100%
of it for God's glory the right way. That's the will of God.
But yet, you've got a right to handle it, but if you misappropriate
it, if you take it instead of bringing it to the Lord's house
and giving it to him and put it in something else or something
this or something that, then you've robbed God of a time.
You've robbed and you've embezzled, see, in that sense. And he said
the result is your curse. So you see, if you pay your tithe,
in other words, like God said, then he said you have the curse. It keeps the curse off of you,
amen? And you need that, you see? Well listen, you realize
that we're cursed enough as it is because of Adam's sin, the
old depraved nature we've got. We're cursed enough because of
our upbringing, our preconceived ideas. I mean, we've all got
a lot of different ideas. Talked to one man one day about
tithing and how he was tithing. He said, that wasn't the way
I was taught. It don't matter what you're taught. What does
God say about it, amen? In other words, it's the increase
off the top and to bring it. And you see, we're also cursed
because of a love, a desire for material and worldly blessings
that we want. We want that. I mean, everybody
has problems with that, but you've got to get focused in the will
of God is to come, forsake not this sin, come see me and bring
me something. Yeah, affection, your time, your
talent, your tenderness, if you please, and your time, you need
to bring it. And if you do, it'll keep the
curse off of you, but it'll also, blessings will be up on you.
And about Malachi chapter 3 verse number 10 and 11 right after,
he said, there you're cursed with a curse this whole nation.
He said, verse 10, bring you all the tithes into the storehouse
that there may be meat in mine house and prove me, just test
me, he said. Now, if you're just doing it
just to test God, there'll be some trials. There'll be some
times you're going to have to show your motive is sincere from
the heart. God knows it. You don't always know it. But
he said, just test me out. If you'll do it with the right
motive, God said, test me and prove me. saith the Lord of hosts,
if I'll not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a
blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it,
and I'll rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall
not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine
cast your fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord
of hosts. Now that doesn't mean everything's just always gonna
be a perfect, because listen, when it rains, it rains on the
just and the unjust. When the famine and dry weather
comes, it comes on the just and the unjust. We're going to be
tested. We're going to be tried. There's some beans popping out
of the hole right now. And somebody says, I'll tithe.
They ought not to do that. That's just part of nature, OK?
That's going to happen. But he said, if you'll tithe,
he said, I'll show you. I'll put blessings on you. There'll
not be room enough to receive. I'll open you the windows of
heaven. and you go back and study a lot of people in the past.
I know a preacher preached on this one time up in Indiana,
and a man come up to him after his old with, and as he quoted
that scripture, he said, that's true, God opened the windows
and blessed me. He said, I came up to Indiana as a sharecropper,
and he said, I started tithing, God said I needed to tithe, and
said I did, and I started tithing, and he says, now then I own the
property that I sharecropped. I own the property. God opened
the windows of heaven, poured him out of blessing. Then he
said, I'll rebuke the devourer. Another man come up, and he said,
that's true. He said, one time the grasshoppers
come in and eat all the crop up. And he said, they come right
down the highway, and my farm was on this side of the highway.
They stayed on that side of the highway, didn't eat my crop,
eating my neighbors completely to the ground. And he said, you
know what happened? And the preacher said, now what?
He said, God had his angels lined up down the highway. He said,
stay over there in that field, brother so and so tied. Well,
those things we talk about, and you may lose everything sometime,
but I want to tell you, God's promised you if you'll do what
he said, he said there'll be blessings not room enough to
receive, amen? And that's the truth. Listen,
you think about it. You see, we're commanded, well,
Proverbs chapter 3 verse number 9, I read a while ago, but he
said there in Proverbs chapter 3 verse 9, Honor the Lord with
thy substance and with the firstfruits of thine increase. And then he
promised this, So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy
presses shall burst out with new wine. And so we're commanded,
we're commanded. Well, in 2 Corinthians 9, verse
number 8, he said, And God is able to make all grace abound
toward you, that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things,
may abound to every good work. God said, I'll keep the curse
off of you. I'll also push our blessings upon you if you'll
do what I've said. The will of God is to bring.
Come see me and bring me something. Bring your tenderness, bring
your time, bring your talent, but bring your time and offerings
as well. You need to do that. And so therefore
we're commanded to give. We're commanded to give. 1 Corinthians
16, two again, what did he say there? He said, up on the first
day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store as
God has prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
Up on the first day of the week. Hebrews 13, 16, he said, but
to do good and to communicate, forget not. For with such sacrifices
God is well pleased. God still wants sacrifices from
us. He wants you to come see Him
and bring Him something. He wants your bodies. That's
part of the living clean, the will of God. He wants you to
communicate with Him. That word communicate means to
share what God has given you with others. So with him, in
essence, and if you do it with others, it's the same as doing
it with him, knowing that they, that the saving power of the,
that they may come to know the saving power of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, the end product of everything
we do ought to be that somebody be saved. Amen. Every motive
you have and what you do ought to be the end product, ought
to be that the power of God move on some soul, that they might
be saved. Amen? You see, you can't give
till you pay your tithe, and you need to do that. It's the
will of God. Come see me and bring me something. Well, you
say, what I bring him? Well, you bring him the tithe,
but you bring him your talent, your tenderness, and your time
and offerings as well. You say, but I can't afford the
tithe. Well, I want to tell you what, nine-tenths with God's
blessing will go further than ten-tenths without it. It'll
do that. Prove me now herewith, saith
the Lord of hosts. And I know that for a fact, that
God has blessed. Now it doesn't mean that there
hadn't been times that things were tight. Doesn't mean that
time didn't seem like having enough to pay the bills. But
yet I never one time, after I really made a commitment to start tithing,
never have I ever regretted it one minute, one I oughta. You
can't out-give God. Pay your tithe, give your offering.
And be like one preacher said one time, he preached on tithing
back in the olden days. He came up and he said, I'm going
to start tithing. How much do you make? He said,
$10 a week. Boy, every Sunday that dollar
was in the offering plate. God began to bless him like he
said he would and said it wasn't long until he began to increase,
got his own business, and boy, things began to boom. And he
got to the point to where he had him to give $500 with his
tithe a week, $500 a week. because God had blessed him so
much. So his wife got a little greedy one day, and she said
when he wrote the check to put in there 500, she said, you know
what? She said, if we just had that money, you could buy me
a mink coat with that. And she began to complain about
him giving too much, you see. And so he went to the preacher
and said, preacher, I just can't afford to tithe no more. because
it's just costing me too much. He said, would you pray for me?
He said, I sure will. Got down to it. He said, oh God,
let this man make $10 a week so he can afford the tithe. He
said, wait, wait, wait a minute, wait a minute. You see the point? Sometimes you may wanna back
up. If you're really saved, you won't,
but you need to pay your tithe. If you don't, you're a god robber,
amen, and a thief. And God says no thief's gonna
enter in heaven. You see, some people say, well,
you know, the Bible says he that commits sins is of the devil. He's not saved. In other words,
I John 3, 9 said that word commit means to practice naturally anything. anything. And did you know, some
people say, well, I know so-and-so's not saved. Man, they're out yonder
and sinning and they're drinking and they're doing this. I know
they're not saved. Did you know a man that don't
go to church, a man that don't pay his tithe and he can do it
and get by with it for a period of time, he's not saved? Because
that's sin. It's sin. You see, and I'm not
trying to be harsh or mean. I'm just trying to get you out
from under curse. You don't need, we've got enough
curse on us the way it is. And I'm thankful God's blessed
us here at New Hope Baptist Church above and beyond measure. He
really has, I'm thankful for that. But the thing about it
is, God says, come see me. Bring me something. Bring me
affection. Kiss toward the sun. Did you
bring him anything tonight? Sacrifice, God's well pleased
with. That's to share, another one,
communicate. Give the fruit of your lips as
praise unto him. Hebrews 13, 16 says, I think it is. In other words, that's a sacrifice
he's well pleased with. Psalm 51 says a broken and a
contrite heart, tenderness. That's something that God wants
us to present. Our body's a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable. Come see me and bring me something.
You see, when you give, when you give to God, you need to
give God your own life. You need to give to God your
wife, your husband. You need to give to God your
children. And you know what? Everything you give to God, God'll
give it back to you, improved, amen? mistake about that. Amen. I mean, I won't dwell much
on that. I don't know how far to dwell.
But you give your life to Him and He'll give you back. You
know, you go downtown to the Long John Silver's and they call
it Fish and More. When you give something to God, He'll give
you back what you give and more. Amen. Abundantly. exceeding abundantly
above all we could ask or think. Come see me and bring me something.
That's the will of God. Will of God's to be saved, but
the will of God is also to come see him, forsake not this sin
and to bring him something, bring him your affection. Kiss toward
the sun. Thank you, praise Him, praise Him, all those things.
Just get hold to this, this God will bless you beyond compare. You see, if you'll not, that's
the written will of God. That's part of the written will
of God. I'm not gonna deal with everything in the written will
of God because all the commands is the written will of God. But
if we're not willing to pursue a course of action, doesn't mean
we'll always do everything we ought to do in every area of
our lives. But if we're not willing to pursue it, then we'll never
know the unwritten will of God for our lives. That's where the
blessing is. Man, you're safe, you're safe
when the storm passes by in the will of God. Amen? Even if he
carries you, it's okay. What did the three Hebrew boys
say? He said, uh, King, King said, all you got to do, I'll
give you a second chance. You can pray about it. He said,
we don't have to pray about it. I'll paraphrase. We don't have
to pray about it. In other words, if you say we're going to go
in the fiery furnace, he said, our God is able to deliver us
from the fiery furnace. But if not, he's going to take
us out of your hand, old king. You've got no control over us,
amen, because he's going to carry us on to heaven. talking about
in that time. So if we're not willing to obey
the written will of God, we'll never know the unwritten will
of God in our life and we'll go through life and be like a
termite in a yo-yo, more confused than we need to be. May God help
us today just to find the written will of God and pursue it, a
course of action to try to do that. By His help, by His grace,
and then God will unfold the unwritten will of God for your
life, where you need to be, what you need to do. That's not exactly
spelled out, John 3 in the Bible, you see what I'm saying? It's
His will to serve Him, but where and how? He'll show you, He'll
speak to you. and show you if you'll pursue
the written will of God for your life. May the Lord help us. Father,
I plead the blood tonight upon this place just asking that your
will might be done. Help us to find the will of God.
And the psalmist said, help us to do it. I think sometime we
know more of the will of God for our lives than we're willing
to do. Paul said for the Hebrew professors, may you pursue a
course of action to fulfill the will of God in your lives, the
written will and then you'll find the unwritten will and then
blessed is that man because the curse has been lifted and the
blessings will begin to flow. and thank, we'll be praising
you throughout an eternity for just finding. So I pray you'd
help our people just to come see you and bring you something,
Lord. Kiss the sun, lest you be angry. Help us tonight to
be thankful. In everything, give thanks. Not
be thankful only, but give thanks. We'll thank you for what you
do and praise you for it. Teach us thy will and then teach
us to do thy will, oh Lord. And we'll praise you for we ask
it all in Jesus' name. And for his sake we do pray.
Heads bowed, eyes closed, altars open. Will you mind the Lord
tonight as she plays?
The Will Of God#7
Series The Will Of God
| Sermon ID | 1026241818167881 |
| Duration | 45:27 |
| Date | |
| Category | Midweek Service |
| Bible Text | 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 |
| Language | English |
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