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?