Hello and welcome again to our broadcast. We're in number eight in our series on understanding why people respond the way they do. Have your Bible ready if you can. We're in Romans chapter 12. I'm reading in Romans 12, verse number six, it says, having then gifts, gifts, that's something that somebody gives us that we don't earn, it's a gift, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, gift number one, let us prophesy. Number two, ministry, or what we would call the servant, let us wait on our ministry, verse seven. Number three, he that teacheth on teaching. Four, he that exhorteth on exhortation. Five, he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity, he that ruleth, that is the administrator, with diligence and the mercy sure, Verse number eight, with cheerfulness. So we have seven specific gifts here, and we respond to things in the world. A response is a reaction to something, and we respond in accordance with what our gift is. And again, we want to emphasize that Paul is dealing here in the context of Christians in a local church. So we have the prophet, he is a concern. A concern is something that we regard as very important, important enough that success or failure may rely on how we react. And the prophet, he is concerned about truth. And we need to have everything in accordance with the facts, that's what truth is. The servant, he is concerned about helping Christians and meeting needs. The teacher, also concerned about truth. The exhorter, he wants to help someone in the victory in the Christian life. The giver, well, he wants to help too. You've got to have the funds that we need. But not only the funds within the church, but the giver is motivated to say, well, let's help those missionaries. Then we have the administrator. He's going to organize everything. His favorite verse in the Bible is, let all things be done decently and in order. And then the mercy shore, who, of course, wants to help somebody who needs some help as well. You'll notice that these gifts are all focusing on the cause of Christ and in helping other people. Now we're going to look today on the giver, and it seems pretty obvious as we study the life of Matthew that he had this gift of the giver. A giver is able to discern wise investments, and we have more counsel on the wise use of money in the book of Matthew than in any other gospel. It was Matthew who said, lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth. It was Matthew that talked about the talents and the man who hid his money and the slothful servant. It was Matthew who said, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The word money is found in seven verses in the book of Matthew. Tribute money, money in the fish's mouth. Jesus said, show me a coin, and he talked about render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. It was Matthew that talked about the servant that hid his Lord's money. It was Matthew that said, you should have put my money to the exchangers, Jesus said. And then Large amounts of money were paid to soldiers to lie, Matthew said, and he also said they took the money. The word gift you'll find in the book of Mark one time, you'll find it in the book of John one time, but in Matthew you'll find it in seven verses. A couple of them, bring your gift to the altar, offer the gift Moses commanded. The altar, he said, sanctifies the gift. And then the word gold is mentioned four times in Matthew. No other gospel has that word. Matthew only mentions the fact that the wise men brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And then the word silver is found in six verses in the book of Matthew and it's in no other gospel either He talked about the desire to give he says when thou doest thine alms Also the giver will give at the prompting of the lord and not at the prompting of the appeals of people He is the one Matthew recorded that giving Jesus said you've done it unto me Then gifts are important to be of high quality to the one that is a giver. Matthew writes constantly about costly gifts as we've mentioned. He mentions the gold, the frankincense, and the myrrh. He talked about precious ointment and even a new sepulcher. Matthew talks about the foolishness of those who misused what they were given in Matthew chapter 21, and in 25 he tells the story of the talents and what they did with the talents that they were given. Also, a giver is content with the basic needs for himself. The Bible says Matthew left all to follow Jesus. He was very wealthy before he left all to follow Jesus. One thing we see, too, is the alert to what others are doing with their money. The only gospel writer to tell what the leaders did with Judas's 30 pieces of silver was Matthew. Luke says that they told the soldiers to lie, but Matthew says that they told the soldiers to lie, and they gave large money, so they took the money. A giver, too, is able to discern financial needs that others may overlook. Matthew records Christ's commendation of the Pharisees for not supporting their aged parents, and also we have the details of the fairness of paying the laborers the same amount of wages in the book of Matthew. Matthew has a lot to do with the subject of money. Well, we see also in the scriptures that with the gift comes the weaknesses that can go with it, because we're all human. And one of the weaknesses of the giver is that he can be too frugal with his own family. He knows that money can corrupt, and he knows the value of working so that one would appreciate the value of money. Then one of the problems that can arise from the giver is his family will resent the giver because he's giving gifts to other people while he's so frugal with his own family. They can resent those who get the gifts and get bitter about that and even resent the Lord. That is a definite weakness around this thing of money. Money seems so important to people. It's important to the giver only to the extent as it can be used for the cause of Jesus Christ. And then one can give unscriptural counsel regarding money. The giver is motivated to learn everything he can about finances, and he might get some unsaved counsel that sounds good, but it's just not scriptural. Then he needs to be careful about putting pressure on people to give. One of the weaknesses of the giver is they try to get everyone else to match the gift that they give. I don't think that's a scriptural thing. And then failing to discern God's prompting. Sometimes God may want money given when the giver can't figure out why. And sometimes God may not want money given when the giver wants to give it. And so one who has this situation and has the funds It has to be very careful to be constantly in tune with the Holy Spirit as to what his will is. Then there's the cutting off of those who misuse money rather than helping them. The giver is very alert to any mismanagement of finances, and there's an opportunity there for some valuable teaching to do right and wrong rather than just, you know, cutting off those who do it wrong. And then the giver has to be careful that projects do not become more important than people. A giver is attracted to projects, and especially if it has something to do with a physical situation where they can see a return on their investment. If I invest in this building, property is going to go up in value, et cetera, et cetera. But sometimes God may be more interested in a giver helping somebody with their finances in the sense that maybe this pastor, need some some money here to help him in his ministry rather than putting money into bricks which are all going to go somewhere and just be nowhere sometime after the tribulation period where the person lives on forever and so sometimes it's easier for the one who has the gift of giving to invest in physical stuff than it is to invest in the spiritual future of a ministry, and that is something that is extremely important for a giver to be able to understand. Well, our whole purpose here in teaching this series of messages on how people respond is so that we can figure out why we are motivated the way we are as individuals and why other people respond the way that they do. In the next broadcast, we're going to be looking at the response of the administrator called the ruler here. Again, his favorite verse in the Bible is, let all things be done decently and in order, and that's very important.