you you There's a reason why we have titled this portion A Condition of the Heart. And that is because God is dealing with issues of the heart, and He's revealing His heart to the people of God, and He's allowing them for a moment to see a picture of their own hearts that they vainly believe were A-OK. It reminds me of what Paul told the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians chapter number 6, when he said, you are straightened in your own bowels, but not in ours. And he said, we pray you be enlarged in your heart. What literally that was saying to them was this. They felt like they were all squared away, that they had everything straightened out. And yet they were dealing with all kinds of corruption and iniquity within the body of Christ. And they felt like it was OK for them to continue on with the iniquity that was in the body of Christ, that they had it under control. And the apostles said, look, you're straightened in your own mind, but you're not straightened in our minds. And we are objectively looking at the situation and saying, you don't have it all straightened out. And these people, before God, felt as if they had everything straightened out. Because when the Lord asked them questions, and there are eight specific times in this book that the Lord, through the prophet Malachi, questioned the people of God. In every case, they answered with a prideful, insolent reply. Like, Lord, we're not seeing it. We've got everything handled here. We're still going to the temple. We're still doing this and that. We're still offering sacrifice. But the reality was that their heart was not in it. And you have heard it said, and I have said it from this pulpit, that long before a person ever walks out the door of the church house to go into a life of willful living, apart from fellowship with the people of God, before they ever take that step, in their heart they have taken that step. They may still be there and justifying a noncommittal spirit and saying that I'm still doing all the same things that I ever did, but you know what? Their heart is not in it. It reminds me what the Lord said of the Pharisees, that this people draw nigh to me and bless me with their mouth and their lip, but their heart is far from me. And so tonight, I believe that we need to understand that the Lord first, as we have established already, gave them a window into the heart of God by telling them in chapter 1 that I have loved you. Chapter 1 and verse 2. And then in verse 6 of chapter 3, He says, I'm the Lord, I change not. I'm not going to stop loving you. And that was the basis by which He called them To himself. Because as we read on, the Lord then says, return unto Me. He didn't say, as we've mentioned, get back to tithing, you wicked, dirty, rotten sinners. He didn't say get back to going to church or teaching a Sunday school class. He said, return unto Me. I want you to come back to Me. Why would you want to go back to God? I'll tell you why. Because He says, I love you and I'm always going to. And you know, you can come safely into the arms of a God who says, I love you and I never change, so I'm always going to keep loving you. And so when we find ourselves estranged from the Lord, understand this, that God didn't alienate you from Himself. His whole work was to reconcile you unto Himself. His whole posture is to draw you to Himself. That's everything that God has tried to do since the Garden of Eden all the way through. Have that crimson thread of redemption that is woven from Genesis to Revelation. It is all about the heart of God beating for you, calling you to be reconciled to Him. Calling you to come to Him. And so, when we understand the heart of God, It helps us to further understand our own heart. And, you know, the Bible says in the book of Jeremiah that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And who can know it? You know, Brother Hilmer, you know, there have been times where as a pastor, we've had testimony services and someone will arise to give a testimony. And sometimes in a rather pompous way, they'll put their hand over their heart and they'll make a statement like this. Well, if I know my own heart and then they'll start to pontificate. Do we know what pontificating means? They'll start to really try to impress others with themselves. And so I and they'll be really impressed with themselves as well. Well, brother, if I know my own heart and you know, the truth is you don't. The Bible says who can know it? And the answer is a rhetorical one, because the only one who may know the heart of man is God. And so God is confronting these people who think in their own heart, I may okay. God said, I want you to return to me. And they said, where are we going to return? We never left you, Lord. We're right here. And God said, look, you're a long way from me, dude. You understand? I asked the question a couple of weeks ago of the of the wives. How many how many ladies in here have a husband? OK, I want to admit it. OK, there's a few like that still. And and, you know, have you ever just felt like that maybe you weren't clicking with your spouse, that maybe there wasn't that real intimacy and communication there that you really were longing to have with them. And have you ever said, you know, I just don't feel like we're connecting. I don't feel like we're communicating. And your husband, in his inimitable sort of a way, looks at you and says, what? You know, I bring home the bacon, pay the bills, you know, watch television, eat your food, don't complain. What's the problem, right? Huh? I'm still here, right? Some of you ladies are laughing like you know exactly what I'm talking about here. Right? And you feel, I don't even know this person anymore. And he's thinking, you know, we got a good thing going on. And you know, he's thinking I'm all squared away in my mind and you're thinking like the Apostle Paul, you're not straightened out in my mind, right? You might think you got it all going on, and you know, sometimes that's the way it is with the Lord. We think just because we show up and we occupy some space and we go through the motions, dropping a little in the plate from time to time, that everything is A-OK. And that's what they felt. And that's why every time the Lord tried to show them a condition of their heart, they wanted to contend with the Lord. Like, what's the problem, God? They never saw it. They thought they understood their own hearts. But guess what? They really didn't. God knew their hearts. And so God showed it to them and he showed them the deceptiveness of their own hearts. And the reason that God was calling them to himself was not because he wanted something out of them. Do you know what he wanted? Them. He didn't want something from them. He wanted them. But do you know, as it has been since the beginning of time, even until now, and what we read in the New Testament, and that is this, that when God has us, He has everything that we possess. You think about, if you would, for just a moment, the Macedonian church that Paul called to the remembrance of the Corinthian church, and there in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, He said that in a great trial of affliction, their liberality abounded, despite the fact that they were in poverty. And then he said something that was profound. And this they did, meaning they gave monetarily, even though they were in deep, the Bible says in that place, they were in deep poverty. Does anybody here know what deep poverty is? Anybody here ever experienced deep poverty? Some of you are experiencing it now. Some of you think you're experiencing it now, right? And sometimes we worry that we're going to be in deep poverty. But here's what here's what he said. This they did. Meaning they gave unto us financially, not as we hoped, but first. Gave themselves unto the Lord. And unto us by the will of God. You know what they did? They said, God, we're giving ourselves to you. You know what they did? They came to God and they said, God, I'm giving you me. God wasn't trying to get something from his people. God wanted his people. And the indicator that He had them was that they were willing to give of that which He had prospered them with as a token of the sincerity of their hearts' love for God. And the Bible teaches us in 2 Corinthians 8 and verse 10, And also in verse 9 and 10 and verse number 24, it teaches us that our giving financially to God is a token expression of the sincerity of our love for God. I have seen the bumper sticker as you have seen it. Don't honk if you love Jesus. Tithe if you love Jesus. Anyone can honk. Right? Have you ever seen that? Sometimes we want to love relationship with Jesus and we want to worship and we want a praise that sacrifices nothing. But I challenge you to go into the Word of God and find pure worship that is not accompanied by some degree of sacrifice. I challenge you to go in and find meaningful praise of the Lord that at times does not cost something. And that's why the writer of Hebrews said in Hebrews chapter 13, By Him, therefore, let us offer up the sacrifice of praise. That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks unto His name. And when we come to worship God, out of a heart of love like Mary of Bethany did when she took her life savings and she broke that alabaster box of ointment and she anointed the feet of Jesus with the hairs of her head in that oil. It was an expression of the sincere hearted love that she had for the Lord Jesus Christ. She gave out of her riches to express the sincerity of her love For the Lord, you know, the Bible is very specific when it comes to this matter of giving of our finances to the Lord. You know, the Bible says the book of Proverbs chapter three, it says, Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all thine increase. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst forth with new wine. So what God is calling us to is to himself. Not because God wants something out of you. Not because the church or the preacher wants something out of you. But let me say this. You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving. Because the nature and the definition of love itself would indicate that we give. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. And love is quite simply giving of myself to meet the need in another. It may be the resource and the treasure of my time. It may be the resource of finances. It may be the resources of prayer. It may be some intangible thing that I give, but when I love, when I see a need, I'm going to give that which I have to express my love. Do you see that? In the New Testament church, it may not have always been just money. It may have been from the crop that they had received. It may have been an animal to help with the needs of the early church, because most of the believers in that early church period were ostracized from their communities. They were disowned and disinherited by their families. They lost their jobs and their fortunes. They were tortured and they were beaten and they were driven into places of hiding. And so they brought together what little they had and they gave to every man according as he had need. And the way that they express their love to the Lord was by giving to his body. Even in that early church period before they really even had a completed word of God. They understood from having come out of that Hebrew culture that giving was something that God ordained millennia ago. It wasn't just something that that Moses conceived of when he wrote down the law. Now, I want to say this to you, that the issue of tithes and offerings are an issue of the heart. The Bible says, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of the heart, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And we know this, that the Bible tells us in Matthew chapter six and verse number 24, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. It's talking about in terms of giving and giving to the work of the Lord. Do you know who should give to the work of the Lord? according to the Word of God, I believe. You know who should give to the work of the Lord? You know who should give offerings unto the Lord? Who? Everyone. Everyone. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 9, every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let Him give. Not grudgingly or of necessity. In other words, I'm not just I'm not going to be guilt tripped into it where I don't want to do it, but I do it because somebody might find out about it if I don't. I'm not going to do it grudgingly. I'm not going to do it of necessity. And that means I'm only going to give when there's a need present. Some people like to give that way. It's like, oh, there's a need. I'll break loose and give a little something to it. You know, there's nothing wrong with that. There's not too many bad ways to give the work of the Lord. But God says, here's here's the plan. Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart. So we've got to make a decision in our heart. So let him give. not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a what? Cheerful giver. And the word cheerful is also rendered hilarious, which means that we give with a joyous heart. Folks, can I say this to you with you understanding? I have to pay my taxes. Right, but I get to give to the work of the Lord. Do you know what the difference is? One says the law, the law says you do this or else. Right. And, you know, there are a lot of people that say, well, tithing, tithes and offerings, that is Old Testament. OK, that is legalism. OK, I get that. I hear that. But let me say this to you, if I may. And that is this, that I am one who happens to believe in the power of love. Do you? How many of you believe in the power of love? OK, how many of you believe that love is stronger than law? Let me see your hands. You really believe that you believe love is stronger than law? OK, now, if the law is going to extract a tenth from you. Is love stronger than that? Yes or no? You know, we can we can look at some examples in the Bible. OK, so. There's something here for everybody. You might be here saying, you know, the tithe is Old Testament. It's legalism. It's not church doctrine. We can't say that storehouse tithing translates to Malachi 3. You can still believe that, but if you're really a Biblicist, what you're going to understand is this, that the grace of God will lead you to do exceeding abundantly more than the law could ever require of you. And one indication in the Bible of that is found in Luke chapter 19, and it's the story of Zacchaeus. And how many of you remember hearing the story about Zacchaeus when you were a kid? Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he. He climbed up in the sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. And as the Savior passed that way, he looked up in the tree and he said, Zacchaeus, you come down. For I'm going to your house today, for I'm going to your house today. I remember singing that song and I remember thinking, you know, I was like Zacchaeus because I was always a little shorter in stature than everybody else. And I could always kind of put myself up there in the tree. One thing I could never relate to about Zacchaeus, though, he was rich and I wasn't. I still can't relate to that. He had a lot of money. He was a tax collector. He was a publican. He was despised by everybody in the Hebrew culture. In fact, because he had entered into an unholy alliance with Rome and was stealing from the people of God, he was disallowed from entering into the inner court of the temple. He had to stay in the Gentile court if he wanted to come at all. And really, I'm sure, did he ever even make his way to the temple because he was so ostracized from his culture and society because of his love for money. Now, folks, When Zacchaeus got saved, when salvation came to Zacchaeus, you remember what he said? He said, Lord. If I have taken from any man falsely, he said, the half of my goods I'm going to sell, I'm going to give to the poor, if I have taken from any man falsely, I will restore him what? He said, fourfold, fourfold. So he was saying, look, if I if I stole 10 shekels from Judy, I'm going to give her 40 back in restitution. You know what the law said he should do? 20 shekels. Do you know what grace led him to do? Twice as much. Twice as much. Folks, listen. Sometimes people ask me, am I going to be cursed if I don't tithe? You know, I don't believe in this age of grace that God is in the business of imposing curses upon us. I think we can invite situations into our lives. But do you know what God wants to do? He wants to break curses, doesn't he? You ever read that in the Ten Commandments there in Exodus chapter 20? You know, I think that Sometimes people, they get all twisted up in the law and they can't see. Because they've been totally blinded, but the Bible says the third commandment or the second commandment, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God. visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children under the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. Now, this is what people call generational curses. How many of you have heard of that before? And thinking that, you know, my grandfather was an alcoholic, my father was an alcoholic, and I'm an alcoholic. I have the curse on me. My grandfather was a womanizer. My dad was a womanizer. It fell to me. It was a generational curse that was visited to the sons of the third and fourth generation. But they never read any further than that, do they? But do you know what it goes on to say? It says this. and showing mercy of the thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. You know what God wants to do? He wants to mercifully allow those generational curses to be broken because of love. He wants to show mercy to those people. He doesn't want to measure out judgment upon you because of what your great grandfather did. You see that? He wants to break all that. Now, folks, listen, sometimes we just do everything that flies in the face of what God has asked for us to do. And we expect everything to go well. Friends, let me just say this to you. God is not going to bless your deeds of unrighteousness. You see that? Sometimes we think, well, I can do anything I want. I'm going to heaven. Yes, you can. And yes, you will. But folks, that doesn't mean you're going to lead a blessed life. God wants to lead you in paths of righteousness for his namesake, not in paths of unrighteousness. So you can choose to go an unrighteous way just like the sons of Judah did in Malachi. But don't expect that God is going to add blessing to that. Sometimes I have people that will come to me and they're they're shacked up, they're cohabiting and and I'm not sitting in the seat of judgment. I know that's where many of the people are that we meet and we love them. God loves them. And there's no curse upon them. We want to help them. But, you know, they'll say, hey, would you pray for me and my girlfriend here and, you know, so forth that we'd have a Christian home and, you know, we start doing the right thing. And I say, look, I'll pray for you. I will do that. But listen. This isn't a situation that God delights to bless when you decide you want to get the situation right. That's a place that God can begin to really pour out a blessing upon you. But it's a choice that you have to make before you and God, you understand that sometimes people. and say, oh, pastor, pray for me that I get a job. They don't have any intention of being a blessing to others beyond those that live at their house. They don't have any intention of being a blessing to the Lord and giving back to the Lord that which God has prospered them. But they want us to pray that they'll get a job. So they want a job. Why? So that they can consume those resources they earn upon their own lust. And is that a situation that God would delight to bless? So then why should I pray for you to get a job? if you're going to do something with those resources. You say, you know, I never give homeless people money. I always take them down to McDonald's and I buy something for them if they want it. And we kind of pride ourselves in the fact that we're not helping to facilitate someone's habit. I think everyone has seen somebody give a person on the street some money and that person goes out and buys beer or drugs or something with it. Right. The other day I was getting off the freeway. I saw a guy standing there and said, I'm not going to lie. I need beer money. And, you know, people are handing money, you know, and I'm thinking, didn't you read the sign, you know, and this is their sign, you know, but you didn't see that one. No, but anyhow. But look. You say, I'm not going to help by being a partaker in their habit and their poor choices. If they need food, I'll buy them a sandwich, but I'm not going to give them drugs or alcohol. OK, right. How many of you agree with that? OK, all right. We'd all tend to agree with that. So then why do I want to help you with the prayer that I offer up for you if you don't intend to do right with the job that I'm asking God to give you? It's the same principle, isn't it? If you follow your logic to that conclusion, you'd have to say, look, I want to be blessed with the Lord. So I don't want to just say, OK, God, you know, give me a job. But I want to say, God, I want to glorify you with this job. I want to be a witness in that workplace. I want to have a job so that I can do what the Bible teaches a person who has a job should do in Ephesians chapter four and verse number twenty eight, which says, Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor. That means get a job. Working with his hands, the thing which is good. And here's why you would do it. That he may have to give to him that needeth. Did you see that? Do you know why God wants to bless you with a job? So that you can have to give to him that needeth. Starting with the people that live at your house. Right? But it doesn't stop there. And every man needs to be a participant in that. And that's why the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him. Now, I'm not a Greek and Hebrew scholar. I took several semesters of Greek when I was in college, and I wasn't a scholar by any stretch. I can still probably read it, not with a great deal of comprehension. I probably still know a couple hundred words of Greek, but I have a good lexicon. I have some great resource materials, but I haven't stayed up. You don't use it, you lose it. right up on the Greek and the Hebrew. I can use the helps and I know enough about it to get around. I can pronounce some words in it and things like that. Write out the alphabet, parse some verbs in the Greek, you know, and but but listen. There are those that say when the Bible tells us here in verse 10, bring you all the tithes into the storehouse. It's the same. As what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 16 in the Greek, it would translate like this over into the Hebrew. It translates into the Greek. It says upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him. What does that mean? That means that I'm going to bring into the storehouse. My offerings to the Lord. And then Paul said that there be no collections when I come or no gatherings when I come. In other words, that the needs would be met sufficient that we don't have to continually keep passing the hat until we have enough food to make a meal. Now, I don't know, as far as I'm concerned, we don't put a lot of pressure. If you've been here the last two Wednesday nights, that's the only two services you've ever been to. You might think all they ever talk about is money. But you know what? Listen, there's about 777 sermons, I think almost, or 776 sermons on Sermon Audio. And you know how many of them would be about money? Do you have any idea? I challenge you to go look. Maybe four or five. Maybe four or five out of almost 800. So no honest person could say all they ever talked about is money. Really, no honest person could say that. But it's something that. We must see, because the Bible really and if you take God's word and you begin to study it. One out of every five verses in the Bible. If you take it quantitatively as a whole. relates specifically to the stewardship of material things, including money, one out of every five. OK, now we don't preach one out of every five messages on that. We don't talk about it a lot because most people get really squeamish and skittish when you talk about money, because that's sort of, you know, getting close to home with them. Right. That's why the Bible says, look, the love of money is the root of all evil. It doesn't say money is the root of all evil. It says the love of money is the root of all evil. But can I tell you what people do when they start deciding I'm not going to give any money to the work of the Lord? They first err from the faith. They affect a compromise with the devil in their belief system. So how do you know that? Well, because the Bible says in First Timothy, Chapter six. For the love of money is the root of all evil. which while some, having coveted after, have erred from the faith and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. What did they do when they started loving money? They ceased loving God. And so what they did in order to continue loving money is change their belief system and vainly believe that as long as I did a little something and as long as I still showed up, it was OK for me to be in love with material things, even though the Bible says plainly in 1 John 2, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are not of the Father, but are of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. And so we're commanded to love not the things of this world. What are we commanded to love? We're commanded to love God with all of our heart, soul, and strength. And folks, I'm just simply saying, If we believe that these are principles that we could worship and show our love to the Lord with, then tithe and give offerings to the Lord. If you believe that that's Old Testament and we're under grace, then do more than that. And if you can't, at least tithe. You know, there's a lot of times I've had people come in and they've said, Pastor, I can't afford to give anything to work, Lord. I just feel so bad. I've had people come in and say, I want to join the church, but I can't join the church. And I say, why can't you join the church? And they say, because I can't give anything yet and I don't want to become a member until I can be a contributor. And I'm thinking to myself, this is the kind of member we need. I'm going to pray you get a job. I'm teasing. That's not what I'm thinking. But look, sometimes they say that. And here's what I tell them. You know what you should do? Tithe your way out of financial doom and gloom. You say, why do you tell them that? Because it's a place to start. And God says every man can give. The Bible teaches us in Second Corinthians, Chapter eight, that the Macedonian believers were in deep poverty and they gave liberally, in fact, so much so that Paul was embarrassed to receive it. And so they had to beg him to take their offerings because they were so poor. And Paul was telling him, look, feed your babies. You guys need it. Where should I do? I'll make a tent. I'll do something. I'll get by. God will take care of me. And they're pleading with him to take upon him. The fellowship of the Ministry of the Saints. It was a fellowship that they had gotten together giving that they could further the work of God. And every one of them was involved in it. And that's why Paul told the believers in Corinth, every one of you, according as God purposes in his heart, so let him give. Let every man lay by him in store. Let every one of you lay by him in store. It's an all inclusive thing. So I tell folks, listen. Just decide, I'm going to begin tithing. I'm just going to give a tenth of whatever I have and then see what God will do from there. You know, listen, you're not going to hurt yourself giving to the work of the Lord. You know, I sometimes talk to people like, oh, you know, I can't even pay my bills. Look, if you're that far in the hole, that one dollar isn't going to be the ruination of you. You're already ruined. You just haven't arrived there fully yet. Do you know what I'm saying? You know what? For years, I told people in my church, I've said this. If you find yourself in a position of financial hardship and you think I can't give, I'm going to challenge you to do something. Become a giver of record. OK, keep the record, fill out an envelope or pay by check so that it's recorded. And at least tithe and as God prospers, you give offerings and do that for six months. If at the end of six months you're not in a better place financially. I will meet with the deacons and we will cut you a check. For all that you gave during that six month period of time. OK, it's counted as a savings plan. Your Christmas account down at the church, OK? I said that for years to thousands of people, you're in a financial difficulty. I challenge you to do this, become a giver of record. and begin at least tithing, and as God prospers you beyond that, give of the work of the Lord. And if at the end of six months you're not in a better position financially than when you began, we'll write you a check for the sum of what you gave of the work of the Lord. Do you know how many people have taken me up on that in perhaps 15 or 20 years? Not a single person. I've had a lot of people say, I'm taking you up on that, preacher, and you're going to have to write me a big fat check. And I said, I'm sorry, you don't have any faith in God. And you know what? There have been people who have said, I'm going to try that out. And you know what? At the end of six months, they forgot about it because God had blessed them so much. And so. I believe this, that tithing was established before the law was given, because Abraham paid tithes under Melchizedek. Before the law was given, Jesus commended the giving of tithes during his earthly ministry. And so it's contained in the Gospels. And though it is not per se, tithing per se, a New Testament church age doctrine, there is yet a principle there that applies to us all. That you can give without loving, that you cannot love without giving. And there's giving in every dispensation, giving unto the Lord. And as I understand and interpret the word of God, grace always does more than what the law demands. When I tell people that and confront them with the truth, it's amazing to me how much they want to stop talking about tithing being legalistic. It's a matter of the heart. People get sensitive about it. You know why? Because they're in love with things. If you were in love with Jesus and you said, Hey, I belong to him. Everything I have belongs to him. Everything I'll ever get comes from him. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from love and coming down from the father of life with whom is no variable and see the shadow of turning. And if I believe that with all of my heart. I'd say, amen, preacher, preach harder, preach harder, preach longer. Tell folks to give. Challenge me to give. And when I get to heaven, I wish you to preach longer. I wish you to preach harder. I wish you to preach harder. And I wish I would have given him more. You come and look me up your first hour in heaven and tell me if you thought I preached hard enough, you'll probably say, man, you were so milquetoast, you just never even gave it to us. You know, look, if I started preaching hard a little bit lately, blame it on Linda or maybe the Holy Spirit, but or both. You know what? There have been times where she said, honey, when you go up there to preach tonight, you preach like you're preaching at a pastor's conference in the Philippines. Don't hold anything back. Right. You said that to me, it's your fault. Tell Joe. I'm just kidding. You know, listen, this is a scenario of sensitivity. It's revealing a condition of our hearts. God didn't want money out of them. He wanted to see where their hearts were. And he said, I want you to come back to me. And you know what would be the indicator that they had? That they would begin giving to him out of a heart of love. How can we do anything less? You know what the Bible says, he despaired not his own son, but freely delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? And Jesus looked at his disciples and said this freely, you have received. Freely give. You know what the law doesn't say freely give, it says you better give. You know what grace says? Freely you have received. Freely give. Reveals a condition of your heart. Condition of your heart. Do you know what? I'm excited about our stewardship banquet coming up. You know why? Because it's going to give Linda and I an opportunity to move forward in our faith in God. It's going to give us an opportunity to stretch what measure of faith we have and see what God will do. Folks, we know what it is, what it feels like to have needs. We have six kids. I've got a son getting married this weekend. I had one girl get married in August. I've got a boy Tuesday having a seventh birthday. You know, we have Christian school tuition. We have Christian college tuition. We have you name it. I'm just saying we know what it's like to have needs, you know, we know we're in the same boat and sometimes we tremble with fear. We know what that feels like, you know, and just waiting on the Lord to provide, but we believe. That when we so love the Lord and his body is moving forward, that he would have us not just encourage others to give, but to provide leadership by our examples and give out of a pure hearted love for Christ and then just see what God will do. What the world calls idiocy, God might see as love. And when we love the Lord that much, you know what? He's not going to be a debtor. If you give him ten kisses, he'll give you a thousand. You know, I mean, he's going to smother you with it. And sometimes we think, OK, God will give you a shovel of money your way. I'm glad that my God has a way bigger shovel than what I've got. Amen. And I hope that you're as excited about just demonstrating your love to the Lord as we decide to move forward by faith. And and I didn't time these sermons to land like this. God did, because I started back before Thanksgiving thinking, OK, God, what do you want me to do? And he led me to go to Malachi one. And I thought I was just going to preach out of chapter one. And I just kept going in November. You remember. And here we are just Three weeks away from an event in our lives, our church's life, and we're talking about the condition of the heart. And this is going to say something about the heart condition of Freeway Baptist Church. I believe it. And I believe that the heart is strong, don't you? And I believe that this church has a heart that really wants to move forward for God. And I'm not trying to rah-rah-ree be a grandstanding cheerleader. I'm just trying to stir you up with a biblical motivation. He said, I love you and I'm never going to stop loving you. What I want you to do is come back to me. Return unto Me. And here's how I know that you have. It's when everything that you have is surrendered to Me. He doesn't want something out of you. He wants you. But when He has you, He'll have your offerings. You see that? It's all based upon love. Folks, that's what it is in Malachi chapter 3. I'm not preaching curses on you. I'm not putting you under the law. Do you see that? I'm motivating you by love. you