wonderful thing. So turn your Bibles to the book of Romans, if you will. Romans chapter 12 and verse 8. And let me get the young men up here to pass these out. I'd appreciate that. Two of the young men. I'll say the shorter young men. Thank you, guys. Romans chapter 12 in verse 8, and we're going to use that verse this evening as a springboard. Of course, going through the gifts of the Spirit, we went through the past gifts, the ones that are not in use any longer. Such as speaking in tongues and those types of things and I'm not going to go back through those if you want to Hear those messages. They are online on our sermon audio You can go on there and listen to those and they were they're recorded there and hopefully they'll be blessing to you but tonight we are continuing through the present gifts and we are looking at this present spiritual gift and notice it's the gift of giving and And here in Romans chapter 12 and in verse 8, notice the Bible says this, or he that exhorteth on exhortation, he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. Let's go to Lord in prayer and we'll get started here this evening. Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank you for who you are. Lord, I thank you, Lord, for these gifts of the Spirit, Lord, things that, Lord, that you give to us as believers. And, Lord, you know exactly which gift or gifts, Lord, that you've given to each one of us. And Lord, I pray that you would help us to use these gifts, Lord, for the purpose in which they were given, Lord, for the edifying of the body of Christ. And Lord, I do pray that each and every one of us would draw closer to you tonight and that you would, Lord, impress on our hearts, Lord, to be givers. And Lord, maybe someone here in this room tonight, maybe that is their spiritual gift, is the spiritual gift of giving. And Lord, I pray that you would do a mighty work in their hearts, Lord, and ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen. Well, all of us, every single day, we are giving and also getting. You know, I don't know if you've figured this out or not, but it doesn't matter what you have going on in your life, there's only 24 hours in a day. And when that 24 hours is over, guess what? You're not getting it back. It's gone. We can think about it and think about all the things that happened then, but it's gone. All throughout the day, we are giving moments that we'll never get back. We are all giving in some way. When you're at your job, you're giving of time or your talents or your abilities, whatever it may be, and you're giving of that in the expectation that your employer is going to give back to you in the way of a paycheck. And there's a saying that some people say, well, if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. Well, you're still going to work, amen? But you can still love what you do. But you're giving yourself in everything that you do. If you're a parent, guess what? You're giving to your children. If you're working a job, you're giving to your employer. There's all sorts of ways in which we're giving every single moment of the day. When it comes to the life of a believer, though we, humanly speaking, though we are giving, what about in the life of a believer? Well, a believer should be a giving person as well, and not just to the employer and those things, but look over at the book of Acts, if you will, Acts chapter 20 and verse 35. Acts chapter 20 and verse 35. The end of this verse is, the portion of a verse that we will quote many times when thinking about giving and receiving. But in Acts chapter 20, verse 35, the Bible says this, Now notice, he's speaking the words of Christ here. This is not the words of an apostle or something like that. No, he's speaking the words of Christ. And he says, than to receive. Now that should be the motto that every Christian lives their life by, because if you're following the Lord like you're supposed to be, then you're going to be a giving person always, because you're trying to do exactly what Christ did. What did Christ do while he was alive? He gave himself, literally. And he gave up himself every day, investing in the people and trying to be a help to people. So as we discuss this gift of the Spirit, it's important for us to understand that just as all believers are to be witnessing, just as the evangelist, of course, has a greater passion for witnessing, we discussed that when we talked about the gift of the evangelist, we are all to be givers. But yet God has given some the gift of giving. And maybe that's you here tonight. Maybe the Lord has given you that gift of giving. And many times we think, well, a person with the gift of giving, they must have billions of dollars in the bank. That's not so. But the person with the gift of giving is someone that loves Remember, we were talking about the gift of the evangelist, and we discussed how as believers, we should be a witness everywhere we go. We should have gospel tracts on us and those types of things, trying to be a witness to people. But we said the person with the gift of the evangelist, though they're a believer, though they're supposed to be witnessing, that gift of the evangelist that God has given to them, they have that extra seal, if you will, for getting the gospel out. Same thing is true when it comes to the gift of giving. Maybe the Lord has blessed you and you just love to give. Use that gift for the glory of God. Give for God's glory. So notice, first of all, on your handout there, notice what is a giver? What is a giver? Well, if you look at Romans chapter 12 and verse six through eight, we'll read that just a moment, but notice this. Simply put, a giver is someone who gives of the bounty, notice, that God has blessed them with. We could say, of course, that God has given them. You see what God has given you. If you see that as a blessing from God himself, then you're going to be more apt to bless others with what God has given to you. We are to be conduits for what God has done in our lives. The people with the gift of giving, a giver is someone that's going to give the needs as needs come about. There's going to be families and needs in the church and those types of things. And they give through the local church. needs of fellow believers and church members and ones like that here in Romans chapter 12, verse six through eight, the Bible says this, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith, or ministering, let us wait on our ministering, or he that teacheth on teaching, or he that exhorteth on exhortation, he that giveth, notice this next statement, let him do it with simplicity. Let him do it with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. So a giver is someone, it's pretty simple, a giver is someone that is willing to give of what God has given them. Here's a newsflash for every single one of us, and I have to remind myself of this, or should I say God has to remind me of this many times? Is that everything we have? It doesn't belong to us. It belongs to God. And when He gives it to us, when God says, hey, here's what I want you to do with that, who are we to say, well, that's not what I want to do with that? Think about it. Maybe you're working for an employer and you're writing checks or whatever, and they say, hey, I want to write a check for this thing out of the business account, and I want it to go to this place, and I need you to take care of that for me. And you say, well, I don't feel like doing that. I don't want to do that. The employer would say, why? Well, because you shouldn't spend the money that way. And God says, that's the same thing with our life. You see, God has given us everything. It's not ours to give. It's God's that we get to give. And God can use us as we give. A giver is someone who gives of the bounty that God has blessed them with. Notice secondly there, notice how we should give. There are some guidelines that all believers should follow when it comes to our giving, but the ones with the gift of giving will do these things, and they will do these on a larger scale, if you will. But how should we give? If we are called to give, if we've trusted in Christ and we know that everything that we have has been given to us by God and God wants us to give it out, well, how should we be doing that? Well, there's some principles that we can get ingrained in our minds, some truths here from the Word of God that are going to teach us how we are to give. Notice, first of all, we should give consistently. We should give consistently. Giving should be a part of our lives. It shouldn't be something that we look back on and maybe we're thinking about giving and say, yeah, I can remember when I gave last time and it was back in such and such year. It shouldn't be that way. Well, I gave a lot of money back then. Doesn't matter. A believer should be giving consistently. We are to die to the flesh daily. That has to happen every single day. Therefore, we should be giving consistently as well. In 1 Corinthians 16, verse 2, the Bible says, 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 notice here, here in this passage we see they were instructed to consistently be laying in store their gifts, their tithes, if you will. They had to have that ready to go, their giving to the Lord. At the end of the passage it says this, that there be no gatherings when What he was telling them is this. God's already told us what we are to give. Therefore, we should not be surprised when the offering is taken or when that need arises because God has told us that we are to be giving. We as believers, we should be ready to give. As we build our budget and those types of things, I think it's great for a believer to understand that In a perfect world, this is the way that this is going to happen, but at any time, if we think, well, I built this budget here, but God told me to give, but you know what, I'm not going to do that right now. No, God's in charge. How about we not do some things that are just temporal things. When God says, I want you to do this, He says, I want you to do it for the eternal things. Let's put those things first. We should be consistently giving. Don't be surprised when God says that it's time to give. As we work in our jobs, Most employers, there is a consistent program of investing, isn't there? Maybe some employers only do 1%, 2% or 3%, something like that. Some do as much as 10% or 15%, but it's consistent. Every single time you get that paycheck, there's part of that that goes directly into investing. It is consistent. It's systematic. It just happens. What we as believers understand is this, we should be systematically giving to the Lord as well. But many times, here's what happens. When the check comes, we just see the number on the check. Now, we know some went into the investment, but we didn't see that number. So it didn't pull on our heartstrings at all. It's just there. And we look at this and we say, well, this is what I have. So, well, if I give, If I give 10% of that to the Lord, well then I'm only gonna have this much left. Well, think about it this way. God has given you 100% and all he's asking for is 10. You got 9% left to live on. You see, we need to understand that the giving to God comes first. It needs to be systematic. It needs to be consistent in our giving. We need to live that way. And as we discussed giving, the Lord's plan is to give through the local New Testament church. When someone gives in this place, they're not giving to Grace Baptist Church, they're giving to the Lord, and Grace Baptist Church is a conduit to send it through the local church. missionaries and things like that that we give to as well and wonderful things, but we should be consistent in our giving and never too young to start giving. Never. We should always be giving. Look at 2 Corinthians, if you will, chapter 9 and verse 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 5. 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 5 the Bible says this therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before unto you and make up beforehand your bounty. Here's what he's saying there that make up beforehand your bounty it means this it means to be prepared to give. Notice he went before him, he told the brethren, he said, it was necessary for me to tell them, look, there's going to be a person coming through here, and we need to be ready to give to this person. We have the opportunity to give to them. Make it up beforehand. Be prepared to give. Many people will say things like this, well, I just don't have the money to give. Well, that could be true in excess of the tithes, but God, He instructs us, we're commanded to give of a tithe. But here's what I found. 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 Wait a second, but I need that coffee to get through work. And look, I understand. I love some coffee, amen? Good stuff. Some people are drinkers, that's fine, we'll pray for you, but I'm a coffee drinker. But the truth is this, many times we say, God, I just don't have the money. Well, I'd like to give to that, but I just don't have anything to give. But we get the newest gadget we saw online, The thing that popped up on Amazon that said, well, you just need to have this thing, something that I found to be true in my life, and I'm sure you found it to be true in your life, is this. We have money to do what we want to do. We make a way to do that, don't we? Well, this is what I wanna do, and so we'll make it happen, but our mindset many times is not like that when it comes to giving. Understand here, this gift of the Spirit we're talking about tonight, it's not just about giving of money, but money literally touches every area of your life, every area. Therefore, we should be giving of that. And understand this, there is no gift of giving in operation unless the tithe has been given. God commands to give 10%. If we say, well, I just don't have money to give a tithe here because, well, I gave to this. Well, all we're doing is we're robbing Peter to pay also the same go. We're to give to God first and allow God to bless that. Many times, something, a situation like this may happen. A person makes $100 and they do not top it, but rather they give $10 to something or someone else. And here's the truth of that matter. They stole that $10 from God. Well, that person needed that $10. They may have. But how would God have blessed you to be able to bless that person if you would just obey God? You see, we must obey God, what God has told us to do. So we must be giving consistently. Notice number two there, not only consistently, but we must be giving liberally. Now, I'm not saying going liberal, amen? I'm not up here in skinny jeans and a turtleneck shirt tonight, amen? We're not going liberal, amen? But we need to be liberal givers. We need to be giving of what God has given to us. God has given us so much, and we should be giving liberally. Look at 2 Corinthians 9, verse 6. Notice here, but this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap everything he would like. That's not what it says. It says he's going to reap sparingly as well. If you give sparingly, you're going to reap sparingly. Notice, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also Bountifully. Every one of us, we need to understand that's a promise from God Himself. God's Word is true. And if we sow sparingly, we're going to reap sparingly. We need to understand this, that when we obey God, we as believers, unfortunately, we act surprised when God blesses our obedience. Why is that? Because many times we disobey. And the times that we do obey and God blesses us, we say things like this, well, I didn't see that coming. I'm guilty of it just as much as you are, but all of us, we should understand this, that if we're going to be stingy with God, understand the blessings are going to be stingy as well. There's something that many believers have the wrong view of, it's this area of giving. When a person gives a tithe, of course, 10%, we feel as though we did something extremely special. But a tithe is the bare minimum of what God has commanded us to give. God gives us 100. He tells us we get to keep 90 of that. Well, that's a pretty good deal. But our giving should not stop there. There is so much that we can give to. There's building projects, and bus ministries, and outreach ministries, and benevolence funds, and promised giving, and all of these sorts of things that we can give to. We need to be liberal in our giving. Not the liberal that this world thinks of, but giving just exponentially of what God has given to us. that when we think of our giving, are we giving consistently? Are we as believers, are we giving liberally? Giving more than what we thought was even humanly possible because that's what God told us to give. Notice also number three there, letter C on your handout, notice there we should be thinking sacrificially as well. Sacrificially. 2 Corinthians 8, in verse 1-3, the Bible says this, For over, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded under the riches of their liberality. For to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves. Notice there, beyond their power, these people, these were people who loved to give. And they were even willing to give beyond their power. They wanted to give of themselves. It's something they wanted to do. Look at verse 4. It says, praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship or the ministering of the saints. That praying us, when you study those words, here's what it means. These people that were in this church that wanted to give to them so bad, praying us that we would take that gift, it meant this, that they were begging them to take the gift that they wanted to give. But the preachers that were coming through here, here's what they knew. These people, they don't have this to give. And the people were saying this, please take this. We want to be a blessing. Notice they were willing to give sacrificially. Giving sacrificially, that is giving until it hurts. That's what it is. You know, in many of households today, someone can give $10, $20, something like that, and it really doesn't set the apart too much. I feel like we've done something. But giving sacrificially is when it hurts. These people understood that they had been given so much, and they knew that God was the provider of everything. And rather than looking at how little they could give, here's what they did. They looked at every opportunity they could. Every opportunity, they said, can we give to that? Who can I give to today? What project can I help with in my giving today? How much more can I give to this or to that? And church, the truth is, giving is an opportunity for us to give back to God. And every single time we wake up, guess what? God has given us another day to give to something. Another day. With every breath that we take, we have been given something more. You know, God doesn't have to give us our next breath. He doesn't have to. But yet, He does because He's not done with us. Most believers do not give sacrificially to anything. They may give, but they're not giving sacrificially a person who is doing what they're supposed to do, working hard. Each year they're going to have what you call an annual review or something like that, an evaluation, and many times if that person is working hard, and doing what they're supposed to, and going above and beyond, they're going to see a pay raise. And many times we say, well, I'm making more money now, so now 10%, that goes up. But many times, if you were to look at many believers' lives, though their tithe itself may go up, their faith promise stays the same or drops even lower. You know, it's amazing when someone wants a new bass boat, the areas they'll cut back on. And many times, cutting back on God is the first thing we do. Or a new vehicle, or something like that. to not look at how little we can give, but rather how much more we can. We need to be sacrificial in our giving. Maybe we get a bonus, and the Lord says, I want you to give some of that towards this or towards that, whatever it may be. Our mind wants to say, and our flesh wants to say this, I wanted to go on vacation instead. And the Lord will say this, how much does a soul worth? Listen, I'm against vacations at all. Me and my family take vacations. We're looking forward to a vacation this year. But there comes a point at which we have to ask ourselves many times, what's more important? What's important, you cannot out give God. Understand that. He's going to bless you by what you give to him. This is not some name it and claim it and blab it and grab it type of gospel I'm preaching here tonight. But what I'm saying is this, that the word of God says that if you sow sparingly, you're going to reap sparingly. If you sow bountifully, you're going to reap bountifully. I won't. get into all the details but who wanted to share this story with you know shared the story with uh... brother sean uh... yesterday on monday i went out uh... also brother kaiser we were in like this the place in which we were in uh... there was a uh... a car sitting next to my car we went to the store did some shopping there came back out uh... there was a young man that was sitting there and and this young man i get out of the car asked for uh... for some help and uh... my was talking to him for a little bit of thirteen years old his name is bernard I was able to get to the hospital track, and the Holy Spirit told me, hey, there was a McDonald's right next door. So I went right next door, and I told Bernard, as he was there in the car all by himself, I said, hey, let me go to McDonald's, let me get you a meal, whatever you'd like. He said, okay, so we go over there and said, what do you like? We're sitting there at the screen, because, of course, there's nobody at the registers any longer. Hit the screen about 30 times before you can order. So we're standing at the screen, and I ordered mine. And it takes me a while to order mine. And then I said, all right, go ahead and order what you want. So he walks up in, and he's hitting buttons all over the place. He works better than I do. And as he's hitting those buttons, he says, I love McDouble. I said, OK, we'll get you a McDouble. He goes, and a drink. I said, OK, we'll get you a drink. I said, you want some fries? Oh, yeah, yeah, I'll take some fries, too. I said, OK. I got this boy's meal and I was talking to him for a little bit, asking him, hey, do you go to church anywhere? I go to such and such church in Lancaster with my grandma. Anyway, I was able to give him the gospel tract, got him his meal. He was happy and went on about my way. And that evening, I was speaking to a man. It was not a man that I knew. I had never met this man before. And as I was talking to this man, he asked me what I do. I told him I was a pastor of Grace Baptist Church. He's like, no way. He said, we just moved in the area not too long ago. We've been driving by there. Me and my wife have been talking about coming and visiting there. And just the whole conversation was going on. And he says this, he goes, he says, hey, hold on just a second. He runs into the house and he comes back and he hands me some money. Well, I wasn't gonna count it there in front of him, you know. Sir, this isn't enough, you're gonna have to take this back and give me some more. I wasn't gonna do that, so I put it in my pocket. And in the back of my mind, Bernard's name came to my mind. And the Lord said, you spent $9 on that kid's meal this morning. So I finished the conversation with the man from the gospel track as well, and went and got in the car, pulled the money out of my pocket. $200, this man gave me. Now, I wanted to get out of the car and have a Baptocastal fit, amen? But here's the truth. The Lord blesses obedience. Now, I'm not saying that to pat myself on the back, because here's exactly what I told my wife, and she can vouch for this. I said, why don't I obey God every single time He tells me to do something? I know He's going to bless. I know it's what's best for me. I know it's what's best for my family. Why don't I obey every time? We need to be giving. We need to be sacrificial givers. So we must be willing to give consistently, liberally, sacrificially, also cheerfully. Look at 2 Corinthians 9, verse 7. Notice the Bible says this, Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, So let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. You know, we as believers should be cheerful givers. We should be happy about what we get to give to God. We have it, and praise the Lord, we're able to give it. And we give it of our money and of our time and talents and those types of things. But notice, I want you to look at a word there in that verse when it says about halfway through there, so let him give not grudgingly. Now here's what that word grudgingly means there. So we are supposed to give cheerfully. It says, for God loveth a cheerful giver. That word grudgingly, it means this, sadness. It means grief. It means grievous. It means with heaviness or with sorrow. You know, if we are giving simply because, well, it's just checking it off the list, we're giving grudgingly. God loves a cheerful giver. Our mindset should be, I get to give to God. I get to be in obedience to his word just through this gift here. So we should be giving consistently. We should be giving liberally. We should be giving sacrificially and cheerfully. And then also we should be giving privately as well. Look at Matthew chapter six. Matthew chapter six in verse one through four. Matthew chapter six, verse one through four. we should be giving privately. Now notice here in Matthew chapter six, verse one through four, the Bible says this, take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise you have no report of your father, which is in heaven. Therefore, when thou dost thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly." Now, there is a lot of people that will take that verse, let me find it here, yes, in verse... They will take that verse when it says, take heed that you do not your own before men to be seen of them. Otherwise, you have no reward of your father, which is in heaven. They'll say this. Well, you shouldn't pass offering plate because I'm supposed to give before men. That's not what that verse is saying there. Notice here. Take heed that you do not your own before men to be seen of them. We should not be giving. so that the person down the row sees that we're putting that in the offering plate. Shouldn't be that way at all. If there was no one in the building and the offering plate was there, we should have the same mindset of giving then as we should if the building is full of people. I'm not for plaques and pews and names and hymnals and those types of things. I know wonderful and doctrinally sound churches that are doing the work of the Lord that have those types of things. I understand that they give arguments for it and all of that. I'm not for those things, though, because we're not giving to be seen of men. Well, this thing here was given by a gift of so-and-so. I'm just not for that. We're not supposed to be giving to God here. If we're giving to be recognized of men as lovingly as I put this, if your gift is so that someone else will think better of you, keep your money. Keep it. Remember that verse we read, God loveth a cheerful giver. Not a prideful giver, a cheerful giver. I understand there's some things, you know, people may want counsel on giving and certain things like that. I understand that, but what I'm talking about here is broadcasting it so that others know how much we gave. Lord, help us. First of all, we see what is a giver. Then we saw how we should give. Notice number three here, and these last couple will be very, very quick. Notice examples of giving. I want you to look at the book of Acts 9 in verse 36. Acts 9 in verse 36. Here in Acts 9 in verse 36, Notice the Bible says this. Now, there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and alms deeds, which she did. Here's what that alms deed means. She was a giver. She was someone who was willing to give, but not only willing to give, it says that she was full of good works and alms deeds, which she did. She was full of this. She was always looking for an opportunity to give. Also over in Acts chapter four, in verse 34 through 36, the Bible says this, Acts chapter four, verse 34 to 36. Notice, neither was there any among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors of land or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son of consolation, the Levite, and all of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. Now, understand here, in verse 36, we see a man who is giving the way that giving is supposed to be done, because here's why. He was not giving so that men could see him. He understood that this is something that I can give to, and I'm going to sell this land, and I'm going to give it to the church, and he gave all that that he got from that. It says in verse 37 there, having land, sold it, and brought the money. And then we see in verse one of chapter five, of course, Ananias and Sapphira. I want you to notice a certain man named Ananias and Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession. Now notice the difference between these two there. Talk about sacrificial giving. When it talks about Barnabas, it says this, having land, sold it. When it talks about Ananias and Sapphira, it says having a possession, sold it. They just gave some, but he gave all. Notice those are examples of giving, Roman numeral three there, the examples of giving. Notice Roman numeral number four there, the characteristics of a giver. Now, I'm speaking of one who has the gift of giving. When you talk about these characteristics here tonight, someone with that gift there. The person is usually a very well-organized person. Many times when someone has this gift of giving, a well-organized person, sometimes a businessman or a woman, sometimes a business owner or executive, sometimes a blue collar worker who has just worked hard and the Lord has blessed and therefore they can give from that abundance. But many times they're a very, just very organized person. in check, and they're able to give out of their abundance. Many times they, of course, will give privately. They're not looking for their gift to be publicized. I can remember when we were at Capitol, there was some work that needed to be done. I may have said this story before, and I'm going to say it again. This is my story. I'm sticking to it, amen? But there was some work that needed to be done, some masonry work, and a man comes in. And me and Brother Corddry were talking to this man. The man said, yeah, I can do work for the church. He said, I can do this work. He said, but here's what I want to do. I don't want the church to pay me anything. Okay, great, this man's giving of his abundance and of his time, and he's just going to do the work for the church, that's great. And before Brother Corddry could open his mouth and say, wow, you're going to do it for free, the man said this, I just won't pay my tithe until it's paid off. Brother Corddry said, that ain't happening. He said, that's not the way that it's supposed to be done. He said, you're supposed to give to the Lord. He said, if you want to do this as well, that's fine. He said, but you are to be giving to the Lord. What did this man want? He wanted man to know that he was doing work for the church. He wanted men to know that this is going to have his stamp on it, if you will. And I can charge the church a dime. They stole from God, amen? He didn't end up doing the work. But this person also, they usually have the ability to live on their income, save and invest money. They're normally wise with what God has given to them. What I mean by this is it's not that we should cause our family to suffer because we want to give everything to the Lord. But there is a fine balance there, I think. Of course, God said in 1 Timothy 5a that if a man doesn't take care of his own, he's worse than an infidel. That's what the word of God says there. I'm not saying that we are to give everything so that our family starves. No, we are to do everything in the way that God tells us. But here's the deal. Saying that our kids need $300 sneakers, guess what? They don't. saying that we have to have a $100,000 or $200,000 car. Guess what? We don't. It's not wrong to have things, but understand, don't let the things have you. Homes should be kept. You don't have to have the latest and greatest and those types of things, but our families shouldn't be running around in rags either. We should be wise with what God's given us. And many times when you look at a person that has the gift of giving, they have these types of things in check. Also, this person desires to help others in need. We've all heard the statement, we'll see the need and take the lead. Many times it's what a giver will do. They see that person has a need and they'll just take care of it. People may come up to me, I've had people do this. They've said, hey, so they have a need. I know that this is a need and I would like to just go ahead and take care of that if that's okay. And praise the Lord for that. When you see that need, take care of that. And that's how a giver is. They desire to help others that are in need. Notice number five, the downfalls and dangers of a giver. They're not dangerous people, but there's dangers they can cause. Just a few things here and we'll be done. Notice one of the downfalls or dangers is this. They tend to judge others spiritually. by what they give. Well, I was able to give such and such to that. I can't believe so-and-so only gave that. Well, I gave $500. I can't believe they only gave 50. Did you give what God wanted you to give? Well, yeah, no matter what they gave. Our obedience is individual. A man will give account of himself before God. Careful. That's a danger that you can fall into very, very quickly. Also, judging others by what they possess. Somebody that is a giver, many times they will judge someone because they either have too much or not enough stuff in their eyes. It doesn't matter what another person has. If we could get our eyes off of everybody else and focus on what God has for us, we'd be a lot happier people. But we just have to do that, amen? Notice also another danger or downfall is this, they may be tempted to buy their way into certain roles. Listen, these are dangers that we all face, and the truth is that many people say, well, if I just had more money, I would be happy. That's what they say. But money, having an excess amount of money is going to make you more of what you already are. If you're a miserable person, and you have a million dollars, you're going to be a rich, miserable person. If you are a joyful person and you have a million dollars, you're going to be a rich, joyful person. That's how it is. Money does not buy happiness. Watch out for those downfalls and those dangers of a giver. And then lastly here, notice how to use this gift. Many ways to use the gift and things to be involved in and maybe Maybe this is a gift that you say, hey, I believe this is one of my spiritual gifts that the Lord has given me. How can I use that? Well, there is many things. Of course, giving to special projects. We have different missionary needs that come up and you can give towards those things. Being included in things like like the budget meetings, or a treasurer of the church, a trustee of something, building programs, benevolent programs. There's all kinds of areas in which people can give. There's all kinds of needs that arise that people can give to. You know what we have to do to see those needs? We've got to open our eyes. There's needs all around us. There are missionaries on a foreign field we give systematically each month. Maybe the Lord tells you to give a gift to one of them, or maybe just to the faith promise in general, maybe into a building fund. We're having the sound system replaced. It's gonna be next month. Praise the Lord, looking forward to that. Maybe it's something towards that, or to the pew reupholstering. See, we've got all kinds of things. If we open our eyes, we've got things to give to. The bus ministry. that bus takes fuel. Every time we go to put fuel in there, we're putting between $100 and $200 in the tank there. And sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less, but here's the deal, it takes money to run that bus. We can give towards those types of things, outreach opportunities, maybe buying and sending tracts to missionaries or church planners or whatever it may be. There's all kinds of ways in which we could give. There's many ways to give. And the way the need gets met is this, by God's people being and giving people. That's how the needs get met. Brother Kiel was talking about the church down there. You know how his need got met to go to Mexico? God's people were giving people. And it was a blessing to the man of God that God's people were willing to give. God would have taken care of it either way. But what a blessing it is to know that you can take part in what God is doing by giving, notice this, by giving just what's been given now. By giving that way. We should all be cheerful givers. Let's not be stingy on God. Maybe it's just spending some time with someone. teaching someone, discipling someone, be a giver of yourself. We spent a lot of time tonight, of course, in giving. A lot of times money is spoken of there, but what about our time? We've got people that need to go through discipleship programs and sometimes just need someone just to help them and show them some verses or things like that. There's all kinds of ways to give. but we must be willing to do that. Maybe God has given you the gift of giving. Let me ask you this, how are you using that gift? Maybe use it for his glory, amen? Everything we're to do is to be to the honor and glory of Christ, to magnify his name. And understand that every single time we give, remember that verse, that God loveth a cheerful giver, amen?