Speaker 1: Welcome Just Hindaway Tagalog Sermon Podcast, your daily dose of
Speaker 1: inspiring from heartfelt tagalog sermons from different characters.
Speaker 2: And speakers all over the Philippines.
Speaker 3: We hope that this podcast finds you in good shape.
Speaker 3: And now here's your message.
Speaker 2: You're listening to a message from Victory. God's character, commandments
Speaker 2: and promised blessings do not change. Discover more about this
Speaker 2: truth in week three of our series remember this.
Speaker 3: Today, we're going to talk about giving.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about money, so we're going to
Speaker 1: touch on that and I'm trusting that God will speak
Speaker 1: to us.
Speaker 3: I know God has blessed us. God is using us
Speaker 3: to be a blessing.
Speaker 1: But I believe God wants to God wants us to
Speaker 1: excel even in the air area of giving. There's a
Speaker 1: verse in the Bible that says, just as you excel
Speaker 1: in everything and speech in faith in all areas of life,
Speaker 1: make sure the Bible says that you don't neglect this area,
Speaker 1: that you actually excel in the grace of giving. And
Speaker 1: I hope more and more God will give us that
Speaker 1: desire that faith before when I was just starting out
Speaker 1: in my walk with God.
Speaker 3: Every year we will fast every year we will write.
Speaker 1: Down our vision, things that we're believing God for for
Speaker 1: the coming year. We're going to do that again this January,
Speaker 1: and most of what we write really are things we
Speaker 1: want to receive, until my pastor talked to them and said,
Speaker 1: why don't you write also the amount that you're going
Speaker 1: to believe God for to give away the following year.
Speaker 1: Have a giving vision, not just a getting vision. Okay, well, Mopero,
Speaker 1: you challenge God, you you as God, to give you
Speaker 1: the faith that every year, Lord, increase my capacity, increase
Speaker 1: my ability to be a blessing, that I will not
Speaker 1: just be able to give my tithe, but I'll be
Speaker 1: able to actually go beyond and be able to contribute
Speaker 1: to the things that you're doing around the world. So
Speaker 1: that's what we're going to talk about today, and I'm
Speaker 1: trusting that somehow it's God who will just put that
Speaker 1: desire in our hearts and give us the faith to
Speaker 1: excel in this area.
Speaker 3: We have your Bible with you.
Speaker 1: We're going to read from verse six of chapter three
Speaker 1: Malachi Chapter three, verse six to twelve. It says, for
Speaker 1: I the Lord do not change. Therefore you, oh children
Speaker 1: of Jacob, are not consumed from the days of your
Speaker 1: father's you have turned aside from my statutes and have
Speaker 1: not kept them, and have not kept them. Return to me,
Speaker 1: and I will return to you as the Lord of Hosts.
Speaker 1: But you say, how shall we return? Will man rob God?
Speaker 1: Yet you are robbing me. But you say, how have
Speaker 1: we robbed you? And your tithes and contributions. You are
Speaker 1: cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me. The
Speaker 1: whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse,
Speaker 1: that there may be food in my house, and thereby
Speaker 1: put me to the test, says the Lord of Host.
Speaker 1: If I will not open the windows of heaven for
Speaker 1: you and pour down for you a blessing until there
Speaker 1: is no more need, I will rebuild the divire for
Speaker 1: you so that it will not destroy the fruits of
Speaker 1: your soil, and your vine in the field shall not
Speaker 1: fail to bear, says the Lord of Host. Then all
Speaker 1: nations will call you blessed, for you will be a
Speaker 1: land of delight, says the Lord of Hosts.
Speaker 3: I like verse six.
Speaker 1: It says, for I, the Lord, do not change. When
Speaker 1: I was in New Belt, we have a student leader
Speaker 1: who was diagnosed with a mental disorder and It came
Speaker 1: out after a year of the student leader being with us.
Speaker 1: The first year it never showed up, there was no sign,
Speaker 1: there was no episode. But after a year it started
Speaker 1: to show up. One time I received a call and saying, Pastor,
Speaker 1: can you come to the house of this girl because
Speaker 1: this girl was acting violently and the family doesn't know
Speaker 1: what to do. They said, we think maybe there's a
Speaker 1: spirit something like that. I said, okay, cast out the spirit.
Speaker 3: I'm coming gets anyway, so because I'll go.
Speaker 1: But so first time Papalitna personality character, this young woman
Speaker 1: used to be so gentle and so kind. Pastor, we're
Speaker 1: gonna anatalagan and the koma described the comma demonstrate also,
Speaker 1: and then it was not the last time. It happened
Speaker 1: again in another place. This time it's in a public area.
Speaker 1: So we're beginning to be so concerned already. It's so
Speaker 1: hard to be with a person like that. It's so unpredictable.
Speaker 1: You don't know if if she's going to be harsh,
Speaker 1: if she's going to be violent, or or going to
Speaker 1: be loving and kind. I think at this this time
Speaker 1: she's already healed as far as I know. But as
Speaker 1: I think about that. Now, that's with our student leader.
Speaker 1: Now think about if God, with all his power, is
Speaker 1: also like that, constantly evolving and changing in his character.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine if God, who is all powerful, it
Speaker 1: is also like that, is changing his character day after
Speaker 1: they depending on his mood, depending on agandyng gizigna. Okay,
Speaker 1: but Giza, he will keep his promise to you.
Speaker 3: But if not, maybe he will.
Speaker 1: Decide to just bring you curses today because you did
Speaker 1: not read your Bible.
Speaker 3: It's so scary.
Speaker 1: So it's hard to worship a God who is so unpredictable.
Speaker 1: You'll never know what is going to be like for
Speaker 1: you the following year. That's why I like what Arthur
Speaker 1: Pink said. Is a theologian, and here's a quote from him.
Speaker 1: He said, God has neither evolved, grown, nor improved all
Speaker 1: that he is today he has ever been and ever
Speaker 1: will be. He cannot change for the better, for his
Speaker 1: already perfect and being perfect, he cannot change for the worst.
Speaker 1: How many of you are glad we are serving an
Speaker 1: unchanging God. He's unchanging when it comes to his promises.
Speaker 1: He is unchanging when it comes to his purposes. He
Speaker 1: is unchanging when it comes to his character. That is why,
Speaker 1: in spite of our sins and shortcomings, we still receive
Speaker 1: God's goodness and blessing today. Because God is unchanging. God
Speaker 1: is faithful, just like these people. They have a long
Speaker 1: history of unfaithfulness and rebellion. God said in verse seven.
Speaker 1: Yet God, yes he dealt with their sins. Yet God
Speaker 1: never stop pursuing and loving them up to this point
Speaker 1: that they have turned away from God and they've committed
Speaker 1: a lot of offenses and evil and sin.
Speaker 3: God's message for them was.
Speaker 1: Still return to me, and I will return to you.
Speaker 1: God was still reaching out. God was still pursuing them.
Speaker 1: God was still telling them, Yes, you've done so many
Speaker 1: bad things to me.
Speaker 3: You've offended me many.
Speaker 1: Times, but I want you to know I'm still willing
Speaker 1: to have you back.
Speaker 3: Amazing.
Speaker 1: I'm so encouraged. God is unchanging even when it comes
Speaker 1: to his purposes. You know, pattern waysness. Sometimes I would
Speaker 1: use ways and sometimes I would miss my way. I'm
Speaker 1: talking to my wife, I would misurturn. Oh gamalaehameh so
Speaker 1: well ana pro mag calculat.
Speaker 3: No, he will not.
Speaker 1: Change your destination. He will just find a better route again.
Speaker 1: Now that you miss your turn, you know God is
Speaker 1: the same way with us. Sometimes we miss our turn,
Speaker 1: sometimes we disobey, but you know, God is unchanging. His
Speaker 1: purpose for you is still the same. Yes, it might
Speaker 1: take you a longer time. Yes, he might deal with
Speaker 1: your sin. But God is faithful to you. God is loving,
Speaker 1: God is patient. God is not easy to be angry.
Speaker 1: The Bible says God is a faithful God. Amen, very
Speaker 1: comforting message. What I like about God is the lord
Speaker 1: paran sand which principle No, if he's going to bring
Speaker 1: up a sin, he will encourage you first.
Speaker 3: Then after he bring up the sin.
Speaker 1: He will encourage you again because he wants you to
Speaker 1: know that he is bringing up that correction, not because
Speaker 1: it's mad that you, but because he loves you. And
Speaker 1: that's what we're going to see here. Because he started
Speaker 1: with an encouragement. I'm a God who is unchanging. I'm
Speaker 1: committed to you, but you are not committed to me.
Speaker 1: And so he brought up the sin. So he said
Speaker 1: return to me. And the people were so clueless about
Speaker 1: what God was talking about because in their mind, we
Speaker 1: are not going away. We've never been away. We're still
Speaker 1: in the temple. We're still offering you our sacrifices. What
Speaker 1: are you talking about that we should return to. You said, oh,
Speaker 1: let me give you one specific example. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: your tithes and your offering. And this is relevant to
Speaker 1: us today. This is relevant to them at that time.
Speaker 1: This is relevant to us today because you know, there's
Speaker 1: a survey that was made of all kinds of churches,
Speaker 1: including Victory and according to that survey, only thirty percent
Speaker 1: of people who regularly goes to church regularly gives their
Speaker 1: tithe thirty percent. So we just know there is a
Speaker 1: message from God for us today. But again, this is
Speaker 1: the heart of God is because he wants He wants
Speaker 1: us to return to him.
Speaker 3: He wants to bless us. That's the spirit behind this.
Speaker 1: Let me talk about the word robbing, rob, because God said,
Speaker 1: you're robbing me, and they cannot believe what they've heard
Speaker 1: because during that time, the word rob and the Hebrew
Speaker 1: word it doesn't mean that it's just somebody who's taking
Speaker 1: something away from another.
Speaker 3: It's actually a violent word.
Speaker 1: The word rob and Hebrew means to oppress, pillage, or plunder.
Speaker 3: It's a picture of a very powerful and wealthy.
Speaker 1: Nation coming to a weaker and poorer nation, taking over.
Speaker 3: That's the picture.
Speaker 1: But but mahina haayomali at kyo, they will come and
Speaker 1: attack you, and they will get all your money, all
Speaker 1: your animals.
Speaker 3: All your wealth and your gold.
Speaker 1: They will rape the women, they will kill the men,
Speaker 1: and everybody will be subject to slavery.
Speaker 3: That's the picture.
Speaker 1: It's so violent, a picture of a powerful country taking
Speaker 1: over a weaker one.
Speaker 3: And they cannot.
Speaker 1: Believe because they said, how can we do that to you,
Speaker 1: because you are more powerful than us. I believe this
Speaker 1: is what God was trying to tell them in Matthew
Speaker 1: twenty five. Let me divert a little Matthew twenty five,
Speaker 1: verse thirty seven to forty. Here's what Jesus said. Then
Speaker 1: the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we
Speaker 1: see you hungry and feed you, and thirsty and give
Speaker 1: you drink? When did we see you a stranger and
Speaker 1: welcome you, or naked and clothe you verse thirty nine?
Speaker 1: And when did we see you sick and in prison
Speaker 1: and visit you? And the King will answer them. Truly,
Speaker 1: I say to you, as you did it to one
Speaker 1: of the least of these my brothers, you did it
Speaker 1: to me. Whatever you do for my people, whatever you
Speaker 1: do for other people, you're doing it to me. So
Speaker 1: when God said you're robbing me, whatever implication of that,
Speaker 1: not giving their tithes, they're not really doing it to God.
Speaker 3: They're doing it to the people of God.
Speaker 1: Now, every time they give their tithes and their contribution,
Speaker 1: it's not only for the purpose of running the operation
Speaker 1: of the temple, but it's really to address the needs
Speaker 1: of the community because during that time, the priests the
Speaker 1: temple will provide food for the widows, the poor, the orphans.
Speaker 1: There's no essss, there's nothing like that support system for
Speaker 1: people like them. So, in effect, when they don't give
Speaker 1: their tithes and their contribution, they are like depriving, oppressing,
Speaker 1: and plundering other people of the blessings that God has
Speaker 1: intended for them. God made this system that God will
Speaker 1: bless his people, so that the people of God will
Speaker 1: be a blessing. And then that blessing will meet a need,
Speaker 1: and then it will bring it bring growth, it will
Speaker 1: bring the advancement of the Kingdom of God. How many
Speaker 1: of you know God wants you to be blessed Because
Speaker 1: God wants you to be a blessing. That's our calling,
Speaker 1: that's our destiny as people of God. That's something we
Speaker 1: need to claim. That something we need to declare. That's
Speaker 1: something that we need to have faith for that. Lord,
Speaker 1: I will not stay where I am.
Speaker 3: You will bless me.
Speaker 1: You know why, because you've called me to be a blessing.
Speaker 1: That's the purpose of the blessings we have. It's not
Speaker 1: to flaunt. It's not for us to hoard, and it's
Speaker 1: not for us to spend it all to ourselves. It's
Speaker 1: for us to share it with the others. And so
Speaker 1: God said, return to me. How talk about your tithes
Speaker 1: and offering. You're not bringing your tithes and in the process,
Speaker 1: you're turning away from me. Because the Bible says where
Speaker 1: your treasure is there, your heart will be also. So
Speaker 1: if you're not giving your treasure to God, you're giving
Speaker 1: it to someone else, and before you know it, you're
Speaker 1: very far from God. Just like what happened to them,
Speaker 1: they are still in the temple Magazawa means I don't know, yes,
Speaker 1: Mamma magazawams and they are still under the same roof
Speaker 1: staying together, but the love is no longer there. That's
Speaker 1: the picture of these people when it comes to their
Speaker 1: relationship with God. They are still at the temple. But
Speaker 1: God said, your love for me is no longer there.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the tithe. Tithe means ten in Hebrew,
Speaker 1: it means the ten percent. And and God said, bring
Speaker 1: the full tithe, not partial, not nine point ninety nine full.
Speaker 3: Not the last first, not the leftovers, the best.
Speaker 1: Bring the full tithe into the storehouse. Bring the full
Speaker 1: tithe into the storehouse, that they may be food in
Speaker 1: my house. Now, I mean nentwered someone he who emailed
Speaker 1: me and then says, been a pastorrient, but I have
Speaker 1: some questions about tithes. And one of the questions he
Speaker 1: asked me, he said, isn't that Old Testament that's lower
Speaker 1: under the grace?
Speaker 3: Now we're not under the law.
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, the tithe was before the law
Speaker 1: because it was practiced by Abraham, and then it was
Speaker 1: part of the law through Moses and then New Testament
Speaker 1: Jesus himself. There's a verse in the New Testament where
Speaker 1: Jesus himself said that the tithe is right in look eleven,
Speaker 1: verse forty two. He's talking to religious leaders. He said,
Speaker 1: but all to you Pharisees, for you tight mint and
Speaker 1: rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love
Speaker 1: of God. This you ought to have done without neglecting
Speaker 1: the others. He did not abolish that. He actually said,
Speaker 1: you're right in doing that. The problem with you is
Speaker 1: you have a legalistic mindset that says, as long as
Speaker 1: I fulfill my duty of giving the ten percent, I
Speaker 1: can do whatever I want with the ninety. So when
Speaker 1: there are needs around you, and love and justice demands
Speaker 1: that you meet that needs, you are not willing to
Speaker 1: go beyond the tithe And God was telling them you
Speaker 1: became legalistic, it became a rule. You failed to get
Speaker 1: the spirit and the heart behind it. It's for you
Speaker 1: to be a blessing, not to fulfill a requirement.
Speaker 3: So go beyond.
Speaker 1: And so I answer my friend who emailed me, who said,
Speaker 1: we're not under the law anymore, we're under the grace.
Speaker 3: I said, you're right. And guess what. Because we're no
Speaker 3: longer under the law, which is ten and we're under
Speaker 3: the grace, we're expected to give more. He did not reply.
Speaker 1: Because now that we are under the grace of God,
Speaker 1: because of what Christ is done for us, because God
Speaker 1: has been generous to us, we are expected to be
Speaker 1: generous to others. That's why you will read verses in
Speaker 1: the Bible where it says Paul said, I want you
Speaker 1: to know the grace that God has given to the
Speaker 1: Macedonian churches.
Speaker 3: He called it grace. It's a grace of giving though
Speaker 3: they are extremely poor.
Speaker 1: I'm you're familiar with the story this group of people
Speaker 1: from this church in Macedonia.
Speaker 3: There is a project going.
Speaker 1: On to answer the needs at the time for the
Speaker 1: churches that Paul was ministering to. And they pleaded with Paul,
Speaker 1: and they said, we know we are going through tough times.
Speaker 3: We know we are in a financial crisis.
Speaker 1: We know we are extremely poor, but please don't exclude us,
Speaker 1: don't take away this privilege from us. And Paul said,
Speaker 1: I have to tell you what the Macedonian churches had done.
Speaker 1: They did not use their situation as an excuse not
Speaker 1: to be a blessing. Instead, they rise up in faith
Speaker 1: and they said, Lord, we will not dictate our situation
Speaker 1: to determine we will whether we will be a people
Speaker 1: who are gene resort not. We will not allow our
Speaker 1: financial situation to determine what we can do and not
Speaker 1: do we want you to determine that for us, Paul said,
Speaker 1: And so he wrote to the church in Corinthians and said, guys,
Speaker 1: as you excel in everything, make sure, like the Macedonian churches,
Speaker 1: you also.
Speaker 3: Excel in the grace of giving. Great God. Praise God.
Speaker 3: You're excelling in your career. Praise God. You're excelling in
Speaker 3: your business. Praise God.
Speaker 1: You're excelling in your parenting and your marriage and all
Speaker 1: these things that you're a part of an involving But
Speaker 1: make sure you don't neglect this area.
Speaker 3: Make sure you excel in the grace of giving. I
Speaker 3: mean of you here. You want to excel in the
Speaker 3: grace of giving.
Speaker 1: Gustamoong Lord, grabby Lord, and in the you enabled me
Speaker 1: to give ten thousand this year. Next year, Lord, bless
Speaker 1: me so much to the point Lord, next year, gustoyl
Speaker 1: be able.
Speaker 3: To give forty thousand away. Lord.
Speaker 1: Next year, Gusto O, Lord, I'll be able to give
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand pesses away. Bro Sina maka Ela and John.
Speaker 1: The Bible says, it's more blessed to give than to receive.
Speaker 1: I would rather be on the side wherein I'm praying
Speaker 1: to God and say Lord, sho particar blessing a particalarly
Speaker 1: blessed Indina Socide Lord Gina Brie blessed Amrie, blessed Am.
Speaker 1: God wants us to be on the side wherein we
Speaker 1: are going to be the givers. It's not bad to receive,
Speaker 1: but it's better to give. My pastor taught me that, Savina,
Speaker 1: you know how to grow in generosity. Start with a
Speaker 1: little that you have. So I set aside thirty pesos
Speaker 1: tight score a three hundred pesos allowance God the time
Speaker 1: twenty years ago, I started tyting as an eighteen year
Speaker 1: old college student. Twenty years ago, I'd been doing this
Speaker 1: for twenty years. I'd been tighting for twenty years. I
Speaker 1: started with dirty pesos. Aside from the thirty I set aside,
Speaker 1: I think ten or fifteen pesos young shak ten pesos,
Speaker 1: and I started praying every week, actually every month, Palna
Speaker 1: every month, Lord Sinoptico ilbrinam shake. I set aside ten pesos.
Speaker 1: God is faithful, God grew it until such time I
Speaker 1: can set aside one hundred pesosic e librid to Lord
Speaker 1: Sinopeticar blessed them one hundred. There was a time when
Speaker 1: somebody blessed me with a pound pilot. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: if you still know that. That's the earliest version of
Speaker 1: iPad analogue black and white. But I felt like it's
Speaker 1: up for me. I'm just a channel. So I started
Speaker 1: praying to Lord God, who needs this? Who can I
Speaker 1: give this to? And I felt like God gave me
Speaker 1: a name and I gave that to that person. The
Speaker 1: feeling is different. It's so different. Psychograb Lord didn't Mayahmad,
Speaker 1: but I was able to give away pound pilot. Lord
Speaker 1: can use me more, use me more. How many of
Speaker 1: you know that God will honor your faith. God will
Speaker 1: honor your faith if you if you say, Lord, I
Speaker 1: want to be a blessing, I will honor you.
Speaker 3: Tight.
Speaker 1: We should not be legalistic. The tithe is not the ceiling.
Speaker 1: Tight is the floor, not the ceiling. That's why God
Speaker 1: corrected the virus. He said, you're being legalistic.
Speaker 3: Compute ten ten point one. Get the spirit behind it.
Speaker 1: The tide is a training whel you know, and teaching
Speaker 1: my daughter how to ride a bike with four wheels
Speaker 1: because she still can't ride it. One will that would
Speaker 1: help her to get started until she can ride it
Speaker 1: on her own. We can remove it already you know,
Speaker 1: as a Christian, the tide is the basic. It's a guideline.
Speaker 1: It's a training will to get us going into disgrace
Speaker 1: of giving. But it's meant for to propel us to
Speaker 1: increase our faith, to teach us dependency on God, so
Speaker 1: that when we learn to depend on God, look to
Speaker 1: him as our source.
Speaker 3: And begin to have the faith to give, it will
Speaker 3: grow and grow until.
Speaker 1: You know what, we can ride without those training wheels.
Speaker 1: I'm not so concerned anymore with the tithe. I want
Speaker 1: to give to missions. I want to give to real life.
Speaker 1: I want to give to campus ministry. I want to
Speaker 1: give to the needs around me. God wants to make
Speaker 1: us a blessing Amen. Last thing I want to talk
Speaker 1: about is the storehouse. The storehouse means treasury, that's where
Speaker 1: the money is kept. When I was in New build
Speaker 1: there's this woman who messaged me in Facebook and said,
Speaker 1: can I ask for your bank account? I felt like
Speaker 1: God spoke to me and I want to bless you.
Speaker 1: I want to send you money. Hey, you're not from
Speaker 1: our church. God spoke to you. I believe it's the Lord.
Speaker 1: I gave my bank account and true enough, that month
Speaker 1: a significant amount of money came in second month again,
Speaker 1: third month it happened again. But I'm bothered already because
Speaker 1: it's pretty big. So I have to message her and
Speaker 1: say thank you. It's a blessing. God will bless you.
Speaker 1: I just want to ask you, is this your tithe?
Speaker 1: And she said yes, And I said, you cannot give
Speaker 1: this to me. The tithe doesn't belong to me. It
Speaker 1: belongs to God, and we are not to decide where
Speaker 1: to bring it. God already decided where we need to
Speaker 1: bring our tithe. It's to the storehouse. And for me,
Speaker 1: my conviction is the local church where God places you.
Speaker 1: That's the storehouse for you. So if you're not part
Speaker 1: of victory, that's your local church. Give your tithe to
Speaker 1: the local church.
Speaker 3: I'm not God. I cannot receive that storehouse.
Speaker 1: Now. The problem because they're not giving their tithes and
Speaker 1: their contributions. They're not giving their tithe to the temple,
Speaker 1: to the storehouse. Here's what's happening. Because they are not
Speaker 1: bringing it to the temple, they are bringing it to
Speaker 1: another temple. Every time we would what belongs to God,
Speaker 1: we are bringing it somewhere else. We're bringing it to
Speaker 1: a different temple. We're bringing it to a different storehouse.
Speaker 1: Some of us are bringing it to Megamol. Some of
Speaker 1: us are bringing it to vacation.
Speaker 3: Some of us are.
Speaker 1: If we don't bring it to the temple, we are
Speaker 1: bringing it to another temple. If we're not bringing it
Speaker 1: to the treasury of God, we are bringing it to
Speaker 1: a different treasury in honor of a different God. That's
Speaker 1: called idolatry an idol. You might think that idolatry is
Speaker 1: just in the Old Testament, erecting statues, bowing down. That's idolatry.
Speaker 1: Idolatry is not limited to that. Idolatry is trusting someone
Speaker 1: or something other than God for everything that you need.
Speaker 1: An idol is something or someone that we trust or
Speaker 1: value more than God. So if I trust my work
Speaker 1: or my business to give me security rather than God,
Speaker 1: if it's incredible, I believe easy for me to spend
Speaker 1: thousands of pests and millions of pests and expanding my
Speaker 1: business because that's where I put my security for my future.
Speaker 1: And I'm having a hard time giving my tithes to God,
Speaker 1: then my business is my idol, not God.
Speaker 3: He's not my God.
Speaker 1: I don't look to him for security. I don't look
Speaker 1: to him for my needs. I'm looking to this if
Speaker 1: I can spend thousands of pestes to clothes, gadgets and
Speaker 1: vacations and improving my looks. But if I'm having a
Speaker 1: hard time being generous to the work of God, then
Speaker 1: in exposing our money shows us what.
Speaker 3: We truly, truly worship.
Speaker 1: I believe God sent that message to them because God
Speaker 1: wants to set them free, and I believe the same
Speaker 1: way for us today we're hearing this message. You know why,
Speaker 1: because God wants to set us free from idols. As
Speaker 1: idols are bad. They will promise everything, but they will
Speaker 1: fail to deliver. Maybe for some of us, where our
Speaker 1: treasure is our bank account invest but you're hoarding it.
Speaker 1: That's the treasury, that's the temple, that's the security, that's
Speaker 1: my idol, because I feel security if I have this,
Speaker 1: and these things are not wrong.
Speaker 3: These are good, but it becomes wrong when it becomes
Speaker 3: the ultimate in our lives.
Speaker 1: God wants to set us free from that because there
Speaker 1: is no savings account that can stop cancer or accident
Speaker 1: or death. Only Jesus is our short salvation. He is
Speaker 1: only our short security. He's the only one who can
Speaker 1: really give us happiness and meaning in life. Only Jesus
Speaker 1: can do that for us. God wants to set us free. Imagine,
Speaker 1: if you are not enslaved to any idol, you will
Speaker 1: be free to follow God.
Speaker 3: You will be free, you and I will be free
Speaker 3: to honor him.
Speaker 1: I want to end in Second Corinthians, Chapter eight, verse
Speaker 1: seven to nine. But just as you excel in everything,
Speaker 1: in faith and speech and knowledge, and in all earnestness,
Speaker 1: and in our love for you, see that you also
Speaker 1: excel in this act of grace. Also, to paraphrase, Paul
Speaker 1: was saying, as God prospers, you make sure you raise
Speaker 1: your standard of giving, not just your standard of living.
Speaker 1: I know you have a new to tooth, but have
Speaker 1: you increase your giving? For verse eight, I say this
Speaker 1: not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness
Speaker 1: of others that your love also is genuine. I'm going
Speaker 1: to go back to that because he said, I'm saying
Speaker 1: this not as a command for you, but this is
Speaker 1: to give you the opportunity to prove your love for God.
Speaker 3: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: I said, though he was rich, yet for your sake
Speaker 1: he became poor so that you, by his poverty, might
Speaker 1: become rich.
Speaker 3: What an amazing guy.
Speaker 1: We had a couple in our victory group who this
Speaker 1: year their daughter went through an operation. I think I
Speaker 1: mentioned it once here. At that time when we're praying,
Speaker 1: weighing all options, they've decided that they will go with
Speaker 1: the operation this year, or else they might not have
Speaker 1: the chance next year a two year old daughter, for
Speaker 1: their daughter not to be able to walk properly because.
Speaker 3: Of some things that needs to be fixed. Now.
Speaker 1: The reason it was a hard decision because it will
Speaker 1: cost a lot of money, which they don't have. It
Speaker 1: will affect everything in their life, their work, their schedule,
Speaker 1: their routines, I mean everything. It will be a huge
Speaker 1: inconvenience and discomfort. They might get into deaths, huge death
Speaker 1: in the process of doing this. They don't know where
Speaker 1: the money will be coming from, but they pray to
Speaker 1: God and they went.
Speaker 3: Through the process.
Speaker 1: You know, in spite of all the inconvenience, in spite
Speaker 1: of what it will cost them, They've decided to went
Speaker 1: through the operation. You know why, because their daughter is
Speaker 1: more important than anything they have, more important than their career,
Speaker 1: more important than their comfort.
Speaker 3: They love their daughter more than their car.
Speaker 1: They're willing to sell the car if that will contribute
Speaker 1: to the money they need for the operation, because they
Speaker 1: love their daughter more. I think that's what Paul was
Speaker 1: trying to say when he said, this is not a command.
Speaker 1: I'm giving you an opportunity to prove your love for God.
Speaker 1: Because if Jesus is your greatest treasure, money will simply
Speaker 1: be money for you. You can let go, you can
Speaker 1: give away because it's not your greatest treasure. Jesus is
Speaker 1: your greatest treasure. Money is not my security. Money is
Speaker 1: not my source of approval. It is not my source of.
Speaker 3: Happiness and meaning in life. Jesus is.
Speaker 1: If Jesus is our greatest treasure, we will be free
Speaker 1: from the love of money. We will be able to
Speaker 1: give away, We will be free to trust him. We
Speaker 1: can be willing to go through the inconvenience and the
Speaker 1: discomfort of the moment. You know why, because of our
Speaker 1: love for God. And you know why we can love
Speaker 1: God that way because He first loved us. The Bible says,
Speaker 1: we love because He first loved us. If we really
Speaker 1: encounter the grace of God, if we really encounter Jesus
Speaker 1: in our life. The overwhelming love of God will result
Speaker 1: in our hearts love for God and for people. We
Speaker 1: will be able to love amazing what God has done
Speaker 1: for us. Though he was rich, he became poor. Think
Speaker 1: about that for a moment. Jesus came, died on the
Speaker 1: cross and gave everything just for you because he wants
Speaker 1: you to be made rich in every way. That's the
Speaker 1: heart of God. That's the heart of God. That's why
Speaker 1: God said, return to me, return to me, and I
Speaker 1: will return to you. In fact, he gave a promise.
Speaker 1: He said, test me, and this he doesn't have to
Speaker 1: do that. God doesn't lie. If he give a word,
Speaker 1: it's true. But to encourage them even more, he said,
Speaker 1: test me in this and see if I will not
Speaker 1: open the windows of heaven and pour out so much
Speaker 1: blessing to you that there will be no need left
Speaker 1: looking back. Twenty years of by the grace of God,
Speaker 1: following God die. You know young Isan tradition. I mean Magasaua.
Speaker 1: Every every year December thirty one, before the fireworks, we
Speaker 1: would come together and we would share our thanksgiving list
Speaker 1: things are grateful about for the year. It's amazing that
Speaker 1: for the twenty years we have so many things that
Speaker 1: when we look back, grabbing them all in pair that
Speaker 1: time grab not so we don't know we we I mean,
Speaker 1: we are just believing by faith. We don't know where
Speaker 1: it's going to come, We don't know how it's going
Speaker 1: to be met.
Speaker 3: But praise God. Look at this now.
Speaker 1: It's a testimony of faith. It's a testimony of the
Speaker 1: faithfulness of God. God wants you and I to experience
Speaker 1: His goodness. We can only do that if we step
Speaker 1: out in faith and allow Him to move in and
Speaker 1: through our lives.
Speaker 3: Amen.
Speaker 1: Can we just take a moment right now? Can you
Speaker 1: just come before the Lord and not be in a hurry,
Speaker 1: but allow God to speak to you today? Allow God
Speaker 1: to speak to you and ask God, Lord, how do
Speaker 1: you want me to respond?
Speaker 3: What are you showing? Lord to me and my heart?
Speaker 1: Lord, we thank you for your word, Thank you for
Speaker 1: your heart. You are a good father. You are a
Speaker 1: great God.
Speaker 3: Lord.
Speaker 1: Latina desire Mosam and mabutilan and Lord, thank you for
Speaker 1: teaching us to trust you, to depend on you, to
Speaker 1: rely on you because you are a God who's committed
Speaker 1: to us.
Speaker 3: Lord, I pray that we would learn more and more
Speaker 3: to trust in you.
Speaker 1: To trust your heart, to trust your character, to trust
Speaker 1: your word, to trust your promises.
Speaker 3: Lord. I pray we will be a people who will
Speaker 3: be faithful to you. God.
Speaker 1: We thank you for your word today, and I pray,
Speaker 1: Lord God, if there's an area of our life Lord
Speaker 1: that needs to be aligned to you, Lord, reopen our
Speaker 1: hearts for those of us here.
Speaker 3: Lord God.
Speaker 1: If we are guilty of robbing you, we repent before you.
Speaker 1: Starting today, Lord God, we will be faithful to you.
Speaker 1: We will honor you with our wealth, with the first
Speaker 1: fruit of everything that we have. Lord, thank you for
Speaker 1: calling us to be blessed so we can be a blessing.
Speaker 1: And that's what we're going to do. We thank you
Speaker 1: Lord that as we do that, Lord, that you will
Speaker 1: bless us as you have said in your word. You said,
Speaker 1: test me in this and see if I will not
Speaker 1: open the flood gates of heaven. God, we thank you
Speaker 1: for the precious promise. We declare that by faith, we
Speaker 1: speak that over our lives, our families, our situation right
Speaker 1: now in the name of Jesus. Thank you for your
Speaker 1: promise that you will rebuke the devour.
Speaker 3: Lord God.
Speaker 1: We thank you, Lorgod for breaking any curse Lord got
Speaker 1: running through. Lord at our lives right now. God, we
Speaker 1: thank you Lord for the covenant of blessing that we
Speaker 1: have in Christ.
Speaker 3: Lord.
Speaker 1: We thank you Lord God. I pray for every person here, Lord,
Speaker 1: for everyone the US needs.
Speaker 3: Lord. I pray that you will show yourself faithful. Lord.
Speaker 1: I pray that you will use that as a testimony
Speaker 1: of faith and faithfulness, and they will testify as well
Speaker 1: that you are a faithful God. So thank you, Lord, God.
Speaker 1: I pray give us a grateful heart. Lord God, to
Speaker 1: be grateful and every season and every situation.
Speaker 2: You just heard a message from Victory. For more messages
Speaker 2: like these, or to access other resources, please visit Victory
Speaker 2: dot org, dot pH or like our page on Facebook.
Speaker 3: Thank you for listening.
Speaker 2: We hope that you enjoy today's episode.
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Speaker 3: God bless you all.