Ep 479 | The Widow Who Gave Two Mites - Frank Brancato 12/18/22

I want to talk on a subject that's really very important and

really not talked about very much.

I want to talk about the subject of sacrificial, giving a long

long time ago, there was a woman that Jesus describes or teaches

his disciples about by her example, it was an unnamed Widow

who gave two months. Now we all know that story but

there's so much more surrounding it.

And there's a whole lot by way of personal application when it

comes to your giving. And my Going today.

And we want to notice some of those things, some of those

wonderful qualities and characteristics that this

unnamed poor Widow had Our passage, by the way, will be

taking in Mark chapter 12 and beginning in verse 41 now.

Mark 12 · chapter mention

Jesus, sat opposite the treasury and saw how people put in money

into the treasury and many who were Rich put in much, then one

poor Widow came and threw in two months which make a quadrants.

So he called the disciples to him and said to him them

assuredly, I say to you that this poor Widow has put in more

than all those who have given to the Were they all put in out of

their abundance? But she out of her poverty, put

in all that, she had her whole livelihood just a little

background. Now, as we look at this

narrative, we're talking now about the last week in the life

of Jesus. You know, I did a study back in

2018 on the last week in the life of Jesus and I got to tell

you, it was one of the most enjoyable studies I have ever

done. Amazing things in the hand of

God in the handiwork of God. God in everything that went on.

But in the last week, in the life of Jesus, The Narrative

that is before us Sunday, has now passed.

And the Lord has already made his triumphal entry on the back

of a Colt of a donkey into Jerusalem.

Monday has now passed to and now, Scholars, tell us when this

happened, it was probably about Tuesday and Tuesday is often

referred to as the day of questions.

And on the day of questions, there were many people that were

enemies. Jesus.

I want to make a point here about Jesus and enemies

sometimes we think because we do good works or were a good person

or we're likable that everybody is going to like us and

everybody is going to appreciate what we've done.

That is not realistic. Do you know what?

Jesus was the greatest man that ever lived the greatest preacher

of the world ever knew and he had enemies that despised him

and hated him. In the last week in the life of

Jesus on Tuesday, there were three different categories of

people that hated Jesus one was describes, one was the Pharisees

and one was the Sadducees point of Interest here.

You know the Sadducees were a division or sect of the Jews

that didn't believe in the resurrection and the Pharisees

were a division or a sect of the Jews that did believe in the

resurrection. There were other differences

too, but that was the main difference.

And did you know that the He's in the Sadducees, couldn't stand

each other, but on this day, they come together Bound by the

unity of hatred against Jesus, and they questioned him to

challenge his authority. The master answers, all their

questions, he beautifully answers all of their questions

and then Jesus says this to the Pharisees, he says, this tell

me, what do you think about the Christ?

What a question. He said whose son is he?

Well you remember that the Pharisees had rejected that

Jesus was the son of God but they did believe in a messiah,

right. And they believed in the

prophetic accounts about the Messiah to and what does the

Bible say? Or how does the bible describe

the Messiah in the Old Testament?

What is he called? He's actually called the son of

David. So Jesus asks the question.

He said, how is the Messiah? Both David?

And son and David's Lord. He wasn't really asking them a

question. He was making a point.

They had rejected him. He was making a point.

Here was this point. The Messiah was fully human

David son and he's fully Divine. David's Lord, similar Language,

by the way, is found 80 times in the gospels alone, the phrase

that Jesus is the son of man you know this already and when it

says he's the son of man it means our Messiah was fully

human. Ermine.

And when it says he's a Son of God, it means our Messiah was

fully Divine. That's what Jesus was making the

point and you know, what happened to all those enemies.

They all retreat. And Jesus sits opposite.

The treasury going to get back to this in just a moment and he

witnesses an incredible event. All right, we have to back up in

order to understand the context and the comparison between the

scribes and between the Widow and her sacrificial, giving we

have to back up. We got to go back to verse 38.

So we do that now in Mark 12 and 38, then he said to them, in his

teaching, our Lord was always teaching.

It is better rendered by the way, this in the course of his

teaching, he said this He said, Beware of the scribes.

Very important. Remember last Sunday, we talked

about Jesus was referring in Matthew 23.

He was talking to the scribes and the Pharisees member that.

And what did he say to them? Woe to you scribes and Pharisees

and he calls them Hypocrites. We went into detail about that

last Sunday. Now he's going to talk about the

Scribe specifically and he doesn't just leave it in

general. He says beware as he's teaching

his disciples in the course of all of his teaching he said

Beware of Scribes. And now he's going to give six

reasons. Six reasons to Beware of the

scribes. Number one reason who desire to

go around in Long, robes, and you might look at that and say

what is the big deal about wearing a long robe?

What's the deal? He says, Beware of the scribes

and number one of the six things.

He says, they go around in Long robes. well, first of all, the

reason they went around in Long robes you, who wore long robes,

back then, dignitaries Kings wore long robes, what the

scribes wanted to do, is they wanted to look like as Linwood

Smith used to say doctor big somebody, That's what they

wanted. And by the way, incidentally I

read this to, you know, what they would do, they would walk

around the streets of Jerusalem wearing these long robes, the

Garb of dignitaries like they're about to do something special so

other people can see them. Are you kind of getting the

point As We Lay the foundation about what the problem was?

There's many more things we're going to talk about but it all

began with that. Incidentally Jesus is King of

Kings. Jesus is Lord of lords and Jesus

never wore a long robe. Jesus wore a tunic and so did

his disciples. That was the Garb of a common

person. Isn't that fitting about Jesus

here with the Old Testament, says prophetically about Jesus

and his appearance. It says he has no form nor

comeliness nor beauty that we should desire him.

In other words, there was nothing about the outward

appearance of Jesus that attracted people.

Nothing. They wanted to have an outward

appearance that attracted people to them, but Jesus didn't do

that. Everything Jesus did to attract

people was by this, by the things that, which he taught, by

the way that he lived and buy the things in, which he said, by

the way, he was by the things, he taught by the things he said.

And by the things that he did and the Miracles, he performed.

Those are the things that attracted people to Jesus, not

his outward appearance, these guys, they wanted to put on air.

Airs and so forth. I wanted to make a point about

clothing by might Okay, I'm standing before you now in a

suit and a tie. If you see me during the rest of

the week, you will not see me in a suit and a tie.

You will see me in a pair of jeans, probably and a pair of

boots, because that's what I am. I'm a preaching Cowboy that's

me. I'm wearing a suit and tie today

in the Pulpit, last Sunday, I preached to and I had a suit but

no time you got to wear a tie with Pulpit.

No. Do you have to wear a suit in

the Pulpit know? That is a custom that we've

passed down with tradition. But you know what, everybody?

That teaches wears, a nice shirt, somebody wears a nice

shirt. Nice nice slacks, nice shoes

perfectly fine. The point is, we dress up a

little bit out of respect for the position of the pulpit.

Not to put on airs, it would be bad if I dressed up to put on

airs that's the point. You see the point?

I love it, the Philippines bought by the way, it is

comfortable, the preaching, the Philippines.

We wear shirts, open color shirts, and nice, pants and

shoes, and it's very comfortable.

That's their dress up. It would be inappropriate for us

to roll in there with a suit and a tie.

Okay. So clothing is not the point.

The point is, are you wearing the clothing to put on airs?

And that's exactly what they did?

But there's more and this is what else they did.

As they walked up and down the streets of Jerusalem, they love

greetings in the marketplace. And at first, we look at this,

we wonder what's the big deal. What's the problem?

What's wrong? The greeting, the new King James

says, greetings the Old. King James, says salutations I

walked in the building and I greeted some of you.

I would have loved to greet all of you.

I could not do that and have time I had to get set up.

That's not the greeting. We're talking about this work

greeting in its Origins, literally means this and this is

what Jesus was saying about them.

It's talking about, greetings, meaning, long-winded, worldly,

compliments and titles such as Rabbi rabona.

I and Abba, or I don't know, I've learned maybe it's a bomb,

I don't know. They wanted the title walking

around in Long robes, get in the Pat's, on the back, and they

loved the title. That's the greetings.

The Lord was talking about. By the way, you're a rabbi

means, they call Jesus Rabbi. Rabbi means Jewish scholar,

rabona. I means Master teacher and ebbe,

by the way, the word means father, but in the New

Testament, the word Abba, or ABBA is an intimate name for God

and that's why in the New Testament, what?

I say we call God Abba, Father. What's the difference?

Father, the second word, father, there is the fact that God is

our heavenly father. He is the heavenly father, but

if you're a Christian guess what to you, he's more than just a

heavenly father. He is Abba, Father.

That means he's your father. I have children.

So people might say Frank is a father.

But to my kids, I'm dad. Big difference.

And if you are a child of God and you're a Christian, you have

that same relationship. That's the intimate relationship

that you have. That's the ab apart.

What these scribes wanted, though?

They wanted to be called, Rabbi rabona call me, father, as they

walked up and down the streets of Jerusalem.

And Jesus says, watch out for them.

Big coveted pretentious displays of respect and recognition, but

then there's more.they coveted. Also, the best seats in the

synagogue. Now, in the synagogue at the

Jerusalem End, by the way. In the Jerusalem and the

synagogue, there was a platform kind of like this.

On the platform, stood the scripture reader and the prayer

leader, okay. The chief seats in the

synagogues, by the way, we're right there.

They were right there with their backs to the stage.

And the point was everybody that's in the audience would not

only be looking at the people or looking at the scripture reader

or the prayer leader, but they would also have to be also

seeing those people sitting in the chief couches sitting in the

chief places of Honor. Jesus didn't say it was wrong to

have a seat like that in the synagogue.

What he was saying is it's wrong to covet that seat.

I want to share something with you in the Philippines.

They have Chief seeks and I don't like it.

It makes me very, very uncomfortable.

We come in the American preachers traveling with the

Filipino creatures that we travel with.

And you know what out of respect to us, they give us the cheap

seat, the chief seats and often times, we are facing the

audience, I'd rather be in the audience face the speaker like

everybody else. They just do it out of respect.

The problem isn't the seat, the problem is coveting.

The seat. What else do they do?

It? One of the best places in, at

the feast, by the way, best places is better translated from

the original as Chief couches. You got the Banquets going on,

right? People come to eat people.

Come to enjoy the party. They had what they called, Chief

couches or best places. You know, James Miller James

said about that James condemned, given the rich guy, the best

spot and putting the poor guy on the floor.

And can you imagine if you were a person that coveted the best

seat in the synagogue? The chief couches at the feast.

There is a complete lack of humility there.

I always loved it. I always loved it. when you're

on a public transit of some sort of kind, maybe like in Dallas at

the airport when you get on that thing, you know, you go around

to the different Gates and I always think it's great when I

see somebody that's been sitting down, especially a man sitting

down and a woman comes in an older lady or perhaps and it

gets up and gives her the seat That's humility.

Its way, it ought to be. The problem folks is coveting,

the seat. There's a lack of humility.

He said, watch out for these scribes because they do all of

these things. They want the place of the

esteemed attendance. What else?

Now it's going to get worse. In verse 40 who devour widows

houses. And this is very important

because we're talking about the difference between an unnamed

Widow in. Just a moment, a precious Widow

that gave all she had to the scribes and many of these

scribes devoured their houses. And what's that mean?

They took their money. They took advantage of them,

they exploited their generosity. And this was done, especially by

the scribes, taking advantage of them.

I'm going to say something about widows.

Widows are not to be exploited. Widows are not to be taken

advantage of. Widows are not to be taken

advantage of because of their generosity.

We have a number of widows in this congregation And you know,

if you look up the definition of a widow, it says a woman that

has lost her husband. Widows in the Bible, it is

scriptural for a Christian Widow, to be even helped

financially, but here's the criteria.

The King James version says if they are a widow indeed.

Other translation says, if they are truly a widow, Now, you

might say, wait a minute, we do indeed, they're either a widow

with or not, right? No, a widow.

Indeed is somebody that has no one else.

If a widow in a congregation, by the way, is in need, but has

family. The family helps the Widow first

that scriptural. If the Widow does not have

family to help or the family has no means to help the widow.

She becomes a widow indeed. Therefore, it is scriptural for

the treasury, the money given in the contribution to help and

assist the Widow. She's now an ed synced in that.

Widows are never to be exploited.

They exploited these widows devouring their houses but

notice what they did as a pretense made long prayers.

I can't even imagine this one scholar said, they took the

sacred Act of prayer and they used it to serve the devil.

I can't even imagine such a thing.

Long prayers, you know, Jesus talked about long prayers.

He said, sometimes people think they're going to be heard for

their much speaking. Can I just make a little side

point about a long prayer? I appreciated our brother this

morning, his prayer was just right and I'm not the judge of

that. But let me just say this, I have

been a play. I was at a place one time when

the brother prayed so long. People fell asleep.

What's the good in that? What's the purpose in that?

Are you praying just to be heard for their much speaking?

When you lead a public prayer me, I just give you this little

bit of advice, when you lead a public prayer in the assembly,

you have two responsibilities. Number one, you have the

responsibility of holding the attention of everybody there.

Just like the speaker. You must hold their attention

and you must pray for things that are pertinent to everybody

and it doesn't have to be long. Some of the most beautiful

prayers I have ever heard whereby a humble brother who

prayed a short prayer to God in Jesus name from his heart and we

all hardly said, amen. Did you know that God heard that

short prayer. Just like you heard the long

one. You don't have to pray.

Long prayers to be heard by God. These guys intentionally as a

pretense made long prayers to get advantage of those poor

widows so that they could take their money.

The Amplified version, by the way, puts these two things

together who devour widows houses and to cover it up.

They made long prayers. All right.

Jesus says this, these will receive greater condemnation

that phrase greater condemnation.

I believe is the assessment. The Lord places on somebody that

would do such a thing. I don't think it means That the

sentence in hell is different. I think if somebody's lost

they're just lost. I don't think the punishment is

different. I think the phrase greater

condemnation is just the emphasis the Lord is placing on

what happens to a person or what he thinks if a person does those

things the scribes were guilty of.

Now we come to verse 41 The verse 41, and we get a clear

picture now between a distinction between hypocrisy

and greed of the scribes and this poor Widow.

Notice what Jesus does he sat opposite the treasury.

Now notice this picture here. As you can see up here is the

beautiful gate. And I put that up there that

because this is the beautiful gate.

So a little background of what's happening on this day.

Jesus was out here number 12 in the court of the Gentiles.

When all this is happening, it's time.

Now for Jesus to depart and he does show and he passes through

the beautiful gate and he goes into here and this area right

here to the court of women, and he sits opposite the temple

treasury which was right there. He sits down on a bench and he's

observing. Now.

He's observing. The word treasury is a compound

word and I don't profess to know how to pronounce it.

It's a great, big giant work. And by the way, a compound word,

just means a word that comes from two different words. the

first word, I'm told, as a Persian word and that word

actually means, Treasure their second part of that word means

guard or Safeguard. So, in other words, money or

Treasures were placed in this area here.

Just be safe guarded and protected.

We have that to, you know, that's called a bank.

We have the collection, the contribution, we take the money,

we put it where we call it the treasury.

It's a place to be safeguarded and kept.

It's a place where you have valuable things like money and

it's kept in the treasury. That was where this was right

here in the Jerusalem, Temple, and Jesus is sitting in the

court of the women and he's watching now, according to the

mishnah, There were 13, trumpet shaped containers, and people

would come to any one of those 13 shaped trumpet shaped

containers and put in money. I've also read that every one of

them was marked by one letter in the Hebrew, alphabet and it all

meant, something different. For example, let's just say, oh,

number one over here. That was the one that you put

the money in to take care of things for sacrifices like oil

and incense for example or wood Let's say number two, that was

for another purpose. It was for daily sacrifices or

for the general work of the Temple.

Interesting. Trumpet shaped.

Jesus is now sitting back and he's watching, he's watching

what's going on. He's seeing how people gave and

put money in the treasury. I think that is so important.

I read that rich people would do this, by the way, because how

you put it in, please get this because how you give matters?

Yes, the Lord is watching, you give even today.

The rich people would bring a trumpet ear with them, and the

trumpetear would accompany them. And about the time, they're

going to put the money in the heat start blasting, the trumpet

To draw attention to the one that's about to give usually

large amounts. No wonder our Master.

Our lord said Don't Blow Your Horn.

When you do your giving, no doubt he was reflecting on a

custom that the rich people did. So he sitting in the court of

the women opposite the treasury and he's watching how people put

money in. Now.

Hendrickson said this. I thought it was rather

interesting. he said on this occasion, the Lord's watching

people and how they give. And in a sense, isn't he doing

the exact same thing with us? Even now he wants to know how we

give, he wants to know, what does the Bible say about are

giving in second Corinthians chapter 9.

2 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

Beginning in verse 6, but this I say who sow sparingly will also

reap sparingly and he which soweth bountifully will also

reap bountifully. So let each one give as he

purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity for

God, loves a cheerful Giver. What about Hebrews 4:13 and

Hebrews 4:13

there is no creature hidden in your sight.

But all things are naked and open to the eyes of him in whom

we must give an account. Aunt.

Just a little side note here. You know, when it says that

Jesus watch people putting in money, you know that word money.

It's actually became a word that was a general word for money and

all money but in its Origins it probably meant brass or copper.

And Scholars say that's probably exactly what they were putting

in. They were putting in pieces of

brass and copper because one scholar also added.

He said it was probably highly unlikely they were giving silver

so it was probably brass and copper being put in and Jesus is

watching them. Put in all of that.

Now, as we said, Jesus, sat opposite, the treasure.

He saw how people were putting in and many of those that were

Rich put in much. You know, the Passover was at

hand. There were thousands of pilgrims

who were about to come to the temple to worship.

Many gave liberal contributions. Now, watch this.

In the midst of all this. Then one poor Widow came.

In the midst of it all. obviously, her house had been

devoured, if not by the scribes, but by the circumstances of life

And she's poor. And she comes in and Jesus

watches. What she gets, what a contrast

between the scribes and her. What she do.

She threw into mites. What in the world is a mite.

What's a Mite? A Mite comes from the word

lefta. It's the smallest of All Greek

coins. Stay with me on this, it'll be

kind of confusing with the words, but when we get to the

end you'll know exactly how much she gave in comparison to our

monetary measures. Okay?

We're going to exactly how much she gave.

She gave two months. One might is the smallest Greek

coin, two mites. According to Mark, is a

quadrants, what is it quadrant? I quadrant is 1/4 of a Roman, a

serious. What is that?

And the serious is 1/16 of a Denarius.

Stay With Me. It's going to get good in a

minute. A Denarius is an average daily

wage. You worked all day where to get

a Denarius when Jesus gave the parable of the vineyard.

He said you worked all day where they get a penny, the word Penny

was Denarius a day's wages. Remember last Sunday, when we

said the Good Samaritan took that, man, he took him into the

any reaches into his pouch. The next day, he gives him out

of his pouch to Denari. I that would have been two days

wages. How much is that?

A Denarius or average daily wage in our monetary measures would

have been 16 to 18 cents. All right.

On a serious. Is about a penny.

Okay. So how much is a quadrants how

much is two mites? One fourth of a penny.

This poor Widow in comparison to all that the rich were giving.

She gave 1/4. Of a penny.

Not very much, is it? Your Jesus said about that,

though. By the way, what did it look

like? I don't know.

This is what I googled. This is what it said.

It could have looked like maybe like that she threw into those

guys she threw in a quadrants this would have been the

estimate of fourth of a penny. But now it's teaching time for

Jesus. They were not with Jesus's

disciples, he calls his disciples to him, they weren't

with him at that time. It's a valuable lesson that they

need to learn in. Please get this today, it's a

valuable lesson. That you and I need to learn to

he calls them to him and he says, to them, I say to you a

Shirley, I say to you. Meaning what I have to say, I

solemnly declare to you is extremely important.

Take it to heart. He said she put in more Quarter

of a penny. But what she did, she put in

more than all the others combined who gave to the

treasury, that's what that means.

By the way, when it says, they gave all more than all that was

given in the treasury. It means this she gave and her

gift more in the eyes of God. Than all the others combined.

Why? And why was that?

Here's why for they put in out of their abundance.

But she out of her poverty. She gave all that.

She had her whole livelihood. I'm going to get personal guys.

Do you know what God's looking at when you give?

Right here. The spirit of The Giver.

And the sacrifice involved. you mean to tell me preacher, we got

to sacrifice when we give Yes. If a gift given has no sacrifice

at all. What's the meaning of it?

And may I say this to all of us, we sacrifice whatever we want.

If we want something, you know what we do, we make it happen

and I'm guilty as charged on top of the list.

If I want to do something or I want something, I'll make it

happen. I'll make this sacrifice, I'll

juggle whatever. But when it comes to giving to

God, you know, he's looking at the Spirit of The Giver.

That's your heart. He wants to know that.

And number two, the sacrifice involved.

Is it a sacrifice to you? She gave out of her poverty they

gave out of their abundance. JW McGarvey said this.

We are disposed to measure the value of actions quantitatively

rather than qualitatively. Moreover, we are better judges

of actions than motives and can see the outward conduct much

clearer than in word character, but God's word constantly

teaches that he looks inward in the case of the value of the

woman's gift. It was measured by quality and

not by quantity in quantity. It was two months, a quarter of

a penny. In quality.

It was the gift of all she had. Do you remember when Jesus said,

it's easier for a rich man to go through the eye of a needle then

they get into heaven, remember that?

It's easy for a, for a rich man, to for a camel to get through an

eye of a needle than a rich man. He didn't have a member that

this is what. By the way, McMillan said about

that, it's more difficult for a rich man to enter Heaven, not

impossible, but it's more difficult for a rich man.

To enter Heaven Sent Simply because of a virtual

impossibility of his making any real sacrifice and thereby

coming to know the devotion of that kind of discipleship large

gifts out of abundant simply cannot be compared with the

total gift of one's poverty. One more quote, how about

Cranfield would Cranfield say the gifts of the rich though,

large? Were easy gifts.

The Widow's gift though, tiny met a real surrendered of

herself to God and trust in him. And therefore, an honoring of

God as God as the one to whom we belong, completely and who is

able to care for us. folks, we either trust God or we don't We

need to trust God to provide a. We don't in closing.

Don't grab a song books. In closing.

Just a word or two about the contribution, please.

Do you remember last Sunday? I made mention that in the Old

Testament. God said, when you produce with

the land produces what all the land produces, you are going to

give a tithe or a tenth of the land.

That was a requirement. We are no longer under the tenth

or tithes requirement under the Old Law.

We are under the new law, the new log Jesus Christ.

And in the new law of Jesus Christ, here are the

requirements as we have been prospered and as we purpose in

our heart, let me tell you, where we go wrong, is when we

mess up, we think as we purpose in our heart, all that means is

just do what you want. And that's good and the Lord

happy with this tie, whatever you feel.

Like just we think that's what that means.

That's not what that means. Remember the spirit of The

Giver? And the sacrifices being made.

so, Let me ask you this, what is more strict and what is more

stringent? What is more difficult under the

Old Law of Moses? When what was judged was a

percentage? Or the new law of Jesus Christ.

When what is judged now is the heart.

You tell me. It's the heart.

Folks I'm going to tell you the contribution is a command.

I love what my son-in-law says. I love what my son-in-law says

when he talks about when he waits on the table, we get to

the contribution. He always says this to visitors

that are in the audience and I'm glad he does, it's not a cover

charge. Don't feel like if you're a

busier that you have to give don't feel like that, don't feel

obligated do whatever you want to do, that's fine.

But don't feel obligated like many affiliations do with.

They just keep passing around the basket.

Just give give give and make it all about money.

I appreciate that. He says that But two members of

the church, folks. Please listen, it's a command.

It is one of the five acts of worship.

The five items of worship. It is a responsibility.

It is an obligation. but, Have you ever stopped to consider

that? It is a wonderful blessing and

privilege. Wow.

How when you give, no matter how much it is, don't you.

Realize, you're now part of the work, you're part of something

that's bigger than you just forgiving at the contribution.

Amazing something else too, by the way. when you give of your

means on the first day of the week, And a preacher goes out

and preaches, the gospel. And souls are saved.

Do you realize what happens? Those Souls have now become

fruit. That is credited to your

account. You've never met them but

they're going to heaven. And it's fruit credited to your

account all for what being part of the contribution and giving

of your means. I didn't just grab that other.

Clear blue. Paul said that Philippians 4 17.

He says, not that I seek a gift. He wasn't saying, I want a gift

from you. By the way it is scriptural to

support a preacher. When he preaches the gospel.

The Bible says that a man that preaches, the gospel ought to

live by the gospel. Paul was saying that I am not

seeking a gift. What I really want is, as you

support me and preaching the gospel, I seek the fruit that

abounds to your account. It's a Wonderful blessing,

folks. It's not just a responsibility

as a wonderful blessing when you give give sacrificially.

Give with the right heart and the right spirit.

Think about that folks. And it doesn't hurt to sacrifice

just a little bit, all of us. Guess what me too.

I'm going to go home and do the same thing.

I'm gonna think about that real hard.

Let's give with the right Spirit but let's also give

sacrificially that's which the Widow did and she was praised by

Jesus and she trusted that God could provide even though she

gave everything she had that God could still provide.

Let's have that kind of Faith to I'm finished.

I'm finished today. Folks, it's now time for the

invitation. We always extend an invitation.

To somebody that might be subject to the gospel call, and

I'm going to ask you one question.

It's the most important question that could ever be asked.

That's this, are you safe? If the question is know that

nothing in the world matters and I know the world has all kinds

of ideas on what it means to be saved.

I just want to know what the Bible says, if you want to be

saved, guess what? You can is very simple.

You got to obey the gospel. That's what you got to do.

How do you obey the gospel? Let's look to the Bible.

And by the way, if you've noticed since August 15th, When

I extended an invitation, I no longer just ramble through it.

I'm putting the scriptures on the screen because it's that

important. I'm not telling you what to do

teachers, but I'll tell you what I'm going to do is that

important To obey the gospel. You got to hear the word of God,

Romans 10:17. So then faith comes by hearing

Romans 10:17

and hearing by the word of God upon hearing the word of God.

You have a choice, you got to believe with all your heart,

Hebrews 11:6 without faith. It's impossible to please him

Hebrews 11:6

for. He who comes to God, must

believe that he is, and that he is, a rewarder of those who

diligently seek him. Let me ask you something.

Do you believe with all your heart?

Surely you do? If you're willing to do that

they maybe you're willing to do this.

How about change your life? Sure, let's do that.

It's change our life. You got to repent of your sins

acts 17 and 30, truly these sign that these times of ignorance,

God overlooked, but now commands, all men everywhere to

repent And then you get to say the greatest words you will ever

say we had to baptisms last Sunday and two new Sisters.

In Christ said these words, the greatest words will ever say you

got to confess Jesus as the Son of God acts 8:37.

Acts 8:37

Then Philip said if you believe with all your heart, you may and

he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of

God. Upon taking these steps of

obedience. You're now able to go to the

point of Salvation And complete obedience to the gospel.

In here, it is to be saved. You must do this.

You must be baptized for the remission of your sins.

Mark 16:16. He who believes and is baptized,

Mark 16:16

will be saved, but he who does not believe.

Will be condemned. If you've not taken those steps

of obedience, we'd love to assist you in that today.

Maybe have maybe you've drifted, maybe there are things in your

life. You need to correct.

We can help you do that. Repent of those things, get

best. Those things will pray with you

and for you and God will forgive be want to be the class come

forward. While we stand bow, saying, We

thank you for listening to our podcast, put on by the Church of

Christ at 22:15 plans. Road in Bakersfield, if you

would like any additional information, or you would like

to receive a free Bible correspondence, course by mail.

Please email us at info at her Church of Christ

Bakersfield.com. Our service times are on Sundays

at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.

Please make plans to join us. We would love for you to be our

honored guest.