Luke, The Orderly Account of Truth - In God We Trust - Luke 21:1-4

So good to see all of you, guys. I'm welcome

to the roots. I'm excited to get into God's word.

I we only have four verses today, but for some reason,

this is one of the longest messages I've ever written.

So buckle up. I'm gonna try to get through it quick,

so we're not gonna waste any time. Grab your Bible

and open it up to Luke chapter twenty one. If

you need a Bible, we have a bunch of them

at the resource desk in the lobby. Please grab and

we want you to have a Bible to read, follow along,

and to read a home Luke chapter twenty one. We're

gonna mean verses one through four. And while you guys

are turning there, we've been in a series called Luke

The Orderly Account of Truth, and we've been going verse

by verse through the whole book of Luke. It's been

awesome to get to do that. Luke did a careful

investigation of Jesus' life and ministry. He made an orderly account,

and his purpose, if we read in the very first

chapter of it, was so that they offul Us and

also us we can know the truth about who Jesus

is that we can know is the truth about all

the things that we've been taught about Jesus, that's what

his purpose was in writing the Gospel of Luke and

doing this orderly account, and just start today. I want

everyone to pull out a dollar bill. Really, they could

be a dollar, could be a five, ten, fifty, it

doesn't really matter. Not a debit card has to be real.

I have my dollar here, check book. I know no

one carries cash anymore. If you don't, that's okay. If

you have it, pull it out and hold it because

not hardly anybody carries cash. But it doesn't matter what

the denomination is. Just grab one hold and take a

deep breath. I'm not taking an offering right now. Yeah,

tear it in a half. Who's got your heart got

her money? Just kidding, So to be okay, it's gonna

be alright. Just hold on to it for a minute because

we're gonna we're gonna keep talking about it. But I

have a question what makes a meaningful gift? What makes

a gift meaningful? Maybe it's something that comes from the heart, right,

a gift that maybe it's something you've been asking for

or really hoping for, something you really needed. That makes

a meaningful gift. What if it's like something unique or

special or just different. What's all for the person receiving

the gift, But what makes a meaningful gift for the

gift giver someone giving a gift. I mean, sure, it

could still be something that's thoughtful, meaningful, and comes from

the heart. But what I think makes a gift far

more meaningful is when it costs you something. So when

the gift costs you something, when you have to sacrifice

something to give the gift. Let's say you only have

money enough money for one coffee, but you buy it

for somebody else. Or it's freezing outside and you take

off your coat and give it to somebody else. I've

actually seen Pastor Jordan do that once. It was awesome

and it was raining. Yeah, I said, a real Christian

would have given him a shirt too. Just kid. What

if you had plans to watch the game, but instead

you drive someone to the airport. I know for some

people that's more of a sacrifice than others. Or the

little girl who's in the hospital and she gives up

one of her kidneys for the old guy, Or what

about a boy who has only five loaves and two fish,

and he gives to a bunch of people who have nothing.

He gives away his lunch to them. Every single one

of us will commend someone who sacrifices a lot for

the sake of somebody else. We all commend that. We

look at that and we're like, that's an awesome good thing.

At the end of the Titanic, after it sank, everyone's

in the water panicking, who do you commend Jack? You

commend Rose, You commend Jack? Why he sacrificed four rows?

She got to float on the door in the water,

the piece of wood in the water, and he got

to stay freezing. And we all know there was a

number for two up there. That's not the point. The

point is not it's debatable. It's not the point that

they both could have fit up there. The point is

that we commend great sacrifice. That's what we do. We

commend great sacrifice. When someone sacrificially gives, we see that

as greater or of more or a more meaningful gift.

And in today's text, what we're going to see, just

in these short four verses, we're gonna see someone who

gives up everything they have to sacrifice their own needs

and give all that they have. But what would what

would drive someone or what would cause someone to give

like that? What would cause them to be able to

give away all something that costs them so much? And

I think the answer is written on the back of

the dollar bill you're holding. So I want you to

take that dollar bill and flip it over and look

at the back just above the center. What does it say?

The USA right next right below USA says in God

we Trust. So to the message of today's or the

title of today's message is in God, God we trust.

Our text today is going to show us you, guys

can hang out of those dollars well, I mean whatever,

give them the offering, give them to someone who needs it, right.

But our text today is going to show us that

God sees sacrificial giving as of more value or more

are worth more than giving out of abundance. And my

argument is that sacrificial giving is only possible when we

trust in the Lord, is when we actually trust in God.

It's only when we put our trust in Him that

we're free to give sacrificially, to give in a way

that costs us everything, even the money we hold in

our hands that we use every day. It's telling us

not to trust in it. It's telling us where to

put our trust, and they that is in God. So

let's read our text for today, and then we're going

to pray again. That's Luke chapter twenty one, verses one

through four. Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting

their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a

poor widow put it in two small copper coins. And

he said, truly, I tell you, this poor widow has

put in more than all of them, for they all

contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty,

has put in all she had to live on. Let's pray. God,

we stop for a moment and focus our hearts on

what you have to say to us today. God, give

us ears to hear it and eyes to see it,

and give us the boldness and courageousness to put it

into practice. God, let us see the messages you want

us to learn from today's text. Let us hold it

in here, and dear to our heart, every time we

read your word, I pray that it's going into our hearts,

and we're hiding in our hearts that we might not

sin against you. So God, We just thank you for

your word and the fact that we get to come

together on this beautiful day and talk about the message

you have for us today. So thank you for that freedom.

And God, we just thank you for this day. And

Jesus name, everybody said amen. Well. Last week ended with

Jesus warning his disciples of something. He was telling him

to beware of the scribes. To beware of the scribes,

the ones that were leading the people and teaching the people.

They're self serving people. They do everything for status and recognition,

selfish game. But they also take it a step further,

and they take advantage of the vulnerable and the needy. Says.

They devour widows houses and then for a pretense or

to appear holy and pious before others, they make these

long prayers. They stand up and say, look at me,

and how awesome I am, and how holy I am.

But the truth is that they're not holy. These are

wicked and evil people and bad leaders, and they will

receive the greater condemnation. That's what Jesus ended with when

he started warning the disciples, or hit the people he

was teaching to beware of them. He says, they will

receive the greater condemnation they're sentencing will be more severe.

Jesus warns the people about their leaders. So we came

to the conclusion that we should choose our leaders wisely.

If Jesus is warning us about the people that would

lead his lead them, then we should choose our leaders wisely.

And immediately after this warning we come to our text

for today where Jesus has just finished condemning the scribes

and now he's going to commend this poor widow for

how she gave. This widow is poor most likely because

of the scribes. They devour widow's homes, That's what it says,

and to just get a little bit of understanding of

how poor this widow was. Life was different back then.

Widows were some of the most needy and vulnerable people.

Vulnerable people around generally speaking, when women would be cared

for and supported by their fathers until they got married,

and then that responsibility responsibility will be handed off from

the father to the husband. Now the husband would care

for and support the woman as his wife, and the

husband would work outside of the home and they would

make money to bring in to support the family, and

the wife would stay home and generally keep the house.

So if their husband died, what would happen, Well, they

don't have any income streams. And this is again this

is generally speaking. There are some outliers, there are some

wealthy women, they that were traveling with Jesus caring for

the needs of the disciples, but generally speaking, most women,

if their husband died, they were left without any support.

They were left without any income, so they're needed help.

They were often very very poor and just had little

and sometimes they had nothing at all. So Jesus sits

down across from the offering box that's in the temple courts,

because remember Jesus has ridden into the city of Jerusalem

and he's been going every morning to the temple and

been teaching and preaching and debating with people who are

asking questions. So he's in the courtyard of the temple

and he's watching people give their gifts at the offering box,

just watching people put their gifts in. That includes this

poor widow. Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting

their gifts into the offering box, and then he saw

a poor widow put in two small copper coins. Jesus

seized the rich they're putting in their big gifts, which

makes sense. They have more to give, they're rich, so

he sees them giving their gifts. But then he sees

this poor widow. And the word poor here used it

means needy or poor, someone that has hardly anything, but

they still got something. Needy and poor hardly anything, but

they still have something. But this needy, poor widow she

put in her two small copper coins, and the value

of if you research this, the value of these coins

that the widow gave was one one hundred and twenty

eighth of a day's wage. Okay, so to get a

picture of the value we're talking about here, you guys

ready to go to math class. I'll bring my wife up.

She's a math teacher, so she could probably teach us

a lot better than me. But we're gonna talk about

the value of this. Our minimum wage today is sixteen

sixty six an hour, which is ludicrous when I think

about what it was when I first got my first job.

And then I talked to my dad about it, and

he's laughing right now, He's like, imagine how low it

was back when I got my first job. It's sixteen

sixty six an hour right now, So If you take

that times eight for a full work day, that's one

hundred and thirty three twenty eight. So a day's wage

for us right now is one hundred and thirty three

dollars and twenty eight cents. Now, if you take that

and divide it by one hundred and twenty eight, because

the value of these coins was one one hundred and

twenty eighth of a day's wage, you get one oh four. Well,

she gave two coins, so that times two. That means

the widow gave the equivalent of two dollars and eight cents.

Two dollars and eight cents. That's not very much. My

twelve houns drip coffee is over three dollars. Two dollars

and eight cents doesn't get you very much today, It's

very very small. What difference is two dollars and eight

cents going to make? Does that fix your budget? No?

Does that buy you something you need? No? Two dollars

and eight cents. But this widow puts in this tiny

little gift in the offering box, and Jesus comes to

an extremely shocking conclusion. Two dollars and eight cents. Verse

three says, and he said, truly, I tell you, this

poor widow has put in more than all of them.

He just watched all the rich people putting their gifts

in there, and the conclusion Jesus comes to when she

put in her two dollars and eight cents is this woman,

this poor woman has put in more than all of them.

What are you talking about put in more than all

of them? This is a crazy conclusion for Jesus to

come to. She clearly did not put more in than

everybody else. Clearly she did not do that. So what's

Jesus talking about. He must be talking about something different.

What does he mean that she put in more than

all the rest of them? What we keep reading and

we get our answer, And he said, truly, I tell you,

this poor widow has put in more than all of them,

for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she,

out of her poverty, put in all she had to

live on. So it seems that Jesus is looking more

or excuse me, that he's looking less at how much

was given, and he's looking more at how much it

costs the person giving. He was looking at how big

of a sacrifice it was for the person to give,

the value of the gift the poor widow gave was

greater than everyone else because it cost her so much.

It cost her so much. And to drive this point

home even more, the reason I told you the definition

of the word poor before is because, Luke, when Jesus

is talking about this poor widow, it's a different definition

of the word poor. So in verse two it was

the needy person who doesn't have very much, But in

verse three, the word poor that's used is poor, needy,

reduced to begging. It's a different word for poor. The

widow has started as someone who had very little but

still had something, and then she moved to someone who

was needy and poor with nothing. She gave all that

she had to live on, and that should help us

understand how big of a sacrifice it is that she

made when she gave. Exactly how much it cost her.

Because all the rich people are giving in it, it

like doesn't bother them at all. They gave out of

their abundance. But this poor widow, her gift costs her everything.

So Jesus looking at her gift and saying, this gift

is of greater value than all the other people who gave.

But this brings up a really big question for me

personally when I'm reading it, So, I'm like, how is

it that this poor woman was able to give a

gift that cost her so much? How is she able

to do that? How is it possible that she is

able to give to the Lord everything she had to

live on? And the only answer that I can come

up with is that her trust wasn't in money. Her

trust was in God, her Father. Her trust was in God.

In God we trust she was able to give sacrificially

to give everything she had because her trust was in

God that He, as the Good Father, would provide for her.

Our own money tells us what or who to trust in.

We must trust in God. And this widow she trusted

in the Lord and she was able to give everything

she had. And that reminds me there is another person

who trusted in the Lord and gave up everything that

he had. You guys know who I'm talking about. It's Jesus.

Jesus was another person who gave everything that he had.

He came and laid down everything for the sake of others.

He gave it all up. Look at Philippians chapter two,

verses five through eight. It'll be on the screen. So

you can keep her place in Luke, but have this

in mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ. Jesus,

who though he was in the form of God, did

not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant.

Being born in the likeness of men and being found

in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to

the point of death, even death on a cross. Jesus

gave up being in the form of God to become

a human. Now he's fully God and fully manned. So

I'm not making a weird theological statement here, but he

became fully human. And I mean, last time I checked,

we're all humans in here, right. I don't know any

of us. If we were in the form of God,

we'd willingly say, you know what sounds like a cool

idea to become a human in comparison, being in the

form of God so much greater than being in the

form of human. Look at all the things we deal with.

We get sick. Our son, he just got his tonsils

and his adenoids removed. He's at home recovering or with

his grandma recovering. So be praying for him, please, we

got to deal with our bodies falling apart, with sin

all throughout the world. Being in the form of God

way better than being in the form of human. And

Jesus willingly chose it. And not only that, but Jesus

took it even a step further. After being born in

the likeness of men. He gave that up too. Jesus

gave that up too. He laid down his whole life

for even the son of man. That's Jesus came not

to be served, but to serve, and to give his

life as a ransom for many. That's Mark ten forty five.

It's why he became human to willingly give up his life.

But why would he do that? He tells us in

John ten eleven, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus is the good shepherd, and he cares for his sheep.

He willingly puts himself in harms way for the sake

of his sheep, sacrificing his life. He gave it all up.

He loved us and gave himself up for us, a

fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. That's Ephesians five two.

I'm just throwing all these scriptures out there. This is

what Jesus did. He sacrificed it all. He came to earth,

lived the perfect life, and died on the cross for sin.

And anyone, anyone who puts faith in him and his

finished work on the cross, they are forgiven of all

their sins, past, present, future. Thank you, and get to

look forward to eternity with Jesus. That's amazing good news.

He willingly sacrificed his life. He says that he didn't.

No one took his life. He laid it down. He

chose that he willingly took on the punishment that every

one of us deserves for our sin. That punishment is

the wrath of God on our sin. That's what he

bore on the cross. So every horrible thing they said

about him, every slanderous lie they said about Jesus, every

time they spit on him. When they stripped him naked

and dressed him up and mocked him. They dressed him

up like a king in a robe and mocked him.

When they pressed the crown of thorns into his head,

every lashing of the cat of nine tails, so they

whipped him and flogged him. Every strike of the hammer,

as the nails pierce his hands in his feet, was

all part of the wrath of God on sin. And

he endured all of this for us. And we did

not deserve that. He did not deserve that, and he

did it anyway. The punishment that we do deserve for

our sin, he took it on himself, and he did

all that because of his love for us. No one

has given up more than Jesus, no one has sacrificed

more than Jesus. He gave up his form of God.

Then he gave up his form of flesh, his life.

He laid it all down for our sake. So again

I ask, how is it that someone can give up everything?

How is that? How can someone sacrifice everything? How was

it that Jesus, in his humanity, was able to do this?

Because he trusted in God the Father with his whole life.

He put his life in the Father's hand and said,

he says, it's yours, and I trust you to do

with it what you will. Three times, when Jesus was

praying in the garden, he said, if it be possible,

let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,

but as you will, not as I will, but as

you will. He knew what was coming, his suffering and

his death. He knew it, but he said, I trust

you God. And Jesus fully submitted to God, the Father

in all things. And he submitted because he trusted in him.

Jesus sacrifice or sacrificially gave up everything, and he trusted

God the whole way through. And he told us to

do the same thing. John fifteen, twelve and thirteen. This

is my commandment that I excuse me. This is my

commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this. That someone laid

down his life for his friends. He's commanding us, as

brothers and sisters in Christ, to love each other like

he loved us. It's kind of a high bar because

he laid down his life for us. So we are

to lay our lives down for our friends as the

ultimate act of love for one another. But my question

is do you trust God enough to do it? Like?

Do you actually trust God enough to do it? Do

you trust him enough to give sacrificially to follow the

example of Jesus and give everything you have to be

like the poor widow to give everything you had to

live on? Do you trust God enough to do that?

So to summarize real quick these four verses, because it's

not very many verses, Jesus watches the people give at

the offering box. He watches the rich give their gifts,

and then he sees a poor widow give her two

copper coins, and he says that she gave more than

everybody else because she gave all that she had to

live on. She gave sacrificially, and God views sacrificial giving

as of greater value. But my argument is that the

only way someone can sacrificially give it all is if

they trust in God. And even though this text is

specifically talking about money, I want you to know it

applies to your whole life. It applies to everything. When

we trust the Lord in all things, we can give

freely of all things. Let me say that again, When

we trust the Lord in all things, we can give

freely of all things. Everything we've received from the Lord.

He's the good Father, gives us everything. Every good and

perfect gift comes from him. Everything we just we've received

from Him. Even like Pastor Jordan and I were talking

about earlier this week, about the conversation of Deuteronomy. He

even gives us the ability to make wealth, to get wealth.

It all comes from him, and all of it should

be used for his mission. All of it. Every dollar

that we have, every skill that we have sharpened over

the years, and every moment that we still drop breath,

it's all for his mission and his glory. So what

should we do then? What should we do in response

to today's text? And I have three steps for us?

Look at this. I'm doing a three point message that

never happens. Sometimes I forget to put points up there.

But the first point I want us to look at

is this give sacrificially of all things to those in need.

That's the first thing I think we should understand, is

to give sacrificially of all things to those in need,

to follow the example of Jesus and this poor widow,

and to give sacrificially. So yes, the first thing we're

going to talk about is finances. God blesses us with

what we have to be a blessing to others two

Corinthians nine. When it's when talking about giving, says that

we will be enriched in every way to be generous

in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

That's awesome. It's God who enriches us. He provides seed

to the sower. It's God who enriches us. So no

matter what occasion comes up, no matter what the occasion is,

that we can be generous. Whether it's a homeless person

on the side of the road, no shortage of that right,

a brother and sister in Christ, a brother or sister

in Christ who's in need. We support each other. The

early church there was no need among them. They were

supporting each other that much. What about someone who's considered

an enemy, What does the Bible tell us to do

for them? Says, pray for them, bless them, don't curse them.

What about providing for the needs of the church. We

have a church budget and we're still upside down in

it a little bit. We provide for the needs of

the church. What about providing the needs for those who

teach and lead? The Bible says the laborer deserves his wages,

and not to muzzle the ox as it treads the grain.

What about those who are on mission throughout the world,

actually supporting people who were doing gospel mission work in

other places in the world. Supporting the Gospel spread. But

no matter what the occasion, is God who enriches us,

He's enriched us, so we can be generous on every occasion.

So when was the last time you denied yourself something

and sacrificially gave to someone else? Have you ever done

that in your life? Pastor Duncan? And I use the

two cheeseburgers example, you have two cheeseburgers, someone comes up

says I'm hungry. You're like, oh, here, it's an extra cheeseburger.

But if you had one cheeseburger and someone comes up

says I'm hungry, and you gave that cheeseburger, which is

the more meaningful gift, the one that costs you the most.

I'm now not going to eat because I'm giving you

the cheeseburger. But do we trust God even in the

giving the one cheeseburger? And something that we do as

a family during Christmas, and this is not to pat

ourselves on the back, just to give a practical example,

but we tell the boys that half of the money

that we've saved throughout the year for Christmas gifts, we're

gonna take and we're gonna buy Christmas gifts for somebody

else who can't. It's not hard to find people who

need helping during Christmas. There's giving trees all over the place.

How rad would it be if every giving tree just

got shut down because we just kept taking all the

tags and buying presents for the families. It'd be awesome.

But what we're trying to do is we're trying to exercise,

we're trying to teach, and we're trying to model sacrificial

giving to our boys. This isn't I can't even take

credit for the idea. This is Jesse's idea. She's like,

we should take half our what we say for Christmas gifts,

spend it on our people. Giving that costs you something,

a sacrificial giving. So we're showing the boys we're gonna

say no to ourselves in this area and we're gonna

help bless somebody else. So that's all on the financial side,

but it's not just our finances. It's also our time,

our schedules. Right, some of us have no problem giving

people money or buying them something or giving them a cheeseburger.

We're generous with our finances, but we have a death

grip on our calendars. Don't you dare mess with my time.

I got stuff I gotta do. I got things that

gotta happen. I I me, me me, this death grip

on our calendars. We need to give sacrificially of our

time to say no to something you want or want

to do, or something you have to do. It's only

two things you got to do in life, right, And

it's not taxes, it's not one of them. It's die

and decide. I only got to do those two things.

So we're gonna say no to something we want for

the sake of somebody else and give that time to

someone else. How about taking someone out for coffee? Simple,

that's just what I do, so it's always the first

idea that comes to mind. Committing to doing a Bible study?

How about that or prioritizing discipleship over a lot of

the other things we put in our schedule. What about

starting to meet weekly with someone I like to pick

a book of the Bible and just start going through

it with them. How about inviting a family over for dinner.

I mean, we got a super friendly church and we're

like at each other's houses all the time, which is awesome.

Let's keep doing that? What about investing in or building actual, genuine,

honest biblical relationships, getting to know our brothers and sisters

in Christ for real, not just the surface level. How

are you doing? And then when I say, great, blessed

and highly favored brother, that you say how are you

really doing? And then being honest and sharing for real,

how you're really doing? About sacrificing of our time to

serve our brothers and sisters at church? How much of

a death grip do we have on our schedules? Got

to release that death grip and give to the Lord

by giving your time to others. So we sacrifice of

our finances, We sacrifice of our time and your skills

and abilities? Did God naturally gift you to do something

something that He didn't naturally gift everyone for or with?

Have you learned how to do something that not everyone

can do? Use those gifts to serve others. God didn't

give them to you for you only He didn't give

me my gifts for me. Only gave him to us

to bless those who are around us. So whoever's around

you and has a need, be the one who meets

the need, whether that's a financial need, whether that's a

need of time, whether that's a need of skills that

you've got time talent treasures is the way people kind

of boil that down often. But the last thing I

want to say about before I move on to number two.

I know number one is the longest one two and

three or much shorter, I promise, But the last thing

I want to say about this is I love how

David puts it. In Second Samuel, chapter twenty four, he's

building an altar on the threshing floor that belonged to

a guy named Arna. And Arna tried to give David

everything for the burnt offering. But look what David said

to him. This is chapter twenty four, verse twenty four.

But the king said to Arna, no, but I will

buy it from you for a price. I will not

offer burnt offerings to the Lord, my God, that cost

me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor in the

Oxen for fifty shekels of silver. Giving that costs us

something is more meaningful. Sacrificial giving has more value. The

value of the gift is less about how much it

actually is, and it's more about how much it costs us.

And as David says, I will not give God something

that costs me nothing. I wanted to cost me something

because I want to be It's not just meaningful for

him and he's be meaningful for me. So that's number one,

give sacrificially of all things to those in need. And

number two is this, have the right heart when you give,

have the right heart when you give? Well, what heart

are we called to have when we give? God has

some things to say about that. I want to look

at Two Corinthians, chapter eight, the first four verses. We

want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God

that has been given among the churches in Macedonia. For

in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy

and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of

general on their part. For they gave according to their means,

as I can testify, and beyond their means of their

own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking

part in the relief of the saints. That's awesome. That

is quite the example to look up to. In the

midst of their extreme poverty, they gave beyond their own means,

their abundant joy and desire to take part in the

relief of the saints led to them overflowing in a

wealth of generosity. They cared so much about blessing and

supporting the saints in another church that even in the

midst of their poverty, it overflowed in wealth and generosity

beyond their means. They had a heart that was full

of joy and this growing desire to meet the needs

of others even though they're in extreme poverty. And if

you look over the next chapter in Second Corinthians, chapter nine,

Versus six, and says the point is this, whoever sows

sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will

also reap bountifully. And before I continue on, this is

quoted by every health and wealth preacher on the planet

as a way to get rich. But remember He enriches

you in every way to be generous in every way.

So He provides seed to the sower so that you

can sow more seed. So whoever sows bountifully will also

reap bountifully. Each one must give as he is decided

in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, For God

loves a cheerful giver, So be generous, but not reluctant

or under compulsion or someone like twisting your arm to give.

Don't give sacrificially in a begrudging way. Fine, here's all

my stuff is that the heart God ones, No, not begrudging.

It's not the right heart to have at all. God,

what kind of giver a cheerful giver. God loves a

cheerful giver. We decide in our hearts what we're going

to give. What that means is that you have decided

ahead of time. You've actually thought about it. What am

I gonna give? You have to actually plan this out.

It isn't every it's not a spontaneous thing every time. No,

he's saying, think about it ahead of time and decide

so that you can give in this type of way.

So plan ahead, decide in your hearts what you're going

to give, and then after that go full dummy and

give a joy. You just give with complete, cheerful joy,

cheerfully give what you've decided in your heart. Kind of

the worship team, Come on, please, so Number one, we

give sacrificially of all things to those in need. It's

our time, our talents, our treasure. Number two, we have

the right heart when we give, and number three trust

that God will provide. To trust that God will provide,

we will never be able to give sacrificially and do

so with the right heart unless we trust God, we

just won't do it. We have to trust God, trust

him that he will provide for us. We know that

God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He tells

us that, which, by the way, anytime you're like, well,

I don't know what to believe about God, I think

we should lean on him and listen to what he

says about himself and believe that. And he says he

is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He doesn't change.

We also know that he's faithful to his word. When

God says he's going to do something, he's going to

do it. So I say we should look at what

he says. He's a good father who gives good gifts

to his children. Look at Matthew chapter seven, verse and

start in verse seven. Ask and it will be given

to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it

will be open to you forever. One who asks receives,

and the one who seeks finds, and the one who

knocks it will be opened or which one of you,

if his son asks him for bread, will give him

a stone, or if he asks for a fish, will

give him a serpent. If you, then, who are evil,

come on now, Jesus speak in truth. If you, then,

who are evil, know how to give good gifts your children,

how much more will your Father, who is in heaven

give good things to those who ask him. God is

a good father in comparison to humanity. That's why he's

using terms like you, then, who are evil in comparison

to who God is ultimate perfection and holiness. We are evil,

we are darkness, we are unholiness in comparison to God.

And if us, as early fathers, can give good gifts

to our children, how much more will your Father, who

is in heaven give good things to those who ask him.

All we need to do is ask. You have not

because you ask not, and then if you ask him

you do not receive. It's because you ask to spend

it on your own pleasure, as you're being selfish. But

you have not because you ask not. He's a good

father and provides for us. He's the creator of all things.

His resources don't run out. Our resources will run out.

God creates all things from nothing. Is his arm too short? No,

he will never run out of resources, just ask him.

But for me, the most compelling reminder, just personally is

what Jesus said in Matthew chapter six, in verse twenty five,

he says, Therefore, I tell you, he's going to repeat this.

Do not be anxious. Do not be anxious about your life,

what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor

about your body, what you will put on. What are

those three things? It's food, water, and shelter. They're the

bare necessities of life. And you're my kin. If you

start singing the song in your head, do not be

anxious about what you will eat or what you will drink,

nor about your body. What you will put on is

not life more than food, and the body more than clothing.

Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow

nor reap, nor gather into barns. That's what humans do,

so reap and gather into barns, And yet your heavenly

father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

That's a huge rhetorical question and kind of a no, duh. Yes,

you are more valuable than they are. And which of

you by being anxious. Worrying can add a single hour

to his span of life. Worrying does not add to

your life. Worrying takes from your life. Yet we worry

and verse twenty eight, And why are you anxious about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow? They

neither toil nor spin, They just exist, They just grow. Yet,

I tell you, even Solomon, in all his glory, was

not arrayed like one of these the Tulip festival. Never

been there, just seen pictures, And the pictures blow my mind.

They're beautiful. And Solomon, on his best day, dressed to

the nine. Solomon, if just to remind you, the richest,

wisest person on the planet, at one point, tried everything,

found it out as all meaningless. Even he didn't look

as good as these flowers in the field. But if

God so clothes the grass of the field, which today

is alive and tomorrow was thrown into the oven, meaning

it's used for firewood to use just to start a fire.

These beauty the Tulip Festival tossed in the furnace in

the oven, will he not much more clothe you, oh

you of little What do you trust him? Do you

trust God? Will he not much more clothe you, oh

you of little faith. Therefore, the conclusion that we arrive

at in verse thirty one is, do not be anxious,

do not worry. Do not be anxious saying what shall

we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall

we wear? Food, water, and shelter, the things we have

to have to survive. Don't ask those questions. Verse thirty two,

for the gentiles seek after all these things, And your

heavenly Father knows that you need all of them. He

created us, He knows what we need to survive. God understands.

Don't be anxious, don't ask these questions. He knows you

need these things. But verse thirty three, seek first the

Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things

will be added to you. Seek first him, the Kingdom

of God and his righteousness. Seek to advance the kingdom.

Seek to do what he told you do in his life.

If he's looking at giving as of more value when

it's sacrificial, why would we cling to those things? Think

it's because we don't remember this. We feel like we

can't because we don't trust him. I will say till

my dying day that belief drives action. We have to

fix our belief. You guys are only sitting in those

chairs because you know they will hold your weight. If

you didn't believe it would hold your weight, you never

would have sat in that chair. Our belief drives our action.

If we truly believe this about what Jesus is saying,

If we truly believe this, we won't be anxious. We

can walk in sacrificial giving of all things. God knows

the number of hairs on your head. He knows every

single time a sparrow falls to the ground, And you,

my friends, are worth more than many sparrows. God clothes

the flowers of the field, the ones that are tossed

in the fire in the most beautiful way. And we

are more valuable to God than the flowers. Why do

we doubt that He will care for us? Why do

we doubt He gave us his only son. You think

he now won't give you bread to eat. He did

not withhold the thing that we hold of most value,

our own children. He didn't withhold that from us. So

now you think He's gonna withhold bread from you and

not take care of you. What are the children of

Israel saying when they were brought out of Egypt. God

brought us out here to kill us. Are you kidding me?

That's ludicrous. No, He didn't save us in order to

let us rot. He has a plan he will provide.

Why do we doubt trust in the Lord. He promised

he would care for us. He takes care of his children.

He is the best father. He is the good father,

takes care of his children. When we trust in God,

only then can we truly give sacrificially with the right heart.

And I want to put up the thing I said

just a minute ago up on the screen again. When

we trust in the Lord in all things, we can

give freely of all things. Yeah, the underlins they're good.

When we trust the Lord in all things, we can

give freely of all things. So you guys still get

your dollar. I want you to look at it one

more time. What does it say in the back? Who

does it tell you to trust him? In God? We

trust in God, we trust. We don't trust in this dollar.

Can't serve two masters anyway, can only serve one. In

God we trust. So let's give sacrificially. Let's do it

with the right heart and trust God every step of

the way. Amen, awesome Can you guys stand on your feet?