Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 641 | Widow’s Mite

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641 | Widow’s Mite · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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  Where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the
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  well in John chapter four.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life. Whether you are listening
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  in our app, in your favorite podcasting app, or on our website at watwm.org,
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  we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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  about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Are you giving all you have? It's not about how much you give,
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  but about the quality of what you give and the intent of your heart.
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  Join us in this program of Woman at the Well Ministries as we look at the widow who gave all she had.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this program of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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  And we're going to be looking at a scripture out of Luke chapter 21 verses 1
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  through 4 and we're going to hear what god says,
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  about what we give and it seems so often in our lives that we have all kinds
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  of different ways of justifying what we give or we don't give to god or to others
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  but god has very distinct,
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  ideas about giving and i wish that it was that we were only stingy
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  with our money or we were only stingy with our time or we were only stingy about
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  giving of ourselves but the truth of the matter is is that most of us are stingy in all three,
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  of those categories and the lord himself says that he loves a cheerful giver,
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  the lord himself modeled how we are to give all that we have and all that we
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  are for the furtherance of the kingdom of God
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  and that by doing so we can show him how much we love him as he showed us how
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  much he loved us when he gave himself.
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  As the payment for our sins yet for some reason we don't seem to understand
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  that even more tragically,
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  i believe is as we look at ourselves and what we give we try to compare that
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  with what other people give.
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  And I encourage you not to do that. First of all, we need to be looking vertically
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  to God and not horizontally.
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  Second of all, you need to understand that everyone's circumstances are very different.
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  And we're going to see that. There was people who gave in this passage of Scripture
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  out of the abundance that they had.
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  And no doubt that the, if you counted up the amount they gave,
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  it was far more than what this widow gives.
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  But the widow gives all that she has.
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  And Jesus himself says that her gift is greater than those of the people who
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  gave of the abundance they had.
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  Now, in our earthly minds, that's hard to understand.
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  So we can try to put some sort of mathematical idea or concept on it and say
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  that the percentage of what she had,
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  was greater when she gave it when she had nothing so she gave all that she had
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  so she gave 100 of what she had
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  to live on and those who had the abundance probably gave far less than 100.
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  But i think that the truth of this scripture goes even further,
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  i believe that when the widow gave all that she had she made the statement that
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  my faith is placed in jesus christ i believe she made the statement that i don't
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  need to be the one who sustains,
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  my existence because i've been caught upon by jesus christ to give and i'm going
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  to give and i trust that he will take care of me,
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  you see giving is a very complicated matter it isn't just about what we give it's about why we give it.
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  It isn't just about the end result of the giving. It's about the intent that we have when we give.
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  It's about the motive.
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  And it's about what we're thinking when we reach into our pocket and place money
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  in an offering or send it to a ministry or give it to a neighbor.
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  It's about what we're thinking when we carve out an extra half an hour or an
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  hour or a couple hours a day to do something for someone else,
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  it's about what we're placing as our priorities when we don't carve out a couple
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  hours or an hour or a half an hour of our time to spend in prayer and study
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  with the god of the universe,
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  you see it's a complicated matter and we hear so often preachers and teachers
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  just talk about giving your 10 percent tithe and And if you don't do that, then that's horrible.
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  And then they talk about you need to give your tithes and your offerings.
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  And all of that is true because God expects that from us.
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  But you see, I'm not here to chide you about your tithing.
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  I'm not here to chide you about your giving. I'm here to make you aware of all
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  of the things that are encompassed in the concept of giving.
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  And you see i want you to see that your love for jesus christ and your love
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  for god is wrapped up in your giving and it's not all about money it's about of yourself.
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  It's about of your faith it's about of your pride it's about of making yourself
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  available it's about relying on jesus christ as your savior,
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  i want us to just take a look at giving in a more complex structure than what
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  we so often hear and what we so often ignore.
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  You see, my friends, when Jesus gave of himself, he held nothing back.
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  And I, for one, am incredibly excited that he didn't give a percentage of his blood.
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  For you see, his blood bought my salvation.
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  And his blood paid my penalty for my sins.
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  And it required only his blood. and his alone was all that could do it but required
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  all of his blood because he had to give his life a sacrifice for me,
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  and i am so glad that he didn't say i'm only going to give 10,
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  i'm so glad that he didn't say i'm only going to give it to just a select few,
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  but he said whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved.
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  And he gave all that he had my friends and he left the splendor of heaven so
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  he gave up more than any of us will ever own and,
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  or ever could own, or ever could have, so that the breadth and depth of his
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  giving, outside of even him giving his life, was far more than you could ever
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  sacrifice for anyone, anything, or even God.
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  Because he gave up heaven to walk among men.
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  Giving is a complicated structure, but it isn't hard to do.
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  You see, if we can get our hearts and minds in alignment with God,
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  If we can be as the widow and place our faith solely in him.
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  If we can remember that he said obedience is better than sacrifice.
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  And that we give back to him exactly what he requires of us,
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  which is ourselves, our heart and our love.
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  If we realize the priorities in our lives and place them in the correct order
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  where God is supreme above all. And he said, thou should have no other gods before me.
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  If we give him the rightful place in our lives As king of our lives Then,
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  my friends, giving is natural.
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  But instead, we seem to think that we earned the money. We seem to think that
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  we are this and we are that and that's why we have this. We seem to think that
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  the 24 hours a day that he gave us is for us to determine what we're going to do.
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  It's for us to enjoy. It's for us to control.
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  And that just isn't so.
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  And that's easy enough to figure out because the God of the universe,
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  he created 24 hours in a day.
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  He created our bodies to need a certain amount of sleep.
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  And the remainder of that time is exactly what he has given us to do exactly
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  what he would have us to do
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  yet many of us lay our heads down on our pillows way too late at night way too
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  exhausted and still haven't completed the task that we have assumed we should do,
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  it's because my friends we are trying to take the reign of the control of our lives out of his hands.
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  And we start partitioning what part he gets of us.
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  Well, Lord, you saved my soul and I love you. So I'm going to give you Sunday mornings.
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  And if it's not Super Bowl Sunday, I might even give you Sunday nights.
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  But Lord, I work too hard on Wednesdays. I need that extra hour.
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  So I can't I can't go to church on Wednesday night.
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  And the only people who need revival, Lord, are those who don't know you.
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  And I know that I know you.
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  Now you see, you're thinking I'm nuts with what I'm saying, but our lives live
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  those words all of the time.
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  We partition what part God has for us. We tell God what school we're going to.
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  We tell God what career we're going to have.
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  We tell God what job we're going to have. And then we wonder why we don't have
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  peace. We wonder why we may not have job satisfaction.
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  We wonder why we have so much stress and chaos in our lives.
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  It's because we told him how we were going to live our lives.
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  And unfortunately for us it wasn't in congruence with his plans,
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  and jeremiah 29 11 is very plain he has a plan for our lives and he created
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  all things and we were created in his image who better knows how we should live
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  our lives than the architect himself,
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  who better knows what direction we should go and what things we should be doing
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  than the person who knows exactly the event that's going to take place in our
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  life the very next moment.
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  It's ridiculous that we place ourselves above god when it comes to determining our life,
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  yet many of us do it all of the time and it's because we're giving from the
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  abundance but we're not giving all that we have,
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  the widow gives all she has,
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  and he says that it's more than what the others gave Now the accountant Who was counting the money,
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  probably struggled to understand that because she gave two mites two mites two
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  mites is not very much money,
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  and the others gave far more than that when you counted it up on paper or held
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  it in your hand but aren't you glad that god,
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  sees beyond the here and now aren't you glad that God sees beyond,
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  the obvious?
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  Aren't you glad that God knows the intents of your heart?
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  For some of you, that's scary.
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  Our text comes from Luke chapter 21, verses 1 through 4.
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  Let us pray. Our kind and most gracious, your heavenly Father,
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  Lord, we just thank you for this and another opportunity to come before you.
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  We thank you for your grace and your mercy and your love.
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  We thank you, dear heavenly Father, that you do know the intents of our heart.
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  And we pray that you would speak to each and every person listening to this
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  lesson, Lord, that we could come to you with an open heart and an open mind,
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  and that you would push out the world and
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  you would cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and you would fill us up
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  with your holiness, your righteousness, and your goodness, Lord,
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  so that each of us could readily say, here, my Lord, take me.
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  And that each of us would be excited about the fact that you know the intents
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  because we're not holding anything back.
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  And we're not trying to live on our own sustenance.
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  But we understand that you are the supreme God and that you are the one who
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  loves us and you're the one who made us and that you have a plan for us and
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  that you know what is best for us and that you're daily loading us with benefits
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  and that we need to walk in your footsteps.
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  And when you said, come follow me, that meant you were leading the way.
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  Lord, watch over us and protect us. Lord, give us a desire to hear you and the ability to follow.
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  And all these things we ask in thy most precious and holy name we pray and all
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  of God's people said, Amen.
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  You see, little is much when God is in it.
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  If you remember the first miracle that Jesus performs is found in the book of
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  John and he turns water into wine.
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  That was nothing and suddenly it became valuable i want you to see that when
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  he went to heal the blind man he took a little bit of dirt and he spit in it,
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  and he used that to heal the blind man the dirt was little but god spitting
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  in it was much and suddenly a man who could not see could sea forever.
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  My friend, when I came to God, I was little. I was young.
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  I had nothing that I could offer the God of the universe.
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  I had nothing that I could give him.
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  I was nothing but the creation that he made me, a bunch of clay with his life breathed into me.
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  But when I accepted him as Savior and he placed the Holy Spirit in me,
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  I became a tool in his hands.
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  I became something he could use.
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  I became a masterpiece by the God of the universe.
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  He's not finished with me now, but he hasn't thrown away the clay.
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  He's still working on me because I am much when he is in me.
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  I am nothing on my own, but all things are opened unto me when I am in his presence.
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  I am nothing on my own, but I can do all things through his strength.
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  I am nothing on my own, but I have access to all of his riches through Jesus Christ, his son.
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  Little is much when god is in it.
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  In this particular passage he says and he looked up and he saw the rich man casting their gifts,
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  into the treasury and he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites,
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  and he said of a truth i say unto you that this poor widow has cast more and
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  more than they all for all these have of their abundance cast in into the offerings of God,
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  but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.
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  Jesus sees the intents of your heart.
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  He knows what your motive is. He knows your love for him, and he can read it.
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  And he knows it. My friends, this widow was standing in a crowd of people,
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  and all those people around her were rich, at least many of them were,
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  and they were just giving their money into the treasury.
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  And in my mind's eye, and I have no proof of this, but I can just see them bragging
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  about the money that they're putting in.
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  I can just see them talking about their tithing board and how high up they're
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  on it and i can just see them trying to out give the other one and i can just
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  see that it's their pocket money,
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  or it's their money above and beyond it has nothing it's never touched,
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  what they're going to use to get their food and their housing and to pay for
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  their sustenance it hasn't probably even dipped into their vacation fund it
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  probably hasn't even dipped into their camel maintenance fund,
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  they're probably just throwing money in that they have,
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  totally unrecognizing that the abundance they have is a gift from god but they
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  know of god and they want to serve god and they're happy to give of god
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  and it's my understanding probably that these rich men don't even understand
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  what it means to give in this situation till it hurts.
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  Because god never have made mentioned through jesus his son in this passage,
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  that they dipped in to any of those things but i want you to see that he very
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  clearly says not only does she give two mites.
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  Not only does he say that she gives all that she has he attaches what she has,
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  to all the living it's all she has for sustenance.
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  It's all she has to provide for her food and raiment and housing,
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  she's dipped into the camel maintenance fund she's dipped into the food fund,
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  she's dipped into the housing fund you see she didn't just dip she just picked
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  it all up and said it's yours lord have it,
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  And nowhere in this passage of scripture is it indicated that she's concerned about it.
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  Nowhere in this passage of scripture does it indicate that she has attached
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  all kinds of meaning and emotion to it.
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  She just gave all that she had into the treasury.
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  My friends, for some of us, it's hard for us to give the bare minimum that's expected of us.
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  And for a lot of us, we pay all of our bills.
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  And then out of the very last of that, we give it to God.
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  For a lot of us, we get all of the things done in our Franklin planner.
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  And then the last little bit of time we have, we offer it to God.
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  I encourage you to plan out your day or write down your day for three or four
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  days about what it is that you're
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  going to do. And then I want you to see what time you have left over.
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  And I want you to see the amount of time that God even has an opportunity to
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  interrupt your day or come in and change your plans.
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  For some of us, that's very little time.
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  You see most of us don't have a time where we have in our planner,
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  that from this time to that time we're gonna pray and from this time to that
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  time we're gonna study God's Word and
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  on this day at this time we're gonna visit the shut-ins and the widows and on
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  this day and at this time we're gonna visit the hospital and on this day in
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  this time we're gonna make food for the needy,
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  Most of us just leave that, well, when I have time business.
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  And most of us don't find time. But most of us days are so busy that we just
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  simply say, Kim, I don't have time to visit the sick and the wittiless.
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  And that's okay if God hasn't called you to do that. But read James and I think
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  you'll probably see that he has.
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  But on top of that, I'd like for you to take a good look and see,
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  has God had an opportunity to speak to you and ask you to do that?
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  Or in that 24-hour day that he gave you? Have you just planned it all up in
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  your own way and in your own things, doing all the things that you thought you
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  wanted to do or maybe even the things that you thought you should do?
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  But when's the last time you consulted God?
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  About what he wanted you to do with your day. Let me tell you how important that is.
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  Jesus Christ gives everything that he has on the cross of Calvary for a sin debt he didn't owe.
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  And he took our sins upon him, for he has made him to be sin for us who knew
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  no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
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  2 Corinthians 5.21 And my friends, before he goes up that road of Calvary,
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  before he bears that sin load, he went to the Garden of Gethsemane and had a conversation.
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  With god and he made sure that he had the instructions right,
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  and he made sure there was no other way because he knew what it was going to
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  cost him and fully aware of what it was going to cost him he went to calvary
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  and he laid his life down and shed his blood giving all that he has for you and for me.
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  My dear friends that's the love he had and he held nothing back But I want you
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  to also see he had instructions from God.
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  He said he had come to do his father's will. He said he come to save them that were lost.
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  He had a purpose and that purpose was given to him by God up in heaven.
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  He said for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever
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  believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
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  His purpose was to come to save mine and your soul.
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  And he got that purpose from God and every day he spoke to him.
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  And oftentimes you saw him move away from the crowd and talk to Jesus.
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  When's the last time that you went and talked to God?
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  When's the last time that you had a talk with Jesus? Instead,
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  you just get up, hop out of bed, go doing what you want to do with no concept,
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  no thought, no wondering, no anything about what God would have you to do that day.
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  My friends, you're not giving all that you have.
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  You're giving a percentage or an allotment or distribution out of the abundance
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  of time that you don't even have!
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  My friends, it's time that we look at the little widow and see that she wasn't
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  complicated. She just gave everything.
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  And when she gave everything, she made it abundantly clear to all who read this. I love Jesus.
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  I trust in Jesus. His work is the most important thing to me.
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  He's caught in my heart to give, and I'm going to give everything.
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  And when Jesus left, he gave us the Holy Spirit to teach us and to guide us.
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  And he spoke these words to us. He said, continue ye in my love and to follow his example.
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  My friend, what are you giving to God today?
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  And what is the intent and motive? Are you giving him your whole heart, mind, soul, and body?
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  Are you allocating the portions you want him to have? Thank you.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
• 23:30
  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  We pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
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• 23:40
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• 23:52
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• 23:56
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• 24:16
  Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  Remember that God loves you. You are loved.
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  She stands out like sunshine on an endless sky.