welcome today to our midweek bible study
called morning glory
today we're in luke chapter 6
and i want to talk today about a
spiritual law praise the lord
that is amazing in its
efficiency and consistency
you know in the scientific realm for
scientists to verify what would be
considered a
a law they have to be able to repeat it
over
and over again in the laboratory and i
believe that
the promise the statement that the lord
made
can be verified over and over again
through life experience praise god
so we're going to jump into it in just a
moment let's pray
heavenly father we ask that as we go
into your word
that your holy spirit would illuminate
the words of jesus and that we can
understand
them take them and apply them to our
lives
today thank you father in jesus name let
us
work with your laws never against them
thank you father for the anointing of
your spirit the illumination of your
spirit
helping us in jesus name we all agree
and say amen
luke chapter 6 verse 38 a verse that i
think many of you probably
have memorized and we need to look at it
carefully today
jesus said give and it will be given
to you now let's talk about this just um
for a moment from the perspective of
jesus
as the rabbi the jewish scholar
of the old testament scriptures and he
says
give and it will be given to you
matthew chapter 5 and you can hold your
place here
but i want to read a scripture from
matthew chapter 5
verse 17 and 18. jesus said do not think
that i came to
destroy the law or the prophets
the and that would be the teaching of
the prophets
he said i did not come to destroy but to
fulfill
for surely i say to you till heaven and
earth pass away
one jot or one tittle will by no means
pass
from the law till all is
fulfilled so jesus
he knew the law like the back of his
hand
he knew the torah in all of the writings
of the prophets he was well versed
in the scriptures and you have to
understand this
as we're going to look at verse 38 again
in just a moment
but i want to give you another scripture
matthew chapter 23
and this would be verse 23
jesus said woe to you scribes and
pharisees hypocrites
for you pay tithe of mint
and an eyes and cummin so all of these
spices and herbs that you can grow in
your own
back garden uh i tell you what the
the pharisees were really good in some
areas and they missed it completely
in other areas but they certainly were
tithers jesus said for you pay tithe
even on these little things like mint
and eyes and cumin and have neglected
the weightier matters of the law
justice and mercy and faith
these you ought to have done without
leaving the others undone now
look at that statement that jesus made
when he said
without leaving the others undone
so in other words pay your tithe why
that was a commandment in
in scripture that was a commandment that
god gave
through the mosaic law which became law
for the children of israel
[Music]
let's go back to the book of numbers
just for a moment and i'm going to loop
back around that i'm going to come back
to luke chapter 6 verse 38 but you have
to look at that verse
from a jewish mindset it will help you
to
squeeze out of it the anointing and
power
that is there in it we're going to
numbers chapter 18
and remember jesus said give
and it will be given to you
well pastor stephen what am i supposed
to give do i give
the tithe is that what he's talking
about in that verse of luke chapter 6
verse 38
no not at all because here we see
in numbers chapter 18 verse 21
that the tithe specifically belongs
to god and when you give the tithe
that is something that god has already
said belongs to me
well pastor stephen i give the tithe
that's all i'm going to do
but it's the offerings that get you over
into the area
of special blessing because when you pay
your tithe
you're you're only giving god
what already belongs to him it's not
like you can
jump up and shout praise god i'm a i'm a
great giver
well that's just normal 10 not only that
the the 10 percent
in some ways you could even say it's not
even yours to give it already belongs to
god
so you're giving him what already
belongs to him so at that point you're
really
just on level ground the ground of
obedience
and if you want to move into the
blessing the covenant
then you're going to have to step into
offerings
so when jesus said give he's not talking
about tithes
he's talking about offerings why because
the tithe
already belongs to the lord you pay
your tithe because it belongs to him
praise god
numbers chapter 18 verse 21
behold i have given the children of levi
all the tithes in israel as an
inheritance in return
for the work which they perform the work
of the tabernacle
of meeting isn't that amazing now
verse 24 for the tithes of the children
of israel which they offer up as a heave
offering to the lord
i have given to the levites as an
inheritance
this is beautiful now verse 26 speak
thus to the levites and say to them when
you take from the children of israel the
tithes
which i have given you from them as your
inheritance then you shall offer up a
heave offering of it to the lord a tenth
of the tithe
so the people of israel god's people
in covenant with him were commanded
to give a tithe of all that they had a
tithe of their
livestock a tithe of their harvest
whether it's
wheat or barley or you know grapes or
whatever it might be
the tide belonged to the lord and you
would take the tithe
to the temple and you present it to the
lord
and once it's given whether it's a a
financial tithe or you know something
that
is a monetary use such as you know in
the form of coins
or if it's uh one-tenth of your
livestock or whatever it is
that is going into the temple you've
given it to the lord
but there those that work full time at
the temple
the levites and the priests the levites
they are able to receive
the tithe in the sense were this is
what's going to allow them to do this
work
full-time so as
food comes in they're able to eat of
that food
as provision comes in money comes in
they are able to partake of that and so
it's distributed
and then to the levites the lord said
you also are going to give a tithe well
pastor stephen who got
that tithe so the so you have the
children of israel
they tie they give 10 that 10
which is to the lord is actually going
to go to
the levites but then the lord said to
the levites you also are going to give a
tithe
and the tithe went to who it tells us
in the following verses let's go to
verse 28
thus you shall also offer a heave
offering to the lord from all your
tithes
which you receive from the children of
israel and you shall give the lord's
heave offering
which would be the tithe from it to
aaron the priest
so the people the children of israel
they pay tithe they're at the temple the
levites
they partake of the tides that's what
keeps them living that's what it
enables them to do the work of the
temple
uh worship system full time now the
levites are the workers they're the ones
splitting the wood
uh for the you know for the burnt
offerings and all of that they're the
ones doing all the
as we could say the labor but the
priests
are the ones that are officiating over
all
of the sacrifices it's the priest and
nobody else
who have the ability to bless they can
lift their hands they could they could
release a blessing
they would literally put the name of the
lord upon the people
and so they would carry out all of those
official functions
but it's the priests that are receiving
the tithe that's given to them
by the levites praise the lord
verse 29 of all your gifts you shall
offer up
every heave offering due to the lord
from all the best of them
the consecrated part of them
when the people would bring the tithe to
the temple
the tithe is one-tenth and that
tithe has to be the best out of the
whole group
and so let's say you have ten one dollar
bills
well the tithe is one dollar but it's
not just one dollar it's the best
you look at the 10 one dollar bills you
have you don't give god the one that's
all tore up and messed up
well i'll give god that one no that's
the one that you definitely don't give
to god
you give god the best so if you have ten
animals
one belongs to the lord you don't give
the lord the worst one you give the lord
the best one
and so the tithe is one tenth and it's
the best
that's given to the lord and that was
not something that was optional
that was a commandment and when jesus
made that statement in luke 6 38
he understood the law he understood all
the commandments
all the requirements the full
institution of the law
that was in effect so when he's saying
give he's not talking about tithes
the tithes go to the temple now
the tithe would be the best the people
would tithe but that tithe is the best
representing their very best they're
giving to god and
when it reaches the temple and it's
received by the lord
through the ministry of the levites well
the levites can use that
to live on oh but the levites now they
have to pay a tithe also
so they're going to look at that which
is already the best
and out of the best that has been
presented by the tides of the people
they're going to give a tithe on that
and that one tent would be the very
best of the best and that goes to the
priest
praise god you know
prophet kenneth hagin told the story
many years back
of when he was wanting to buy a vehicle
didn't really have the money to buy a
vehicle but he just went by faith to the
dealership
and you know was honest with the uh with
the salesman and the salesman was
actually the owner he owned the whole
dealership
and uh uh he said you know i don't have
much to trade in an old junky car i
don't think it's really worth very much
and the owner of the dealership who was
also the salesman
he leaned back in his chair there in his
sales office and put his feet up on the
desk and
brother hagin said the man was smoking a
big old cigar
and the man was puffing on his cigar and
he just stopped and he said you know
what
he said i just made he said i may just
be a dirty old sinner
but i believe that the man of god should
drive the very best
and he said if that's the car you want
because brother hagin saw a beautiful
brand new car there
he said that's the one you want he said
i'm gonna i'm gonna make it possible for
you i'm gonna give you this amount
uh for trade and allowance on your
vehicle brother hagin said it's not
worth that much and the man said well
i'm gonna give that
uh to you for a trade and allowance gave
him a tremendous
value on that and he said i'm going to
give you the financing i'm going to
i'm going to give basically what they
would call owner financing back then i'm
going to finance it for you here just
sign on the paper and it sure is drive
it off here's the key is take it
and go and it's amazing sometimes that
people that don't even know god
even sinners have enough sense to
realize
that if somebody is doing something that
represents god
such as the priest they should have the
best why their direct representation of
the lord now i know in the new testament
we have all through the blood of christ
been made priests and kings
but when it comes to the five-fold
ministry apostle prophet evangelist
pastor teacher
that is a role that only god can call a
person into you can't just say well i
think i think i'm going to go out and be
a
world famous evangelist you you can't do
that that is an anointing
i think i'll just go out i'm going to
become a prophet you can't do that
that's a calling
from god that you can try to do it and
you'll fall flat on your face because
that office is an office that god places
a man or woman into
with supernatural equipment and if you
don't have it
trust me it's quite obvious praise the
lord so
it is fascinating how god set
up the temple system to work and operate
with the levites
and the priests working there full time
and the people
honoring the lord with the tithe and you
have to understand that the blessing
flows down
the priests were the teachers teachers
of what pastor stephen
teachers of the commandments that god
gave to moses
with the instruction teach my people
these commandments so that they know
what's pleasing to me
and they know what's wrong and the
priest had to teach them because
they had to say look everything that you
learned in egypt and everything that you
see in our in the neighboring
nations around us don't pay any
attention to that because they do all
kinds of crazy things
but we are a holy people unto the lord
and we do things
differently and the system of tabernacle
worship
was well and god had a lot of rules and
regulations
he was very serious about the way that
he wanted to be worshiped
and one of those things where a lot of
detail was recorded
was the way that offerings were to be
done the way the tithe was to be
presented
and it's a very very beautiful thing and
the priest would teach the people about
tithing
can you imagine a pastor
who would not teach his own flock
his own sheep about the principles of
seedtime and harvest of giving
sowing and reaping and tithing that
would be like a priest
under the old covenant uh not teaching
the people
about the instructions and commandments
of
what is required to please the lord
where you would think well he's been
negligent of his duty yes he absolutely
would be
and that's why in the old testament
you see the tremendous value of a
teaching priest
the priest was not just there to give
the blessing oh he was authorized to do
that
and it was a tangible anointing and
blessing that he could release
but my friends the t uh the priests were
the teachers
of the law explaining it to the people
this is what you're supposed to do
and when you do what god says to do
there is a reward
that's associated with it that's called
the blessing
praise god hallelujah and so
that blessing would flow down as the
priest
would receive the very best the tides of
the people that were going to the lord
were received at the temple by the
levites and then the levites paid tithe
and that highest level of the best
of the best went directly to the priest
and they would eat it
and that included everything from meat
to olive oil
to money and all of these different
things that would be apportioned
to the priest and by the way there were
a lot of priests thousands
that would serve at the temple and they
would have rotational shifts
where they would rotate in and so forth
you weren't there all the time
it was a great great privilege to be
in that aaronic priesthood and have that
divine calling
and you and if you weren't uh in that
tribe of levi
and you weren't a descendant of aaron
you could not be in the priesthood
no matter how much you wanted to if you
were the tribe of a
judah of benjamin or simeon or issachar
or whatever it was
and you thought well i want to be a
priest you weren't allowed you were not
allowed to do that
only those that were the descendants of
aaron could do that
and so it was a very special ordinance
very special blessing
but the priest would receive the very
very
best and that was god's plan because the
blessing comes down
the blessing never goes from the bottom
up the blessing always comes from the
top
down through god's structure that he
has established within the body of
christ
and you see that very clearly in psalm
133 i'd like to read that because i
think it's
very very beautiful psalm 133 verse 1
behold how good and how pleasant it is
for brethren
to dwell together in unity it is like
the precious oil
so the oil is uh sacred
you couldn't pour anointing oil
on just anybody into your old covenant
it was strictly forbidden
the oil that was used for temple worship
you could never ever put that on what we
would call a regular person it was
forbidden
so it is it says it is like the precious
oil on the head
okay so it starts on the head running
down
you may want to run you may want to
underline the phrase
running down and notice how it's used
here in scripture
to describe the flow of the blessing
the direction of the blessing it is like
the precious oil
on the head running down on the beard
the beard of who the beard of aaron the
high priest they received the very best
running down upon the beard of aaron
running down there's the words again
running down on the edge of his garments
see it runs down the anointing the
blessing flows down
it is like the dew of hermann descending
of deceit descending again coming down
descending upon the mountains of zion
for there
the lord commanded the blessing life
more so when jesus said give
and it shall be given he's not talking
about the tithes
jesus trust me knew all of the
commandments of the old testament
scriptures
he here is talking about offerings
whoo praise the lord and it is the
offerings
that get you over into these spiritual
laws
and principles that we see for example
in genesis chapter 8 verse 22
time and harvest will never cease as
long as the earth is standing
and last i checked we're still on the
earth it's still here
these laws that god has established in
the earth
they will work if you work them
now let's just get back to verse 38 and
understand that when he says give
he's not talking about tithing jesus
knew that the tithe
went to the temple and it goes to the
levites receive it
and then the priest received the tithe
of that he knew the structure
this is talking about what's over and
above
the tithe and this is the area of
offerings whoo praise god give
and it will be given to you now i have
literally heard people i'm talking about
christians
out of their own mouths say well i've
given and i haven't seen anything
from it or i i give and it just that
doesn't seem to work to me
or for me well when i hear statements
like that
um i realize that they're saying
a statement where something is really
off somewhere
and although i'm not really curious to
be a spiritual
investigative uh you know reporter to
find out what's going on i just know
something's not right there because
i'll give you an example one time my
wife and i were in
taiwan and we finished our meetings and
we had
some free time while we were in taipei
before we flew out and while we were in
taipei we were invited
to go up to uh the top of the tower
called the type uh
the taipei 101. at that time it was the
tallest building in the world today it's
the second tallest building in the world
but nevertheless it's still
really high well we went to the top and
you know you
there's a high speed elevator and you
know you have uh
the views and all of that but what if i
were at the top
and uh went over to where the rails were
at climbed over the rail
and then just jumped off and instead of
going
down i went up what if i didn't go down
well and i told that to you well
it didn't work for me gravity doesn't
work for me
you would think well that's crazy you're
no different than i am
what would make you exempt from natural
laws
well nothing outside of a miracle but
we're talking about everyday living so
we're not really discussing miracles but
the thing is
is that natural laws work and if you
jump off
you're going to go down and that's just
the way that works
so when jesus said give and it will be
given to you
you have to understand that's a law if
you give
it's going to be given to you and so
this works
this is a tremendous spiritual truth and
i want you to understand it
now give and it will not might
not i sure hope so well maybe it'll work
maybe not no he said it will
it will and it'll work just as real as
the laws of gravity and other
physical and natural laws that are in
the earth but we have to work it
see there's some people that said well i
give and nothing happened they haven't
even paid their tithes
they're not even really even on the
giving level uh
you have to give god first what belongs
to him which is the tithe and then
after you've given god what already
belongs to him which is the type
now now you can get over into giving woo
praise the lord a lot of people think
they're givers they haven't even paid
their tithe
they don't even really know what giving
is yet um
thank you jesus i just kind of feel that
reverberation in the spirit as i said
that that
the light has come on for somebody well
pastor steven i've given nothing happens
no you haven't you haven't given you
haven't even paid your tithe yet and you
have to understand that in the body of
christ
less than 20 of all christians even
tithe
and there's there's a lot of money
problems in the body of christ and
you know you see uh all of these
different christian ministries
that specialize in finances or teaching
people financial principles
and these you got people calling in by
the boatloads hey
i've got all kinds of money problems
help me advise me what to do and stuff
like that
so it's a major thing uh money problems
and a lot of it is because of
disobedience
just not honoring the lord with their
finances
and the lord clearly said is you know
this was said to the prophet samuel
that something that the lord had
revealed to him where god said
those who honor me i will honor
but those who dishonor me they'll be
lightly esteemed
and in other words you don't really have
god's attention you don't have god's
blessing
why you've dishonored the lord and you
can dishonor him with finances
a lot of people do that they think
they're too smart they don't need god
think they got it all together and
they'll just give what whatever it is
they want to give
but you know what you can go into a
spiritual
barren wasteland by doing that because
if you dishonor the lord
not through just actions and words but
also through finances
there'll be areas in your life where the
enemy can just come right on
in and have why he has legal access and
he can come in there and do some yucky
things so you want to honor
god give and it will be given to you it
will be
absolutely good measure pressed down
now this is uh the word picture
of a man in the market he's got a long
robe on
but back in those days with the robes
that they wore the front part could come
up because there was an under robe
underneath that and you could take the
front part uh and pull it up of course
you'd have a belt on
but you'd pull it up to the belt and you
would you would kind of pull it out the
front part of the rope like that
and now you've kind of formed like a
like a basket
something that could be poured into give
and it will be given to you
good measure so it's like holding your
robe like this and somebody
uh you know you want to buy corn and
that they're just going to
come and pour all that corn in there and
just start pouring it in so it says good
measure
press down shaking together in other
words you want it
compacted so you can get just as much in
there as possible
good measure press down shaken together
and running over
running over well that's that's more
than enough isn't it that's abundance
will be put into your bosom for with the
same measure that you use
it will be measured back to you
now this is very important i want you
to meditate on this statement
for with the same measure that you use
it will be measured back to you okay are
you ready for this
god does not determine what your harvest
is going to be
you determine what your harvest is what
it's going to be
by the way that you measure out the
sowing of your seed
could you imagine the foolishness of a
farmer
sitting on the front porch of his house
there in a rocking chair
looking out across his fields and he
says wow i'm
i'm ready for a big harvest i'm gonna
get me a big harvest this year
and you say well uh how much how much
did you sow
you've got 600 acres out there how much
of it did you sow
oh i just sold three acres right over
there you only sowed
on three acres yeah that's all i need to
do i'm expecting a huge harvest this
year
well what about all that other acreage
well see no farmer would think like that
you would use as much ground as you have
available
to sow your seed praise the lord so it's
not
it's not so much that god is the one who
determines
your harvest now it is god that works
the miracle that turns the seed into
harvest
but the harvest is determined by the way
that you measure
your giving oh thank you jesus praise
the lord
hallelujah you know this morning as i
was on the way over here to
share this message message with you i
saw
this very large dump truck
coming towards me and i just thought
lord that's the way i want
my harvest to come to me in a big giant
dump truck load well if i want that
i can't i can't measure it out with a
little my seed with a little bitty spoon
because if i just give a little spoonful
i'm going to get a
you know maybe a larger spoonful back so
i want to be able to give
and sew in a way that i have an abundant
harvest
good measure press down shaking together
running over running over shall be put
into your bosom for with the same
measure that you use
it will be measured back
to you praise god you know we're getting
close to christmas
and i really believe that this christmas
can be the christmas for you
where it is the most generous
christmas that you have ever had in
your life now i'm not talking about
foolish giving
or giving gifts that are so lavish and
elaborate that people can't even like
you know you have to be wise in your
giving don't don't over give
that's uh that's something that
sometimes people do
you you want your gifts to be on target
you want it to be something that they
like something that blesses them
but at the same time let me say this
you're giving
and the harvest that you're going to
receive back
i think it's based on the quality of the
seed that you sow
and also the quantity of the seed
that you sow uh quantity a little
measure
and you're going to get a larger measure
back
but if you want to get
a large measure now you're going to get
a really really big measure back praise
god
it's going to come back to you just the
way that you give it out but let me say
something also along this lines of
quality
nobody even a poor person
wants to receive as a gift
somebody else's old wore out stuff
i was in the meeting years back the true
story
where uh you know this first time i'd
ever spoken at this church
and you know so i wasn't kind of
familiar with you know the way the
pastor did things there but he had a
worship leader
that was leading the worship before i i
came up as the guest speaker
and the worship leader um he was a real
goofball really
he's leading the worship and um uh
just doing a bunch of goofy stuff no
anointing really on the
on the music probably should have just
stopped and sat down and you know
because he's just uh
but you know that that's his moment to
shine so he squeezed it for all it was
worth and it was really all about him
but then he tried to carry on the holy
facade
a little too far and you know he's
trying to act real spiritual
not just with his uh leading the worship
but sometimes some of these things he
was saying
and so just before he finished and
turned the you know the service over to
me to come up and preach
he said you know what he said i love all
of y'all so much all of y'all that are
here he said i love all of you
a whole bunch and he like he said i just
love you so much
and he said you know what he said i'll
demonstrate my love to you
if there's anybody here maybe you just
don't even have a pair of shoes she said
i'm taking my boots off right now
and i'm gonna sit him up here on the
platform and i'll just go home barefoot
he said i'll walk home barefoot tonight
and if you don't have a proper pair of
shoes you just come up and you just take
my boots
and he took him off and he walked down
barefoot and went and sat down
and nobody picked up those boots why
they were a pair of old
stinky nasty dirty boots
not even cleaned they looked like they
needed to be thrown in the trash can
and he actually thought somebody might
go up there and get them nobody wanted
those old
dirty nasty boots but my friends if you
if you give like that
what kind of a harvest is going to come
back
on on that type of a seed oh a pastor
stephen
uh i'll just put it in a box and i'll
send it over to some undeveloped nation
they'll they'll want it for sure no
nobody wants your old dirty socks
even if they're over there walking
around barefoot they still don't want
somebody else's old dirty socks
or wore out stuff praise god hallelujah
now you have to give to people in a way
where you don't over give
because then you can set them up for
false expectations you want to give in a
way
where it makes sense but at the same
time you don't want to humiliate people
and degrade people by trying to give
things to them that
you you never would want to use aware
yourself
you wouldn't want somebody to give that
to you so this is very important
and we see we see this in the book of
malachi chapter 1
and it says here in verse 8 and when you
offer the blind as a sacrifice just
talking about an animal
being brought to the temple but the
animal
which should be the best you're going to
bring the tithe you should bring
the very best of the of the 10 animals
bring your best one
somebody's bringing one that's blind and
when you offer the blind as a sacrifice
is it not evil i mean this is not only
not a good idea this is evil god called
it evil
and when you offer the lame and sick
is it not evil so you have
nine good animals god says the tithe is
mine
give me the one out of the ten the ten
percent belongs to me
but god said it has to be the best but
when you take the animal
that's lame can't even walk stumbling in
there to the temple with that animal
and it's sick it's contagious
god said it's evil it's an evil thing
he said offer it then to your governor
would he be pleased with you
would he accept you favorably says the
lord of hosts
well we know that god is much higher
than any man
much higher than any governor but when
we give
to the lord we should give our best
praise god
hallelujah so giving don't let it just
be mechanical
let your heart be into it praise the
lord don't
don't give somebody a christmas gift
because there's a bunch of kooky gifts
you had left over from stuff that people
gave you that you didn't want
and you because you don't want it you're
going to use that
as your christmas gifts no they don't
want them either
[Laughter]
ever had somebody give you like
something like a pair of socks
for christmas and maybe the socks cost
two dollars
and they're really bizarre they're
gigantic size they they don't fit the
person so
that you know that's why they don't want
them so they're going to give them to
you
brother here's your gift and you know
it's like no i don't want that
that's a that's a weird gift praise the
lord that we shouldn't even call that a
gift you're just trying to get rid of
something that you yourself don't want
stop and think in your heart what would
make them happy
it doesn't have to be an expensive gift
it just has to be something that targets
their heart now it could be for somebody
that maybe uh god does put it upon your
heart
to give them an expensive gift i had one
of our
online church members called me a few
a few days back and uh this dear lady
said
pastor steven do you like apple products
you know like you know their their tech
stuff i said oh yes i said
i have an apple laptop and i said i i
have some apple items so
sure yeah i like their stuff she said
how's your
how was your phone you and pastor kelly
are your phones
uh okay i said well mine's getting a
little bit outdated
and i said i i could certainly use
another phone she said well i want to
send a check not to the ministry but to
you
and your wife to be able to buy the
latest greatest
uh the new apple phone that has just
come out
the one that the most storage and the
very highest level the
you know the hd model she said
uh i'm gonna send you a check to cover
it for each of you to go out and get
your brand new apple
iphones and the extra for the cases and
everything
like that now my friends
um you have to understand that
there are times god wants you to be a
blessing and when he gives you
the green light to be a blessing it
thrills
your heart it thrills your soul to be
able to do that
and when you have that green light from
the lord to be a blessing
then give graciously praise god there
are times when the lord has
released me in certain areas to be a
blessing and
if we're going to do it let's do it
right praise god let's
let's honor the lord through the way
that we live
praise the lord that includes the way
that we give don't send some
gift all messed up uh you know
i think i think one of the funniest
examples i ever heard of this
uh was what happened uh to this pastor
in atlanta
now this is actually a thanksgiving
story but we're past thanksgiving but
it works for any uh time of the year any
any festival or any uh national holiday
or whatever
but i was ministering in atlanta and
while there uh at the hotel my wife and
i
uh we turned on the tv to see what the
local
christian stations were were playing
and so there was a local pastor that was
preaching on one of these smaller
uh stations it wasn't like a big network
but it was still a good local channel
and he was preaching away and he was
really preaching a really good message
and he talked about what happened at his
church with one of his church members
and he said he found out later this is
what happened because the lady told him
the lady she went out into her garage
to look at her freezer now here in
america for those of you that are
outside of the country
a lot of americans have a refrigerator
but sometimes you'll get a freezer
to put maybe larger objects in that you
just want to freeze
and you might not eat it for a year or
two but you can just leave it in there
well anyhow she was cleaning out the
freezer
and she found the turkey a frozen turkey
that she had bought a long time ago but
had somehow
not seen it or forgotten about it was
covered up under all the frozen peas and
frozen corn but there was a frozen
turkey
and uh it had been in there for so long
uh she had completely forgot about it
and she took it out and um looked at the
uh the wrapper on it
and uh uh looked at the uh
the date of expiration and found out
that uh
she basically had bought it about uh uh
19 or 20
years ago and so it had passed the
expiration date by at least 18 years or
something like that
and so she thought hmm this is an old
turkey
she said i wonder what i'll do with it
so she called the turkey company
and she said you know i've got this old
turkey frozen in my freezer
and uh she said if i cook it will it
still be good
and the man on the phone said oh well
you can cook it all right but it's
to taste like rubber he said oh no it
won't be any good at all it's going to
be awful
he said i wouldn't want to eat that
thing she said oh it's so
she said it's no good he said oh yeah
it's no good he said
you would never want to eat that it's
going to be just like it's going to come
out like a piece of rubber she said okay
he said what are you going to do with it
she said oh i know exactly what i'm
going to do with it
she said i'm going to take it i'm going
to give it to my pastor
and you you don't think that happens
today with all the teaching
with all of the things that the priest
taught the people look
the priest taught the people if you do
it this way
god will bless you if you do it the
wrong way it's not going to work out
good for you
but people like that uh and so that
pastor was just explaining
yeah that lady gave me that turkey
[Laughter]
the worthless turkey so and she thought
she had done a great thing
she thought she thought she had hung the
moon by giving that pastor a turkey
she thought surely god would open the
heavens
and extend blessing uh and
send an angelic choir to sing her
praises but you know what
heaven looks down on stuff like that and
just says
wow they they just don't get it wow when
you give
you want to give in a very uh
gracious way that tells the person
hey you really love them don't give them
some stupid gift they don't want
it it's a giving that tells them you
really love them and you actually
thought about the gift
because that's something that they like
that's something that they
want that's something that they would
enjoy
[Music]
hallelujah so the quantity of the gift
yes if if it's generous then you can get
a generous amount
back good measure press down shaking
together running over
but it's with this principle the same
measure that you use it's going to be
measured back to you the exact same way
and if you give low quality bad quality
a goofy old turkey uh a
you know a weird toy that somebody gave
your kids that even the kids didn't want
to play with it
you're going to give that away you're
going to turn around and give that um
and i've had people send me that stuff
in the ministry i've had people send me
things like that
oh pastor stephen you must have
cherished it no i thought that's
something that they they didn't want
they gave that to me because they didn't
want it
i've actually had people send me
ministry gifts
that that actually came from other
ministers so
these other ministries they have
ministry gifts the love gift of the
month
and i've had people take those gifts and
send them to me what does it say it says
that they didn't want it didn't have any
value to them so what do they do with it
oh send it over to me
like i'm supposed to jump up and down
and shout
and also like i don't have enough sense
to realize where that came from
praise the lord these things have a lot
to do with honor
and if you dishonored the priest back
under the old covenant uh you have to
unders
understand that the blessing came down
through aaron
through the priestly blessing it came
down it flowed down
it flowed down over the head of aaron
over his beards
down over the the edges of his garments
just like the dew of herman coming down
if you dishonor the lord and you
do other methods that are that are not
of the lord
well that's why some people are
frustrated with their giving
they think well i've given where is the
harvest well
it could be that the harvest is coming
back in a way that
is very demonstrative of the attitude
that has been presented
in various forms of giving praise god
there's a lot of this stuff in the body
of christ to people giving things
because they don't want it anymore and
that well i've worn it out
and it doesn't have any value now's a
good time to get rid of it
praise the lord you know um i share this
not to
try to draw any attention to myself i
share this just i'm just trying to give
examples
of i think if we're going to preach it
we should lead by example
i gave my pastor uh a rolex watch
and it did have a few years of use on it
so what i did before i gave it to him is
i sent it to the rolex uh
headquarters in dallas texas so that it
could be
uh just gone through and i sent it there
they took it apart
completely any parts that were old or
had any wear or tear they take them out
throw it away and they put brand new
parts in it
and then they polish it they oil it and
uh you know because there's an automatic
watch so you have all these little parts
that are moving
and when they sent it back to me uh it
looked
like it was literally brand new and it
cost 800
just to have it serviced but i'm not
going to give something
to somebody that needs to be taken
somewhere and fixed
all right who wants that now it was
already running perfect anyhow
but it's just the way that you do things
if you do things the right way
don't give something to somebody that's
broken don't give something to somebody
that doesn't work right
don't ever give something to somebody
that you wouldn't want yourself
praise god so the lord he elevates us
he elevates us in these areas because he
says for with the same measure
that you use the way that you give the
quantity
the quality the heart attitude the
thought that went into it
well it's going to be measured back to
you the same way
the same way wow these things
are fascinating because we're looking at
spiritual
laws that can't be broken praise god
now i believe that this christmas can be
the most joyful christmas that you ever
go into
because i can i believe for you could be
the most generous
christmas of giving
that you've ever had before and
regardless of what people think about
christmas
its origins and its meanings and so
forth and i i know there's a lot of
stuff baked in that you know from
christmas trees to all of this and that
it's not like it's in the bible
but even still uh everybody around the
world regardless of who they are they're
going to be celebrating christmas
and it is a great time for even
unbelievers to consider
christ and you know
even though i don't believe he was born
on december the 25th
norbert shepherds out in the field in
the middle of winter but that's a you
know that's a different story of uh
more of the technicalities of the uh way
of it how it actually was but
even still people all over the world
once a year are going to be thinking
about god they're going to be thinking
about jesus
so i believe that jesus
said it is more blessed to give
than it is than it is to receive now we
don't have that recorded in the gospels
of him saying that but the apostle paul
mentioned it was obviously something
that he said and so
we can take that to heart off the top of
my head i believe that's acts chapter 20
verse 35 but
it is a great blessing to give and i
pray that this
christmas can be your most generous
christmas where you're just you're
blessing people and you're getting it
right
where they get a gift and they think now
how do they know that
how do they know that's something that i
really would have liked
praise god i believe that uh you can be
a spirit-led
giver not just some robotic person given
out a bunch of stuff that people don't
even want or
they're never going to use or they say
thank you and then they're going to take
it and throw it over on the site or give
it to somebody else or
or something like that praise the lord
hallelujah hallelujah
let the holy spirit be in your giving
and i believe you'll start to see
beautiful harvest the kind of harvest
that you want
coming into your life heavenly father i
pray for your people today
that they learn what the jews under the
old covenant understood
of the element of honor in giving of
giving our best of honoring you o god
thank you father god hallelujah
father we give you praise we give you
praise
father we thank you there's a part of
you
well there are certain gifts you won't
accept you wouldn't accept a lame
sacrifice a blind sacrifice
you wouldn't accept something like that
so father we just
thank you let us have the right heart in
our giving father let us also be
gracious receivers
father we thank you thank you for the
flow of your anointing
in jesus name amen
amen i have a friend of mine he's an
apostle
lives in singapore and he was in the
meeting one time
receiving the offerings from the people
he administered uh in this conference
the conference was on the final
meeting and uh offerings were being
received
and uh they were it was being done as
unto the lord and he said please come
bring your offering place it in my hands
i want to pray a blessing over it
and i want to speak blessing to you and
a man came
and placed an envelope with money on the
inside of it he put it in my friend's
hands
and my minister friend he held it
and he said no he said i can't bless
your offering he said this is not what
god told you to do
and he said that man who had given that
envelope exploded
in rage which of course is not a good
thing anybody exploding in rage is
in the flesh that man got real angry and
said
how can you say that he said there's a
hundred thousand dollars
u.s cash in that envelope
and my friend said well it's not what
god told you to do
he said i can i can hold it in my hand
and i can i i
sense disobedience so he said i don't
want your disobedient money god doesn't
want it either
take your money
[Laughter]
he defended the lord and the lord was
speaking that through my friend who was
apostolic and prophetic and told the guy
he said well hey this is between you and
god
god doesn't accept your offering i'm not
going to accept it you're not going to
get me in trouble
and that guy stormed out of there
but but a few days later he came back to
my friend
and said you know what he said i knew
the whole time that i was being
disobedient and rebellious and stubborn
and so he brought another offering
back and my minister friend held it in
his hand
he said no it's still not right and the
man said but that's what
the lord told me to do he said yes but
he said you owe interest on your
disobedience
god says you forgot to put the interest
on it you were supposed to have done
this amount
certain days ago you didn't do it so
because of your
disobedience the right offering has
passed
the time the allotted time so the lord
says now you owe interest on it
so he didn't argue he went back
talked to the lord about it found out
what uh
appeased the heart of god what should be
done that was right
and honorable and then he brought
brought it back and my friend held it in
his hand
and said this is an offering
that is fragrant and beautiful and
acceptable
to the lord
praise the lord praise the lord
pastor stephen it just doesn't work for
me that's like saying i stepped off the
top of
taipei 101 and i didn't go down
now if i did say that people would say
no something's going on
gravity works yep it sure does and so
does verse 38.
so if somebody's saying it's not working
there's something wrong somewhere
okay you're if we want to replicate this
in the laboratory over and over
and know that this is not a theory this
is a law
then we can prove it but if it's not
working you're doing something wrong in
the laboratory
so in your walk with the lord you have
to fix that
and you have to get that right and every
gift every gift
should be on target
[Music]
and two plumbers in my house yesterday
hooking up a water line
to the refrigerator for the ice maker
and so forth and
for whatever reason that line had been
cut underneath the house
during a former remodel and so they had
to go in their house and
you know hook all that up and run a new
line and stuff like that
so of course you know they're gonna send
us a bill uh but you know i know all
those guys
and my wife and i we appreciate people
that come over
and do an honest job so you know what
we gave them uh two of the guys
a really nice uh portion of beef jerky
praise god now i had to give them a
whole cow it's not
you know it doesn't require that but
just something that says hey i
appreciate you coming over and doing a
good job
here's some really nice beef jerky and
it was it was a
really high-end beef jerky praise god
any guy is going to like that
unless they're a vegetarian there's no
guy that's going to turn that down
but it's just getting gifts that
touch the person's heart that that
says hey you know i'm more than just a
number i'm more than just a worker
or a statistic you know you mean
something to me
praise god so you can do those
you can do things like that all the time
you don't have to be a multi-millionaire
to be a giver you can start right now
and you can just nail it perfect every
single time
those little things just say thank you
little things that
mean a lot woo praise god
might be buying somebody's drink at a
restaurant or at a coffee house or
something like that
but the holy spirit will help you in
this area
thank you jesus give and it will be
given to you
good measure pressed down shaken
together and running over will be put
into your bosom
for with the same measure that you use
it would be measured back to you
pastor stephen i'm going to get a great
miracle i gave an old turkey
to the man of god oh you're going to get
a harvest all right
it's going to be measured back all right
so this is why people get frustrated why
is it not working
what's going on so those are things you
have to dig into
in your prayer life and get all that
ironed out with the lord
and this is something i've learned if
you get it
settled in your heart by waiting on the
lord and praying
and you get it settled in your spirit
like a compactedness of
knowing oh this is this is what's
pleasing to the lord this is not too
much this is not too little i'm going to
be a blessing to that person
then you get those harvests back where
it is
pressed down shaken together in other
words compact it just as much as
possible
back to you and i think getting it right
does require a close walk with the lord
[Music]
praise the lord
thank you father a lot a lot to meditate
on just from that one verse
praise the lord hallelujah father we
thank you for your word today
we thank you for it being a light unto
our path
father we give you praise in jesus name
amen
if you're watching today you have to
understand that god is the greatest
giver
in the world if you don't know christ as
your lord and savior
you have to understand that god
so loved the world that he gave he gave
what
an angel no his only son his one and
only son
that whoever believes him in him would
not perish
but would have everlasting life so if
you don't
know god you don't know the greatest
giver
but it all begins by receiving his son
jesus
as your savior and lord if you would
like to do that pray right now
pray this prayer out loud pray it after
me say lord jesus
i'm a sinner but you died
on the cross to save sinners
jesus save me right now
wash me with your blood write my name
in your book of life i give my heart
completely to you today jesus
give me your eternal life i receive you
now
as my lord my savior and my king
jesus thank you for saving me in your
name i pray
amen and amen and i'll say this
you can never out-give god you can never
out-give god
and god works with you on your level of
measure
some of you need to raise your level of
measure instead of giving out a little
bit of your uh you know spoonful
you get throw those spoons away start uh
coming to a new level
one of the greatest days of my life this
was about 24 years ago
was when my wife and i sowed our first
one thousand dollars
and i'm not talking about the tithe we
already paid our tithes
we're tithers but we sowed a thousand
dollar
seed i knew that day we had done
something significant
in the eyes of god and since then we've
had the privilege of
sawing other seeds many other seeds
larger
but that also a thousand we've been able
to do that many times in many places
but the lord keeps taking care of us
keeps blessing us
and i believe that god wants us to be
giving people hallelujah and to be real
good at it
really targeted at it get it just right
praise the lord um
my wife's very very good at that
targeted giving
she had a pair of beautiful shoes
the other day that she looked at and she
said you know steven i i
only wore these shoes one time and i'd
i'd like to give them the somebody but
you know
you've got a couple different factors or
one it has to fit the person
uh their feet has to fit the right foot
size but number two
you can't just give these to anybody it
has to be somebody that would
really like them and would appreciate it
and would actually wear them
and so one name came up to her
came up in her spirit but she also
thought in her mind
oh but you know lord i i don't know
about that person but that name kept
coming up
in her spirit and she said you know what
that person
is the person that i'm going to give
them to and right when she had committed
to do that in her heart
she got a text from that person who has
never texted her before
with a very very sweet statement that
this person had made a
uh just really a thing a thank you text
the first time she'd ever texted my wife
and it was just confirmation and kelly
said stephen that's the person
who is supposed to get those shoes you
know what god's got people out there all
over the world that could bless you
there are people just standing with all
kinds of blessing and provision
and there are some people that are like
who am i supposed to give this to
so my friends engage in this
area of giving it's uh it'll open up
one of the greatest aspects of living in
your life
praise the lord now let's take holy
communion today
whoo praise the lord holy communion grab
some
some unleavened bread and some grape
juice
and if i've been a little bit blunt
today i would say please excuse me when
i
make some of the statements i make i'm
not trying to be
rude but i am trying to teach
i am trying to teach and for some of you
you've never you've never been taught
these things so i i don't blame you
you've never been taught
it'd be like not having a priest in your
life who was honest with you
but a good teaching priest he told the
people
hey this is what god requires so let's
do it
in a way that honors the lord
and for a pastor to not teach their
people that
actually um is
a pastor that
i i don't i think in cases like that
they fear people
they fear people maybe the maybe the oh
he's just talking about money or
something like that
really they fear the people more than
they fear god and i fear the lord
because that's why paul said let not
many of you be teachers
why you're going to be held to a
stricter level of accountability
so i'm not holding anything back
and if there's any of you out there
giving out 20 year old turkeys
yes i may be a little bit blunt but i'm
going to tell you the truth
that is deplorable to do something like
that and if you've done it you should
repent
you should just say oh well i didn't no
you should repent
that's dishonorable that's dishonorable
to the lord and a bad representation
of a child of god no condemnation
but there should be repentance and there
should be something that says you know
what i'm not going to do stuff like that
anymore
because also you don't want harvest like
that coming back into your life
all right heavenly father we thank you
for the bread
and the juice wow
i just thank you this past week of a
prisoner
in prison sent me
uh excuse me not me this one wasn't this
no it was this was for me personally
if i remember correctly sent me cash
from a tithe
that he had received money and uh
he sent the tithe on some money that he
got and an offering
on top of that and sent it to me a
prisoner
got locked up for a long long time
wow i didn't weep when i read his letter
but i just
about did it touched my heart i prayed
for him god
that a man in prison would send a tithe
so he would honor you with this tithe
and put an offering on top of it
wow
hallelujah well then jesus said
uh the first will be last the last will
be first
i think in situations like that we'll
see that divine flip
because you'll have those that maybe the
world sneers at or looks down upon
but they have learned obedience and
they're doing the best they can right
where they're at
and god will highly lift them up praise
the lord father thank you for the bread
and the juice we bless it we consecrate
it and set it apart as holy through this
prayer we thank you that
this is the body and the blood of jesus
praise the lord
thank you father for the body of jesus
we thank you for your promises
we thank you for your way of doing
things and that always includes
honor praise the lord so father we thank
you let us honor you with our giving
and all that we do and in our giving
thank you father we receive your best in
jesus name
amen let's partake of the body of the
lord
praise the lord hallelujah
have you ever had a goofy gift given to
you
you remember what that feels like
and you know what you're going to think
from now on you're going to think well
lord they just don't know
they just don't get it trust me if
they'll give it to you they'll give it
to god also
praise the lord i've had them give it to
me as a minister
sure if i'm a representative of the lord
if i'm in the five-fold ministry and
they give that to me yeah they would try
to do the same thing to jesus
oh they wouldn't do that to jesus pastor
steve oh yes they would yeah they'd give
him a 20 year old turkey
sure would the only difference with the
lord is he wouldn't take it
he'd say no i'm not i'm not receiving
this i'm the king of kings
[Laughter]
i think for some of you jesus is just a
little too honest
oh pastor stephen i love the lord yeah
you'd love him until he started getting
honest with you
father thank you for the blood of jesus
thank you father for the mercy
of the lord we thank you that his
mercies are new every morning
and that for the mistakes we've made in
the past
that every time there's a new morning
there's a new day and a new start
father we thank you for the blood of
jesus we asked it if we have committed
any sins we ask that you would forgive
us
wash all our sins away thank you father
god we pray that you would
lead us away from temptation and we pray
that you would deliver us from
the evil one thank you father let us
honor
you with all that we do in jesus name
amen let's receive the blood of christ
praise the lord hallelujah
praise god thank you jesus
thank you lord father we just thank you
for today's message
we thank you father let this be the most
joyful christmas we've ever had
let us be able to give the most perfect
gifts
right on target that touch the hearts of
those
whom we give to thank you father father
let there be thought that there be heart
in all of our gifts father we give you
praise
in jesus name
amen you know i was going to give a gift
one time
and i got busy doing some things
and i i didn't get around to it and then
i had a visitation from the lord
and i said oh lord by the way what do
you think about that gift
wow you wouldn't believe what the lord
told me wow
he told me something so sacred sometime
soon
i'll be able to share that with you
sometime real soon real soon whoo
jesus actually told me what he thought
about a gift
that i wanted to give i just wasn't sure
if
um you know while he came and personally
told me
wow i'll never forget it as long as i
live i want to be able to share that
with you soon
and i think i will i think i will be
able to share it maybe maybe in a couple
of weeks praise god
praise the lord but he's very big on
this
he's very big on this let's close by
looking at it one more time for with the
same measure
that you use it will be measured back
to you praise the lord
father we thank you in jesus name amen
my friends thanks for watching
i look forward to seeing you back next
time till then stay blessed
bye