Giver

Okay, the title of my sermon today is, Giver. Giver. Are you one? Boy, that sure came out quick. Quickly. Some people give their time. Others give food, like the ladies and all who came and brought all kinds of food, and they freely give it to others. Some give with their money, as we have offerings that are given at various times. But I want us to think about the character of God, because we're supposed to emulate, we're supposed to mirror Jesus Christ. He came as a human, so we could see how a human is supposed to act like a God. And this God didn't act like a human in all the ways that humans act. We have met very giving people in our lifetimes, haven't we? We all know, if you ask someone, this person, oh, they're a very giving person. Maybe it's parents. Maybe it's grandparents. I have very giving grandparents. At least three out of four. But I think about that uncles and aunts that I had that were very giving and caring. I thought about the video, because my wife and I worked camps for ten years, and so did hundreds of others. People give up their time, their vacation time. Even their money gave up salary so that they could go and give to our youth. And I would always do the lead address, usually at the camps I worked at, and one of them, I just made sure to say, look at all these grownups. They're giving of their time, their money, their everything. Why? Because they think you're worth it. Prove it. Prove that you're worth it here. Make the best of this time.

Well, I want to look at a little different aspect as we head into the spring holy days. And that is, I will ask the question, are you a three-pronged giver? A three-pronged giver. How many of you have ever heard that before? Good. Nobody lied because I made it up. But I realized that God was a three-pronged giver. And I realized I need to be a three-pronged giver. And at this time of the year, I wanted to evaluate myself. I wanted to test myself. I wanted to see how much I am becoming like God because Christ said, Be you perfect, which the Greek actually says, Become you perfect. It's something we're working at. It's a process.

Like turning water into ice. No, you say you got your mind on wine. Water into ice. There's a process. And if you open it too quickly, you've got part ice and part water. And nobody's excited about that. So I want to look at this three-pronged giving because it is about first one is giving and then thanksgiving and then forgiving. You got it? Giving, thanksgiving, and then forgiving.

Are we? Raise your hand. Oh, I'm a great three-pronged giver because that kind of stretches it out a little bit. And I want to compare because God is. And one of the greatest scriptures ever given and ever known on this planet is John 3.16, isn't it? 3.16. For God so loved the world that He did what? Gave. He gave. He didn't have to. He's God. He could have created some other way. The human in me, if I was sitting beside Him, would have been said, wait a minute, I got to go down and do... let's look at another option.

But they didn't. For God so loved the world that He gave. He was willing to watch His Son die. This is the plan. Revelation 13 said, slain from the foundations of the world. This is a few billion years in the making. But He was willing to do that. He was willing to give that much to pieces of dirt that are formed of the ground.

He was willing to do that so that dirt could become divine. I think that's a great way to give. I could never do that. You could never do that. But as we talked about in the other message from Maurice, when you give birth to children, you want them to become life everlasting so you can spend eternity with them. And that's what God wants with us. It's a beautiful plan. But let's go to another Scripture because God is the ultimate giver. But then He says in Ecclesiastes 2 in verse 26, Ecclesiastes 2 verse 26 says, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy. If you make a list of something that you really, really want or really could use, those three, to have an abundant life, those are the three.

I just needed more wisdom when I was younger. It would have saved me a lot of trouble, saved me a lot of pain, and as I think about getting new retirement, we saved me a lot of money I could be using in the future. But God says He will give wisdom and knowledge to those who are good in His sight. So if you're trying to follow God and doing the best you can, He's willing to give because He's a giver. And He wants to give to you so that we can have a better life.

And who doesn't want joy? I want joy in my life. Not you, joy. I want joy in my life. I got a woman in my life. I don't need joy, but I got married. But everybody wants joy in their life. Everybody's looking at you, joy. I should have called you Annie, I guess. But people want joy, don't they? They want to be happy. You want to smile. I mean, I never consider a great sermon unless there's some joy in it because He is the maker and the blesser and the giver of joy.

And He knows since He created us, He molds us, still molds us and shapes us. He wants to mold us and shape us so that we can be happy, so we can have joy. He just sometimes has a problem with the product. He's the maker, we're the product. Sometimes the product wants to crawl off the table when He's trying to shape it. Like the Old Scripture, we are a living sacrifice.

The only problem is we crawl off the altar too many times. But He's wanting to do this, so He's willing to give and give and give. And He wants us to be giving just like Him. Do you think God can give too much? He doesn't think so. But for all your parents, you know you can't give your kids too much at one time, can you? Because, uh-oh, Tafari wants a Lamborghini when he turns 16.

He's already 16? And he didn't have one? But I bet you didn't ask for a Lamborghini, did you? Nope. Not yet. Those are reserved for 17-year-olds. But this is what God is about. He wants to give to each and every one of us more and more. But He doesn't want to give it if we can't handle it. So He's going to give us what we can handle because we see young people, we see young adults that have it all. And yet they have nothing. A lot of times it's suicide. But I love about God and His giving because there's one Scripture that I ever get out of my head.

If you will, go with me to Psalm 37. Psalm 37. And many of you know that Psalmist, your favorite? Psalm 37. Verse 4.

What? Give. Give you the desires of your heart. What do you really want in life? He desires. It's not like, oh, well, I've got to give it to Him, I guess. I guess they were good this week. He's not the tooth fairy. He's not Santa Claus. He's God. Our Father, the Supreme Father, as I talked about last week, merciful God. Now, ever since that, I can't stop my prayers from saying, thank you, merciful God, because I see what mercy He has. Powerful. Now I'm seeing He's such a giving God, a generous God. We just sometimes don't turn around and look at it.

My mind gets shaped by the views, my visits of, in the nation, Haiti, and what they're going through right now. Now, William was there with us, and tough, tough life. And when you come from there, you come from visiting there, come back here, you realize, thank you, God. I've been given a lot. More and more and more I've been given. Thank you.

But with that, sometimes we forget. The desires of your heart. What are the desires of your heart? Hopefully they're in line with God, because if they are, He's got some good news for you. He desires to give it to you. Remember my father, Grunovah Farm, we lived two or three miles from anyone. The little town was three miles, and I wanted a bike, bicycle. Playing baseball and sand lots. Couldn't get there. That walking, and it took half a day, half a day back. I got to play ball for ten minutes. That wasn't it. Knew that wasn't a sign. But yeah, appeal both ways. Yes, I wasn't going to give that. But I remember my, I had this old bike, but all I did was work on it because the chain kept coming off, and it was ragged, it was rusted, it was... And so when I said to my father, there was this bike on sale, really nice one, new one. At a store, he said, well, I've only got one. I said, with my father, he said, would you like that? I said, yeah. And he goes, you've been working hard on the farm. I've always done whatever I ask you to do. If you want it, let's go load it in truck. And we did. Had that bike for 10 years. It was just like, wow, I would have worked harder if I'd have known. This story, because the God, our father, I had a great father, but he was nothing compared to that. He can't give me... God can give you anything and everything. And sometimes I think he just wants to be called dad. Abba, Father, Christ, called him. Daddy. This is part of the three-prong of being a giver. We need to be used to giving. Not taking, because we know enough people out there that's on the take. People always want to take. But it's rare to see someone who gives, just like when Christ came on the scene. How many people did he heal? Hundreds, hundreds. It could be thousands. I mean, it was just... Why? He didn't have to do that. All he had to do was come and die for our sins. But he came and represented his father who was a giver. And all he did was come and give. He gave it all. And he says, be like. Have you seen me? Have you seen the father? How about giving? Next one. Second prong. Thanksgiving. No, I'm not talking about turkey.

And football games and everything we think about Thanksgiving. But are we thankful for everything we have? No, we're not. Because we're humans. We need to think about it. Think about Thanksgiving. It's very important. Let's go. Go with me over to Psalm 50. Psalm 50. Psalm 50, verse 14.

Offer to God Thanksgiving. We have to know where things come from. He says, I give you the power to get wealth.

He actually gives us the power to breathe. You know, he can stop it. Stop the breathing anytime he wants. And he has. Last few weeks I've had quite a few funerals to do.

Kind of makes you thankful for it.

Think about it. How thankful are you?

I know Orwin, back there, would love for his mother to be here this time. To watch this baptism today. She's not.

But you're thankful for the year she gave you. She lives on in him. God must live on in us. Christ must live on in us. And we need to be thankful that he has decided to give us life. And he said, live it more abundantly. We can. We definitely can. So he said, offer to God thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most High. Know that it, who it comes from.

It's not come from a state lottery. Pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon me, he says, in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me, knowing that when he delivers us, when there's a problem, and he delivers us from that, where did it come from? Be thankful for that. That's all he's asking. Are we thankful? I see that God was thankful for the people who followed him. Read about him. He's thankful.

In fact, Job, he said, have you considered my servant Job? I don't know how thankful Job was at that moment, or soon after, but God was thankful and gave him. More than he ever had before. What about us?

Psalm 100. What is Psalm 100? Psalm 100. And verse 4. Matter of fact, this is a sermon I gave on this entire chapter, because that's a Psalm of thanksgiving. It's Psalm 100. Five verses. That's all you need. I mean, it tells you everything. But in verse 4, he says, enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.

The writers of this knew what it was to enter the temple. What it was to enter the temple of God at that time. They knew how beautiful. And they knew God's presence was there, until it wasn't, as we read about in Ezekiel, until it left.

But they were thankful for it.

I'd say those who were in Babylon, after captivity, after Jeremiah, became very thankful to God for what they once had. He said, you're going to have to wait 70 years, and I'll bring you back.

Do we? Are we thankful for what we have here?

I have a few congregations in the Caribbean. There's no air conditioning.

Oh, I'm thankful for air conditioning. William, you're going with me. You're about to find that out. Of course, we didn't have any in Haiti, either. I'm used to these, though. Yes. That's why they have somebody from Florida take care of Haiti. She's used to it. But I am thankful for what we have. We have to make sure that we are so very thankful.

Be thankful to him and bless his name. God doesn't get enough credit, does he?

He doesn't. He gets cursed.

His usually name precedes curse words.

So, who should he expect to be blessed by? Bless his name, us. We're his children, because we realize what we have.

That's all he asks. He didn't ask for anything. Give him credit. Give him credit for the good things. How about the desires of your heart? This is all talks about God, because he's this giver. And he wants to give.

And his son was just like him, wasn't he? His son came down. And I want to turn to that, as we're at this time of the season. Go to Matthew 26.

Matthew 26.

And verse 27.

He said, Christ took this cup on Pass overnight, and he took this cup, and said then he gave thanks. That's why we give thanks before we eat. Well, think about it. Think about it, because Christ knew what was going to happen at that time. He knew just a few short hours he was going to be taken. He was going to be beaten, so he wouldn't even be recognized. Even by his mother.

Then hung on this piece of wood. And he looked at this glass cup of wine, and he gave thanks for it. Can you imagine what was going through his head? Because he knew what that, was explaining, what that cup, that red wine symbolized. That blood that was going to come out of him. That was going to be, literally, pouring out of him, where he was beaten with a cat of nine tails. And yet, he knew what was going to happen, and he was thanking God for it.

Will we do the same? Do we do the same? Even if we're about to have to endure something we really don't want to have to endure, are we thankful to God that you're with me? He knew it! He said God was with him! And he tells you, God's with you too. No matter what. How powerful is that? And something else you can be thankful for, because I know you. I've been here for 12 years, right? Let's look at this. He then took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, drink from it, all of you. Now, I think if I had that cup, and I drank from it, and start passing it around, I think many of you would go, what? Don't I have my own glass? Cup? I've got to drink after this one?

Now, I can say we guys, there were 12 other guys there, they probably okay. If you've ever played ball, you've had a thing here, and you wouldn't worry about it. I don't know how you ladies would. Sometimes, Mary, I'd go, you want to drink? No? I'll get my own?

So, think about that. It was a unique moment, as he gave that special thing. Do you think the next year, when they observed this, do this, and remember, do you think those 12 men thought about that cup? I do. That was handed over from this one to this one. They shared.

And he gave thanks. And how beautiful was that?

Finally, let's go to the last one. So, we're giving. Hopefully, we are thankful, and we give thanksgiving, and then, one of the most important things, character, traits we can have of Christ and of God is forgiving.

Are you? As much as you need to be? No, probably not. Because some people we can forgive. Some people we'd like to forget.

But it also ties into my sermon from last week about mercy. It's easy to forgive when mercy rules your soul. When you're so merciful, because God is.

And having mercy is so important, because unless you're merciful, you're going to have a hard time forgiving.

And we can all say we've looked at it. Christ came on the scene, and He ran into some leaders, Pharisees to be exact, that you can read about in the third chapter of John. And they loved Him. Oh, yeah, they loved Him big time. They even sent their head guy, one of the greatest teachers, to go recruit Him. We're going to recruit you. And He came at night. And He said, we know you are a man come from God. They wanted Him until He didn't want them. And then all of a sudden, they hated Him.

They led to His death.

And it was Christ who hung there as they were laughing at Him. Get off that piece of wood! If you're God, why can't you do that? They mocked Him. Why mock? It's part of their character. And what did Christ say? Forgive them, Father. They don't know what they are doing.

You been hung on a piece of wood by anybody lately?

Could you do it? He's asking us to. Symbolically, forgive those people who want to hang us on a piece of wood.

Go with me to Psalm 103.

Psalm 103. And verse 12.

How far does God forgive us? When He forgives, He forgives. He's gone. And He says here, For as the heavens are as high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him. We love that. As far as east is from the west, So far as He removed, our transgressions are sins from us. So when we ask for His forgiveness, He gives it as far as east is from the west. I'm not talking Fort Lauderdale over to across this land. It's only 110 miles.

Across there to the other water. I'm not talking from here to L.A. No. He's talking. Because God is so large, and He's over everything. He's His entire creation. The universe. And the universe we can see, the observable universe we can see, is 93 billion light years across.

It takes 93 billion light years. Yes, one light year is traveling 186,000 miles per second. Multiply that times 24. 60. Multiply that times 60. Multiply. You'll see. Quadrillion lifetimes it would take.

If you could travel.

That's as far... And then you get into the unobservable that we can't even see. That's where God is. It's 23 trillion is our greatest estimate. It's how far east is from the west. 23 trillion light years. So when you talk about forgiving, He removes it so far. He doesn't even know. It just no longer exists.

Except in our minds. God, you remember I prayed about, yes, that's forgotten. Where was that? This is Him, and this is what He wants us to become. Forgiving.

Just like Him. As far as east is from the west. But I have people sometimes, they bring up something and I'm talking to them and they go, I said, when did that happen? Oh, about 15 years ago.

You're still carrying that?

And don't laugh, you husbands and wives know exactly what I'm talking about. I remember I just didn't say anything until now.

But we need to. We really need to become like God and let those things go and truly forgive.

What happens if we don't go over with me? In case Chris is out there. I'm next to the last scripture.

Next to the last scripture. Go with me to Matthew 6. We went through this in our Bible studies. It's just so powerful. Matthew 6.

And let's go to verse 12.

Now they ask Him how to pray and He said, in this manner, pray. And then He says, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and did not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if, 14, for if, you forgive men because He had to put the if in there, because a lot of us don't want to do that. You want to be like God? You want God to bless you? You want Him in your life? You want Him to have your back? Your front? Every side? Just do it. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But then He puts 15 in. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses, your sins. It's conditional. It is conditional. And why? He shouldn't have to make it conditional, but we're humans. And some of us are so human. Aren't we? Yep. Yes. And this is what He wants.

It's about character. Forgiving person is a person of character. We all want forgiving people. Why don't we start looking at us?

Last Scriptures for Chris Rivera so we can prepare is in Matthew 18. I'll know this as I wrap this sermon up because there is such a powerful teaching in these verses because it had to be Peter. Peter, the one that was never shy, the ultimate extrovert. He had to talk here. And he says in verse 21, then Peter came to him. He had just been talking about sinning brothers. And that, of course, is the famous Matthew 18 that we, the church, should live by. If you have something against somebody, you go to them and then you have another person and then so on. But in verse 21, then Peter came to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive him. Up to seven times? I wish the Pharisees would have gone, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. It's still taught by rabbis today.

Three times. You're to forgive a person if they do the same thing to you three times, and after that you write them off. I go, read it. That's what was taught. That's what the religious teachers of the day, that's what the Pharisees taught, and the rabbis still teach it today. Three times. And so Peter's thinking, well, I know you're better than that. How about seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say up to seven times, but up to seven times seventy times seven. Oh, 490 times. Let me put that in my book. No. He's talking about whatever. It's just like with God, it's seven times seven hundred million. That's what it is with God. He can forgive. Think about it. If you just pray and ask forgiveness one time during the day, okay. How many times is that in a year? Is he forgiving you? But wait a minute. It's usually broken up to, well, I send over here and, wait a minute, can you forgive me for this? I can't remember whether I did that or not. Think about all the times. You're talking over 30, 40 years, 30, 40 thousand times. So God doesn't go by the 490. This is what he wants us to be. Like his Son. Very, very, very, very, very forgiving. Let's go on here.

How would you like that, Wenzel? Neo 17 million dollars they take you and the kids. But that's what they used to do. There was debtors prison. And you just went and became a slave to whoever they could sell you out to do.

Verse 26, the servant, Neo, therefore fell down before him saying, Master have patience with me, I will pay you all. Then the Master of the servant was moved with compassion and released him and forgave him 17 million dollars.

Verse 28, but that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, 17 dollars.

And Neo laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying, Pay me what you owe. So his fellow servants fell down at his feet and begged him, Have patience with me and I'll pay you all. And he would not, but went and threw him into prison until he should pay all the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved and came and told their Master all that he had done. Then his Master, after he had called him, said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all the debt because you begged me. Should you not also have compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you. And his Master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. He never could. So my Heavenly Father also will do to each of you from his heart, does not forgive his brother, his sins, or his trespasses. It can't get any stronger than that. Three-pronged, yes. Forgive your brother, forgive your sister, forgive their trespasses. Are you a good or a great giver?

You'd better be, because that's what God expects. He expects us to be a great giver. Because you know why? Because it's desire of God's heart that we are like him.