Will I Be in the Firstfruits Harvest? Part 2

On Pentecost, I gave part one of this sermon, Am I doing God's will, and will I be part of the harvest of the firstfruits? One of the aspects of this life is that Jesus said, You need to do the will of my Father, and he who does the will of my Father, that individual will live forever. And he defined very clearly what the Bible is summarized as. God's will is summarized as, and that is that you and I develop that type of intense love for God that includes submitting to authority, that includes obeying commandments, but goes beyond that to also having that type of compassion and sacrifice and looking for ways to serve and help and be part of a serving family.

You know, if you look at the God family and how it loves, we find an example from Jesus' lips in John 15, verses 12 and 13. Let's just notice there, John 15. We'll begin in verse 12. Jesus said, This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

This is what he's telling us to do. He's commanding us, and we need to submit to his commandments. We need to love that type of commandment and come to that, to love one another as he has loved us. And then in the next breath, he says, greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life. Wow. That doesn't just mean dying for someone, taking the hit, taking the bullet. The God family isn't about little instant bursts of benevolence. It's about, really, your life. How long do you want to live? How long have you been living? How long will you live? In your life, do you lay down that life? Do you sacrifice what you think and what you do and what you have to serve God and to serve others?

Greater love is nothing but taking all that you have and all that you are and sacrificing that for others, and giving and sharing and loving others as much as you love yourself. That's a hard concept for us to wrap our arms around, and I understand that. In the booklet, God's Holy Day Plan, there is a festival called the Feast of Pentecost.

In this chapter, the title of it is Feast of Pentecost, the First Fruits of God's Harvest. That is where we want to be. We want to be in that unique resurrection. I was remembering this morning on the Feast of Pentecost, Mr. Armstrong, for years just hammered on one point. You've got to get this point. The big deal about Pentecost isn't that it's a harvest.

The big deal about Pentecost is it's a really small harvest. The focus isn't on ourselves. In other words, it's on the big harvest. We're here to prepare, to reign with Christ, to help the God family bring in the big harvest during the times ahead.

Even when we're thinking about being harvested, it's not about us. It's about just being part of that small group, that small harvest, that's going to help God.

There are various aspects to the Feast of Pentecost mentioned in the booklet and also found in the Bible, of course. But it says here, after Jesus Christ being called the firstfruits in a couple of scriptures, the Church as firstfruits. Notice this. Romans 8 speaks of Jesus Christ as the firstborn of many brethren. Yet the New Testament Church is also considered to be firstfruits.

Speaking of the Father, James said of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures or of his saints, his called-out ones.

Paul referred to the brethren as those who have the firstfruits of the Spirit.

He alluded to several first-century Christians as the firstfruits of God's calling and so on. So when we look at this time of the year, we're reminded that we have a special opportunity to be like our elder brother.

He's the firstfruits of many brethren. And we also get to share in that aspect or that concept. Now, one thing that I always use, and you can just write it off to me, or maybe you can appreciate that I'm trying to be very careful what the scriptures is, is when to use the firstfruits.

I personally don't... I'm not casual with how the term firstfruits is used because I don't see in the scripture where it's used casually, but only for a specific group at a specific time.

The statement in James 1.18 is, "...of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures." Notice the might be. It doesn't say we are. It doesn't use the terminology I said that we are, but we might be. Now, with that in mind, let's go over to Revelation 14 and verse 4 and see the only place in the Bible that I know of where people are actually called firstfruits.

In other words, when do you get to be? We're called to be firstfruits. We're looking forward one day to being firstfruits. When does that happen? You know, Jesus said something interesting. He said... or Paul did. You don't have the finished product until a seed dies.

A seed has to really die. And then what is it? Well, then it's something to be harvested, isn't it? In the harvest of the firstfruits. So you and I aren't really graded yet, are we? We want to be harvested, but is the harvest going on right now? No, that takes place at the seventh trumpet. We want to be ready, don't we? We're to be growing and developing fruit. The Father is trimming the vine so that the bride really grows. But really, you're not going to be harvested until the harvest. So here in Revelation 14, we see in verse 4, someone's being spoken of here. These are the ones who are not defiled with women. You ladies must be bad. No, it's referring here, not defiled with women, is referring here, not to you ladies, but rather false religions. It'll go on a little bit later and talk about Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots, etc. It's talking about far. These individuals in verse 4 are the ones who are not defiled with false religions. In other words, suitors of a different nature or attempted by someone other than the church, which is kind of the mother of us all. For they are virgins in the sense that they are betrothed to Jesus Christ. These are the ones that are ready to become the bride. Notice, these are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men being first fruits to God and to the Lamb. That's, you see, when the term first fruits is, I think, most applicable. Not that you can't apply it another time as the booklet does, but I'm just saying this is the only time where these are called now. These are the first fruits, and who are they? They're the ones who died.

They're the ones who are waiting for the resurrection, symbolically there. So for that reason, I'll tend to say saints, which the Bible uses, for those of us who are wannabe first fruits. I'm a wannabe first fruit in this sense, that the first fruits are those in that first harvest, along with Christ, who was the first of the first fruits, and we certainly want to be there. Here's a question for you. And the purpose of the sermon today is to ask this question. How are we supposed to love and serve like he said we should? How are we supposed to perform God's will? It's very fine for me to get up here and read a bunch of scriptures and say, you gotta do it! But then we all scratch our heads afterwards and say, well, how do I do that? People who have heard this sermon all around the world, including Australia, have written me and asked, sometimes called and said, how do I do that? I'm trying. I'm finding that I'm really short, but how do we do this? I like to look in the Bible today at how God said to love and to serve and to sacrifice and to really give oneself in a more practical application so that we can see from not theory, not my ideas, but see how he says to do this as human beings. God has given everything he could for you and me. He only asked the same in return from us, but how do we do that as humans? We're quite different than God in that sense. So let's see how to give and what to give to others, how to serve, and see what the criteria are for this ambition that Christ has laid out before us and commanded us to do, to love others as he has loved us, and to lay down our life for the brethren. Foremost, our love is to be for God. It can't just be for people ignoring the great God, the one who loves us more than any other, the one who has everything invested in us to be part of that family.

How do we serve God? How do we please Him? How could I possibly serve the one who has everything? Doing His will, the word will, means to please. How do we do that for God? Well, how do we love Him with my whole heart, with my whole life, is what the word soul means. How do I love Him with all my energy, my might? This is summarized for us back in Revelation 22, verses 12-14. Let's go back there and see. The last chapter in the Bible, right before the Bible, concludes. We get a really good indication here, beginning with the words of Jesus Christ. Revelation 22, verse 12. Behold, I am coming quickly, soon, and my reward is with me. And we want to be part of that reward, don't we? Hopefully not for selfish reasons, just, oh, yeah, I want to get myself saved, and I want to live, and I want a better body, and all this stuff. But actually to serve and to help in a more effective body, a more effective state, forever. And finally, to do it perfectly. Wouldn't that be nice?

And we're going to be rewarded according to our work as individual. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. There's a lot there. But He is the beginning of your salvation. He's the end of it. He is the author and the finisher of it.

Verse 14, O how supremely blessed, the Greek word means, are those who do His commandments. All of them, including the new commandment that I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you.

So that's where we start. And what's the reward? That they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city, New Jerusalem. The Bible is filled with commandments, including the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath, the Holy Days, tithing, offerings, offerings of animals, of crops, money. We saw Jesus Christ and the disciples sitting outside the treasury, watching people give their alms, give their contributions out of money. We're told to pray and give that sacrifice. We're told to grow spiritually and loving and serving. These are the ways that we can love God, and also we can appreciate Him, and we can be thoughtful, and we can praise Him, unlike humans typically do, kind of like Job. I'm a lot like Job was. We go through and accept a lot of life, and then God says, wait a minute, who did this and who did that and who made this and who made that? And the lights begin to come on, and we start shrinking down and say, wow, wow, I just wasn't paying attention. Sorry about that. The second aspect is we're to love our fellow man. Love your neighbor as yourself. How does God say to do that? Rather than you and I invent that, how does God say to do that? Well, the Bible actually is filled with directives as to how we are to go about that. So it doesn't have to be a total mystery. You can remember some examples from your readings, including, don't glean the corner of your fields. You never glean the corner of your fields, so that if anybody wants to come and do the work of harvesting something for themselves, they have something to come out and work for. And a little work is good. If a person doesn't work, they shouldn't eat kind of a thing. In other words, we should not let ourselves get so lazy to where we just sort of sit in the chair and never get up and we get somebody to come and do everything for us. It's not good for you. Your doctor will tell you that. Recently somebody was telling me, the doctor warned, don't let this person get you to do everything, because they'll have a whole bunch of issues and it'll shorten their life. So there's a certain amount of effort, in other words, that's good. We saw some Ruth and Boaz, we saw some good examples there of that kind of thing. Even a person who loved another person, but she got to work. Sometimes individuals need opportunity, though. We're told in the Bible to share festival tithes. Your animals, your crops. As you go off to the feast with all this produce you had, or if you exchange it for money, it's you and your household will rejoice. It doesn't necessarily say give it away, but what you would do with it is you would include others.

The stranger, the fatherless, the widow, the Levi, have them over! Make sure that they also get to have part of your life. Another thing that we're told is help the brethren with food and clothing and a place to stay. A little of your home, a little of your time, a little of your concern. Matthew 25, where the great shepherd divides the sheep from the goats, what does he say you've done? He said, you thought about others, and then you shared what you have. You shared food, hungry and you fed them, water, thirsty, you gave them drink, clothing.

You shared some of your clothing with them. You saw them in need and you took them in. A stranger, in other words, a traveler didn't have a place to stay and you let him stay at your place.

Didn't move in. I didn't say that. There wouldn't have been a traveler anymore, wouldn't it? It would have been a resident at your place. You know, prison and sick and the individual visited them. What it means is you get involved in other people's lives. In all of these things, you get involved. If someone asks for your shirt, they need a shirt and they don't have a shirt, offer them your coat to go with the shirt. You know, just do that. If somebody needs something that you have, let's say, can I borrow a dozen eggs, you know, feed my family, you lend and hope to get back nothing in return of the goods that you have.

Is your enemy hungry? The Bible says, feed him. Is he thirsty? Give him drink. Someone asks of you to walk a mile, help them carry a load for a mile. Walk, too. You see the interaction here? It is something that God wants you to develop as a process of loving and serving. It is not an arm's reach, kind of modern America philanthropy, where you hear of a need, you write the check, you pop it in the mail, you never see the person, you don't really care about the person, but you feel good because you did something, but you never got involved.

So you never got your hands dirty. You never had to get to know anybody. You never had to smell anything. You never had to touch anything. There's a member of the council that used to work directly with Mr. Herbert Armstrong. And his father-in-law, no relation to him, his father-in-law got sick really, really, really bad. And essentially, nobody could help him medically. And the man could not, I mean, he was incontinent, he was, you know, all kinds of just nasty problems. Well, this council member, assisted by his wife, but quite mostly the council member, took it upon himself to get this man back to health by bathing him every day when he got off of work, before he went to work, during work he would come home and help him.

He started exercising, the man couldn't exercise, he exercised himself, you know, just to get the body exercised. Long story short, within about, I don't know, six months or a year of this kind of stuff that I would think, ooh, and stuff that's over the top with diet and exercise, the man was able to return home to another part of the country and be cared for in a care facility.

And he's doing quite well compared to where he, he should have just died. All the medical people gave up on him. But you see what happened, it wasn't that it was so hugely expensive, though they even did buy a hyperbolic air chamber and put it in their house to save his life.

I mean, but what they did was they got involved, didn't they? You know, and I talked to him and he says, well, how do you do that? Well, you know, you just clean it up and scrub it down and make the person comfortable and wash the clothes and move on. I thought, wow, I'm learning something here. This is teaching me. It's teaching me. The point I'm trying to make is, when God asks us to love and to serve, he gets involved.

When Christ came and gave himself, he lived, he got involved, he got with people, he went down and met the people. He didn't start the process of sending anointed claws, you know, or magically throwing things at people in the distance, or sending a letter. No, he actually got down and he met the people.

He healed the leopards. He talked with individuals. The throngs came to him and he turned nobody away and he picked up the children. He was up close and personal and very, very involved. And he cried over those who were being deceived and he was caring about them. Jesus and the apostles, they taught. That's how they gave. They healed. They did what they could among people. He told us, whoever gives a glass of cold water in my name, that individual will be blessed. That's probably the least we can do. But you know, a glass of cold water is a wonderful thing when you're thirsty.

It really is. Paul set the example of when there was a famine in an area that was affecting church members, of getting people at harvest time around the days of unleavened bread to set aside a portion of their crops so that could be transported with him when he went up into the affected area.

We are told to help one another by anointing, healing the sick, praying, various ways in which you and I can become personally involved. Now that sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it? It sounds like a lot of things of thinking about others and getting in and actually getting sweaty and loaning things and helping people with what you have. It takes concern. It takes sacrifice. Now I'll give you a simple way that you can avoid all that, and that is give cash. You know, it just cuts right through all of that.

Just give cash. It's the American way. We do it all around the globe. We do it to everybody. And it's a way we just think that way. But you know, the interesting thing in the Bible that I can't find, and I've been challenging some people to find it, God never asks you to give cash to another human being.

Nor does he ever set the example of ever giving cash to another human being. Nor is there a proverb about it. Nor did Jesus ever do it. Nor did the disciples ever do it. I can't find it. Maybe you can.

See, that giving cash doesn't really make us have the godly mentality as much as pulling up the sleeves, getting to know the person, breaking some bread, finding out what the diet is, see if we can find something that we have that's actually a sacrifice, helping that individual eat or drink, get into your closet, find something that you really like to wear that would fit somebody who really doesn't have anything, you see? And maybe let them try on a few things. You're getting to know the individual, aren't you? And if they're a stranger, you don't say, oh, you don't have a motel tonight, well, here, use my Visa card.

Or I'll phone ahead. You actually would have them into your home. Oh, wow. And you would provide for them. The wife would make the bed, you see? Clean it up a little bit. Put out some candles, find some shampoo for them. Might have to cook dinner. Well, you probably would. And guess what you'd do at dinner? You'd talk, and they might want to sit and chat and tell you some of their challenges.

And you might find out, you know, their tires are flat, and you've got a fixed flat, you know, kit in the garage. You might be out fixing a flat with somebody, but you see, you kind of get them on their way, and you put some radiator water in there, and maybe you've got some oil, and you can help them change the oil, and you get them going down the road. Are they appreciative? Yes. Did you help them? Yes. Did you form a bond of some sort?

Yes. Much different than saying, oh, have a night in a motel, and I'll phone ahead. You know, nice to meet you. Don't call. Very different, isn't it? Very different. Money is often, and I'm not just saying it's wrong to give money. I'm just telling you honestly, show me the example. Other than giving it to God in the form of alms that we saw there at the temple, and other than transferring some of our tithes, which would be the firstfruits.

God doesn't just say, hey, give me money. No, He says, you go out and have increased first. You go out and do whatever it is you do, and then the profit off of that. Just the profit, the little cream that comes off. Maybe the 7 to 10 percent of all your labors. You tithe off of that.

And if you don't have a profit, don't tithe. God is not in it for the money. That might have been wheat, it might have been animals, it might have been vegetables. We can convert that into cash, and give cash, which is probably better for the home office and preaching the Gospel than a truckload of beets. But, you know, that's just the way it kind of is. Let's go see what Jesus Christ said to His disciples in Matthew 10, verses 7-10. Now here are some of the main workers that were going to build the church that Jesus was actually building, but they were going to be the workers, the ones who became apostles.

And while He was training them, He said in Matthew 10, verse 7, As you go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then I want you also to get involved, don't just sort of preach it and leave. Heal the sick. Cleanse the lepers. Raise the dead. Cast out demons. Now I've done one of, well, two of four. I don't take any credit for healing, but I've been the agent by which an anointing takes place and seen people miraculously, dramatically, totally healed with no other intervention whatsoever, including cancer.

So that's part of the job that we would do. Cleanse the lepers. I don't know any lepers. I haven't had that opportunity. Raise the dead. No, I haven't done that. But cast out demons. Yes, on many occasions. And I'll tell you what, I would much rather send an exorcist cloth, you know, write the address and mail it, than to go where demons are, to encounter them, to hear and see and be involved with all of that. You know, it's not a pleasant, necessarily inspiring thing. And it would be much better to sort of have that done at arms.

Just do it over the phone. But you see, that's not the way it works. And so cleansing lepers, and sometimes when you anoint people, there's some really nasty stuff that people have. And they want you to go into that very nasty environment that's highly contagious, of stuff that normally a human being goes in there, they're going to get it too. And yet, I'm told to go anoint them.

I go anoint. I don't give it a second thought. I've never, ever contracted anything that anybody I've anointed them for has had. I just don't think God would permit that. And even if He did, so would.

I'd keep going. But in 35, 37 years, I've never caught what the people have. But nevertheless, there's some nasty stuff, and it's a lot easier to send the cloth, isn't it? And I think that anointed cloth thing gets pushed a little too much. And I hope that you don't ever call and ask for an anointed cloth. You're supposed to call and ask for the elders to come anoint. It's up to us whether we want to send the cloth or not, if you understand the concept.

And quite frankly, there is an important relationship that needs to take place between the individual, the minister, and Jesus Christ, who's actually doing the healing. It shouldn't just sort of be impersonal, like, you know, swipe your card and now you're healed. There's some other things that, you know, there's other things that have to go on there within a relationship. And so, God has built into this Christian life relationships. Relationships with us and God. We don't just sort of say, okay, I want to be in the kingdom.

Therefore, you know, go to church once a year and sing praises and you're good. Now, you've got to pray, don't you? In fact, praying three times a day is a good idea. You need to listen, you need to receive the bread of life from many different sources every day. There's a relationship that needs to grow. And then there's the body of Christ, all of us, and there's the worship of God each week, and we are commanded to assemble together and not forsake that.

And so, it all works together, doesn't it? When we're going to assist somebody, we also need to be present and personal for it to really be meaningful. And for us to develop that kind of character, for a person to just say, well, I hear somebody's sick, so I'm going to pray for them. That can be a cop-out, or in some cases, that can be all the individual can do.

I mean, what can an individual who is a paraplegic or a quadriplegic, bed fast, can't move and has no opportunity, what can they get out in bed and do? They can sure, believe it or not, make phone calls, I found out. They can sure pray a lot. There are things that we can do, but they shouldn't become cop-outs for those of us who have the opportunity, the ability to actually, you know, roll up the sleeves, get involved, get to know, and serve.

Going on in verse 8 here, in chapter 10 of Matthew, Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons, freely you have received, freely give, provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts.

Oh, so this wasn't the work of distributing cash, was it? Don't even take cash with you. Now, he's not saying that in the sense that, you know, don't be the ATM for everybody's problems. He's saying, what I want you to do is, you know, a labor is worthy of his hire. I want you to go out there and you'll be taken care of by those you're serving.

But it's interesting, in doing the work of the ministry of the apostles, and he says, freely you've received, freely give, but then in the next breath he says, don't take any money with you. He's not talking about giving money, is he? Like I say, where is the admonition of the Bible for money to be given?

In Luke chapter 10, verses 2 through 4, Jesus makes an interesting statement as well. Luke 10 and verse 2, then he said to them, It doesn't sound like they're going out as a charity operation, does it? With a, you know, complete with a food kitchen and, you know, coupons and vouchers and, you know, maybe some cash. You know, this work is very serious, and the work, and the Lord of the harvest is trying to bring in a harvest of people who care and get involved with God and with each other. And I'll be the first to say that I have been very benevolent with other people's money. You know, for years in the church, a long time ago, the church had a checkbook, a third tie, their central clearing account, checkbook. If somebody came and said, oh, I'm just really, really needy, I whip out the checkbook, write a check, hand him a checkbook, oh, Mr. Elliott, you're the best person of the year, just the most caring, wonderful person. I'm like, oh, yeah, well, okay. Next. No, I mean, I always felt at the time, I don't get any credit for this. This isn't my money. This is the church's money.

You know, even today, if somebody has issues that are really weighing them down, one thing the church will do is give some emergency assistance. And I know where to get some of that emergency assistance to help people. And they'll say, oh, you're the best, you know, you're so helpful, you just really helped me when I'm down. Well, it didn't hurt my bank account any. And so the point here is, when do we really, as individuals, get down and love? And I'll tell you, you here in this room have set me a huge example through the years, because I see what you do and I hear what you do for one another. And it prompts me to participate in that on an individual, personal level. All the church stuff set aside, and yes, there is a time to help individuals. But on a personal level, you have been a wonderful example to me. And the other congregations as well, up in Sholoh and down in Yuma, I mean, fantastic examples. Up in Sholoh, you would just be surprised and take your breath away how involved and entwined the people there are, and they carry one another over the rough spots of life.

And that's a wonderful thing to see. And down in Yuma, they're just like this little family, and nobody can hardly sneeze down there without everybody becoming involved. Not in just, you know, prayers or, you know, I'll send you a check order, but I mean, everybody showing up and getting involved, and many of our brethren there, are quite up in years. But they're just all like den mothers to each other. And it's a wonderful thing. It just really is. And so I'm commending you for that, and you set a very good example.

But you say, surely, money is an important thing. God certainly wants us to give money to each other. But again, where's the directive for that? Where's the directive for that? In Luke 12, just a couple of pages over here, in verse 32, Jesus says, Do not fear, little flock, for it's your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. God's going to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms to God.

Provide yourselves money bags, which... spiritual money bags, which do not grow old. A treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. What's being said here? Don't trust in physical riches. And in fact, if you want to get real personal, sell what you have and give alms, go to God, going on, provide yourselves money. He didn't say to give it away, did he?

There's an individual who came to Jesus and said, Lord, I kept the commandments from when I was a little boy. What more do I have to do to enter the kingdom? And he said, now, as far as you're concerned, in your case, since he was a very wealthy young man and he trusted in this wealth, he said, you go sell everything you have, and if you read it carefully, it says, sell what you have and give to the poor. Didn't say give it to the poor. He said, give to the poor. So we can't even find an example, even in that one statement to one person who needed to learn a lesson, that you're to give money to anybody.

Let me tell you something about money. In America, we have more money per capita than anyone in the world, probably. I mean, there's probably some small places, but any large group of people, we'd become so comfortable with money. It's just a tool. It's something we own. Everybody probably has a little bit of it, or some access to it. But let's step out of our known world here for a minute and think about a non-Western society.

Let's go to an agricultural society. Let's go to Asia, to the rice fields. Let's go to Africa, to the maize fields, where things don't grow very well when the rains don't come, and there's always issues or floodings or typhoons or whatever. Now, in that environment, people don't really have money. Money is not something that is part of their life, their economics. What they have is industriousness to go out and work and to get the bounty from the land and to live on it.

And that's a good thing. That's the way God intended us. That's the way God made us. You go out there and you work the soil, you work the land, you sweat like the farmer, and you work with the animals, and it pays back and you can live off of that. You sleep well at night, as it were. Now, in order for this to happen, it takes a lot of energy. You have to get up before the sun gets up with the roosters, and you have to really tear into it, because this is do or die. I mean, this operation is very manual. You don't have things that make noise, machinery, labor saving device, gasoline, diesel devices.

You've got you. You've got you and your muscles, and hopefully some implement and some pretty hard ground and some challenges. And you go after this, all right? You want to help that individual? You go up to the individual, how can I help? Well, you could help me pull this cart a mile. Let me help you pull it, too. I've worn out all my shirts. Well, have mine and my jacket. The well ran dry. Well, let me get you some water.

I've got some over at my place. Well, we're out of food because the crops aren't in, and something broke in and ate all the food. Well, I've got my storehouse, my corn crib, you know, it's got some... let me share with you. My chickens, you know, had some extra eggs. See how this is working? Now, if you really want to spoil that person's life, here's what you do. Interject something called money.

This will ruin that individual's life in a heartbeat. And this is why I do not ever distribute email addresses. I don't put anybody in contact with people in those parts of the world because we need to protect them from well-wishers who would give them money. Now, let me tell you what's so bad about money. Money is the most powerful thing you can imagine.

Money cuts through all of that effort and labor. Money means you don't have to get up with the chickens, you don't care if it rains. Money means you don't have to haul anything, you don't have to sell anything, you don't have to work, you don't have to be energetic, you don't have to have any relations, you don't have to have any people, middlemen you sell to, and all the stuff that goes on in the life way that you and your family and your brethren are working. You've got money. It cuts above everything.

Now, while that may be nice, the power of what we might call a dollar bill or a euro, see, the power of that accomplishes so much more than anything I could do in a day. In other words, it would take me an entire season to fill a container or two with enough grain that might get me through winter.

And it would take me months of hard work to do that. Now you've given me enough money to just buy that? I don't have to do anything. And I never will again. Because when I run out of grain, I'm simply going to ask you for some more money. And when I want a few other things for my life that I see other people have, I'm going to ask you for money for that. This money is so powerful. It is so powerful it erases all of these other requirements and needs and labors and efforts.

And what I will come to depend on more than anything is money. I have to have it. It becomes a compulsion. It becomes a need. And someday you're not going to be there anymore. Probably sooner than later. Your benevolence will have its limit. Your life will change. Your situation will change. Your focus will change. And now I don't even have a field anymore. I don't even have tools. I don't even know how to work. I don't have any relationships. I don't have any people that want product. My kids are growing up and all they know is how to buy with money.

And you've left me so much worse off than if I'd never met you. And that's the challenge with giving money to individuals. Any individuals. Money is so powerful. People abandon the pursuit of a life. So please don't give people money in countries where that is not what they use. That's not what they need. Help them in some way, but not in cash. An example Jesus gave us was with the Good Samaritan. You had an individual who was down and hurt somehow. And the Samaritan came along.

What did he do? He took him to an inn. And what did he do? He paid the innkeeper for the lodging, the meals, gave the innkeeper some extra money, and said, if there's anything else, take care of it and I'll settle my account with you when I get back. He never gave the Jewish person in the parable anything other than assistance.

Never gave him cash. That went somewhere else. Sometimes we might buy something for others. We do this through the Good Works program and other projects, life nets. What happens is, rather than individuals, we'll help communities. We'll help larger groups of people with the things that they need, but not money.

We find in 1 Timothy 6, verses 10 and 11, the love of money is a root for all kinds of evil. See, it's not money that's evil, it's the love of it. When we realize the power of money, when you realize, wow, if I could just have money, if I could just go up to a casino and put in a little bit and get a whole bunch of this power, if I could just get a lottery full of money, that's all I really crave, because it is so easy, it's so powerful. And it's this love of money that is a root of all kinds of evil, from which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness.

See, we all like power. And money is very powerful. And they've pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things, flee the love of money, and pursue righteousness, which is loving God and loving fellow man.

Godliness, faith, love, perseverance, meekness. In 2 Timothy 3, verses 1 through 5, it says, But know this, in the last days perilous times will come, for men will be lovers of themselves, and lovers of money. See, that money is such a powerful, powerful thing. Why do humans want money? It is the most powerful way to serve yourself and myself.

It is. There's nothing that will equal it. You can go out, and you can maintain, and you can guard, and you can do this, or you can just have money. You can just have somebody else do it. It's really sweet stuff. And we tend to do it for ourselves. And that's why we are the most indebted nation and credit-driven people on the face of this earth. We are in love with the power of money. We just can't survive without it.

But we are called out of society. We're to love and serve with our time. We're to love and serve with our mind, and with the real goods that we own. I would say, goods are something that are yours.

Sincere sharing of what is yours. Not the lenders, not the banks. But God wants us to use your goods as you help others. Using your mind, your goods, your time, your energy, get involved. In 1 John 3, verse 16-18, it says, By this we know love, agape. By this we know the godly kind of love, because He laid down His life for us. He didn't pay off Pharaoh to let the Israelites come out of Egypt. He didn't pay off the Romans or the Jews for the sins of humanity. How big a check do you want? We just print it in heaven, so just make it for any amount you want, and we'll just pay for everybody's sins. He laid down His life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Whoever has this world's goods, doesn't say money, remember. Let's think about whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need. Okay, you have this world's goods. What are the goods that you have? That you own? Not the ones that you have on credit, that are mortgaged. No bank, nothing to do at the bank, nothing borrowed, but the stuff that you really own. The stuff that's really yours. There's nothing to do, and nobody's going to come get it if you don't pay something on it. What is it? Well, if you have this world's goods, water, clothing, some food, a house, and you see your brother in need and shut your heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

My little children let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed or in truth. Now, to some, money could be goods. That's kind of the business you're in. You've got lots and lots of it stashed or something. But let me tell you something about money. You only have money as goods if it's above and beyond all of your responsibilities. Otherwise, you don't have any money to be given away.

You need to understand that about money. Money is a debt instrument. It's an IOU. Money is worthless. What we don't tend to realize is all that is, is somebody received that money they're handing you because they did something or sold something or put forth an effort for someone else, and that person owed them for it. And so they gave this debt instrument called money to that individual as an IOU. And now you have done something for somebody, right? And you, that person owes you something, and they're passing along an IOU. And that's all it means, is IOU. Now, usually, this stuff is passed around, and people have more responsibilities for these debt instruments than they have debt instruments to cover them.

A credit is different than money in that it's a loan. It is something you do not own. For instance, do you have a house? Well, here's a real quick way to find out if you have a house. Don't make any payments on the house. Then you'll know if you have a house. If you make payments, you don't have a house. Do you have a car?

Do you have a vehicle? Do you have, I don't know, furniture? Do you make payments on it? If so, it's not yours. If you don't believe me, just don't make the payments. Someone will come and get it, and that'll be it. So credit and the purchases made with it is not something that are goods of yours. A checking account, you say, look at all my money in the checking account. Well, chances are that is money obligated for responsibilities and is not yours to do with as you please. For instance, just consider this.

Your responsibilities. If you gave away all your money, you'd say, I think I'll just give away my money in my checking account. Alright? Your family's needs would not be provided. You have a responsibility. God says you're worse than an infidel if you don't take care of your own family. Transportation. You're required to assemble each week at church. You're required to go to the feast. You're probably required to show up at your place of employment. Good chance of that. You're probably required to go to the grocery store or someplace to obtain food. And those things, you see, are responsibilities that go along with your checking account. Maintenance for transportation often doesn't come to mind.

But let's just say, if you don't fix your transmission, you can't go to church, you can't go to the store, and you can't go to work. So you have to have some of those funds for responsibility of maintenance on vehicles of all different types. There's bank contracts on things like homes, vehicles, bills. And if you don't pay that, they're going to come and confiscate those things. Utilities. Water, electric, gas, garbage.

Communications. Those are also responsibilities that you have that must be covered. There's maintenance issues of things that, if you have a loan on something, you might say, well, I have a house, I got a loan, it's fine. Well, wait a minute. If you don't maintain that house, the person who owns it will come and take it away from you because they don't want a loss, should you default on that.

Same with a vehicle and other things like that. There's a vested interest that others have. There are government taxes, government fees, there are licenses. And the government will come and confiscate things if you don't pay for those. There are offerings to God that you'll be cursed over if you do not give your offerings and tithes. So when you look at a pool of money and you think, oh, I'll just serve from this, if you have this world's goods, it may or may not be part of your goods.

You can look at a savings account and you say, ah, I really trusted my savings, this is a good thing. I have a pile of debt instruments, a big pile of debt instruments. There's a powerful pull to pile them up because it builds confidence. Ooh, I can see myself through anything. See, I can trust in this. I can have confidence. I know I'm going to be okay. And so when we think of the future, the unknown future, we like to pile up a lot of debt certificates if we can.

And that becomes lust. In Titus 1, verse 7-8, it talks about a minister. It says, a bishop, overseer, must be blameless, a steward of God, not self-willed, not quit-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money. See, money is self-confidence. Money is power. Money solves my needs, solves my problems. But what are we supposed to have the next verse?

But rather hospitable, a lover of what is good. God wants you and I to be looking at being involved with Him and with each other and actually using what we have to serve, to help, to build relationships. In closing, the Bible tells us to share. To share our time, our lives, our service, our energies, our efforts. Be careful about falling into the trap of, I gave my money, but not my time, not my love, not my energy, not my concern, not my service. You've heard of children of wealthy people growing up and saying, All my dad gave me was money, but he never gave me any of himself.

Or those of us who haven't had the money, my dad was always trying to get money, but he never gave me any of himself. So when it says here that we are to give of ourselves, it means to get involved and don't fall into that trap. In Hebrews 13, verses 1-5, let's notice a context here of some very familiar passages. Hebrews 13, beginning in verse 1, Let brotherly love continue. You have to think about that. Let it continue. It's funny, he starts right out with that.

Do not forget to entertain strangers. Strangers meaning people who are known to you by association, but not known to you, perhaps, personally. They might be in your church, in other words, but they may be here. Don't forget to entertain travelers, people that you don't know. For by doing so, some have unwittingly entertained angels.

Verse 3, Remember the member prisoners, that's what it's referring to, as if chained with them, those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also. They are in the body, you're in the body. Remember those who have gone to prison for the truth, have been in prison like Paul and Peter and others, who were going to prison for what they believed in.

Verse 4, Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. In other words, be true to your covenants. God is a covenant God. Verse 5, Let your conduct be without covetousness, money and things that you're not entitled to. Coveting is wanting something that you're not entitled to.

You're entitled to your own wife. You're not entitled to someone else's. You're entitled to your stuff and that which you can reasonably purchase with what you have. You're not entitled to a 2,500-foot yacht floating off the coast of Italy somewhere. Don't covet that stuff. Get your own little fishing boat.

But don't covet that other stuff, things that you aren't entitled to. Be content with such things as you have. For He Himself said, I will never leave you or forsake you. It's interesting how all those statements fit in together. God is a loving God. He is a giving God. And our relationship with Him and each other is what the Bible says is very important. Let me conclude with verses 20 and 21.

Through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.