This recording is provided by Times Square Church
in New York City.
You're welcome to make additional copies for free
distribution to friends.
All other unauthorized duplication or electronic transmission is
a violation of copyright and other applicable laws.
This recording cannot be posted on any website.
However, written permission to link to the Times
Square Church homepage may be requested by emailing
info at timessquarechurch.org.
Other recordings are available by calling 1-800
-488-0854 or by writing to Times Square
Church Tape Ministry, 1657 Broadway, New York, New
York, 10019.
First Chronicles, Chapter 29.
If you could just keep your Bible open
there.
We're going to be going there very shortly.
But before we go there, I want to
share with you this morning that I am
in some measure going to speak on tithing.
Now, this is not a message on tithing
in particular.
And certainly nobody can ever accuse this church
of having a money focus.
I have been here ten and a half
years now.
To my knowledge, this is the third time
I've spoken on this topic.
Pastor Neal has never spoken on it.
And I'm not aware.
I've not been in every service, but I'm
not aware of Pastor David ever having spoken
on tithing.
And I have somewhat of a reluctance in
my heart to even address it.
Because of what has happened to this issue
of tithing in the house of God in
our generation.
The very same thing happened in the generation
just before Samuel came to be a judge
of Israel.
There was a very backslidden priest called Eli,
and he had sons.
And the scripture said the sons of this
backslidden priest.
You see, when they made an offering, the
priest had a three-pronged hook.
And when people came to make an offering
to the Lord or a sacrifice to God,
the priests were to execute that office and
they were to throw that hook into the
pot.
And whatever got caught by it, in other
words, came out of the pot was supposed
to be the priest's portion.
Now, this was a type of the fact
that the ministry are to live by faith.
Those that preach the gospel are to live
of the gospel, yes, but to live by
faith.
God tells us we're to live by the
same faith that we are proclaiming and encouraging
the people to embrace.
But these sons of Eli, the scripture tells
us that they stood at the door or
they appointed others even in their stead.
And they began to demand the choicest cuts
of meat, as it is, as the people
came in to offer sacrifice to the Lord
or to give offerings to God.
And they began to pressure the people to
give.
And they were not willing to live by
faith anymore.
And they didn't want just any old sodden
piece of meat coming out of the pot.
They wanted the fillet.
They wanted the prime cut for themselves.
And so they began to not only push
the people and arm twist them, but even
threaten them with, perhaps they even used spiritual
intimidation, as if some disastrous thing is going
to happen to you if you don't obey
this.
And if any man protested this approach, then
they would take it by force.
They would threaten to take it by force.
In other words, there was a forcefulness behind
what they were doing.
There's no faith behind it.
And folks, there have been some atrocious things
that have gone on in the house of
the Lord in the name of God when
it comes to the issue of finances.
And I believe that it has made even
righteous preachers of the gospel somewhat reluctant to
even go and speak about these topics.
But it's never fit that the devil should
have the last word in these things.
Now, the sin of the young man, it
says in 1 Samuel 2, just I'm reading
this to you, verse 17, was very great
before the Lord.
For men abhorred the offering of the Lord.
And when I looked that up, the abhorrence
means they scorned it.
They despised it.
They rejected it.
They condemned it.
Or they derided it.
They made fun of it.
And we're living in a generation today when
you even try to mention a church or
preacher of the gospel, and you'll see this
very attitude now is not only perhaps dormant
in much of the church, but it's very
evident in society because they have seen these
money-grubbing sons of Eli at the doors
of the temple demanding and scheming and planning.
And no matter where they start preaching, you
can be sure they're always going for your
purse or your pocket.
There's no doubt about it.
And men abhorred.
There was a despising of the offering of
the Lord.
People would go to church, for example, or
in the temple.
And have you ever been there?
I don't know.
I've been there over the years.
You know wherever it's starting, it's going to
money.
And they're never content with one offering.
There's two.
There's three.
And the Holy Spirit seemingly is always changing
his mind and encouraging them to take another
offering and a third and a fourth offering.
And each one has a new scheme behind
it.
And if you really get to the root
of it, there's a violence at the very
bottom of it.
There's a greed.
Now, Satan is a master tactician.
He has men and women that he puts
in pulpits all over the world that are
just really his stooges.
That's all they are.
They stand there and they go for the
money.
And if you were to just look on
the surface, you would miss what the master
tactician is really after.
He's not just after the money.
Because remember when he tempted Jesus, he said,
here are the kingdoms of the world and
the glory of them.
They're all mine.
And he said, I'll give them to whoever
I want to.
He offered the kings of this world as
it is to Christ.
And Christ refused it during his temptation.
Now, Satan is not after the money.
He's smart enough to know that you can't
bankrupt God.
There's absolutely no way.
How can you bankrupt the one who created
the universe?
How can you bankrupt the one who can
just speak and create more gold than this
world will ever have in a million plus
years?
No, he knows he can't bankrupt God.
So he's after something much deeper than this.
And you see it through the sons of
Eli.
They caused the people to abhor the offering
of the Lord.
And I'm going to speak on what I
believe in my heart that the enemy is
after in every generation.
He's after the willingness that precedes the glory.
Now, I'm going to go there and you're
going to understand this in just a moment.
First Chronicles chapter 29, verse 16.
This is David now.
David the king has made preparation for the
temple.
This is Solomon's temple.
It's built on Mount Moriah.
This is the temple where the glory of
God is going to come.
This incredible glory that was so powerful that
nobody could stand even in the presence of
God.
And David is praying a prayer because he
has been preparing for a portion of his
journey.
At least his understanding of the house of
God began at Mount Moriah.
And now he has made preparation for this
house of God, this dwelling place of God.
He is passing it on to his son
Solomon.
And he's praying and he says, verse 16,
O Lord our God, all this store that
we have prepared to build thee in house
for thine holy name, cometh of thine own
hand and all is thine own.
You see, David knew this.
God, we're not really being generous towards you.
Everything we have has come from your hand.
You gave us breath, life.
What do we have that you haven't given
us, God?
He says, I know also, my God, verse
17, that thou triest the heart and has
pleasure and uprightness.
And as for me, in the uprightness of
my heart, I have willingly offered all these
things.
And now I have seen with joy thy
people which are present here to offer willingly
unto thee.
O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel,
our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination
of the thoughts of the heart of thy
people and prepare their heart unto thee.
Now, David in this passage is speaking of
an issue of the people's heart.
And this issue preceded the manifestation of God's
glory, which I said was soon to be
experienced at the dedication of Solomon's temple.
If we go ahead just for a moment
to 2 Chronicles chapter 5, verse 13, the
scripture tells us it came to pass as
the trumpeters and singers were as one to
make one sound to be heard in praising
and thanking the Lord.
And when they lifted up their voice with
the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music
and praised the Lord saying, for he is
good, for his mercy endures forever, that then
the house was filled with a cloud, even
the house of the Lord, so that the
priests could not stand to minister by reason
of the cloud, for the glory of the
Lord had filled the house of God.
I don't know about you, but I long
for this glory of God.
We had a touch, a taste of it,
didn't you feel that during the worship this
morning?
This glory.
In the Hebrew, it's kavod, and it means
weight, honor, esteem, majesty, abundance, wealth.
It's a foretype of the glory which is
ours in Jesus Christ.
Paul in Corinthians speaks of a fading glory.
Now, the fading glory is the glory that
came in the Old Testament.
Even in spite of the law, there was
a manifestation of this glory.
And of course, the Old Testament temple was
part of this.
Solomon's temple was part of this glory that
Paul says was one day going to fade
away, because it was only a shadow of
the true glory.
And the true glory is found in Jesus
Christ.
We beheld him.
John says he was full of grace and
truth, as of the only begotten of the
Father.
This is the glory.
Everything in the Old Testament was a type
and a shadow.
It was like a shadow play that was
pointing to the real, that one day would
burst on the scene.
It was the manifestation of the true glory
of God, which was seen in the face
of Jesus Christ.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 10,
Even that which was made glorious had no
glory in this respect, by reason of the
glory that excels.
Paul said, yes, there was a glory in
the Old Testament.
There was a glory on the face of
Moses.
There was a glory that came because of
the preaching of the law.
There was a glory of God's manifestation in
the Old Testament temple.
But there is a glory coming so glorious,
Paul says, it makes this previous glory look
like it was no glory at all.
It so far exceeds the previous glory.
You see, the previous glory was an outside
glory.
Yes, the glory of God, the weight, the
kabbad of God would come into the temple.
But it was an outside glory.
You had to go to the temple to
get to see this glory.
But when Jesus Christ died on the cross
and the veil was rended to, and the
way of God now was made to lead
the holy of holies and come to where
He had always longed to dwell, right in
the heart of His own creation, and you
and I became the temple of the living
God, this glory of Solomon's temple came into
your life and came into my life.
The Bible says it's an exceeding glory.
It's far beyond.
I don't have to go to the temple
to see this glory.
This glory is within me.
I have the risen Christ in me.
Paul says, it's Christ in you, the hope
of glory.
I can get up in the morning and
say, glory, the weight of God is upon
me.
The life of Christ is in me.
I'm changing by this image and life of
Christ into the very image of my Savior.
The glory of God is no longer confined
to a physical place that I have to
go once a week or month to see.
The glory of God is now in me.
Hallelujah.
Paul says, if that which is done away
was glorious, much more that which remains is
glorious.
He says in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18,
But we all, with open face, beholding as
in a glass the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image from glory
to glory, even as by the Spirit of
the Lord.
If you're not living there, you have missed
the whole thing.
You fail to understand what this is about.
Jesus died to forgive your sin, that He
may come and live inside of you and
recreate you from the inside out and cause
you to stand as a light shining in
the midst of a very dark and crooked
generation, as a living testimony that the glory
of God is still among men.
He says in verse 17, Now the Lord
is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is liberty.
Now the word liberty in the Zodiates lexicon
of the New Testament is Eleutheria.
Actually, it's interesting, the number in the concordance
is 1657.
I found that interesting because that's our address
here at Times Square Church, 1657 Broadway.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
is liberty.
And the word liberty means freedom.
It means generosity.
It means an independence, and this is important,
from legal restrictions and rules.
Here's the issue.
Now in 1 Chronicles chapter 29 and verse
14, remember, where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there's liberty, there's freedom, generosity, there's an
independence from legal restrictions and rules.
In 1 Chronicles chapter 29 and verse 14,
David says, Who am I?
Now this is after there's been a great
gathering of all the substance that is necessary
to build this temple.
The people have offered willingly.
The leaders have offered willingly.
The people have come and they've rejoiced with
great joy because they were now being infused,
as it is, with the very heart of
God in the building of His house so
that His presence might be manifested, not only
in Jerusalem, but to all the nations.
And David says in verse 14, But who
am I and what is my people that
we should be able to offer so willingly
after this sort?
For all things have come of thee and
of thine own hand have we given thee.
How is it, David says, that we have
been given this ability?
You see, David knew that this willingness was
supernatural.
If you look at the word willingly in
the Old Testament, it means an uncompelled, free
movement of the will for divine service or
sacrifice.
It's like into a volunteer soldier whose country
goes to war and knowing even that he
may lose his life, he is compelled to
give his all because he believes in his
heart the cause is just.
He believes that what he is engaging is
worth fighting for, it's worth living for and
it's worth dying for.
And this is actually the word that David
used.
He said, Who am I and what are
my people that we should be able to
offer so willingly that we have the supernatural
ability of God has come upon us to
give to the work of God.
And we're not doing it under legal compulsion.
We're doing it willingly.
We are being moved upon by the Spirit
of God and David knew it was supernatural.
He must have known that God had intended
and initiated this because he intended a great
visitation of his glory.
Now, history has always recorded that this willingness
has always preceded something special which God himself
had planned.
There's a willingness.
See, that's what the devil has always been
after when he puts greedy men in pulpits.
He's after the willingness of God's people to
give.
This free will that is not bound by
law is not coming into the house begrudgingly
because the law of the Old Testament says
10% of your income belongs to God.
Now, that's only a shadow.
We're not even bound by that anymore.
That's not under the law.
If you want to talk about New Testament
tithing, the standard is all, it's everything.
Look in the book of Acts.
Some people would ask me, Well, what percentage
of our income do we give to God?
Well, it's somewhere between 10% and everything
depending on how willing your heart is to
obey God.
It's the easiest way I can say it.
The Old Testament 10% is just a
shadow.
It's a schoolmaster.
But the New Testament book of Acts, if
you read it very clearly and conscientiously, was
everything.
It was the lives, the entire lives of
the people being gripped and given to the
work of God.
There'll never be a move of God without
this willingness.
And the devil has worked hard in our
generation to take this willingness away from the
people, to take it out of the hearts
of God's people to give themselves to the
work of God.
And everything that that involves in the sum
total as it is of who we are
and what we possess being released to the
work of God.
In Exodus chapter 35, if you'll look there
with me, this is the first indication in
Scripture in the Old Testament of something actually
being built to house God.
Now, we know that you can't house God.
It's impossible.
He's omnipresent.
He's everywhere.
You can't build Him a house.
But in some measure, these things happen in
the Old Testament to teach us that one
day He was going to come and dwell
within us.
And it began in the Old Testament in
Exodus with the building of a tabernacle.
In Exodus 35, 4, the people, of course,
didn't understand this.
But there was still this infusion of willingness.
In Exodus 35, 4, it says, And Moses
spake to all the congregation of the children
of Israel, saying, This is the thing which
the Lord commanded, saying, Take ye from among
you an offering unto the Lord, whosoever is
of a willing heart.
In other words, if the person is not
willing, don't force them.
There's no legal obligation.
Everything in the kingdom of God is really
voluntary.
Even Christ Himself stands at the door and
knocks.
He doesn't force His way into the church.
He's an absolute gentleman.
He doesn't force anyone to give anything.
There's no arm-twisting.
There's no false promises.
There's no begging.
He said, Let him bring an offering of
the Lord, gold and silver and brass, and
blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen
and goat's hair.
Now, you have to understand, they were building
an Old Testament tabernacle, which was like a
curtain box, as it is, with an outer
courtyard.
And they were making garments for the priests
who were going to go in and minister
to the Lord and minister on behalf of
the people.
So there'd be quite an excitement about this.
There'd be an awareness that God has destined
to live where we live.
He's destined to dwell among us.
It's in His heart, and He's asked us
to build Him a house.
Incredible.
Talk about the humility of God.
I don't know how much more we can
even start to address this type of humility
when we see that God would let people
even think in their minds that they're building
Him a house.
But nevertheless, that's what He did.
And He invited everyone to be involved in
the work.
And verse 7, He says, And ramskins dyed
red and badgerskins and wood and oil for
the light and spices for anointing oil and
the sweet incense and onyx stones and stones
to set for the ephod and for the
breastplate.
And every wise hearted among you shall come
and make all that the Lord has commanded.
The tabernacle, verse 11, His tent, His covering,
His tashes, His boards, His bars, His pillars,
His sockets, the ark, the staves, the mercy
seat, the veil of the covering, the table,
His staves, all the vessels and the showbread,
the candlestick for the light, His furniture, His
lamps, the oil for the light, the incense
altar, His staves, the anointing oil, the sweet
incense, the hanging of the door at the
entering of the tabernacle, the altar of burnt
offering with the brazen grate, His staves, His
vessels, the labor, His foot, the hangings of
the court, the pillars and the sockets, the
hanging for the door of the court, the
pins of the tabernacle, the pins of the
court and the cords, the cloths of service
to do service in the holy place, the
holy garments for Aaron, the priest, and the
garments of his sons to minister in the
priest's office.
And all the congregation of the children of
Israel departed from the presence of Moses.
This is like a shopping list like none
other that's ever been given to man.
God says, I require, and you can see
all the congregation are there.
And Moses is saying, the Lord has asked
us to build a dwelling place for him.
And here's what he requires.
And he starts reading his list just like
I did.
And all the people are there listening.
And as he finished speaking, you can see
all this congregation, multiples, tens of thousands of
people head away from this meeting with this
man of God.
And it says, and they came, verse 21,
everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone
whom his spirit made willing.
And so there are people who will hear
of the building of God's house and his
kingdom and his work, and they will just
leave and not be stirred.
But there are people in every generation who
are made willing by the spirit of God.
There are people who say, God, I don't
have much, but what I have, I'm going
to get it, and I'm bringing it back,
and I'm going to give it to you
for your glory, and I'm going to let
it be used for you, O God.
And they brought the Lord's offering to the
work of the tabernacle of the congregation and
for all his service and for the holy
garments.
And they came, verse 22, both men and
women, as many as were what?
Willing-hearted and brought bracelets and earrings and
rings and tablets and jewels of gold and
every man that offered an offering of gold
unto the Lord and every man with whom
was found blue and purple and scarlet and
fine linen and goat's hair.
You know, folks, some people have gold, some
have goat's hair, but everybody brought something.
And red skins of rams and badger skins
brought them.
You know, I mean, you could look at
your neighbor and say, God, here's a man
next door to me that has 25 golden
rings, and all I have is a badger
skin, but by God's grace, it was on
the list.
And they brought it.
It doesn't seem like much if you've ever
seen a badger run across the highway, but
it was necessary.
And everyone that did offer an offering of
silver and brass brought the Lord's offering, and
every man with whom was found a shite
and wood for any work of the service
brought it.
Some people just had wood and brought that.
And all the women that were wise-hearted
did spin with their hands.
There would be in Moses' day, as there
are in our day, there were those who
quite conceivably possessed a lot less than others
did, but God put wisdom in their hearts.
And they had a skill, and they took
this skill, and they began to...
Some people just simply have a thread.
That's all they have, or a spool of
thread.
But God plants within them a supernatural ability,
because everyone's contribution is important to the Lord.
You have to understand that.
There are no big people and little people
in the kingdom of God.
God says, no, I want my whole church,
my whole bodies to be involved in the
building of this place where I'm going to
dwell.
And they did spin with their hands, and
they brought that which they had spun, both
the blue and purple and scarlet and fine
linen.
And all the women whose hearts stirred them
up in wisdom spun goat's hair.
And the rulers brought onyx stones and stones
to set for the ephod and for the
breastplate, and oil for the light and for
the anointing oil and sweet incense.
And the children of Israel brought, verse 29,
a willing offering unto the Lord.
Every man and woman whose heart made them
willing to bring for all manner of work
which the Lord had commanded to be made
by the hand of Moses.
Now, the scripture tells us something just phenomenal.
In chapter 36, in verse 3, it goes
on to say, And they received of Moses
all the offering which the children of Israel
had brought of the work of the service
of the sanctuary to make it with all.
And they brought yet unto him free offerings
every morning.
And all the wise men that brought all
the work of the sanctuary came, every man
from his work which they made.
And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people
bring much more than enough for the service
of the work which the Lord commanded to
make.
And Moses gave commandment.
And they caused it to be proclaimed throughout
the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman
make any more work for the offering of
the sanctuary.
So the people were restrained from bringing.
What a willingness came upon these people that
Moses had to make a decree and basically
say, Stop!
Stop giving!
We have too much.
We don't know what to do with what
we have.
Can you imagine having that kind of a
problem as a pastor today at church?
The people so moved with a willingness that
is birthed of God to say, God, we're
not under compulsion here.
We're every man, every woman given a choice.
But you have worked something so supernatural within
us that each one of us, we want
to be part of the house and the
kingdom that you are building.
And so we take what we have, as
little or as much, and we start bringing
it.
And can you see Moses standing there and
the leaders and the people are coming in,
young and old and rich and poor.
They have everything from goat's hair that has
been woven into things, whatever you make with
goat's hair, to rings that have been melted
down.
And they're bringing it in for the work
of God so abundantly.
You see, before there is a move of
God's glory, at any time throughout history, if
you study it, you're going to find a
people who are willing.
Before revival comes to a nation, you're going
to find somewhere a church, a people, a
group, an individual.
Two or three are gathering somewhere and they
are praying and saying, God, I give all
I have to your kingdom.
I give you my pride.
If you want to speak to my heart
about issues, speak to my heart.
I give you my family.
I give you my future.
I give you everything I have, oh God,
that your glory might be known in me,
that your glory might be known in the
land once again.
You will always find, you'll never find just
all of a sudden the glory appearing.
Now, this can happen.
God is not bound.
But if you search it through history, you're
going to find that every major move of
God throughout history is always preceded by a
people who say, God, we are willing.
I'm willing.
Wherever you send me, whatever you ask of
me, whatever you want me to do, God,
I will do it.
The little that I have, I bring it
to you, oh God.
And I'm trusting you to multiply it.
I'm trusting you to receive my sacrifice, my
little ability, my my my little life, my
little experience.
I bring it to you, God.
But you have made me willing to give
this to you.
And I am believing, oh God, that you're
going to multiply it and glorify your name.
And you just have to turn ahead a
few chapters after this to Exodus chapter 40.
You see this willingness that had come into
the hearts of the people in verse 34,
says that a cloud covered the tent of
the congregation and the glory of the Lord
filled the tabernacle.
And Moses was not able, verse 35, to
enter into the tent of the congregation because
the cloud abode thereon.
And the glory of the Lord filled the
tabernacle.
The glory comes and it's a type.
It's a shadow of Jesus saying, if I
have your heart, if you are willing to
give what you have to me, it is
my desire to manifest my glory in you.
It's my desire to come and change you.
It's my desire to make you so much
more than you are, to give you so
much more than you could ever possess, to
take you where you could never go and
to make you what you could never be.
It's my desire to manifest my glory inside
of this tabernacle where I've chosen to dwell.
You'll see this principle, for example, in the
book of Judges.
You see it all through the scriptures.
When the people are under oppression and God
comes and speaks and finds a prophetess called
Deborah and finds a military leader called Barak
who, in spite of their weakness, are willing
to give what they have to God and
for the purposes of God.
And it's this type of life that begins
to inspire the people.
And after the battle is over, the scripture
says they sang a song and it went
like this.
Praise the Lord for the avenging of Israel
when the people willingly offered themselves.
The people willingly offered themselves.
Think of Gideon's day when they're standing against
an army of 135,000 and 300 standing
against odds that could never ever have a
successful outcome without the presence of God and
the intervention of God.
But they're willing, even to the death, to
offer themselves to the work of God that
He might be glorified one more time in
the nation.
Even the temple, this Solomon's temple that is
about to be rebuilt.
You remember the story where there was an
angel with a destroying sword stretched out over
Jerusalem because David had sinned in numbering the
people and had, in effect, turned to pride.
And David was instructed by a prophet to
head to the top of this mountain called
Moriah.
And he headed to the top of the
mountain to offer a sacrifice to God.
And on top of that mountain there was
a man called Orn in the Jebusite.
And he had a threshing floor and he
had two sons with him.
It was his income.
He had oxen, he had instruments.
But he saw, he was a man who
saw the need.
And David came to Orn in and he
said to Orn in, give me this threshing
floor, I must make a sacrifice.
Orn in seeing the need said to the
king, this is a type of you and
I and the church and Jesus Christ.
And he said to the king, he said,
I see the need, I see the destroying
sword over the nation.
And so I give you my threshing floor.
And I give you the instruments for my
livelihood to break them up and make a
fire for the sacrifice.
And I give you the oxen for the
sacrifice.
And Orn in said, I give it all.
I give everything I have to stay the
plague of death that has come upon my
nation and my city.
And David, the king said, no, I will
not take it for free.
I myself will not offer to God something
that costs me nothing.
And so David says, no, I'll pay you
the full price for it.
So here you have two men that are
willing to give it all.
They're willing to give everything.
David basically says to Orn in, name your
price.
I will pay it.
I will not offer to God something that
costs me nothing.
And after the negotiation is completed, the Holy
Spirit opens David's eyes.
And you go back in the scripture, you'll
see it for yourself.
And David has a revelation.
This is Mount Moriah.
And David says, this is the temple of
the Lord.
This is God's house.
This is where God dwells.
He has this incredible revelation.
And it's an amazing thing.
David, this is exactly where Solomon's temple was
to be built.
It's on a mountain where two men are
willing to give everything they have to stay
the plague that is upon the people.
In Ezra, after the people were released by
King Cyrus to come back into the nation
of Israel and rebuild this temple of Solomon,
which had been destroyed because of neglect, the
king issued a decree and he released those
who are willing to go and rebuild.
Willing, though, it was an issue.
Even with a foreign king, a Persian king,
he made it very clear that nobody could
be forced to do this.
It had to be willing.
Ezra was allowed to take for use all
that the people willingly offered for the house
of God.
In Nehemiah's day, a little shortly after this,
Nehemiah talks about, in chapter 11, verse 2,
that the people willingly came and offered themselves
to dwell within the walls of Jerusalem.
It was a willingness.
This willingness to be given to God.
This willingness to offer to God everything that
they had.
Now, 1 Chronicles chapter 29, again.
David says this in verse 2.
He says, Now I have prepared with all
my might for the house of my God,
the gold for the things to be made
of gold, and silver for things of silver,
and brass for things of brass, and iron
for things of iron, and wood for things
of wood, onyx stones, and stones to be
set, glistering stones of diverse colors, and all
manner of precious stones and marble stones in
abundance.
Moreover, he says in verse 3, Because I
have set my affection to the house of
my God, I have of my own proper
good of gold and silver, which I have
given to the house of my God, over
and above all that I have prepared for
the holy house, even three thousand talents of
gold, of the gold of Ophira, and seven
thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the
walls of the houses withal.
The gold for things of gold, and silver
for things of silver, and for all manner
of work to be made by the hands
of artificers.
And who then is willing to consecrate his
service this day unto the Lord?
David says, I have prepared of the treasury,
the king's treasury as it is of the
nation.
But he says, More so than this, I
have given of my own substance for the
building of this house, dangerous to sit under
the ministries of people who are not given
to the work of God.
And then the chief of the fathers and
princes of the tribes, in verse 6, and
the captains of thousands and hundreds, with the
rulers of the king's work, offered willingly.
And they gave for the service of the
house of God, five thousand talents and ten
thousand talents of drams, and silver eighteen thousand
talents, and brass eighteen thousand talents.
And verse 8 says, And they with whom
precious stones were found gave them to the
treasure of the house of the Lord.
Verse 9 says, Then the people rejoiced for
that they offered willingly, because with a perfect
heart they offered willingly to the Lord.
And David the king also rejoiced with great
joy.
They had not given for personal gain.
They gave because this was the work of
God.
There is a principle, yes, in Scripture, that
God will bless us, and God will keep
His people who trust in Him.
But they were not giving to get.
They were giving because they were involved, their
hearts were engaged in the work of God.
And there was a trust, there's an abiding
trust in those who are God's.
To say, Lord, I give you what I
have.
And I'm trusting you.
Because you said that I will have food,
I'll have clothing, I'll have shelter.
That if I seek first the kingdom of
God, that you'll provide everything I need.
So that settles the issue.
It may not be a castle on a
hill.
It may not be the finest suit of
clothes available in New York City.
It might not be the finest table in
the nicest restaurant.
But it will be food, and I will
be covered, and I will have shelter.
And I've settled this in my heart.
Because there's something more important than all of
these outer trappings.
It's that I have been invited by the
God of this universe to be part of
a kingdom that He is building.
And He has invited me to give a
portion of what He has entrusted into my
hands, willingly back to Him for this work.
He has, in effect, funneled it through me,
through His church, for His work.
He doesn't even need me.
Why would He even have to use us?
He could push us all aside and just
do it Himself.
No, you see, the miracle is that He
has interwoven Himself with you and I.
We are the temple of the Lord.
We are the dwelling place of God.
He says, I will not work outside of
My people.
Therefore, when I intend to do a marvelous
thing in a nation, there will be a
willingness come upon the people.
There will be an excitement.
There will be something in the heart that
says, I don't have much, but what I
have, I'm bringing it to the glory of
God.
I'm giving it to God's use.
I'm going to be a person, a man,
a woman, a young person, whose life is
dedicated to the glory of God.
If all I have is a badger skin,
I'm bringing it.
If I have a piece of wool, I'm
weaving something and bringing it to the house
of God.
And it's going to be used for His
glory.
Whatever talents He has put in my life,
I'm bringing back to God.
And they're going to be used for His
glory.
Thanks be to God.
This willingness is an indication that you have
truly embraced the heart of God.
Now, folks, I came from a church background
where the collection time on Sunday morning sounded
like a hailstorm on a tin roof.
The collection plate was tin.
And the pennies and nickels and dimes hitting
the collection plate.
Now, I'm convinced they did it to embarrass
the poor.
I remember being a kid.
Every time the plate would go by, if
I'd see a dollar on it, I'd think,
Wow, this is quite a week.
This is really something.
Because there wasn't very much paper hit that
plate, trust me.
Hallelujah.
But as I began to grow in grace,
I remember coming into the kingdom of God
and I thought, you know, I give $20
to the work of God.
I was making, I don't know, maybe $50
,000 a year, I guess, at that time.
I thought $20 is pretty generous from my
background.
It didn't make any noise on the plate.
It looked good.
And I remember sitting there.
And the first time I ever heard this
in my life, a preacher got up and
said, 10% of your income.
I almost died in my chair immediately.
I don't hear a word he's saying.
The calculator is going off in my mind.
10% I see now.
Is that before or after taxes?
What about the...
And I'm figuring out all of this, all
of the ticker tape issues, and it comes
down to, I forget what it was.
And it's, oh my goodness.
God surely couldn't mean this.
And then you'll have the occasional one that
says, We're not under the law.
That's the law.
And then you read a little farther in
the book and you see it's not 10%.
In the New Testament, it's everything.
It's a life in totality given to the
work of God.
And then all of a sudden the law
starts looking pretty good when you get there.
Well, 10%.
Reasonable.
But as I...
You see, God is very gracious.
He takes us where we start with the
measure of faith that we have.
And then as I began to learn that
it's not a threatening thing to give to
the work of God.
And God began to...
I'm a budgeter.
I still do today.
I keep track of everything.
I have books and I write everything, every
expense.
I get really frustrated because I'd never make
it in the banking world because I can
never balance even this little book.
It never balances.
So I have a column called Correction at
the end of every month.
Minus $152.30, which I haven't got a
clue where it went.
So I correct it and just balance it
out.
Everything is fine.
I remember the battle in my soul when
the Lord asked me to give up my
career.
I had a very well-paying career.
I was advancing very quickly and I enjoyed
what I...
And he asked me to give it up.
It's a tithe in a sense.
It's my future.
It's a pension.
It's a dental plan.
It's everything.
I had it all.
And it was a job that I really
couldn't get fired from unless I really messed
up.
And God says, give it up.
Pastor this little group of 17 people for
$375 a week.
I had a bigger electric bill than that
wage was.
And I remember the struggle inside to trust
him.
I remember when I left the police force,
and then you've heard my story, I rolled
some money into an account.
And I used to call it my Ananias
and Sapphira slush fund.
If this whole thing doesn't work out in
ministry, at least I have a startup fund.
I remember a friend of mine coming in
and his car blew up, and he's praying
at my desk in my office.
And he's saying, oh, I don't know what
to do.
My car is gone.
I have no money.
And he said, another pastor.
And so I said, oh, let's pray.
And so we began to pray.
I have enough money in the bank to
buy him a car.
But I'm praying now.
I'm getting very, very spiritual.
And all of a sudden we pull out
the old scripture.
Oh, God, you own the cattle on a
thousand hills.
What we're saying is, you have much more
money than me, God.
You would never ask me to give up
what I have for this man.
Why would you ask this of me?
I have enough for one more car.
And God, you own all the cars in
the world.
So I'm just appealing to you to meet
this man's need.
And, of course, my prayer was just dying.
The longer I prayed, the less faith I
had, the more it began to die.
And finally, I had to go home to
my wife and say, the Lord is just
telling me to take what we have and
everything we had, actually, and buy this man
a car.
And so we just obeyed him.
It's a tithe, in a sense, to the
work of God.
This is a pastor.
This is a godly man.
And not the type of a person that
runs around just sharing their needs so that
you can give them some money.
He was a godly man.
And the step of faith.
My own car was a mess.
It was just an absolute oil burner.
You could tell where I was five miles
down the road by the blue smoke.
And I buy another man a new car,
and my car is a disaster.
And I said, well, God, you know.
And I remember one day I was in
the church, and I was painting the dome.
I was up on a scaffold painting the
dome in this church that we bought for
a dollar.
That's another story.
I was up on the scaffold painting it,
and somebody said, Pastor, there's a call for
you in the building next door.
So I went, and they said, Is this
Pastor Connell?
I said, It is.
And he said, I am so-and-so
from some car dealership in the city.
A man walked in this morning, bought you
a brand-new car.
He said, Put it in your name.
You just have to pick it up and
take it.
And I said, Who is the man?
He said, I don't know.
He wouldn't give us his name.
He just walked in, bought it, and left.
And, folks, it's been like that ever since.
We don't give to get.
But I have come to understand that God
is faithful.
God is faithful.
You give what you have.
You give the little bit that you have,
and God promises that he will bless us,
promises that he will keep us.
Now, it didn't matter to me if it
was somebody walked in and bought a $500
secondhand car.
It really wouldn't have mattered.
The issue is that God provides.
The issue is that I will always have
what God knows that I need to do
his work.
And it's a progression.
As you get to know the faithfulness of
God, you and I finally, and I'm not
suggesting I've even arrived there, but I'm moving
towards it, as Paul says, of coming to
that place where you're abandoned to God.
And you say, God, everything I have is
yours.
Whatever you want, you can take it.
Lord, use it for your glory.
And even if I have to go to
jail for the sake of preaching the gospel,
I'm prepared to go.
I'm willing to give my life, my freedom,
everything, because I trust you, Lord.
You've never failed me.
You will never fail me.
There's a willingness that's in the heart.
There always has to be this willingness before
the glory of God will come.
It has to be found in the hearts
of God's people.
In the Old Testament, in the book of
Malachi, it's the only scripture that I'm aware
of, at least, where God says, prove me.
He says, bring the tithes into the storehouse.
It's Malachi chapter 3, just before the book
of Matthew.
In Malachi chapter 3 and verse 10, he
says, bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be meat in my house,
and prove me, he says, now herewith.
Saith the Lord of hosts, if I will
not open to you the windows of heaven.
Now, it's not just material things.
There's a knowledge of Christ involved here.
I'll give you knowledge of my ways.
I'll open heaven to you.
Yes, I know there'll be some provision, and
thank God for it, but I'll open my
heart to you.
I'll open my mind to you.
Heaven won't be a closed book anymore, because
you're willing to trust me.
You're willing to allow me to reach out
through you, and to give through your life.
And I'll pour out a blessing, and there'll
not be room enough to receive it.
I can honestly say, and I know my
wife Teresa can vouch for this, in our
marriage, a blessing of God, that there's not
room enough to receive.
Thank God.
My children, around my table, like olive plants,
just as the Scripture says, I hear oil
coming from them.
I see that God's made my children not
greedy, selfish people, and I see their hearts
being molded by the very hand of God.
I see the faithfulness of God on my
house.
I see His faithfulness on my family.
I know in my heart that my family
is going to be a missions family for
four generations.
God has spoken this very, very clearly to
me.
If He tarries, that He will prosper us
financially, but He does it so that we
can go and give to those throughout the
world who don't know about the goodness of
their Father in heaven.
I don't know where to stop.
I could talk from now till the end
of the six o'clock service about the
blessings of God, and what He has done
in my life from a very feeble beginning
in my walk with Christ, and very dim
in my understanding, very afraid to be released
to the work of God, to the introduction
of this heart that is willing to say,
God, I'm willing to take the leap.
Even if it looks like suicide, spiritually speaking,
I'm willing to take the leap, O God,
and I'm willing to trust You, only to
find that there is no fall, that the
hands of my Father have been there all
along.
And He says, I care for the sparrows.
Will I not care even more for You?
Will I not even feed You and clothe
You?
I look after the flowers.
Won't I look after You?
Very basic scriptures, but so hard sometimes to
lay hold of it in our frailty.
But God doesn't despise us.
He remembers, David said, that we're just dust.
That's all we are.
We've been breathed by God the breath of
life, and because of His grace we live.
And His grace leads us to an understanding
of who He is.
And His grace gives us a willing heart
to enter into the work of God, which
is the salvation of souls, that none should
perish, and all should come to the knowledge
of a heavenly Father who not only died
for them, but can keep them in all
ways, that we can be this extension of
God's life.
Prove me, He says.
I'll open the windows of heaven and pour
out a blessing that there's not room enough
to receive, and I'll rebuke the devourer for
your sakes.
And He will not destroy the fruit of
your ground, and neither shall your vine cast
her fruit before the time.
In the field saith the Lord of hosts,
and all nations shall call you blessed, and
you shall be a delightsome land, says the
Lord of hosts.
I will bless you.
I tell you, folks, my father said to
me before, when I became a minister, he
said to me, you are a fool.
He said, you will never have a nice
house.
You will never have a nice car.
You will never have nice clothes.
Your kids will never go to college.
And he started just speaking all this stuff.
And he said, and then don't come to
me for money.
When you are broke and destitute.
And I said, Dad, I can't explain to
you what I'm doing.
All I can say is God is calling
me.
I hear His voice.
I know you don't understand this, but God
is calling me.
And before he died, we sat down one
summer, just a year or so before he
died, and he saw everything that God has
done in my life.
And my kids have gone through university, and
all will be graduated in just a short
time.
That I have had the clothes that I
need.
I have had of God's grace the houses.
I have had everything that God has ever
promised me.
And he had no more argument.
And Malachi said, you will be a delightsome
land, saith the Lord of hosts, and all
nations shall call you blessed.
God says, I will shut the mouth of
the accuser.
There will be nothing anyone can say.
They will see the blessing of God.
You have to understand, of course, my heart
was to win my father to Christ, which
the Lord in His grace allowed me to
do.
Prove me.
Now to those who have wealth, all I
say to you today, just give as the
Lord enables your heart to.
That's all.
If you don't want to give, don't.
Give as He enables your heart.
To those who are poor, because quite often
those who are poor end up with their
heads down in a meeting like this or
this type of a message.
I don't want ever any poor person in
this house to hang your head.
You have no reason to.
If you're poor, follow the example of the
widow in 1 Kings 17.
God sent Elijah to this widow.
And He said, I've commanded her to feed
you.
And the example is just share some of
what you have with the stranger who has
less.
That's how you start giving to God.
You don't have much.
You say, I just have a half a
loaf of bread and I have some peanut
butter and I have some jam in the
cupboard.
And God says, OK, that's good.
That'll suffice for now.
You have a little bit, but you're going
to meet somebody who has less.
So share with that person.
Share with the one who has less.
And God says, I will bring the increase.
And I'm going to teach you.
I'm going to bring increase into your life.
And I'm going to teach you this principle
that you can trust me.
I will not fail you.
All I'm asking now is a slice of
bread and a bit of peanut butter for
a hungry kid on the street corner.
That's all I'm asking, God says of you.
But you do this.
Just do that little bit.
And as He does, He's going to guide
you and increase your heart to give even
more.
He's going to make you willing.
Because it's a process.
And the Lord is patient.
And He will teach you how to give.
Whatever you bring to the house of God,
do not bring into this house your children's
food money.
Do not bring to this house that which
is needed for clothing and shelter.
Bring only what you can afford.
If you have nothing, and there are times
and seasons where there are people who have
nothing, bring them your confidence.
Bring them a heart of faith.
And lift up your head, because His glory
is coming to you.
You stand, please.
Hallelujah.
My altar call is very simple today.
For those who have been able to hear,
make me willing.
Let's stand, please, if we could, in the
annex.
I'm just going to invite you to come,
those who have had a hard time giving.
Just make me willing.
Just, God, make me willing to hear your
voice.
And when you ask me, then help me
to obey you.
Not a very complicated altar call.
But it can be the beginning of the
glory.
You have to understand, without willingness, there is
no glory.
There is no glory.
You can sit here and then become dependent
on us hitting the right note in the
worship time to experience the glory.
But wouldn't it be better to experience it
in your soul?
The glory that says, God is able, He
provides all things.
No matter what He asks me to give,
He gives back even more.
He is in an exhaustible supply that never
runs out.
Wouldn't you like that to be your testimony
at the end of your life?
Wouldn't you like that heritage to leave to
your sons and daughters and your grandchildren?
This testimony of God's faithfulness?
And it starts just with the willingness to
say, God, whatever you ask.
Now, keep in mind, we're not under the
law.
So, there is no legality to this.
It's free will.
It's what God speaks to you.
So, if you're getting under compulsion, it isn't
God.
If you leave here guilty and say, well,
you know, I've got to do this.
No, that's not God.
It's an engaging of your heart.
You will want to do this.
It will be something that God does within
you.
A giving, ultimately, which brings you and I
to the surrender of ourselves to the purposes
of God.
Not just our treasure.
Not just our talent, but ourselves.
To God's work.
All the days of our lives.
My only prayer has been to present a
balanced understanding of what it means and why
we should give to the work of God.
And I hope that you've heard that this
morning.
It's wonderful to trust God.
Now, those that have come to this altar,
you are not to leave here with a
burden.
This is not about a burden.
This is about a release into the work
of God.
And all you have to do is really
obey God.
And until you know what to do, don't
do anything.
He'll speak to your heart.
He will give you the desire.
And then He will fulfill that desire in
Himself.
And when you're finally released to trusting Him,
there will be a glory that comes into
your soul.
It's an amazing thing to experience and to
know His faithfulness.
Hallelujah.
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus, the Scripture says in Psalms, The
people will be willing in the day of
your power.
God, that speaks of me.
Your Word says that I will be willing
to give of myself and what I have
for Your use and for Your purposes, for
Your glory.
Lord, You say very clearly, this willingness will
touch my heart before Your glory will come.
God, I'm asking You to touch my heart
with a willingness to have open hands for
the work of God.
Help me, Lord, to trust You more than
the things that I possess.
Help me to value You more, Your purposes
and Your work, more than my own plans
and my own ambitions.
You are building a kingdom and You have
invited me to be a co-laborer with
Jesus Christ.
Today, I'm asking, Lord, that You give me
a willing heart and a ready mind to
engage the work of God as You speak
to me and live through me.
Now, O Jesus, I ask You that I
might know the glory that comes into the
soul of any person who learns to trust
You and is an open vessel of Your
kindness.
And I thank You for this.
Thank You for expanding my heart, for deepening
my understanding and drawing me into the very
heart of Your kingdom.
I thank You in Jesus' name.
Now, can we rejoice together just for a
moment?
Can we just thank Him?
This is the conclusion of the message.