 You know chapter 21 here in the Gospel of Luke is a very interesting chapter and as I was reviewing it, reading it over and everything, I realized that it's one of those chapters that I'm not going to rush through and especially because the majority of this chapter, when you get into verse 5 and move on, relates to the last days and it's the kind of subject that I really want to spend time developing with you. I don't want to just rush through it. And so what I chose to do is I chose to take the first four verses today. So we'll look at that. It's a very, very well-known story and everything. We've all heard this particular story before and I'll spend time with you looking at verses 1 through 4. And then next week when we get together, I'm going to begin giving a more in-depth study as it relates to the last days and a prophecy as it's presented to us by Luke here in chapter 21. So we'll look at verses 1 through 4 today and then next time we get together, I plan on taking you into verse 5 and moving on and probably taking a couple of weeks or so to go through chapter 21 beyond this study and looking a little more in particular at chapter 21 of Luke as it relates to the last days. And so we'll be seeing that as we go on throughout the rest of this month. But today we're going to look at verses 1 through 4 and so let's read together here in Luke chapter 21 at verse 1. I'll read to verse 4 and we'll get into our study. A study that is related to a widow and her love for God. And that's really what you're going to see in this passage, a widow's love. So beginning at verse 1 here in chapter 21, read to verse 4, Luke writes, He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all. For all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God. But she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had. Now as we look at this, obviously we're going to be looking at the widow's mites. We're going to be looking at what I call a widow's love because it's really love for God that motivates what she does. And we're going to be seeing that in some detail as we consider this particular portion of Scripture and the event that is before us. Now in order to give us a context, we need to remember that Jesus has been rebuking the Jewish scribes. And He especially had rebuked them because of the way they treated widows. Now you need to remember that in the nation of Israel, widows are the weakest member of that nation. They're the ones who are without help and so a widow is a very vulnerable person and Jesus was rebuking them concerning the way that they treated widows. He had said in verse 47 that they devoured widows' houses and for a pretense made long prayers. In other words, He was rebuking them because these people had taken financial advantage of those who should have been cared for. And what He was doing is He was comparing the hypocrisy of the religious leaders with what true righteousness really is. And so Jesus has just made that statement. He has just spoken concerning this hypocrisy and He had spoken concerning their hypocrisy as they treated widows when He said they devoured widows' houses and for a pretense made long prayers. And then notice as He says in verse 47, these will receive greater condemnation. And so it's interesting how Jesus has just rebuked the way that the people were treating the widows when we find this story presented to us immediately afterwards, a story about a widow, a widow who had generosity towards God. Because that's what He speaks about in verse 1 when He says He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. And so Jesus is now going to be giving to us instruction concerning faithful giving to the Lord. Now as it says in verse 1, He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. It may be that He has taken a moment to sit down and rest. He's been teaching His disciples and He's now in an area that is called the court of the women and He's there seated on a bench and in this particular area called the court of the women, there were 13 trumpet-shaped receptacles, chests that were used for receiving contributions. And the people would come in there and they would give their gifts for the upkeep of the temple. They would give gifts for daily sacrifices as well as giving for the support of the poor. And so as the Lord Jesus is there in the court of the women and He sees the way that these people are giving their money, He takes note of what is taking place and He's noting how people are giving their gifts to the Lord. And so as we look at this particular portion of scripture as we look at this one story, we actually have two very basic spiritual lessons that we can glean from it. One, we can see that Jesus is actually giving a rebuke to those who are greedy, those who live well but give very little to the Lord. And second, it's a lesson to those who fail to trust the Lord, so they give Him nothing at all. There are some who have so much money, yet they give nothing, or when they do give something, they give to the Lord less than they would tip a waiter. And then there are others who have no faith at all to give whatsoever, so basically what He's doing is He's giving to us some lessons related to that, to generosity and faithful giving. It's been said if both the rich and the poor seriously consider this, one will learn compassion and the other will learn generosity and both will be blessed by the Lord. One will learn compassion, the other generosity, but both of them will ultimately be blessed by God. And so that's what we're looking at right now in verse one, it says He looked up and He saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. Now Mark chapter 12 verse 41 actually gives to us the same story, and in Mark 12, 41, Mark tells us that Jesus saw how the people put money into the treasury. Not only did He see them, but He also was seeing the manner in which they did so. He was watching them closely as they were giving their gifts. So that gives me insight into the fact that Jesus sees everything, and what I do in public or what I do in private is equally known by Him. And so Jesus is watching as these people are giving their gifts, and Mark 12, 41 says many who were rich put in much. So as rich people, they gave the gifts out of their abundance, the abundance or excess of their wealth, and so some wealthy people are giving and they're giving in a way that is very obvious. But as these rich people are giving, He also makes note in verse two that there's a certain poor widow and she's putting in two mites. So as Jesus is watching how people are putting money into the treasury, there's one woman that draws His attention. Luke is very careful to point to us that she is a poor widow. Again, that makes her one of the most vulnerable members of Jewish society, and what she does is she gives two mites. Now, none of us really have mites, you know. Well, maybe we do and we have to have bug spray, but mites. When somebody says, what is a mite? Well, mites, these two mites would be roughly equivalent to one-sixteenth of a day's wage. That's what it would be roughly equivalent to. In other words, what she was giving in terms of amount was very small. Sometimes though, we will almost emphasize how small the gift is when in reality what we need to be seen is the proportion of the gift. Because though it was small, it was exceptionally generous, and that's the whole point you're gonna be seeing in just a moment as it's being made here. Because this poor widow gave her mites. Now, she came in, she put in two mites. When it says that she put in, that means she threw in quickly. She came in and just very quickly dropped it in. Now, she could have kept one for herself, but instead she releases both of these coins. And so the Lord Jesus is watching this take place and he says in verse three, truly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all, for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had. And so Jesus is gonna use this woman as a living illustration. He even calls his men over in order to use her as a lesson for them. You see, they could think that her gift is insignificant, especially in comparison to the larger gifts that have been given. And so what Jesus is about to do is give them a lesson concerning faith-filled giving. You see, the heart of this woman is being revealed and this is the heart of giving in the first place and the heart of giving to the Lord will always be that simple faith and trust that our God provides for us. That's really what it's all about when you give to the Lord. Not every single element of what it's all about, but that is what it's all about in this sense that when I give to the Lord, I give with faith knowing that my God shall supply my need. The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter three, verses nine and 10, honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase, your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. So he says, you are to honor the Lord. He says, but God will take care of you. He's gonna bless you as you do so. And so that's something that these disciples need to learn. They need to learn that as they give to the Lord, that the Lord will give in return. This is something that every believer needs to understand. This is something that every Christian ought to understand. This is a lesson we all should possess for ourselves to understand that God is the one who is gonna supply our daily bread. To understand that God is the one who supplies for us is one of the most basic Christian lessons that most Christians miss. Most Christians miss this one lesson here. The lesson of faithfully trusting in the Lord to know that God will supply our need. Jesus has these men, he wants to train up because they're gonna take the gospel throughout the world. They're gonna preach a God who cares. They're gonna speak about a Lord who will provide and supply their need. So they need to understand that God will take care of them. They need to understand that God does it. They need that practical experience because some people can speak from other people's experience, but God wants us to speak from what he has taught us personally, not just somebody else's testimony. Not so that I can say, well, I know the Lord works in this way because I saw him do it in this man's life. God wants to say, look it, I can do the work in you, but you have to trust me. And that's what the Lord is teaching them. You see, earlier when he was sending them out and training them up in ministry, it's found in Matthew chapter 10, he had been teaching them concerning how he would supply their need, how he would provide for them. And he had said in Matthew chapter 10, verses nine and 10, provide neither gold, nor silver, nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staff, a worker is worthy of his food. He was saying, look it, as you go out, I will take care of you every step of the way. You've got to learn that lesson. You have to understand that. And so this woman is actually becoming a lesson for Christians everywhere for all time so that we might see the faith that she had as she trusted the Lord and that we might emulate that faith knowing that God will care for us too. Because in her gift to God, she becomes a living lesson for all who follow the Lord. Because she gave in faith. She knew that God would supply her need. And she first gave from her heart and then she gave from her substance. And that's where giving always is. It's been said that my wallet and my heart have an invisible chain that is attached. And that's probably true. So you give first from your heart and then you give from your substance. When Paul was writing concerning this in second Corinthians chapter nine in verses six through eight, the apostle Paul said whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give. Not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good word. So what we do is we give. We give not reluctantly, not under compulsion, but we give what we have decided in our heart to give and we do so generously. The Lord tried to teach me this lesson and has been trying to teach me this lesson for many years. And I do remember on one occasion how he really dealt with me and seeing that he dealt with me, I'll use it as an illustration for you. How that one time I went to a meeting and there were like four or five pastors and we're together. And this is very early in the days of this ministry and I had $5 in my wallet. I don't, well, there's a reason I'm telling you that. I had $5 in my wallet. That's what I had. And as we were there, it was a meeting with pastors and one of the guys had invited a pastor to come and share. And as he was sharing about his mission and ministry he was doing, this pastor said, you know, I really feel that we ought to give an offering to help this brother in his ministry. And you have to keep in mind again, there was only a handful of us. We were all seated in this small office and kind of in a circle and this guy had shared. And now this pastor who invited us to join with this guy is wanting to receive an offering. And he says, we need to give an offering to this guy to support him. And I'm thinking, I've only got five bucks and that's for lunch. That's what I was thinking. And I was thinking, I'm not gonna give you anything. That was the second thing I was thinking. But they received an offering by passing a bucket and he says, and let's keep our eyes open as we pass this bucket. So I put my hand in my pocket. I pulled out my wallet. I gave my lunch money. You know, I lost my reward. God's not gonna give me a reward for that anyway. That's why I'm telling you, you know? I had a bad heart in that. Man, you know, so I grudgingly gave this $5. I dropped it in there. And you know, the Lord taught me a lesson a long time ago about that kind of giving. Don't be a grumpy giver. That's why on our offering things, if you look at it, you've got a guy and it says, don't be a grumpy giver, that's me. That's me on that, you know? There's a reason for that. Because we're not to give out a compulsion. We're not to give with that kind of heart. We give with joy. We give with gratitude. We give with thankfulness. Because God has been so good to us. And so offerings always begin, not in the substance or the amount that is given, but they always begin with the condition of the heart. They always do. So when that bucket comes before you and you don't wanna give, you know, that's between you and the Lord. That's between you and God. Now I didn't tell you this, but we have cameras trained on every person here and we'll show it at the end of the year. These people didn't give. Look at that cheapskate over there. Look at that grumpy face over there. No, we know that. I know that no matter how many lessons I learn, I know that no matter how many Bible studies I receive, no matter how many exhortations from scripture, the past might have given to me, I'm not gonna give until I really decide to do that. And I had to investigate my own heart a long time ago concerning its condition and the reasons to and not to give. I had to do that and have done that over the years. And so as I'm looking at this woman here, I don't have any great, you know, fantasies that boy, after looking at this, everybody here is gonna be so generous. I know that those who give will give, those who don't won't, and that's the bottom line. That's how it works. And yet at the same time, perhaps the Lord is speaking to us and saying, maybe it's time for us to have this kind of heart to trust like this. We're living in days right now and we all know that, that, you know, the gas crunch, a lot of people were hit very hard by it. A lot of people have been hit hard by the economy. A lot of people are being hit hard right now by escalating housing costs and all because they had those particular fluctuating interest rates and all of that. And I'm quite aware of all of that. And yet at the same time, giving remains the same thing. It's a faithful act towards God out of a generous spirit because of what God has done for me. It remains that way. It doesn't change. And so giving is something that demonstrates maturity. Giving is something that demonstrates the love for God. Giving is something that reveals a dependence on Him. Obviously God doesn't need our money. God is not poor. God doesn't lack anything. Romans chapter 11 verse 35 says, who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to Him. You know, I don't know about you but the Lord's never called me up and asked to borrow $5. He never has. He doesn't ask from us to do something like that. You know, in Job 41, 11 we read, who has preceded me that I should pay Him? Everything under heaven is mine. And so that's the way it is with the Lord. In reality, our giving to the Lord is really an evidence of the work that He's performing in our life. It reveals that we know the Lord and it reveals that we understand that He gives generously. It shows that I understand, John 3.16, God so loved the world that He gave. It reveals that I understood that Jesus Christ actually died for me and that the Lord is actually generous towards me. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 9, Paul said, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. Now we're Americans and we understand about investments. Americans are investors. We're well known for being that and normally people invest their money in that which provides them most satisfaction. You'll spend something, your money, on that which you derive most pleasure from using your money to purchase or to enter into some theme park or whatever. We know that, that's the way it is. And there's no real pain or real hurt in doing that. I mean, when my grandson was born, Marie and I would be walking through a mall and there'd be a baby shop, you know, one of those little baby shops that they have with baby clothes and Marie didn't have to drag me in there. It wasn't one of those shops that she has to drag me in. I went in there willingly, I still do, and I'll walk in there and I'll look around and see if there's something, a pair of shoes or socks or a little sweater or a shirt or anything, you know, to bring home for Josiah and now that we have Sophia, my baby girl, same thing, I have no problem doing that at all. If I was Josiah and we're walking around in a toy store or something and should we be walking by something and should he say, boy, I'd like that, I have no problem whatsoever buying it for him. I'll just have my daughter pay me back later. I don't have a problem with that at all. And I think that most of you are pretty similar in that and that is, is you're generous when what you're getting is something that gives you pleasure to do. It's just that way. And there's an investment of love in that we understand that. Americans understand that. But Americans, even American Christians, it seems to me, don't understand heavenly investments. Really don't. We understand earthly investments. Jesus made that clear. We saw this already as we've gone through the gospel of Luke. Remember in Luke 16, remember at verse eight, how that there Jesus had said, the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. Indeed, the sons of this age, the sons of this world are more shrewd. They are investors. Right now, we have the Olympics going on and I don't know about you, whether you care, whether you watch them. I do. I've been blowing my mind at swimmer Phelps. That guy is a fish. There's no doubt about that. I've been looking for gills. I mean, that guy can swim. He's an amazing swimmer, isn't he? He's an amazing swimmer, unbelievable. As a matter of fact, I was watching a special about him just today and they were speaking concerning his training regimen. And as I was speaking to my daughter Anna today, we were talking a little bit about this and I was talking about discipline. I said, do you think that Michael Phelps just climbed in the pool and swam that fast? Do you think that's what he does? That he just walks off the street and jumps in the water and bang, he's a world record holder. Do you think that's how that took place? That's not how that took place and we know that. We know that yesterday as he was involved in getting two gold medals and breaking two world records, that yesterday, just yesterday, he swam over five miles, including training and then in his events and the prelims and all of that. That takes an awful lot of work. To be able to swim five miles and to be somebody who's fresh and able to win the way he does amazes me or watch the gymnasts. Can you do what they do when they go out there? I can't even stand on that balance beam. I mean, I can't stand on that and I watch them and I am amazed at how unbelievably coordinated they are. But did it just happen? Did they roll out of the womb and tumble and say, hey, 10 points? I don't think so. I mean, and I was talking to my daughter about that and I was saying, it's a matter of discipline. It's a matter of discipline. They want the gold. They want that prize and they were willing to give up their life. One of the Chinese gymnasts has been training in gymnastics. She's 20 years old now for 17 years. She was removed from her home at the age of three. And for 17 years, the Chinese have been training this little girl, 20 years old, so she could be a gold medal gymnast. It doesn't just happen. There's a lot of dying to self. There's a lot of discipline involved. There's a lot of doing what is necessary to obtain the prize. And the world understands that. The world does. So you watch the Beijing Olympics and you see all these advertisements, all these commercials. There are so many American businesses that are putting so much money into China right now. I was looking to some of the companies that are there because America's corporations are everywhere, including Beijing, including China. AT&T is there. AIG Financial is there. Banana Republic is there in China. Campbell Soup, Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Harley Davidson is there. McDonald's, Old Navy, Radio Shack, Starbucks, 3M, Trader Joe's, Walmart, Whirlpool, they're all there. They're all investing there and trying to make as much money as they can. We see people when we all do. We wear T-shirts with somebody else's company logo on it. Think about that when you run around with your Quicksilver T-shirt or whatever, you're advertising for a company for free. Everywhere you go, Quicksilver is being presented. We do that all the time. I do that. We all do that. We pay for somebody else's advertising. It's interesting to me to note that Mickey Mouse, because Disney Corporation is also in China, Mickey Mouse is recognized by 91% of American school children. 91% of America's school children, when they see a picture of Mickey Mouse, they can tell you who that is. That is Mickey Mouse. And yet the name of Jesus Christ is unknown in many places in the world. American corporations have really taken and they understand, they are shrewd. They invest, they know name recognition is very important. They will invest in that. And it's for the temporal guys, it's just for the right now. Let's face it, as much as I admire Michael Phelps and all of these incredible gymnasts, you know, I also admired so many others who've come before them and since have been forgotten. So many of them that have come and gone over the years. Great athletes, people whose faces were on the Wheaties boxes and their gold medals and all of that that we have forgotten because their records are meant to be broken. And so they invest entire lifetimes like Paul said, and I was telling this to my daughter today, for a wreath that is ultimately going to fade, for a temporary reward. And that's the truth, isn't it? I mean, the gold medals that they get aren't even real. They're symbols that maybe someday when Michael is, should Jesus tarry and should he become 80 years old, he can walk up to his little case there and he can point to it with trembling hand and say, I can remember when I won that and that'll be about it. I mean, that's what he gets for it. So I hope he does enjoy it while he has it. But it's not eternal, is it? It's not eternal, guys. Records are meant to be broken and they will be broken. The way Mark Spitz's records have been broken, the way that Johnny Weismuller, some of you are too young to know who he was, Tarzan. Tarzan, we used to see him in the 30s movies, not that I was there, I wasn't there. Only in spirit. But Tarzan, his world records are beaten regularly by junior high school girls. But they were the big records during the time when he was swimming in the 30s and Buster Krab and all of these others that we don't even know their names anymore, just that they had fame because they were incredible athletes at one time. We know that. We know that there was this mythical 16 foot barrier for the pole vaulters and it went to 17, then it went to 18, then it went to 19. And that's just the way it is. And so you're real big and you're well known until somebody breaks your record. The world invests in certain things and those things may give immediate pleasure to somebody but not everlasting pleasure. And when it comes down to it, we are supposed to be eternal in our framework and the way that we think and the way that we invest, we are to be eternal in that. See, I've asked you this question before. I've said, what is the greatest TV evangelist? Who is the greatest TV evangelist? And people will immediately say, well, Billy Graham and God has used Greg Glory and all of that. No, the greatest TV evangelists are corporations like ABC and CBS, NBC, cable TV. They are constantly evangelizing and what they're doing is they're telling the world to give them their physical resources in order that they might continue to be able to produce television. And so people who are good stewards have come to understand that our finances and that's what this woman has discovered that our finances are best used when given to the kingdom of God, when given to the Lord. And she knows this and that's why Jesus is using her as an example. Good stewards use their finances to further the kingdom of God because every person knows that accumulating money in and of itself will never produce happiness. And financial faithfulness is basic to the Christian life because we have eternal perspectives. You know, it was Paul McCartney who said, money can't buy me love. And, but his ex-wife thinks it can. She's doing everything she can to get as much from him as she can. But the Bible tells us in 1 Timothy chapter six verses six through eight, godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. And so this woman had learned something. She had learned that generosity is actually something that undermines her old nature because the sinful nature is more inclined towards getting than giving. And so what happens is by giving, we become more like the God who gave and the God who continues to give. This woman had discovered that. And that's what Jesus is commending. He said in verse three and four again, truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had. That which she was living on, she gave to God, trusting him for her daily bread. So she was somebody who gave to the Lord and she did so with love for God. That's why this is a widow's love. She loves the Lord. That's what makes people give, not so that we can get from him, but because we love him. That's why I was talking to my Anna, my daughter again, I've spoken of her, this is a single conversation, but this is part of it today. And I said that to her today. I said, you know, your mama, your mom, anything your mama wants, I will do anything I can to get for her. That's just the way it is. And we're talking about that. I said, I love your mama. I said, thank God my wife doesn't want a whole lot of things. But the bottom line is, this is the truth. Like most any husband in this room, you know, if mama wants it, mama gets it. And that's what I told Anna today. I said, what mama wants, mama gets. And he said, that's the way it is. I wanna spoil her. I love her that much. And I will do everything I can. And it's a pleasure to do that. Why? Because love motivates giving. It does. Love motivates giving. This woman loves the Lord. That's why she gives. She didn't give to the Lord so she could get something back from him, though the Lord does bless us. She gave to him. And Jesus watched how she gave because she loved him. And she was exercising faith as she did so. See, so people who come to churches like this, and maybe it's your first time here and you're saying, there you go, come to a church and the first thing they talk about is money, don't worry, keep your money. And it wants your money. But I will tell you this. If I'm in love with the Lord, it's not a problem for me to give my gifts to Him at all because I love Him. There's no problem in giving to the one you love. So you give. You give with love and you give with faith. Now, when Paul was speaking about this, if you take notes, you might want to note this. It's found in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse two. When Paul was speaking about this, he said this. He said, on the first day of the week, let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. He was sharing a little bit about the giving practice of the Corinthians. Of course, they were setting something aside because they were going to be ministering to some in need. But this is a basic way that we can look at at our giving to the Lord. One, he said on the first day of the week, so that tells me this is something that was to be a habit. It wasn't occasional and it wasn't just giving some extra money or giving when they felt like it. They were giving to the Lord and they were to do so on a regular basis. Secondly, he had said, let each one of you lay something aside. And so we give with the knowledge that we are part of a family. And so we as a family, while we give, our giving should be with the mind of doing our part. What is my part to do? In 2 Corinthians in chapter eight, verses 13 and 14, Paul said, I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened but by an equality that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack and their abundance also may supply your lack that there may be equality. The point he was making is every member does its share. So each one of you are to put something aside. The third thing is he spoke about proportionate giving. It was in keeping with their income. Some give less but are really proportionately giving more. That's what this woman was doing. That's what Jesus is commending. He says they gave out of their abundance but she gave out of her poverty. So proportionately she was actually giving more. Also as I mentioned earlier, you give freely, you don't give out of guilty compulsion. This woman wasn't being forced to do it. She did it because she was freely willing to do so. In 2 Corinthians chapter eight, verse 12, Paul says if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does. And then again there's that generosity even as this woman was demonstrating it. Why be generous to God? Because God has been generous to me. She didn't keep anything back from the Lord. She wasn't there regretting giving it to him. She gave because she loved him. She gave with that kind of heart. And that's how we ought to give to the Lord. Giving generously to him because he's generously given to us. We're simply responding to what he's already done for us. Proverbs 13 verse seven says there's one who makes himself rich yet has nothing and one who makes himself poor yet has great riches. And then six, she gave out of faith. Even as Jesus said, she gave her whole livelihood to the Lord because she was trusting the Lord to supply her need. She knew that God would supply. One of the more powerful scriptures is found in 2 Corinthians chapter nine, verse six where Paul says he who's so sparingly will reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. You know, I go outside and I'm reseeding if I have some grass seed and I throw it there on the dirt and all of that. If I throw a little, a little will come up. If I throw a lot, a lot comes up. That's just a law of sowing and reaping. And then you're giving to the Lord is similar. You give to the Lord and the Lord has a tendency of out giving you. You're never gonna out give him. And then finally you give with joy. In 2 Corinthians chapter nine, verse seven let each one give as he purposes in his heart not grudgingly or of necessity. God loves a cheerful giver. And so there's that cheerfulness in the giving. And I'm certain that as this woman was giving her gifts to the Lord, there was a joy in her heart towards him. God had given to her and she was simply giving back to him. Giving to the Lord. It was so important that Jesus takes the time to instruct his disciples concerning this woman because the disciples could very well think that those who were giving more in terms of numeric amounts were more generous. But Jesus was watching how they gave. And Jesus knew that even in those trumpets, and you might find this interesting, that when people would come, sometimes it would take their coins and they would throw their coins into that trumpet and the trumpet being made out of metal would have a rattling as the coins went to the base. And so they were doing that before men and from men they received their reward. That's how Jesus was speaking concerning that in Matthew six when he said people give their alms before men so that they might be seen by men. He was referring to the fact that sometimes they would take their coins and they would throw it into the metal and as they hit that metal and clanged as it went down, people would hear the amount, how much it was going and the weight of those coins. A mite doesn't even have hardly any weight. If you ever held one in your hand it has basically no weight. We have some mites that we got from Israel from around the time of Christ and there's no weight or substance to it at all. It is that little in terms of value. So she quickly drops her mites in there so nobody notices what she's doing but there are others who are coming in undoubtedly with a large amount of money in their hand and there's dropping it inside and as it drops it rattles as it goes down and the disciples are there and everybody can almost hear it as it's going there and as they do so Jesus says I want you to see the difference between these people. You notice the rich people are dropping in much because they have an abundance to give but this woman here I want to use her as an example because she loves God. This is a woman who has faith in him, is trusting him and she gave what she has to live on this day. She had two mites. She could have kept one for herself and found something to eat, something very inexpensive but she chose not to do that because she's gonna trust the Lord for her daily bread. That person is somebody that Jesus gave to us a lesson about because he wants us to be like her. One of the things about giving to the Lord is when you begin to give to him you actually make room for the Spirit of God to move in you. You see in Luke chapter six verse 40 Jesus said a disciple is not above his master but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his master. It's been my prayer for this fellowship for many years. Very simple prayer. There's so many things I do pray about for us as a church but at that we would have a generous spirit towards the Lord. You know sometimes I'll read in the newspaper I haven't done so recently because nothing like that has gone on around here in recent years but I've mentioned this before as I've stood up here and I've shared about things like this and I've said you know it's interesting to me that when a Jehovah's Witness kingdom hall is built that very often they will build that kingdom hall for cash basically sometimes almost over a weekend. I mean they'll have a work party there going 24 hours a day and they put together something so people can come and they can learn some things that are actually basically untrue and yet all of those people who go and they generously contribute and do those things where the body of Christ is yet to learn that lesson and that's true the church is yet to learn that lesson. I really do believe very strongly that when the church finally learns that lesson then churches will no longer have to go out and take loans out from secular banks and pay high interest rates because the body of Christ will have the vision to actually do the work that God has called that church to do. To me it would be a great and a wonderful thing if we here in this fellowship actually paid off our mortgage years in advance because we spend an awful lot of money a month making payments on this building how I wish I was out from underneath that so we could take that money and do so many other things or we can make payments mortgage payments and if the churches ever our church in churches in general ever got the idea the reality of what we could do if we actually had generosity can you imagine the things that we could do for the kingdom of God? So many things that we could do or we can make monthly payments for another 10 years. For me I'd love to be out from underneath that mortgage to be honest with you and if our fellowship ever had a mind to do that we could we could do so much more we could do so much more and we can use this woman as an example of generosity a woman who said I really don't have anything to live on today but it doesn't really matter because I'm gonna trust the Lord for my daily bread and I love him so much I want to give to him and Jesus is watching and he says it's not the rich people that I'm taking notice of they have a lot therefore they can give a lot it's this woman because proportionately she gave everything she has they gave out of their riches she gave out of her poverty they have an abundance and it didn't even hurt them she gave everything she had he said that is faith the other is not so I read this and I asked myself what am I like Lord and helped me to have real faith