 looking today at verses 41 through 44, and let me tell you something before I get into it. I don't really enjoy teaching studies on giving. I just don't. It just is something that I've always had a problem with. I can speak on a lot of subjects with comfort. This is one that I don't. I guess it's because I come from a generation where people were always saying that we Christians, you Christians are always begging for money and this and that. And so I'm really reluctant to teach on subjects like that because somebody may be here for the first time and they're saying, see, all churches are talking about money. And so just for you, I wanna talk to you today about money, because you're that important. So, but you know what? This is one of those subjects. It's part of the scriptures. We go through the Bible verse by verse and we're now looking at the widow's mites. We find that in Mark chapter 12, as well as the book of Luke. I'll be cross-referencing a couple of times as we go through this passage. So let's begin reading at verse 41. Mark chapter 12 verse 41, I'll read to verse 44 and we'll get into our study. Mark chapter 12, beginning at verse 41. Reading to verse 44. Mark writes, now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury and many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites which make a quadrants. So he called his disciples to himself and said to them, or surely I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those have given to the treasury for they all put in out of their abundance. But she, out of her poverty, put in all that she had, her whole livelihood. Now as is my normal way of teaching, let me give you some background, build it up a little bit, then move into the study. Excuse me, Jesus, and that's just an analogy. It's not COVID, don't run out the door. Jesus had just rebuked the Jewish scribes for the way that they had treated widows. He had said that you devour widow's houses and for a pretense you make long prayers. You see, they took financial advantage of those that they should have cared for. This was especially wrong because in the Jewish society widows were extremely vulnerable. They were so vulnerable that in the Old Testament God gave commands concerning the care of widows. This is because when her husband died, the widow would have no means of support. You see, at that time, most women married and gave birth to children and their children would become heirs and would then carry on the family line. But if the woman had no children, she experienced even greater adversity. You see, as a widow she had no husband to provide for her or to protect her as childless. She had no son to care for her or to carry on the family name. Now, Israel was an agricultural society. So in an agricultural society, the widow would be left with no one to do the farming. She could do some work to care for herself but not much. She might carry water for an employer but it was backbreaking work. And because of this, God had given commands and tended to help her and those in need. In Deuteronomy 2419, it reads, when you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. So often she would find herself in great need and when she was in great need, she would be taken advantage of. Because of this, God spoke concerning the treatment of widows. He said, you shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. In Isaiah 117, it says, learn to do good. Seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. Well, Jesus had just said that the religious leaders were guilty of a sin. They were devouring widows' houses. Now, I mentioned that part of what that would be in reference to was the fact that if a widow gave somebody to pray for them a good amount of money, the more money they gave, the longer the prayer. But there were other things that were going on at that time that I didn't mention. You see, there was a system that had been set up for widows through offerings. And the offerings came through offering boxes that were found in what is called the court of the women. One writer stated that the offerings were always being spent on care for the needy, though. Instead, they were often spent on long robes and banquets. That's what Jesus was referring to in verse 38. So that was one way in which they devoured the widow's houses. That's one way that they made ruin of their estates. Another aspect of this, though, is related to the handling of her finances and property. You see, for this kind of thing, it was common to have a trustee over the finances. The widow would speak to a rabbi and ask for guidance. He would send various men to speak to her, and she would choose one of those men to be the one who was over her finances. Often, the more he prayed, the more she trusted him. She would often trust the one with the most heartfelt, eloquent prayers. And at that point, when she appointed him as the one over her estate, he would take over her financial situation, and then he would cheat her. And so this is what we're looking at. Jesus has just made a statement concerning the devouring of widow's houses and how wrong it was, what was taking place at that time. But what we're doing is we're now looking at what Jesus did next. And both Mark and Luke report for us. You see, both tie this story in with Jesus' condemnation of those who abuse widows. And so it says in verse 41, now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury and many who were rich put in much. Notice it says Jesus sat. He has taken a moment to sit down. He's been teaching and he's resting. He's in a place called the court of the women. If you were looking at a diagram of the temple precincts there, the court of the women would be in the northeast section of those temple grounds. He's there on a bench, he's seated and resting, and he's watching as the people are giving. Now in that area, there were 13 trumpet-shaped chests used for receiving contributions. The gifts that were received there were for things like the care of the temple or daily sacrifices and support for the poor. So he's seated there and he's noticing people who are giving their gifts to the Lord. Mark says he saw how the people put money into the treasury. Luke 21 verse one says he looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. You see, he had already denounced the hypocrisy, but he's looking up now and he's seeing people giving. And Jesus is taking note of how the people are giving their gifts to the Lord. Now Mark speaks of the people, but Luke speaks of the rich. Luke says Jesus saw the rich give, but Mark says he saw how people gave. So he was observing, that word saw speaks of observing. It speaks of paying close attention. He's watching them closely. And so it says in verse 41, he saw how the people put money into the treasury. He's watching them closely. He's watching the way the people are giving their gifts and he's evaluating and taking note of their motives as they're giving. You see, he sees everything. It's been said what we do in public or private are equally known to him. Hebrews 4 13 says nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered in laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. So God sees all and he's watching and Jesus is there watching as they're giving their gifts. And he's looking at the motives. He's determining whether they're giving their gifts in faith to the Lord or if they're giving their gifts to be seen by men. Now, Jesus had addressed this attitude when he spoke of performing good works. The good that we do should originate from an inward principle. We do good, in other words, to be approved by God, not to be seen by others. In Matthew 6, 3 and 4, it says when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret. Then your father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. So Jesus has already spoken concerning this and now he's watching these people. He's watching these people as they're giving, some are giving much and then he looks at this poor widow who gives much less. It says that many who are rich put in much. In Luke 21, verse one, he looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasurer. Now, treasurer, when it says in Luke 21, verse one, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasurer, that means to cast or to throw. They had handfuls, they were putting in much. They had handfuls of coins that were heavy and when they were throwing them in, they would hit this trumpet shaped chest and they would rattle as they went down and the heavier the coin, the louder the sound, that's what's taking place. So they're throwing handfuls of coins into the collection box and they rattle as they drop because there are so many coins that people around there could hear and Jesus can hear that and it says that the rich were given out of their abundance or the overflow of their wealth. But as this is all going on, verse 42 says one poor widow came and threw in two mites which make a quadrants. So Jesus is observing how people give and as doing so, one poor woman draws his attention. Notice how Mark tells us she is a poor widow. Again, that makes her one of the most vulnerable members of Jewish society. This is intended to contrast her giving with that of the wealthy givers because verse 42 says she came in through in two mites which make a quadrants. Now, the mite is the smallest coin in use during the time of Christ. I was trying to figure out and I went to different sources to try and find out what two mites would be equivalent in our society today and the closest I could get to that would be, it'd be like throwing $2, about $2 in. Now she could have kept one of them for herself but she didn't. She released both of the coins. Well, as this has taken place, notice verse 43, Jesus called his disciples to himself, said to them, assuredly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury for they all put in out of their abundance but she, out of her poverty, put in all she had her whole livelihood. So Jesus calls his men over and he wants to make a point. He's gonna teach them something. Again, she threw these things in quickly, not drawing attention to herself but Jesus noticed it and as he's observing her he calls his men over to himself that he might teach them because he's gonna use this poor widow as a living illustration. His men may have felt that her gift was insignificant in comparison to larger gifts but Jesus is gonna teach his men a lesson on faith-filled giving. Now why would he teach them this particular lesson? Because at the heart of giving to the Lord is trust that he provides for you. That's what the scripture teaches, Proverbs 3, 9 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 there's something she had that the disciples needed themselves. They needed to trust the Lord that he would provide for them. You see when Jesus leaves them they're gonna be messengers of the kingdom. They need to trust God to supply all of their need. They need to trust God to supply their daily bread as they go about serving him. You see their ministry is gonna be built around the fact that God is gonna support them. Now he's been teaching them that. We saw that earlier in Matthew's Gospel in chapter 10, verses nine and 10. When Jesus was sending his men out he was teaching them to rely on God that God would provoke people who would care for them. He says in Matthew 10, nine and 10 provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money bags nor bag for your journey nor two tunics nor sandals nor staffs. A worker is worthy of his food. So it's teaching his men that God will take care of them and meet their daily bread needs. He had taught them that. He had taught them that he would take care of them and the finances as well as their food. He had multiplied the fish and the loaves and then when he'd done that he was teaching them God will provide for you. Well by her gift she became a powerful lesson for all who would follow the Lord. This poor widow gave in faith trusting that God would supply her need. And so as she gave to the Lord the first thing she gave was her heart. She gave from her heart and then she gave from her substance. Paul was speaking about this in 2 Corinthians 9, 6 through 8 when he 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'll abound in every good work. God loves a cheerful giver. You give what you've decided in your heart to give. You don't do it reluctantly and you don't do it under compulsion. So this woman gives her kid a dollar and then a quarter. She says I want you to put the dollar in the offering plate and the quarter is for you. You can get something later on on your way home from church. So he comes home and she's taking care of the wash and she puts her hand in his pocket and she pulls out a dollar and she says what's this? She calls the son. She says listen I told you to give a quarter keep a quarter for yourself and put a dollar in the offering plate but here's a dollar and there's no quarter. That means you put the quarter in the offering plate and you kept the dollar for yourself. And the kid said yes that's what I did mom. And she said why'd you do that? He said because God loves a cheerful giver and I was more cheerful given a quarter than a dollar. So that's an old joke. It just comes to mind I'm sorry. But you don't give reluctantly. You don't give under compulsion. God loves a hilarious. The word cheerful means one who gives with hilarity with great joy because he's able to make notice all grace abound so that in all things at all times having all that you need you'll abound in every good word. That's a promise from God. This is the heart of giving to the Lord. Giving our gifts to him demonstrates a mature faith. It also demonstrates a dependence. God doesn't need our money. He's not poor. He doesn't lack anything. In Romans 11 35 Paul says this. He says who has first given to him and it shall be repaid to him. In Job 41 11 God asked who has preceded me that I should pay him. Everything under heaven is mine. And so it all belongs to him. Giving to the Lord is evidence of the work of God in a person's life. It reveals a person knows God and it also reveals that he knows that God gives generously. What could be a greater gift to us than the giving of Jesus Christ? In 2 Corinthians 8 verse nine you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor that you through his poverty might become rich. He wanted to bless you. You see giving is not how the Lord raises money. It's how he raises children. Those who don't know the Lord still know what they want. And those who don't know the Lord still know how to work to get what they want. Jesus said something interesting in Luke 16 verse eight that stands out to me. In Luke 16 verse eight he said the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. The sons in this world's generation know what they want and are willing to do anything they can invest in it and get it for themselves because they know what they want. He said the children of light those believers in Christ those who are believers in God they don't always have that kind of a strength and a purposeful life. They don't in many ways. The unbeliever knows what they want very often the believer is confused. You know sadly because of some greedy Christians pastors like myself are considered thieves. The children of this age know what they want. They make no apologies for it. But people will say that's all you pastors ever do is you always talk about money. I was many years ago now my kids were still small. It was back I think in the late 80s. I had four babies and we had a vehicle that we were out growing. We needed to get a van of some sort. And so we went and looked at different vans and we were at a dealership. And I brought my tribe with me and we got in this van and the salesman sat next to me and I was test driving it. And so in order to see whether I had the money to buy the van he asked me a question. He said to me what do you do for a living? Any time someone asked me that I get ready for the interesting response. So I'm driving he says what do you do for a living? And I said I'm a pastor. And he says oh you're a pastor. Pastors are thieves. Yeah he did, he really did. Pastors are thieves. I said really? And I pulled out my gun give me your wallet. No I, he said. I said really? Pastors are thieves. What a great line to sell a van right? Yeah I'm gonna steal from the poor box to buy this van. I mean that made no sense to me at all. So he says yeah pastors are thieves. I said really? And he goes yes. I said oh that's interesting. And I said do you know that there are some 500,000 pastors in the United States and that the overwhelming majority of them are honest God-fearing men and are not thieves? Did you know that? And he goes no I really didn't know that. I said yeah it's true. I said 500,000 pastors and the overwhelming majority of them are honest God-fearing men. And I said but let me ask you something. Or let me tell you something. He says what? I said you know the last two cars I bought were sold to me by lying car salesmen. And I said but you're not a liar are you? You're honest aren't you? And you're gonna give me a good deal aren't you? And he goes yes sir I'm honest. I said good. I said you're an honest car salesman. I'm an honest pastor. I sucked my hand out and I said let's shake. You see a lot of people you know those of you who are not in ministry like I am in staff members are. You may not realize that. Or maybe you think that yourself. All pastors are thieves. They're always after our money and this and that. The world knows what they want. They go after your money. I was in India and while I was in India Rall Reese and I went many years ago we were doing ministry in India. I've been there twice. I've spent about a month in India doing ministry. And on this one particular occasion Rall and I were there doing ministry went to different seminaries and taught men and pastors and all of that. We did that a number of years ago. But while we were there you know I had an opportunity to look closely at the commercialism in India and Rall and I were seated in our room and I turned on the TV to see what kind of television is being broadcast in that particular area. And they had MTV at that time. I don't even know if it's still on but they had MTV and they had these Indian kids who were dressed up in Indian garb but they were doing this kind of hip hop kind of thing. And Rall and I are sitting there just going I can't believe this. The influence of the United States throughout the world is incredible. MTV can you imagine that? But when you're driving and you need to understand that the poverty level at that time and I am certain it hasn't changed much over the years the poverty level at that time was so incredible that Americans wouldn't have the opportunity or ability really to understand how deep it is until you see it. I saw a lady with a hammer and she had large rocks that she was sitting with the hammer, make it into gravel. And as we drove by in India it was about 90 degrees with about 90% humidity. It was absolutely, it was so hot. And there she is sitting out breaking rocks in the hot sun, you know. And one of the guys speaks to me and says he says, you see what she's doing? Yes, she's breaking rocks into gravel to be sold to construction for construction. I said, really? And he said, yes. And he said, she works for 10 hours a day. And you know how much she makes? And I said, how much? 50 cents. 50 cents a day, five cents an hour to break rocks into small rocks. The poverty is unbelievable there. Unbelievable. It's something Americans, we say, well, I'm poor. Are you poor? Do you have a cell phone? Yes. Do you have a place to sleep? Yes. Did you eat last night? Yes. No, we don't know poverty. You don't know poverty till you see it for what it is where people are building little shanties out of cardboard in traffic islands in Bombay. You don't know poverty. And yet as we're going through India, we went all through India. We're there for quite some time. There are billboards that are selling Levi's. They have billboards they're selling American made beer and wine. They sell Coca-Cola. They sell Pepsi. They sell Marlboro's. They sell all these American products to these people who have hardly any money. They sell T-shirts and they sell different sweatshirts with American logos on them. And it's funny because when we buy these shirts that may say Nike or whatever on it, we're actually paying for their advertising. But that's what we do. We don't think about it. So poverty is an interesting thing. But the world knows what it is selling and what it's going after. And they are willing to spend anything. People are willing to spend almost anything to get the treasures and pleasures of the world. But what we are is we're stewards of the resources of God. And we need to understand that our finances take care of the various things of course, but they also are used to further the advancement of the kingdom of God. And it's used for evangelization. You know, if I was to say, can you think of who the greatest TV evangelist ever was? The greatest TV evangelist, people would say probably at the top of the list would be, well, Billy Graham, right? He's the greatest TV evangelist. And to that, that statement, that's incorrect. The greatest evangelist, TV evangelist is CBS, NBC, ABC. They're the greatest evangelists. Because they give their message to us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, constantly telling us what to eat, what to drink, what to put on, constantly. And Jesus said that the heathen pursues those things. And ABC, CBS, all the commercials have bought into that. And they tell us those things. You know that, and I know that. Over the weekend, you see all these commercials that tell you to eat crazy chicken and drink beer. You know that on Monday, they have these clinics you can go to to lose the weight that you gained over the weekend. I mean, that's what it is. So we need to understand that the children of this age know what they're going for. And they put their product out there and people purchase their products. They will purchase the things and do the evangelization for them. That's why God's resources, one of the reasons, that's why God's resources are to be stewarded so that we can further His kingdom. Contrary to what the world and some Christians even, even Christians may believe, money isn't our God. Money's necessary, it's useful, but it is also used to further the kingdom. You see, of all the people on the face of the earth, we believers ought to know that. In 1st Timothy 6, verses 6 to 8, godliness with contentment is great gain. Well, 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. When we learn to give to Him, it reveals faith and it crucifies our old nature. Our old sinful nature is more inclined towards getting than giving. By giving, we become more like the God who gave and still gives. Now, as we look at this woman, I can't help but think of the apostle Paul who gave us insight concerning giving because he said in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse two, he said to the church in Corinth, 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. So he was speaking concerning this and he said, as you give to the Lord, may it be something that is habitual. May it not be occasional when you may have a little extra or feel like giving. You see, believers are like this woman, we give our gifts to the Lord, but we do so on a regular basis. And we don't give when we have something extra, we give because it is our habit of life. He says, let each one of you lay something aside. So as a congregation, as believers together, we give knowing that we're part of a family and our giving should be with that in mind, we do our part. And that's what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 8, verses 13 and 14. He said, I do not mean that other 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. So we care for one another. And he said, storing up as he may prosper. When he speaks of prospering in that way, it speaks of in keeping with his income. In other words, it's not necessarily a set amount, 10%. With my children, when they were small, I wanted to teach them to be generous and to give to the Lord. I think it's a wise thing for parents to do that. I wanted to be a wise parent. Therefore, I tried to teach my children when they were little to be givers to Jesus. And so we had small children at that time and we still had some of the jars for baby food, the Gerber jars, those kinds of jars. We still had those. We brought those out for special occasions like Thanksgiving that anyway. But we had the Gerber jars. And so I gave my children when the youngest was probably four years old so that they were ranging in age. But I can remember, because you would have understood this. I would give them a dollar. I gave them a dollar in dimes because I wanted to teach them the basics of giving. And so I would put 10 dimes in front of each of them. I would put two jars. There were two jars. One was theirs and one was for Jesus. And so I'd say, these dimes are yours. It's called your allowance. I said, that jar is for Jesus. This jar is for you. And so I'd say, how much do you wanna put in the jar for Jesus? I did this every week. And when I first began doing it, I'd say, let's put nine of yours in your jar and we'll put one dime in his. And I'd let him look at it because visual learning helps a lot. And my kids, even when they're 10 years old, nine, 10 years old, they'd say, that's not right, daddy. And I'd say, what's not right? Look how many I have. And look how little he has. I said, but you know, you're giving him something. And they said, just, but can we give him more? And so they started learning just through proportion that the giving, it always, it's been said like this, I can live on just as well on 90 cents as I can on 100 cents. And they were learning what budgeting was. They were learning to make priorities of giving. And so that's how we did it. We wanted them to give in, they would say, dad, can't you give a little bit? Can we put more dimes in for Jesus? They were learning proportionate giving. They had 10, why not give them more than that? And so that's how we did. You see, so you give in keeping with your income, some can give less, give less, but they are proportionately giving more because that's given as you may prosper. This woman gave out of her poverty all that she had, which obviously proportionately was greater. When we give, we give freely. We give freely to the Lord and not out of a guilty compulsion. In second Corinthians 812, it says if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have. So you give in proportion, but you give in a willing way. You give it not with guilty compulsion at all, but it's from your heart. And our giving is generous because God has been generous to us. You see, she didn't keep anything back from the Lord. We always give in faith. She gave her whole livelihood to the Lord, trusting that he would bless her. According to second Corinthians 9 verse 6, Paul said it like this. He said, this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. And so we give. We give with this knowledge that God blesses us, but we don't give just to be blessed, but because he has already blessed us. And we do so with deliberate consideration. The poor widow determined to give what she had to live on. In other words, she'd waited out and she made the decision. Second Corinthians 9, 7, again, let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver. So these three men were habitually late to church. They always made sure that they came to church after the offering had been received in. And the pastor noticed it. It was real obvious because everything was preceding. Offering was received. Couple of minutes later, they'd come walking and sit down and he began to notice that this was their pattern and they did it all the time. So finally one day he said, I'm gonna get these guys. So he changed the order of service. And so they came in at the regular time when the offering normally had been taken, but that time the pastor, after they came in and sat down, that time the pastor said, well, we haven't received our offering yet. We're gonna receive our offering now. And when he said that, one of the men fainted and the other two carried him out. We don't give grudgingly. We give with joy. We purpose in our heart to do so. In other words, our giving is not simply an impulse. It's determined. You see, if she was given out of impulse, she could have later regretted doing so. But she did it with joy, not grudgingly, not with reluctance and not as if she was under pressure, it was just a joyful heart. You see, one of the things that has clearly revealed to us in scripture is that God is generous. Again, Deuteronomy 15-10, give generously to him, do not let your heart be grieved when you do so. And because of this, the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything to which you put your hand. When our church first began, we had a Bible study. It was in a house. I taught Isaiah 43-18 and 19. We closed and I said, God bless you. I hope to see you next week. If you like, we'll be here. And so I was dismissing them so they could fellowship. But my dad, my dad said, David, I have to ask you a question and I said, what? He said, son, you didn't receive an offering. I said, we don't, I'm not gonna receive an offering, dad. He goes, why not? I said, well, I said, we're not even really recognized church, we're just a Bible study. I said, and those who give, if you were to give something, you don't have the right under California or United States law to declare it as a contribution. I said, we're not a nonprofit. You can't do that, dad. He says, but what if we wanna give? I said, but dad, you won't get a benefit from that and I don't wanna take your money. So he said, what if we want to give, son? I said, if you're insistent on this, dad, how much you got? No, I said, if you're, if you're insistent. I said, there's a macrame, there's a pot that's right there by the fireplace. If you wanna put something in there, but let me tell you anything that goes into that, if it's not marked out for Marie and me and my family, I am gonna use it so that we can incorporate and become a legal entity. And so we received our first offering. I didn't receive it. They gave it generously on their own. There were $380 in that. $100 came for my wife and me and the other money I put into the incorporation for this church and that's how we ended up incorporating. But for 11 years, 11 years, we never received a single offering, not a single offering. We, on two occasions on Easter, we had to put the boxes out because we were in different places, but I didn't send ushers through with baskets. It wasn't because I thought it was wrong to do that. I never have. I just thought that's just not us. I didn't wanna put pressure on people. And so over 11 years, we were able to purchase properties. We had a property on Maple Street. We bought this property without receiving offerings. We did not receive offerings for 11 years. And so God always has abundantly provided for us. And so I was, I mentioned earlier in India, Raul and I were in India and I had one of my board members who had just previously to us leaving had said, David, I think that we need to start receiving offerings at the church. I said, no, I'm not gonna do that. I don't sense that. When we were in India, Raul and I were talking and Raul said, you know, it's probably time for you to receive an offering, David. And by the witness of two, I thought, you know, the Lord is speaking to me because I won't listen to one. But if this other one saying that this is the spirit of the Lord. So we began receiving offerings we never had before because God has always been the one who has provided. We have bought property. I've hired staff members. We have done ministry for 41 years. And our God has always supplied every dime. He has never left us lacking. Even under COVID, when I thought the church was gonna go belly up because we only received 35% of our offering online and we needed an awful lot more than what was coming in that way, the Lord said, no, I did not raise you up to let you fall. I will take care of you. And even under COVID, when we had the doors closed and we still were receiving from the generous people in this church, the support where we were able to keep over 40, 50 staff members supplied. All of the bills paid the light stayed on because God, our God always provides. He always does. He always does. And that's what the Lord has taught us over the years. And even now we don't send people out with baskets. Not that we have a problem with it, but we know that people are sensitive to that. And the Lord still has taken, why? Because our God is able, is able to provide abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think. You see, that's the God you serve. It doesn't work just with us. It's all of us. You see, and I'll close with this. They put in out of their abundance, but she gave out of her poverty, verse 44. They gave out of their excess. She gave out of her deficiency. She gave all that she had, which would have bought her food for her day, left nothing to herself, but she trusted God would supply and he did. In Philippians 419, my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus. What was true for her is true for you. God supplies all your needs. Know that, know that. A lot of people don't believe that. A lot of people don't believe that. But I can stand as a testimony for 43 years. The Lord has applied all my need as a pastor. And even before I was pastoring, and he has always supplied, I'll give you one story and then we'll close. I was told I was in a pastor. I resigned my position. I had no finances. I still had my monthly bills. And one day I walked into the dining area. My precious, my honey, my Marie was going through the bills and then I noticed that we had not given to the Lord out of our resources. And I told Marie this and this may sound self-serving, some will think it is, but it's just a true story. I looked at her and I said, my God, honey, we shall not rob the Lord. My God supplies all my need. And as I was speaking to her, I went to get the mail and I came back and there was a letter, no return address, just a letter. And I opened it up even as she and I were talking and it was a check for $200, a cashier's check. It had nobody's signature on it, but it said $200. And I picked it up and I held it in my hand. I said, my God shall supply all my need according to His resources. Know that, know that. Our first gift goes to Jesus and we live on everything else. That's how it's been. And my God, I have never, and I'm not saying this, oh, we're not gonna receive an offering, don't worry. I'm just telling you, you can trust Him too because my daddy is your daddy too. He's your daddy too. And He'll take care of you. And in this time when people are so afraid, my God shall supply, my God does supply. He is able abundantly to do and access to anything I could ask or ever think. He will not lift you up to let you fall. He will take care of you. And this woman is a living testimony of giving to God, knowing that God will give back to her. She gave in faith, we the church should do the same. Our father, we...