In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the significance of money in our lives. He acknowledges that while there is more to life than just money, it still holds importance as we spend a significant amount of time working to earn it. The preacher encourages saving, but also emphasizes the need to trust in God and be willing to give back to Him when called upon. He shares a personal testimony of his own struggles with education and reading, highlighting the power of God's grace in his life. The sermon also emphasizes the importance of not just knowing the truth intellectually, but also believing and experiencing it in our lives. The preacher uses the example of obeying and minding one's mother as a parallel to obeying and minding the Holy Spirit. The sermon concludes by highlighting the transformation of a poor church in Macedonia into a rich one, not just financially, but also spiritually.

Well, it's good to be here today. I'm glad you got out of the mud. Got the church out. Amen. The Lord's given us a beautiful day. Happens to forget the mud, hasn't it? Amen. And it's good to see you here, and I'm glad to be here. I was sitting at the table this morning, and a lady called Brother Jimmy and said, you know Brother Manly, he's sick. And Brother Jimmy just kept trying to tell her, well, he was, you know, but he's doing better. And I don't know, she must have got a word or something about that, or maybe they haven't seen me since I got down to my running size. But it was no news to us that I'd been sick, and I was sick. And I don't think it's any news to the Lord, but his grace is absolutely adequate and absolutely sufficient, and abundantly above what I even need, regardless of how sick I am. But people always asking me, said, how do you feel? And I quit poodle without a long time ago. It'd be better if we ask each other how do we, how we're faith in it, rather than how we're feeling. But if you want to know I'm feeling fine. I really am. And in fact, I haven't felt as good as I feel now in a long time. But I am faith in it as best I understand. And I'll tell you, I'm rejoicing. I went and visited with a transplant surgeon here a few weeks ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And he told me, he said, man, I look at these papers, and he said, you're dead. He said, but I look in your eyes and I see life. And he said, I'd, he said, hey man, I'd go for it. I said, I'd get somebody else's kidney. Only problem with me is I'm wondering what happened at the rapture, you know, with that kidney business. But I am, I am praying about it. And I know all of, a lot of your friends have many years. And I'm just the type of fella that, you know, just have to at least look at it, at the potential of what the Lord might have, you know, what it was or not he has had. Over 40 people have offered me kidneys. And I, I think that's so beautiful. I just, first time a person did that, it was a pastor's wife in First Baptist Church, Ferguson, Missouri. And she was a nurse. And I, it almost offended me because I wasn't expecting me, I wasn't expecting to have to have one. And she walked up and, well, she discussed it with her husband, it was a very serious matter with her, and offered me a kidney. And I, I didn't know, I'll tell you, that was overcoming. But other people have. But I am praying about it. We're the family's praying about it. And I'm not saying a lot about it because I don't want to put people under pressure that's supposed to be the best donor. And I want them to be led of God, not be sympathetic with me. Because I'm enjoying myself. I don't know about you, I bless God. I have to have dialysis, but that's no problem to me. Amen. If you had spent Monday morning with me, I flew in to Dallas, got there home about 1.30, I bet about 1.32, Sunday night, Monday morning. Got up at 5.30 and had dialysis before I came down here. And if you'd have been there that morning, I'll guarantee you that my four hours sitting there in that room with that young lady and a telephone, I had as great a time as any pastor ever has in any one day, counseling and, you know, dealing with the things of God. And boy, it was a blessed time. And since I've gone on dialysis, I believe everybody doesn't pray three or four hours a day. It's full of the devil. You know. Since I don't have any alternative, bless God, I might as well get everybody else in on this. And I'm not disturbed, and I won't be disturbed if the Lord leaves me on dialysis. In fact, I'm going to talk in the next Sunday night when I preached in Atlanta. Sunday night, a man came up to me after the service and he said, I'm down here at this disease center in Atlanta. You know, they have a center there where they coordinate and all the diseases of the world. And I mean, it's a big center. And he said, there's a man down there that's got a dialysis machine that's small enough you can put it in a middle-sized suitcase and go anywhere in the world. Gave him his name and address, telephone number. And I mean, friend, you just don't try to outguess God. I mean, just don't try to even figure him out. Because about the time you think you've got it all planned out, he'll do something so completely different and so completely of him, that it'll just blow your mind. And I'll tell you, it's a blessing just to be able to walk with a living Lord. It really is. And not outguessing. And not be able to outguess him. Because he's always just pouring it on. I mean, just pouring it on. And so, you pray with me about that matter, of the kidney transplant, but we're not going to get uptight about it one way or the other. Because the Lord is being too good. And it's always a blessing to come to Milldale and be here. This place has been a very big part of my life, my family's life. And we always enjoy coming. And I enjoy coming for a number of reasons. And it's always a blessing. And I tell you, you can hear some great preaching here. And I trust that all of us will do some great obeying to the preaching that we have heard and will hear during these days. Now, I want to turn to 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 for the message this morning. I can't get over this swamp water down here. It tastes like a tadpole. I naturally have always, I've never been a Bible teacher. I have always preached out of my experiences and the Word of God. And I do not know any other way. And God has blessed and blessed and blessed me. And I want to do that this morning. And about 3 o'clock this morning, I was thinking about the message today. And I was thinking about so many people here that's heard me preach so many times. And I thought, well, now there's nothing new to that bunch. They know everything. And the Lord seemingly agreed with me. They do. But he said they're not obeying everything they know. And sometimes preaching is not only to inform, but it's to inspire and enable us to just step out and obey the truth of God that we've heard. Now, I know one of the number one fears in my life. I have one fear that supersedes all other fears. And that is that there is a promise left to me in this Bible that fits my situation. And I do not find it. And I do not mix that promise with faith and experience it. I fear that. Recently we had our daughter-in-law, one of our daughter-in-laws, we have two, and one on the way. So far away we haven't found her yet. John hadn't found her. I know. But we didn't lose one. We know where she is. But she went to heaven. And the thing that bothered me back in those days, and it still bothers me just a little, not a great deal, some, is that there may have been a promise in this book that fit her situation according to the will of God. And I didn't find it. And did not mix it with faith. Most of the time in the Bible, fear is sin. But there is a time when the Bible says, Fear, lest a promise having been left you. Like, you fail in reality to discover that promise. And taking on into the next verse, mix it with faith and see God convert the promises of this book into living reality in your life and my life. You see, a lot of you aren't aware of this, and many of you are, especially the crowd this time. Many of you are. But about, what, 81, how many years ago was that? I was seated right over here, right over here, right about where Danny and his wife is. That pew was not there. We weren't rich enough to have pews in those days. And we almost didn't have chairs. But we had a big old lounge chair sitting right there. And I was in it. Now, folk, if I look sickly now, you ought to have seen me because my head was floppy and I couldn't lift my arms. Not one inch could I lift my arms this high, like this. I could only move them six inches, like this. And my tongue had somewhat collapsed to where I could not articulate words. And the greatest test came. For several months, God had given me a promise. And for seven months we prayed, and we would meet with people at different places. And some of the people that were healthy enough would fast and pray. And for seven months we prayed. And before one day, God gave me a promise, one-thirty in the morning, that I'd live to see my children's children. And for the next six months I continued to die. And the crisis, the ultimate end, came right there in that seat, when a man got up in this pulpit and said, God told me to pray for Brother Manly this week. I'm going to pray that he'll be healed. And God said to me, he said, don't pay any attention to him, he doesn't know what he's talking about. I never will forget it. I was sitting over there in that chair. And I was so far gone physically that my friends would come all the way around here. They wouldn't even come down that way. That's right, because they couldn't stand the experience of standing there talking to me in my condition, because I was so far gone. But I had to get up in this pulpit. And I think it took six men to hold me up, best I remember. One man, one person just had to hold my head up, because it was floppy. And saying, I know it looks like I'm going to die. But folk, I'm going to make it. Do you remember that? And I will be back to preach. So every time I stand here, I remember that moment. That was a crisis, my friends, that I had to, when the doctors and everyone else was saying, you'll not make it. But just one or two people felt like I would. And they were very scarce. My friend, it looked like I would not. I had to stand up here and say, I am going to make it. That's right, I'm going to make it. And you're not looking at no spook this morning. I'm not about 134 pounds. I'm the smallest person in our family. In fact, I'm the smallest person that's staying at Brother Jimmy's house this week. But I'll tell you one thing, friend, it's flesh and blood, bones. It's not a spook. God kept his promise. I'll tell you he did. He kept his promise. And he's still keeping it. So I'm going to talk to you this morning about the greatest promise that I personally have ever found in the Bible. And this is the greatest promise that I personally have ever found to me. And I'll tell you, it's nothing new, but a lot of us need to get stirred and moved to mix the Word of God with faith and move out. And as our dear brother was preaching about revival, I got news for you. Corporate revival, my friends, we may not have seen like we have hoped for and longed for and prayed for and believed God for. And you may have given up, but I hadn't. But personal revival, friend, if you're not living in a personal revival right now, it's either because you're ignorant or you are not willing to pay the price. Amen. And my friends, it's possible to be ignorant. And I don't mean that ugly. I mean the fact that you just don't know that personal revival and the reality of God is available to you right now, regardless of your circumstances. Yes, sir. You can have that, my dear friends. I guarantee you can have that on the bedside and you can have that anywhere, wherever, whatever the circumstances may be. Amen. I was in rehab and they were teaching me to walk again. And I ought to do this this morning, but I won't do it again. You know, we have several preachers of doom out here. And they came to visit me in the hospital, went away and planned my funeral. Said he won't make it. About five of them sitting right here this morning. I can see one, two, three right here, just, I mean, almost in touching distance. And Brother Mack, I know you was with that bunch, but did you say that? Oh, well, you're great. I want to tell you something. I was in rehab learning to walk. I could not walk and I was learning to walk. And I'd go down that rehab and Martha always wanted me to look nice. If I have something nice looking on and it coordinates and it's all in line, you can be assured that Martha dressed me. And she fixed it up so I'd put it on, because I'd put on a purple pair of breeches and a green pair of socks. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't make any difference. But anyway, she always wanted me to comb my hair, but she never, obviously didn't realize that I never could get my hand up here to comb my hair. And I'd go down there at rehab looking like a, you know, a hair down my face and everything else. And this little lady came by one day and she said, what's your name? I said, Manly Beasley. She said, I thought so. She said, you know, one day they told me you were going to die, that you'd die any time. And she said, I walked in there by your bed with another doctor and said, I looked down in your face and I said to my doctor friend, he's not going to die. I said, he is off right now with his guy, having a wonderful time. I don't care what they say, he's not going to die. And she was a doctor. And she was telling this to her doctor friend. And this is weeks and weeks, weeks later in that rehab, she said, I knew you were going to make it. Now friend, I tell you what, you can have revival when you're so unconscious you don't know it. Because I was totally unconscious of that woman ever visiting me. Amen. I was totally unconscious, but she walked in there, looked in my face and saw God. Now folk, I don't care what the circumstances are, you can have revival. And boy, if you're not having it, you're missing something. You say, Preacher, what are you talking about? I'm talking about the reality of Jesus Christ that supersedes all of the circumstances that you find yourself in. Amen. Every moment of every day, wherever you are. Yes, sir. One time my heart quit beating. You said, Preacher, what you doing? I'm standing on the porch. Because you're going to be upset when I get in the house. One time I had a problem. Went to the hospital. My heart quit beating. And two preachers were there. And my wife was sitting out there. And she and God, you know, she's always cutting up. The only thing, only time you can get to know the real Martha is when things get tough. And if you see her any time else, you don't see the real person. You just think of her. She's just putting on a facade. She's playing games. But when things get tough, you know, she's like the old mule that the old man sold and it wouldn't work and brought her back. Told the fellow that bought him from him, said, this old mule won't do a thing. Said, you can't tell him anything. He went over and got a two before and hit the old mule over the head. And the old mule fell out on the ground and said, now tell him something. And the old mule obeyed. Now, Martha, you have to get her attention. And I'll tell you, friends, the sailors used to say this about a ship. This is the best thing they could say. She will do in a storm. That's it. Well, I've got where I was headed. Ma'am? Right. Martha's sitting out there just in tune with God. And that old pastor, he just was shook to pieces because he thought she didn't have an ounce of God in her because she's all she's doing is cutting up. And now she's out there and I was in there dying and she's out there in glory. Wasn't even upset at all. She just had it all settled. And so this, these two dear brothers and one of them sitting here this morning was running in and out of that emergency room. And my heart quit beating and I took off. And in a few minutes, I came back without them having to shock me. And one of them said to Brother Manley said, said, you sure look like you've had a good time. I said, yeah, I've been in a meeting. But I said, you boys weren't there. I hope this morning that you're there. Amen. I hope you're there. Praise God. If you're not there, that's what this meeting is all about. It's getting you there. Right, Brother Jerry? Amen. It's getting you there. Right. Yes, sirree. If I have as many lives as I have had deaths, bless God, I'm going to live to be 500 years old. And I've got news for you, friends. You can have God in the midst of it all. Absolutely, totally adequate. More than adequate. Excuse me, more than adequate. You may not believe it, but I'm preaching right along the line of my text. You just hadn't found it yet. Let me read it to you. I can get the tears out of my eyes. God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. Let's just look at this verse and let's look at it backwards for just a moment. What is every good work? It's the work that God has initiated and wants you to do. It's what God has planned and how he plans it for your life. That's the good work. And now, my dear friends, with that in mind, go back to the first phrase and it says, God is, and I'm glad that little is is there because that means it wasn't, that he is not a was. I just think about that a little bit, folk. He wasn't. I mean, folk, he's not back under somewhere. No sir, right now, he is. And God is. Hey, by the way, he's not up the road somewhere. He is. Best I understand that, that means he is right now. God. God in all that he is, he is right now. Oh my, what a promise. Now I'll tell you this is some promise. And so we're not only here, see God, he says God is able, and not only that, but he says to make all grace. Now, my problem this morning is, this is such a promise to me, and this verse means so much to me, that I'm going to have to go on, I won't ever get through, run done, won't get to preach till midnight tonight. And God is able to make all grace. Now folk, have you, how much is all? There is no way that the human mind can comprehend the all grace of God. But here he says, God is able to make all grace. Not only that, but look at this, abound towards you. And I mean, he gets personal with it, doesn't he? That doesn't say all grace abound towards Brother Jimmy. It says all grace abound towards you. And my dear friends, not only does it say all grace abound towards you, but it says that you always, and look at that, how much is always? There is not one moment that, my dear friends, that's not always. There's not one second that's not always. He said God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you always, having all, goodness, I mean, this verse fascinates me. Having all sufficiency. Can you imagine that? He didn't stop there. All sufficiency in what? All things. Now I'm going to tell you, friend, that to me is one of the most unbelievable statements from God I have ever found in the Bible. I mean, God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. I mean, God, my friends, has it all there for you and your bank account, if you can discover it and take it by faith. For God is able. Now, I don't think God's interested in enabling you to do some things he is not in and such like that. But I'll tell you, friends, the things that God, the things that he's in for you and me, he is there to make them real. Now, you know, this verse doesn't say God is able as long as you're in good health. It doesn't say that. It doesn't say God is able as long as the economy is good. It doesn't say God is able until you get 65. It doesn't say God is able as long as you feel good. It just doesn't say that. It doesn't say that at all. My dear friends, this is an unlimited, I mean, statement from God to the person that God can give it to and that person can believe. We have a lot of people speaking, preaching today, said if you give, you can get rich. And what they're talking about a lot of times means if you give, you can get money back and get rich financially. But this verse tells you how rich you can get. And my dear friends, you can have all grace, all sufficiency, in all things, always. I'll tell you, that's the wealth of the saint. One time I had an experience of a man wanting to support me and pay me a salary. And the Lord said, no. And the answer was, friend, I can't do it because you don't have enough. You see, you're only worth a couple of million, and I might need more. If I trust the Lord, I have got all sufficiency. Now see, you and I have a little trouble with this because it's the Word of God. And you and I do not see it, smell it, taste it, feel it, and hear it. And so therefore, we have a little trouble with this verse. But friend, if you have trouble with this verse, on that account, you have trouble with relationship with God anyway, because neither can you see, smell, taste, feel, or hear Him. The only way you can relate to God is by faith. And the only way you can relate to this verse of Scripture is by faith. So if you can accept the Lord by faith, by the same principle, you can absolutely discover this verse, claim it, stand on it, and experience it. All grace, always. I mean, friend, that's a whole lot. Right? And the amazing thing about it, I can enjoy the fullness of that verse and not deplete one ounce of God's relationship to you. Amen. If I trust God for all of His grace, for a given occasion, it doesn't take one ounce of grace away from you. You can do it too, and we not deplete the grace of God. I mean, just won't deplete it, because His grace is so bountiful. All of His grace. Can you imagine such a verse in the Bible? There's a paraphrase that says, your work before God is determined by your ability to believe the truth and convert the truth from the pages of the Bible into reality in your life. It's one thing, my dear friends, to know the truth, but it's another thing to believe the truth. When you know the truth, you have heard what God has to say. But when you believe the truth, you have made it possible for God to make the truth real in your person. A lot of people are learning the truth intellectually, but not experiencing the truth experientially. Now, this was some passage of Scripture, and it's my passage of Scripture that I stand on, live on, and I guess die on, because my dear friends, it's the best I've found. And I believe it's adequate, don't you? But now think with me a minute. Who in the world was Paul addressing this verse of Scripture to, in the literal sense that he was writing to the church at Corinth? He was writing to the church at Corinth, the Spirit of God writing through him, and my dear friends, he was laying this verse out. So I want you to look at that church at Corinth for just a moment. You see, there was a need up in Jerusalem, and Paul says in these two chapters, and I'll tell you, these two chapters fascinate me. Right in the middle of this book, there's two chapters on finances. And that fascinates me, that he would do that. But anyway, there was a need up in Jerusalem, and I get the idea that when this bunch at Corinth heard about that need up in Jerusalem, somebody jumped up and popped off and said, Bless God, let's have a business meeting. Let's vote right now to give them ten thousand dollars. They did something that got them on the spot. It's always good to get on the spot, because until you're on the spot, you will never get to where God wants you to get. And so this bunch said, Let's do this, and let's do that, and so on and so forth. And they decided about giving this bunch up in Jerusalem an offering. And Paul deals with this in these two passages. He said, You know, he said, There is no need in the world that there's not a supply for it. He said, This time, this one has got it, and this one doesn't, so this one over here gives to this one over here. And the next time, this one's got it, and this one doesn't, so this one gets. The problem is not supply, folks. It's available. The problem is distribution. And that's what Paul says in this passage, that the problem is in distribution. He doesn't stop there. He's writing to this church, and he said, Let me tell you about a church. In fact, he said, You know, a couple of fellows are coming over there, and obviously they'd had about a year to take this offering up that they said they're going to give. And so he said, So-and-so is coming over there, a couple of men's coming over there, and said, By the way, if you don't give it, they're going to wring it out of you. And then he went on to say, He said, By the way, I'm coming by, and I'm bringing a fellow from Macedonia, and when I get there, I do not intend to be embarrassed by you folk neglecting your responsibility. Right? I mean, folk, he was laying it on. And he said, Anyway, I want to tell you about a church. I want to tell you about a church that was poor, but became rich. And it was a church in Macedonia. And when I say rich, I'm talking about, my dear friends, more than money, but I am talking about money. Right? And by the way, this verse, All grace, all sufficiency, in all things, always, will preach anywhere in the world. Yes, sir. And it will work anywhere in the world, regardless of the economy, regardless of the condition. Whether you get healed or not, it still applies. Some people, God snatches out of problems. Some people, He delights in blessing them in the problem. This verse applies either way. Amen. I mean, it applies to everybody, everywhere, anytime, anyplace, regardless of your age, regardless of your insurance. That doesn't mean it doesn't use insurance. It doesn't mean it doesn't use all age. My friends, this is a promise from God. And the writer here, as Paul is saying, I want to tell you about a church down there in Macedonia that was poor, but became wealthy. And my friends, you have to believe that he included finances as well as all the other things. And he told that by saying, You've got a lot of different graces. He said, I want you to get in on this grace of giving. Right? And my dear friends, he taught them about the church in Macedonia. And there were three things about that church in Macedonia, and that makes up somewhat of the context of this fabulous, unbelievable promise. Three things about them. One is, they first gave themselves, according to the 8th chapter of the book of 2 Corinthians, they first gave their own selves to the Lord. Verse 5. My friends, they took their hands completely off, totally off, of their life. And we always sing in He is Lord. And every time I see a bunch of people sing He is Lord, I think about a deacon that I knew one time, and he would not sing I Surrender All, or Have Thine Own Way. He would not sing that song. So one day I went to him and I said, to this deacon, I said, Why don't you sing that song? He said, Because my little boy is standing by me, and he knows me. I said, I don't understand. He said, Well, I don't want to teach him that you can lie in the church house and still get by with it. He said, Because he knows that I have not surrendered all, and I am not willing for God to have completely his. And if I sing that song, I will be indicating to him that he can lie and get by with it. You see, you have to give yourself so completely that you can sing any song, stand any invitation, go through anything that God wants you to go through. And you really never know whether or not he's Lord until he calls on something that he has allowed you to manage. Yes, sir. You see, when he's Lord, that means you have given him everything. And anyone can say, He's got it all. He's got it all! All to Jesus I have surrendered. And we can say that until he comes one day and says, I would like to have your help. Or, I would like to have a measure of your wealth. See, it's mine, and I have, since you've given everything to me, I have left it there for you to be a steward over it. And now I'm wanting some of it. I need it. I need to invest in some paper to print Bibles in Russia. Well, now, listen, friends, if you've given it to him, he has all the right in the world. All the right in the world! In fact, if you are paying attention to the Holy Spirit of God, you are not sitting in the corner and him having to ring the bells to get your attention. You are standing on your tiptoes, watching to see if there's any kind of light flashing in his eyes that might indicate to you he's got something in mind. You know, in Romans 8 it says, Mind the Holy Ghost. Amen. Right? You know what that means to me? When I was a little old boy, I'd go to church, I had to mind my mama. And friends, she didn't have to come over with a switch. After the first two or three times, all she had to do was just look right. And I could see in her eyes exactly what she was saying. And as long as I minded mama, everything went smooth. But when I quit minding mama, folks, it got tough. And I'm telling you, we're supposed to mind the Holy Spirit of God. And this church in Macedonia that was poor became rich. And by the way, I'm not just talking about money. I know one person that gets $4 million a year just off of interest. And my dear friend, financially, the world would say he's rich, but he'll call and say preacher. In essence, and I'm putting words in his mouth because I know what he means, I'm in poverty in this area. I'm in poverty in this area. Please pray that God will bring me into the wealth that I need. Can you imagine a man getting $4 million off of just this interest every year? What you see is more to this life than just money, but it is also money. If it's not, you're very stupid because you spend eight and 10, 12, 14 hours a day working for it. So it must have some significance in your life. Come on. Amen. You do everything you can to save up so you don't have to trust God at the end. Right? And I'm not, not against saving. That's what God tells you to do. But you better mind the spirit of God. You see that they first gave themselves and we really never know whether we've given ourselves unless he calls for something he owns that we've given to him. And he calls on it. And if we have given it to him, we say, yes, our Lord, it's yours. Bless God, let's have at it. Amen. Right? If it's completely, solidly, absolutely his, you won't have any, any trouble when he calls for it. They first gave themselves. Then it says they gave according to their ability. Now what does that, what do you think that means? You know what I believe means? I believe my dear friends in that they had given everything over to God. God said, okay, you run it. And I will call for it as I see fit for it. And he comes one day and says, I want this. And you see through the word of God that God teaches to give and so on. You give this, you give this, you give this. And then one day he comes back and he says, I want this. I want this. And my dear friends, he calls on us to give then what we have in the account that we've given to him. That's what they, what he says they gave according to the ability. Right? Stephen Offer tells about how his dad was such a mighty, mighty, mighty giant. Oh Lord God, if he says he was a giant, I really wonder what he was. Because he's such a giant. He said his dad was one of the most successful missionaries in South Africa with the black people. And I've heard him say this. He said, you know why? He said, because one day he turned his life completely over to God. He said, but that's not all. He said, when God said to his dad, I want you to go as a missionary to these black people. He said, well, Lord, you will have to give us direction as to what to do in order to reach them because no one seems to be reaching. And he said, you know, the Lord called on my dad to do something he could do. That he had within his account to do. By the way, you know what it was? He was a, Stephen Offer was a little baby, a few months old. And Stephen Offer's daddy was led of God to take him, Stephen Offer, as a baby, naked in his hand and walk in to the village of a hostile bunch of people, holding that baby out and walking to the leader of that tribe and putting that baby in his hand. Now folks, that was within the bank account that Mr. Offer had turned over to God. And he could afford to do that. Not knowing what they would do with that boy. And I've heard Stephen Offer say that that man would look at me according to what my mother and dad would tell me. And then he would give it to the next and the next and the next. And he'd be passed from one leader to the other until he was so nasty and covered with lice that the mama would take him and wash him, get the lice off of him and give him back. And those people said, if this man loves us this much, surely we can hear what he's got to say about whatever he's preaching. My friend, you see this bunch of Macedonia did not only give themselves, but they gave what they could afford. Now you may not have given yourself yet, but my dear friends, God calls on us to give what we can afford. You know, I have had a very unbelievable life. I was a seventh grade dropout, told in the third grade that I was too dumb to ever learn to read and write. And when I went to college, I could not read or write. And I'll assure you that right now, I do not have over about an eighth grade level of reading material that I'm not used to. And I probably do not. In fact, two of my grandsons can, I know one of them, can outspell me right now. And when I gave all I had to Jesus, one day God came and I had so manipulated so I could make it in life that God says, I've got to make you weak, and I want to make you weak so I can use you like I want to use you. And friends, he did not call on me to do something I couldn't do. That was within their bank account. Amen. Right. And I can afford, I don't know about you, but I can afford to go through what I'm going through. I can afford it. You may not, but I can. You know why? I don't have any right not to. Because I gave it all to him. That wasn't only the money, that was my life. Amen. And that's the family. And I can afford that. My friend, they not only gave themselves, then they gave according to the measure of the ability that was left with them after they'd given themselves. That meant everything they had belonged to God, and God could put his finger on it any time he wanted. Amen. And he would do it according to, not their need, but somebody's need over here. Right? Right? And he moved it around and kept shifting it around. And he's always done that. But then they gave what they could not afford. You say, what do you mean? Right here in the first five verses of 2 Corinthians 8, it says they gave themselves, they gave what they could afford, and then they gave what they could not afford. How in the world do you do that? Well, I'm not going to deal with it, but in this passage, I mean in this two chapters, did you know that he says he will even give you seed to sow? In other words, when you don't have it to give, that God might multiply it, he will give it to you so you can give it. And my friends, you can give what you can't afford. And it's only when you're out there giving what you can't afford to give that you have to trust God. And it's only when you're having to trust God that you are at God's disposal. And it's only then, my dear friends, that he has a vehicle by which he can work and manifest his glory. And it's only then when he can walk you into the well he's got that you don't know anything about. Otherwise, my dear friends, he would have let the children of Israel go on into the land of Canaan when they got to Cadiz Barnea, but he shut them out. You know why? Because they would not trust him. And trusting means a cessation of self-effort. That means you're coming to the end of yourself and turning it so completely to God that he's got the everything. Not once and for all, but at that moment. And when you're at God's disposal like that, then he can do you like he did the crowd that went in 40 years later. He had a vehicle by which he could get glory. He went around the walls of Jericho for seven days. And on the seventh day, seven times. Brother, I've got news for you. He got glory out of that much. And he walked them after he taught them at Jericho, he walked them into land they did not earn. He walked them into houses they did not build. He walked them into food that they did not grow. My dear friends, he brought them into the wealth that he had for them. And God brings us into the wealth that he has for us only when we get out there and trust him to do what we can afford to do. Yes, sir. Amen. You get out there and trust him. Let me just share one little line of testimony with you. I was living here and the first years of my life, the Lord said, no insurance. And I didn't take my wife to the doctor or go to the doctor. I didn't have to go to the doctor myself. I didn't take my wife to the doctor or anything else and say, now doctor, I don't have any insurance. Help me now. Now I'm a preacher. That's God. I can't stand these begging, begging, hinting preachers. Right. Looking for discounts. Is your gut broke? It's wise to be wise. A good deal is a good deal. But my dear friends, let me tell you something. To kneel enough and put yourself in a position to where you try to obligate people because of your poverty is sinful. And sacrifice, sacrifice my dear friends, is not you not having faith and receiving something. That's not sacrifice. That's sin. Sacrifice is when you have it or could have it and refusing. A lot of people tell me, well, I'm walking by faith and my God's real and, and I'm sacrificing for Jesus. And all they mean is I just don't have faith. And so they call their unbelief sacrifice. Sacrifice is when you have it or could have it, and you definitely, deliberately make the choice to refuse it or give it away. Well, the Lord said no insurance. And I never had to tell a doctor when the children were born, we don't have the money or something like that. Now there's some crises in there and ups and downs in there. And it wasn't all smooth, but it never is smooth when you're growing up as a baby. And everything is not a perfect as a baby growing up. But right here in this place, living in that house right up there, God spoke to my heart one day and said, take out hospitalization insurance. And I went downtown Baton Rouge and found out I had a blood pressure problem. They rated me a little high and well, I just had a discontentment in my spirit that I should not get that insurance. So the next week or two, I went to North Carolina, sitting in a cafeteria in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A man walked up to me and I never knew. And he said, preacher, I have an insurance policy for you. I never will forget. I didn't lie. I said, well, friend, I have a blood pressure problem and I've had it created by, he said, no, this is a new grouping and you can come in with any problem you've got.