In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of experiencing the teachings of God in one's life. He urges the congregation to take action if they are not personally experiencing what is being preached. The preacher also discourages the congregation from begging for money on his behalf. In another part of the sermon, the preacher shares a story about a missionary who gave himself fully to God's work in China, even sacrificing his family and possessions. The missionary witnessed the disturbing practice of dogs desecrating the bodies of deceased babies, highlighting the need for true devotion to God.

Greetings, friends. It's certainly a joy and a privilege to be with you again this month. As you possibly remember, that we have been just doing messages that related to messages on faith, doing the matter of rewriting the Old Faith Workbook No. 2. And this, now we may come up with one more message after this one out about it, but it's really been a thrill for me to re-study this subject and re-work the subject and re-preach the subject. And this particular message, I think, will be, I believe, a real help to a lot of people. At least, if it ministers to people like it has ministered me, it certainly will be a great, great, great blessing. Now, I trust that when you receive this tape, you will have had a great year. You can look back on 86 and say, my, what a wonderful year. And look forward to 87 with great anticipation of God doing some great and mighty things in your life. I know it's a privilege for me to be able to come and share with you in your home, your car, wherever you are, listening to this tape. And I appreciate your friendship, your support, your prayers and so forth to us because it's so very, very meaningful to us at this time. Now, I trust that the Lord is making himself real to you. These last six months have been some of the most difficult six months I've ever been through in my life. Even when I was having problems with severe health problems, I don't know that I have had a more difficult time than these last six months. But I say that to simply say God's grace, you know, has been adequate and sufficient and abundantly above what I ever thought his grace would be, not could be, but would be. But it certainly has been a blessing to be able to come through many, many experiences and see that God not only was there, but adequate in that experience. Now, I trust that if you're having some trouble in relationship to your bills and so on and so forth when we send you about the tapes and statements that you just let us know because we go through so many changes here that it takes a great deal of understanding to just stay with us on it. But we do want to do the right thing about your tape and all of that. We don't want to offend you. But yet we do want to, you know, preach the word and be a blessing to you if we can. So I trust that you'll be patient with us if there's some problem in relationship to your tape. Now, I mention this because it's the easiest way to communicate to you. It's like some people send the payment in, and in the meantime we have sent a tape out with another bill in it, and it crosses, and it looks like you haven't paid adequately, and it looks like we're overbilling you and so forth. And just a lot of it is the matter of time. We have to do the tapes and set them up and send them out actually about two to three weeks ahead of time. And so by that, you know, method, we cross up a lot. But you just stay in there. We're not upset at folks that do not pay punctually. We do have a number of people who, you know, just forget. Like one of my precious friends told me last week, said, I just despise writing a $5 check or a $10 check or something like that. And said, I just wait, sir, ever so often, you know, until we learn that pattern about you. We don't know exactly how to handle it. But this time of the month is a very special time. I'll be, well, that's the time of making this introduction. I'll be busy one more week as far as schedule goes for the year, and then be off for several weeks, three weeks directly. And it's just going to be a wonderful time to be able to reflect on what we've been able to come through. We're right in the middle of a lot of battles. One of the big battles we're right in the middle of is trusting God to do the work that he wants to do in Europe. And we're seeing the hand of God in this. But I really, really, genuinely need your prayers. I really do. And I trust that God will bless you as you pray for us because I have never been in this battle like I am in this year about the trip in Europe. And I realize that a lot of people see the brochure and they think, boy, hey, this is just a trip to Europe. But I'll tell you, folk, it is a real experience of trusting God. And we do believe that God has promised us that he will literally affect the whole continent of Europe over this matter of what we're doing. I realize that a lot of people do a lot of big talk, but if you don't believe that, you just hang around a few years and watch and see what God is up to. We're seeing God miraculously work every single solitary day on behalf of this ministry. And so I do trust that you'll pray for it and be obedient to the Lord. You know, if he directs you to do something, it'd be a blessing if you'd just come go with us. If you, you know, can, God would give you that freedom. Well, I know this message this month is going to be different. Actually, it's a message on the grace of God. It's a message on faith. And it's a message on finances in relationship to the grace of God and faith. And I think you will get a great blessing out of this message, and I trust that you will. And I look forward to hearing from you. May God richly, richly bless you. And by the way, if you just do not really know how to handle those adversities that you have found yourself in, you might want to let us share with you the message here that we have on dealing with adversity. I think it will be a great, great blessing to you. Well, God bless you as you listen to the tape. Pray for us. Thank you so much. The passage that I want to read to you is found in 2 Corinthians 9, 8. Now, I'm going to read it out of the Amplified Bible. And since you possibly do not have an Amplified Bible, I think it would be real good if you listened to me as I read it out of the Amplified Bible. Now, your King James is good. Your New American Standard, of course, is good. But the Amplified Bible just has some statements in it that I think would be very, very helpful to us tonight. And God is able to make all grace, every favor and earthly blessing come to you in abundance, so that you may always, under all circumstances and whatever the need, be self-sufficient, possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation. Boy, that is some word, isn't it? That is some word. Now, before I get into the message specifically, I want to share an illustration with you, a story. A number of years ago I flew out of Charleston, South Carolina to Kansas City. I was picked up by the preacher. And we were riding back across into Missouri to his church. And I noticed that he was extremely upset about something. So I decided I might as well find out why he was upset because if I was going to have to spend a few days with him, I needed to know what was wrong. And it might be that I needed to go home. So I did not know this man. I had never met him before. And I asked him, I said, Brother Willard, do you have some kind of problem? Are you having some kind of difficulty? He was honest enough to say, Yes, sir, I am having some difficulty. I said, What is your difficulty? He said, Well, while I was at the airport, I checked on your plane ticket out here. And he said, I should have written you and let you know that our church only runs 70 and Sunday school and we just have a few members. It's an old church. In fact, the church building was so old, the ceiling on the inside, not the roof, the ceiling, was made out of tin. He said, I should have let you know that our church is so small. He said, In fact, we have never been able to raise enough money for love offering and expense to even pay your way out here. And he said, I'm embarrassed. He said, I really feel like I have a problem. Well, I wasn't going to be super spiritual at that point. I said, Brother, you've got a problem. He was just literally upset about it. And I began to pray and I said, Now, Lord, is there something I can say to help this man and his problem? I was honest about it. And the Lord began to speak to my heart. And I never will forget this. I said, Brother Willard, I have a proposition for you. He was ready for a proposition. He said, What is it? I said, All right, here is the proposition. I said, If I preach— Now, listen to me carefully because this illustration has some very significant material for you tonight. I said, If I preach something tonight and tomorrow night and right on through the week, if I preach something, you are not experiencing yourself in your life. Here is the proposition. I want you to get up out of your seat. I want you to walk down that aisle and get on your knees and get right with God. And if you have to, get right with the church. But I said, If I preach anything that you are not experiencing, I want you to get up out of that seat, walk down that aisle, and do whatever is necessary to get right with God. I said, That's the first part of the proposition. The second part of the proposition is I don't want you getting up there begging people for money for me. I said, Don't get up there and say, Brother Manley's got five kids and four kids or half a dozen or anything like that, and he's going to not make it. He's going out of business if you don't give something to him because I'm not going out of business. I'm not going out. My God happens to be bigger than my ability to make problems. Amen. And I said, I don't want you up there begging money for me. I said, You tell those people, if they want to get blessed from God, do what God tells them to do. And I said, If you want to tell them that, I'd appreciate it and that's all. That's all I want you to do. I said, Will you do it? And I held my hand out there and that man took my hand right there in that car and he said, Brother Manley, it's a settled fact. I'll do it. We went to that church that night. We had 70 people in that meeting. That man got up and he said, Folks, this afternoon in the car I made a decision. Now, it began to hit me what happened. He said, This afternoon in the car I made a decision that if this preacher preached anything that I am not experiencing in my life, I am going to walk down this aisle and get right with God and get right with you and I'm going to obey God. And then he told them about the offering and it was over. But I saw that night that that man made a decision to obey God before he ever heard the Word of God. John 7, 17 talks about the man that wills to do the will of God and to know the will of God. That man shall know whether or not the truth is of God. That's a person that makes a decision even before they hear it. You know what happened in that church that night? Seventy people walked the aisle in that church that night. You know what happened on Tuesday night? Seventy people walked the aisle again. Wednesday night, the same crowd walked the aisle again. He said, Well, Brother Manley, why were they walking the aisle every night? Because they were sensitive, sensible people. They were hearing God say something to them they were not experiencing. So they wanted God to make it real to them. So they came. Thursday night, God showed up. I mean God showed up. I mean, friends of glory, God came all through that place. That's right. The meeting was over on Sunday night and they gave me my love offering and it was an unbelievable love offering. Only could God have done that. But anyway, the next Sunday night, 1130. Most people don't call me that late. I don't have any rules. They just respect an old man. They just don't call him that late. But if you're in trouble, I don't want that to hinder you from calling me, but you better make sure it's trouble. But anyway, 1130, that clock rang. My telephone rang and it was the pastor of that church. And you know what he said? He said, Brother Manley, he said, I got something to tell you. I said, what's that, Brother Willard? He said, we had 50 people saved today in our church. And I mean, folks, if I could tell you tonight what that little old meeting meant to me, it would blow your mind. But you know what happened? That man made up his mind, made a decision that he was going to obey God before he ever heard. And when he heard, he obeyed God. Now here's what I want you to do. I want you to look at this passage tonight. And I want you to look at the depth, the breadth, the height the encompassing ability of our actually dimensions, I guess I should say, of this passage of Scripture, of the encompassing limits of this passage. Look at it. Look at it as I read it again. And God is able to make all grace, every favor, earthly blessing come to you in abundance so that you may always under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient, possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation. Do you know what that verse means in Manly Beasley's personal paraphrase? It means you have enough on hand to pay your bills and money left over to give away. Now, folk, that is not my opinion. That's the Word of God, the God that can't lie, the God wherein there is no bearableness, no shadow, no turning. Amen. I'm talking about the living God gave us that Word. The amazing thing about that Word is it's right in its context. It's talking about the supply of God to such an extent that under all circumstances, all kinds of situations, God supplies not only what you need, but enough that it's left over so you can give it away. Now, folk, that is God's standard, not man's standard. If you aren't careful, you, by your experiences, will drag the truth of God out of its lofty heights and bring it down to your inward sentiment and fleshly experiences. But, my friends, rather than that, we need to let the truth of God judge us and ask God to make his grace so abundant to us that we can experience the truth of God as it is written in the Word of God. And he says that he's able to make all grace, all earthly blessings, under all circumstances, all situations. I love it. Amen. Be yours. I mean, folk, you want to say something. I'm glad it doesn't say till you get 65. Excuse me. Amen. I'm glad it doesn't say if you stay well. Why? Because that's my old age, a pension. That's right. That's my old age pension. That's right. And it's my insurance policy. It's getting quieter. Amen. Folk, that's the Word of God. God says all sufficiency at all times. That's my security program in case the oil business goes down. Amen. Folk, it's right there. This is better than being supported by a millionaire. Years ago, a millionaire came to me from Oklahoma and said, Brother Manley, I would like to support you $30,000 a year and put you on a salary. And this was 25 years ago. That's a nice little salary for 25 years ago. He said, I want to put you on a $30,000 a year salary and you won't have to worry about finances. If I didn't have to be concerned about finances, my dear friends, I'd have two-thirds of my life taken away from me. Amen. I pity people who do not have to pray over such matters. This man said to me, I want to support you. I came back to this man, and I'm not kidding you tonight. I said, friend, I can't let you do it. He said, why? I said, you're only worth $8 million, and I might need more than that. He said, Brother Manley, you are being facetious. Huh, I got news for you, friend. How would you like to be supported by a man worth $8 million or, my dear friends, by the God who created everything and all things are his, the cattle on a thousand hills, the gold, the silver, the oil, everything is his. That's right. Now, my friends, that's the Word of God. An amazing thing about this verse, it's not isolated to a geographical area. He said, all sufficiency in Africa. He said, all sufficiency in India. All sufficiency in Europe. All sufficiency in China. Wherever you go, it's all sufficiency. Boy, this verse absolutely has encompassed everything that you will ever face in life. What a blessing. Now, I want us to look at the context of this verse. I want you to see the context of this verse very simply and very lightly I want to get into it because when the hammer falls, it's going to hurt. It's going to be a fire. It's going to be a sword. It's going to be a hammer. The context, Paul is writing to the church at Corinth. The people at Jerusalem had a need and obviously from the texture of the message, that bunch down there at Corinth that were blessed with all the gifts just sort of bragged a little bit about the fact that they were going to give a big offering for the people down at Jerusalem. So brother Paul writes them and he tells them that he's sending them a man. In fact, he's sending them several men and I like what he said. He said he's coming down there in essence to make sure you do what you said you was going to do. In fact, he said he's going to wring it out of you. That's pretty stout, isn't it? But here's what he did. Paul used the church, my dear friends, to just literally illustrate to these people what was going on. Let me see if I can get to it and show it to you. This is amazing. As he illustrates this, he says something about the church at Macedonia. And he says this church down at Macedonia, who was in utter poverty, this church down there at Macedonia that was in utter poverty, heard of what you were going to do and they got excited over what you were going to do. In fact, out of their poverty, they gave unto riches. And here's what he says. He said that church down in Macedonia, they did three things. They first gave themselves. That's what he said. They first gave themselves. Listen to me, young people. Listen to me carefully. Paul said to the church at Corinth, the people at Macedonia first gave themselves. Now listen to me carefully. People are always saying, I want to yield God to you. Show me what to do and I will do it. My friends, that is bargaining with God from a very humanistic level. That's not God's order. God's order is found in Romans 12, 1 and 2. I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present yourselves The way a man surrenders is a man takes a clean white sheet of paper and signs his name on that paper and says, here is my life, God. Write on it what you will. And the person that tries to get God to show them what he wants them to do before they make that surrender is a man that's trying to bargain with God and I have no reason to believe God will even deal with you. You see, when you bargain with God, God, you show me what to do and I'll do it. You're trying to say, okay, God, you show me what to do so I can decide on whether or not I want to do it. With you. That's right. You see, when you bargain with God, God, you show me what to do and I'll do it. You're trying to say, okay, God, you show me what to do so I can decide on whether or not I want to do it. You see, that's not surrender, folks. Excuse me. God speaks to surrendered people. He said, submit yourself, a living sacrifice. Then you prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Are you willing tonight, my friend? Are you willing not? Are you willing just to say, God, here is my life tonight? Do you know when revival starts in every one of our lives? When we come to that fresh and new act of obedience to God. And it will start in your life tonight. If you will take your life, all of your problems, all of your opportunities, everything you are, sign that sheet of paper and say, God, there's my life. I'm willing. I'm ready. Whatever you want, you write on it. I had a lady come to me years ago and say, Brother Manley, I'm going to leave my husband. He's living with another woman and I'm going to leave him. I said, Did you ever love him? She said, Yes. I said, I still love him. I asked that woman a question. I said, Lady, if God called you right now to go to Africa as a missionary, would you do that? If you just knew you were going to win one soul to Jesus Christ, do you love God enough that you just say, Yes, I'll go? She said, Why, sure I would. I said, I don't understand your Christianity. She was a little perturbed, but I was more perturbed. I said, I don't understand your Christianity. You've got a man in your home that you claim to love and he's gone to hell and you're willing to go to Africa to win one soul when you're not willing to deny your flesh and live with that man till he's won to Jesus. I don't understand your Christianity and I don't. And I've got news for you tonight. I don't understand man's Christianity that will say, God, you show me what to do and I'll do it. I don't understand man's Christianity. That's right. I don't understand that kind of Christianity. Paul said, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present yourself. Are you willing to present yourself? I've got news for you tonight. We can't go any further in this message. Oh, I can complete the sermon, but we can't go any further in this message unless you are willing. He said, God, here is my life right now. Whatever you say. That's right. Some writer said, drops of grief can never repay the debt of love I owe. Lord, I give myself away. It is all that I can do. Are you willing tonight? They first gave themselves. Then secondly, this context teaches us that they not only gave themselves, but they gave what they could afford to give. They were willing. They gave what they could afford to give. Now I realize that you possibly are thinking in the vein that we're talking about money, but I think that we're saying more than that. You see, when you give yourself, then all that you have is there for God to speak to. Dr. C.L. Culpepper went to China as a missionary. And one day while in China he got on his horse and started riding out of the town he was in. And as far as he knew, he had given himself. But folk, that was something else he could give. He had a wife. He had a family. He had substance. And he could give that willingly. He wasn't aware of all the details, but as he rode out of that town that day, he saw a pack of dogs dragging a little object. And he looked a little closer and realized that that object was the body of a little baby. And in that area where he went to be a missionary, they worshiped the dog god. And when a baby would die, they would take that baby out without a casket and bury that baby about three or four inches under the ground so the dogs would come and dig that body up and tear that body to pieces. And Dr. Culpepper saw this sight and he understood. And he said, God, whatever it takes now to reach these people for Jesus, I freely give it. And he got back home from his trip and his little darling daughter was sick and she died. And when she died, they made her a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful silk dress to be buried in. And then they went out and made her a little coffin to be put in. And for the first time in the history of the world that they knew of, there was a Christian burial in that town. And hundreds saw the beauty of the death of a little child and came to Jesus and were saved by the grace of God. My friends, this church, it's mentioned here in I, II Corinthians 8 and 9, they first gave themselves and then they gave what they could afford to give. And my dear friends, when a person has given themselves and then they come and say, Lord, whatever else I have, it's all yours. I've got news for you, folks. God will respond to that kind of person. That was one other thing about these people that Paul mentioned. He said they gave, not only themselves, what they could afford, but he said they gave what they could trust God for. You say, what are you talking about, preacher? I've mentioned this many times to you. Until a child of God comes to the level that they know how to draw off of the abundance of the bank of glory, wherein there is no shortage, that child of God will be a bound, restricted, confused, defeated child of God. And if your bank account is no bigger tonight than what you can write a check on, folks, you are a miserable, miserable failure. He said all sufficiency in all places at all times with enough left over to just give away. I want to illustrate what I've just said by turning to a Baptist paper in Arkansas four or five months ago. A little article, Oswald J. Smith dies. Oswald J. Smith. When I was a young preacher boy, 18 and 19 years old, I read the messages in the books of Oswald J. Smith. And he was one of my heroes. One of my heroes. And I knew he was a great missionary statesman. And he was one of my heroes. And one day I got the privilege of preaching on the same platform with this great man of God, one of the greatest missionary statesmen that's lived in the last hundred years. And my, what an honor. I had Dr. Oswald J. Smith to come to our house and his son Paul to come to our house and just to pat these boys on the head when they were kids. That's right. What a joy to remember this. And it was such a joy to know him and his wife Daisy. What an unusual, I didn't know her, but I mean it was just such a joy to know about her. I picked up a book a couple of days ago on her. I didn't even know I had it, on her life story. Now, listen to me. That article in the Arkansas Baptist paper said, Dr. Oswald J. Smith pastored People's Church, Ontario, Canada, and he pastored from about the time he was 30 years old. He started that church, as we would say, in Oklahoma from scratch, and he retired before he was 70 years of age and he said in his lifetime as pastor of that church, are you listening, gave $248 million to missions. $248 million to missions. Do you know there's only two things you can do for missions? It's go and preach or send someone to go and preach. You said, where'd you get that? Out of the Bible. Where out of the Bible? Romans, the 10th chapter. How can they hear unless someone be sent? How can they believe unless they hear? Amen. Dr. Oswald J. Smith, $248 million to missions and that church never ran over $3,000 in Sunday school. Can you believe it? There weren't any wealthy people in there. How in the world did he do it? How did he do it? I've talked to him about it, how he did it. I've talked to him about it and here's how he did it. He taught his people that, my dear friends, they were not limited to their bank account. That they were only limited by God's bank account and that they themselves could get beyond yielding themselves. They could get beyond yielding what they could afford. They could get to the place, hope, where the limit of their resources was God's almighty promises. Do you know that's over $4 million a year to missions? Isn't that amazing? Over $4 million a year for missions if he pastored about 60 to 70 years. I mean, he didn't even pastor that long, but if he pastored 60 to 70 years, you're talking about millions of dollars a year to missions. Did you know that this man's church supported more missionaries than the Southern Baptist Convention with all of its millions of dollars up to about 1964? His church alone supported more missionaries. That's right. How did he do it? He did it, my dear friends, by discovering all sufficiency at all places, at all times, plenty to meet the need with money left over. When Jesus is in your midst, he initiates an absolute surrender. He initiates and leads you to what you can afford to do, and then he will lead you to him and his resources and what he can do if you will just simply trust him. There is no shortage, folk, with God. Amen. The shortage is in our relationship to God. Excuse me. I have said what God wanted me to say. I have said what God wanted me to say. You say, Brother Manley, my life is not measuring up to the Scripture, the promise you have laid out before us tonight. My life is not measuring up to that promise. Then, my dear friends, I would suggest that you, by the grace of God, make a correction in your life until you are measuring up to that promise. All sufficiency in all things, all places, all times, with enough left over to abundantly give away. I would suggest you quit trying to pull God in to your walk and you join him in his walk. Amen. I would suggest that tonight. Yes, I would. My God is in—he is God, folk. He is God. I don't know why I'm supposed to tell you this little story. I guess I love to see God in the little things. For certainly if he is in the little things, he certainly is in the big things. But one day, I checked in the hospital and stayed four and a half months. Now, you probably wouldn't believe this, but I love flowers. I really do. And I intend to stop by and smell a few. In fact, I've just turned my whole office and everything over to our only son because I'm going to stop and smell a few roses. Amen. As I passed this way, but I love roses, and I checked in the Methodist hospital in Houston, Texas, and the first few days I was there, I got a dozen red roses. And when those roses began to wilt, I got another dozen red roses. And do you know for four and a half months, every time those roses began to wilt, I got a fresh dozen red roses. And they were never sent from the same state, and they were never sent by the same person, and they were never, never, never sent by a person that knew the last people had sent them. But my father, my father, who owns a cattle on a thousand hills, who has the ability to change the heart of a king, my friends knew that I loved roses. And he had them in my room. My doctor came in and he said, you're the wealthiest man I've ever met in my life. I said, yes, I know. I said, I've got all sufficiency in all things. You can't have no more than that, folk. Who wants more than that? He said, you're the richest man I've ever met. I said, why did you say that? He said, because when I come into this room, it's like a garden. He said, I know you have friends. They've sent you these flowers. He really didn't know that I really had a friend. And I know God touched Bill and Joe and Mary and Martha from these different countries and said, hey, Brother Manley needs another dozen red roses. I know he used them. But you see, my father said all sufficiency, amen, in all things. You know what that doctor said to me? I've got to tell this in close. He said, Brother Manley, he said, I've got three boys and I want them to have what you have. He said, I know that you've got something and I want my boys to have what you've got. And you know, all I had was Jesus. But you know, I found that he's enough. About three months ago, a young lady called Jonathan at school and said, Jonathan, I know your daddy has been praying for Dr. Ben Cooper and his children, his three boys. And she said, John, I know Dr. Cooper and his family and I saw one of his boys at church, at our church the other Sunday, and John called me. And last week, a week before last now, I was talking to Second Baptist Church Houston and talking to the pastor's secretary and I told her, I said, what I want to do is I want to find out about Dr. Ben Cooper's son. Does he go to your church? And she said, yes, Brother Manley. He was saved just a few weeks ago and he's been baptized and he's just one of the finest boys in this church. Listen, let me tell you something, folk. I was sick, but there was such an all-sufficiency in all things. When I couldn't even work for a solid year, there was such all-sufficiency in all things that that doctor said, I want my boys to have what you've got. With me laying there, I couldn't even lift my head off the pillow. Let me tell you something tonight, folk. He said, all-sufficiency in all things. That's the Word of God. If you are not experiencing that in your life, then, my friend, let the Word of God be a two-edged sword to you tonight, a hammer, a fire, and correct your life. Amen. Don't say, God, show me what to do. Say, God, here's my life. And when you get that settled, I have an idea He'll show you exactly what to do. And if you really want to get in on what's going on, then He'll show you what He can do if you'll just let Him. And you get tied into His resources. Amen. Yes, sir. Now, this is my mission sermon. But it's what God sent me here to tell you. It's what God sent me here to share with you. And I can tell you tonight that He's dealing with you because you're so quiet. Loaded wagons do not rattle. Amen. How's the country, boy? You can hear a wagon five miles away if it's empty. But, folk, if it was loaded, it wouldn't be making much noise. Tonight. I trust that you'll do something with this message right tonight.