In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of not being discouraged by difficulties and circumstances. He encourages the congregation to trust in God's provision and to give generously, even if they feel they have very little to offer. The preacher references the story of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 as an example of someone who was not a Jew but still pleased God through his good deeds and generosity. He also highlights the concept of tithing and how failing to give what belongs to God can lead to financial troubles. The sermon concludes with a real-life story of a mentally ill woman who found hope and healing through her faith.

The principle that God has established to bless us is this. We must give, sow, give away what we want to get. As God blesses us, He takes one baby step, He says, well, you know, when you just got born again and know me and love me, got baptized and whatever, I'm just going to demonstrate my grace and blessings, and He pours His blessings upon us. And then if that person takes that and says, ah, I got it, and do nothing more with it, He is like, she is like that individual who took that blessing and buried it and says, I don't want to deal anything with it. I just want to be safe. I don't want to take any risk. But as we go on to obey God's word, like in Galatians chapter 6, it says, don't be deceived, don't be so stupid, don't think you are so smart. You know, one thing I learned, the older I get, one great secret I discovered, I'm not that smart. Then I don't know everything or anything hardly. But then I became more convinced God knows everything, and if I simply do what He said, it will work. I don't have to understand how it is, all I do is just obey. So the word of God says, don't be so smart, and don't deceive yourself. God is not mocked. Whatever you sow, you reap. You sow rice, you are not going to reap corn. If you plant some mango tree seeds, you are not going to get jackfruit tree growing out of that. Whatever you sow, you don't get the same measure but 60, 70, 80 times more. Oh, my dear brother, my sister, if only you would listen carefully, now bringing your world into this picture, not somebody else. Think about your world that you are living in. How will you translate this into your world? The way you sow your time, the way you sow words, the way you use your tongue, the way you use your money, maybe only 10 rupees or 100 rupees, the way you use the opportunity, the way you use all the different provisions God has given you, the question, how on earth are you using that? You know, I have a hobby. Once in a while I'm on the road, you know, and this school bus, these little kids in the school bus, packed, they're going, and they look through the window and see the car behind them, and I start waving at them and smile. You know what happened? The whole bus starts smiling and waving hands. You go to the street and smile at strangers, total strangers, you've never seen them before. They will start smiling. And you wonder, who are these people? They are strangers looking for a smile, and they give it back to you. If you're looking for kindness, someone to show kindness to you, sow some kindness, don't be so harsh and be merciful. If you are looking for healing, you got a headache, a chronic, some illness, some problem, listen, why don't you take time to go to the hospital and pray for someone? Somebody says, I'm not feeling well, don't say well, go to a doctor, but you start praying for them, or you take them to the hospital, get some medicine, you sow healing into their life. By the way, it is good to take note, if you want to get a harvest and a good harvest, you have to sow. If you don't sow, you are not going to get it. And if you don't sow good seed, you will not get good fruit either. Then, as long as the earth remains, there shall be seasons. Season to sow, season to wait, season to water, season to pray, and season to have patience. Some people are impatient, oh, I gave my tithe two months ago when nothing happened to me, I'm going to keep everything. Oh, I've been so kind to so many people, but nobody is nice to me, so I'm going to take care of myself. Listen, that's wrong, there is a season to wait. You did not reap the harvest two days after you sowed the seed, there is a time, and that is in God's hand. In Philippians chapter 4, verse 19, this fantastic verse, we read, My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory through Jesus Christ, our Lord. What a verse. How rich is God? Multiplied billions of galaxies, He owns, He created. Everything on earth, He owns. How rich is He? According to His riches, He will meet all your needs. To whom He's saying that? He's not saying that to a bunch of self-centered, greedy people. He's saying that to the people at Philippi. They were poor, they were hurting, their stomachs empty, they didn't have enough clothes to wear, they didn't have enough money to spare, they didn't have money to buy a bus ticket, they had to walk. They didn't have the luxury of putting sugar in the tea, there was no money for that. They were dirt poor. And what they did, out of the poverty, out of nothing, they took offerings and gave to the work of God. And Paul says, my God will, will bless you according to His riches in glory. That is encouraging. I read the story of a woman, it's a real story, a lady who had a good education from a well-to-do family, ended up with a mental problem, and she was admitted at a hospital to be treated by psychiatrists, people who treat mental patients. She was not normal, fairly insane, you would say. She was there many, many months, no much improvement. One day, a visiting psychiatrist, a doctor, came and talked to her and said, would you do something for me? The doctor asked, yes doctor, what can I do for you? He said, would you be willing from today on, go to all the hospital wards and find out the birthdays, the date of birth, the birthdays of the people. And then, would you be willing to write a card of greetings to these people? Happy birthday and nice wishes. Would you be willing to do that? She said, yes, I'd be willing to do that. And the story goes, she started going from ward to ward, room to room, to patients of all kinds of illness and problems and mental problems and whatever. And she would sit with them and ask, what is your name? Where are you coming from? What happened to you? Your wife and husband and children, all these different things. She'd hear all the stories and then find out her birthdays and all the details. And then, she began to write these cards, greeting cards. Now you want to know what happened to her. Within a few months, she was completely cured, totally healed. And the study concluded, the best medicine for healing of emotional damage and problems is to get out of yourself and care for others. That's a conclusion in a medical journal. Now, that must teach us something. Second Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6, we read the scripture, those who sow sparingly will also reap, sparingly. You say, I don't want to give one lakh rupee in the offering box. That's a lot of money. Well, I tell a funny story, but real story, by the way. In my village, Niranam, there's a house, a family called Karambil. There's a man called Karambil, only Chinese, related to me also, by the way, from my mother's side. So, in the old days, when I came back from North India one time, I went to, you know, see my friends, and he's one of those people who actually was part of my, this fellowship group, prayer group that we run around with in summer times, even during my school days. So, I remember, so, it's so funny. So, I was at his house. They got three, four acres of land, all coconut trees. And I looked up and I said, Unnichayan, what happened to all the trees? There's hardly any coconuts on your trees. And he said to me, fairly soft, not so loud, what can I do? God is taking everything that we are stealing from him and giving us a little bit back. Then he said, I told my father so many times, give it to God and he will bless us, but he will not want to listen to me. And so, all the trees are like this because God is taking everything. Funny, isn't it? But how true it is. The measure in which, listen to those words, the measure in which you will give your time for others to build their life, in the measure in which you pray for others, in the measure in which you are kind and gentle with your words about others, in the measure in which you give your money and resources to God and to others, in the same measure, you are going to experience God's blessings. Now, especially your future. If you didn't get anything out of what I said so far, I'm saying this for you, be selfish. I'm saying it to you, be selfish about your blessings. If that be the case, the only way to do that is to open up your life and be a blessing to others. You may want to read this scripture portion, Malachi chapter 3, verse 10 to 12. That's the last book in the Old Testament, because at the time I can't read all that, but it's very firm, very strong and very direct. God says, stop stealing from me. Don't you be a thief anymore. You gather much, but holes in your pocket. And you're always in trouble financially. You're home in trouble. There's no rest because you are robbing God. And you say, how can, how come you accuse us of that? God says, you want to know how? You do not pay your tithe. You do not pay what belongs to me. And God says, my judgment is on you. The widow in the Old Testament had nothing. And the prophet said, oh, just make me that one chapati. She said, what do you mean? My son, I don't have a husband. My only little boy, and this is the only thing left. I'm going to make the last chapati and eat and die. That's all we have. He said, don't worry. You make that for me first. What a cruel thing to say. What an unkind thing to say. And she obeyed. When the whole land dying of starvation, her life was blessed abundantly. And the oil and the flour, nothing runs out. It's continually supernatural blessing of God. This is absolutely fantastic when you realize supernaturally God doing things for your life and my life. Job went through a lot of suffering. And God himself said, the most holy man on planet earth. His friends came, accusing him all kind of dumb things. He was innocent. I mean, he didn't do anything wrong. But final chapter in the book of Job. Job is still sick. He's still poor. Still got nothing. Lost everything. And it reads like this. And Job prayed for his friends who were his enemies now. And then God blessed Job many, many times more. And blessed him beyond imagination. He didn't hold the blessing back from his enemies. He said, oh, Lord, bless my friends. Forgive them. And then what God did blessed Job. You may want to read a few more verses. I'm going to close here. Ecclesiastics chapter 11, verse 1 and 2. He says very clearly, listen, don't consider the weather. The clouds will be there. The monsoon season will be there. The adverse circumstance will be there. The opposition will be there. Do not consider those difficulties. Sow your seed. It will come back. Oh, I don't have much to give. All I have is 100 rupees. If I give it away, what can I do? Listen, as God directs your heart, you follow. You'll be surprised what God does with that. Read another passage, Acts chapter 10, about a Gentile, someone who did not know the ways of God, Cornelius. He was not a Jew, not one of the people of God. But God sent Peter and said, go to this man's house and say, I have seen, I have seen your good deeds. How you gave, how you helped the poor and the needy and the hurting, how you were kindhearted, and I have seen it. Can you imagine God from heaven took notice of an unsaved man, a non-Christian, saying, I have seen your kind deeds. And then God sent his servant to speak to him. So how do we make a conclusion to this? Well, several ways. Right now, in your own world, your neighbors, your friends, your colleagues, whatever, start thinking about how you can be a blessing to others. Make a list of people that you would want to pray for. Not just pray for you, but pray for others. And think about the times you constantly say negative things about other people. Or the moment you open your mouth, all there is is negative things. And sit alone somewhere and ask yourself, all the people that I'm dealing with, is there anything good about them I can say to other people? And make a list of the names of people that you consider to be bad people, evil people, not your friends. And temperament-wise, you don't jive with them. You don't have anything to do with them. But write the names down and ask the question, is there anything good about them? Is all what I know, everything is only bad? Then make a decision. You're going to start saying good things about these people with your mouth to other people. And they'll be shocked. Oh, last week you were throwing so bad things about them. This week you are saying, oh, he's such a praying man. He's such a gentle person. And she reads the Bible. What happened to you? They will ask. And you will wonder, wow, this is nice. They take notice of this. Start doing that. Take an inventory of your finances. You've got 10 rupees, 400 rupees money order, 1,00,000 rupees or 50 rupees, whatever. Absolutely, you come before God and repent for the times you didn't do what he told you to do. There's no time will never heal any sin, I must tell you. Unfaithful to God in money matters is a grievous sin where God is opposing you. And you want to repent. Say, God, you gave me 50 rupees and I did not give you tight. Lord, you gave me 500 rupees and I used it on myself. Lord, I was spending only on my, I don't care about anybody else around me. Forgive me, Lord. You ask forgiveness. If, if I have big, if you have the means to pay back to the Lord, then do that. If not, you say, Lord, I don't have the means to give back the tights. I owe you. I'm in debt. But Lord, whenever you bless me, I will make it up. I will pay back. From now on, be faithful to give to him. And give to others faithfully from your tight. By the way, giving tight to beggars and poor people is not giving tight. Giving tight always means you give your money for the extension of the work of the kingdom of God. Keep that in mind. You don't want to take your money and give it to your relative, your father, your mother and uncle and aunt and say, I'm giving tight. No, you are lying. That is not it. I just want to make sure you understand that. So how do you apply all of these things that I talked about? Don't be deceived. God is not mocked. What you sow, you will reap. And I want you to be blessed. Abraham, but I will call you a name. John, Mary, whatever your name is. He says, I'm going to bless you and I'm going to make you a blessing to the whole world. Believe it. It is yours. I know we all have so many needs in our life and we ask God to meet our needs. And by the way, the Lord promised call upon me and I will answer you. Let's pray together and ask the Lord for his blessing, shall we? Lord Jesus, I want to thank you for these minutes that we are able to spend together. And I pray especially for this dear friend. Their home, their needs, their business, their health. Lord, I pray that you'll reach down and touch their lives. Bring healing to their bodies, Lord. Meet every need in their life. In all these things I pray somehow they will come to know the love of Jesus and be blessed by him as they experience the forgiveness of sins and healing in their lives. Thank you for hearing our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. The Lord bless you and I look forward to hearing from you sometime. Either give me a call or write me an email or a letter or whatever. And by the way, when you do, please mention your prayer request and we will pray for you.