How many of you know God is more interested in your heart than He is your money? Oh, can I have a better amen? Listen, if your heart belongs to God then money is a non-issue. And I believe this morning, I want to talk to you...I want to make this personal. I don’t want to talk to you as a preacher, I want to talk to you as a person.
So the topic, why I give...I made this very personal today, okay. When pastor gave me this assignment I was excited and I did some inventory in my own life. I thought, why does Mike Hamon give? So this morning is going to be a discussion -- I’m just going to give you a little expose’ on why I give, and this may mean some things to you and some of you may give for a different reasons. If you have your Bibles, turn to the Book of Luke, the gospel of Luke chapter 6. This was the first scripture that came to my mind and I love this verse because this verse...I believe that giving presents us with so many opportunities. Can you say, oh yeah? Luke chapter 6 verse 38. If you have your scriptures read along with me -- if not, then you can track along on the big screen. These words are actually written in red. If you’ve got a red letter edition Bible you will recognize that those words in red are the words spoken by Jesus.
And here’s what Jesus, our Lord and Savior, had to say about giving. Luke 6:38 if you give, notice He said "if" there...if you give, in other words it’s not guilt, it’s not manipulation, I’m not forcing, but here’s an opportunity...if you give, you will receive. How many of you have found that to be true in your life? Your life is an example of that. If you give, He said, you’ll receive, your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Are you getting the picture of this? Jesus is painting a picture, and this is not just a financial principle, this is a life principle. Jesus said, hey, when you give your gift will come back to you but it doesn’t come back the same way that you give it. It will come back to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Isn’t that awesome? That’s the lifestyle ... when I think about the lifestyle God has called us to embrace, I think it’s a running over life. It’s not a life just enough to get by. Jesus paid a high price so that we could live a running over life. Do you know that basically this is the whole sowing and reaping. How many have heard that before, you reap what you sow? Do you know that to be true? But you reap after you sow. Are you with me? See, your giving..when you initiate giving, it sets something in motion. Jesus said your gift will revisit you. This thing will come back to you but not in the same way you give it. You reap what you sow, you reap after you sow, but listen, you always reap more than you sow. Isn’t that amazing? And this is what He said. He closes out this verse by saying this, whatever measure you use in giving, whether it’s large or small, it will be used to measure what’s given back to you. In other words, if you give in spoonfuls, you’ll receive in spoonfuls. If you give in bucket loads, you’ll receive in bucket loads, but if you give in truck loads, you’ll receive in truck loads. And I’ve just determined, and I think I’m not alone when I say this, but many of you see the value and benefit of this way of living and you’ve embraced it for yourself. And as we do that this morning...as we journey on why we give, I want to take you through 6 steps. These are 6 reasons, I wrote these down, and maybe they’ll connect with where you live and where you work.
But number 1, the first things I want to say, this is right off the bat, the first thought that came to my mind, why does Mike Hamon give, number. 1 because the One I surrendered to instructs me to give. The One I surrendered to instructs me to give. Now how many of you have been in church for most of your life? Lot of you, okay so this isn’t new information for you. In fact, I’ve been a churchgoer for as long as I can remember, my Daddy was a choir direction, my Mama taught Sunday School, I was in church. In fact, I tell people this all the time...I had a drug problem growing up as a kid. My Mama drug us to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, prayer meetings. Every time the doors opened, I was in church, which was a pretty good thing.
I picked up some good things in my history growing up as a kid. And one of those is the value of giving. You know, we gave 10% of everything that we had. I’ve always known this it was ingrained in me as a child. If I got $5 allowance at the end of the week, that 50 cents belonged to God. Can you say amen? Right off the top! It was His! If I got a birthday card in the mail...if I got like $15 in this birthday card, that $1.50 it belonged...it went straight to God.
You know, my Grandma, I have a "MeMe" -- any MeMes in the house? Her name was Gladys, we called her MeMe Glassy...MeMe Glassy would call us to her back bedroom and boy, I got excited because every time we went to her bedroom she would go to that top drawer, and she would say, now listen, don’t tell your parents but I’ve got a treat for you. She’d pull out that top drawer and slip me a $20 and she’d say, shhh, this is just between us. And without fail we’d get in the car and Daddy would say, hey, that $2 belongs to God. I mean, how did he know?
And so, I’ve always grown up giving 10% of everything I had to God. Now when I got older, and I went off to college...you know, you’re really an expert when you hit college aren’t you? You get smart. I’m thinking wait a second, what’s up with 10% of everything going to the church? I mean is this an idea that a handful of shady preachers got together and they made a decision in the back room saying, hey, here’s a cool way where we can drive all the expensive cars we want. Where did this idea where giving 10% to God come from?
So I came across a scripture in Malachi chapter 3. I want you to turn with me to Malachi...it’s the last book of the Old Testament so if you find Matthew, put it in reverse for a couple of pages and look at Malachi 3...I came across this verse in college and I began to understand where the principle of tithe came from. Malachi chapter 3, look at verse 10. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in My temple. Now that word "tithe" literally means 10%. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in My temple, if you do, says the Lord Almighty...you need to underline that or circle that in your Bible. In other words, it wasn’t a handful of preachers or a group of men coming up with an idea. This was actually spoken by God. If you do this, says the Lord Almighty...watch this, I’ll open the windows of heaven for you and I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in. Can somebody say amen?
And notice how He gives an exclamation point at the end of that statement. And then He says, try it. Let me prove it to you God says. Do you know that’s the only Scripture in all the Bible where God says, test Me in this. You see, God values giving so much that He wants to use that to prove how good He is to you. So I read that in college I thought, well wait a second now...this is a Biblical mandate, the Lord instructs me to give. It’s a non-negotiable.
So you know what I did? I was playing basketball in college and so we were busy traveling and playing and I didn’t have a lot of time to even go to church. So the 5 or 6 months out of the year that I couldn’t go to church, you know what I did? My little campus job that I had, my little income -- I wrote out a check every single week and mailed it to Pastor Dino when we first started this church. Because I knew that 10% belonged to God. It wasn’t mine -- it was His. I thought, you know what, I would rather rob a bank than rob God. Hello, come on somebody. Now I’m not into robbing banks cause I know that there are severe consequences that come along with that, but I sure don’t want to rob God. So I sent it to Pastor Dino.
You know when I graduated from college and Rachel and I were about to get married, we didn’t have a lot of money, I didn’t have two quarters to rub together. But I knew that, hey, when you get married there’s a thing called a honeymoon, come on fellows. And I didn’t know if I’d be spending my money at Galvez or where I was going to end up, but I knew I had to go somewhere. And so, do you know, watch this, a man in the church stepped up and he bought 2 first class tickets to fly us to the Bahamas so we could enjoy...Ho..Ho..,Holy Ghost! So we could spend a week in the Bahamas...now how did that happen? When you put God first in your giving, the windows of heaven open. Now how many of you want to live under an open heaven...can you say amen?
Now some of you may be saying, well Mike are you saying that if I pay my tithes you gonna send me to the Bahamas...well, not quite. But I promise you, God will do more in your life than you ever imagined. Do you believe that? Because when you put God first in giving, you enter a covenant relationship with God. And I’ll tell you this, I’ve learned this by experience, you cannot out give God. Try it! Test me in this, Jesus said. Hey, I’ll prove to you that you’ll live a blessed life. You want the blessings of God in your life? How many of you know that God’s blessings come God’s ways? And so as we embrace this...the first reason why I give is because the One I surrendered to instructs me to give.
The second thought that I had, number 2, why I give, number 2, it identifies who my source is. It identifies...when I give I’m saying, Lord, I’m trusting You. You see, giving is a matter of trust. Can you say amen? We’re saying, God, we trust You.
Now isn’t it amazing how sometimes it’s easy to trust God when it comes to salvation? We trust God to forgive us of our sins, we trust God when it comes with our family, our children, our future but sometimes it could be hard to trust God with our money. Didn’t Jesus say, where your treasure is, whoooo, there will your heart be also. You see, I believe that a man’s giving is a reflection of his internal world. It’s something that’s unseen on the inside of us. I want to tell you, if God is your source, then your giving reflects that. How many of you know it’s easy to say, well, God’s my source. But sometimes it’s more difficult to live that way. Can I have an amen from the honest people? It’s easy to say, God I’m trusting You; you’re my source but sometimes at the end of the month oh, Jesus where’s it going to come from.
You know, the other day Alexis and I, Alexis is my 7 year old we were in Wal Mart...anybody spend a lot of time in Wal Mart? Oh, man, ever since they built that one in Prairieville, we have visited that one like every single day. In fact, I told Rachel, look, when I die you are going to bury me in the parking lot of this Wal Mart, that way I know you’ll come see me every day. Amen? Alexis and I were in the checkout line there at Wal Mart and you know the marketing is creative because they put the candy right there in the lower shelves where the kids just go nuto. Do your kids do that? I mean, the sugar affects them in a neat way. And Alexis said, Daddy I want some Skittles, can I have the Skittles, I’m like well, okay so I bought her some Skettles. We get in the car and as we pull out I say, baby, give me a handful of those Skittles. She’s like nope. I’m like girlfriend, come on. I just want a few, I don’t want the whole bag, give me a few. Uh, uh, mine. I said, time out sister. Where did you get the money to buy those Skittles. Momma. Now look ladies, I know how you work, I live with 3 of you. I said, well baby, look where does Momma get all her money to spend. She said, Daddy. I said, right! Right there was a revelation that happened in that Honda Accord. And I told her, I said, oh by the way, where do you think that purse came from that you got on your wrist? It’s mine. What about those shoes you are wearing? They belong to me too. Yeah, that little outfit that you are wearing? Belongs to me. Oh, that trampoline you got in your back yard. That swing set, that bicycle that you like to ride in the neighborhood, hey, the bed and the pillow that you’re going to rest on tonight belong to me. Hey, take a deep breath, sister, you smell that air conditioning in this car...I’m providing that too. So she reaches in and gives me one Skittle. Like she’s being generous you know. Like, thanks. You know, listen, I had enough money to buy that whole shelf of Skittles and just rain them down on her head, and all I asked for was just a few.
Now are you making the connection? Sometimes we treat God the same way. It’s easy to say, God you’re my source, but we live in such a way that it all belongs to us. Let me give you some help...you were created by God, for God and everything that you have belongs to God. Are you with me? Do I need to repeat that? You’re created by God, for God and every single thing you have belongs to God. God asks for 10%, listen sometimes we’ll give Master Card and Visa 19% and 20% and have no problem doing that. But when it come to this 10%....MINE! And God like, whoa, whoa, time out. The very breath that you breathe belongs to Me and one day I’m going to collect that back from you. And I pray that on that day God will look down on us as a people and He would find us faithful because we have been giving and distributing what God sends our way. You see, when you give it identifies exactly who your source is. Are you with me this morning?
Number 3, the 3rd reason why I give is because giving releases joy in me. This may sound selfish, but I love the way I feel when I give, don’t you? When you give, when you have a generous moment or a good day and you’re giving stuff, how does that make you feel in here? Isn’t it addictive? It’s like more addictive than any street drug out there. Once you tap into a lifestyle where you begin to embrace this idea, hey, God created me for Him and everything I have belongs to Him, it’s all His. When you begin to tap into that I believe it triggers something spiritual on the inside of you.
Why is it that when you give, you feel so great? You know, the thought I had is the most popular verse in the Bible, John 3:16 -- for God so loved the world that He did what? He gave. So you know what that tells me -- God is a giver. And when you give and when I give we look just like God. Because He loved us so much He had to do something about it. Isn’t that amazing? You know it’s true, you can give without loving but you can’t love without giving. Are you hearing me?
I’ll prove this to you. How many of you had to write out a check this month to your mortgage company? Anybody say DEMCO or Entergy recently. When you wrote out that check there wasn’t a whole lot of joy going on, was there? You ever got a speeding ticket? I have never rejoiced over paying a speeding ticket. So you can give and you don’t necessarily have to love. But I’m going to tell you this when you truly love, you can’t help but give. I think about my wife, I think about my children, I think about the people that I care about them and my natural response is to give. Isn’t that cool, that God loved the world so much that He gave? Now my question is this, does the church love the lost so much that we give? Because that’s the heartbeat of God.
See, a couple of months ago, Rachel and I were flying back from California and we had a connecting flight, we had a layover in Dallas and so we stopped there at DFW International Airport and we had some time so we went to get something to eat. So we went to the Chili’s Restaurant and I was hungry and so the waiter brought us in and he sat us at a table, and he sat us next to a lady that was on the phone and this lady was visibly upset. Something was going on, and I could tell that she was bothered. So she was on the phone and she was talking, and I couldn’t help but overhear some of the things that she was saying. And so she’s on the phone, she’s crying, she must have been talking to her sister and her Mom had recently had a heart attack or a stroke, I’m not sure which one, but she was very sick and was in the hospital. And this lady was busting and trying to get see her Mom to visit her. So immediately as I was listening to this, I leaned over the table and I told Rachel, "Baby, we need to buy her lunch." I just felt like we needed...she had her food in front of her... but we needed to pay for that food. So I got up and told the waiter, I said, "Look give me her ticket I want to buy her meal. Don’t tell her, I want to pay for her meal." So I went ahead and paid for it and I sat back down. Well, we began to talk to this lady and we found out that her family was originally from New Orleans and that they had been displaced because of Katrina. And her daughter had been married two days before and then her Mom fell sick and was now in the hospital and she hadn’t eaten in 2 days and she was starving. And so, you know, she talked to us and she said "What are ya’ll doing?" I said, "Well, we’re pastors at a church." And she said, "Would ya’ll pray with me right now?" And so right there, man the 3 of us are holding hands and the lady’s crying and Rachel’s crying and I’m preaching the house down. Oh, God, we’re just believing for her Mama and we’re just praying a blessing on her, and it was beautiful. And at the end of that time together, you know what she said? She said these words, she said, "You know, I think God sent the 2 of you as angels for me." I said, "Rachel, you heard that? She thinks I’m an angel." Rachel’s like, "Yeah, a fallen angel...I know how you act." But see we left and we ran to catch our connecting flight, and we didn’t even say anything, but I had so much joy in knowing that her unexpected blessing was on the way.
Now what kind of impact do you think that made on her? What do you think that did for her? I don’t know what it did for her, but I tell you this...I’m convinced at what it did in me. It unlocked something in me. You know what happens sometimes when you begin to hold onto your stuff? Then you get stagnant in here and it gets kind of backed up and built up. But you know what, I believe that God will send the blessings...His blessings to us in order to go through us. Are you with me? Isn’t that how it works? You examine the goodness of God in your life and it’s not just for you, but it’s so that you can relay those things around you. You see, we look most like God when we give. And it releases something supernatural in us. If you’re a follower of Christ then you have His DNA. You’ve got the Divine nature of the Almighty. So it runs in you to be a giver. Turn to your neighbor and say, "I’m a giver, I’m not a taker." The reason I give is because I love the joy it releases in me.
Number 4, the 4th reason why I give. Because giving stretches me to think beyond myself and my stuff. Giving will stretch you. Can you say amen? Giving will stretch...and it will confront certain things in your life. When you make a decision to be a giver, you’re going to have to do some on-purpose giving. Because have you noticed how easy it is for selfishness and materialism and greed to just jump on you. Oh, come on, you can shout at me better than that. The culture that we live in, it inoculates people to get and to grab and to just take. And sometimes if you’re not careful and you rub shoulders with that long enough, it will just jump on you. Pretty soon you’re just thinking about yourself and your stuff and man, I gotta protect what’s mine. You start barricading your heart and your light begins to shut down. When you make a decision to give, it will stretch you to think beyond yourself. And beyond your stuff.
Now how many of you God has ever told you to give something away? That’s not new, God speaks to us all the time about giving, doesn’t He? But now when He tells you to give stuff away -- sometimes God will tell you to give stuff away that you really like. I’m not talking about your hand-me-down, third generation garage sale stuff. Can you say oh, yeah? I mean, you just as soon set that at the end of the curb and set that on fire, you know, I mean it’s just taking up space in your house. I’m not talking about that kind of stuff. And have you noticed how creative we get when God puts His finger on something in our lives that we really want -- and He tells us to give it away? Notice how we kind of debate God...anybody ever done that before? Well, Lord, now if this is really You. God if you really, really, really, truly and sincerely want me to give this away, then give me a sign. Just give me a sign Lord, just a sign. Show me, speak to me that You want me to give it away. Cause you know if you give it away that you’re going to have to watch that person wear it every day. Hey, one time I gave a dude a pair of shoes that I only wore them one time...they were brand knew. The brand new Penny Hardaway basketball shoes I give it to him and 3 days later, I mean, he had paint all over it and all this construction and I was like, woooo. I see the shoes are really blessing you. Oh, it just hurt me to see that! Lord, if it’s really, really, really, really, truly You give me a sign. And so you’ll walk out of your front door and you’ll hear like 2 trumpet blasts. You’ll see 3 angel coming to you, the bushes in your front yard will be on fire. And you’ll be like, Lord, just a sign, I’m just asking for a sign. I can’t be sure, Lord, convince me.
A couple of years ago Rachel and I were in New York, and many of you know Kevin Maoi (?) Kevin and Tracy, they come to our church. Kevin plays football for the New York Jets -- so because of our relationship we have a chance to go up and do chapel for the team and watch the game and to spend some time with them. So we’ve been doing this for about, I guess, 6 or 7...5, 6 or 7 years and 2 years ago we were in New York and had done chapel and watched the game and then we were taking a train out to Long Island to go spend the rest of our time with Kevin and Tracy. And so on this train we were sitting next to this couple and it was so cool. I love to hear people from the New England area talk. Isn’t that awesome? And they had this like Brooklyn --Bronx kind of accent and I was just mesmerized. So they’re talking to us and he was telling us, yeah, I’m a shop teacher and you know, she’s a 3rd grade teacher and we’ve been living here all our lives, and they said, what are ya’ll doing here? I said well a friend of mine plays for the Jets and so we came up and did chapel and spent some time... Really? Who’s your friend? I said well his name’s Kevin Maoi (?)!! Babe, he knows Kevin Maoi, the all pro center ... I mean, he’s going on and telling me all these statistics. He’s so impressed you know that I know Kevin Maoi. Wait until I tell little Johnny, he’s going to trip out to know that I’m sitting on the train next to the friend of Kevin Maoi. I’m like, hey, if you need me to sign an autograph you know...your son will really appreciate that. So he’s giving me all these statistics...and he’s just, aw you know. And so, in my mind I’m thinking that in my bag I’ve go some New York Jets stuff. I gotta tee shirt, I gotta hat, oh, I got an authentic number 68 Kevin Maoi football jersey. "Oh, no, Lord! Lord, You wouldn’t dare! You couldn’t, God, You shouldn’t." And about that time, I promise you I’m having this conversation on the inside, Rachel leans over and says, "Mike, don’t you have that jersey in your bag?" I said, "No." I’m like, "God that’s no fair! You’re double teaming me okay? I mean it’s one thing to disobey God but another thing to disobey your wife." And so I knew that God was dealing with me about giving this jersey. And so I reached into my bag (crying) hey, here give this to your son, I think he’ll really enjoy it. The guy looked at me, it was like, "Are you kidding me? No, you’ve got to be kidding." I’m like, "I wish I were." For real and so I knew if I held onto that jersey that I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. But now that I gave that jersey, somewhere in New York there’s a 17 year-old boy that couldn’t sleep that night.
Come on somebody. In spite of how I feel, God I’m going to obey You. I’m going to hear from you. I’m telling you this, if God’s telling you to give something away, or if there’s this voice, or this impulse on the inside of you and you sense you need to give something, I promise you it’s not the voice of the devil. It’s God because God is a giver, and when you give you mirror and reflect the goodness of God. The Spirit of God in your is released. Giving will confront that self-centeredness and that ever-increasing desire for stuff that sometimes will jump on us. Can you say amen? That’s why I give because it forces me to think beyond myself and beyond my stuff.
Number 5 -- the 5th reason why I give, I want my children to be givers. How many parents do we have? Moms and Dads, do you see the value of this in your home? Isn’t it amazing -- have you notice how you never have to train a child to be selfish? We’re kinda born that way, aren’t we? We’re born into this world with a major dose of self. And we feel like that sometimes it’s about our stuff; it’s our world and their just living in it, and you know...but you never have to teach your kids to be selfish. But you constantly have to remind them to share. Can I have a better amen?
Any Moms or Dads in here ever have to pull the car over to the side of the road and reach in the back seat to referee some wrestling match? Over some French fries...they’re not going to share the French fries! Man, you’re like, ripping Ronald McDonald left and right...you’re gonna share!!! Because you look like God when you share. Veins are popping, smoke coming out of your ears. But you have got to be intentional about setting an environment in your home for giving.
Now listen, how is Alexis going to learn to share her Skittles? Daddy’s going to have to share a few Skittles. I’ve got to model this. I’ve got to demonstrate this in front of them. How many of you know you can teach what you know, but you’ll reproduce who you are? You can preach that sermon on giving until you’re blue in the face, but if you’re not operating in a generous spirit, I promise you that your kids will pick up on that.
Let me give it to you this way...model what you want Jesus to multiply in you. If you want God to grow this in your home, then walk it out in front of your children because this value of giving can be taught but I think it’s more effective when it’s caught. I mean, generosity is contagious -- can you say amen? When you get up against people that give, man, you’re wanting to give. You know, "Hey, I like your shirt," -- "Well, you can have it." You know...but when you’re around people that are stingy, then all of a sudden you begin to understand that your world shrinks. Does it not? When you’re a giver, your world grows and it enlarges. But when you’re a taker, your world ...just has an interesting way of downsizing.
And this is a scripture that we teach our children...1 Timothy chapter 6 look at verse 18. Paul said it this way when he wrote to Timothy, he said tell them to use their money to do good. How many of you know money is just a tool...it’s a tool? You can own your money or your money can own you. But here the Bible is saying tell them to use their money to do good things, they should be rich in good works and should give generously to those in need. Always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. Now you know how we teach this to our girls? We teach them this way, 1 Timothy 6:18, be happy to give and ready to share. Be happy to give and ready to share. The next time we see them fighting over something, there’s a tug-of-war, I mean they’re in a playroom that’s got probably 10 billion toys but there’s that one toy that they’ve both got to have at the exact same time. "Hey, be happy to give and ready to share." Because I want my children to pick up this giving thing, and I want to take this spirit of giving to the next generation. Why do I give, I want my kids to be givers.
And the last thing, number 6, I give because I believe in the vision of this house. I believe in Healing Place Church. I am so committed to the mission that God’s given us to be a healing place for a hurting world. And do you know that mission cannot be accomplished without people who give. We’ll never be that healing place unless we step into this spirit of generosity and understand that God brings things to us in order to distribute them through us.
You know, I love this church. I love the people of this church. I love the power that I sense in the pews of this church. You see the driving force of the church is not the pulpit. The strength of the church is measured in the seats. And you know it makes me so proud to be out in the community: I may be pumping gas, I may be walking in the mall and maybe stop by Wal Mart and somebody grab me and say, hey, don’t you go to that Healing Place Church? Ah, yes, yes I do. Because it’s a privilege for me to be connected...we have a reputation in this community of being givers, do we not?
And some of you may be new to this house and so you’re stepping into a realm that may be unknown to you but look around you, what you see around you did not happen by accident. There were men and women who gave sacrificially so that you could sit in that seat. And you know what, as we build this worship space on this hill, we call it Chapter 2 because this is God’s writing the story and He’s scripting this thing out, but you know what? There will be hundreds and thousands that will come to know Christ because men and women embraced the value of giving. Are you with me? You see, this church flourishes, this church is blessed because it’s been carried on the backs of men and women who give. And you know how you give? You give with no strings attached. Isn’t that cool? No strings attached. You give because you love God and you’ve tapped into a life style that raises you above the level of selfishness.
You see, last Sunday, I stood right here on this platform and I told you about our neighbors, I told you about the 3 boys they have. I told you about a 14, a 10 year-old, and an 8 year-old, and remember I told you about the little 10 year-old boy, Nicholas? Nicholas was building that fire in his backyard and he threw that gas can on there and it exploded in his face and engulfed him in flames. I told you about that and we prayed for him. And many of you, I can’t tell you the response...it was overwhelming. You responded in an incredible way. I got emails, I got phone calls, many of you grabbed me -- wouldn’t even let me get off the stage -- grabbed me right afterwards, saying what can I do? Can I give, can I serve, can I help? Tell me what I can do. And you know what you did? You gave. You gave your time, you gave your money, you gave your resources, you gave your touch, you gave blood. You came by the hospital...I mean, this family is blown away at the generosity of this house. You see, I think about...in fact, little Nicholas’ Dad called me last night on my way to church, he called and said, "Mike I want to tell you, we had a surgery this week -- a 7-hour skin grafting procedure, 7-hours." Now think if that’s your 10 year-old boy -- 7 hours. The doctor said it went perfectly, everything took, they’re excited about his future. Remember I told you about his ears and his fingertips, the doctors are amazed at the progress that this boy’s making. Now how does that happen? Here is another family that’s been touched by your generosity.
I heard a pastor say the other day, he said why is it that some people can give major contributions to universities and hospitals? Why do people drop major endowments on institutions like that? Well, they do it for all different kinds of reasons, they may do it for fame, for recognition, to see their name on a building. But you know what’s amazing about giving to the church? When you give to the church, nobody knows. Isn’t that cool? Doesn’t that mess with our pride and our ego? How many have ever written a check in church and you kinda wanted the person next to you to see all the zeros that you put back...(cough) "Praise the Lord, it’s all for You." Listen, when our worship space gets built, my name’s not going to be on any building. They’re not going to put my name on any parking space. Listen, we give and we give anonymously. Isn’t that cool? Didn’t Jesus say, when you give don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing? He said you don’t have to stand on the street corner and you know, make an announcement and have a parade. Hey, I’m a giver! He says give in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
You see, I think if heaven had a hall of fame, if there was such a thing as heaven’s hall of fame I think there’d be at least 3 people in there. The first person that came to my mind was the woman with the jar of perfume. You remember her? She had the alabaster box. The Bible says that jar of perfume was so expensive that it was equal to a year’s wages. What does that mean today? What, $30,000, $50,000, $60,000, $100,000...in one jar of perfume. The Bible says that she took that jar and she broke the seal and she anointed the head of Jesus. And she worshipped Him. What’s her name? We don’t know, she’s anonymous. But she worshipped God.
I think about the story of the 10 lepers in Luke chapter 17, Jesus said, hey, go show yourselves to the priest. As they were going they looked down and realized that they were healed and one of them was so excited that he had to run back to the foot of his Savior and say, Lord, thank you, thank you and Jesus said, hey, I thought I healed 10, where are the other 9? Who was the leper? We don’t know his name, but you know what he did? He gave thanks. You see the woman gave worship; the leper gave thanks.
And then I think about the widow. Remember the widow woman that gave 2 pennies in the offering bucket? That’s all she had. Everybody’s dropping in major hunk of change but Jesus looks back and sees the widow’s 2 pennies and said, hey, she’s given more than all of them. What she’s done will be remembered throughout eternity. What was her name? We don’t know but we’re still talking about her today. You see, one gave worship, one gave thanks and one gave all...but they all gave. That’s the power of giving. Just obscure people like us, little old people from Prairieville. Ascension Parish, man you live out in St. Amant, Baton Rouge, I live across the river. Man, we can touch the world when we tap into the power of giving. Bow your heads with me, I want to pray.
