SERMON: If You’re Thankful and You Know It, Reach Into Your Pocket and Show It! (November 29, 2020)
Happy Thanksgiving and holidays to everyone, especially to those of the household of faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. During this historic time when our nation is facing the worst health crises in the last 100 years, I would like to share with you this message that God gave to me a few days ago. God said to tell my people, “If You’re Thankful and you know it, Reach into your pocket and show it!”
Regardless of what calamities and tragedies we endure in life, at Psalm 103:1-4, the Psalmist King David reminds us to:
Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me, bless
his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all
his benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth
all thy diseases. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction;
who crowneth thee with lovingkindness, and tender mercies.
God wants His people to bless Him with all that is within in them—spiritually, mentally, physically, and financially. As Christians, for many years now, we have not been properly thanking God for all of His benefits towards us. The result has been catastrophic for the church and world. When God’s people are thankful towards Him, they are removed far away from oppression and destruction. But the opposite is happening to Christians today, we are being infected and dying of Covid-19 and other diseases at the same or greater rate as sinners. I know what I am saying is radical, and seems harsh. I am certainly not trying to be negative and critical at Thanksgiving or any other time. Rather, my goal is to correct our aberrant conduct, so we can live and thrive under the covenant promises of God. (Psalm 1:1-3)
Because the Church corporately and Christians singly have not been thankful toward God in their financial giving, we have not been able to move in the spiritual authority that God has given us over evil in earth. We have not been able to command Covid-19 to go and the sick healed, and dead raised to life. Our people have suffered the loss of jobs, businesses, and homes too. Look at Proverbs 3:9-10. When we honor God with our money and resources, God promises to fill to the overflow our storehouses with plenty. God is not a man that He should ever lie! (Numbers 23:19) If showing thanks to God through our finances brings about financial security, then dishonoring God with our money will bring lack and in sufficiency. The research data show that Christians have been notorious st stealing and robbing God of tithes and offerings. In the United States, there are about 247 million people who identify themselves as Christians. Only about 99 million (40 percent) of them indicate that they attend church at least once a month. Of the 99 million Christians that attend church, only 1.9 million report giving tithes. So about 2 percent of the 99 million people who go to church tithe! Further, data show that the average weekly giving per Christian is only $2.50.
It is God alone who gives us the power to get wealth, and expects us to act as faithful stewards with the money and resources He places in our hands to establish His covenant in the earth. (Deuteronomy 8:18 and II Corinthians 4:1-2) Now we need to understand Jesus’ words about being a faithful steward. At Luke 16:10-12, Jesus said
He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that
is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If you are not faithful in the
unrighteous mammon, who will commit to you the true riches. And if you
have not been faithful in that which is another mans who shall give you that
which is your own.
Its fair to say then that most of the 247 million people in the U.S. who claim to be Christians have been serving money rather than serving God. As a result, God has not been able to trust us with the true riches of heaven. Christians have not for the most part been thankful from the heart toward God, because their hearts are far from God with their money. Jesus said where your treasure is so will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:21) The true riches of heaven is the spiritual authority to bind and loose things on earth as they are in heaven. (Matthew 18: 18-20) How can God trust the church with this authority, when it is unfaithful in financial giving, which is least? So when we pray, fast, preach we see no great manifestations of the Spirit of God in our midst because our hearts are not right before God concerning our giving to Him. Christians have gotten the notion that the money they possess is their own, and they have decided to covet and hoard it.
It’s time to for Christians to repent and be converted—to change their hearts and minds about their financial giving to God. The blessings of God flow freely when we give to God and others in need from the heart as He commanded. (Acts 20:35 & II Corinthians 9: 6-8) Right now the Holy Ghost is prompting you to stand up and reach into your pocket and honor God with your tithes and offering as directed by Him. When we blindly reach into our pockets and give as God directs, watch how other people in the world will give into your needs. God wants you to be a blessing to others, and it starts with you being thankful and blessing Him first with your money and resources. When you give money to God from your heart, you can use spiritual authority to release the blessings of heaven on earth. Trust God with your money, so He can trust you with His true riches.