WE REALLY CAN OWN NOTHING (Final Charge 1)

More, more about Jesus More of His saving fullness More of His love who died for me More, more, more about Jesus More, more about Jesus More of His saving fullness More of His love who died for me Almighty God, we are indeed grateful unto You. We thank You, we bless You. We are grateful for the suffering, the death, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You for justification, we thank You for adoption, we thank You for redemption, we thank You for acceptance in the beloved. We thank You, O Lord our God, for diverse grace and mercies received. Lord, God Almighty, we say be Thou exalted in the name of Jesus. Lord, unto You we gather this evening, not unto ourselves. We connect with one another—we who are here physically, our brethren who are on Mixlr, our brethren who are on Telegram. Lord God, with one mind, one heart, we look up unto You. We pray that Your spirit will work within us, Your spirit will work among us, Your spirit will meet with us, O Lord, individually at the point where we need You most in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, our God, as we reflect on the concluding part of "we really actually can hold nothing," Lord, I pray that You will bring the matter again to bear very seriously upon our hearts in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, eternal Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So we are looking at the third series in this episode, "We really can hold nothing." And today what we want to do is trying to look at what I may call concluding remarks. We may term it concluding remarks, we may term it final charge, we may term it implications for our life. Anyhow you look at it, we just want to look at how we ought to live then. How we ought to live if truly we have been able to establish that we own nothing. We have been able to see that we are accountable in all things. We have been able to see that we are mere stewards of God’s gift, calling, and grace. As a result, we are not to try to use any of these things to do self-marketing or self-promotion, but we are to use all for the purpose of the giver’s glory, that is God’s glory. Then what are some practical things about everyday life that we need to note? Practical things about everyday life, or final charge, or concluding remarks—all of these topics suit or are in line with what we want to discuss today. So we own nothing. How then should we live practical issues of this life? Now we have been able to tell ourselves that as far as everything here is concerned, we are people who hold whatever we are holding, we only hold it for a while. After some time, we will drop it, and then somebody else will pick it again. Look at what the Bible says in Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 6. This was partly where we started from. It says in 1 Timothy 6:7, "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out." NLT: "After all, we didn’t bring anything with us when we came into the world, and we certainly cannot carry anything with us when we die." I want you to note something here. "After all, we did not bring anything with us when we came into the world." The next thing: "And we certainly cannot carry anything." I want you to note, the matter is not "we certainly will not carry anything." The Bible says "we certainly cannot." The matter is we don't have the capacity to be able to do so. Even when we want to do so, as humans we don't have that capacity. It's a matter of we cannot. It's not a matter of we will not. It says, "and certainly we cannot carry anything with us when we die." Somebody said this, and it makes a lot of meaning to me. The person said when babies are born, they are born tight-fisted. That is, the hand will be closed tightly. It is gradually, gradually, gradually they begin to open that hand. But when man dies, it's a different ballgame altogether. The person said the hand that was closed tightly at the point of birth will be held loosely at the point of death. The hand will be open. There is nothing to hold to again. There's nothing. It's just open. And the implication of that is we came naked and when we are going we cannot—not that we will not—we cannot take anything out. It is not possible. When we die, it is not possible. So we are looking at something in the background that it will be good for you to just remember that you only hold it for a while. By the time you die, that thing you are calling "my own, my own, my own" and you want to die about your own, somebody else will take it over. And I normally laugh. You will see people who take over things and they are contending to die because of what they took over. What of the person that dropped it? The Yorubas will say, "*Eni to ri nkan He, to fe tori e ku, ko ronu ko ranti pe owo enikan lo ti jabo.*" That is, the person who by chance got something and begins to stake his life because of that thing should remember that what just suddenly became yours by chance was owned by somebody before. So it is important, very, very important. What I'm trying to say is a deep sense of realization that no matter how highly placed you are, no matter the dimension and the level of success you may achieve, no matter how rich, no matter how wealthy, no matter what you are able to garner into your life, you need to know you are only holding that thing for a while. After a while, it will go to somebody else. And this understanding is so crucial. Understanding that you hold it for a while, very soon you will drop, somebody else will pick it, that person again will drop and another person will pick it, and on and on. It goes like that. So what should we do? Having said all of these above, the Bible began to talk about wealth, about riches. Look at what the Bible began to say after that verse 7: "Having food and raiment, let us be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men into destruction and perdition. For the love of money, the love of material things, the love and the arrogance you bring up because of some things that you are able to possess." The Bible says the love of these things is a kind of root of evil. Now, what is the final charge? I go quickly to verse 17 of 1 Timothy chapter 6. What should be the implications for our lives? The Bible says, "Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly everything to enjoy." Now you see the command. What should be our attitude for whatsoever you are opportune to lay hold on? What is that thing in which you are rich? What are you rich in? Are you rich in wisdom? Are you rich in understanding? Are you rich in material things? Are you rich in money? What is it? Look at what the Bible is saying. It says command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty. I take that in another translation: "Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud." I take it in another translation, NIV: "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant." I take that in another translation: "Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves. Avoid being so full of yourself." It says command them, command those who are rich in the present world. What am I trying to say? For anything that you own, anything that is in your hand now, whatever is looking as if you are rich in, whatever it is—is it money? whatever? Whatever you look at and say "ah, there is abundance in my life with this thing," the Bible says be careful. Once a man is rich in something, what normally follows that thing is arrogance. What normally follows that thing is a sense of self-importance. What normally follows this thing is being proud. What normally follows this thing is a sense of superiority complex. So the Bible is saying in whatsoever you may be possessing, in whatsoever you may be holding, remember you are holding it just for a while. God allowed you to hold it for that while. And because you will be accountable for how it was held, how you used it, what it was used for, because you will be held accountable, the Bible says command those who are rich in the present world, command them not to be arrogant. Command them not to be full of themselves. So the first thing to note about everyday life is that please, I beg you, avoid that sense of arrogance, that sense of self-importance that come from the fact that you are rich in certain things. It could be money. Whatever it is you know you are rich in, the Bible says be careful. What normally follow a sense of riches is arrogance. You begin to talk one way or the other. You begin to act one way or the other. Sometimes your tongue begin to twist. "Yeah, so what I'm trying to say..." One kind of thing begin to enter you. You will see it sometimes. Oh, I just remember this thing that happened. A young man who was privileged to own Okada. We are talking about motorcycle. We call it Okada in Nigeria. And I think Okada entered into the dictionary if I'm not wrong. Now, the boy was on his motorcycle, the Okada. And you see the boy, he was so full of himself on his Okada. In fact, you will be thinking whether it is a toad that was on the Okada. You know when the toad swells. He so much bent his back, carried the Okada and was riding so majestically, so full of himself. And as I watched the young man as he passed by me, you know what was just coming to my mind? If a man owns Okada and he is this proud, will he not swell and burst by the time God gives him a car? If Okada could change the shape of a man, just Okada could change a man's shape and he swelled as something that will burst on Okada. What am I trying to make you understand, brethren? What is it that is making you to swell? What is it that is making you to feel "yes, that is who I am"? What is it? The Bible is making us to see something very, very important. That what normally follows riches, what normally follows achievement, what normally follows a sense of "I have made it" in some material or some physical things, what normally follows it is arrogance. So as you live your life every day, as you mix with people, look out in your life and watch against arrogance. Number two: what is the second thing in that place? Implications for our life. It says "not to trust in uncertain riches." They are not to trust in these uncertain riches, but in the living God. What am I trying to make you see is that apart from arrogance, there's the tendency to begin to feel that because I have scored this one, because I have had that one, because I am this, I am that, there's a sense of trust. You begin to put your confidence on that thing that is your own or that you possess. You begin to put confidence in those things. That is another thing the Bible tells us to watch. Some people, they have their confidence in their skill. "With this skill I can never be hungry." And it just make me to remember late MKO Abiola. There was something that happened in Nigeria before the annulment of the 1993 June 12 election. Abiola was said to have boasted that "look, nothing can bring down my wealth. Nothing can bring it down. We were wealthy, we have entered into this kind of wealth and of course the circle can never change." But you will agree with me that the circle actually changed. A man who could as at that time was one of the most foremost wealthy person in Nigeria with connection both home and abroad was a man that was reduced to nothing by certain circumstances under General Sani Abacha. You were thinking that from everything, because of that status that he has achieved, nothing can touch him. The Bible says be careful. There's this tendency in a man that the man begin to put his confidence in life on his success, his material things. He begin to feel that "ah, with this, then there is nothing." That was the kind of thing that destroyed Pharaoh. Pharaoh was so confident that "ah, with these my chariots and Israel they were held by the Red Sea, I will finish them." But you remember, it was Israel that finished him. Why? How did it happen? By circumstances that Pharaoh it never occurred to him. It never occurred to Pharaoh that Red Sea can become a wall to the right, a wall to the left. That the bed of the sea can immediately dry up. Faith—there is no science. There is no science that can handle what happened that day. There is still no technology. We have been inventing and inventing and inventing. But there is still no technology that can turn a sea to a wall in matter of hours and dry the bed. We are talking of within hours. Dry the sea bed, it became dry land. And again, being able to bring back the water almost immediately. There is still no science like that. That was what Pharaoh did not understand. He trusted in his chariot. He trusted in his might and his ability. But he did not understand that what you are trusting in, somebody actually gave it. And the person can decide to withdraw it almost immediately and you become nothing. That is why the Bible says that apart from avoiding arrogance, the next thing to be careful about is trust. When you begin to trust in uncertain riches. You know what it is saying? That riches is so uncertain that we cannot trust in it. "Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud, not to trust in their money, in their wealth, in their riches, in their achievement, whatever it is, which will soon be gone." Are you seeing it? It will soon be gone. And that's the reality. So it is very, very important, instead of trusting in whatever you have, it says "but their trust should be in the living God." Their trust should be in the living God, who is the one who actually gives us all things to enjoy. Which means that whatever you seem to be enjoying, it's not because you are so powerful, it's not because you are so intelligent, it's not because you are the only one that can do it best, it's not because you are the only one that can get it right. You are getting that thing because somebody is allowing you to enjoy it. That's what the Bible is saying. Whatever you seem to be enjoying, whatever you seem to have access to, whatever seems to be in your hand, whatever seems to be what you are saying "yes, this thing is my own," the Bible say you must have a clear understanding that it is God who gives us all things richly to enjoy. If you want to put your trust in anything, put your trust in the Lord. Put your confidence in the Lord. Don't ever put your confidence in whatever. Don't put your confidence in anything. Put your confidence in the Lord. And the reason why that becomes very, very important is because of all that we have been saying. It is God who gives us all things richly to enjoy. Whatever you are enjoying, somebody is allowing you to enjoy it. Somebody is just giving you the opportunity to enjoy it. Don't be blind by what you are enjoying. Don't be blinded by it. Don't begin to create your shoulder and raise this and raise that. Don't begin to define your life by those things. That is not the purpose. What then is the purpose? I want to say something here that is very important. When you look at the Lord's Prayer in Matthew chapter 6. Look at the Lord's Prayer in Matthew chapter 6. You will notice something the Bible says about our needs in relation to God. Look at what it says in the Lord's Prayer. It says, "When you pray, you shall pray like this: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. (Verse 10) Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day.'" Do you notice that? That's New KJV. NIV: "Give us today our daily bread." Are you following something at all? This is what I'm trying to make you get. NLT: "Give us our food for today." When you go down to that Matthew and you go to verse 33 and 34, it says, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." What are the things that will be added to you? What to eat, what to drink, what to wear, what you need—all of that shall be added to you. Verse 34: "Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own self. Sufficient is the day for its own evil." "So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worry. Today’s trouble is enough for today." I don't know whether you are getting what I'm trying to make you see. That you will notice that in the principles of the kingdom, what God guarantees is that your daily needs will be met. That which you need daily will be supplied. And it will be supplied on a daily basis. You know the way bricklayers go to work, artisans go to work. And when they finish working, they collect the wage for that day. I'm trying to give an example. So what you need per day is what God guaranteed, that each day I will give you what you need. Now, the Bible now say command those who are rich. What that is trying to make you see is that in anything that you notice that you are having more than your daily bread, when you become rich in something, you become wealthy about something or on something, it becomes very, very crucial for you to understand that the purpose for that thing that is in your hand has a purpose. What is the purpose? The purpose is what you will find in verse 18. I'm trying to make you see that riches and wealth, riches and abundance, they are actually a ministry. They are actually something God gives you to use to do something. It is not something that God gives you to begin to define status. To begin to say "we are first-class brethren, we are looking to fourth-class brethren." It is not for you to become possessed or obsessed with that thing. Rather, the reason why God may surround your life with abundance is what you see in verse 18: "Let them do good." When you notice that you are having abundance around your life, when you notice that "yes, I'm possessing, I'm having, small job brings much," be careful. What we need to do with possession is to do good. The purpose—what I'm trying to make you see is the purpose of abundance. Material abundance, spiritual abundance, financial abundance, whatever thing that looks like "wow, you are having it in a big way," is actually a grace to minister to the body. Not only to the body, go and check your Bible, Galatians chapter 6: "As much as you have opportunity, do good unto all men, then especially to those of the household of faith." Whatever God gives you opportunity to have, and you are having, you can say "I am rich, I have plenty, I am landlord, I am that, I am wealthy, I have so-and-so in my account." When you are seeing those kind of things around your life, I pray may it dawn on you that what God is putting in your hand is ministry, what God is putting in your hand is responsibility, what God is putting in your hand is a grace to function. When we are surrounded by goods, when we are surrounded by goodies, material things of this life, when God seems to surround our life with it, the purpose of it is they should do good. You need to do good. You need to begin to pray "Baba, who am I sent to? Lord, how do I use this wealth? What do I use it for? How best should I use this thing? You gave me this thing so much in abundance. How do I use it? Lord, open my eyes." As you begin to look, you begin to become sensitive in your spirit because God will begin to connect you to the people that He has sent you to. Or He begin to place you around those He has sent you to. Or He begin to place around you those that He has sent to you. Don't close your eyes. Don't close your eyes. Don't be self-absorbed. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Prepare your heart to do good. That's what the Bible says. Prepare your heart to do good. I'm to do good, I'm to do good. You begin to look out to do good, here and there, to do good. Because God will place you around those who need you. God will connect you with those you need to help. God will connect you to them or connect them to you. God will place you around them or place them around you. May you not be blind to your assignment in the name of Jesus Christ. May the life that God placed around your life not waste away. Learn to do good. Not only to do good, look at how it goes forward. It say they should "let them do good, that they may be rich in good works." Hey! Let them do good, that they may be rich. So riches are to translate into rich in good works. Are you getting the Bible? That thing you are rich in, you are supposed to translate it to make you to be rich in good works. That thing that you are rich in, that is the purpose. It is to make you to become rich, rich in good works. It noted: it says "ready to give." Are you seeing your responsibility? You are always in readiness to give. Ready to give, ready to give, ready to give. This is what the scripture was warning us about in the book of James. When he said when your brother come around you, and you tell your brother "the Lord will do it, the Lord will answer your prayer, the Lord will do a miracle, the Lord will do this." He say your brother came to you not having what to eat, what to wear, what to drink or anything. And all you did was just to pray. He say your faith would have been better expressed if you go inside the house and take some food, you would have answered the prayer better. What am I trying to make you understand is that when God begin to surround you with abundance in certain things, with riches, with plenty, with wealth, God is raising you beyond just a man who prays, but beyond that, a man who is an answer to prayers. You are supposed to become answer to prayers. I know what I'm talking about. I give you a good example. I remember many, many, many years ago—it just occur to me now. Immediately I said answer to prayers, that example just came to my head. So I want to give it. My father gave me, so you could know that I'm talking about when I was still in my father's house, that's many, many years ago. I was to resume on campus and my father gave me—stocked me with this, stocked me with that, gave me money to go to the market and buy all kinds of things that I will take to school. Of course, I buy, then from there I proceed to school. Either that day or the following day. So I went to the market and I bought, I bought and bought and you know the way you will be buying and you are smiling, "ah, this is food." I was just having this sense of "wow, food" and I was just buying, buying, gathering them. And then something happened. As I was returning home from the market, the Holy Spirit raised a burden upon my heart. At first I struggled with the burden. The burden was: "all of this thing in your hand, go to so-and-so house, go and meet so-and-so sister and give her everything that you have bought." Ah, I wanted to be sure it's the Holy Spirit. But you know if you have been having a walk with God, you'll be familiar with when the Holy Ghost is nudging you to do something. I was just wondering, this is just the food I want to take to school. But the thing kept coming. So I just change direction and I went to the direction of the sister. It was towards evening now, around 6:00, 7:00, something like that. And I knock on her door. It was getting—I know it was entering eventide, it was not yet completely dark, but it was getting dark by the time I got to her place. So I knocked on the door. She opened. And then I just said, "Ah, my sister, I came to give you all of these things." She looked at all of them, she packed everything, but I did not understand what followed. She just started crying. She started weeping. I did not understand why she was weeping. But anyway, because it was getting dark, I did not want to stay for too long. I quickly, because I did not want to stay—back to my house. But you know I got home and I was wondering, what is the cry about? Then I did not get answer. Anyway, the following day, my father did not know that all the thing I was to take to school have gone elsewhere. They have gone elsewhere. So with the little that is in my hand, I gathered myself, then I went back to school. Of course, I fed through the semester. There was nothing like hunger. God kept me through the semester. But much later, when we came back after the semester, I can't remember whether it's after that semester or later, you know in those days there was nothing like phone. I'm sure the sister would have called me. There was no phone to call somebody and say this is the reason. So there was no phone. There was nothing. Much later, when I returned back, the sister said she has been waiting for me to come back that she want to tell me what happened. You know what happened? What happened was that that night, her younger sister came to visit and the sister did not even have a grain of gari in the house that they will eat for that night, not to talk of the following day and to keep eating. She was perplexed and confused, not knowing what to do. And she was just busy praying: "God, please do something. God, please help me. This evening if I will not eat, this my younger sister that came, is this how she too will sleep with me without eating? Is this how she's going to sleep?" It was in response to that cry that God took me from where I was in the market spot to go and deliver. What am I trying to say? May you not just be somebody who prays, may you be answers to people's prayers in the name of Jesus Christ. You are supposed to become answer to prayers. I know what I'm talking about. So what I'm trying to make you see is that when God begin to gather things around your life, is because God is raising you beyond just a man who prays, beyond just a woman who prays. You are going beyond that level to the level of being answer to the prayer of God's people. Answer to the cry in the heart of God's people. Answers to prayers. You will be saying, "Ah, why is it like this? Why is it like this?" Let me show you the principle in the Bible. You know sometimes you'll be wondering, you'll be saying that why don't everybody be rich then? all coming to your mind? Because some people have preached to you that it is your inheritance in Christ for all of us to be rich, for all of us to mount riches and put money like unbelievers and all these kind of things that we hear sometimes. There is no truth in it. Let me tell you what is the truth. If it is to be rich, if that is why Jesus died, then it is unfortunate because ever before Jesus died, men have been rich. And after Jesus died, men who did not accept Jesus, they were rich. So riches does not come under the inheritance that Christ came to give us. Riches come under what I call providential blessing. When the Bible say that God make His rain to rain upon both the good and the wicked. So whether somebody believe in God or not believe in God, God can make him to be rich. It has nothing to do with that our covenant blessing inside Jesus. Sometimes we just raise some scriptures out of context. God make His rain to rain upon both the good and the wicked. That's the reality about that. But I'm talking about the principles of God in the kingdom. Why is it that God will make some, He say command those who are rich. Why is it that some are like that and others are not? Why is it that it looks as if some will have plenty? They will become answer to the prayer of some. Why is God doing—why the principle of God like that? I just want to ask ordinarily for instance, why don't you ask yourself why is it that it is the eye that can see and the leg cannot see by itself? Don't you see that the whole body is made to be dependent on each other? Look at the universe of God. The plant will use the sun in the process that we call photosynthesis to produce food, and in doing that it will give out oxygen. Human being will take the oxygen in the process give out carbon dioxide. The plant will collect that. Are you not seeing interdependence? What the biologist, the environmentalist call the balance ecosystem. That God make things to be balanced, everything depending on each other. Oh, may God open your eyes. May you not be self-absorbed and self-centered. Your life will not be able to follow the principle of God's eco-balance in spiritual things. Go and check nature, go and check creation, you will see it. That everything is made to depend, there's this turning round. Yet God is the originator of all things. God created the sun. Look at how much depend on the sun. Everything emanated from God. Look at what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians. I want to show you something in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 where the Bible was summing up the matter. Let's take it from verse 1. It say "Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God." Please, be noting what the Bible call giving to people. "Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia." So it is a grace. What is this grace? "That in great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing. Imploring us with much urgency that we should receive the gift and the fellowship of ministering to the saints." Are you seeing it? That when you have riches, when you have anything abundance around your life, it is a grace that God gave. It is not for status. It is not for the pride of life. It is not to begin to do yanga. It is not to come and say "okay, this week I want—then go take. It will be red car, red suit, red shoe, red phone, red bag." And then "oh, for this week, it will be blue car, blue suit, blue shoe, blue phone." If that is what you are really doing with riches, you are blind. It may not be in the area of money. It may be in the area of wealth. It may be in the area of I don't know, whatever you have in abundance. It make me to remember a brother who because God granted him so much intelligence, he set a standard for his life. "I will never marry anybody that have below a first class. I don't relate to such categories of people." Madness. Eventually, because God loves him. I don't want to go into his story. The way God turned his life around and first frustrated him and turned his life around. And then he said, "Bro Wole, it's like a—fo." Let's leave the matter. But you know sometimes we just begin to become self-absorbed when God begin to make us have some things in abundance. The same thing you see, one small grace upon a brother, "hey, look, I'm Papa. Call me Pastor." And as Papa, he will not even though he's a student, he will not cook again, he will not wash his clothes. He has others to be cooking and going to market for him. Very artificial life. By the time they leave campus and they become coppers, they cannot live normal life again. You are still a student for God's sake. Because of one small anointing on your head, you have become Papa in the house. You see the same thing with youth coppers. Because you are President, they call you Papa, they call you Uncle, you begin to carry one spirit. One stupid, useless spirit of arrogance. You begin to behave as if you are not a fellow copper like the others. When Uncle is talking, others keep quiet. Who told you that? You know this kind of I don't know, may God deliver our generation. When God gives abundance in certain things, it's a grace that God want us to use to minister to the body of the saints. It is to minister. It is not to class ourselves above them. It is not to define ourselves above them. It is not to begin to have a sense of superiority complex. It is to make us servants, just like Jesus said: "You call me Master." He said "it is true, but as a Master I have come to serve." Jesus said it should not be so among you. In the world, those who have more, they exalt themselves over those under them. But among you, he that is the greatest should be the one to serve. You enter some arena sometimes, you don't need two, three definition to know who are those who own and those who does not own. I'm talking about fellowship. May the Lord help us. So please, that which you have in abundance is a grace. Ministering to the saints. "And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. So we urge Titus that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well." Are you seeing it? He keep referring to it as grace. We move on. "But as you abound in everything: in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us, see that you abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others." Are you seeing it? You can test how sincere love is by the diligence of others. He says, "Since you know others are giving to a cause of ministering to the poor that were in Jerusalem, this church should look at what others are doing and be motivated to do the same thing." He says, "For you know," look at how he now came to us, from verse 9: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sake He became poor, that through His poverty we might become rich." I want to ask you, was Jesus carrying a Mercedes around in His own time? Was He building houses and all those kind of thing? So which richness was he talking about? The Bible said the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through who? Jesus Christ. Jesus was rich in grace, in truth. Jesus, the Lamb of God, for our salvation. Jesus, being all that He is, He counted it as nothing so that we can become rich. Look at all that He has. Look at how He gave His to us. Look at how He gave them to us. Look at how now He was holy, or He is holy, now we are holy. He is blameless, now we are blameless. He is justified, now we are justified. He is the child of God, we are children of God. You can see how He was loved by God, now we are loved by God. Or He is loved by God, we are loved by God. You can see how He transferred to us. He say "that we might become rich. And in this, I give advice. It is for your advantage, not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago, but now you also must complete the doing of it. That as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion of that you have. For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what a man has, not according to what he does not have. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you be burdened, but by an equality, that now at this time, your abundance may supply their lack, and that their abundance may also supply your lack, that there may be equality. As it is written: 'He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.'" Are you following something? As it is written: "He who gathered much had nothing left over. He who gathered little had no lack." But thanks be to God, who put the same earnest care for you in the heart of Titus. Do you get what the Bible is trying to make us see? That in the workings of God, if you give some people 48 hours, they will still gather little. If you give them 48 hours of a day, they will still gather little. Give some people 12 hours, make the day 12 hours, they will still gather much. In the principle of God, some will gather much, some will gather little so that there can be equality. I want to leave this matter here. I will pick the matter from this point next week. We could not round up the implications. I thought we would today. We'll pick it up from here. You need to understand this. You need to understand this principle of God. It is something very crucial for our life. In the economy of God, go and check in the Old Testament. He will tell those when you are harvesting, He tell them: "Don't glean the farm. When you harvest, you don't glean, you leave it for the poor, the widows, and the fatherless." It is because today we are not socially responsive. That is why those we left to die began to terrorize us. Riches is not supposed to become somebody who begin to live a prodigal life. Rather, he was allowed to gather much so that he can move to those who gather little. That is the economy of God. So you must understand why God said where we what we've been able to look at today: number one, they should not be arrogant. Number two, they should not trust in such an uncertain thing as riches, because you have it today, tomorrow it is gone. But rather, they should be ready to do good. They should be rich in good works. They should be ready to give, ready to distribute it. Let us pray for this evening. It's already about 6:20 from my time. Let's begin to round up for today. Wherever you are, begin to talk to God. If you have been self-absorbed, pray to the Lord to deliver you. If you're a man who does not understand why sometimes you have so much abundance around your life, I've told you what it is today. God want to make you answer to people's prayer. Don't just be thinking of God answering your prayers. Also pray to God to make you answers to people's prayer. These are very important things. Let us check our life. Are you surrounded? Are you possessing? Are you having so much? Is there something you are having, you are holding it for a while as a ministry, as a grace to serve others? That is what we are saying. That is what we are keying into. Almighty God, we bless Your holy name. We thank You, Lord, for this time again in Your presence. We give You glory, we give You praise, we give You adoration. We say, Lord, blessed be Your name in the name of Jesus Christ. Almighty Father, we commit ourselves into Your hand. Lord, everywhere any of us may be self-absorbed, God Almighty we pray, help us, O Lord, deliver us from ourselves in the name of Jesus. Lord, may we not miss those that are sent to us. May we not miss those we are sent to. May we fully, O God, complete our divine assignment where we need to minister to the necessities of the saints in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, eternal Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's share the grace together: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forevermore. Amen.