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Today we're starting a brand new series that
we've entitled Never Unnoticed. I know that's
a double negative and probably isn't a great
title if you're a copywriter or something like
that, not to lead with a double negative. But
everyone say never unnoticed. We could make it
positive and say always noticed. But that might
change what I'm talking about because sometimes
we may think that we're unnoticed, but we're
not. Even when we don't realize that we're being
noticed, we're being noticed. Now, how many of
you remember the old TV show? This might be older
than some of you. Candid Camera. Who watched
a few episodes of Candid Camera? They would set
up cameras and then put people in situations,
awkward situations, And then they were getting
ready. This was a TV show that came on every
week. It put people in awkward situations. They
would record them. And when they got to the point
where they were just totally freaked out, the
person there with them would say, Smile, you're
on Candid Camera. I just want you to know today,
you're on Candid Camera. Robert can pull up his
phone right now. And check out that camera so
he can look at your face. And then he can look
at the back of your head because there's another
one right up there. Every time when we have the
opportunity to go out and eat after church, this
restaurant, Robert and Alyssa's restaurant, opens
up at noon. And every time when we have the opportunity
to go eat together, his phone is on the table.
Because he's watching. He's watching what's happening
and he's looking to see if the employees need
him. And there are some days where he says, I've
got to go. I've got to go because they need me.
Right? That's your testimony with your hand up
back there. Sometimes you have to leave. You
can't just continue just doing whatever you want
to do. You've got to drop and run. drop everything
and run to the restaurant. So, that's an example.
We're going to have some more examples in the
series, but I thought that was the fitting one
for today. Since we're in honeys, look to the
person beside you and say, smile. You're on candid
camera. You're on candid camera. In Genesis chapter
16, we see the story, or at least part of the
story, of Abram. Sarai and Hagar. Now we've talked
about the entire story at other times. When we
went through the life of Abraham, this was one
of the big things that we talked about. But if
you know much about Genesis and you know much
about Abram, whose name was changed to Abraham,
you know that he and his wife Sarah were barren.
They couldn't have a child. And having a child
was part of God's promise. He had told Abram
that he was going to be the father of nations,
father of many nations. So after a long time,
Abraham and Sarah tried to figure out a way that
they could help God. How many of you know it's
not always good to try to help God? God's given
you a promise. Okay, God, your promise hasn't
been fulfilled yet, so I'm going to try to help
you out a little bit. Because obviously, God,
you need a little help. So Sarah decided that
she was going to help out God, and when they
went to Egypt, they were gifted a servant named
Hagar. And Hagar was Sarah's handmaiden. So Sarai
said, well, God obviously needs some help, Abram,
so I want you to take my servant and I want her
to be a surrogate mother, basically. So, as I
said, it's always not a very good thing to try
to help out God. This was not part of God's plan
for them. Well, when Hagar got pregnant, all
of a sudden, she got an attitude. Because Sarah
couldn't get pregnant, so Hagar was like, I'm
going to have the baby. And the Bible says that
she began to treat Sarah with contempt. You know,
she was like... I'm blessed you're not. I'm having
this baby. You're not. You can't have a baby.
So she developed this attitude. How many of you
would think that Sarah would enjoy being treated
with contempt? No. Somebody say no. So Sarah
started making her life very difficult. I mean,
it's like, really? You're going to have attitude
towards me? So I'm going to make sure that you
don't have a good day today. And it got so bad
that Hagar ran away. She ran out into the wilderness.
And when she ran out there, God appeared to her
to talk to her. It says the angel of the Lord
talked with her. This wasn't just an ordinary
angel. This was one of those theophanies or Christophanies.
where God Himself appeared to Hagar and told
her to go back. He told her that she needed to
go back. Now, after the child was born, later
on when Isaac was born, they had to move away,
but during this time, she needed to be there.
So God told her to go back. When she met God
in the wilderness, we found out a name for God
that we did not discuss during... the series
where we talked about, hello, my name is God,
we didn't cover every single name of God. We
covered, I think, like 13 or 14, maybe 16 names
of God during that study. I should have counted
them up because some weeks we studied, like one
week there were three different names for God
in the Bible. Other times there were two different
names for God in the Bible. But we learned that
God is El Roy. I don't know if I'm saying that
right. I didn't put down the Hebrew translation,
but that's the way you spell it. El comes from
Elohim. Everybody say Elohim. It's an abbreviation
for Elohim. And we did talk about Elohim. Elohim
means the supreme, mighty God. In the beginning,
Elohim created the heavens and earth. The supreme,
mighty God. And then this compound name, is this,
and this is what we find out in that story. It's
the first mention of this. It's that the supreme
mighty God sees me. He's the God who sees me.
Look at the person beside you and say, God sees
me. See, that's who He is. These names let us
know who He is and what He does. Does anybody
remember? Names signify identity. relationship,
and activity. And we all have a lot of names.
Not just our given name, like my given name of
No Name Forrest that had to be changed when I
was in junior high. But God's names lets us know
who He is, the kind of relationship that He wants
to be in with us. and what He wants to do or
what He is doing in our lives. So look to the
person beside you and say, God sees me. God sees
me. There's never a time when God does not see
you. You never go unnoticed. Never unnoticed
by God. Now we live our lives and we say, does
God really care? Has anybody got to the point?
When you're dealing with something and you go,
does God really care about what's going on in
my life right now? Anyone beside me? I mean,
I've been there a time or two. Thankfully, not
this week. But I've been there a time or two.
Does God really care? Does God really know what's
going on in my life? Sure He does. Because He
is the supreme mighty God who sees you. He always
sees you. Now that can bring comfort. Everybody
say comfort. I just smacked that microphone so
there's going to be a big old pop on that. That
can bring comfort or that can bring terror. Depending
on how we're living our lives, right? Because
there's been some times in my life where I've
made decisions. It's like, I hope God's not watching
now. Am I the only one or is anyone with me?
Hope God's not watching now. But then there are
times when I'm going through stuff and I'm like,
I hope He's watching now. Hope He's watching
now. There are times when I have responded to
His Word in faith and I say, I hope He's watching
now. Hope He's watching now. Well, be confident
that He is. He's always watching. Everybody say
always. Always watching. And you are never unnoticed.
Never unnoticed. The supreme and mighty God sees
me personally. He sees every tear. He sees every
act of obedience. He sees every sacrifice. He
sees every act of faithfulness. And nothing goes
unnoticed by Him. Nothing. 2 Chronicles 16, 9
says this about God, the God who sees me. Listen,
it says, For the eyes of the Lord run to and
fro throughout the whole earth. Everybody say,
God is watching. God is noticing. His eyes are
going to and fro throughout the whole earth,
and He's looking for something. Let me read the
verse, and then we'll break it down backwards.
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout
the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf
of those whose heart is loyal to Him. So in this
text, we see that God is watching, God is looking,
God Himself is searching. And what is He searching
for? What is He looking at? Can anyone help me
here? You just want me to tell you. What is He
looking at? Your heart. That's what's most important
to God. What's most important is your heart.
See, He's not looking at you to see how much
hair you have on your head or how much it's styled
or what kind of clothes you're wearing, what
colors you're wearing. He sees all that, but
that's not what He's most interested in. He's
most interested in your heart. Most interested
in your heart. And He's looking for a specific
type of heart. So what type of heart is He looking
for? He's looking for a loyal heart. We could
also translate that as fully committed. A fully
committed heart. A heart that is committed to
Him. A heart that is loyal to Him. And then what's
he going to do when he finds it? What's he going
to do when he finds it? Is everybody still with
me? What's he going to do when he finds it? He's
going to show himself strong on behalf of that
person who has a heart that's loyal to him. Is
there anybody in the room that would say, God,
I want you to show yourself strong in my life.
I want my life to be evidence of your goodness,
of your faithfulness, of your kindness, of your
favor. Anybody? I hope that would be all of us.
He's not looking for talent. He's not looking
for influence that you already have. He's searching
for hearts that are fully committed to Him. And
God doesn't simply observe your heart. He responds.
He responds. He shows Himself strong. Throughout
this series, I think it's going to be about five
weeks. It might be just today. It might go for
five weeks. It might go longer. Just however
God leads. But throughout this series, we're
going to study several biblical accounts where
God sees and notices the hearts of people. And
then He reveals what He sees to all of us. How
many of you are glad that God doesn't always
reveal what He sees in your heart to everybody
else? But there's good and bad. When God looks
at hearts in this series, He's going to show
us some bad and He's going to show us some good.
I'm glad He doesn't put my heart on display for
all time. All the time. He's going to reveal
what He sees to us. Listen, their generosity
was noticed. Not because God needed what they
had. It's not because God needs what they possess.
Because the Bible says, the earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof. Guess what? It's already
all His. It was noticed though. And it was noticed
because their giving revealed something much
deeper. It revealed their heart. Revealed their
heart. Jesus said in Matthew 6, 21, He said this,
For where your treasure is, or what you love
the most, where your treasure is, that's where
your heart's going to be. Where your treasure
is, there your heart. will be also. So it's easy
to see what we treasure because it's going to
be what we live for and what we talk about. It's
going to be evidenced. And what we live for and
what we talk about. I said that again in case
you want to write it down because it's not on
the screen. I hadn't even thought about it until
right then when it hit my brain. Our hearts reflect
what we treasure and what we love. Then there's
another verse that says, out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaks. That's where
I got that other part of that phrase from that
just rose up on the inside of me. Whatever we
love the most is what we talk about the most.
It's easy to see the treasure of our hearts.
All we got to do is listen to our mouths because
it just naturally flows out. Let's go to Mark
chapter 12, verse 41. These are going to be very
familiar stories. I'm not going to pull out something
that you're not aware of. I think I've mentioned
this story once in five and a half years of elation
church. Jesus sat down near the collection box
in the temple and watched as the crowds dropped
their money. Dropped in their money. Many rich
people put in large amounts. Then a poor widow
came and dropped in two small coins. Now another
translation they call these mites. Everybody
say mites. And I looked, there's another word
for it that I had on the slide, but then I said,
what does that matter? I'm not here to try to
let you know how much I researched or anything
like that. But two small coins, two mites. At
this time, the coins that she put in were the
smallest coins in circulation. So for us, that
would be like a penny, which I think we're working
on taking pennies out of circulation. They decided
they're not going to press them anymore. They're
not going to give them out anymore. I guess we're
going to round up or round down, whatever it's
closest to. But it was the smallest coins in
circulation. And it was equal to about 3 minutes
and 15 seconds worth of work for the average
person. 3 minutes and 15 seconds. So think about
what you make every 3 minutes and 15 seconds.
Some days that's less, some days that's more.
Salo's over there shaking his head. He don't
have any clients today, so he's not going to
make anything in three and a half minutes. But
on some days, right? So it's equal to 128th of
a day's wage. Now, it's more than a penny. More
than a penny. If a person makes minimum wage,
I think it's $15 an hour here in Florida, it
comes out to 94 cents every three and a half
minutes. So she put in two small coins, two of
the smallest coins in circulation. So she didn't
just give two pennies. She gave more than that.
She gave what would total in today's money $1
.88. $1 .88. Now, Jesus noticed that. He noticed
that. Why is this in the Bible? Why is this story
there? I mean, couldn't we just skip over the
lady that gave $1 .88 in the offer? Well, Jesus
didn't think so. As a matter of fact, He was
there with His disciples and He says, Hey guys,
come over here. I want to talk to you about something.
Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, Hey
guys, listen. I tell you the truth. This poor
widow has given more than all the others who
are making contributions. I mean, Didn't we just
read that rich people were putting in large gifts?
And then all of a sudden, Jesus says she gave
more than everybody. I mean, she gave $1 .88.
Some people might have been putting in $0 .20.
Some people might have been putting in $100.
Some people might have been putting in thousands.
But the lady who gave $1 .88 gave more than everybody
that day. And in the way we notice things, And
the way we see it, right? She didn't give a whole
lot. And then Jesus says why she gave more than
everyone else in the room. Verse 44. For they
gave a tiny part of their surplus. But she, poor
as she is, has given everything. She had to live
on. She gave everything. Not just a tiny, tiny
part of the excess. She gave everything. Look
to the person beside you and tell them she gave
everything. Why is this story in the Bible? Why
is this such a big deal to Jesus? Why did He
call over the disciples and say, Hey guys, this
is important. I want you to notice this. And
then when you're writing about what happened
and when you're talking about the three years
that I was with you, I want you to remember this
and I want to make sure it gets written down.
It's actually written in two of the Gospels.
Make sure people know about this. Why is it so
important? This is what we need to learn. This
is why it's important. God sees... What everybody
else may overlook. You know, everybody in the
room, if they were watching the offering and
they see this lady put in $1 .88, they would
say, that's not much. That's not going to help
much. That's the way we see things. But God sees
what people overlook. God sees what people dismiss.
Jesus noticed one poor widow. Now the people
around probably thought her offering was insignificant
in the grand scheme of things. Here's the thing.
Heaven stopped to recognize her. Heaven stopped.
To recognize her. And we're still talking about
it today. We're not talking about the gifts of
everyone else. We're talking about her gift.
Her gift is in the Bible. Now what we need to
understand is this. The individual stories of
the Bible didn't happen in a vacuum. And I don't
mean that they didn't happen in a vacuum cleaner.
That's not what I'm talking about. When I say
they didn't happen in a vacuum, I'm saying they
didn't happen completely separated from every
other story in the Bible. They're connected.
Everybody say it's connected. This lady wasn't
just giving this without any understanding. She
wouldn't have done that. Because she had instruction.
Everybody say that. She had an instruction. She
not only had an instruction, she had a promise.
You know the way we say all the time, God keeps
his promises? How many of you believe that God
keeps his promises? How many of you believe that
this woman believed that God kept his promises?
See, it didn't happen in a vacuum. It didn't
happen without understanding. She just didn't
say, well, I've never been to the temple, but
today I've got two coins. I'm going to go in
there and I'm just going to throw it in there.
Won't throw it in the offering. No, she had an
instruction. She had a promise. So we go back
to the Old Testament to see where she might have
found a promise. I've read this one before. Malachi
3 .10 says this, Bring all the tithes into the
storehouse so there will be enough food in my
temple. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse
so there will be enough food in my temple. And
then there's a promise. If you do, if you do
what? Everybody go to sleep all of a sudden?
If you do what? If you bring a tithe to God.
If you do, says the Lord of heaven's armies,
I will open the windows of heaven for you. I
will pour out a blessing so great you won't have
enough room to take it in. And then God says,
try it. Put me to the test. Now, if this woman
was going to the temple, she was aware of Malachi.
If she went to the synagogue, she was aware of
these verses. And normally we stop right here,
but I'm going to keep reading because God says,
try it and put me to the test. And then he says
this. This is part of, this is the continued
part of his promise. And God keeps his promises.
Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard
them from insects and disease. Your grapes will
not fall from the vine before they are ripe,
says the Lord of heaven's armies. Then all nations
will call you blessed, for your land will be
such a delight. It says Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord
of heaven's armies. Now, it says bring all the
tithe. Everybody say tithe. And in five and a
half years of elation church, I've never even
told anybody what that word meant. So if you
haven't been here long and you say, oh no, he's
just always begging about money. No, I've never
even told what this word meant. It means tenth.
Everybody say 10. We can say 10%. Bring the 10
% into the storehouse. So, wait a minute. If
this lady was familiar with that verse, shouldn't
she have just brought 18 or 19 cents? That'd
be 10 % of $1 .88. If you round it down or round
it up. 18 or 19 cents is the instruction that
she had from God. Why didn't she do that? I believe
she not only knew about Malachi 3 .10, I believe
she knew about 1 Kings 17 too. 1 Kings 17. She
knew about another widow. Everybody say widow.
And smile when you say it. Don't be sad when
you say it. Smile when you say it. She knew about
another widow in Scripture. And when the prophet
went to her house, well, when he went to her
village, she was gathering up sticks to make
a fire. She had a son, but her husband had died.
She was gathering up sticks to build a fire to
make a, we would call it a biscuit. Most likely.
Because she had a little bit of oil and a little
bit of flour. And she was gathering up wood to
make a fire so that she and her son could have
their last meal. I mean, they were going to die
after they ate it. There was a famine. They'd
ran out of food. Everybody's not going to give
their food to her. Because they don't know how
long the famine is going to last. So, the prophet
of God had the audacity to tell that widow what
God told him to tell her. He said, ma 'am, if
you will make a biscuit for me first, everybody
say first. If you'll make a biscuit for me first.
you'll never run out of flour and oil. Now with
her eyes, she's looking at the flour and looking
at the oil and she's saying, what do you mean
I'll never run out? I see how much flour I have
and how much oil I have. I only have enough for
two biscuits and you're asking me to give you
the first one. So then my son and I are just,
we're going to be down to one biscuit and splitting
one biscuit each. It's going to be gone. She
had a choice to make. Everybody say a choice.
Was she going to obey God and obey the prophet
or was she going to live and walk by what she
saw with her own eyes and what she felt with
her own feelings? What was she going to do? She
trusted God. And in our world today, Come on.
If that happened today, what would people be
saying about Elijah? You mean you went to a village
during the middle of a famine and you went to
a widow. You didn't go to the rich people in
town. You went to the widow and said, make me
a biscuit first. How dare you do something like
that? How dare you? Right? That's the attitude
of all of us. Unless we're using our holy thinking.
That's the way we think. That's the way we've
been trained to think. She gave Elijah that first
piece. Just think, we're in the middle of a drought.
For months. Some people think, well, you know,
it might have happened for a few days. No, this
is months and months. Because even when the drought
ended, they still had to plant. And it still
had to grow before they could get a harvest.
Months and months, God provided. From her little
bit, when she gave her little bit to God, God
took care of her. Reminds me of an old song that
Irv might want to sing. Little is much when God
is in it. Labor not for wealth or fame. There's
a crown, crown or prize, and you can win it if
you go in Jesus' name. I can't believe I remember
the words better than you. But anyway. I've gotten
a little older. But this widow knew that story.
Her story didn't happen in a vacuum. She's down
to her last. She's down to her $1 .88. And she
looks at those two coins in her hand and she
considers. How that is going to help her. Look
at the person beside you and say, not very much.
It's not going to help her very much. She realizes
that and then she looks to God and says, God,
you sure did help that other widow. God, you
sure did make me a promise. Hello? Surely it
didn't happen in a vacuum. And Jesus was there
to watch her drop all she had in the collection
box. Everything. Everything. I want to ask you
a question. Do you think she went hungry that
day? Come on. Do you think she went hungry? Do
you think she was destitute the rest of her life?
If she was, then God didn't keep His promise.
And we can be sure. That God keeps His promises.
Her generosity revealed her heart and it revealed
her trust. It's just $1 .88. But it was a big
deal to Jesus. Because it revealed her heart
and it revealed her trust. Jesus notices generosity.
And heaven measures differently than we do. I'll
say that again. Heaven measures differently than
we do. Jesus said $1 .88 was the largest gift.
The largest gift. And we say, no it wasn't. It
wasn't the largest. But Jesus measured differently
than we measure. And faith never goes. Unnoticed.
Never goes unnoticed. God's watching. Jeremiah
1 .12 says this. This is God talking to the prophet.
He says this. I am watching over my word to perform
it. This is God talking about himself. I'm watching
over my word to perform it. So if I made a promise
and I tell you that I'm going to do something,
if you do something, you can count on it because
I am watching over my word to perform it. Hebrews
11, 6 says this, It is impossible to please God
without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him
must believe that God exists. Right? We're not
going to come to Him if we don't believe that
He exists. We've got to believe that He exists.
And we don't have a problem with that, do we?
We don't have a problem with that. If you're
going to come to God, you've got to have faith
that He exists. But when we start talking about
the rest of that verse, people get uncomfortable
sometimes. Anyone who wants to come to Him must
believe that God exists and that He rewards those
who sincerely seek Him. God is a rewarder of
those who sincerely seek Him. Sincerely seek,
this is the compound Greek word, exeteo. I put
that one up. I didn't put up the Hebrew word,
but I put that one up. And here's what it means.
It means to search out. To search out. So we've
gone from God noticing and looking and seeing
to us searching Him out. And I really, this hit
me in the Helps Word Studies as I was studying
this sentence. I had to copy and paste it just
as it was and put it on the screen. This seeking,
this searching out, is only as valuable or viable
as the motive which drives it. So we've got to
believe that He exists and we've got to believe
that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him
with right motives behind our seeking. Everybody
say, right motives. Because God looks at the
heart, right? He knows the motives. When we look
at each other, we can only guess what the motive
is. Sometimes we guess the motivation wrong when
we look at each other. But how many of you know
God never gets it wrong? He knows the motivation.
The thoughts and the intentions of the heart,
the Bible says. I don't want anybody to leave
here today. and say that I'm talking about you've
got to give to get. We're giving to get. If you
want more money, you've got to give more money
to get more money. You can read these Bible verses
and you could come away and say, oh no, we're
going to give to get. But how many times have
you heard me say that we're going to give by
faith? When we give, we give by faith. But we
don't give to get. Because that's the wrong motivation.
When we give, we can... I'm not getting the word.
I was going to say consciously, but that's not
the one I was looking for. We can confidently
expect. That's what I was looking for. Because
that's what faith is. It's confidently expecting
something. But we're not giving because of our
confident expectation. We're giving because we
realize that God is our source, like we read
in Corinthians. God's our source. Every good
thing that's ever come into our life has come
from Him. That's what the Bible says. And so
when we bring an offering to God, we're not saying,
God, I'm going to give you this, but I'm expecting
this immediately. I mean, you know. In the next
day or two, I've got to have my expectation.
That would be the wrong motive. I'd be saying,
God, I'm going to give this money to you, but
you better give me a lot more than I'm giving
you in return. How many of you know that would
be the wrong motive? Has anybody ever felt like
it was put that way? God, I'm on it. I'm going
to give, but you better give back to me. You're
going to owe me, God. My right motivation is,
God, you are my source. I recognize you as my
source. Every good thing that's ever come into
my life has come from you. And God, I see your
blessing in my life. I see your provision in
my life. I see your favor in my life. God, you
are so good. And I'm going to bring back part
of what you blessed me with. Because I'm concerned
about your work in the earth. What you're concerned
about, I'm concerned about. And I want to partner
with you in your work in the earth. I honor you.
I thank you. And God, in the middle of all that,
I trust you. I trust you. I believe when this
widow put her money, her $1 .88 in the collection
that day, I believe that was her heart. And I
believe that's why Jesus picked her out. I believe
that's why it's in the book. I believe that's
what we need to know from this story today. Jesus
realized her heart because He's looking at hearts.
And her heart was a heart of thankfulness. Her
heart was a heart of honor. Her heart was a heart
of trust. And when she gave everything she had,
she said, God, you've always been my source.
So I continue to look to you as being my source.
It's good. 1 Samuel 16, 7 says this, The Lord
doesn't see things the way that we see them.
People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord
looks at the heart. Thoughts, intentions, motivations,
He sees. He sees. God always sees. He is El Roy
or El Roy. I don't know how you're supposed to
say it. I should have looked it up. I'll look
it up for next week. I'll be saying it correctly.
Not that it matters to anybody in the room. He
is the God who sees you. And when you act in
faith, see, it doesn't cause God to have to stand
up from the throne in heaven and start His money
printing machine in heaven so that He can drop
it down on us. Somebody smile. God is not counterfeiting
U .S. dollars in heaven. It's all here. It's
all here. There's none in heaven. Right? But
this is what does happen. Your act of faith activates
His promise that He's already made. Your act
of faith activates His promises. So if you read
those promises and you believe that God always
keeps those promises, I want to tell you something.
Because there's some people who, I mean, I don't
know, Irv, if I can share the testimony that
you gave, but I'm going to do it anyway. I don't
even know if you were talking to me, but you
were just talking and I overheard you talking.
And several Sundays ago... Are you telling the
story? Okay. Several Sundays ago, you asked Caitlin
to help you set up this text to give thing. And
then you were talking about it later, and you
were saying, well, my Social Security check don't
even come in. It's not even there, and I don't
even know if that money's going to be there.
Did he share that story? Did y 'all hear that
story? You're shaking your head. So he shared
it at the Citrus Ridge Bible study. That's where
he shared it. Well, that's where he shared it,
but it was that Sunday. He's like, I don't even...
I didn't even know if it was going to clear or
bounce or whatever. I don't even know. But? He
gave. He gave. He was there. Didn't bounce. You
hadn't missed a meal since? God's continuing
to provide? Amen. But sometimes, in my life,
I know, I don't know if it's in your life too,
but in my life, sometimes I've given. And I've
trusted God. And it's like, there better be a
God and He better keep His promises. Has anybody
ever given like that before? Given a generous
gift. Not just a little bit of your surplus,
but a generous gift. And you say, there better
be a God and He better keep His promises. Because
I was obedient in doing what He asked me to do.
But then you may go a week. You may go a month.
You may go six months. And you may find yourself
at the point where you say, I don't know if God
saw me or not. I don't know if God saw me or
not. I've been there a few times. I don't know
if God saw me or not. I don't know. But I want
to tell you, He sees. He sees. You have never
gone unnoticed by God. Never gone unnoticed.
Never gone unnoticed. And everybody needs to
remember, we received the offering long before
we talked about this. Listen, the Bible talks
about this. I've gone five and a half years without
ever focusing on this. So if you're new to us,
this is not... It's five and a half years. You
just got here at the lucky time. But we need
to know. If it's important to Jesus, don't we
need to know about it? If heaven stops to take
notice, shouldn't we know about it? And the motivation
is not to make you give. Because I tell you,
I didn't say it this week, I don't think. I should
have said it. I always say it. If you feel pressure
to give, don't give. Don't do it. Because God
loves a cheerful giver. If you ever feel worked
up, like I... I don't want anybody to leave today
thinking that I'm trying to work you up. To squeeze
you. No. If you leave thinking that, you don't
know me. Even if you've been here a long time,
if you leave thinking that, you don't know me.
Like you thought you knew me. You don't know
me. I just want you to know. What God says about
it. And when we know what God says about it,
then we're not ignorant. We have revelation.
We have understanding. And the main thing is
this. I don't want you to think that you're never
unnoticed because God's going to think bad about
you if you don't do what this widow did. That's
not what we're talking about. We're talking about
when you give, it never goes unnoticed. Never
goes unnoticed. Let's pray together. God, thank
you for today. Thank you for your truth. Thank
you for your word. I pray that it will be planted
in our hearts. If we've gone through discouragement
where we haven't seen your promise fulfilled,
help us to not give up. Help us to stand in faith
that you are a good God and you always keep your
word. You always watch over your word to perform
it. Help us to stand in faith, believing. And
God, we thank you for all of your goodness. All
of your goodness in our lives. And we honor you
and we recognize you as our source. In Jesus'
name I pray, amen. This online worship experience
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