Well, sir, we are continuing with our heart-to-heart talk regarding the place of material things
in the life of an individual.
And what I shall be speaking about today concerns every human being.
Remember that God has made provision in His Word for every person.
That's the reason I can say to you that He's interested in every detail of your life.
And if you think that as God, as the mighty Creator, as the perfect Heavenly Father, that
He's only interested in the spiritual things of your life, if you feel that He is only
concerned, that He has only made provision for the spiritual part of your life, you have
a mistaken idea of God Almighty.
That's the reason in praying you can bring every need and any need of that life before
the Father's throne, whether it's spiritual, whether it's physical, whether it's material.
The Bible is the most practical book in the whole world.
And there's a promise in the Word of God to meet every need in your life as an individual.
All right?
First of all, just to refresh your memory, I shall read the three verses of Scripture
that is the basis for our heart-to-heart talk.
And this is the second in the series.
It's found in the sixth chapter of Matthew.
I should begin with the 19th verse.
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where
things break through in steel.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt,
and where things do not break through nor steal.
Now where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Now these words were spoken by Jesus in the greatest sermon ever preached.
I want that we'll pause for just one minute.
Consider something that no man can deny.
The value of money, and when I use the word money, you know full well of the subject that
I'm speaking on.
Money, the buck, dollars and cents, coal, cash.
The value of money lies in its control by spiritual purpose.
To desire it, to use it for its own sake is to destroy all human value.
And this idea that men and women have that money will make them happy, that the material
things, that wealth, that getting unhappy will make them happy, will bring them complete
satisfaction and absolute security is the greatest deception in the whole world.
No man will have any satisfaction from his money until he begins to do good with it,
until he learns how to use it.
And there is an unwritten law that the only happiness that money can give to an individual
is as it is given and used for others.
We are allowed to possess it, to attain it, but the right use of it is when we use it
unselfishly and give it to others.
Give and it shall be given unto you.
How?
In heaven's measure.
Press down, shaken together and running over.
If you want real satisfaction, if you want to know the only real happiness that one can
receive in having, in possessing, in getting, you'll find it in the life of the one who
has learned how to use it and to use it rightfully, you must use it in giving.
Oh, that's marvelous.
And you've heard me say over and over again, you cannot out give God.
And in the final analysis, he is the giver of every good and perfect gift.
He is the real source of giving.
When I left you in our last little heart to heart talk, you'll remember that I made a
very different statement and then gave an illustration.
This was a statement that I made that until you have a thorough understanding of God as
the loving source of your bond of supply, you will not learn how to associate the spiritual
with the material.
Then I gave an illustration, the part of the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray referring
to the material when he said, give us this day our daily bread.
He was referring to the meeting of our daily needs, even to our bread and butter.
A man, for instance, thinks of his employment as the source of his income.
And then for some reason he loses it.
His employer goes out of business or cuts down on the staff or something happens.
Now, because he believes that his position is the source of his income, the loss of the
position naturally means the loss of the income.
And so he has to start looking about for another job and perhaps has to look a long time, meantime,
finding himself without a parent's supply, worried, irritable, feeling as though the
bottom has dropped out of everything, unwanted.
Oh, you know what it's like, rolling and tossing night after night.
If such a man had realized that God was his supply and his job only the particular channel
through which it came, then upon the closing of that channel, he would look up and say,
all right, dear Lord, I'm looking for another channel through which you will supply the
material need for my life.
Then it takes out all the worry.
You can go to bed at night and sleep.
You'll get a good night's rest.
In the morning, you're refreshed.
You eat a good breakfast and say, all right, Lord, now I'm in tip top shape.
I'm all ready to go out now and look for that channel through which you are going to supply
your life.
Without sleep, you go out looking for the channel with a mental attitude of defeat.
You're in no condition physically.
You're not at your best.
All this thing, you know, if only we could learn how to live and learn these deep truths
when we're young.
Wouldn't it be wonderful?
It's like that.
If a man's belief is in God as his supply, and since God cannot change and God cannot
fail, that man will never be defeated.
That's right.
That's the reason I repeat again, until you have a thorough understanding of God as the
source, the source of your bond of supply, you'll not learn how to associate the spiritual
with the material and you cannot disassociate the spiritual from the material or the material
from the spiritual.
I'm going to say something that upon hearing it, you might be almost startled, but it's
the truth when you analyze it.
You cannot want for anything when once you truly realize that in the mind of God, full
provision has been made for you, body, soul, and spirit, and he is the giver of every good
and perfect gift.
There is no want, the psalm says, to the man or the woman whose confidence, whose trust
is in his God.
In other words, there is no way in which one can have security without spiritual understanding.
That's right.
Oh, that's so thrilling to my own heart.
That's so wonderful.
You get the spiritual straight and all these things shall be added unto you, every need
of your life.
I can prove that from this ministry.
I'll give you a very homey practical illustration because I only know as I have learned and
I have always had to learn everything the hard way.
There have been ministers, I'm told, who have actually come to Pittsburgh and tried
to study my way, my method of raising finances to support the ministry.
My dear, I have but one method.
I have but one way.
And it's just knowing that I have a heavenly father.
And as long as I keep the spiritual part of my life intact, and we keep the spiritual
part of the ministry intact, all these other things will be added unto us.
My God has promised to supply the need and he's never failed once.
You know, sometimes I think the inconsistency of ministers, evangelists, Christians is absolutely
appalling.
Sometimes I think those inconsistent people in the world are ministers.
For they will stand and tell you that God is still God Almighty.
There is no limit to his power.
His promises are real.
He'll meet your every need.
And then in the next breath, they'll say, now folks, I'll tell you, unless you send
in your contributions, we're going to have to go all for the air next month.
But, my dear, there is a place where spiritually you put God first as a minister of the gospel.
And I'll take the lid off of my heart and tell you exactly why I can talk to you the
way I do on this subject of material things and can promise you that what I'm telling
you works.
I can stake my life on the fact that this great plan of God works.
I can promise you that there is security in him, but no security without first understanding
the spiritual and putting the spiritual first.
As a servant of God, he has called me to preach the gospel.
You can argue all you want to regarding women preachers.
I know who's called me.
I know from whom I have gotten my anointing.
That is something between my Lord and myself.
And if I remain true to my call and as a minister of the gospel, I am called to preach the word.
No minister was ever called to raise money.
My call is to preach the word.
In preaching the word, I am to feed the flock.
As long as I'm true to my call and I feed the flock, that real purpose, I singled to
the one purpose, my call to preach the word and preach the word.
And if I preach it in sincerity and give it to you over the air and give it to my precious
folk from that platform, day after day, and their souls are fed with the true word of
God, the bread, the meat, and they grow and they become spiritual.
I don't have to worry about how the needs will be met.
The Holy Spirit will speak to their hearts.
And as they see the light, they'll become obedient to the Lord.
They'll hear his voice.
They'll become sensitive to the Spirit.
I won't have to worry how the ministry is taken care of financially.
No.
I won't have to go around with a little tin cup as though God had gone bankrupt and begged
for a few nickels and quarters and dimes and dollars.
No.
God is bigger than that.
God is still God Almighty.
And when we live according to his laws, when we live according to his blueprint, if we
live according to his word, all these things shall be added unto us.
The ministry will be supported and is being supported.
And no man can say that any pressure is put on any individual when it comes to finances.
Why?
Because, beloved, my job is to preach the word, to give the word.
He is the source of the supply.
The same holds true in your life.
Do you want to know why you and your family have never gotten ahead?
We have no more today than we had five years ago.
You won't have any more ten years from now than you have today.
It's because you're putting the wrong things first.
Put the spiritual first.
Put God first.
And the material will be added unto you and your family and you will be blessed.
God bless you.