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6821--harry Greenwood--What is your objective_128k
00:00:00 Speaker: We're the only people in the world that can do it. Give to God and leave the meeting richer than we came in. Because God gives back to you more than you give. Pressed down, shaken together and running over. I always told you about the farmer once here, didn't I? Oh, let me tell you about the farmer. Will you write? There was a dear old farmer, one of those peculiar people that always believed in giving God first everything that came in. Give God his portion first. His giving was so fantastic that the other farmers came one day to see him and they said, we don't understand you. You give and give and give, and yet you still have got more than us. Now how is that? He says, well, our just shovels out to God, and God just shovels back to me. Well, that's all very well, they said. But how come you end up with more than you began? Why, that's real easy. He said God just uses a bigger shovel. Obviously he had studied theology. We're going to have a short prayer and a long message. Let's pray. Dear father, we are very conscious, Lord of the joy and the love and the peace that comes from your presence. And, Lord, people are being blessed tonight by being able to relax in the place where a God of love has something to say to them that can deliver them from any problem or any situation. Lord, we glory in the fact that we've got a God who's greater than all the problems represented, not just in this building, Lord, but in the whole world. And we thank you, Lord, that our faith today is being challenged, that we'll prove you now, Lord, prove you now. May there be such expectancy in the hearts of every individual tonight, Lord, or that they'll be crying out, Lord, speak to me. Speak, Lord, that thy servant heareth, thy servant heareth, and here am I, Lord, send me. May this be a night Lord of rising up in our faith and moving out and proving our God. Lord, for every person that is in need. May they be conscious of this fact. That you're more conscious of their need than they are. And you're touched by the feeling of their infirmity. Now, Lord, to the only wise God, we glorify your name tonight, Lord, by believing you will do abundantly more than we can ask or think. Far above it, Lord, because we ask it, Lord, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I would like you to turn with me to Philippians chapter three. Sounds like it rhymes, doesn't it? May advise people about their Bible. Study your Bible while you can. Today the Bible says in two Timothy two fifteen, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. If you want to know what to study. Two Timothy three sixteen. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, so that the righteous man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto every good work. If you do this, you are actually putting the Word of God in, and then God will bring to your remembrance that which you put in. If you don't put it in, how can you bring it to your remembrance? My God is logical. Amen. There are sixty six books in the Bible. And please, you don't have to protect the Bible. It will protect itself. And you don't have to protect your God. I mean, some people with the God that they've got, they do need to protect him. But my God, you don't have to protect. He's so wonderful. He can take care of himself. A lot of people will criticize the Bible. But remember this when you've got a word from the Word of God, when the living Word comes to you by God, the argument has been won because God has the final word. Amen. He has the first word. Therefore he has the last word. And there's nobody big enough in between. There isn't to disannul that word. To make it up. No effect. There's nobody big enough. There isn't a word strong enough. No president, no king, no person. My God has the highest word. Isn't that wonderful? So when your faith goes on the Word of God, you're in the highest position. There's nobody that can overcome the word. There is nothing that can overcome the word. Isn't it lovely to know that? Amen. It really is. So we can have faith in God's Word. A lot of people criticize the Bible, and it's strange as it may seem. They criticize it, but it still has the last word. When they die, they open the Bible, and of course they speak from the Bible over the person who has just died as they lure him into the grave in the funeral service. So it has been said of the Bible, it's buried more of its critics than any other book. It's a little tidbit for you, and the philosophers in the past have sought to pull it to pieces, tear it down and rip it up and criticize it, analyses, scrutinize it and so forth, but never realize it. And God, I haven't got this written down, by the way. It just comes naturally. I think it's part of my repertoire. But this is so interesting because I as a young Christian, I was bombarded by intellectuals who were pulling the Bible apart, and it was really very difficult for me to find an answer because I didn't know the Bible well enough. But I discovered something wonderful. God has an answer to all the critics. Really wonderful. When I think of the French philosopher Voltaire, Voltaire decided to make a public statement like this. He said the Bible because of the advance of science. The Bible, he said, will in ten years time be a museum piece. Ha, ha. Oh, I laugh at that. The only museum piece today is Voltaire. Ha ha ha! But you see what I'm trying to get at? You see what I'm trying to get at? This is so really wonderful to me. And here's God taking it one step further to show how ridiculous that statement. Ridiculous how ridiculous that statement is. The Irish say ridiculous. The English say ridiculous. Excuse me. And how how ridiculous that statement is. Because if you go to Voltaire's home today, the house that he lived in, you'll find it. It's the Geneva Bible distribution center. What a sense of humor he's got, huh? Amen. So people that criticize the Bible and so forth, they don't worry me at all. Not really at all. When they're gone, the Bible will still be around. And I praise God for that. And it's the only book that I know today that does not have to be brought up to date. Have you noticed that every textbook is generally out of date? Date? At the end of the year? There has to be revised by men. It has to be changed by men because it's out of date, because of knowledge increasing. But the Bible doesn't have to be changed by men at any time. It changes men all the time. Hallelujah. And it's up to date right now. God is never behind time. He's never late because he never leaves. Hallelujah. I got my theology sorted out. Don't you worry. Now, if you look with me in Philippians chapter three. Finally, my brethren. Rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you and to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. For we are for we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he had whereof he might trust in the flesh. I more circumcision circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. As touching the law a Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless. For what thing? Sorry. For what things were gain to me? Those I count or counted. Loss for Christ. Dwell on the words. For what things were gain to me. That's to Paul personally. They were gain to him. He put a value on them at that particular time. At this point I counted loss for Christ. Yey! Doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, and as how often the personal pronoun comes in here. My, my, my Lord, for whom are all things? Not some things, all things. And do count them but dung, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God. By faith that I may know him, and the fellowship, or sorry I jumped to the fellowship, that I might know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. For by any means that I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained either was I already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count myself to have apprehended. But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Tonight I was driving down with one of the committee, David, and we were praying together in the car. David had his eyes closed. For those that may not understand. I was driving. He doesn't have that amount of faith. And he was just praying. And as he was praying. So God revealed to me what he wanted me to speak about tonight. And dear brother Win Fountain was ministered. And the other song leaders we've had here, each one of them, in reaching out to minister to you, has opened up a door for me personally. So it's been, in one sense, body ministry, each person having a part to play so that the glory goes to God. But we are all in the unity and the fellowship of the same spirit. And to me that is wonderful. Don't you think it's really wonderful? Because, I mean, when's background to mine is so different? I mean, he's a Baptist. Fantastic. Um, I mean, I know Baptists and my goodness me. I mean, if God gets hold of a Baptist and fills him with the Holy Spirit, well, that is a miracle. And when is at this moment finding grace? Praise God. But I think it's so wonderful. We have now Roman Catholics who are no longer roaming. They're being led by the spirit. And all these things are happening today and it's so wonderful. The last thing we ask now is what denomination you're from. And when people usually ask me, say, Brother Greene, what church do you belong to? I said, there's only one, isn't there? Oh, yes. Yes. Thank you. Well, we're not seeking for unity, folks. We've got it. We're keeping the unity that we've got, which God has provided, not on a doctrinal level, but on a spiritual level, keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. So, my brothers and sisters, the Lord bless you. And don't ask what sort of vessel God is using. He can even use an angle cam, right? And all the Anglicans said. Amen. Amen. Good. Strong contingent here tonight. Amen. That's my background, brethren and Anglican. And you mix them together. And what have you got? Amen. It's good to laugh at yourself sometimes. Now, God spoke to me on this subject of what is your objective now in life? Most of us are encouraged from the very beginning to reach out for something. We either to reach out to be what our fathers are. If we are children, or we reach out to be what our heroes are, or those things that we think would be fine for us, we reach out to be an engine driver as this little boy cried at Sunday school. Jesus wants me to be. What was it, a sunbeam? But I want to be an engine driver, he said. Which is a misunderstanding, poor chap. But you understand, every person must have an objective. Now, also, when you're grown up, you have an objective. A woman has an objective to get married, or a man may have the same. And that's it. That's what I want out of life. I want to get married. And so a businessman has an objective. He wants to be the best businessman, and he aims for that. But if in all these things that we aim for, we're not going beyond the thing to Christ, we have miserably failed in every single place. Now, Paul didn't sit around in his day. He was very academic, very qualified. He was an intellectual, and he used his brain to its fullest capacity by becoming a Hebrew of the Hebrews. Many say he was a member of the Sanhedrin. But the point being is this that he counted all that but lost. So his ambition was. What was it? Selfish? No. He wanted to do the best for his religion. The best for himself, the best for everything. He wanted to do the best in everything and the best for everything. Paul was an extremist. In one case. He couldn't be just an ordinary person. He had to excel. He had to go on. There is tremendous determination in, in in Paul. So you can imagine he's going to be the best at everything that he attempts. But then when it's all accomplished, he's arrived at the place where you can't get any higher. He realized he's accomplished something. He's honest. He has accomplished something. He was zealous as a Pharisee, persecuting the church. He did everything to the extreme. He was responsible for stoning. Stephen. Stephen. He went all the way. Paul did. And when Christ called him, he went all the way. But do you notice now something Paul sees the value of Christ. He sees the true value of Christ and not just a ministry. Some of us are really caught up with a ministry as an objective that's not high enough. You'll miss everything by aiming for a ministry. To gain everything, you must aim for the Lord. You must aim for the Lord Jesus Christ. So this whole world is being confronted with this fact. What am I aiming for most? What do I really want out of life? Do I want to be successful? Do I want this? And many people have accumulated riches in the day of Jesus. Even the rich young ruler came to Jesus and he wanted eternal life. And Jesus put his finger on something that really hurt his riches. Give it all up and give it to the poor. No, he did not value following the Christ that much. He did not put a value on a Christ's life, or following Christ to that extent that he would give up everything. Jesus said, you must lose your life. Not some of it, not a little of it, but you must lose your life to gain it. Now, if you're going to lose a life that you can, you cannot keep. Why not lose it? We are down here for such a short period of time, folks. We might as well lose our lives to Christ, that we might gain it for eternity. And a man is no fool who loses what he cannot keep. To gain what he cannot lose. Hallelujah. Now only those things that are invisible if we say, or spiritual or eternal. So the person that sets his sights on the Lord Jesus Christ, or when Jesus came, he said it this way in Matthew six thirty three, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. If the church all had the same objective, the world would know which way to look. That's true. We're all looking in different directions. Our ambitions are different. Our first and main objective, if I'm a doctor, is not just to be a successful doctor is to find Christ and see if he'll take me beyond my profession, where I can minister directly healing from the Lord. A businessman is not just to make that into a spiritual ministry whereby I'm free from my business and it can serve the Lord under somebody else's leadership and God's guidance. Guidance while I am free to minister. I believe we should have ambitions and desires just like that. If that is not so, what is the point, folks? We may not all reach the status of Paul's spirituality or other people's spirituality, but hallelujah, we're all going to reach and we all can reach. And God does not forbid us to reach for Paul's objective, which was the Lord Jesus Christ, the prize of the high calling which is in Christ Jesus. What a price, what a desire, what a reaching out for Paul. What a value he's put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He wiped the rest of his life out and called it dung. Not worth considering a waste that he might gain Christ Jesus. I looked at the Old Testament, and I looked at many people in the Old Testament. I looked at Abraham and I thought, Abraham, you've got everything to lose. You're coming out to nothing, folks. You can come out to nothing visible like Abraham coming into a land that he could not see or he'd never been to. You can come out to nothing. But it's not what you come out to. It's who you come out with. Abraham came out with the Lord, and Abraham came into everything that God wanted him to possess. He came into things that he didn't see in his experience promises. But we have come into them today. This is a glorious day, folks, and God showed me tonight when I was sitting in that car. Just something simple that he has put the objective before us and it's up to us. You mean Lord. I don't have to have a calling not to reach out for the prize. You mean I don't have to be special? Especially blessed not to reach out for the prize. I don't have to have special qualifications not to reach out for the prize. But the prize is the greatest. Amen. It's the best. Amen. And every person can reach out for Christ. Now, I find Paul fascinating. He's experienced so many different things. He's suffered. Now you think, Paul. Aren't you going to give up now? Look, Paul, you've really made it a long way along the road. Now sit back like some people are doing today in their pew and saying, well, I've been a good, successful Christian now for forty years, and it's time I took a back pew and pew pew and let them let the younger generation go on. Not Paul. There's no retirement in the spirit because God is the source of your strength. Hallelujah. Excuse me. Getting blessed there. When you get to forty, you've got to think about these things. And it says in Psalm seventy one verse eighteen. When I'm old and gray headed. Oh, Lord. All right. Hands up those who've got that qualification. Some ladies putting their hands up and your hair's not gray. Oh, I beg your pardon, ma'am. I mean, it is under there. I see. Right. Isn't that mean to me? What does the Bible say when I'm old and gray headed? O Lord, forsake me. Not until I've shown thy strength unto this generation and thy power to all those that are to come. Folks, this is the day when our weakness is our asset. We can prove God's strength. This is the day. Now God is saying, what excuses will you make to me? What reason will you give me for not moving out into a spiritual life that's effective. Moving out into a relationship that's affected. Moving out into the power of God. Into the calling of God. Into the gifts of God. Into the love of God. Moving out in God. What excuse can you give? God. Come on. What excuse, folks? Is there an excuse? They gave him excuses. Many of them did. Oh, yes. Many of them went back when the going got hot, when Jesus was preaching and he came to the real hot word, the word that demanded everything. And people then who had committed themselves twenty percent stopped at their twenty percent. When more was demanded of them, they wouldn't go. God demands that we give our life because he gave a life. Jesus Christ gave himself. That's as much as you can give back. You're giving of yourself to God means I give myself to you. I give my time to you. God gives me his time through you. I give my life to you. God gives me my life back through you. I bless you, you bless me. I give to the body of Christ. God gives me back through the body of Christ. So I learned one thing. If I stop living and giving for myself and give to you, then God opens up so many more channels. I have only one channel to give to myself if I give to myself. But if I give to you, I have so many more channels back and so I get blessed. So if I begin to love you, as we said tonight, love multiplies by division. Complicated isn't it? Blows the mind of the mathematician. Blood. Love multiplies by division. So as I give away each time, God then is committed to giving back to me through you. So now here I am in my home. I give it to the Lord. Lord, here's my home. Everything that you give to God, God is in. And when you can't pay the rent, he can. Hallelujah! Say, Lord, you're getting behind with your rent. Hallelujah. All right, now say I give my home to God. How do I give my home to God is by opening it to you. That's right. Now, as long as it's open to you. My home. As long as it's given, I am entitled to a home anywhere else in the world that's open to the Lord. So I come into millions of homes. I don't want you to let it out, folks, but I park in the most. I park in the strangest places I go. And I said, is this father's house? And they said, yes, we've given it to the Lord. I said, wonderful. So I go straight to the fridge to see what we've got. Hallelujah. You may think that's ridiculous, but it's true. You ask the people I stay with, they will confirm it. Now I am free, I am free. You see what I mean? Now I feel at home. In my home. This is just the same as my home. Your home when it's given to the Lord. Because we're all at home. I'm your brother now. Isn't it wonderful? Don't you think? Don't you see? Look at tonight. Now, how many people are new for the first time again? We haven't had you in the meetings before. I've got some wonderful news for you tonight. I realize that I have now got some more brothers and sisters. Isn't that lovely? But just think how God has blessed you in return. I thought I would get by with that one, but it was just getting too smart for me, I'm afraid. Getting too smart. But do you see this, then? That if you. Home. Your home is open to the Lord. All the homes that are open to the Lord are open to you. I think it's fantastic. I've never felt so, so secure. You know, my pocket sometimes is completely empty, but there are there's pockets that are full that God has access to. Terrific. It's wonderful. I mean, he has a very difficult job sometimes to supply my need. And when I make mistakes, I make mistakes in the Lord. And I got my peace. It's no longer a mistake. God is doing something that I don't know about. So I just wait around in peace. I said, Lord, teach me. What are you doing? What are you saying by this Lord? Oh, what are you saying through this person? What are you trying to say to me, Lord? I remember getting on a train, and I got so wrapped up and. And I overshot my station. I wanted to get off the second from last station, and the train went to the last station. So it meant I had to wait for the, um. Yeah, I had to wait for the next train to come in or wait for the train that was in to go out. Sorry to get back to the next station. Complicated. So I that's right, I went, the train came in or the train came. It's a long time ago, folks. It's just. I'm losing my train of thought And the train on platform seven. Please get back on the line. And. It was in Portsmouth that, you know the Portsmouth. Southsea. There's two stations. One is the seaport. And before you get the ferry and the one, those have been there and one is Southsea. All right. I should have got off at Southsea but I went right to the ferry. So I got off the train. I must have done something because I came back then for the next train in and when the train came in. That's right. When the train came in and yes, that was the train I was going to get on. So I was walking up the platform as the train arrived in to catch that train. It was going to go out in a few minutes and it was the strangest thing. Somebody got out of the train and was walking down towards me, and they had some hand and they didn't see me. They were looking at the money and holding the bag, you see, and they must have got caught counting their money when the train arrived at the station. Sure the person listening to this tape and trying to understand the story is going to have a really wonderful ask for discernment. And the person looked up just as they came opposite me, looked up and said, oh. And I looked at the person I recognized. The person said, hello, Harry. And I said, hello. And I put my hand out and the person put the money in. And of course, I said, I must go. I was just, you know, tithing my pay and the Lord. I was wondering where to. I was separating it and wondering what to do with it. And then all of a sudden I saw you, and the Lord said to you, and I said, thank you, Lord, for the money. I needed it and put it in my pocket. Got on the train and on my way I went. But God is the most peculiar things to meet our needs. But the lovely thing about it is that wherever I go in the world, God is committing committed because he is my father, to meeting my need. Now, I think it's really fascinating. It's so wonderful to me to be so secure like that. So I cannot go broke. God has to go broke first. He supplies my need. And have you ever seen God financially embarrassed? Of course not. Of course not. And Jesus said, take no thought for tomorrow while the disciples were with Jesus. You must remember that they were all right financially. Oh, yes, they were alright financially. And then when it came to pay the tax, I must admit I see some maybe a little more revelation than this than some other people. When it came to pay the tax they asked of Jesus. You know, for him to pay his tax. And so he sent Peter down to catch a fish, and then the fish's mouth. They got the money and gave it to the tax man. I thought to myself, well, the Lord has some money there in that bag. Why didn't he pay the tax man? And then I realized, of course, the Lord is the King of kings. And kings don't pay tax, do they? Thank you, thank you. Kings don't pay. Kings don't pay that. Anyway, the point was this. He wouldn't use the Lord's money for the temple. Now, please. Come on. If you give a tenth to the Lord, please don't use the money for the tax to pay your tax. That is not. You got the message. Good. I'm so glad. A word to the wise is sufficient. Now, those that are looking convicted, you put it right. Now, this is so important. If the Lord Jesus Christ is my objective in my in my financial life, I will end up with a giving ministry. Shall I say that again? If the Lord. Now you've got to listen to it very carefully, because this is what he emphasized to me tonight. If the Lord Jesus Christ is my objective to glorify him in giving. You see, you can't glorify him in receiving. You can only glorify him in giving. See, most people want a ministry of receiving. I'd like to be a millionaire. And then when I'm a millionaire, I'll give the Lord all the money. Support all the missionaries. Yes, we've heard that before. But you see what I'm trying to say in everything? If you want Christ as your objective, you've got to seek for a giving ministry. Now, nobody wants a giving ministry because it puts you in a place where you've got to believe God to give back to you. So every businessman must seek to advance in a giving ministry. Every Christian must seek to advance in a giving ministry. Now most of us legalize it. We'll say, right, Lord, we want to show you how much we love you. We're going to give you a tenth that already belongs to the Lord. You haven't given him anything yet. Oh, and offerings. Yes. The Lord loveth a cheerful giver. Here it is, Lord. Hope you know that we've got a sacrifice to give. This Jesus, who was rich, was made poor, that through his poverty we might be made rich. In two Corinthians verse eight. Chapter eight, verse nine. Now I want you to realize this tonight. If you are in a profession and you want to glorify the Lord, you've got to allow the Lord to use that profession so that you can give to God. That's the way to glorify the Lord. You'll glorify God in giving, not just receiving, but giving. And this is something most of us don't want. Now, some people do because they realize that they've got to take the business of this world out of the devil's hands, and they've got to. In other words, lose business for God to use. And some people, God has given special faith in this direction. So they reach out and receive business, which is right. But the receiving is not for themselves. It's that they might give more. When that is your objective, folks, you're in business now. One man did that and I warned him about it. In Northern Ireland, when they didn't have any people shooting each other in Northern Ireland. And this was a Presbyterian of all people. Praise God. And do you know that man asked the Lord what he should do before he made it? Before he even made any money at the beginning of the year he said, Lord, what do you want me to give? And God told him how much to give. He went to the bank, put his business in trust, or whatever you call it, or, you know, I don't have any business. I don't know, but the bank gave him five hundred pounds. That's what the Lord told him to give. And he gave five hundred pounds. He never even missed it. Never even missed it. But that's all. You know, he could really give in his faith at that time. But he got so much back, he never even missed it in his business. So it went into thousands. It went into tens of thousands, and it went on and on. Now what was happening to the man? How on earth is God going to keep up with this? Here's the man giving ten thousand and something. God's going to give him an awful lot of business to find to cover that ten thousand. But God did. And he owns the whole street now, one side of the street, I warned him. He went on in giving and giving and giving, and he sought to give in his ministry. Now this is something that God wants us to do. Folks, the moment you seek to accumulate for yourself, you'll fail miserably. Christ is not your objective. To win Christ means that you lose your all of your pay every week. Lose it? Exactly. You'll lose it to the Lord by giving him the whole lot. Say, here you are, Lord. This is yours to use as you please. Then you continue to use it for yourself, and God has the use of it for you and for anybody else he chooses, but it belongs to the Lord. So now, if it only belonged to you, it will go so far if it belongs to the Lord. They gave him the loaves. Hallelujah. They gave him the loaves, and he blessed them well with those loaves. They could do nothing before Jesus blessed it. But once they lost the loaves to Jesus, they gave the loaves to him. And what happened? He gave them his increase, which is his blessing. And what did it do? It met the need. But Lord, this doesn't seem logical. Here are the disciples who are worn out, tired. And you said, come aside. You haven't had so much time as even to eat. And then when they come aside, the problem came aside to that was the multitude. Ha! You won't get rid of your problem. They'll follow you when they know you are a source of supply. They came, came aside, and so did the multitude. Now Jesus said, give ye them to eat. Well, here the disciples in need themselves, but give ye them to eat, but they're in need themselves, right? The mathematicians got to work. Those that were of logical mind got to work. Those that were reasoning and reasonable got to work and they worked it out. Two hundred Pennyworth wouldn't feed this lot. We can't do it. What do we have? We only have five loaves and two fishes. What are they among so many Jesus given to me. And so they gave him to the Lord. And he blessed them. And then they began to minister. Now in the Middle East, when they give you a loaf or bread, they first they break the bread and they give it to you. Now you take what you want to eat. Out of that, they leave you a choice. You break the bread again, putting one piece down and the piece that they broke off for themselves apparently satisfied them because Jesus said very carefully gather up the fragments. That's that which is left over. Gather up all the little pieces. Now, he wouldn't say that if they'd all bitten a piece out of it, would he? You see what I'm saying? So the unbroken piece hadn't been touched, Gathered up. How many baskets? Funny, they should have twelve baskets. I wonder who the baskets belong to. The disciples. Now, boys, you've got your food. Give, and it shall be given unto you. You see what I'm trying to say? They could have split up the five loaves and two fishes amongst themselves, and had a little bit each. But by giving to the hungry multitude first by losing the loaves, they gained them back sufficiently to meet their own need. And that's what I mean, I believe today, then, if we are giving financially, Christ is our object. If we're if we're seeking to give all to Christ, when you come to that day, Christ then has given you all. Isn't it wonderful? The moment you give all to Christ, you connect up. Then what you've given to his. You have all of his in return. Glory be to God. And think how much. But when you give your legal tent. God will give and bless you back. Give and it shall be given unto you. Give liberally. Oh, folks, it's wonderful and in. And can you imagine working for the Lord every day? Just think of it. Going to work. What are you doing, brother? Well, I'm a welder. Are you praising God? And you seem to be thrilled with, you know, welding and everything else. I don't understand who you're working for. What firm? They must really treat you well. No, I'm not working for the firm. I'm working for the Lord. That's why I get to the work on time. Oh, you leave on time, too? Yes. And I don't cheat the boss out of time. In between. Oh, why? Because I'm working for the Lord. I see. And you've been promoted recently, I hear. Yes. Working for the Lord. Promotion comes from the Lord, too. Hallelujah. Have you ever seen the Lord promote people? He can make a jailbird called Joseph a prime minister next day. How about that for promotion, folks? You think? Yeah. I think the Prime Minister here has had that sort of background. No, but I believe that he has been promoted also by the Lord for this time. Amen. So you pray for him. Now, this is a wonderful day. It's a day for you to prove the Lord and to bring the Lord in and make the Lord your objective, so that all that you accumulate in your business life, in your work life, and also those ladies in the home, everything that you accumulate and everything that you reach out for is so that you can give it to the Lord. You've won them. You can't lose anything that you've lost. Give your heart to the Lord and it can't be stolen. They didn't steal yours. They stole his. And let's see how far they get. Was anybody in the meeting? Down in? And where is it? Hamilton. When somebody's car was stolen. Were you there? You were there, right? You'll verify this? They just told me on the platform that somebody's car was stolen. And I prayed and I said, Lord, right now, if that person is not demon possessed or anything else like that, speak to him now and get him to return that car as fast as he can. Stop him where he is and let him return that car as fast as he can. If he is demon possessed, let the authorities catch him, you know, and you can't stop him and let the authorities catch him and deal with him according to the law. In other words, if he was under the influence deliberately, he didn't want, you know, to give it back or anything else like that. On the influence of Satanic power. Then let the law deal with him. And then I when this gentleman went out, he went out to look for his car. And when he came back, I said, you know, I said, we've got the car. Meaning that we'd prayed and believed that it returned. And when he went out, he his car was there, returned. It was red hot, tires were red hot. Everything. The guy who brought it back must have driven it back like Jehu so fast, you know. But he was back and it's a lot and all the rest. And I remember feeling then you know how tremendous it is to have the Lord on your side so that you can reach out and stop something, even people who are running away from God. All you have to do is get down on your knees and they stop running. A Baptist family I knew in in England had brought this young man, a rebellious young man, into their home to try and influence him for the Lord and bring him deep into the Lord. And you know, one night he got really mad with them, and he left, and he stormed out of the house, and he went down the street. And that family got down on their knees and began to pray and say, Lord, we're not getting off our knees till you bring him back. The guy gets down to the end of the street and he can't go any further. He doesn't know why he can't go any further. He doesn't want to go any further. All he wants to do is to turn around and go back. And he does it. He opens the door and he said, I knew I'd find you on your knees. You can't run away from God now, when my wife and I used to have a lot of disagreements. Only she couldn't understand that she was always wrong. You see. And my wife didn't argue with me. You know, I would storm out and say, well, I can't understand why you can't see. That's very unreasonable. And out I'd go. She'd get down on her knees and talk to the Lord about it, and I'd get down the garden path a couple of yards, and I'd get terribly convicted, and I'd go back and apologize and everything else. And on the way back there she was on her knees, talking to my father. No wonder you can't win that way. You know all all I. All I have to do is say to father, well, Lord, I love you. And he said, what about your wife? See if you want to communicate. He'll say, what about your wife? Put that right first. You see. So if you love the Lord and you like his fellowship, you've got to go and put it right first. And it's not easy to apologize to your wife, is it, man? Do you find it difficult? I always do. It's very, very difficult. Well, God is very gracious to us in that sense that he gives us grace when we humble ourselves. Now, I felt tonight because many people in New Zealand are getting caught up in this materialistic age. If you like seeking to have their needs met and they're aiming financially, or they're reaching out for finance as their objective to some form of security, not to give, but to receive and to find a form of security for themselves. Your objective is wrong, folks. You're absolutely secure. If you couldn't find a job, if there was no job in the whole of New Zealand. God is committed to meeting your needs. You don't earn a living by working for it as a Christian. God gives you a living. You work with your hands so that you have to give to the Lord. That's it. Now you're giving increases all the time if you're going on spiritually. Now, this is for a lot of people that have never done it before. If you don't, if you're not increasing in your giving. There's something wrong with your spiritual life, I can assure you. If you're giving the same old thing and the devil will have you running around so that you'll find yourself a slave to your job, a slave to your business, and you're not serving the Lord. You're serving your business. It's not serving you. Now, folks, I don't want that. I pray with businessmen and professional people and many, many people that have tremendous problems. And it's a challenge today, folks. Is Jesus Christ your objective? If he's your objective, then hallelujah, you'll win all the way through you. Aim for the Lord and you get what the Lord wants wants for you. Most people seek the Lord for themselves. No, you don't seek the Lord for yourself. Seek the Lord for himself, and you'll get all you need for yourself. Seeking the Lord brings you into a place to see clearly as God sees, to know as God knows, to move as God moves, to act in everything rightly, I believe God wants our financial life to show the whole world that by seeking first the Kingdom of God, by looking to the Lord Jesus Christ and giving to him as he directs, we have all these things added unto us. I love the Lord for this. Do you know I have a friend of mine? He's a hotelier. I want to tell you about him for a minute. He's a wonderful man. He was healed of cancer eight years ago. And all God's people said, when anybody says healed eight years ago, he had to be healed. Otherwise he'd be dead. He's healed of cancer, but he's a hotelier and he's hotels. I'm one of the trustees and one of the hotels he's hotels are Christian hotels. I just give spiritual advice or witness whether this is right, that is right and so forth. And they don't pay me for that. Just in case you think. Thank you. You don't think, forgive me right now. This man finds that he's hotel is not really paying. So now because he got the hotel in debt, I mean, when he bought it, he was in debt. Really in debt. So what did he do? He came the challenge he got before the Lord. And he said, Lord, there's not enough money to come in to pay the bills. Therefore, I need some ministry from the body of Christ. And somebody, without knowing anything sent him two thousand pounds. Two thousand pounds. And this man, slowly moving out in faith, has paid the debt off, and the whole thing is wrapped up beautifully. But can you see what I'm saying? He did not depend on his business ability or anything else. Conniving gimmicks and all that sort of thing. And God can give you many wonderful plans and way of presenting things. I'm not saying he can't, but he depended on the Lord, and he has been giving in such a way that he's committed God to giving back to him in such a way to meet his bills, which are far bigger than the bills that he's paying up for the Lord. Say, for instance, now I minister to you. You only need ten dollars. I need five hundred. What happens? I minister to you ten and that puts me in God's supply. Thank you Lord. When my need now I receive it met. Because I'm now putting myself in debt. Um, five hundred and ten dollars, aren't I? If I give to you. Right. I need now five hundred and ten dollars. But you see what I'm trying to say? As I give to you, I'm admitting I'm in God's supply because I can't give in need. I can only give in the anticipated supply. I can only give in God's prosperity if I have none of my own. And once you change your attitude and begin to give, you've got Christ's attitude in that whole thing. And what happens? God gives back to you, showing that he can work outside of your income. God wants to meet our needs. We have a couple of old ladies in our church, one gone to glory, one still here, about ninety two. And quite often she said, Lord, I've got no vegetables today. Would you speak to one of your children as they dig? Sure enough. come lunchtime, she looked outside the door and there was a nice cabbage and a few carrots. Somebody's digging the garden and thought, oh, maybe Mrs. Miss Stevens would like some of these. So she put him in a basket and put him outside the door. I love it the way the Lord takes care of those that are old when they're trusting the Lord outside of their own supply. Folks, a lot of people are living miserable, wretched, underprivileged Christian life. Why? Why do they live like that? Because they're living in only what they've got, not what my God can supply. This lady gave nearly ninety percent of everything that came into her home to the mission field. And God, because she had no other source of income. God had to find a way to supply her needs when she gave all her butter away because somebody was in need. God had to find she had no money to buy more. God had to find it for her. And we've got testimonies all around the church like that. And one more little testimony. I'm going to finish with this subject, but it's so important tonight for so many of you. You don't realize the thrill it is when God speaks to you to give. My mother was concerned about my wife and myself and our three children. She could not understand how because I didn't have a fixed income and I wasn't paid, how I could possibly put my children's lives in jeopardy. They could be hungry and everything else. So my mother came to stay with us, and my wife was at home and I was away, and my wife prayed that the Lord would show my mother that he was taking care of us. Now, this is a very difficult thing sometimes. And my wife said to my mother, oh, you're leaving tomorrow? I know. Well, I have prayed and asked the Lord to give you, to give me five pounds so that we can give you this money towards your fare. Now, we didn't get that sort of money in those days. Five pounds was a lot of money. A lot of money, you know, just any old way. And my mother said she was very English, you know. Oh, thank you, dear. Much as to say. Well, this is really peculiar. I asked the Lord for some money to most peculiar. I see. But anyway, the Lord is really good. Now this is what happened. My wife rang me and told me what she did. She did? Now I happened to have five pounds on me. She came through the ministry and I said to her, I've got five pounds, but I can't get it to you in time. No. I want the Lord to show your mother that he supplies our needs. I want the Lord to do this. How he was going to do it. I want him to do it. I want your mother to see that we have no money in the house. No way of getting it other than the Lord. So the next before the next morning, we'll go through the night. Four o'clock in the morning, a lady wakes up who cannot sleep. Now, when ladies wake up, who cannot sleep, the best thing to do is to pray or find out why the Lord has woke you up. The devil doesn't wake you up because the Lord giveth his beloved sleep. If anybody wakes you up, it's the Lord. You got the message. That's it. Really? Now she woke up and she said, Lord, what's wrong? And he said, the Greenwoods in financial need. So she walked up and down. Greenwood's in financial need. Lord, what do you want me to give? How much do they need? And she couldn't get the figure. She had so many figures in her head, I suppose she couldn't get the figure that that she wanted. So she said, Lord, the first figure I see when I open this book, I'll give it. So she opened the book and there was five. So she put a five pound note in an envelope, put a dressing gown over her nightshirt, and I asked her, I beg your pardon? Her nightgown. Forgive me, ladies. And she went down the street to our door and nobody around at half past four in the morning by that time. Then. And she slipped the envelope in the letterbox. We had no mail that morning, but my wife said, we have no mail to my mother, because that was usually what we used to look for until the Lord stopped us one day he said, you're looking to the male and not to me. You used to live for the postman. Coming, I wonder somebody. Hallelujah! Oh praise God. I won't go through those days, but it was pretty rough, I can assure you. Now, this is really wonderful. My mother, my wife took the envelope out and without opening it, gave it to my mother and said, this is the Lord's supply. My mother opened the envelope and found five pounds of it. And never from that day to this day has ever doubted that God supplies the needs of my family. It was so gracious of the Lord to do that for my mother. Mothers are mothers and I thank the Lord for it. Folks, do you realize how good our God we don't allow him to be good, we limit him. You see, we've not been taught to trust God financially. We haven't been taught to prove the Lord. We've made material things, our objective for so many years because we've accepted it as a value that the world puts on these things. A man spends all his life trying to trying to accumulate degrees Agrees. He's seeking for an academic life that he would be proud of. That will give him a form of security he's seeking for that. And when he's found it. What has he found? He's found nothing. We have to seek beyond that. There's nothing wrong with being academic and having knowledge and wisdom and and and so forth. There's nothing wrong with that whatsoever. But if that's your objective, it's wrong. For the man to seek Christ is going to get everything that he needs to know along the road, and he can put it to the best possible use. Knowledge is not wrong. It's who's using it. When Christ can direct it, then it's wisdom that's added to knowledge which makes it effective. Amen. Amen. You've got the message. That's wonderful. Now you think again. You want a ministry? And many ministers today have stopped at a certain level. So that's as far as it. A man is stopped because he's written four books. Five books. He's stopped because he's written five books and said, right, I've. I've arrived now. That's it. I have built my church. Fantastic church. This is a monument to my faith and my achievement. Here it is. I've stopped here. But do you see what I'm trying to say? It's not what you produce externally. It's your objective. You've not reached glory yet. And the Lord Jesus Christ must be our objective. And the person that is seeking the Lord for the for the Lord's self, for the person of the Lord who's seeking the Lord, will minister the depth of that relationship that he's got with God. And Paul prayed in Philippians three verse ten, all that I might know him. Do you see what I'm saying? That I might know him. But, Paul, surely you want to know all the other things. The fellowship of his suffering, the power. Yeah, but I might know him, that I might know him. Folks, you can only have faith in a person as much as you know him. And you can only have faith in his Word. As much as you know the person, and you prove the person. And I believe today that we don't really know the Lord. We do not show the world our objective. What's our objective? The Lord Jesus Christ. We seek him in our business. We show them our objective. It's not business. We want to give. That's ridiculous. They say people are ridiculous. I people say you're all you're aiming for is something to give. That's stupid. How do you expect to go on and prosper? You can't take your money to heaven, folks, but you can send it on before Hallelujah by giving to the Lord. Isn't it wonderful? Now you think now tonight, is there anywhere in your natural life that you're bogged down, that people looking for help today, they're buying it. They go to the certain place. They go here. They go there looking for help. There are people looking for peace of mind. And it's all in the Lord Jesus Christ. They're looking for prosperity. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Folks, do you see what I'm trying to say? They're looking for wisdom. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. They're looking for learning. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Where is the beginning of wisdom and understanding? The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and understanding. Hallelujah! This is the day, folks. When we move out of our puny little vision, we enlarge our tents. Look at Elijah and Elisha. Oh my goodness me, if ever a man was put off, Elijah tried to put him off. Will you quit following me? Will you? I'm not going to let you out of my sight. I'm going to follow you. And then the other prophet said, well, why don't you stay with us? Why follow him? You're getting nothing. You're a slave to him. You're cleaning his boots and you're cooking his meals. You're doing everything else. You don't have any fantastic public ministry. You've got nothing following this man. You'll get nothing following a man. That's perfectly true. But his eyes wasn't his. Um. Elisha's eyes were not on. On. Um. They were on something more than Elijah. They were on his ministry. Now, he did not come up to Elijah at the final day when Elijah was going to be taken up and say, excuse me, Elijah. I sure respect your ministry and wonderful ability that God has given you and faith and everything else. I would be quite happy to be half the man that you are. Now listen to the cheek and the nerve of this man. Well, what do you want? Says Elijah, I want twice as much as what you've got. Hallelujah! Who gave him the measure? Who made the choice? Did God give him twice as much? Yes he did. God will give you what you aim for. And if you aim the highest, you're going to get the highest. If you make the Lord Jesus Christ the prize of the high calling, if you make him your objective, if you seek him first, I don't mean just say, well, Lord, you're first, you're first. You put him first by acting out in your faith what he says, In other words, you give your life. You give yourself. That's putting him first when you get out of the way. Now this is the day of giving. This is the day of living. This is the day of life. This is the day when you and I can move out for the first time. And prove the Lord for ourselves. Oh, hallelujah. You want a prayer life? You can't get a prayer life without wanting the Lord. Because he's the person that you're praying to. You can't get a ministry really, without having the Lord, but he's the person that ministers through you. You can get nothing today, folks, except in Jesus Christ. Now, in a few moments, I'm going to start praying. I've gone over my time, but I wanted everyone to know that tonight. God is challenging New Zealand. Well, what's your objective? He'll give the Church of New Zealand what they want. Do you want revival for your country? You do? Well, you don't, you don't. Sorry. If you say you want revival for your country, you say it by what you're doing towards that revival. Do you want souls to be saved? Yes. When did you last pray for them? When did you last reach out for them? You say to God, by what you do, not by what you say. It's not how much of God you talk, it's how much of God you walk. This is the day, folks. There's no hiding place now. A man is a minister today. Not because he's ordained, but because he's got a ministry. Mm. Ordination must first come from heaven. A man must have a minister today. There's no hiding place now. We are ministers. Able ministers of life today. You, me, we all have a ministry. All of us. Some are set in the body of Christ, in a certain ministry, like prophet, teachers, evangelists, pastors, and so forth. But every single person has access to nine gifts, to nine fruit, to the power of the Holy Spirit, to the name of Jesus, to the Word of God, and to the Lord Jesus Christ as the prize. What have you set tonight as your prize? Do you give God twenty percent and keep the rest in case you might lose out? You'll lose what you don't give to God. You'll only gain what you've given. You have only got tonight what you've given to God. Because if anything happens to you, you lose all that isn't the Lord's. And what is the Lord's? You gain for eternity. The things that are not seen are eternal. Let us pray.