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Song number 24, And Can It Be, and if you are able to, let's all stand together for our first song. Song number 24, And Can It Be, we're gonna start off with the first verse. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Sing it on that first. Amen. Wonderful singing. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer. Dear God and Heavenly Father, we thank you so much, Lord God, for every soul that made it to church this morning. And Lord, we do pray, Lord God, for the people that weren't able to make it today because of illness. Lord God, I do pray that you please just heal their bodies. And Lord, I do pray that you please just be with us in the congregation. Help us, Lord God, to be attentive to your word being preached unto us. Lord God, please bless every aspect. Bless the singing unto you. Bless the preaching of your word now. Please fill our passage with your Holy Spirit. We pray now these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's be seated. Song number 164. Praise Him, praise Him. Song number 164. Song number 164. Sing it on that first verse. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer. Sing, O Earth, His wonderful love proclaim. Hail Him, hail Him, highest archangels in glory. Strength and honor give to His holy name. Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children. In His arms He carries them all day long. Praise Him, praise Him, tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer. Since He suffered and bled and died, He our rock, our hope of eternal salvation. Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus who bore our sorrows. Bounded, wonderful, deep and strong. Praise Him, praise Him, feel of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals, loud with Hosanna's wreath. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, Prophet and Priest and King. Christ is coming over the world victorious. Power and glory unto the Lord belong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song. All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this morning. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song, which will be 245 if you want to get that ready. And your songbook's 245. The old account was settled. If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand and one of the ushers can get one for you. Important information on there. Of course, our Sunday morning service is at 1030 Sunday evening at 5 p.m. And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. We're currently going through the book of Matthew, so I encourage you to be here for our midweek service. We are a family integrated church, so you will hear infants and children in the service. Parents, if you could do us a favor, if your children kind of get a little out of hand, they get a little fussy, we do have mother-baby rooms located in the back of the building, so you can take them in there should your child need some diversion. Changing tables, speakers and screens are available there as well, so you can still tune into the preaching and then bring them back into the service at your discretion. You see the so many times and teams, the list of expecting mothers, please continue to pray for them. And then the important reminders there at the bottom. Some of the upcoming church events. Friday, October 27th is the Home School Park Day. You can see my wife for more details about that. And then Sunday, October 29th is Melissa Pays Baby Shower. And then also on the 29th is when our fall program begins. So we want to encourage all our church members to bring a visitor on that day. Family, friends, coworkers, strangers, people you don't know, just go through the Yellow Pages. The Yellow Pages doesn't even exist anymore. But invite whoever you can. We are going to have first, second and third prize winners for the people who bring the most visitors. So first prize will be a $100 gift card to FOGA the Chow. Not FOGA the Chow, excuse me. I've sinned. It's Texas to Brazil. It's actually better than FOGA the Chow, now that I think about it. So it's a Texas to Brazil. And then second prize will be a $50 gift card to Lucille's. And then a $25 gift card to Starbucks. Alright, sorry. It is third prize. But I want to encourage you to bring a visitor on that day. We want to have a big day on that Sunday. And the goal is to break record attendance. And so our last record attendance was 168, if I'm not mistaken. And so if we can get 169, 170, that's still great. And so be in prayer over that. And bring your family on that day. Bring your friends, coworkers. And let's have a great start to the fall program. And then the men's prayer night is coming up on Friday, November 3rd, 7 p.m. at the church building. Dinner will be provided. Keep that in mind. And then you see there at the bottom, no food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee. Please make sure you're not loitering in the four year fellowship hall during the preaching service. Unless you're a dad who has to take their children out to distract them for a little bit, you can utilize the speakers and the screens out there. And so just keep that in mind. And then this afternoon, of course, quiet time is from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. throughout the entire building. And lastly, please make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. And that is it. Let's go ahead and sing our next song, 245, the old account was settled long ago. Song number 245, that's our third song. Song number 245, the old account was settled. Sing it nice and loud unto the Lord on that first verse. There was a time on earth when in the book of heaven an old account was standing for sins yet unforgiveness. My name was at the top with many things below. I went unto the keeper and settled long ago, long ago, long ago. Yes, the old account was settled long ago. And the record's clear today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago. The old account was large and growing every day. For I was always sinning and never times away. But when I looked ahead and saw such pain and woe, I said that I would settle. I settled long ago, long ago, long ago. Yes, the old account was settled long ago. And the record's clear today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago. When in that happy home, my Savior's home above, I'll sing redemption's story and praise him for his love. I'll not forget that book with pages wide as snow because I came and settled and settled long ago, long ago, long ago. Yes, the old account was settled long ago. And the record's clear today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago. On that last, O sinner, trust the Lord. Be cleansed of all your sins, for thus he hath provided for you to enter in. Be cleansed of all your sins, for thus he hath provided for you to enter in. And then if you should live a hundred years below, up there you'll not regret it. You settled long ago, long ago, long ago. Yes, the old account was settled long ago. And the record's clear today for he washed my sins away. The account was settled long ago. Amen. Wonderful singing at this time. Our ushers will be receiving the offering. And please turn your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 17. 1 Kings 17 1 Kings 17 Good morning. Tonight we're in 1 Kings chapter 17. 1 Kings chapter 17, and the Bible reads, And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, for for whom I stand, there shall not be due nor rain, And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, for for whom I stand, there shall not be due nor rain these years, but according to my word. And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan. And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord, and he went and dwelt by the brook, Cherith that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks, and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruise. And behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in to dress it, for me and my son, that we may eat it, Elijah said unto her, Fear not, go and do as thou hast said, but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruise of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did as according to the saying of Elijah, And she went and did as according to the saying of Elijah, and she and he and her house did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruise of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick, and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow, with whom I sojourned, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come unto him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah. And the soul of the child came unto him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother. Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. And the woman said unto Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth. Let's pray. Dear Lord God, thank you for every soul here right now, and we just pray that you bless Pastor Mejia right now, as he preaches your word unto us, and fill him with the Holy Spirit, Lord, and that us in the congregation are edified, and are attentive to the preaching, Lord. So just bless this time. Bless this day. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in 1 Kings chapter 17 this morning. Look down at your Bibles at verse number 8. It says, And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks, and he called to her and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water and a vessel that I may drink. And the title of my sermon this morning is Desperate Times Calls for Biblical Measures. Desperate times calls for biblical measures. It's commonly stated, and you've probably heard this statement before, desperate times calls for desperate measures. And often what this is referring to is the fact that when times get tough, and times become desperate, it's almost excusable or justifiable to kind of bend the rules a little bit, even break the rules because we're living in desperate times. It's okay to be dishonest. It's okay to maybe take a little off the top. It's okay to just have a little less integrity because we're in a desperate time. Well, that's not true for Christians. You know, as Christians, desperate times, no matter how desperate the situation is, always calls for biblical measures. And I want to give some principles this morning from this story and other portions of the Bible of what type of biblical measures we should take in the time in which we live, which can be considered desperate because of all the inflation, all the economies going down the drain, and we're just living in a time where it's just very difficult for people. Sometimes people are losing their jobs or they're having difficulty finding jobs or just making ends meet. What should be the measure that you should take? Should you be desperate and become dishonest and do something that is not right in God's eyes? Or should you take biblical measures, have faith in God, and of course the outcome is that you would be blessed of the Lord? Now here in 1 Kings 17, we're dealing with the story of Elijah, and Elijah is essentially cursing Israel because of the rejection of God. And part of his curse is that he essentially causes it not to rain for three years. And because it's not raining, it's creating a famine in the land, people are hungry, and so people are essentially starving during this time. And you know, Elijah is part of the equation, so there's not necessarily any food for him as well. And so the Lord says in verse number 8, He comes to him in verse number 9 and He says, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zion, and dwell there, behold, I have commanded a widow woman to sustain thee. So he miraculously provides an avenue by which Elijah can be sustained in a time of famine, and of course he's going to provide a miracle here. So he goes there, he has faith, he goes to the woman, he tells her to fetch him a vessel of water. And the Bible says in verse 11, and as she was going to fetch it, he called her and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. I always find this story funny because he's like, go give me a cup of water, and then she's like, alright, and she goes, Oh, by the way, go ahead and add a morsel of bread to that as well, cake, you know, because I'm a little hungry. Now, what does this say about Elijah? Does it say that he's just some male chauvinist, you know, male or whatever that just, you know, hates women? No, obviously he has faith in God, because he is obeying the word of the Lord, so he's just assuming this is the woman that's going to be used to sustain him. So that's why he asked for a morsel of bread, and so he's asking in faith, not necessarily in the faith of the woman, but his faith toward God that God will provide the means through this woman to feed him. And it says in verse 12, and she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruise, and behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die. That's a very sad statement, right? Basically, they only have just a little bit of food left for her and her son, and she's out there picking up two sticks with the intention of just having this last meal, and then once they have it, then they'll essentially starve and die. That's what her plan was. Verse 13 says, And Elijah said unto her, Fear not, go and do as thou hast said, but make me thereof a little cake first. Now, it sounds a little cold-hearted, but really what it is, Elijah just has a lot of faith. But I still find it a little funny, okay? Because she's like, I'm going to gather two sticks, and then we're going to dress it and me and my son are just going to die. And then Elijah's like, hey, don't be afraid, do whatever you say you're going to do, but just make me that cake first, though. Don't forget my order. He says, Make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. So he's just like, hey, that's fine, just make sure I'm the priority here. Make me the cake, and then feed your son and feed yourself. And obviously he doesn't say die thereafter because he knows that God's going to provide. Look at verse 14. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. So his faith is based upon the word of the Lord that states that even though she has a little bit of meal and a little bit of oil just to make one meal, if she obeys the word of the Lord, God's going to multiply those resources. And they are not only going to have enough to feed themselves that day, but they're going to be able to feed themselves until God sends rain upon the earth and the famine is no longer there, the crops grow, and then they can have food to eat thereafter. So obviously this is a supernatural occurrence here. This is a miracle. And verse 15 says, And she went. So she actually believed it. She's like, all right, what have I got to lose? You know, she went and did according to the saying of Elijah, and she and he and her house and did eat many days. Now, she could have easily just disobeyed the word of the Lord and said, No, you know, I don't know who I don't know who you think you are. You know what I mean? You're not my husband. You're not my boss. I'm going to go with plan A first. Right. But, you know, she she believed she had faith. And therefore she was blessed of of the Lord because of her obedience to God's command through Elijah. And it says in verse 16, And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruise of oil fail according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. Sounds like this widow was in a desperate time. And instead of taking a desperate measure of just getting two sticks, making the cake, eating it and dying of starvation, she took biblical measures and stepped out in faith, obeyed the man of God and was blessed thereof and was able to eat and survive for her and her son many days thereafter. What a great story. It's a story that I love reading every time I go through the Bible. I look forward to this particular story because of the fact that it really shows that when we decide to obey the word of the Lord, no matter how extreme it may seem, when we just step out in faith and obey God, God blesses us for it. And it may not make sense to you, it may not make sense to me as to how he does it, but lean on into that own understanding and all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. And so what a great story here. Now, I want to give you some principles in this sermon of what type of biblical measures you should take if you find yourself in a financial bind, if you find yourself in a desperate time, what type of measures you should take as a Christian in order to be blessed of the Lord so that God can provide for you and you can survive this famine that we're experiencing here. Now go to Proverbs chapter 11. Proverbs chapter 11, if you would. Now, let me make myself very clear. We're not in a famine right now. Everyone here is going to eat at least three meals today. If you eat less than that, it's by choice, obviously, right? In fact, maybe some of you might eat more than three meals, let's just be honest. But that's not to say that we're not in a bad time of finances and the economy is bad and things like that. And when a time like this arises, Christians can often put biblical principles on the back burner and just kind of forsake biblical principles and think to themselves, well, you know, this is a desperate time so I'm going to take desperate measures and God can forgive me afterwards and I'll just figure it out as I go through this. But it's important for you to take advantage of a desperate time to institute and implement biblical measures so that you have an abundance of things even in a time of need. Now let me just say this also is that these principles that I'm going to give you this morning are with the understanding that you're already reading your Bible. That you're already praying, you're right with God, you don't have sin in your life. And so if you don't do any of those things, these principles don't matter to you. They're not going to work for you. You obviously have to be right with the Lord and obey God and be in church and do that which you know you're supposed to do. And so I'm giving you these principles with the understanding that we're all doing that. And if you're not, then start today. Biblical measure number one. In a desperate time, one of the first biblical measures you should take is maintain just balances. Maintain just balances. Now what do I mean by that? Well, let me read you a couple verses here from Leviticus and Deuteronomy. You're in Proverbs. But please pay attention closely to the verses that I'm going to read to you. Leviticus 19.35 states, Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, and meat-yard, and weight, or in measure, just balances, just weights, just ephaph, and a just hen shall ye have. I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, ye shall observe all my statutes and all my judgments to do them. I am the Lord. Deuteronomy 25 and verse 13. Listen closely. It says, Thou shall not have in thy bag diverse weights, great and small. Thou shall not have in thine house diverse measures, a great and a small. But thou shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, shalt thou have, that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. For all that do such things and all that do unrighteously are an abomination unto the Lord thy God. Now what is he referring to here? Well look at Proverbs 11 and verse number 1. It says here, A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. Now I remember when I first got saved and I was reading through the Bible. I would read the book of Proverbs in the morning. You know you could read a book, a chapter a day in the morning. And I remember I would get through these verses in Proverbs and I would read these verses where it says, you know, a false balance. And I would think to myself, like, man, I got to be balanced in my Christian life, you know. Can have unjust weights in my Christian life. And I thought that meant like just be balanced. Like, you know, read the Bible and balance that out with prayer and balance that out with a soul winning. And so I didn't really understand what this was referring to. I just thought that that's what it was talking about. And obviously having balance in the Christian life is a biblical principle. But this is not what that's referring to. He says a false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. Go to Proverbs 16. Proverbs chapter 16. We're going to read two more verses and I'm going to explain what this is referring to. Proverbs 16 verse 11 says, A just weight and balance are the Lord's. All the weights of the bag are his work. Go to Proverbs chapter 20. Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 23. Proverbs 20 verse 23 states, Diverse weights are an abomination unto the Lord and a false balance is not good. Now, what is this talking about? Well, it's referring to business. And in ancient times, certain scales were used in trade. Unlike today where we use, you know, fiat money to purchase things, merchants would essentially charge a weight of money, some sort of precious gold with intrinsic value for a particular item. And so scales were used in this type of system when they would purchase things. Well, if you're dealing with an unjust merchant, he would probably swindle you by modifying the balances a little bit. So that essentially he had the advantage and get more money out of you. Okay. And, you know, he can change the weight of the bowl. Okay. Or the weight of the sand that's on the opposite end. And essentially what would happen is if you're purchasing something, he would say that's a pound of whatever precious stone. And so the man would take that, put it on the scale. But because the scale was modified, he would say, oh, that's not enough. You got to put a little more into it. But it's because obviously it's being manipulated. He's swindling the person, the merchant is swindling the person so that he can get more out of the buyer. Okay. That is what an unjust balance is referring to. So people who own businesses, if you think about it, you know, they might be tempted to have unjust balances in a time of desperation. Because what is this teaching? It's teaching you don't be dishonest. You should be an honest business person when dealing with people just because you're going through a hard financial season and you're going through a time of desperation with finances in your business, you might be tempted to have unjust balances just a little bit. You know, pinch off a little off the top, be dishonest with your customers, be dishonest with your buyers only because you're in a time of desperation. Well, it's not right to do, my friends. You know, desperate times calls for biblical measures and one of those biblical measures is have just balances. Because even though the buyer may not know that you're swindling him, God knows. It's never right to do wrong to do right. Well, I have to feed my family. Well, do it in the right way though. Okay. Go to Luke chapter 16 if you would, Luke chapter 16. I'm going to read to you from Proverbs 28 verse 8 says, He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth this substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. God considers whatever increase you're receiving because of unjust balances as unjust gain. You're not gaining that resource, that money in a righteous way and you can't be blessed of God for it. Okay. Now, you may sit here and say, well, I don't own a business. You know, I just work just a regular job. I work for someone else. Well, the principle still applies though. Don't be unrighteous with your boss. Okay. Don't be unjust with your boss. Just because you're in a time of need, a time of leanness in your personal life and the life of your family, doesn't make it right for you to cheat your customers, to cheat your buyers or to cheat your boss just because you need a little more this month. You got the rent to pay. You got bills to pay. It doesn't make it right. Look at Luke 16 and verse number 1 he says, And he said unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man which had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he wasted his goods. And he called him and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest no longer be steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? My Lord taketh away from me the stewardship. I cannot dig to beg I am ashamed. So basically, this guy's getting fired because he was doing a terrible job. Okay. And that's what a steward is, is essentially an employee. And he's like, man, what am I going to do? And he says here, I cannot dig. Now, I don't believe he's saying that because he's handicapped or something or he has some sort of deformity that's going to impede him from doing that physical labor. He's being lazy is what it is. He's like, I cannot dig. He doesn't give you a reason why. He just says, I cannot dig. And then he says, to beg I am ashamed. So not only is he lazy, he's also proud. Okay. He's unwilling to go and ask for help. So he's trying to figure out what is he going to do now that he's been let go for being a steward because he's an unjust steward. Okay. What is he going to do? Look at verse number four. I am resolved what to do. You know, he's in a desperate time. That when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. Now, the day that he's referring to is the customers of his boss, his former boss. He says, verse number five, so he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him and sent them to the first, how much oweest thou unto my lord? He said, a hundred measures of oil. And he said to him, take thy bill, sit down quickly and write fifty. Then he said to another, how much oweest thou? And he said, a hundred measures of wheat. And he said to him, take thy bill and write four score. So what's going on here? Well, the guy's been fired and so he's trying to figure out a way to make money during this desperate time. He doesn't take a biblical measure. He becomes unjust in his actions. How? Because he's already fired from his job. He doesn't work for his boss anymore, but he's still going to his boss's debtors and saying, how much do you owe? He said, okay, well, just pay me eighty instead of a hundred and we'll call it even or you can pay the rest later. But here's the problem, though. He should have done that before he was fired instead of afterwards because he's not going to turn in that money to his lord. You know what he's doing? He's keeping it for himself. He's being dishonest. He's being unrighteous. This is an unjust balance, all because he cannot dig and all because he cannot beg and all because he's just an unjust steward. You understand? He says in verse number eight, Now don't mistake this. Lord here is not referring to God. God's like, hey, that was a good move, dishonest person. Like, man, you made it happen. Desperate times calls for desperate measures, right? The Lord's referring to his boss and his boss is probably unjust as well. Because he commends him for that unjust action. He got the better of him, okay, by essentially collecting the money. And even though he was already let go from being a steward, verse nine says, Who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Implying that a person who is unrighteous in their gathering it of resources through unjust means is a person who loves money. Mammon is money. It's not that they don't love God. If they love the Lord, they would be doing it in a righteous way because of the fact that they know that God is watching them. But they love unrighteous mammon so they're willing to bend the rules, break the rules, cut corners, be unjust, be dishonest so that they can pay their bills. That's not the right thing to do. Have just balances in desperate times. Now, go back to 1 Kings if you would. Let me give you some examples of unjust balances because we don't use balances today but this principle can still be applied in different ways. Let me give you some examples. Number one, quoting someone for a certain amount knowing you're going to charge them more when the project is finished. Not talking about unforeseen problems. That's unjust. It's an unrighteous thing to do to tell someone, hey, this is how much it's going to cost and then the project that's finished is like, oh, it's actually going to cost a lot more and so you're going to have to pay me a little more. Well, that's not what we agreed on and sometimes people do this but it's unrighteous. You say, well, what should I do if it did cost some more afterwards? Then you bite the bullet and you pay for it and you essentially pay it to your own hurt according to what the Bible says. And you know what? God will bless your integrity more than your dishonesty for charging your customer, your buyer a little more afterwards because at least you're being honest with them. And you know what? You're also paying for a little experience as well. And so quoting someone for a certain amount knowing you're going to charge them more when the project is finished is wicked. It's an unrighteous thing to do. Yeah, but I'm in a desperate time right now. Okay, then use biblical measures and the biblical measure is not to charge more afterwards. The biblical measure is, you know, you swore to your own hurt. It comes out of your pocket and God will bless you for that in the long run. That's just how it works. Okay. How about this? Selling poor quality materials, defective materials or used materials but claiming that it's new. That's wrong to do. Okay. Now if you put on your advertisement there, used, was defective, fixed, you know, you're being honest in your advertisement of that thing, that's a different story. But if you're saying it's brand new, you know, that's a wrong thing to do. And you know, there's been stories of people who sell cars for example. Brother Mark, I'm sure you know about this. Not that he would be unjust by the way. Brother Mark's been a blessing to many of us in our church and has saved us a lot of money, right, as a mechanic. But you know, there's people, you know, there's mechanics out there or people who, man, actually mechanics are notorious for this actually. Now I think about it. Who will sell you a vehicle and the car's all messed up and they won't tell you about it, you know, and then they'll sell you a lemon or whatever. That's unjust. It's not right to do even if you're in a desperate time. Okay. How about this, claiming you can do a certain job when you absolutely can't. That's unjust. And you know, I get it. You're like, well, you know, I'm trying to put my bootstraps up and you know, I'll just YouTube it on the way. You know, if you're already in that realm of that particular job and you already have a certain understanding of that sphere of work, that's a different story. But if you don't know anything about that particular job and you claim to do, to know about that job just because you're in desperate times, it's unrighteous because you're not going to do a good job. You're probably going to make the matters worse and you're lying. Okay, now let me give you a personal example of this. In 2020, when COVID hit, I remember thinking to myself, like, we got to start a live stream. Okay. And I knew nothing about live streaming. I would always prerecord the sermons and upload them on Monday or whatever the day after. But I thought to myself, okay, now is the time to live stream because maybe people are going to be staying home. And so, but I just honestly didn't know anything about live streaming and anybody I talked to, they weren't necessarily able to walk me through how to set up a live stream for a church. Really frustrating. And so we looked online and we found a company and I called these guys and you know, they essentially claimed that they're, you know, experts in live streaming and streaming to multiple screens and things of that nature. And I thought to myself, okay, this is it. So I called the guy and I said, this is what I'm looking for. I want to live stream to YouTube and I want the audio to go through. It's going to be live on YouTube. And I wanted to stream to multiple screens in the building. Pretty simple. I'm not saying it's a simple job. I'm saying what I wanted was pretty simple. It wasn't complex. What I was asking for. He says, oh, we can do that. So he comes to the church. This is at the old building and he brings his team and I explained to him again. I said, this is what I'm looking for. I want to live stream to YouTube. Not prerecorded. I want to live stream to YouTube. But the image that people are looking at on YouTube, I also want to be seen on the screens in mother baby rooms that we had at that time. And so that's what I'm looking for. He says, I got it. So he quoted me for a price. It was very expensive. And the thing is, because I had no experience as to like how much it would cost to set something like that up. I just figured, OK, I mean, I don't know anybody else who can do this. So I guess this is how much it costs. So he took a couple of days to do it. And then, you know, I would come in and then finally say, hey, job's done. You're good to go. And all those guys were heading out. I was like, whoa. Wait a minute. I want to see if it works. You know what I mean? Where are you guys going? And so I said, can it live stream to YouTube? And he said, well, we don't really know how to do that. I'm like, what do you mean? I thought you said you guys did. No, we can stream it to the different screens in the building. But that's going to require like an entire other set up, entire other department. And it's going to cost a lot more money if you want to pay that. I was like, but I had originally asked for YouTube to be streamed. So this is not going to stream to YouTube. And it was like a lot of money. OK. And he's like, no, you know, it's not going to stream. It's just going to it's going to cost way more. You're going to need more equipment and all these things. And I was like, oh, man, I can't believe this guy. And I thought to myself, all right, well, at least we'll have the streaming to the different screens, right? He's like, oh, yeah, that's good to go. I said, well, can we try it out? I like to see if that's true. Well, it wasn't true. We turn on the camera and it's like it wasn't streaming. I was just like, he's like, oh, that's weird. And I asked him, I was like, well, didn't you try it before you told me that it was finished? You know, so basically at the end of the day, I think only it streamed to like one screen in the building. And it wasn't able to live stream to YouTube. OK. And what did I learn? I learned that these guys didn't know what they were doing. They didn't know the job. They just took it because maybe they were in a time of need, a desperate time. And so they saw church and are like, oh, yeah, let's just do this for them. And then, you know, hopefully we just get away with it or something. And you know what? They did get away with it. I'm not going to like sue them or anything like that. I just took it as a learning lesson. And I thought to myself, man, this guy straight swindled me for claiming that they can do a specific job when they absolutely could not. So he said, what did you do? Well, then I went on YouTube and I literally spent an insurmountable amount of hours just learning how to live stream. OK, wiring and audio equipment and what to use. And I would literally be at the building until like one o'clock in the morning running wires. I even told you, Lisa, I need you to come down here and run wires with me. Really what I was saying. I need you to go in the attic because I can't do that. You know, it was a smaller space. So, you know, he caught my drift. Right. We were there for like past midnight. And then finally we just learned how to live stream. And I thought to myself, like, this does not cost as much as they claim that it costs. OK. And we're able to do it for a lot less, for a lot better quality. And what is it? They were just being unjust in their business. They're having unjust balances. Why? They're claiming to do some specific job that they absolutely could not. And now it's just like live streaming is super easy. Like, you know, I taught you Lisa's most of what I've known, so I've kind of forgotten a lot of it. But I taught him how to do all the wiring for the mics and the live streams to multiple screens. I mean, those are things that I personally have to learn. And then I would just throw it up on him, the knowledge on him. So he learned it and I just got rid of it because I got other things to think about. OK. But here's the thing is that never do something like that. If you don't know how to do a job, don't claim that you know how to do it. It's unrighteous. It's like, well, I'm in a desperate time and so I'm just going to learn. Yeah, but if it's not in your sphere of understanding, don't mess with it. Because then you'll potentially find yourself in a situation where you're like forcing yourself to be unjust and dishonest. It's not right to do, my friends. OK. How about this? Not keeping your word. That's an unjust balance there. And let me give you another personal example of this. Before I became a pastor, I had a side business of videography and photography. I would edit films and stuff like that. I would shoot weddings because those are really expensive and so you can make a lot of money doing that. And I remember having a friend and Miss Ashley would know what I'm talking about here because this happens to all photographers at one point or another. But I remember I had a particular friend. He's like, hey, my brother's going to have a wedding and I want you to shoot this wedding. He says, but I only need you to be like the second camera person. OK. That's all I need you to be. And then you just hand over the footage to me and then I'll do whatever I got to do thereafter. And I said, OK. And I had already done a couple of jobs prior to this person, which by the way, this person is now a pastor. But I had already done a couple of jobs prior to this person. And I said, well, I'm all for it, but we're going to sign a contract, though. This is what I told him. I said, I need to sign a contract because of the fact that it's just good for business. You know, I mean, I know we're friends and everything, but this is just the route we need to take. OK, because this is what I've learned. And this is what he told me. He's like, we don't need a contract. You're my friend. We're friends. You can trust me. My word is bond type of a thing. And my word should be good enough that, you know, I'm going to pay you for being the second camera guy. And he clearly told me what he wanted. And, you know, I felt bad at that point. I'm like, man, you just got to bring up the Christian card? I'm like, dude, we're talking about business here. You just got to bring that up like that. He's like, we're brothers in Christ. So we don't need to do these contracts. You know what I mean? You know me. I know you. I'm like, all right. I was sold on it because he was a close friend of mine. So we do the job. And then, you know, two weeks later or so, I just kind of asked him like, hey, just waiting for that payment. And he says, well, I need you to edit all the footage and make a video out of it. Right? Because I knew how to edit. But here's the thing, folks, editing is a very tedious, arduous, long, painstaking task. It's very tedious and it takes a long time to edit film, especially if you're doing like a wedding. And I said, you didn't say that, though. I said, you said all I have to do is shoot with my camera and I would hand over the footage to you. And that's what I was being paid for. And he said, no, but I want you to do this, too. Right? And then he said, I'm not going to pay you until you kind of do this other stuff. Which the editing is actually more expensive than actually taking the pictures or even taking the video. Very, because it's just a lot of hours of work. And I kicked myself. I thought to myself, like, man, I knew it. I knew I should have had a contract of some sort. He said, so what did you do? Did you just like let it go? Did you just like, you know, sue him or what did you do? I did the job and I came out losing on that job. I did it for him and I did it with excellence. I put in like my best effort and I even paid extra so I can, you know, make the video look nicer, better, more professional. And I gave it over to him and then he paid me thereafter. But if I remember correctly, it wasn't even the amount that we originally agreed on. I just took it as a loss and I swore to my own hurt. Because even though that verbal contract meant nothing to him, it meant something to me. So I did it to my own hurt. And this is a time when we were just, my wife and I were just very low on funds. And we were penny pinching. I mean, a date for us was essentially going to go buy a bag of fries for both of us. That was our date. Once every two weeks or something like that. But that is dishonest. That is unjust weight. That's an unjust balance. Quoting someone for a certain amount, knowing you're going to charge them more when the project is finished. Hey, if you don't know how much a project is going to cost, you know, then you should charge a huge amount if you want. Just to make room for mistakes or unforeseen problems. Because to charge thereafter is a wrong thing to do. And I've experienced this personally as well. Where people have said this is how much it's going to cost and it ends up being like $5,000 more or something. $2,000 to $5,000 more and it's just like, I thought you said it was this amount. And they're like, oh yeah, but unforeseen problems. It's not right to do. And then lastly, of course, another example, just stealing materials, money, because times are desperate. And you may not own a business, so this might not mean anything to you, but the way you can apply it is don't steal time from your boss. Don't steal materials from your boss just because you're in desperate times. Don't be crooked in your business when the going gets tough. Maintain the just balance of integrity when working with others, even when the going gets tough. Now if you want to charge more for a specific service that you got going on, that's fine, but make it clear that that's what you're charging. For some desperate times calls for desperate measures, which means dishonesty in business. But for the Christian desperate times calls for biblical measures, you need to make sure that you're honest. Proverbs 19 verse 1 says, Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips and is a fool. So it's better for you to be poor. It's better for you to lose out on money. It's better for you to go into debt than for you not to have integrity because integrity has more value than money. Because as Christians, we have something that the world does not have, which is God. So God can cause us to prosper and succeed and can cause the tide to turn and situations to change, but often it's based upon our obedience and adherence to biblical virtues. Proverbs 22 verse 29 says, Seeest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men. Be diligent in your business, be honest in your business. What do I have you turn to? 1 Kings? Go to Psalm 15 if you would, hold your place here in 1 Kings. Go to Psalm 15. Talk about desperate times calls for biblical measures. And now if you're a person who, you know, maybe you did a job for someone in the church and they may have done you wrong, I mean you have one or two options really, especially if they owe you money. Option number one is you can take it before the church to make them pay you back or else they get excommunicated or in my opinion the better route would be just forget about it. And so I've had many times where people have wronged me financially as an individual and as a pastor, where people have wronged me financially as a pastor and you know what, I just forget about it. Because to me that's a curse upon them, it's not a curse upon me. They're going to suffer more in the long term because of their lack of character and their dishonesty than I'm going to suffer for just one event where I lose out on a couple thousand dollars or something like that. And so it's better to just maintain integrity, have just balances no matter how desperate the time gets. Look at Psalm 15 in verse number 1. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. This is referring to a person essentially who's going to be situated in the place of blessing is what it's referring to. And he says in verse number 3, he that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. So it's saying the person who's upright, who's righteous, who's honest, who doesn't backbite, they're just gossipers, or you do evil to your neighbor, take up a reproach against your neighbor. He says in verse 4, and whose eyes a vile person is condemned. By the way, which also means that you have to hate the things that the Lord hates. If you're going to abide in a position of blessing, you better make sure your view of what God hates is your view as well. And don't stand in judgment of God. In whose eyes a vile person is condemned, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. Listen to this, he that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. Now that's important there. Because it's hard to, you know, have to fulfill a promise when you know it's going to hurt you financially. Right? It's going to put you in the hole a little longer. It's going to put you in the red. You know, it's going to make things a little more desperate, that time a little more desperate. But God says I'll actually honor you for that. If you swear to your own hurt, I will make sure that you're taken care of because to God it's far more important to have integrity. He says in verse 5, he that putteth not out his money to usury. Meaning you should never lend money to another Christian or a brother in Christ. And let's say you have an agreement that they're going to pay you back. You know, you should never say alright you can pay me back but I'm going to charge a little interest. For the time that you use those twenty dollars or whatever. And here's just been my philosophy. When someone says they want to borrow money from me, I never let people borrow money. Never let people borrow money. I just say you can have it. You know, and if you're thinking well I'm going to ask you for money then after the service. Jokes on you because I ain't got no money. So I ain't got nothing to lend. But if I do, you know, I lend money and I don't expect, even if someone says I'll pay you back. I typically just say don't pay it back, it's a gift. Because for me, just as integrity is more important than providing for my family in a time of desperation. Good friendship is more important than having that friend have to pay you back for X, Y, and Z. You know, I'd rather have a good disposition towards my brother in Christ. And have a good attitude towards them and love them. And not have to like have this tension and awkwardness every time we come to church. Like there's that dude who owes me that five bucks or whatever. You know, it says he that putteth not out his money to usury nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved. Let me read to you one last verse. And then we'll move on with the next point here. Titus 2 verse 9. You say I don't own a business, how does this apply to me? Well here's a verse for you. Verse 9 says, Exhort servants, referring to employees, to be obedient unto their own masters, referring to their bosses, and to please them well in all things. Not answering again, don't talk back to your boss. Not purloining, meaning don't steal from your boss. Don't steal time from your boss, don't steal materials from your boss. But showing all good fidelity. What is fidelity? It means faithfulness. We as Christians should be characterized by loyalty, faithfulness, not just in marriage, not just in friendships, but also even in our workplace. We should be loyal to our bosses. And they should be able to trust in us and know that we're people of integrity, especially for Christians. He says, not purloining, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. When you exert these biblical virtues, you're essentially kind of adorning, you're making up, you're putting makeup on, or putting nice clothing upon the doctrines that you believe. Because it's one thing to believe the right things, in order to make it palatable to your boss or to whoever, you have to adorn it. If you're like, well, I believe in the rapid rate doctrine and post-trip pre-wrath and all these things, but you're just a horrible employee, you're going to become detestable to your boss. And your boss is not going to want to come to church. He's not going to want to have anything to do with the gospel because you're a bad testimony. And so don't be a thief. Don't be a disloyal person to your boss. Go the second mile, go above and beyond. So have just balances when you're in a time of desperation. Time of desperation should not be an excuse for you to just kind of be like, well, God will understand. I don't want to be worse than an infidel, so I'm going to go ahead and just be unjust and dishonest. It's not right to do. Let's move on to the next point. You're in 1 Kings chapter 17. So number one is have just balances in a time of desperation. That is the biblical measure that you should take. Number two, prioritize spending and be frugal in a time of desperation. Look at 1 Kings 17 verse 11. And as she was going to fetch it, he called her and said, Bring me, I pray, the immortal bread in thine hand. And she said, As thy Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil and a cruse. And behold, I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die. Elijah said unto her, Fear not, go and do as thou hast said, but make me thereof a little cake first, bring it unto me, and after, make for thee and for thy son. What does this show the fact that she did this? Priority. She understood that certain spending should have priority over other spending. And then obviously frugality. Because she only had a morsel of meal and a little bit of oil. Now what am I referring to when I talk about being frugal? Well, being frugal is essentially going without so that you can, number one, pay your bills, the most important bills, and number two, still be generous with others. Frugality is not being a cheapskate. Stinginess. Sometimes people claim to be frugal, but really they're just stingy. They're frugal, but they're stingy with others. Frugality is when you're stingy with yourself in order to be generous with others. Now listen to this, go to Proverbs chapter 27 if you would. Hold your place in 1 Kings, we'll come back to that. Proverbs 27. Every bill is an expense, but not every expense is a bill. So just remember that. In a time of need when times get desperate, realize every bill is an expense, but not every expense is a bill. And sometimes in a time of desperation you kind of have to go through everything that you spend and realize what needs to be cut out. What is it that I have to remove from my spending in order for me to pay the bills on time so I'm not in the red all the time? And what kind of biblical measure should I take? Well, the biblical measure is to be frugal. He said, why are you adding generosity if I'm in a time of desperation? Because listen to me, generosity is the key that opens up the door of blessing in your life for God to bless you. Because when you're generous with others, it's like you're lending unto the Lord, the Bible says. And when you lend unto the Lord, God is no debtor to no man. He will never be in debt to any man. So anytime you show any ounce of generosity to another person in a time of need, God's got you. And you can never out-give God. Look at Proverbs 27 and verse 23, here's a great verse of frugality here. It says, be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks and look well to thy herds. Now the way we would translate that today is, don't just be ignorant of what's going out and what's coming in financially. Don't just spend, spend, spend and not really pay attention to what you're spending. For riches are not forever, it says, and doth the crown endure to every generation? The hay appearth, and the tender grass showeth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field. And thou shall have goat's milk enough for thy food, and for the food of thy household, and for the maintenance of thy maintenance, the Bible says. So when frugality is practiced and you prioritize your spending, God essentially stretches your resources so that you're not only able to pay your bills, you could actually pay for, you know, you have enough milk for you, for your household, and even for the maintenance of your employees or your maintenance. Go to Philippians chapter 4, Philippians chapter number 4. So how do I do that? Well, here's a couple pointers. Shop where it's less expensive, wives. Yeah, but like I need organic, you know, I need specific food, or maybe for this season, you know, you might have to take a biblical measure and just shop at Aldi or something. Okay? You know, you might need to go to, you know, Northgate, although I think Northgate is pretty expensive nowadays, now that I think about it. You know, you might need to go to some place that's not a name-brand store to get your food from. Shop where it's less expensive. And you'd be surprised actually when you actually do the research, how much money you can save, because here's the thing is that you never want to have this mentality of being frugal and it's just like no fun. Right? Sometimes people take that extreme and it's just like, frugal, no fun, we're never going to go out, we've got to get out of debt. You've got to give yourself a little wiggle room though, because the road has to be a tad enjoyable, amen? And you know, you don't want to just be miserable the entire time. However, what you'll see is that when you do the research to shop where it's less expensive, you end up having more money, which in turn will actually give you some fun money too. Where you can go out and not, you know, you can still be frugal and pay your bills and such. You know, use coupons, you know, for shampoos. Yeah, but the shampoo has a specific chemical that's going to like, you know, reduce my lifespan by, what? Just use it for like a month, two months or so. You know, just do it. Or you can be like us dudes, we use like one soap for everything. We don't use conditioner, shampoo, body wash, you know, all these other, we just need one. I use it for my beard, for my head, for my body, everything, okay? Shop where it's less expensive. Hey, get rid of subscriptions. A lot of times people just waste money on subscriptions that they don't even know they have, right? You know, get rid of your Disney subscription. And if you're like, well I can't live without Disney, okay then go without it for a couple seasons or something, right? And let me just say this, is that some of this, you don't necessarily have to go without forever. Just a season. And Christians just need to learn how to operate in times of leanness, okay? You know, we all know how to operate in times of abundance, right? Where's the best place to eat, best food to buy? Well, in like manner, you need to learn how to operate when times are lean as well, okay? So get rid of your subscriptions, shop where it's less expensive, eat out less. Or stop eating out altogether depending upon how bad or how desperate your situation is, okay? Now, here's the thing is that whatever extra money you have saved up or that you're saving because you're being frugal in these areas, you can allocate some of that extra money to whatever you feel is fun. If you feel like eating out is fun, you can allocate it to that, coffee runs, whatever it may be. Also, define necessities, okay? There's certain things that you don't need. You don't need to shop at a specific store, a specific grocery store. You know, you don't always need organic. I know this is the new IFB, okay? We're all about organic food, but sometimes, you know, we just can't afford organic food right now. Yeah, but your health. Well, you know what? I'm just going to pray over the food that I'm eating and just, you know, expect for God to take care of my body and maybe I'm just going to have to do a couple extra deadlifts this week, you know what I mean? Or whatever it may be, but you just need to define the necessities of life and stick to that for a season. And obviously, the season is always different depending upon what situation, what desperate situation you find yourself in. Now look at Philippians 4 verse 11. It says, So, a time of leanness is a great time to learn the virtue of contentment, okay? I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. People like to quote this, quote verse 13 for like everything, right? They're about to do this crazy lip, but they're a Christian. They're like, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. But then they fail the PR. It's just like, dude, you didn't apply that properly, you know. This is not referring, I mean, obviously, we can apply it to a lot of areas, but specifically it's referring to when you're suffering need. When you're in a time of leanness, when you're in a desperate time, you can learn how to be abased during that time and still be happy, still operate in a content way. Look at verse 14. So what do we see? We see the Apostle Paul is in a time of need. He's in a time of leanness. He's abased, but God's still providing for him through, we see here the Philippians and that when he was in Thessalonica, they supplied his needs. So just keep in mind that a time of leanness is not permanent. And even in a season of leanness, God will miraculously provide for, and let me just emphasize miraculously provide for you. You don't have to take desperate measures to provide for yourself because God will actually supernaturally provide for you in many different ways. I've seen it personally in my life. I believe what the Bible says. I've seen it in other people's lives. It always happens, my friends. Look at verse 18. He says, An odor of a sweet smell is sacrificed, acceptable, well pleasing to God, but my God shall supply all your wants. Is that what it says? No, it says shall supply all your need, according to the riches and glory by Christ Jesus. So just realize that in a time of leanness, don't start looking for the things that you want. You need to emphasize the things that you need. And so make sure that you prioritize your spending. Maybe this is not the season to buy video games or this little weapon on that video game or whatever. You want that specific sword or something because you've got to beat that level. I think you should just toss that out completely. Or how about this? Sell it. Can't you sell it now and make a bunch of money out of it so you can pay your bills? But if you're so addicted to video games, if you're just enslaved to the video games, if it just owns you that much, if it just has power over your body to that extent, then just learn to go without for a little bit and hop back on the video games afterwards if that's you. I hope that's none of you, but I've got to speak to everyone, the entire spectrum of people. And so prioritize your spending, be frugal, and then along with that, here's my third point, and I've already mentioned a little bit about it, is be generous. Go to Mark Chapter 12, if you would, Mark Chapter 12, and then we're going to go to 2 Corinthians Chapter 8. Desperate times calls for biblical measures. What do I do in a time of desperation when the funds are low, when things are just not going well financially, what should I do? Well, just remember the biblical measure of being just in your balances. Don't be a dishonest person. Just remember to prioritize your spending and be frugal, and here's an important one, be generous. Now it's easy in a time of leanness to say, well, I can't be generous right now, because I've got a lot of bills to pay, but you actually can be generous. You may not be able to be generous as much as you would want to be, but you can still be a blessing to someone. You can still give to someone. You can still find a way that you can be stingy with yourself and be a blessing to others. I'm telling you, this right here is one of the most important factors in dealing with a desperate time. And I don't think enough Christians take advantage of this particular point right here. Look at Mark 12 Verse 41, And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how all the people cast money into the treasury, and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto his disciples and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury. For all they did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want, meaning lack, did cast in all that she had, even all her living. So notice that God views what you have as a percentage. Not necessarily as the specific amount. So you may think to yourself, How can I be generous if what I'm giving is not necessarily, in my eyes, considered generosity? Or maybe in the eyes of the recipient, it's not necessarily generous. But here's the thing, in God's eyes, based upon percentages, you might be giving more than a person who has a lot and is giving a lot. You understand? Because of the fact that you're giving of your lack, you're giving of your want, of the position that you're in, God actually views it as a good amount. In fact, as all. Now go to 2 Corinthians 8. 2 Corinthians 8. Look at verse number 1 of 2 Corinthians 8. Moreover, brethren, we do you to it of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how that in great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power I bear a record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves, praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministry of the saints. Now I personally believe that he's actually referring to the Philippians. Because Philippi is in Macedonia, or in that particular area. So compare this to Philippians chapter 4, when they were willing to give unto the Apostle Paul, there's obviously a church that's just kind of characterized by giving, right? And he says here that they were able to do it beyond their power, even in their deep poverty. What is that? A desperate time. So even when they were desperately in need, they pushed to be able to give to someone else, and they ended up being blessed because of it. He says in verse 5, And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. So what does this tell us about the Philippians? It tells us that they're a very selfless people. Now, what I've learned is that when you become generous with others with things you can be generous with yourself with, you're generous with others with things you could have been generous with yourself with, God ends up blessing you that much more. He ends up making up the difference in a great way. Now, how do you do this? I mean, you give to one another, find someone who's in need. Look, there's always someone who needs something. Someone's always in need. It's not hard to find. Just go talk to someone, pray unto the Lord, ask God, Who can I be a blessing to? Who can I give financially to? Who's someone that is in need? And give to that person in your time of poverty. And this is something that my wife and I practice for many times where when we're in need, we make sure one of the biggest priorities that we take is we become generous with others. Why? Because that is the formula, my friends. Because if we need something from God, we need to lend unto the Lord because we know that He's not a debtor. When you give to someone else, it's like you're giving unto the Lord and God's not just going to be like, Oh, I'll pay you back in a year or something when payday comes or when my next check comes. And here's the thing is that we would always hear this in the old life, but it is true, is that you cannot out-give God. So no matter what amount you're generous with, He always beats you. He always gives abundantly above all that we can ask or think. Now, that's not to say that He might do it in a monetary way. So don't get any ideas. It's just like it's always going to be cash. It's always going to be money. Sometimes it's just through different avenues. He gives you more work. You're like, Oh, man. Which if you balk at that, then you're like the Luke 16 guy. Work is a blessing, amen? He may give you more work. He may give you more hours. He may give you a raise. There's different ways that God blesses you, and you just need to realize that this always works. Now, if you're sitting there, you're like, I don't think so. Okay, then don't be generous. I mean, it's no skin off my backs, no skin off the backs of anybody else in here. You're actually doing yourself a disservice by not being generous with others. I mean, the Lord said it's more blessed to give than to receive. And one of the reasons why is because you cannot out-give God. And it almost becomes like a whoa. Once you give and you're just like, wow, God bless me. Then you start picking up, you start getting the itch for giving. You start getting the itch for being generous with others because you know that God comes through no matter what, okay? And so go to Zechariah, if you would, chapter 10, and we're pretty much done here. Let me read to you a couple of verses from the book of Proverbs as you're going to Zechariah, as you're going to the table of contents to look for Zechariah. Proverbs 11, verse 24 says, there is that scattereth and yet increaseth. Isn't that weird? And there is that withholdeth more than is meat, but attendeth to poverty. You're like, no, no, no, I need to be frugal. I got bills to pay. And frugal to me means just no spending whatsoever. Well, you're going to be surprised when you withhold more than you should and you're going to be poor anyways, okay? But the person who scatters doesn't mean just spends frivolously. Scattering means he's being generous with others, ends up increasing his resources. Why? How? Well, because of the fact that when you scatter your resources to be a blessing to others, you essentially show God that you're being a funnel of giving. So when you become a funnel of giving, God's like, oh, okay, you're not just keeping it for yourself. You're giving it to others, so let me just give you more. Let me increase your funnel. So I don't know if it was Pastor Anderson, I saw someone do this, but I remember my father-in-law used to do this too. Maybe it was just a Baptist thing. But you get from God and you give to others and you get from God and you give to others, but sometimes you get from God and you put it in your own pocket. You get from God and you start putting it in your pocket and then you're like this and nothing comes down. Because you're kind of missing the point there. So the point is you just keep taking from God and you just disperse it to others. You scatter to others. You become generous with others. It says the liberal soul shall be made fat. This isn't liberal the way we would commonly use it today, although you can see it almost sounds like it's actually referring to it. Liberal means generous. And when it says that the liberal soul shall be made fat, fat in the Bible is often associated with abundance, with blessing, amen? You did it. The liberal soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be watered also himself. So you're watering blessings and financial blessings and resources and to others, God's going to continue to water you too. One more verse before we get into Zechariah 10. Now you might be sitting here thinking these are great principles, but I'm not in need right now. I'm not struggling. I'm not in a desperate time. So how does this apply to me? Well first and foremost, you're going to be in leanness at one time or another. So you need to remember what I'm telling you right now. But secondly, if you are doing well, continue to be generous. Sow seeds of generosity now. Look at Zechariah 10 verse 1. One of my favorite verses here says in Zechariah 10 verse 1, Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain. What is that referring to? You should ask God for his blessing when you're already kind of reveling in his blessing. When you're in the latter rain and it's just raining upon you, say, Lord, please continue to let it rain. Bless me with more rain. And it's a great verse because it kind of speaks to the absent-mindedness of Christians. That when things go well, they seem to forget. They seem to forget the blessing of the Lord, the hand of God, and they seem to forget biblical principles and disciplines. Whereas God says, hey, you need to pray for food when you have food. You need to pray for a raise even when you're already doing well. You need to pray for resources even when I've already blessed you with resources. Because it's keeping your mind in a state of, I need the Lord. Lord, this is coming from you. I'm getting my wealth from you. You're the one from all of the source of where the blessings come from. And so please continue to bless me. Please continue to bless. And so as you're collecting rain to water others, continue to ask God for more rain in the latter rain. And so these are simply some principles here for us to learn that in desperate times, we need to make sure that we're executing biblical measures. And not become dishonest. Make sure you're not being stingy. Make sure that you're being generous with others. That you are taking account of your flocks. That you're not just spending frivolously. You're prioritizing your spending. You're being frugal with the intention. For me, it's like this. If I'm in a time of need, I'm like, alright, it's time to be frugal so that I can be generous because that's the formula there. I need God to provide for us. And so this is the formula and it's going to work. Now, luckily, if this sermon spoke to you and you want to be generous, we're entering into a great time of generosity. Christmas, amen? Maybe you can be a blessing to someone during Christmas. Maybe you can be a blessing to someone during the Thanksgiving season, which is just pre-Christmas, amen? Thanksgiving, I know it's its own holiday, but really, it's just kind of a preview. It's the prequel to Christmas. For me, it's part of Christmas. And so take advantage of the seasons to be a blessing to someone in their time of need. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. And we thank you for the desperate times, which to us should be an opportunity for us to execute biblical measures. Help us to be mindful of these principles, Lord, to never be unjust in our dealings with others because we were in need, Lord. Help us not to steal and take your name in vain, Lord. Give us sufficient for us. We know that we've not seen the righteous forsaken nor seed-begging bread. And I pray that you help us to gain wisdom, Lord, during this time. And to be frugal and to prioritize our giving, our bills, Lord. But also just to be generous with others as much as possible and knowing that it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. And I pray that you'd help us to do so, Lord. And we love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Song number 19 is our last song. Song number 19. There is a fountain. We're going to sing this one a little bit slower than usual. Sing on that first verse. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners punch beneath that blood. Lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. And sinners punch beneath that blood. Lose all their guilty stains. A dying thief rejoices see that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vial as he, wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. And there may I, though vial as he, wash all my sins away. Dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed Church of God be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Till all the ransomed Church of God be safe to sin no more. Heir sins by faith, thy flowing wounds supply. Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die. And shall be till I die and shall be till I die. Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die. Then in an older, sweeter song, I'll sing thy power to save. When this poor little spring-staring tongue lies silent in the grave, lies silent in the grave, lies silent in the grave. When this poor little spring-staring tongue lies silent in the grave,