There is as much to giving as there is to receiving. There is as much to receiving as there is to giving. They go together, right? So giving and receiving is important, and it's no accident that this made it into the Bible in Philippians chapter 4 because they are important.
Giving to the work of God, giving to the Lord, giving to see the ministry happen, causes what? Causes fruit to be laid to our account. In other words, it makes you a part of the ministry that is being done. The souls that are being reached with the gospel, with the truth of God's word, come on, you are a participant in that, and God does not forget that. He marks it down in your account.
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What this is showing right here is that when we give to the Lord here and to the work of God here, God says, I'm marking this down in your account. So I really am impressed by that. I'm like, Lord, God, I'm so thankful that you are letting me lay up into an account. right? Jesus said that he said, when you, he said, don't store up your riches and your treasures where moth and rust can come in and thieves can break through and to steal. He says, no, no. He said, where your heart is, there will your treasure be also. So he said, lay up for yourself, come on, in that eternal account.
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When you give here, man, I'm telling you what, it's not only helping the ministry at Restored Church do what God has called us to do, come on, but we are impacting eternity. You're impacting your own eternity. It's laid to your account, but then you are impacting the eternity of the people that we are able to reach.
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It's not because I desire a gift, but I desire that fruit may abound to your account. But I have all and abound, I am full. I have received the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable and well -pleasing to God. So my offering is really like a form of worship also. It is an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice that is acceptable and well -pleasing to God.
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When you are giving and when you are receiving, both require faith. I give by faith. I receive by faith. And without the word, you will have no faith.
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You may not think about this, but the Holy Spirit is pretty important. Here we are in the beginning when everything was being made and it did not happen without the involvement of the Spirit of God. Before God said, we like to talk about that, and God said, let there be light, and pow, right, there it was. Before He did that, the Holy Spirit moved.
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You sometimes are in a place where you're like, God, I need a creative miracle. God, I need something to take...place in my life. I need this to happen. I need that to happen. Let me tell you something. You need to get to that place that just like right there, that before God brings that to pass in your life, before you have that, you might need the Spirit to move in your life first.
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Have you ever been in a spot in your life where it was like, this is chaos? This is just a mess. Well, I have good news. The Holy Spirit is the best mess fixer that has ever been.
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You need to get hangry for Jesus. Come on, you need to get hangry for the things of God. You need to get hangry, come on, for the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Come on, you need to be walking around saying, Lord, I hunger. Lord, I thirst.
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You need to begin to stir up. Come on, the gift of God is within you, but you need to stir up. Come on, a hungering, a thirsting, a longing for the things of God, for the Holy Spirit to be at work in your life. Because let me tell you something. Without the Holy Spirit, you will not accomplish anything for God.
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You cannot be hungry for the things of God and not have a relationship with the Holy Ghost. You cannot be hungry for the things of God and expect the works of God to go into operation in your life absent of the Holy Spirit.
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Even Jesus' earthly ministry did not begin until he went to that river. And when he was baptized and came up out of it, what happened? We saw the Holy Spirit descend upon him like a dove, and the voice of God spoke and what he said, this is my beloved son. Then what happened? His earthly ministry was now open for operation.
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He laid his position down as deity and took upon that flesh and was living life as a man. Come on. And so, really, he is literally our example. And if he needed that for ministry, then so do we.
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The more hangry you are, the more thirsty you are, the more you will get out of a message, the more you will get out of a worship service. Because I'm going to tell you something. Didn't they do a good job this morning? Amen. Haven't they been doing a good job?
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When you're hungry for the Lord, and you're thirsty for the things of God, come on, it don't matter what song we're singing. We could bust out a hymn. Come on, we could bust out something else, something new you never heard before. We could bust out spiritual hip -hop, and you could be the hickest person in town. You're going to get up in the middle of that worship and that praise to the Lord because you're hungering and you are thirsting for the things of God.
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There's something about actually the operation of the Holy Spirit you need to understand, is that there is something about that, that you need the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Come on, and you need to do more drinking sometimes and less thinking.
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The Holy Spirit works in a similar manner. You have the call of God, the purpose of God, and at times it will not be easy, and at times you will face intense opposition against you, but it's not just you. It's the Jesus in you. It's the plan and the purposes of God that are within you. Come on. And it's...If you're going to get there done, you're going to have to have that liquid courage, so to speak.
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And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but what? Be filled with the Spirit. And you really study that out. That verse literally is worded this way. But be ye being filled. Be being filled. So what's that mean? That means that you cannot do the work of God only thinking. He expects you to have a consistent pattern of drinking.
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Wisdom will come from time with the Holy Ghost. Lord, how are we going to do this? Lord, how are we going to handle that? Go spend time praying in the Holy Ghost. Go spend time praising the Lord. So you say, what do you mean? Well, that's how you drink.
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You cannot drink with your mouth closed. So what do you mean? Look at verse 19. So he says, be being filled. In the next verse, he tells you how to drink. Be continuing to what? Look at verse 19. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and in hymns and in spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. So you begin to praise him. You begin to worship him. Come on. You begin to sing. Sing. You sing in English. You sing in the Holy Spirit. And you begin to do that. What's happening? You are drinking.
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He that believeth on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly. Remember rivers of living water? One translation says, Amazons of life. I like that. Why is that important? Fun fact. There's no river that carries more water than the Amazon. It's got the greatest volume of water in a river in the world.
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If you're going to live life to its fullest, like God has for you, you will not do it without the work of the Holy Ghost. You will not do it without the work of the Holy Ghost.
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We need the work of the Holy Ghost in our life. We need to be filled and not just filled one time, but we constantly need to be filled. Constantly staying in that flow of the Holy Ghost.
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Think about your car. How many of y 'all have a car? You drive a car. All right, now listen to this. Think about this. Your engine has to have what? Oil. Well, it has to have gas, but it has to have oil. Right? Do you only put oil in that motor one time? No, you've got to go back and what? If you're going to keep that motor moving and running right and everything working right in proper order, you're going to have to get refilled. You're going to have to get fresh oil. Right? Fresh oil. Right? Come on. And so you're no different.
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You start living a lifestyle of singing, talking to the Lord. Praise it. Make a melody in your heart. The Holy Spirit begins to lay on your heart, to raise your hands, whether you're at home, whether you're in church, whether you're just wherever you might be. Listen to Him. Do it. Yield to the Holy Spirit. What are you doing? I'm drinking. And as you begin to do this, come on, you will start realizing He's flooding you. You are getting wisdom. You are getting insight. Come on. His anointing is coming on you. There will be His ability that comes upon you. His wisdom will be upon you. You will be thinking different. You'll have a different and new understanding. Come on. You'll start to see how this comes together and how this works in this area and that area and how this mess will get resolved and how everything will come together. Come on. By the working and the moving of the Holy Spirit.
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