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Sabbath, May 22, 2004 Pastor Tom Hughes
Newark Seventh-Day Adventist Church


“GOD’S ARITHMETIC”

Opening Remarks


We did manage to close on our house in West Virginia, we did manage to get back and do the walk-through, and close on the house Friday, here. I think it “killed” my poor wife; that’s why she’s not here today! Hopefully, she’ll recover by the time I see her again! But it was just a horrible, horrendous experience I must admit. I don’t know how many of you like to move, but I’d rather get a root canal I think than go through this!

At any rate, June 4th is as the soonest we could get the movers to pick up our furniture, and it will have to stay in the garage of the home we sold. So we don’t even own the home but our stuff’s still in the garage there. But God provides and on the 6th, we’ll unload it. When I say I’m an official “Ohioan,” what I mean by that is I’m now a property owner and a taxpayer. I’m not actually a resident yet until I move in, I guess to the house, but at least I can get mail at 222 Wellington Street, so that’s a blessing. And, it was pretty difficult to move and drive back and forth and do both, but we knew it would be a difficult week. And I thought it was over, you know, we were kind of relaxing, I went to the mall around four o’clock yesterday to order my wife a refrigerator.


And as I dropped her off and went to park the car, a little minor thing like a tornado rolled through—golf ball-size hail. I just traded my Jeep in for a pickup truck ‘cause I figured I was going to have a lot of work to do on this house; so I needed to get something so I could haul some things. You know women tend to like furniture for some reason, they don’t want to just sit on the floor. So I figured I might need a truck so I traded it for a truck. And while I’m sitting there great big golf ball-size hail is hitting the truck’s roof and I’m thinking “My! The devil really doesn’t want me to go to Ohio! This is incredible!” And I’m thinking, “Man! Lord, this is my first official day as an Ohioan! I just bought this house two hours ago and I ride a tornado into my district! Boy, I’m feelin’ a little like Wild Bill Hickock!” You know?

So, then I went to go in, and I couldn’t find my wife because they locked down the mall and they were all huddled by the Ladies Room and worrying about the tornado blowin’ them over. Yeah, at first I was praying, “Lord, protect my truck.” Then the worse it got I started saying, “Well, Lord, forget the truck. You’d better worry about me now! I’d like to get into the mall.” Although that might be worse, huh. I don’t know. I should’ve just looked for a drainage ditch but I didn’t feel like lying down or anything! At any rate, all’s well that ends well.

Phew! Man! It’s good to be here! Is it okay if I just stop for a minute? Ahhhh! Wow! It’s good to be in the house of the Lord, isn’t it!

All week long—arithmetic. Did you ever buy a house? Did you ever sell a house? There must be thirty-five (35) papers you have to sign, and read, and go through. And they’re adding numbers, and subtracting numbers, and they’re giving here and taking away there and…man’s arithmetic.



Well, we’re going to talk today, in a minute, about God’s arithmetic. I wanted to say a few things to you before I do about a couple subjects, quickly.


One of the things that I’m concerned about in the church is our need to learn how to complement each other rather than compete with each other. I really don’t like competitiveness among church members, and by that I mean, you know, politics, and maneuvering, and competing with each other, and trying to outdo each other. You’re not going to compete with your brother or your sister; you’re going to complement your brother or your sister. And they might be totally quiet, and you might be a very loud person. You know, I’ve noticed some of you never say anything, and some of you never stop saying things. Did you ever notice that? God made us all different.

Now, the Bible…you know, we’ve read a few things and we’re going to read a few more…the Bible talks about different things, and when I say we’re going to do things differently, some people get all worried because they’re afraid things will change – because they like the way things are, and what I mean by “different” is not a bad thing. What I mean by “different” is: we’re going to do things Biblically.

Now, sometimes, we are doing things Biblically already; sometimes we’re not. Sometimes we need to change things; sometimes things can become more Biblical, more Scriptural, and we want to make sure we’re staying close to the Word of God and walking in the light of God’s Word – that’s the most important thing. And I’ll give you some examples quickly.

When I say “complement” each other rather than compete with each other: Rather than compete with your brother or your sister (even if you disagree about things or even if you have different temperaments) I’d rather you serve your brother or your sister. Instead of arguing with them, and fighting with them, and trying to dominate them, we need to find ways to be conciliatory, cooperative, polite, and loving; even though we might be different, and even though we might disagree –and that tends to go against established orders.



Politics are fine in a church: we elect, we vote, we nominate. As a matter-of-fact, I love hardball politics. I like the kind where you want to get your way, so you go around to several people on the Board and you get ‘em all to go with you and make sure you have a majority and then you ram it through the Board! I really like that kind of thing! My carnal nature loves that kind of thing! But I don’t really see Jesus doing things that way.

My spiritual nature wants to serve, and deep down in our heart of hearts, we don’t want to be self-centered and carnal, we want to be spiritual. And it’s not easy to do things in a spiritual way. There are carnal Christians in every church. And some of them, believe it or not, can even be on the Church Board. There are carnal pastors, carnal elders, carnal deacons, and carnal deaconesses.

You know, I can go sit in a garage for eight hours – that doesn’t make me a car. You can come; sit in a church building like this and that doesn’t make you a Christian. A personal relationship with Jesus is what we need.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is Let’s complement each other. If the person is different than you – if Suzie’s real quiet, you’re real talkative and outgoing, and she wants to sit and never applaud, never say “Amen,” never shout “Hallelujah,” that’s okay. That’s the way Suzie is. Leave Suzie alone, don’t criticize Suzie. Let her be quiet if that’s what God made her to be. And if JoAnn is outgoing and lively and wants to shout “Hallelujah” all the time and she’s always expressing her emotions and praising the Lord, let her do it. Let’s let each person be themselves. And even though they’re different than we are, let’s love them and respect them and honor their differences and admire their differences instead of trying to change them and make them always “do everything like I do.” That’s a very self-centered way of looking at things.

Now, I’d like us to “major in the ‘majors’ and minor in the ‘minors.’” There are churches all over North America and there are whole Conferences that are dying because they want to keep doing things the way they did them forty years ago and they will never change. And all the young people have left and all the older ones are dying off, and there’s nobody left to take their place, and their tithe base is shrinking faster than you can imagine. And there are entire Conferences that are going out of business because they want to do them the same way they’ve always done it and they don’t want to do anything different. Beloved, that is the not the future of the Newark Seventh-Day Adventist Church. That is not the future; that is the past.

There’s a book I’d like to recommend you read and, perhaps, we can even put it in the bulletin if you don’t have your pen and paper, and we’ll get it in there next week, but it’s called Lifestyles of the Remnant, by Keavan Hayden. You may want to read that book, it will help you to avoid making some of the mistakes of the dying churches that are struggling right now and help you to move into the future.

I’ll give you an example of a minor issue. Sometimes when someone gets up and sings or when we announce there’s a 40th wedding anniversary, some people will clap their hands, other people will say, “Amen,” other people will just sit. Some people have been going around preaching it’s irreverent to applaud in the church. Some people have said that it’s okay. I ask the question, “What does the Bible say?” If you have your Bibles, please open them to 2 Kings 11:11. Do you like to give the preacher some help when he preaches? It’s nice to help the pastor, isn’t it, when he needs a little help.

2 Kings 11:11…


“And the guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, round about the king, from the right corner of the temple to the left corner of the temple, along by the altar and the temple.” (KJV)


“Then the escort stood, every man with his weapons in his hand all around the king from the right side of the…” What? Can I get some help?

“from the right side of the…” (“temple”)

“to the left side of the…” (“temple”)

“by the…”

“the…” What? (“altar”)

“and the…temple.”

Is the temple of God—the sanctuary of God—is that a holy and sacred place? Is the altar of God where the sacrifices were made, where the lambs were sacrificed symbolizing Jesus Christ; in the very sanctuary of God – is that a holy place?

Read verse 12…

“And he brought forth the king’s son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, ‘God save the king.” (KJV)

“And he brought out the king’s son put the crown on him and gave him the testimony, the Law of God. They made him king and anointed him and they clapped their hands and said, ‘Long live the king!’”

“And they…” What? “…clapped their hands.”

Now that’s this (clapping) isn’t it – in the temple, in the altar, in a sacred and holy place. Did the Bible say they clapped their hands? Yes, the Bible said that.

All right, let’s go to Psalms 47:1. And I’ve got some others, but we’ll just stop there. It’s just an example of a minor point we’re not going to spend a lot of time on.

Psalm 47:1. Let’s have a sword drill. (The) First one to it, stand up and read. (The) First one that gets it, stand up and read it.

“Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.” (KJV)

Isn’t that wonderful? Thank you. You’ve heard of sword drills haven’t you? Where you take your sword and wield it. First one that gets to the text, stands up and reads it. I think the “young” people like that – like Michael (Riebel).

“O clap your hands…” Who? Who’s supposed to do it? “all you peoples.” Who’s “all?” That means everybody. Now the Psalms were written for public worship in the House of God. All right? For the worship that they did in the congregation of the saints – like this today. That’s what the Psalms were written for. And in the Psalms it says, “O clap your hands all ye people.”

Now, you don’t clap your hands just to be clapping your hands, you do it to show appreciation to someone. Like a person who reaches the age of ninety (90), and we applauded that person. Okay? We did that for Vera (Norman) not to glorify Vera and somehow malign God. We did that because we love her and we appreciate her. When I announce a 50th wedding anniversary and spontaneously you applaud, we’re not doing that to take anything away from God or be irreverent are we? It’s a spontaneous outpouring that’s God put in the human nature! There’s nothing irreverent about it – it’s the way it’s done and why it’s done.

And when you applaud someone if they sing, and I’ve seen people sing and the audience is moved like the beautiful song — did, and someone might be moved to applaud it. We’re not saying “Oh, let’s all worship —, isn’t she great!” What we’re saying is, “We appreciate the God who put the talent in this person. And when we applaud, we’re saying “We feel like you do, —, we want to worship the King when He comes! Our hearts are one with your heart and we are worshiping the Lord!” And when we applaud, we’re giving God an offering of praise. That’s what it means!

Now notice the Bible says, “O clap your hands, all ye peoples. Shout to God with the voice of triumph. For the Lord Most High is awesome. For the king over all the earth, He will subdue all people.”

Down in verse five it says, “God has gone up with a shout.” It says God shouts.

Did you ever picture God as a shouting God? Let’s all shout “Alleluia!”
“Alleluia!” Now didn’t that feel good?

Some of you are like, “No” (laughter).

Now that’s okay. What I’m saying is, those of you who are good listeners and are quiet, and you’re the kind that your testimony, and your witnessing is done in more of low key way, God bless you. That’s okay. Those of you that are outgoing and you like to shout, that’s okay. We all need each other. Let’s celebrate each other’s differences; let’s not put each other down just because we’re not all the same. God made us different for a reason and for a purpose. And when you clap your hands like: “Let’s give the Lord a praise offering right now!” (clapping) Praise the Lord! Amen! Isn’t God good awesome! Isn’t He wonderful! Amen!

Now that, when it says “Clap your hands all ye people. Shout to God with the voice of triumph…” It just means (to) show your emotions and praise the Lord. That’s all it means. It doesn’t mean that you’re being irreverent.

Now, this is difficult for some people who have always thought that. Guess what? No one ever even gave you one Bible text that said you couldn’t do that, or that it was irreverent. So, I’m open. Show me the Bible text that says you can’t do what this (the Bible) says you can, and I’m willing to talk. Okay? We have one rule of faith and practice, don’t we? What’s that one rule? (“The Bible”) Amen. Let’s move on.

That was absolutely free of charge. There’s no extra tuition for that little Bible study. Okay? I’m just going to give that to you for free.


All right, let’s have a sword drill. 2 Peter 1:2 (The) First one that gets it, stand up and read it – nice and loud!

“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord…”

“If man in acquiring the Christian graces works on the plan of addition, God has pledged Himself to work on his behalf upon the plan of multiplication.”*

Isn’t that wonderful? While we are adding, God is multiplying. And you can find that in the *Adventist Bible Commentary, Volume 6, Page 1079.

So, while we’re adding, God multiplies!
“GOD’S ARITHMETIC”

Today we are going to look at three stories that reveal to us the arithmetic that God uses when he deals with his children. God’s arithmetic is not like our arithmetic; God’s arithmetic is more like exponential multiplication mathematics! God’s arithmetic is beyond our understanding, and works on principles that are too deep for our anthropomorphic brains to comprehend. We are human; God is not. He is an amazing being. He knows how many hairs are in your head. He knows how blue your eyes or brown they are. He knows everything about you.

If I were to ask you to take the square root of 2,948,000 and multiply it by 78; then, divide it by 475, and give me the answer, how many of you could do it right now? Nobody! God not only knows the answer; He knew the answer a hundred years ago! He knows the answer before you even know the question. He is an awesome God! Our God is deep!

√2,948,000 x 78 ∕ 475 = ?

We’re working on the elementary – the addition, the “minors.” God wants to work on the “majors.” We focus on the minors: We argue about what we wear, what we eat. We argue about how we should do certain things that God, I’m convinced, is not as concerned about as the major teachings and doctrines of the faith that He wants proclaimed. We need to learn to “major in the ‘majors’ and minor in the ‘minors.’” If we can catch a glimpse into the mind of God, and see by faith what our brains can’t reason out, we will be amazed at God’s awesome power. We stand there with a thimble full of water when there is a thunderstorm; there is an ocean full of water that God wants to give us, and we’re satisfied with a thimble when we could have so much more.

Today I’m talking about Stewardship. And I want to encourage you. You’re building a roof on your property here; you’re doing all sorts of ministries. I want to encourage all of you that God has already made provision. The good news is: God has already provided every nickel you’re gonna need to do your ministry and to build your church. He’s already provided all the money! The bad news is: it’s still in your pockets! And I want to talk to you about faith today. I want to talk to you about walking by faith – financially! This sermon has nothing to do with money but everything to do with your relationship to Jesus Christ!

You see faith says to reason, “Reason, take my hand, and I will lead you into an area where you cannot go by yourself. I’ll show you a world of possibilities and realities that you cannot comprehend without me!” Faith takes us into realms beyond reason, beyond the reality that we are compatible with. Faith is reason enhanced by spiritual reality.

Reason says, “I don’t see any angels around me, so they must not be there.”

Faith says, “The angels of God are here in this church. They’re all around us. They’re ministering to us every day, protecting us from tornadoes! And watching over us.

Reason says, “Math principles never change.” Your mind will tell you that “one minus one, equals zero.” Now is 1-1=0 every time according to mathematics?

Faith says, “Those Math principles are nice but they don’t limit God.” The first equation of God’s arithmetic is the Two Pancake (Theory) minus one pancake equals 3,240 pancakes! That’s God’s arithmetic!

Now you all remember that story, 1 Kings 17:10-16…

10 So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.”
And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me piece of bread in your hand.”
But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of
flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.”
Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a
little bread cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son.
“For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be
exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.’”
So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her
household ate for many days.
The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty,
according to the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.

You all know the story about Elijah, and he was running, and he stayed away for how many years? Three-and-a-half years. Right? He ran away from Jezebel and there he was in Zarephath and he met this widow lady and he noticed that the widow lady had some flour in her hand and she was walking away. And he mistook the flour for a piece of bread. And he said to this lady, “May I have a piece of your bread?” And the lady says to Elijah, “I don’t have any bread. All I’ve got is a little meal and a little bit of oil. And I’m going to fix the last little cake for my son and for me and then I’m going to die.”

Now let’s think about this for a minute. I’ve heard some nervy preachers in my day, but this story takes the cake, or I should say, the pancake! This guy, Elijah… now you can mess with me, and you can mess with Debbie, but don’t mess with our kids. You know what I mean?…and this woman is going to bake a last meal for her little boy, and this nervy preacher says, “You give me that last meal. Don’t give it to your little boy, give it to me.”

But he was a man of God, wasn’t he. And, sometimes even though Elijah was rough and even though he was direct, and even though he was a tough guy, he was still God’s man, wasn’t he. He was a prophet of the Lord and he spoke with authority. And God sent him to the church with a message. And he delivered his message and they didn’t like it. That often happens. They didn’t like the message. They didn’t like what they heard.

And God said, “I don’t care whether you like what you hear or not. I sent a man with a message – you’re going to listen to Me. You don’t run me, I run you.” Jesus is the boss of the church. We don’t tell God what to do, God tells us. Long after we’re dead and gone, God will still be running the Newark Seventh-Day Adventist Church. He’s the boss. He’s the one in charge. And in the children of Israel’s day, the prophets were often a little more direct than the prophets that God sends to you. They would just call down fire and burn ‘em up. They would just walk on the water.

Now is it possible according to the laws of science to go out and just walk on the water? Well I don’t know about that, every winter I do it! You know, I just walk right out there! But I guess in the summer, you know, over at Buckeye Lake, it’s a little tough isn’t it! Did Peter do it? Can faith do things that logic and reason can’t do? And we have a hard time with that. Those of us who are logical and like to think everything through logically have a hard time when faith says, “Take my hand, we’re going to go to an area you can’t go.” Now you’re out of your comfort zone. Now you’re upset. Now you don’t know if you’re going to be able to do it. That’s what faith is – it’s trusting God even when you’re out of your comfort zone.

Incredible as it sounds, this woman from Zeraphath goes inside and does exactly what Elijah told her to do! She had faith. What would have happened if she had said “No, I’m not going to do it.” What if her motherly instincts had kicked in and she gave that boy his one pancake? He would have died and mother would have died as well. Their very lives depended on obeying God and doing what God said. Is that true today, too? So she goes in, she does it. She has faith. There’s something about this guy; something about this guy, even though he’s rough hewn, even though he’s direct, even though he upsets her, even though he’s the kind of guy that maybe has that “I just ran, you know, fifty miles and I smell like a camel” look, you know? She’s still realizes that there’s a spiritual power behind this guy and she does exactly what he says, “Thus says the Lord.”

It Was God who promised to take care of her and her son. She believed that God would do it. She acted on that belief. Her faith was made perfect by her works! She didn’t just have faith, she had works. She went in and did what the prophet told her to do. God honored his word by doing exactly what He promised.

So instead of two cakes minus one equals one, (2 – 1 = 1), God’s arithmetic was three cakes times 360 days in the Jewish calendar, 1080 times three-and-a-half, multiply it out: it’s over 3000 pancakes! (3 x 360 = 1080 days x 3 pancakes a day = 3,240 pancakes!) Two minus one equals over 3000! Now does that make sense? No! It makes no sense mathematically! God’s arithmetic is different than our arithmetic. Now according to man's reasoning, she was foolish. But the wisdom of man is foolishness in God’s eyes. And when we do our part, God uses His multiplication tables of blessing, and pours out gifts we don't even have room enough to receive.

Over in Borneo, they like to catch monkeys. They drill a hole in the tree, they scrape out the wood, and then they put peanuts in the hole. The little monkey comes up, puts his hand in the hole, grabs one of the peanuts, tries to pull it out, he can’t get his fist out of the hole because with the peanut in his hand, he can’t get (it) out. Now all that greedy little monkey would have to do is let go of that peanut and he could pull his hand out and get away. But they scream like banshees when they come to catch them; they throw their nets over them, and they catch those monkeys because they will not let go of that peanut! I want you to remember that monkey.

The second thing, in 2 Kings 4:1-7, we have another story.

2 Kings 4:1-7…

Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to
Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord; and the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”
And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have
in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.”
Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels at large for yourself from all your
neighbors, even empty vessels; do not get a few.
“And you shall go in and shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour
out into all these vessels; and you shall set aside what is full.”
So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons; they were
bringing the vessels to her and she poured.
And it came about when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not one vessel more.” And the oil stopped.
Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and
pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on the rest.”

It says in verse two, this woman, whose husband was in the school of the prophets, came to Elisha. And she said, “Elisha, my husband died and my sons and I have no money, and we’re in a very desperate situation. We came here to be part of the school of the prophets, to minister. What are we going to do?”

Elisha says to her, “What do you have?”

She says, “I don’t have anything except a jar of oil.”

Elisha says to her, “Go out, tell all your friends to give you all their jars and bring them to your house. Get as many jars as you can.”

She goes and gets all the jars, and then she takes her oil, and she begins to pour. And the oil keeps pouring until all the jars are filled. Then she stops, and its says, she had enough money (in verse 7) to pay all her debts and to live on the rest for the rest of her life.

Now does it make sense to you that one jar of oil minus one jar of oil equals thousands of jars of oil, and fabulous profits, and enough money to live on for the rest of your life? Does that arithmetic add up? But with God’s arithmetic, He takes the little that we have, He multiplies it, and she lived the rest of her life on that oil!

Here’s another story. If you’ll look in 2 Kings 4:42-44. You think “Newark” is hard to pronounce, try Baal-shalishah!

2 Kings 4:42-44…
Now a man came from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And he said, “Give them to the people that they may eat.”
43 And his attendant said, “What, shall I set this before a hundred men?” But he said, “Give them to the people that they may eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left over.’”
44 So he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord. The New American Standard Bible
This guy from Baal-shalishah brought his tithe to the Man of God, Elisha, and gave him tithe: 20 loaves of barley. And the Man of God tells him to go and feed the people that they might eat. And he says, shall I set this before a hundred men? He said “Give them to the people that they may eat (verse 43). Thus saith the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left over.’ So he set it before them and they ate according to the word of the Lord.”
So in this story, a man brings his tithe to Elisha, and the Bible says in Malachi 3:8, we should not rob God but be faithful in our tithes and offerings.
So here is a good example of a man who was obedient to God. He donates 20 loaves of bread, they feed over a hundred people: 120 minus 100 equals over 120 (120 – 100 = over 120). God’s arithmetic? It makes sense. Man’s arithmetic makes no sense at all. 20 minus 120+ does not equal out. It can’t work. It’s impossible! Mentally, these things cannot happen! They do not work. It makes no sense spiritually. When you have faith it makes total, complete, and perfect sense!
There’s a little boy; he went to hear Jesus. His “mommy” gave him five biscuits and two sardines. (laughter) What are you laughing about? I know you folks, you always go around talking about this little kid’s lugging five loaves of bread and these two big mackerel! ‘Cause you’re using man’s arithmetic! I know how you are! All right, we’re going to get rid of your arithmetic and we’re going to use God’s arithmetic. Okay? Here’s God’s arithmetic:

God says it’s a little boy’s lunch. How many of you mommies would give a little boy five big loaves of bread, and two mackerel? So your kid would need a big, huge basket and he’d have to carry it like (demonstrates). Now, come on! How many biscuits? Five biscuits - little biscuits. How many fish? Two. Two sardines, right?

All right. According to man's reasoning, can you feed 5000 plus women and children? So let’s say 8000 people. Five biscuits were enough for one little boy. So let’s multiply 8000 times 5; what’s that? 40,000. So if everybody ate two of those (8000), you have 16,000 and 40,000, that’s 56,000 items from seven! God's arithmetic: makes sense to me. How about man’s arithmetic? Does seven (7) minus 56,000 add up? You come out with a (minus) –55,993? That doesn’t make any sense to me! Makes no sense! But did Jesus feed 8000 men, women and children? Did He do it? God can do anything, can’t He?

Now, beloved, why do I preach a tithing sermon only a month into my ministry here? Because I love you! And I want to see you get blessed! I want to see my church, our church; God’s church, become prosperous! I want to see God bless you physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, financially! Most of all, spiritually. But let me tell you something: if you’re robbing God, if you’re a dishonest person with God, you’re not a happy person and it effects your relationship with Jesus. So, if you’re not being honest with God, and you’re not returning an honest tithe and an honest offering, you’re not only robbing God, you’re cheating yourself! You’re robbing yourself of a great blessing!

“Pastor, you’re getting dangerously close to meddling, here!”

No, I’m not; that money doesn’t belong to you anyway. You don’t pay tithe, you return it. I’m talking about God’s money. I’m not talking about your money, so you can’t get mad at me! It’s not your money! Whose money is it? (“God’s.”)

Now when a person does not return a faithful tithe, to me, they’re like that little monkey. The devil has a trap for them: they reach in; they grab the peanut. If they would just let go of the peanut, the devil wouldn’t be able to snare them. But like a greedy little monkey, they just hang on to that peanut. Let go of the “peanut!” Don’t let the devil do that to you!

? Did God feed that widow over 3000 pancakes for three and a half years from one little jar of oil and one little handful of meal? It makes no sense according to man’s arithmetic. But God’s arithmetic is different.

? Did God make that widow wealthy by one little jar of oil and multiplying that oil until she had enough to live on for the rest of her life? Yes, He did. Man’s arithmetic makes no sense. God’s arithmetic, I can see how it happened.

? Can 20 loaves of bread feed over a hundred men? Man’s arithmetic? No. God’s arithmetic? Yes.

? Can five biscuits and two sardines feed over 8000 people? In man’s arithmetic, no; in God’s arithmetic, absolutely yes! He can do it. Our God can do anything!

I don’t talk about money very much. I always feel “If the sheep are fed, they’ll give wool.” But I want to talk about it now because I want you to be blessed. The Bible says in Malachi 3:10…

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house,
and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the
windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.”

When we give God His; when you look at your month, you’re going to say to
yourself, “If I give God what He asks, I can’t make it. My month will not add up.”

You’re using man’s arithmetic. Return your tithe! Give your heart to God every morning, return your tithes and offerings faithfully, and walk by faith; not by sight, and God will bless you! He will bless you! You will not have to worry. You will have unexpected blessings and joy unspeakable! And for some of you, not doing the right thing not only makes you dishonest with God, it makes you dishonest in other ways. It affects your relationship with Jesus and it makes you feel like you’re not really as close to God as you need to be.

It’s not worth it! I ran all the way to the back of the church; I didn’t have it done in time. But I walked all the way back there – I wanted to get my tithe in today! I can’t afford to not have my tithe in. Some people say, “I can’t afford to pay tithe.” Beloved, you can’t afford not to pay your tithe! God will bless you.

I had a lady on Social Security, I went to give her a Bible study, and the pastor I was going with, he was the senior pastor, I was the younger pastor. I told him I was giving her a Bible study on tithing. He said, “You’re going to tell that poor lady on Social Security that she has to tithe?” He said, “She can’t afford to tithe.” I said…(This guy’s a preacher). I said, “She can’t afford not to tithe!” I said, “If she’s poor and hardly has anything, she needs God’s blessing more than anybody else!”


She was going to have to buy a $400.00 hearing aid, ‘cause her hearing aid didn’t work, and she said, “Well, Pastor, here. Here’s my tithe, you put it in. I’m not going to be there Sabbath, but you put it in for me, and I want to make sure I tithe this money.” And she said, “I can’t afford that hearing aid now, but I’m going to give you this money and do the right thing.”

I said, “God will bless you.” I said, “Let’s have prayer. And I prayed for her and I prayed for her hearing aid. She looked at me a little funny; opened her eyes and looked up. Sometimes I pray with my eyes open. I just look up to heaven and pray (laughter). If you look in the Bible, it says Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven and He began to pray. You know, sometimes I bow my head, but sometimes I lift up my eyes and pray. I was talking to the Lord. She opened her eyes and saw me you know!

I said, “Lord, please heal this hearing aid, Lord! Fix it.”

She opened her eyes and looked up; put ‘em back down. We were done praying; I said, “Put your hearing aid in.” She put her hearing aid in – worked perfect. When I left, a year-and-a-half later – still working perfectly! She hadn’t even replaced the battery!

Now, that woman gave me $32.00 tithe, and she saved $375.00 that day! Now, I’ll tell you what, I don’t care about the money, it’s the relationship with Jesus! I don’t care about the money. Tithe isn’t something where you say, “Well, I’m gonna get more if I tithe, so I’m gonna go ahead and tithe.” No. God says, “Don’t rob me. Bring my tithes in and I will bless you. I love you; you love me. If we have a personal relationship, then do what I ask you to do. The reason I asked you to let go of the peanut, every dollar out of ten, is because I don’t want you getting selfish and “graspy” and taking all the money to yourself and always fussin’ and fightin’ over money. Whenever you get paid, I want you to think of me. I want you to take a dollar of that ten and put it in my tithe and then your offering.”

And so, I want to say to you today, my dear brother and sister – When you look at the Cross, and you look at what Jesus did for us, and look at what Jesus gave, and then compare that with anything we could give Him – is there any comparison? All God asks is for you to do what’s right, and if you do, I’m telling you – spiritually…

(side two)

…God will bless you, and He will bless the Newark Church.

“Father in heaven, Dear, Dear Jesus, please give us the courage to trust you by faith. Thank you for giving us the precious gift of Jesus, who died on the Cross for our selfishness, for our greed; for our sins. After such a wonderful gift, anything we give you pales into insignificance. By faith, we hear the word of God, and we see that your arithmetic is the arithmetic that takes faith to see; obedience to You will fulfill that. May we not just have faith, but may we have faith that works. May we walk by faith and not by sight. May we ever be thankful to You for the blessings You have poured out upon us every day. Thank you most of all for Jesus and His death on the Cross. Help us to show our love for you by doing the right thing, financially and spiritually as well. We pray. And Lord, as our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed…”

If you would like to be more faithful in your tithes and offerings, and you would like God to help you to walk by faith, would you just raise your hand this morning?

“Father, help each one of us to do that, Lord, to all be faithful. We all have to fight that battle each and every month. Help us to do it, Lord, and to be victorious and to put You first.”

And when we’re partners with God, we know we will be richly blessed!

In Jesus name, we pray. Amen!

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