WHAT SHALL I GIVE UNTO THE LORD…
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Anyone that knows about my ministry knows of an experience I had many years ago at my Mom and Dad’s house. My Dad has been a pastor all my life. I was raised in a parsonage. I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly in people, not just church people, in all people. With tears of regret I tell you this story. Linda and I had been married 6 to 7 years before we had a child. We did Christmas day with my parents. We all had are place to sit around the Christmas tree as the gifts were given to each person. My older brother Charles never did Christmas with us and he felt it important to stay with his family. Dad was in the traditional chair, Mom and Linda handed each gift to the rightful owner.
My Mom was the biggest giver I ever knew. We were raised kind of poor, but joy was always around the tree. I was teaching school. I had a pile of gifts at my feet sitting in the floor. Dad had gifts surrounding him. My brother Tim, then Jeff, Nina, and my baby brother Howard gathered around. Excitement was in the air. My Dad always bought mom a watch for Christmas, no matter what she asked for he wrapped a watch for her. The gifts were distributed to the proper owners, and we started opening the presents. We were so careful with the paper as one year a gift was thrown away. We celebrated, the Bible story was read of Jesus’ birth. When we finished unwrapping and laughing with joy…. I HAD A BROKEN HEART, AS I REALIZED A VALUABLE LESSON…
IT WAS JESUS’ BIRTHDAY AND THERE WAS NOT ONE PRESENT, NOT ONE UNDER THE TREE FOR JESUS. I WENT IN THE BATHROOM AND I CRIED. I was so sorry, I ask Jesus to forgiven me. How unthoughtful could I have been. In the parsonage we forgot Jesus the babe in the manger? How could we have forgotten Jesus? I said Jesus, NEVER AGAIN WILL I ALLOW THE CHRISTMAS TREE TO BE BARREN OF A GIFT FOR HIS BIRTHDAY! I said if I ever have the opportunity to speak after Thanksgiving, I would always remember CHRISTMAS IS JESUS’ BIRTHDAY, not mine.
Ever since that Christmas I have worked had in December to have a present for Jesus. I have pastored almost 40 years. I have always remember THE THOUGHT “GIVE JESUS A PRESENT FOR HIS BIRTHDAY. He is worthy of honor and praise. I find myself with another opportunity to TEACH THE LESSON OF GIVING…
THERE IS A HINGE ON WHICH THE DOOR OF LOVE HANGS ===THE HINGE IS SIMPLE: THE HINGE IS GIVING…
Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
Luke 6:38 (MSG) Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity."
For years I have lived beneath the poverty line. But I have never forgotten to GIVE TO JESUS. I taught my sons to work on a gift. One year during a hard season for my family we POOLED OUR MONEY and bought a CASE OF THE SWEETEST YELLOW APPLES TO GIVE TO THE OLD PEOPLE IN THE REST HOME. The boys wanted to eat one, if they did there would not be enough for all the people. LINDA AND I GOT A CART and placed the case of apples and we went room to room, sang a song and gave them an apple a piece. They can’t chew? We brought knives and peeled the apples, the boys ate the peels, and we quartered the apples and watched the people smile and eat. My sons will never forget that year.
One year we bought socks? One year we played and sang in every rest home in our area? One year I went to jail 10 times and got permission to be locked down with each cell block? One year I made 2 gallons of fruit salad and took a little bowl around to the SHUT-INS? I started giving to people that had been mean to me… wish you could have seen their eyes when they opened the door to the preacher? God healed some relationships that year? One year I drove 3 hours and placed a big bowl of food and fruit salad in the seat of their car. I called from down the road and told them to look in their car. (Before caller id)
One year I promised to read the New Testament in December? One year I promised to read the whole Bible in the month of December? Wow that was very hard. I promised to never make that promise again. I felt so condemned that I did that the next year? I had my boys practiced hours playing and singing the song “UNTIL THEN.” One year Linda and I gave our whole month’s salary to missions? When my sons were home we worked together for Jesus’ birthday present.
WHAT CAN I GIVE UNTO THE LORD?
What can I give? One year I went to Dad and ask Dad for some money? I was 4 or 5? I said: Please dad, can I have some money? Dad said no! Later I asked again? NO! was his answer. I asked again? NO! I told mom I needed some money to buy Dad a Father’s Day present. Later, I heard mom whisper to dad: NOW, WADE I WANT YOU TO GIVE MARTIN SOME MONEY? Again dad said: NO! Mom said: WADE, YOU ARE A HARD HEAD! GIVE MARTIN SOME MONEY, HE WANTS TO BUY YOU A PRESENT FOR FATHER’S DAY.
Psalm 116:12 What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me? 13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. 14 I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people. 15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. 16 O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds. 17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.
I NEEDED MONEY FROM DAD TO BUY HIS PRESENT? WELL, I HAVE TO GO TO MY FATHER TODAY, FOR ALL GOOD GIFTS COME FROM THE FATHER ABOVE… I have nothing unless I am blessed by his hand… I AM BROKEN AND SPILLED OUT…
Psalm 116:12 (MSG) What can I give back to GOD for the blessings he's poured out on me? 13 I'll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to GOD! I'll pray in the name of GOD; 14 I'll complete what I promised GOD I'd do, and I'll do it together with his people. 15 When they arrive at the gates of death, GOD welcomes those who love him. 16 Oh, GOD, here I am, your servant, your faithful servant: set me free for your service! 17 I'm ready to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice and pray in the name of GOD.
THERE IS ONE BASIC QUESTION WE ALL MUST ASKED…
THE QUESTION IS NOT HOW MUCH MONEY SHOULD I GIVE TO THE LORD… I GUESS THE REAL QUESTION IS HOW MUCH OF GOD’S MONEY SHOULD I KEEP…
Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Malachi 3:8 (MSG) "Begin by being honest. Do honest people rob God? But you rob me day after day. "You ask, 'How have we robbed you?' "The tithe and the offering—that's how! 9 And now you're under a curse—the whole lot of you—because you're robbing me. 10 Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in my Temple. Test me in this and see if I don't open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams.
TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT THIS: WHAT DOES GOD LOVE? PURPOSED GIVING? NOT GRUDGE GIVING?
2 Corinthians 9:6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 9:6 (MSG) Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop.
7 I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.
CAST YOUR BREAD… YOU WILL FIND IT…
Ecclesiastes 11:1 Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.
Ecclesiastes 11:1 (MSG) Be generous: Invest in acts of charity. Charity yields high returns.
Today, just today the Holy Spirit reminded me of a blessing from 1968 and 1969. My dad pastored a church on Tenth Street in Springfield, Illinois. We were facing some hard times. I watched my dad preach and notice how old his eye glasses were. I asked God what could I do to help my pastor?
The next day, I felt I could take make lunch money and save it and purchase a new set of glasses, yes, it was my dad, but he was my pastor. I might have got hungry a few times, but every day I had a cup in my locker and I hid the money there and locked my locker. After over a year of saving I was so thankful to present my dad with enough money to buy dad’s glasses. He looked so good!
Cast your bread on the water? 50 years?
In 1990 while pastoring here, I fell and detached the retinas in my eyes. Wow, I didn’t have insurance and the bill was massive, surgery after surgery. The Jewish doctor heard I pastored a small country church and he came into the room with a tear in his eyes and said: I HAVE REDUCED YOUR BILL TO A FRACTION OF THE COST… It still took me 6 years, BUT GOD? What made that doctor reduce the bill? I had invested in my PASTOR…50 YEARS LATER I REAPED THE DIVIDEND?
My 85 year old minister neighbor says: CAST YOUR BREAD ON THE WATERS AND IT JUST MIGHT RETURN CAKE!
CONCLUSION: I have read about the Jews in the NAZI DEATH CAMPS. A survivor of one of the death camps was named TREBLINKA wrote a powerful lesson. He taught what he called DETERMINED GIVING…Seems the survivors of the Nazi death camp had one thing in common. TREBLINKA called those that survived the camp: THEY HAD AN ATTITUDE OF DETERMINED GIVING. If a prisoner was near starvation and all he had was a morsel of bread and a scrap of a potato that if he would share with his comrade that was in extreme suffering --- THOSE THAT SHARED THEIR FOOD WERE CHANGED AND THEY WERE SPIRITUALLY AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY STRONGER AND THEY WOULD LIVE.
TREBLINKA WENT ON TO SAY: IN HIS GROUP WE SHARED EVERYTHING AND GOD WOULD BLESS US. HE WENT ON TO SAY: THE MOMENT SOMEONE IN THE GROUP STOPPED SHARING, WE KNEW IT WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR THAT PERSON…
Are you at the BEGINNING OF THE END? OR ARE YOU AT THE BEGINNING OF THE BEGINNING OF A NEW THING?? WHAT SHALL I GIVE UNTO THE LORD?
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
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