[0:00] Amen. Dana did Sunday school last week, so we've had a week in between things here.
[0:13] ! And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
[0:37] And he called his disciples and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which hath cast into the treasury.
[0:50] For all they did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
[1:01] And we were talking about the fact that God so often in the Bible uses the little things. You know, a lot of times we're waiting to do the big thing, but God uses the little things in order to accomplish things.
[1:17] We looked at 1 Corinthians 1, 27 to 29, and it says, But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
[1:30] The base things of the world, the things which are despised, hath God chosen. Yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are. That no flesh should glory in his presence.
[1:41] We talked about how often God uses all those little things. And then the first point we had was the fact that the presence of God.
[1:52] When this all took place, Jesus was sitting there at the treasury. He's sitting there, he's been watching everything that takes place. Verse 41 says, He sat over against the treasury and beheld.
[2:03] We talked about his omnipresence. The fact that God is always with us. Everywhere we go, he is there. We looked at Psalm 139, 7 through 12.
[2:16] It says, He says, Look, it doesn't matter where I go, you're there.
[2:50] It doesn't matter whether it's day or night, you're there. It doesn't matter if it's the darkest night. You can still see everything that's going on.
[3:01] We use Jeremiah 23, 24. And it said, Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord.
[3:15] I'm about to sneeze. Thank you. And then we looked at Hebrews 4, 13, which says, Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open under the eyes of him with who we have to do.
[3:31] God sees everything. But a lot of times we forget that. We forget that God sees everything. And we forget that God sees everything.
[3:44] So we talked about number two on that, or letter B, his observation. His observation. It says, And he beheld how the people cast money into the treasury. We talked about the fact that God sees everything that we do.
[3:59] But so often we do it as, well, God sees all the bad things you do. When we tell little kids that God's watching. You don't want to do that. You don't want to take that. You don't want to say that.
[4:09] You don't want to say that. Because God's watching. With the implication that God's going to get you. Right? But we looked at verses like Proverbs 15, 3. The eyes of the Lord are in every place.
[4:22] Beholding the evil. And the good. And the good. Ecclesiastes 12, 14. For God shall bring every work into judgment. Every secret thing.
[4:33] Whether it be good. Or whether it be evil. 2 Corinthians 5, 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That everyone may receive the thing that is done in his body.
[4:44] According to what he hath done. Whether it be good or bad. So we have the implication that God sees all the bad things you do. Yes, but he also sees all the good things you do.
[4:57] He's there. Remember, he gives rewards for things and stuff. And he says, I'm watching. I see what you do is wrong. But I also see what you do is right. And so often we forget about that.
[5:08] Then the second thing we talked about was the poverty of the woman. And the fact that she had very little in this life. And we talked about the fact that being poor and being in poverty doesn't always mean have to do with money.
[5:23] And in her case it said, verse 42 there, Mark 12. And there came a certain poor widow. A widow. She had lost her spouse.
[5:34] She didn't have a spouse anymore. And you know, so often we think of things poor as money. But we can be poor in other ways.
[5:45] And we can have times where, you know what, we lost a job. We lost a friend or a relationship. We lost our health. We lost a spouse or certain things. And during those times of loss, we can be discouraged.
[5:57] We can be doubtful. We can have all kinds of things going on in our life. And when we have that discouragement and those doubts and things, we can become bitter and angry.
[6:08] But Ephesians 4.31 says, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and glamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Hebrews 12.15. So often we forget about that.
[6:31] We get angry. We get, have all kinds of, what's the word I want, bitterness in our life and stuff. And we think, well, you know, it's only me.
[6:45] I'm keeping it in and nobody knows. And he says, no, no, no, no. He says, whereby many be defiled. When we have bitterness and anger and things in our life, he says, it's going to affect those around you.
[6:58] It's going to affect those you come in contact with. So be very careful. Get rid of it. We talked about Job. Job lost his children, lost his wealth, lost his health, lost everything.
[7:12] Even his friends turned against him. And what was Job's reaction? Job 1.20 and 21. Then Job arose and rended his mantle and shaved his head and fell upon the ground and worshipped.
[7:26] He worshipped God. And he said, naked came I from my mother's womb. Naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
[7:37] God is always going to do what is right. Which brings us to where we left off. Let her be a lowly substance. Okay, so we talk about she was a poor widow.
[7:51] And usually when we think of poverty, that's what we think of. Poor, you don't have a lot of money. This woman's poverty was measured not only in the fact that she lost her husband, but also the fact that she lacked in money.
[8:02] Verse 42 there says, she was a poor widow. She had two mites. Verse 44. For all they did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
[8:20] She gave everything to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, do we give everything to God?
[8:34] And I'm not talking just about money either. Do we give everything to God? You know, we don't know how old she was. It says she was a poor widow. We assume she was older. But she may not have been.
[8:46] But in that time, if you didn't have a husband, you didn't really have a way of getting any income. You didn't have a way of providing for yourself all that well.
[8:59] Because everything was relied on the husband taking care of you. What did she do? I don't know. How did she get her two mites?
[9:12] I don't know. But she had them, and she was willing to give them. You know, usually when we think of people becoming widows today. Oh, Mark, did you get something?
[9:22] Well, I was thinking a lot of times if it's a young woman's widow, they could go back to their families. Yeah. But apparently it sounds like she didn't have any family to go back to.
[9:37] Good point. Yeah, she had no family to go to. Widow indeed. Yeah, a widow indeed. Well, because that's a reason that Naomi came back from her, where she was at.
[9:50] And they can leave the side of the field because she and her mother-in-law had needed to support, even though they actually did hold that people land.
[10:00] Yeah. They had no way of taking care of themselves other than gleaning. Yeah. So, yeah. That's how a lot of them did it. They just pick up whatever was left over. So, yeah.
[10:13] You know, this woman didn't calculate her worth based on what she had because she didn't have anything. But because of what she had in Jesus or in God at that point, she gave all that she had.
[10:29] Because she knew that he was the provider. He was the one taking care of her. You know, Luke chapter 12, verse 15 says this. Luke 12, 15.
[10:41] He said unto them, take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man's life consisted not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. He says, your life is not about the things.
[10:53] You know, how much do I have in my garage? How much do I, you know, what's my address? Where do I live? You know, from where I live, there on the hill, everybody looks at beyond us, Maddox Avenue.
[11:10] Ooh, you live on Maddox Avenue. Wow. Nope, I don't. So, you know, what's hanging in your closet? Where did you go on vacation last year?
[11:21] All of those type of things we look at. And it says, look, our life's not centered on those things. Our life is centered on what Jesus has. Paul wrote to Timothy. And Timothy is going to become the pastor of the church at Ephesus.
[11:37] And Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 6, beginning at verse 6. And I'm going to read down through verse 10. Speaking of what was beyond the world today.
[11:48] Yeah. Most people today don't realize that all them big fields. It's part of what was called the four farms, which is a big building. Oh, really?
[12:00] All them fields were found by the people in the four farms. And that gets into your lesson. So the four people, the four little. Yep. Huh. I did not know that. Cool.
[12:11] Interesting. Yeah. Hmm? 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6, 6 through 10. Listen to what it says. Remember Jared's message last week on contentment?
[12:23] 1 Timothy 6, 6 says, but godliness with contentment is great gain. It doesn't say anything about a lot of money or anything like that. A lot of land or godliness with contentment is great gain.
[12:36] Verse 7. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.
[12:48] But they which shall be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
[12:59] For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
[13:12] He says it's not about all the stuff that you have. Who do you serve? And then Matthew 6 talks about how God keeps the birds and flowers and everything else.
[13:26] And we can expect it to be a new army. Yep. God in Matthew 6, yeah. He's going to take care of the birds. He's going to take care of the flowers. He'll take care of you. He'll meet your needs as well.
[13:39] The love of money is the root of all evil. How do people usually say it? Oh, money is the root of all evil. No, money is not. You read through the Bible. Abraham, David, Solomon.
[13:52] They all had lots of it. But it's how they used it. What they did with it. Money is a tool. Right. Even in the little musical, Abner, the little Abner.
[14:04] Yeah. Years ago, General Bulmer sang a song and it was, money is the root of all evil. Yep. Nope. That's what society looked at.
[14:14] That's the way they look at it. The way they misquote the verse. He says, the love of money. Is it coming before God?
[14:27] Is it the thing that I need to have? Is it the only thing that gets me up in the morning, gets me going? No. This widow had nothing to her name.
[14:39] And yet, she's highlighted in the word of God because of her heart attitude about doing things and giving to God. Third thing.
[14:52] She's there to participate in the offering. Participation in the offering. You know, why did Jesus draw attention to this woman? Why didn't he point out, you know, this unnamed woman who's giving all of this?
[15:06] Well, look at verse 41. And Jesus sat over against the treasury and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury. And many that were rich cast in much.
[15:18] And there came a certain poor widow threw in two mites to make a father. See, here's this woman. All these people are coming and they're giving and they're giving and they're giving and stuff.
[15:30] And she comes along and she gives too. Two cents. She had an opportunity. And Jesus used that opportunity to point something out.
[15:42] Right? Maybe he wasn't the only one watching. He might not have been the only one watching. Yep, there might have been some others. Maybe some of his disciples noticed. I don't know.
[15:53] But he called them over and he's going to talk about it. So, this woman, she's poor. And she's giving an offering. There's lessons we learn from her gift.
[16:06] You know, regardless of our financial state, don't miss an opportunity to give to the Lord's work. Luke 6, 38.
[16:17] Give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. Shall men give unto your bosom. For with the same measure that ye meet withal, it shall be measured to you again.
[16:33] He says, give when you have the opportunity. Give so much. And give this. And give that. And give the other. And he says, that men will give unto your bosom.
[16:44] I always come back to R.G. Letourneau. R.G. Letourneau was a entrepreneur, inventor, back in around the time of World War II.
[17:02] And R.G. Letourneau came up with some of the earth-moving equipment that we see today. A lot of the interstate system was built because of R.G.
[17:12] Letourneau's equipment and things. And R.G. Letourneau, actually one of the things he's known for, remember Nathan Jeffrey, that's where he went to school, college, to learn how to do things with airplanes and stuff.
[17:25] They major on those type of things. He started that school to help people learn how to do these things and stuff. And R.G. Letourneau became wealthy because of all of this stuff.
[17:37] And he started off giving a tithe, you know, like God asked us to. Here's 10%. I'll keep 90%. I can live off 90%. I can give away 10%. By the time R.G. Letourneau was done, he said, you know what?
[17:49] I can live off 10%. Here's 90%. 90% of the wealth that he had, he gave away. Lived off the 10%. He said, God has blessed me and God has given me so much.
[18:02] He said, I can live off the 10% and not even know it's gone. So God blessed and God met the need because of his heart attitude of being willing to give.
[18:16] Matthew chapter 6, verses 19 to 21. Lay not up for yourself treasures upon the earth where moths and rust doth corrupt and where threes break through and steal.
[18:27] But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where threes do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
[18:42] Where is your heart? What do you consider to be the most important thing? And this woman, two mites, all she had, all her living, Jesus said, and she wanted to give it to God.
[18:56] So she had an opportunity. She also felt she had an obligation. An obligation. Visualize this story. We've been talking about it, and I know you can kind of visualize it.
[19:08] Jesus is sitting there, and the disciples are there milling about and everything. And people are going through and they're giving their offerings. And some of them are giving a lot. Some of them are giving so much.
[19:20] And probably a lot of them that were giving a lot were doing it with a lot of fanfare. Because otherwise, how did people know how much they were giving? You know, oh, I'm giving all of this, and I'm giving all of that, you know.
[19:30] And then comes this unnamed woman with two mites. Why was she even there? Remember something about that?
[19:42] She wasn't there because she was going to buy something at the market, you know, to do sacrifices with. She didn't have enough money. She was there not to eat of the stuff that was there because she didn't have enough money.
[19:55] What was she there for? She was there to give. I don't have much. But I want God to have. And she's there to give to the Lord and what he, you know, he can take it and use it however he wants to.
[20:14] You know, when's the last time we gave just because we could? Just because God says give and you know what? I'm going to give.
[20:26] When's the last time we, you know, came to church simply to give? And again, I'm not necessarily talking about money. You think about go home. You walk through the door.
[20:38] And you're going in to meet your family with the intention to give. I'm going to give them encouragement. I'm going to give them comfort.
[20:50] I'm going to give them direction. I'm going to give them love. I'm going to give to my family. And then think about the church as your family. When you come to church, what do you come for?
[21:05] You come to be an encouragement. You come to give, you know, love. You come to give comfort. You come, you know, all those things. But do we do that to church? When's the last time you pulled into the parking lot?
[21:18] And this is for me too. When's the last time you pulled into the parking lot and said, Okay, I'm about to go into church. I wonder what I can give today. You know?
[21:32] Here's this woman. Huh? Who can I love? Who's giving love to people? Yeah. So here she comes and she's like, I don't have much, but I'm going to give what I have.
[21:43] You know, some people come to church. I don't have much, but I'm going to give what I have. I'm going to. It doesn't have to be monetary. Right. It doesn't have to be monetary. I'm going to give what I've got.
[21:58] Second Corinthians 515. For that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him that died for them and rose again.
[22:14] Why do you come to church? For yourself. I mentioned live down south. There's a lot of people who go to church because it's good for business.
[22:28] You know, you're a member of such and such a church, and you go to such and such a church. We'll do business with you. Or do you go because I have an opportunity to give to those around me?
[22:41] Charles Wesley. Charles Wesley. Charles Wesley. Most of you have heard John and Charles Wesley. They started the Methodist movement.
[22:54] Charles wrote over 6,000 hymns. John was the preacher. Charles was the hymn writer. Charles Wesley wrote all of those hymns. But you know what he said?
[23:06] He said, I would give up all of those hymns that I wrote if God would have let me write when I survey the wondrous cross, which was written by a man by the name of Isaac Watts.
[23:20] The last of the verse of that hymn, when I surveyed, were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small.
[23:33] Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. He said, if I owned the entire world, that'd be a present too small to give to Jesus.
[23:47] But he says, you know what? His love is so amazing, so divine. It doesn't demand my money. It demands my soul, my life, my all.
[24:03] Fourth thing, the potential for sacrifice, the potential of sacrifice. If the disciples were like us, they'd probably have been paying close attention.
[24:18] The things that had been taking place there. They'd probably been seeing all the pomp and circumstance that had gone along with everything. The end of verse 41 says, many that were rich cast in much.
[24:33] But who received the commendation of the master? Notice that letter A. The commendation of the master. All those people who came and had all that money and gave all that.
[24:44] Oh, wow, look at him. He gave $1,000. Oh, look at him. He gave $2,000. Oh, that guy just gave half a million. We're going to name part of our building after him. No.
[24:58] No. The commendation comes for the one who gave her all. Catch that? She gave her all. All of her living. And he calls the disciples over.
[25:11] Verse 43. And he called unto his disciples and said unto them, Verily, verily, I send you, that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they that hath cast into the treasury.
[25:23] Her two cents, he says, is worth more than all of the other that has been given. Because she gave her all. I think that's where the saying is too sensible.
[25:34] The two cents worth, yes. I wonder sometimes about that, where that came from. I think she gave out of love instead of obligation. Yep, she gave out of love instead of obligation.
[25:44] Good point. Yeah. She gave because she loved God with all of her heart. As I just mentioned, you think of how many churches have plaques and things.
[25:56] We don't have any around here, but have plaques, you know, because so-and-so gave this, and so-and-so gave that, and so-and-so, you know, have done all this, and, you know, or the front of the building, this is the, the, uh, so-and-so's auditorium, because, you know, no.
[26:15] He gave, he gave his blessing to her, because she gave of herself, of her all, not out of her abundance. You don't see a lot of plaques for people who give two cents.
[26:27] Doesn't happen. Steve gave his two cents the other day. We're going to put a plaque on the wall right over there. So, nope, doesn't happen. Hebrews 6.10.
[26:39] Hebrews 6.10. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which he hath showed toward his name, and that he hath ministered to the saints, and do minister.
[26:54] He says, God is not unrighteous to forget what you have done for him. And so, here's this widow woman. We don't know her name.
[27:05] Haven't got a clue what her name is, but here she is in scripture. Here she is, and we know who she is. Don't know her name, but we know who she is, and we know what she did.
[27:17] He says, God's not unrighteous to forget what we've done. You know what's so great about it? She gave two cents. What could God do with two cents?
[27:29] The certainty of multiplication. How is it that two mites, two cents, can be worth more than all those large gifts that were given that day?
[27:42] He says there again in verse 43 and 44, he talks about how much more important her gift is than all the others. See, God and God alone can take a gift and multiply it over and over and over again.
[27:59] Think about it. How do we start off this series about no names? It was a little boy. A little boy had five loaves and two fish.
[28:11] five loaves and two fish. And Jesus took that and he fed 5,000 men plus women and children. Think about that.
[28:23] God can take whatever we give him and use it and multiply it over and over and over again. We just need to give as he says and then trust what he's going to do.
[28:34] I want you to think about back to David. A teenage boy with a rock. Can God use a teenage boy with a rock?
[28:51] Goliath got a big headache over it. See, God can take and use it. You ever heard the term little is much when God is in it?
[29:03] It doesn't take a lot. I always find it interesting. If we have faith in what God can do, God can accomplish great things. And the thing about it is, you all know a mustard seed.
[29:18] Just have faith as a mustard seed. A mustard seed is this big? Just have enough faith like a mustard seed. And watch what I can do. God says, here, watch.
[29:31] So, God not only knows that we give, He knows what we keep. Ooh. Remember Ananias and Sapphira?
[29:43] In Acts chapter 5? 3? One of those. Ananias and Sapphira, weren't they punished for money?
[29:56] Yes. Rather than what they were asked to have. Yeah. well. I mean, one was bad. Yeah. This thing, and they lied about it. Yes. Yeah.
[30:07] So, that's my point is that He knows what we give. He also knows what we keep. And they lied about it. So. And He said that they lied to the Holy Spirit.
[30:18] They lied to the Holy Spirit. Yes. So. So, here's this woman. This widow. Unimpressive. in her appearance.
[30:31] You know, she, uh, just doesn't have much. But God said, look at her heart. She gave out of her, the others gave out of their abundance.
[30:46] She gave out of her want. Out of her need. And she gave all that she could to the Lord. God desires us to love Him with everything we have.
[30:58] Matter of fact, what does God say is the first and greatest commandment? Mark chapter 12, verse 30. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength.
[31:11] This is the first commandment. This woman embodied death. She loved God with everything she had. Including her last two cents. We love God with all that we have.
[31:26] Whether it be little or much, just don't hold anything back and let God take and use it for His own glory. Oh yeah, I'm sure she was looked down upon by all of those.
[31:40] Yeah, I'm sure she was. And it's fine, Acts chapter 5 I thought it was. All right, let's have a word of prayer. It's quarter past and people are starting to come in.
[31:51] Do you have any fathers?