Give And It Shall Be Given

Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This program is called 15 Minutes With Jesus. Today we’re going to talk about Give And It Shall Be Given. 

Consider the Sea of Galilee vs the Dead Sea; giving and serving others vs manipulating and controlling others to give to you and serve you; self love, love of pleasure, love of money vs loving the Lord and loving others, and giving to and serving others. People operate flatteries, witchcrafts, domination, intimidation, manipulation and control, with seducing spirits, to get people to do what they want; to get them to give to them, and to do what they want them to do; especially to give them money, and very often they do it in the name of Jesus. People that love the Lord and follow Him, walking in the Holy Spirit, will be loving others and doing good to them; laying down their lives for them; even as Jesus loved us and gave His life for us a sacrifice for our sins. The Father so loved us that He gave His only begotten, beloved Son a living sacrifice for our sins that we might inherit eternal life with Him in His Glory. Matt 10:7&8,  Jesus sent out the disciples and He said, And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 

The Apostle Paul told Timothy about perilous times coming in the last days, because people will be lovers of their own selves, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure. As those people get involved in your life and begin to control and dominate you to get what they want from you, it can create peril in your life. They can cause you to go astray from following the Lord, and fall out of His blessing into dangerous territory.  Let’s go there: 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verses 1-5, But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! Here Paul gives a thorough description of those people and what they do to other people. If you let them dominate you and influence you, if you follow them, they will lead you into perilous times; and only the Lord, in His great mercy, can help you to escape their destructions; and He will, if you will humble yourself and call upon Him in your time of trouble. Verse 5, From such people turn away! Paul also gives the solution to this problem in verses 15-17, ...and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work; continuing in the Scriptures; the Holy Spirit revealing the Word of God to you, and leading you every day to walk in it; walking with Jesus, keeping His Words, hearing His voice, as He speaks to you by the Spirit, and following HIM, not any other man! He said, My sheep hear MY voice, and they follow ME. The voice of a stranger they will not follow, for they know not the voice of a stranger. He leads you into green pastures; to clear waters; in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake, to overcome strongholds and wickedness in your life; to purify you, and make ready for Himself a holy people, zealous for good works. Mat 20:25-28, But Jesus called them to Himself and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. 

Luke 19:1-10, Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house. So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner. 

Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold. And Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.  Are you lost? Jesus has come to seek and to save you. Consider how much He loved you; that He willingly gave Himself to the torment, and torture, and death of the Cross to bear your sins in His body that you might be saved. He came to seek and to save you and He gave Himself for you. When salvation came to Zacchaeus, the first thing he did upon believing on Jesus was give!; was make right if he took anything wrongfully from anyone! The next thing he did was he prepared a feast for Jesus and many other tax collectors. Let’s turn to Luke 6:27-38, Jesus said, But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. Love your enemies and do good. Be merciful, as your Father is merciful. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. This is how God’s Kingdom works, not any other way. Faith works by love. Love does no evil to his neighbor. Love gives. Love shows mercy. Love is kind. Love forgives! 1 John 3:16-18, By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. John 6:51, Jesus said, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.   Jesus gave.   Jesus said, It is more blessed to give than it is to receive.

1 Cor 13:4-8, Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. God is love and he who abides in love abides in God. Beloved, if God so loved us, that He gave His only begotten Son Jesus for us, then we also ought to love one another. When you are seeking to control your brother or sister to get them to do what you want for your own benefit, you are not walking in the love of God; but rather in self love. You are not walking in the Holy Spirit of God, but rather, most likely, in a spirit of witchcraft. If you can get people to yield to you and follow you, they will do what you want, and you will have your money or pleasure or power or honor of man, but there is a great cost involved. You have completely missed God, and you and those who follow you may end up in destruction, and you will be held responsible for them. Jesus said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. When you are loving people and serving them, giving to them what the Lord has given you and commanded you to give into their life, there is a flow; a flow from God

into your life, and a flow out of your life to bless the people He sends you to; just like the Sea of Galilee: The Lord sends the rain onto Mount Hermon, and the waters begin to flow down to the Sea of Galilee. All kinds of blessings flow to the people of Galilee: abundance of water, and fish, and commerce. Then the blessings flow out of the Sea into the Jordan River, and water and bless the whole nation of Israel. Then they flow into the Dead Sea. The flow stops there, and so does the life and the blessing. So it is, if you are only concerned with your own life, and what you can receive from others; you are like the Dead Sea. Things flow to you, but the blessing and the life stops right there. It is more blessed to give than to receive. The real blessing is in giving to others. So humble yourself before the Lord and acknowledge the truth about yourself to Him, and open yourself up to give life and blessing to others, and you will be truly blessed. Give and it shall be given. The Father gave His Son, and He gave His life for all of us, that we might have life. He who has the Son has His life. As we walk in obedience, following Jesus, He will lead us by His Spirit to give to others that they may be edified; that they may be blessed by the things the Lord has given us.