Sacrificial Giving: The Cain & Abel Story.

Cain and Abel both sowed and reaped and from their harvests gave offerings to God.

Why was God happy with Abel and unhappy with Cain? Abel gave sacrificially; as an act of worship from his harvest and in total surrender.

On the other hand, Cain did not give sacrificially because he wanted something back from God. Sacrificial giving expects NOTHING in return. When Cain saw that God was unhappy with his offering, his countenance fell because his heart was not pure; he simply should have gone back to give God a better offering but instead chose to murder his own brother.

NOTE: They both sowed and reaped; Cain a tiller of the ground, Abel a livestock farmer. It was from their harvest that they gave offerings.

God is our provider and we must always expect Him to play His part of being a provider at all times for the sole and simple reason that HE IS GOD and he Has given us His word about the things He will do and give us in our lives. However, when we give it must be an act of faith and worship and should not be connected to our expectations of God.

If you can still tie and connect an open door or God's blessing to some seed you have sown, money you have given, help you have rendered or anything whatsoever on the face of this earth that you could have done to deserve or make this thing happen, you are only still scratching the surface of the things God is able to do in your life.

When God shows up, when He opens a door, when His hand is upon you, HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, your lips of clay or your heart of flesh will NEVER be able to utter or phantom that it happened because of something you did or something you may have done.

Lailai!

NEVER!

1 Corinthians 2:9
But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Isaiah 64:4
For since the beginning of the world
Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear,
Nor has the eye seen any God besides You,
Who acts for the one who waits for Him.

Ephesians 3:20
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.
Amen.

Faith Without Works Is Dead.

Mark 11: 22-24
22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

If you believe the next person that knocks your door is bringing to you a very lucrative contract, you will jump up and run for the door the very minute you hear the door being knocked. Now that's faith. Faith works through corresponding action.

Some of us have taken this scripture to isolate and neglect the ACTION part of faith.

James 2:14-26
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Let us look at two miracles performed by jesus. The wedding in Cana where he turned water into wine and also where he fed 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. In each case, Jesus commanded them to do something. He asked for pots to be filled with water and for the water to be drawn and served at the wedding. He asked that the crowd be seated on the grass as he blessed the food and he gave the food to the disciples who gave the food to the crowd.

Imagine if the men at the wedding had refused to fill the pots with water or refused to serve it! Imagine if the multitude had refused to sit on the grass or the disciples had refused to give the food to the crowd!

You can read about the wedding in Cana & Jesus' feeding of the 5,000 in John 2:1-10  & Mathew 14:13-21.

Faith ALWAYS has a corresponding action. For God to bless the works of your hands, you had better be working in the first place.

Faith without works is dead. FAITH WORKS because there is a "works" part to faith.

Confessions work . . . Only with corresponding action. If you confess for 24 hours daily for 10 years without action, guess what your results will be . . . ZERO . . . NADA.