A Thanksgiving Offering

Thanksgiving, first and foremost, is a heart issue. It is the sense that you have been good to me. Dr. Tony Evans reminds us that everything we have is a gift from God. So whatever you do back to God, it's really taking what God has done for you. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Happy Thanksgiving! Today Dr. Evans shares a special message on the true meaning of gratitude, along with practical ways to express our thanks to God.

Let's listen in. I am afraid in this area of thanksgiving, particularly as it relates to honoring God in the area of giving, many of us don't understand. 1st Chronicles 29, it is one of the most brilliant articulations of the heart of a grateful servant of God. David blesses God before all the people in verse 10 as they anticipate the coming temple. He blesses the Lord in 1st Chronicles 29, verse 10. And he blesses the Lord because he recognizes something that we sing about, we talk about, but I don't think we understand. He says in verse 12, both riches and honor come from you.

It's in your hand to make great and to make strong. He asks the question in verse 14, who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer something as generous as this? For all things come from thee, and from thy hand have we given back to you. He says in verse 15, we are tenants. A tenant is a renter. We are renting from you. We are tenants.

That is, we are on your land, your property. All this abundance, he says in verse 16, to do your house was provided by you. Some of us don't understand. Everything you are, everything you have had or are having or will ever have is been given to you. If you don't understand, you won't bless God.

You won't give thanks except on holidays. You won't honor God because you don't make the connection. David says, I want to do something for you, but all the stuff to do something for you came from you. That's why he says in verse 17, so you're looking at the intentions of our hearts. Once you lose sight of God as the source of everything, then you become disconnected with God and you enter into the sin of rebellion because you have now identified yourself as self-sufficient. This is a spiritual issue.

David is saying like an indicator light in your car, the light is telling you something else deeper is wrong. David says, I can bless you because everything I have is from you. The things that you do that allow you to do the things that you do comes because you are borrowing from God. Every breath you take is lone air, air on loan because there's coming a time you can't breathe it no more. Ask a person who has to carry around an oxygen tank and they'll tell you how blessed you are to not have to drag one.

They have to borrow air, borrow oxygen because of legitimate health reasons. You have to understand it's all rooted back to God, everything. So the spirit that undergirded this, we'll call it what we call our day, this Thanksgiving offering, notice the phrase he uses over and over again. In verse 5 he says, who is willing? In verse 6, the last phrase, offered willingly. He says at the end of verse 17, make their offerings willingly. He says in verse 18, the heart of the people.

It's a heart thing. Reminds me of the humorous story of an atheist who was in the forest and he was amazed at the power of evolution. He said evolution is something. Evolution is something.

Look at how chance has provided these flowing streams, these budding forests, these great rivers. He was just awed at the evolutionary process unfolding. In the midst of this, he found himself confronted with a seven-foot grizzly bear coming at him. He panicked, took off running, but the grizzly bear was closing in on him. He had just been admiring the power of chance, but as the grizzly bear closed in on him, he said, oh my God.

Somehow when you're in trouble, even atheists have to rethink their position. He said, oh my God. All of a sudden time froze. Time froze.

The river stopped moving, the wind stopped blowing, the leaves of the tree stopped, and the bear froze in its track. A voice came down and said, did you call me? He said, please, the bear is coming after me.

Please, do something. The voice said, well, you've been spending your life denying me. You've been spending your life giving credit to chance, but now you in trouble. You call upon me. Are you ready to give me your life? God said, well, I think it would be hypocritical to say now that I'm in trouble, I'm ready to give you life. So here's what I want you to do. Make the bear a Christian. Make the bear a Christian. The voice said, so be it. The river started flowing, the wind started blowing, the leaves started blowing, you know.

And the bear, which was ready to pounce on the man, dropped to its knees, folded its hands, said, Lord, thank you for this food that I'm about to receive. Thanksgiving. Everything.

Not some, most, or many. Everything you have is a gift from God. That is the genesis of Thanksgiving.

You miss that. You alienate yourself from God. Thanksgiving, first and foremost, is a heart issue. It is the sense that you have been good to me. Why do you help a family who needs food with food if you can?

Because I eat every day. Why do you help a child who needs a Christmas gift? Because my kids will have theirs and more. It is because I have been a receiver. The Bible says, what have you received that you have not first been given? So whatever you do back to God, it's really taken what God has done for you. So if this spirit isn't there, it's a spirit, it's a spiritual thing. That's why it talks about the willing heart, the willing heart, the willing heart, because it's not first about money.

It's not never, never first about money. Money is just an indicator light indicating what's deeper under the hood. It was a heart. It was a heart that recognized all I am, all I ever will be is from the grace of God. Do you recognize that? Not that you say it.

Do you recognize it? Because if you do, it'll show up. It'll show up in your praise. He said, let's bless the Lord. It'll show up in your praise and you won't need a church service to get your praise on because blessing just don't come on Sunday morning and Wednesday night. It'll show up in your praise. He blesses the Lord.

But it also will show up in your giving. If you want to see how a person feels about God as the source, you can always find out by looking at the checkbook, because it'll show up there. Dr. Evans will return shortly with more insights on how a thankful heart recognizes God's goodness. First, though, we have so much to be thankful for here at The Urban Alternative, and one of the greatest blessings is the continued support of our faithful listeners. In recognition of that support, if we hear from you today, we'll say thanks for your contribution to this ministry by sending you a copy of Dr. Evans' current sermon series on the book of Revelation as well as his brand new devotional, Trusting God in Turbulent Times.

These resources will help strengthen your commitment to God as you gain an understanding of how he not only works on a grand scale in time and creation, but also on a personal level within your own life during both good and troubling times. To receive this special resource package, get the details when you visit tonyevans.org and look for the link about it right on the homepage. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or call us any time of the day or night at 1-800-800-3222, and let one of our resource team members help you.

That's 1-800-800-3222. Well, Dr. Evans is back now with more of today's Thanksgiving message. Turn to Malachi. You're familiar with it, but I want to review it with you once more. The last book on the Old Testament. David is building God a house, and I want to say a few things about this. He raised the question in chapter 3, verse 8, will a man rob God God? You have robbed me, but you say, how have we robbed thee? Now, let me tell you why they're saying, how have we robbed thee? Because the book of Malachi is written in a church service.

If you read the first few chapters, you see the priest in the church. So folk in church, God says, how have you robbed me? They say, how have you robbed me? God says, in tithes and offerings.

You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me and all of you are doing it, he says. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house. Test me now in this, saith the Lord. If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing until it overflows, then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it may not destroy the fruits of the ground, nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes, says the Lord of hosts, and all the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful lamb. God has two ways, two ways of getting his program furthered from a financial standpoint, tithes and offerings.

Let me talk about those for a moment. The word tithe, of course, means tenth. Over and over again, throughout Scripture, God demands that something be held back for him, all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

From all the trees you may freely eat, that one is mine. Don't touch it. Way before the law, God would always demand that something never be touched, because it's not yours. First and foremost of this was the tithe, Deuteronomy chapter 14, Deuteronomy 23. God says, and the first tenth of your fruit, the first tenth of your grain, the first tenth of your cattle, the first is to be mine.

Don't touch it. It was called first fruits. First fruits because it had to be not only the tenth, it had to be the first tenth.

Why? Deuteronomy 14, 23 says, the first tenth belongs to me that you will fear me. In other words, that you will recognize my ownership of you. I own you. And you are to demonstrate you recognize that ownership by giving me the tenth and it must be the first tenth.

Not after you've spent the ninety and you happen to have ten left over. It's the first tenth. See how quiet it just got? But it was the first tenth not simply related to money, although it was related to money, for them it was fruit and grain. It was related to, he says, the fear of God. Do you take me seriously?

Fear means the tenth. Do you take me seriously? Do you recognize my rule over your life? Do you recognize that all you have comes from me? And do you trust me? Because the fear of God meant to trust me. Do you believe that if I'm first, I got your back?

I'm going to make a statement. Any Christian that does not tithe doesn't trust God. Some people say, well tithing is not the New Testament.

It certainly is. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 8, it says, and men continue to give their tithes. Because Jesus, he says in Hebrews 7, is after the order of Melchizedek. So you can even skip the law and just connect the Melchizedekian priesthood to the priesthood of Christ and that priesthood continues. And that priesthood demands a tithe. Then there was the offering. Let me tell you about the offering. The offering was what a person gave to God above what was expected or required simply because they wanted to. God decided the tithe. The individual decided the offering. The offering was a voluntary offering over and above the expected offering of the tithe. Now, let me explain something.

You ain't going to like this, but let me explain it anyway. An offering is not an offering until the tithe has been completed. If you give two percent of your income to the Lord, that ain't your offering. That's two percent towards your tithe. You don't get an offering and deduct it from the tithe.

See, somebody missed that. Your offering is only your offering after you have met your expectation. Now, you don't have to give an offering. The offering is not required.

It was the overflow. It was a special thing that you wanted to do simply to say, you have been good and I need you to be good. Now, this explains this idea of a blessing. You've heard me say it before, but let me explain this thing of blessing because everybody wants a blessing. I'm for a blessing. God is for a blessing. The Bible says here, He says, and I will bless you. How does He say He's going to bless you?

Okay, watch this now. He says, number one, I'm going to open the window, which means access. I'm going to give you access. Well, where's the window? Heaven, the windows of heaven. I'm going to now give you access to heaven.

Do you understand what they just said? If Bill Gates says, I'm going to give you a key to my house, that ain't no normal house. To talk about access to heaven, that's not just your everyday crib. That's access to God's dwelling place. I'm going to give you access to me once I know you ain't going to rip me off.

I'm going to give you access. Lesson number two, I am going to rebuke the devourer. What is the devourer?

You know Pac-Man. The devourer is stuff that eats stuff up. The stuff that's eaten up your life, I'm going to tell the locusts, don't bother you no more. I will rebuke the devourer. You just got a raise and just Pac-Man showed up.

Just fix one thing. Pac-Man shows up to devour. He says, I will rebuke the devourer. Then verse 12, you shall be a delightful land. Watch this now. Watch this now. And he says, and other folk don't know it.

Hello. Remember when I told you what a blessing was with Proverbs chapter 10 verse 22? A blessing is having the goodness of God come upon you in such a way that you're able to enjoy it. A new house is not a blessing unless you have joy going home.

Many folk buy a new house and hate the trip there. See, a blessing is more than the thing. It is the delight that you are able to enjoy because you have the thing. Any non-Christian can buy a new house, get a new car, and call that a blessing. That's not a blessing.

A blessing is when God gives you the delight, and the delight becomes a testimony. People have been blessed by God, and God never comes up in the conversation. See, these believers never made the connection between what was going on in their life and their spiritual theft. Folks, when you have God, you do not understand. I know what some of you are saying. You say, but you don't know my debt. Well then it sounds like to me you need help.

Maybe you've been delaying the wrong credit. Dr. Tony Evans, sharing insights on how to faithfully manage the resources God's entrusted to us in a message titled, A Thanksgiving Offering. If you missed part of the broadcast today or would like a copy of this message to share with a friend, it's available online at tonyevans.org.

And that's also where you can take advantage of that special two-part resource package I mentioned earlier. All ten messages from Tony Sermon's series on the Book of Revelation, along with his brand new 30-day devotional guide, Trusting God in Turbulent Times. They're both yours with our thanks when you make a donation to help keep this listener-supported program coming your way. Just visit tonyevans.org to make the arrangements or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222 where team members are standing by to assist with your request.

That's 1-800-800-3222 or online at tonyevans.org. When deciding what holiday specials to watch this year, don't let your family miss the Christ-centered Stories from a Storyteller animated Christmas episode called The Incredible Christmas Dream. Your kids will enjoy watching as Cam unexpectedly recaptures the true meaning of Christmas with a little help from his parents and the friendly caretakers at the local Christmas tree lot. Check out The Incredible Christmas Dream and other stories from The Storyteller at tonyevanstv.com. That's tonyevanstv.com.

Most of us have witnessed a sporting event where one team dominates the first half, only to be crushed in the second. Well, tomorrow Dr. Evans picks up his study of the book of Revelation at a similar turning point. Be sure to join us for that. Right now, though, he's back to close out today with this important thought. Imagine a life free from pain, suffering, and regret, where you encounter no hardships, no limitations, and make no mistakes. Well, that's the life God meant for you and me, and that's the life He offers to those who are willing to accept it. God's promise of an eternal existence in heaven, filled with His presence, free from the burdens and struggles that accompany life here on earth, awaits each of us who believe in Jesus Christ. You can invite Jesus into your life right now and experience His profound gift of eternal love and peace. Just say this simple prayer with me, but mean it for yourself. Heavenly Father, I know I'm a sinner, and I can't save myself. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son who died on the cross in my place for my sin, and I am trusting Him alone to forgive me and give me the free gift of eternal life He promised to anyone who came to Him for it. Thank You for saving me. Help me from this day forward to live a life pleasing to You. In Jesus' name, amen.