Now, in Exodus 16, we have a story about God feeding the children of Israel with manna. This is when He first starts feeding them with manna. At the end of the chapter, it tells us that they were fed with that manna for 40 years while they wandered in the wilderness. All the way until the time that they entered into the Promised Land, they ate manna every day.
Now, in verse 14, let’s start reading. It says, “When the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground, and when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, ‘It is manna,’ for they wist not,” that means they didn’t know what it was, “And Moses said unto them, ‘This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded. Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons. Take ye every man for them which are in his tents.’”
The children of Israel, they’ve left Egypt and they’re out in the wilderness. The word “wilderness” in the Bible would be like our modern day word “desert.” They’re basically out in the desert. You could picture being out in the Arizona desert, for example, that’s what we’re familiar with. Obviously, it’s a little different but it’s similar. There is no food, there is no water, and people are getting upset at Moses and saying, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? We don’t have any food, we don’t have any water.”
God miraculously provides them food every single day by providing this manna. He says He’s going to rain bread down from heaven, and every morning, when there is dew on the ground, when the dew is gone, then the manna is there. They go out every morning, and they gather up these little wafers of manna. It says it’s a small round thing, and that’s the bread that they eat. That’s what they live off of for the 40 years that they’ve wandered in the wilderness.
Now, what I want to preach about this morning is an aspect of this miracle that I’ve never heard anybody talked about or I’ve never heard any sermon preached on it. Maybe you have but I have never heard any sermon preached about it. To me, it’s always been one of the most interesting things about this story. It’s the miracle within the miracle because just the fact that God fed them with manna is a miracle in of itself. That food is just appearing on the ground from heaven, and that they’re gathering up this food every single day, and it’s there for them to eat, but I want to point out something that you may or may not have noticed but I’ve never really heard a sermon on this, but yet when this story is eluded to in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul, he talks about this miracle and this aspect of it.
When they were sent out to gather the manna, every day they were supposed to gather a certain amount. They weren’t just told just go out and gather as much as you want, gather all the food that you want to eat. Actually, there was a certain measurement that they were supposed to gather each day, and that was one omer. It says one omer per person. Basically, if you have ten people in your family, you are going to gather ten omers, but each person is allotted a certain amount of manna. He tells them, gather that amount, go out and gather that much.
Now, read it carefully starting in verse number 16. It says, “This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded. Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons, take ye every man for them which are in his tents, and the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.” Are they gathering an omer like they’re supposed to?
Man: No.
Pastor Anderson: No. Some people are gathering more than that, some people are gathering less than that. If you read this whole chapter, here, God is giving them free food, a free meal. All they have to do is go and pick it up off the ground but yet, they disobey over and over again. He tells them, gather an omer, they gather some more, some less. He tells them don’t do it on the Sabbath Day, they go out on the Sabbath. They don’t want to listen.
He says here they gathered some more, some less, but look at verse 18, “And when they did mete it with an omer.” Mete it, that’s an old word for measure it. You got to picture, they go out, and they’re putting it in baskets, or containers, or what kind of cloths they put it in, but when gather it, they bring it back and they measure it to see how much they gathered. It says, “And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack. They gathered every man according to his eating.” They go out and no matter how much they gathered, when they measure it, it’s always an omer.
Man: That’s awesome.
Pastor Anderson: Now, that’s a miracle because obviously, God was taking what little that they gathered if they didn’t gather enough, and He multiplied it; and those who gathered too much, God miraculously reduced it so that whenever they measured it, it always was an omer.
Now, it gets even more interesting. Keep reading, “Moses said, ‘Let no man leave of it till the morning.” He is saying, look, gather a certain amount. Everybody gets an omer. Then, he says, eat it all, clean your plate, it’s one omer, finish it. When they are told to eat it all, some of them don’t. I think part of it could have just been that they didn’t have the faith to believe it was going to be there again the next day because remember, they’re out in the wilderness, and God is saying, “I am going to give this to you every day, just I want you to pick up an omer of food, and I want you to eat all of it, and then rely on Me to give you more tomorrow,” but a lot of them are thinking, “I need to make this last. I need to stretch this out.” They ate some and they’re going to save some.
That could have been part of the reason why some people saved it. Either way, they’re disobeying but they have lack of faith. Other people might have just been these types that just eat like a bird. Sometimes, you have kids that are like this. Who’s had kids like this where you have to just force them to eat at every meal?
I remember, sometimes I was like this as a kid, sometimes my brother was like this. My parents, they would not let us get up from the table until our plate was clean, and I can literally remember, no joke, after Sunday morning service, going out to lunch, getting my burger or whatever, and I didn’t finish it, and I can remember my mom, my mom is here this morning, she can verify, but she would set you at the kitchen table and say, “You’re not getting up from that table until that burger is gone,” and I can literally remember being there all the way to the evening service. I am not joking.
The same thing happened to my brother. One time, my brother spent a whole Sunday afternoon like that where you’re just there to the evening service and you’re just staring at this third of a burger, and I got to eat it. It gets cold, it gets harder and harder to eat that thing, but my parents, they did not back down. It was like, “You are not getting up until you’re done eating.” Even if it takes five hours. I’ve sat there five hours. I am still bitter about it. No, I’m just kidding.
Anyway, what I am saying, some people, they just want to eat like a bird, and they don’t want to eat a real meal. God is saying, “No, eat it all. Finish it. Don’t leave that until the morning,” but other people, if you think about it, could be gluttonous, and they just want to stuff their face and just eat, and eat, and eat, but God is saying, “No, one omer, eat it all,” but it says some of them did leave of it until the morning.
Look at verse 20, “Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses. Some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank, and Moses was wroth with them.” Wroth is like our word “wrath.” He is really angry with them for not obeying. It says, “They gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.”
Now, watch this, “And it came to pass, that on the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses, and he said unto them, ‘This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe,” seethe means to boil, “and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning, and they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade, and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.”
Here is the miracle within the miracle. They go out every single day. They gather a manna. Some people are gathering a ton. They’re really hungry. They measure it, one omer. Other people go out, they gather a lot less than that, they measure it, one omer, but then on the sixth day, they go out and do the same thing they always do. They gather their manna, and they measure it, and it’s two omers. Now, what in the world? That’s why it says they went and told Moses, “We’ve got two omers here. We have double the food.”
Then, he explains it, this is that, this is what the Lord said was going to happen, that you’re gather twice as much on the sixth day, and then that’s going to get you through the seventh day. Basically, the food would always spoil if they kept it overnight except on that sixth day when they kept it overnight, it didn’t spoil, it didn’t breed worms, it miraculously stayed fresh for two days. This is the miracle on a lot of different levels.
Now, go to 2 Corinthians 8 because this miracle is referred back to in the New Testament about the fact that no matter how much they gathered, they ended up with that same amount, one omer. What’s interesting, the measurement of an omer, it’s only mentioned in this chapter, the only place you’ll find the omer, but it’s referenced as being the tenth part of an ephah, and an ephah is a measurement that you read about throughout the Bible. There is another measurement. Don’t get confused between the homer and the omer because the homer is actually a hundred times as much as the omer.
Say, how much is this thing? You don’t really know. The Bible doesn’t really tell you how much an omer is, but I went online just to see what people, but you can’t really trust it. Nobody knows. It’s thousands and thousands of years ago. They weren’t using gallons, and cups, and pints, and quarts but a lot of Bible dictionaries were claiming, “Hey, this was about two quarts.” Then, a lot of secular sources were saying is more like three-and three-quarter or three-and-a-half quarts, or even close to a gallon. Somewhere around there. I would tend to probably lean more toward the gallon size. It sounds a little more like what I want to eat but anyway, some people were saying anywhere from a half gallon to a gallon in volume.
I guess, you could just picture. The way I pictured it is basically like a paint can. A paint can is a gallon. It’s a gallon of paint can. You could figure maybe a little smaller than that but roughly that size. That’s about how much they’re gathering every day. That’s how much they’re going to eat. You gather more than that, God’s going to take it away from you, and if you gather less than that, God is going to give you more.
Look at 2 Corinthians 8, and we actually find this story eluded to in verse 15. It says, “As it is written,” and this is referring back to Exodus 16, “As it is written, he that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.” Now, let’s get the context. What is the Apostle Paul teaching in 2 Corinthians 8 when he wants to point back to this story and say, “You know what? It’s just like that story with the manna where everybody ended up at the end of the day with the same amount of food.”
What does the story of the manna teach us? There is a spiritual application about the Word of God. That’s not what I am going to preach about this morning. Literally, the manna was God’s provision for their life. This is their food. This is what’s keeping them alive. We, today, need food to live. We go out, and we go to work, and we earn money to bring home the bacon, to put food on the table. That is our primary need, food and clothing.
9This manna represents God’s provision, providing for them financially, you could say, in today’s world because we use money to go buy food. Providing for them and their needs, He gave them manna every single day. They had to rely on Him to provide it, and they had to have the faith to basically live day by day. They didn’t just have a stockpile of food that they could rely on. They had to day to day rely on God to provide their food, but let me ask you this, did God provide room service and bring it to their bed every morning?
Man: No.
Pastor Anderson: They laid in bed, and the manna would be there on the nightstand? No, they did have to get up early because when the sun waxed hot, the stuff is gone. You had to get up in the morning, and you had to go out there, and do the work. You had to go out there and gather it. Maybe someone who didn’t have as much strength or ability couldn’t really gather as much but God made up the difference, didn’t He, but they still had to get out there, and gather, and do the work to have anything.
Then, maybe somebody else went out and gathered a lot, and it was all the same amount, but the context of 2 Corinthians 8 is actually about being generous and giving, being a generous person and a giving person. See, the context is there were a lot of poor saints at Jerusalem. There were people that were Christians in Jerusalem, they were very poor, and they had need of financial assistance or they had need of food.
The churches that were in Macedonia and Achaia, which is modern day Greece, those churches had more of an abundance of food and abundance of wealth. Some of them were very poor, some of them had an abundance. The Corinthians seemed to have had an abundance. The Macedonians which would be like the Book of Philippians that’s written to people in Macedonia, they actually were very poor but even though they were poor, they still wanted to help out the poor saints at Jerusalem and actually give unto them.
This would be like a giving of alms or helping out of someone who is in need, a poor person who has less than we do, and that’s what this chapter is about. Look at verse number 1, let me show you. It says in 2 Corinthians 8:1, “Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. How that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.”
He is saying, these people in Macedonia, they’re very poor people but yet, when they heard about how bad the people in Jerusalem had it, they wanted to be very liberal. I am going to get to that word in a little while. Liberal basically means you’re generous. If you’re liberal, it means you’re giving things away. He says, they are very liberal with what they had. Even though they were poor, they wanted to help out the saints in Jerusalem, and they begged us to do that.
Keep your finger there. Flip over to Romans 15. I just want to build the foundation for the sermon, and then I am going to make the application, but first, I just have to lay the foundation so that you understand this. Go to Romans 15 because at Romans 15, it helps us understand what’s going on in 2 Corinthians 8. Romans 15 says, “But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.”
What they’re saying there is that the churches at Jerusalem, the saints in Jerusalem, they had preached and taught the Gospel in their local area, and they’d also sent people out into all the world to bring the Gospel to places like Macedonia and Achaia. Now that they’re in trouble, now that they need help, they’re saying, “Wait a minute. We wouldn’t even have the Gospel if it weren’t for these people that came out of Jerusalem and brought us the Gospel. We wouldn’t even be saved. We wouldn’t even have the spiritual knowledge we have. We want to help out. We want to send them some help in their time of need,” and that’s what they’re doing.
Flip back over to 2 Corinthians 8. I just wanted to show you that to help you understand what’s going on in 2 Corinthians 8. Look at verse 12 of 2 Corinthians 8. It says, “For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. For I mean not that other be eased, and ye burdened but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance,” we see the Corinthians have an abundance, don’t they? The ones in Macedonia were really poor, but the Corinthians have an abundance. He says, “Your abundance also may supply for their want.” That their abundance, he’s saying, at some time in the future, their abundance also may be a supply for your want that there may be equality as it is written. He that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack.
When he refers back to that story about the manna, what he is saying is that when somebody has a need, and they don’t have anything, God wants those who have more, who have abundance, to give unto those that are in need that there might be an equality. He says that is like when God made an equality amongst the children of Israel by causing them to all have every day one omer of manna per person. It was equal. He didn’t have one guy that just had this huge abundance of food gorging himself, another guy is just starving, and barely getting enough to eat, did you? No, everybody had what they needed. Everybody had the food that they needed to live, and to exist, and to thrive, an equality.
Look at 2 Corinthians 9: 1. It says, “For as touching the ministering to the saints,” talking about those poor saints in Jerusalem, “it is superfluous for me to write to you.” Superfluous means it’s redundant, I’ve already done it, it’s not necessary. “For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago, and your zeal hath provoked very many.”
Jump down to verse 6. It says, “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity for God loveth a cheerful giver, and God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency,” sufficiency means what? Enough. He is saying, you’re always going to have enough in all things, may abound to every good work.
Then, jump down lastly to verse 13. It says, “Whiles by the experiment of this ministration, they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the Gospel of Christ.” Watch this. “And for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men.” I am not going to turn there for sake of time but in 1 Corinthians 16, he talks about this exact same subject, and he says that they’re going to take from them of Achaia, and he says he’s going to bring their liberality unto Jerusalem. That word is used repeatedly about these people that are giving unto the poor liberally. Meaning that they’re generous, that they give out what they have.
Now, let me point out first of all, this is not what we call today liberalism. Now, if you would, let me just show you that by taking you to Isaiah 32. Then, I am going to get into the application for our lives today, but go to Isaiah 32. You see, what the Bible is teaching here when it talks about equality, it’s what John the Baptist preached when he said, if you have two coats and someone else has zero, you should take one of your coats and give it to the one who has zero. Isn’t that what the Bible tells us to do? He said, “Let him that have two coats impart unto him that hath none.”
We, as Christians, should not be these greedy people who just want to hoard everything for ourselves, and keep everything for ourselves, and we see somebody who has a need, we see someone who doesn’t have food, they don’t have clothing, we’ve got a giant wardrobe of clothes, we’ve got a giant pantry of food, and we want to keep it all for ourselves. God is telling us that we should impart unto those that have needs.
The Bible says, “But who so hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed, and in truth.” When God is telling us to be liberal, He is telling us, “Hey, be generous. Be giving. If you have an abundance, help out those who have less than you, who need something, you could give it to them, and supply that need.”
Now, look what the Bible says in verse 1 of Isaiah 32. It says, “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment.” This is a prophetic of the future, Jesus Christ is going to reign and so forth, a lot of things like that in the Book of Isaiah. Jump down to verse 5. It says, “The vile person shall be no more be called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.” Now, isn’t that saying that the vile person today is called liberal? Isn’t that saying that? It says that in the future when Christ returns, the vile person shall no more be called liberal. Meaning that he is now.
It says, “For the vile person,” verse 6, “will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy.” Pay attention to this. “To practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. The instruments also of the churl are evil. He deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right, but the liberal,” meaning the truly liberal, “deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand.”
What is this saying? We live in a day where just vile people are called liberal. If you’re a pervert, if you live a disgusting life, you’re called a liberal. If you’re a homosexual, you’re a liberal. If you’re whoremonger, you’re a liberal. If you’re a whore, you’re liberal. You live a wicked life, you hate God, you’re an Atheist, whatever kind of sin, or perversion, or filth you exalt, you’re known as progressive or liberal. You can kid yourself all you want and say, “No, no, liberal is not.” No, liberalism promotes everything is against the Bible. It’s just a fact.
Now, liberalism on the surface can sound generous which is why liberals call themselves liberal. Why do you think liberals call themselves liberal? Because they want to be seen as generous, “I want to give, give to the poor,” but here is the difference though, it’s hypocrisy because they don’t want to give their own money, they want to give someone else’s.
See, a liberal person would be a person who is really generous, and gives, and helps people but see, a lot of the people today who are running our country, they have to call themselves liberals, they basically are really wealthy, rich, greedy people who hoard all kinds of money for themselves. Do you know what I mean? They fly around in jets, they hoard all kinds of money, they have all kinds of wealth, but they want you to sacrifice to give to someone else. Now, what is it when someone wants someone else to do something that they’re not willing to do themselves?
Man: Hypocrisy.
Pastor Anderson: That’s hypocrisy. See, here is the thing, Jesus defined hypocrisy when he said, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees,” which is hypocrisy. He said, “They say and do not.” Wouldn’t that be lying words? You say and you do not. That’s lying words. They destroy the poor, by the way. They don’t help the poor. They want to keep the people poor. They want to keep them dependent. They want to keep them in subjection and submission. Again, I am not here promoting to you conservatism or the Republican Party because that could be a whole another sermon about all the things that are wrong with that. I don’t even vote. Don’t accuse me of telling people, “You’re trying to influence people’s voting.” I don’t even vote.
Man: That’s right.
Man: Amen.
Pastor Anderson: Really, I’m not trying to influence how you vote because I don’t even vote. I don’t even recommend voting. It’s all fraud, in my opinion, but anyway, that’s all that is. Don’t get all off on that. Just get over that, but let’s talk about the Bible this morning. I am a Bible preacher, not a politician. What is the Bible teaching us we should do when it says that we should be liberal? He is not saying, “Hey, go join the communist party. Go join this liberal democrat movement, or go join.” No. What is he saying when he wants us to be liberal? He wants us to give and be generous people. He is not saying confiscate and steal from others to give the one. He is not saying go be Robin Hood and rob the rich to give to the poor, or whatever.
Now, go back to 2 Corinthians. Let me show you this in 2 Corinthians 8 because honestly, people that are vile, they’re called liberal. See, what’s the point that you’re trying to make Pastor Anderson? What I’m trying to say is that liberal is not a bad word in the Bible. Liberal is a good thing. If we look at the Bible, is it good to be a liberal or bad?
Congregation: Good.
Pastor Anderson: Good. It’s just that people change the definition of words. Just like they’ll take the word “gay.” Gay just means you’re happy, you’re friendly, you’re cheerful. It doesn’t mean that you’re a pervert but they change that meaning. It’s the same thing with liberal. It’s like they take a good term, and then they twist it meaning something else. It’s like, “You’re liberal,” that means that you love queers. “You’re liberal,” that means you want to live in a Marxist Utopia. “You’re liberal,” that means that you must love horedom.
No, when I say liberal, and I am telling you today to be liberal. I want people to walk out of this sermon and say, “Pastor Anderson preaches liberalism.” Faithful Word Baptist Church is a liberal church. Honestly, Faithful Word Baptist Church is the most liberal church I’ve ever gone to. See, you’re like, “What in the world?” but we got to get it back. Let’s take these terms back because think about it, what other church do you go to a church activity and all the food is free? What other church do you go to, the sermon CDs are free, the Bibles are free, the DVDs are free? We’re liberal. Faithful Word Liberal Baptists Church.
I’m saying, we got to get our mind wrapped around this word, and not get an unbiblical definition, not called the vile liberal, not called the churl liberal, not called the hypocrite liberal. We’re the true liberals today, but what is the Bible teaching? In 2 Corinthians 8, let me show you some key points here to get a biblical view of what it means to be liberal.
Look at verse 12. Here’s the key in 2 Corinthians 8:12. It says this, “For if there be first a willing mind.” Now, there you go right there. That’s the difference between biblical liberalism and what we call liberal today. Biblical liberalism is voluntary. It starts with a willing mind. I want to give. Does everybody understand? As opposed to forcing you to give. Is God forcing us to give today? No, but he wants there to be a willing mind that wants us to give unto the poor, give unto people who need help, especially the Bible says we should do good to all men but especially to those of the household of faith. Help the saints first and foremost. Help our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
You see a lot of equality. Equality, willing equality. Not that guy has two coats, go steal one of them. Give it to that guy who doesn’t have one. No, but rather that the man with two coats would liberally and willingly say, “You know what? What do I need two coats for? This guy has none. Give him one. Instead of letting him freeze while one of them just hangs in my closet.” Does everybody understand?
Now, go to chapter 9 and you’ll see the exact same thing. It says in chapter 9, verse 17, “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver.” Do you see how the Bible says that it’s a willing gift that we cheerfully give because we want to, not because we’re being forced to? Watch verse 8. Here’s the key, and here is where the omer of manna comes in. it says, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” What is God saying here? He is saying, look, I will provide your needs, and God says this over and over again in the Bible. “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Go to Philippians 4 right now, and let me show you the context of that statement, because what God is teaching us is that if we give, if we’re generous, if we help people, God is going to make up for the lack of what we just gave. Meaning that if we give, God is going to replace what we gave as far as to give us what we need. Now, if we have a huge abundance and then we gave, he’s not necessarily going to replace that because we gave up our abundance, but here is what I’m saying, if you give, you’re not going to starve yourself.
Let’s say I have food and I’m like, “I don’t want to share this food,” and people need it, and you have it, and you have extra, but I got to hang on to this for six months from now. Here’s what God is saying, if you give, six months from now, you won’t starve. He’ll will supply your need. He’ll will give you sufficiency in all things. I’ve noticed in my life, this story about the manna, the one omer of manna, I think about this story all the time. The part about he that gathered match have nothing over and he that gathered little had no lack.
Everybody ends up with an omer because I’ve noticed some people lay up a whole bunch of money, and then it’s all gone. Then, another person had a great need and that need is met. God takes care of people and gives us what we need. A lot of times he doesn’t let us get way more than we need, and He doesn’t let us get way less than we need. He makes sure that we all have an omer.
Here’s the thing, if you know that you’re going to end up with an omer, and you give to someone else, and you know God is going to give you back what you need, that omer, wouldn’t you be more generous if you just knew you are always going to have enough? If you thought to yourself, “I’m afraid if I’m generous, I’m afraid if I give, I ‘m afraid that if I help somebody out who’s in need, I’m afraid I’m not going to have enough for myself.” That’s going to cause you to hold on to everything and be really stingy.
Whereas, if you know, “God’s promised to provide my needs. I don’t need all this extra stuff. I can give this to people who need it. I can help people out with things they need, and then I know God is going to take care of me.” At the end of the day, the guy who goes out, and works, and toils, and lays up a bunch of treasure, you know what? At the end of the day in my many ways, he’s just going to end up with an omer anyway.
Would it really pay, back in the days with the children of Israel, “Man, I’m going to get up early? I’m going to gather so much manna,” you’re out there with a wheelbarrow just loading that manna, loading that manna, and you know there were people who did it because the Bible says there were some people who gathered much. You’re out there, you ‘re just loading up a wheelbarrow, “Oh man we’re going to get so much manna, we’re going to eat, and we’re going to just eat ourselves sick, man. That’s going to be great.”
Some of the people were gluttonous. The Bible tells us that in other passages about this story. They’re just like, “Man, I’m so hungry. I’m going to eat so much manna,” and they just loaded it up, and they spent all their time and energy just loading up manna, and then they get back to the house, and they measure it, and its one omer. What in the world? What happened? It’s an interesting miracle and it’s something we should think about in our lives.
When you just go out, and you’re like “Oh man, I’m going to save up all. I’m going to gather all,” are you? Because God is able to take it away from you. You say, it’s a miracle back then, but you know what? God is able to take it from you now, and God is able to give you more now, and God is not trying to make you rich, and God is not going to let you starve. You’re going to end up with an omer.
Now, I’m not saying don’t go to work because if you don’t get up and go gather, you’re going to have nothing. He doesn’t multiply zero, but when you go out, and do the work, and you gather the manna, and you do your best, He’ll bring it up to an omer for you because He knows that’s how much you need. You go out and you do too much, He’ll reduce you down to an omer. You say, “How much is an omer? How much money is that per year?” I don’t know but anyway, God will do that. Now, where did I let you turn?
Man: Philippians.
Pastor Anderson: Philippians. Let’s look at this in context. It’s a really famous verse about God is applying all of our need, and we’ve all heard it many times before, but look what the Bible actually says in verse 18. It says, “But I have all.” This is verse 18 of chapter 4 of Philippians “But I have all, and abound. I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.” He’s thanking them for a gift where they supplied his need, they ministered unto his necessity.
It says of verse 14, look at verse 14, “Notwithstanding, ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.” You know what the synonym of affliction is in the New Testament? What is it? What word is affliction always used interchangeably with? Tribulation. In fact in Matthew 24, when it says, “Then shall be great tribulation,” it all says then shall be great affliction in Mark 13. He’s saying I was going to tribulation, I was going through troubles, I was going through trials and affliction. I needed help, you communicated with my affliction. You helped me out. You provided my needs.
He says in verse 18, I receive the stuff that you sent me, I receive the gift that you sent me.” Verse 19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” What is he saying? Look. You’ve given of what you have, but God is going to take care of you though. You’re not going to run out. You’re going to be okay.
A perfect example of this is the story of Elijah where he goes to dwell with the widow woman of Zarephath back in 1 Kings 17. When Elijah goes to this widow woman, she has almost nothing. She has just a little flower left, a little oil left, and Elijah comes to her, and he says, “Bring me a cruse of water.” She goes to get him the cruse of water, and says, “Wait a minute. Also, I want you to bring me a cake to eat, a little cake of bread to eat.” She says, “We don’t have anything except a tiny bit of meal and oil.” She said, “I’m going to bake two cakes out of it. One for me, one for my son, we two are going to eat these two cakes then we’re going to die because we have no other food. This is our final meal. I’m going to eat a cake, he’s going to eat a cake, and then we’re going to die.”
Elijah says, “Make me a cake first. Make me a cake first.” He said, “It will not run out.” Now, here’s the thing, if she would have just said, “No, I’m going to make it for me and my son,” she would have died. Do you know what I mean? Because they would have eaten it, it would have been gone, they die. A lot of people were dying. It was a famine. People were starving in those days, but she said “You know what? I will because you’re a man of God, and I believe that God is going to do this.”
She made him a cake first, and God supplied her need, and she ended up having that through the whole famine, all the way until it rained. Years later when it rained, every time she would go to the cupboard, there was just a little bit left. She’d scoop it out, go back the next day, a little bit left, a little bit left. A little bit. There was just always a little bit. It just never ran out. The oil never run out, the flour never run out. She didn’t have a hoard, she didn’t have an abundance, but there was always what she needed for that day that was always going to be there. That’s what the Bible says.
Now, go to Proverbs 11. Proverbs 11 has a scripture that I think best illustrates this whole one omer of manna thing, about he that gathered much have nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack. Let’s apply that to our lives. Think about it, what if you go out and say “Man, I’m going to spend my whole life just gathering much. I’m just going to spend all my time, and energy, and effort, making money. When I make money, I’m going to keep it, I’m going to hoard it. When somebody needs it, I’m not going to help them, I’m not going to be generous. I’m not going to buy things for other people. I’m not going to give things to other people. I’m just going to keep it all for me, all for me. It’s all mine and be greedy.”
You gather much, you know what? You’re going to end up with nothing over in your life. You’re not going to benefit from living your life. Are you listening? You will not benefit from living your life that way with God. God is not going to bless that. Do you understand what I’m saying? Another person spends their life being generous, giving, helping people, even when they’re even not having a lot, even like the widow who cast in her last two bites into the treasure. Even as the widow with Elijah who gave him the last cake. When you’re a generous and giving person, at the end of your life and throughout your life, you will have no lack.
The one who gathers little and is just generous, liberal, giving things away has no lack. Then, the one who is just gathering, gathering, gathering, they don’t have anything extra. Are you listening? Do you see how this applies to our lives? God tells us to give. God tells us to be generous. He says, “Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.” God says to see your brother have need and meet the need, but look at Proverbs 11:24. It says “There is that scatteraeth.” What are you doing? Giving things away. “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth.” How does that work? How does a wheelbarrow of manna turned in into one omer? How does the teacup of manna turned into an omer? Because God is the one who does it.
“There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.” One who withholds things from other people, greedy, doesn’t want to give, doesn’t want to be generous, the tightwad.
Whenever I see the word withholding in the Bible, I can’t help but think of the government, because you know how they withhold money from your check, they withhold money, and the withholding tax is what it’s called. Here’s what’s funny, read it with that in mind. There is that withholding. Who thinks they’re withholding more than is meet from your check? Put up your hand if you feel they’re withholding more. “There is that withholdeth more than is meet, and tendeth to poverty.” Is our government rich?
Man: No, they’re broke.
Pastor Anderson: Here they are withholding more than is meet. This prophecy has come true. They are in poverty. They are what, how many trillions in debt? I don’t even know. I stopped caring many years ago. You can go to that thing online where it changes every second like the debt and it’s like “[inaudible 00:42:05].” It’s like usdeathclock.org where it’s like, “[inaudible 00:42:09].” Just as they’re just going into debt. This is the finances of our country. Are they withholding?
Man: Yeah.
Lady: Absolutely.
Pastor Anderson: There you go. What I’m saying is, you’re not going to be blessed, and succeed, and proper by being greedy, and a tightwad, and hang on to everything. You can actually be generous. You can actually give onto other people and still you can increase. That’s what the Bible says. Then, look at verse 25 “The liberal soul shall be made fat.” He say, look, the one who is generous and giving, they’re going to be made fat. You don’t get fat unless you have a lot of food to eat. Does it sound like this person who is being made fat is running out of food, running out of supplies, don’t have enough manna in the omer? They got plenty. The liberal soul shall be made fat.
Watch this, “He that watereth shall be watered also himself.” You reap what you sow. Remember, in the exact passage in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, he said, if you sow sparingly, you reap sparingly. If you sow bountifully, you reap bountifully. If you give, it will come back to you. The Bible says, “Give and it shall be given onto to you.” I’m reading from Luke 6:38, you don’t have to turn there. “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.”
The Bible says, look, if you give, it’s going to come back to you. You help people out, you see somebody that needs help and you help them, somebody is going to help you when you need it. You help somebody move, somebody is going to help you move. You help somebody change a tire, somebody is going to help you change the tire. You buy somebody bag of groceries, somebody is going to buy you a bag of grocery. That’s what the Bible is saying. When you help people, God is going to make sure that your needs are met, or you can just be stingy, and a tightwad, and care only about yourself, and just gather, and gather, and gather. You’re not going to end up with anything over.
Now, this is the way that our church operates. This is how our church has operated for over eight years. Ever since our church has existed, no one can ever say that in the last eight or nine years, I have never, not even once, stood up before the church and said, “We need money.” Can anybody testify that I’d ever stood before the church or puts something in the bulletin that said, “Hey, we need to raise money”?
I’m not saying that it’s bad to raise money. I don’t want you to go out and say, “Any church that raises money is wicked. Any church that ask for money is wicked.” I’m not saying that, I’m just telling you that we never done it. For over eight years, and I’m not judging others, I’m not condemning others, of course not, and you shouldn’t neither, but I’m saying our church, in over eight years, has never ever stood up, and said, “Hey, we’re a little short on money. We need money. Dig deep. Give an offering. Let’s raise money. Let’s raise X amount of dollars. Let’s have a fundraising.” It just simply has never happened. We’ve never asked for money, never.
Now, I have preach what the Bible teach us about tithing and preached biblical, but I’ve never gotten up and said, “Hey, give more. We need money. Let’s have a fundraiser. Let’s raise money. Give extra.” It never happened. Not only that, our church has never charged money for any church activity. Our church has given away every preaching CD for free, DVDs free, piano books free, Bibles free. Anything that anybody gets in this church is free.
Now, have I sold things in my own personal life? Of course, we all sell things. You go to your job and sell things, I’ve sold things, but when it comes to our church, our church has never sold anything. Our church just gives things away for free. Here’s the thing, to the point of almost ridiculousness. People have said literally, people have pointed at me, and said, “Pastor Anderson gives things away,” and it’s not me giving it away because it’s not my stuff, it’s the church’s stuff. I didn’t buy all those Bibles and CD’s and DVD. It’s the churches stuff, but they said, “Pastor Anderson, [inaudible 00:46:44] that he gives things away to the point of ridiculousness.” To the point where it’s just ridiculous.
We’ll have a picnic, barbeque, it’s always free, it’s always good stuff, and by the way we don’t serve total junk either. When we have a barbecue, we could go down to Walmart, and get the one that’s like the first ingredient is beef hearts, the second ingredient is beef. Some meat that you buy at the store shouldn’t even be called beef, it should be called cow because it’s cow. It came from cows. It’s not necessarily the beef. It’s all the parts of the cow, the brain, the eye, whatever, I don’t know, just tissue. It’s should just be like bovine animal tissue. It’s ingredient number one.
I’m saying we actually serve nice food and our policy is that what would we serve Jesus? Would we serve Jesus the cheapest possible meat, the cheapest possible? When we break the record for the service, and we give out ice cream, it’s organic ice cream, it’s grass-fed organic beef. We try to give out the nicest things just because we want it. If it were Jesus, that’s what we would serve him. We wouldn’t serve Jesus GMOs. He’d be like, “I didn’t create this.” Jesus would be like, “You genetically modified this. This is not what I created.” We wouldn’t serve Jesus GMOs. We wouldn’t serve Jesus stuff that we didn’t think was good stuff, so we try.
Are we perfect? No, but we try to serve nice things, and we try to give out nice things, and we try to do that. Now, look, I’m not saying to just brag about how great our church is. Like I said, it’s definitely not me bragging because it’s not even my money, it’s not even my stuff. It’s the church’s funds. It’s the church’s stuff that’s given out. It’s not me. This isn’t me saying, “Hey, I gave away all my stuff.” I’m saying, the church is generous like that. Faithful Word Liberal Baptist. Look, I am saying all of this for a reason. I am not just trying to say, “Yeah, our church is awesome.” It is awesome but that’s not what I am saying right now. I’ll say that a different time.
Listen to me very carefully the point that I’m making. I’m bringing that up to say this, our church has always had enough money always. Now, think about that. How many churches do you know that just have always enough money? No debt, never in debt, always have enough money, never trying to raise money, always an abundance of money. Why? Is it because we just are really hanging that we’re really careful how we spend the money, we really hang on to it tight? Is that why? That’s not why because that’s not how we’ve been. We’ve been liberal. We try to give to people and try to help people, and we try to generous with people, not selling things but just giving them away for free. Freely you’ve received, freely get.
Why have we never run out of money? Why has our church always had enough money? Why are we never raising money? Why are we able to be generous and give? Here’s why, because when you give, it shall be given unto to you, and when you scatter abroad, you increase. Honestly, whenever we’ve had a need, the money has just always been there. People will just mail money out of nowhere. People just mail a check. We didn’t ask for it. We didn’t say, “Hey, mail us a check.” Money just shows up. People just give. Why? Because of the fact that God has told us to give. He’s told us to be generous.
By the way, he told us, don’t bury the talent in the earth, invest it. When our church does have money, we spend it. You say, “That’s a bad policy,” but here’s the thing, we know it’s going to breed worms if we don’t. Our church spends money like it’s going out of style because we know it’s going to be more tomorrow. I don’t want to stink up the place with a bunch of money, just spend it, and just get it out there.
Why? Now, look, I’m not saying to just run your personal finances necessarily like a drunken sailor. That’s not my point. Obviously, you have to use your brain and be smart about it, but you know what? You should be generous in your personal life, and I’ll bet you God would be bless you if you’re generous more than if you’re a tightwad, more than if you’re pinching very penny, and hanging on to every dollar, don’t ever want to buy anybody anything, don’t ever want to help anybody out, don’t ever want to do things for people. You know what? God is not going to be bless that. God is going to bless you more when you give, and you’re generous, and you love people, and you help people out.
The thing is our church has practiced that, and is a good example of just an example of, “Okay, this works.” You just give. Here’s the thing, I don’t want to bury the talent in the earth and say … For example, one time, somebody just sent us $75,000 in the mail, and I’m like, “Is this real?” I was like, “I got to take this to the bank. I don’t want to get too excited until I take this to the bank, and see if it’s real.” This was back in, when was this, 2011 maybe, 2011-2012, I don’t know. When was it? Do you know?
Lady: [Inaudible 00:52:45].
Pastor Anderson: When was that? You don’t know. What’s that?
Man: It was when we moved into this building.
Pastor Anderson: It’s when we moved into this building because that was even made us be able to move into this building, but yeah, a couple of years ago. Yeah, it was about two years ago. It’s 2012. In 2012, someone I did not know, I have no clue who this person was, I still have no clue, I wrote them a letter to thank them, and have no idea who it was. Somebody who I did not know just sent our church $75,000 a couple of years ago, and there was no note with it. It just said, “You cannot serve God and man. Here’s $75,000.” Seriously, that’s all it said.
I took it to the bank and I’m like, “Is this check real?” They’re like, “Yeah, it’s good,” because I thought maybe it could be a prank or something, but I figured it’s probably real with that Bible verse. We had $75,000. We did not bury it in the earth. I am like, “Let’s use it.” Let’s spend it on things that basically could bring glory to God. What did we do? We were able to buy the church van, and what do we use it for? Soul winning. It allowed us because it used to be when we would go soul winning, it would be a caravan of 10 or 12 cars, and everybody had to drive their car. It’s so much nicer to everybody piling the van, you get fellowship on the road, and nobody has to always pay their own gas in a way to go out soul winning.
We can take the soul winning van. We were able to move into this building because our other building had one bathroom with one toilet in it for our whole church. We’re able to move into a nicer building now that has more bathrooms, more stalls, room to grow. We needed the growth space. At that time, that building was big enough. We were starting to get a little tight in there but we were making it work, but God knew that our church was going to grow more, and that we needed more space so he provided the need by sending us that $75,000.
We took more than half of it and basically paid for this building by saying, “Here’s a year of rent,” because we couldn’t afford the rent back then. We paid a year in advance because the rent was more expensive than what we had coming in every month so we just paid a whole year in advance with that money. That ate up more than half of it. Then, we were able to upgrade the sound and video equipment so that we could put it out on the internet so that more people could hear the preaching, and send in checks for $75,000. No, I’m just kidding.
Anyway, we were able to get better video, better sound. We were able to get the church soul winning van, get into a bigger building so our church could grow. I was able to go out, and do a bunch more soul winning instead of having to work my job as much because I was doing both back then like half and half. It provided a lot of needs there just out of nowhere, but you know what, I would say to every church in America right now, God can send you $75,000 in the mail whenever He wants to.
Man: Yeah, it’s true.
Pastor Anderson: Whenever he wants to. Do you think that God is not able to send $75,000? He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and the wealth in every mine. He can provide your needs and when you’re generous, He’ll do it. What is he saying? What is the application? We go the miracle from Exodus 16. It’s a cool miracle. No matter how much they gathered, it was always the same amount.
What if it was applied in the New Testament in a chapter about giving? In that chapter of giving, he said, look, people who give abundantly, it’s going to come back to them, God is going to supply. Notice, he didn’t say God is going to make you rich. That’s what the lying TV preacher will say, “If you send us a $1000, God is going to send you a $100,000, and you’re going to be rich.” God never promised you that if you give, you’ll be rich. Did He say, give and you will be rich?
Man: No.
Pastor Anderson: Give and you will be a millionaire? Now, but you know what? You’ll have an omer of manna, and the next day you will have an omer of manna, and the next day you’ll have an omer of manna, God will supply your need. You don’t have to be afraid to give. I think a lot of people, the reason they’re not generous is because they’re afraid. They’re like, “I might need this.”
This could be controversial and other people might have a different opinion on this and that’s fine but a lot of people are stockpiling food, and saying bad things could be happening. You know what I mean. A lot of people are preppers, and they might store up a lot of food, and say, “You don’t really know how the economy is going to be. You don’t know how things are going with famine, and we know the tribulation is coming, and it could happen in our lifetime, but we don’t really know,” and a lot of people store up.
You know what? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I think it is wise and smart to have food in your house, and not to just have like literally three days of food in your house like most people have, enough food for three days. You might want to have a little more than that, but here’s the thing, people have often asked me this question, if you had a bunch of food stored, and you would store a whole bunch of food, and laid up a whole bunch of food, and there was a major famine, major catastrophe, and people are starving and people came to you, and they came to your door, and they did not prepare, they did not store up any food, they spent it up or whatever, and they came to you and said, “We’re starving. We don’t have anything. We want some of your food. Can we please have some?” Would you give it to them? The answer is yes.
You could say, “That’s your problem. You didn’t prepare,” but here’s the thing, would you ask yourself right now, and I’m not talking about people who are just lazy or they don’t want to go to work, they’re not getting up early enough to go gather the manna, they’re rolling out of bed at 11 like, “Dude, you got any manna?” I’m not saying people aren’t working, they’re not trying, they’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and they’re lazy. I’m not saying to just give to every bum. Every bum that ask me, I don’t just give to every bum.
Every bum that asks me, I say, “Where did you go to church last Sunday?” I point it to them just like that. Where were you in church last Sunday? I say, “When you think of an answer, go ask them for money.” I say, when people come to our church, when they have needs, that’s who we’ll help out, when they have a legitimate need, and they’re not just not going to work because if the man won’t work, he ought not to eat. That’s what the Bible says.
What about in a famine? What about where people really are? Ask yourself, would you allow a person to starve while your pantry was filled with three months of food? If you had three months of food, and somebody is at your door, and you know that person, and you know that it’s legit, and you know they’re like, “We haven’t eaten in days,” and you’re like, “But I am going to need this three months from now,” think about that. Is that what the Bible teaches?
The Bible says, “Take no thought for tomorrow.” I don’t think there’s anything wrong with storing up three months of food or six months. In fact, it could be a smart thing to do, but I am just telling you right now, I am not going to sit there and hoard stuff, and then when somebody else needs it say, “Hey, sorry guys, you guys are on your own. This is for me and I got to think about my own family three months from now,” because you know what? I believe that if I gave it, that I would be fine three months from now. Who believes that I would be fine three months from now if I gave? I’m going to have an omer of manna tomorrow morning just like I had it this morning. Let’s bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank You so much for this biblical truths, Lord. Some of these truths might be hard truths for people to grasp. It might be hard for them to wrap their mind around. Some people struggle with these miracles, but Lord, we believe Your Word. We believe that this miracle really took place. We truly believe that every single person, when they measured the manna ended up with one omer, Lord. Help us to apply that principle to our lives even though this might go against the grain of what we believe. Maybe there are some in the sermon that goes against what we think, or what we used to think, or our philosophies, or our politics. Lord, just help us to make Your Word the final authority, and help us to be liberal people, Lord. I pray that every single person in our church would be liberal. In Jesus’ Name
