When You Do Good — Shane Idleman

Giving, Motives, and the Cost of Doing Good

The title of the message is, When You Do Good. That's the first thing Jesus talks about, and depending on your translation, depending on what gospel you're in, maybe, when you do good, or when you give, or when you do a charitable deed, or the King James, I believe, is when you give alms.

It's this idea of giving something. And let me just remind you, too, as we begin, doing good is always gonna cost you something. Okay, so whether it's financially, whether it's giving our time, whether it's giving food, whether it's helping those in need, the whole point is when you give, meaning when you don't do what's convenient, when you do something that costs you a little bit, when you go against your fleshly nature not to do anything, Jesus said, here is how you are to do it.

So when he gives us instructions, there are benefits. In all the cases, what we're gonna work through in the next few weeks, it's all about motives, motives. The heart is deceitful. Did you know that?

The Deceitfulness of the Heart and the Testing of Motives

Go like this. The heart, Jeremiah said, the heart is deceitful above everything else. Who can know it? It's God who tests the mind and tests the heart to give everyone according to their actions. So there's a deceitfulness in the heart, which is the sinful nature of us.

So motives are very important, because we have to take a look at the motive. Why am I doing what I'm doing? Is it to be noticed? Is it to gain praise? Is it so people look at me differently? And if my motives are wrong, Jesus said, then the reward will be that.

That's your reward. So it's basically about getting our motives back in right focus. Now, a word of encouragement. When a wrong motive comes into your mind, it's not yet sin. Uh-oh, Shane's going off track here.

No, hold on. You take that motive, you say, that's a wrong motive, devil, enemy, myself. I don't know who it is, but that's a wrong motive. I'm not going to act upon it. Jesus was tempted and tested in all points like we are, but was without sin.

So see, the temptation, that might be an encouragement to some of you this morning. Shane, I can't fight these thoughts that are coming in. These thoughts of lust or of this. What's wrong with me? I'm a monster.

What's wrong with me? Be careful, because the enemy will sometimes harass you with your thoughts, and it's not yet sin until it's acted out. So I can, a person can think something, have a wrong motive.

Okay, that's not going to be the right motive. Why am I doing this? That's not right. I'm taking this thought captive to the obedience of Christ. I'm throwing it in the trash can, and I'm not going to act upon it.

I'm going to act differently. So you take the, so it's not yet, the wrong motive isn't doing damage yet. And the enemy will throw things in there, right? Put things on Facebook. Tell everybody how great you are.

Tell them, I've been serving in the hospital homes for six months, and I go and visit widows after that, and I bring orphans baskets full of food. It's all over Facebook, and we like, look at those comments.

I'm such a great person. That's your reward. That's your Facebook post. That's your reward. So do you want the reward from that or God? And checking our motives, and we all struggle with it. Come on, maybe the first service wasn't as honest, but this service is going to be very honest.

Ulterior motives. Why do we do what we do? That's one of the reasons I believe that the Bible says that no one is good. No, not one. Wait a minute, Shane, I just walked a lady across the street, right?

But you wanted to be noticed by the guy over there. Why just went to the hospital homes and ministered? Right, but you wanted people to know. And see, we have to look at why we do what we do, our motives, and this is one of the things that, one of my beefs about the name it and claim it movement, or faith movement, I don't know if you know what that is, but there was a movement, maybe it still exists, I'm not sure, that says you just have to have enough faith.

Prosperity Teaching and the Need to Examine Motives

If you name it and you claim it, that is yours by faith. Brother, just focus on that tall, big house on the mountain. That Corvette, that 2018 Corvette that's coming out, if you just focus on it, see, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, so that movement can actually fuel the carnal nature.

Because what my, bigger, better, faster, stronger, if I just focus on it and I have faith enough to believe it, no, you better check your motives first. First and foremost, when I go to prayer, I'm like, Lord, search my heart.

Check my, if what I'm praying for, Lord, is it with the right motives? And pastors struggle with it, like everybody else, you know, you want the more people, they rate you by success, oh, you only have 20 people, you might as well be a successful church.

You have 300, oh, 5 ,000, you know, and you rate it by numbers, but God is looking at faithfulness, not numbers. However, Lord, if you bless your church and you grow it, if the motives are not wrong, and I mean, when I went to Brooklyn Tabernacle and experienced 3 ,000 people worshiping God, my God, that was, it's incredible.

So see, and to say, Lord, that would be awesome, that would be pretty incredible if you would do that. Not for my glory, your glory. If you want to open that door and thousands of people worship you, and you get the motives in check, and God begins to do that, there's nothing wrong with that.

But if there's motives because you want to prove yourself, you want to be the best person, you want to be the number one in your family, you want, and God sifts those motives. And how do you sift it? Through the word of God and through prayer.

If you pray and you say, Lord, show me if I'm wrong in this area. Lord, show me if I need to change. He will, he will show you. But it's difficult, we have to also want to listen, don't we? Because I know people praying, Lord, help me in this area of finances, and God says, sell the Harley.

Like, no, no, that's not, that's not from God, that's, the devil is a liar. Right, and you're praying, next, sell the Harley. No, the Holy Spirit doesn't work like that, right? I mean, come on, God, no, and you're praying, you know, he'll tell you, sell the bass boat.

Or do, no, no, mm-mm, that's, we tune, we have God on a certain tuning, right? I like what that says, I'll tune into that. I don't like what that says, I'm not gonna listen to that. But to be truly, to truly grow in your Christian walk, you've got to tune into the Holy Spirit, obey what he says to do, and grow from it.

But you, we can't, we can't pick and choose what aspects of obeying God we want to obey and which ones we don't want to obey. Growth comes from obedience. The more you grow, the more you obey, the more you grow spiritually.

That's why I often say, I can show you a very spiritually immature person, who may have been a Christian 15 years. Very immature, though, and spiritually not, it's because they're not obeying. They're not obeying the word of God in certain areas, and they're not growing spiritually.

Jesus’ Teaching on Giving in Matthew 6

So with that as a long introduction, now here's Matthew 6, this is what Jesus is talking about. Take heed, he said, when Jesus says take heed, you know what that means? Take heed, take heed, listen, we don't use that anymore.

What we would say now is, hey guys, listen, turn off your phones, don't yawn, look up, don't go to the bathroom, listen, this is very important. And actually, I believe this topic is very important, what he's telling us this morning.

Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Goes back to what we say, who do you want to get your reward from?

So, first point is, when you do a charitable deed, when you do something good, when you give of your time, of your money, of your resources, when you do that, it's not to be announced. It's not to be, hey guys, look at me, here's where I'm going, I'm gonna, and you go out of your way to do that, and you announce it.

Now, sometimes it's okay to say, tell your spouse, hey, I'm going to the hospital homes for a few hours, versus saying, hey, I'm going somewhere, I'm not gonna tell you. Not gonna tell you where I'm going, nope, nope.

That doesn't sound too good, does it? Sounds a little sneaky. Sounds like there's plan B going on, or something. So, it's okay to tell, hey, here's where I'm gonna be, and let them know, but it's about announcing what you're doing, it's self-glorification.

These people, these religious leaders, would sound a trump, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Pharisees such and such just gave $1 ,000. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And God's saying, that's your reward.

That's your reward, because you're doing it for the wrong motives. So, here's a couple things that will help when we give of time, of money, of resources. James 1 .27 in the New American Standard. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God and our Father is this.

Pure Religion: Visiting Widows and Orphans

Do you want to know what real religion is? We talk about different religions, different this. Real, undefiled, unpolluted, God-inspired, God-honoring religion is this. To make time to go and visit orphans and widows in their distress.

How often do you hear that? How often do you do that? I mean, I don't want to take a show of hands, but when was the last time you visited an orphan? Or a widow? Some have, I know that, but many, we forget these areas to go.

In other words, go to the least likely. An orphan, no father, no parents. I can point you to people who need help, kids who need help whose parents are incarcerated, who need mentoring. It doesn't have to be an orphan just sitting out in the street with no parents.

It can be somebody who needs that type of father figure or mother figure in their world. They need your time. Sometimes you don't give them $1 ,000, give them your time. That speaks volumes sometimes.

The hospital homes, I'm amazed at people, they often say thank you for your time. Do you need a gas card for your family members? No, just thank you for your time. So pure religion is getting out of your schedule, because you have a schedule, right, like I do.

You got the day planned pretty much? I do, I have it laid out pretty good. And the God throws things in there, it's like, oh, no, that doesn't fit my schedule. So part of giving is giving your time. So you visit widows and orphans in their distress.

With distress means financially. Do you bring them any resources financially? What about food? Do you bring widows food? Very biblical, very good. And if you're not sure, well, I don't know who they are.

We can direct you to those in need. Now, when it talks about widow, it's also talking about, I think the Bible, don't quote me on this, 55 and up, you know, where they recognize there's a certain age where if you can continue to work, if you can continue to provide for yourself, that's good.

But orphans obviously can't do much, and widows at a certain age. See, what scares me about our culture now is they don't care about either groups. You know that you're gonna be shocked at legislation that's gonna come out in the near future.

Assisted suicide, you reach a certain age, you're too hard on the family, gone. The anybody elderly that's a pain and we're having a hard time with them, let's remove that difficulty. See, age used to carry with it wisdom.

You used to respect your elders, not disrespect them. You used to look up to them, look to their knowledge. Now our culture and the young, the infant, the abortion or orphans or how many abortions are recommended for kids with Down syndrome or different things, and we have this, now it's such a alarming trend that we're seeing, especially in a nation, on what, but the Bible says go to those who are in distress, orphans, widows.

Giving with Wisdom and the Principle of Work

Second Thessalonians 3 .10, though, is very important. If anyone will not work, neither let them eat. So when we give, we also use wisdom. In other words, I've helped out, which you know, of a church, I mean, we've run across a lot of people, so have you, and help out a little bit, but at some point, you gotta ask the hard questions.

Hey, here's some job applications, here's a place that's hiring, and why aren't you working? Why aren't you working? And encourage them to get a job, because there's dignity that comes with that. There's self-respect in doing something and work, and now, which started out with a great idea, with welfare or government assistance, there was a good reason behind it, is to help those in need, because they weren't being helped, has now turned into a place that people take a lot of advantage of.

And I get in trouble for saying this. People say, you know, I need the money, I'm a disability. I got it, I'm not talking about the 5 that need it. I'm talking about the culture that we have created that just has everybody, you feed me, you send me the money, let the government support me, when they can go out and work.

You don't just sit at home and smoke dope all day. You go out and you work. I mean, I used this example before, but it was, I could not believe it. There was a guy out front, we were laying pipeline, water line, main line, it was hard work, and this guy's watching us in his grass, right?

And he's smoking, and one of the guys went out and asked him, we need a laborer for 20 bucks an hour cash, and no way, man, I'm covered, I'm good. Okay, but see what, man, they're down the ditch laying pipe, I don't want to do that.

I want to sit out here, we're getting just enough to get by, we can make our house payment. So I'm not against that in its entirety. What I'm against is the mindset it has created. It's created an entitlement society.

So now we are entitled to things of others. I'm entitled to what others have, and that's not biblical. The Bible says you work and you eat, and we give to those who actually need it. That's the model.

So that's 2 Thessalonians 3 .10. Paul's writing to the church in Thessalonica, telling people if they will not work, they will not eat. Here's why that principle is so important. A person goes a few days without eating, guess what they're gonna start doing?

They're gonna start working. So that's, it's to all, it's not to, oh gosh, God's gonna let them die? God's gonna let them die? No, he's gonna motivate them to work. People need motivation. You can go a long time without food, did you know that?

If you're 30 pounds overweight, you have about 95, you have about 100 ,000 calories, 100 ,000 units of energy that you can expend before your body goes into starvation mode. Oh, pin drop. So see, we won't starve.

And God knows what he's doing. Now, we don't just tell people, sorry, I can't help you, you know, you need to go work. We need, okay, hey, let me help you, I'll encourage you today, let me get you whatever, whatever that is and work with them.

But at some point, if you're seeing that they're not willing to work and you're giving them and you see that they're kind of taking advantage, then at some point, then you become an enabler. You enable, you allow them to continue in that destructive pattern.

So the Bible encourages us to give those who are desperately in need, but with those who are not, to help initially, but also encourage them to start working. And I'm just concerned with where this is eventually going to end up.

Because this system thought, this mindset is not going in a good direction, it's actually getting in a, it's going in a worse direction where entitlement and all these things that people that used to work hard now, the whole work mindset is not work hard, it's give me, give me, give me.

Selfishness is coming out and that's what we're seeing. So here's the thing, we are to err on the side of grace, but use wisdom. Not do anything, not doing anything for a person is just as bad as self-promotion.

Holiness Alongside Service to Others

Now I don't want to skip a part beyond this last point. Help widows and orphans in their distress and to keep oneself unspotted and unstained by the world. He's saying true religion is to keep yourself unspotted and unstained and untarnished from the world.

What does that mean? Very simply, when you look at me, when you look at you, do we look like the world? Have I been, is there, was that a cuss word? Yeah, that was a cuss word. Now I'm getting drunk, now I'm doing this, now I'm watching these movies I shouldn't, now I'm acting like I shouldn't.

We look, we're tarnished by the world. So he says pure religion, pure religion is to not be tarnished and stained by the world. It's to come out from among them and be separate. Now this is just my paraphrase on what he's saying here, but I think he's saying, by the way, in case you thought helping others, widows and orphans, covered it, not so.

Holiness is important. Because you think, why would he say help widows and orphans, and by the way, don't become polluted by the world. One of the things we also see is lukewarm believers often do help people in need to avoid obedience.

There are many churches throughout America that are very soft on doctrine. They would be considered seeker-sensitive, user-friendly, you're not gonna hear anything that upsets you at all. They're just, but they are reaching out to the homeless, they're feeding the hungry, they have homeless ministries, but they're lukewarm.

So in my opinion, he's saying here, that's wonderful you do all this, but come out from among them, be separate. That's true religion, to not only identify and help those in need, but also to identify with the character of Christ.

It's both. Holiness and help others. Remember the two H's. Holiness and help others, that's what he's saying here. Helping does not replace holiness when it comes to true religion. So the next point here, how to do a charitable deed.

Giving Without Self-Promotion

How do you do one? Well, verse two, picking up, therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as a hypocrite's do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have their glory from men.

Assuredly, I say to you that they have their reward. So basically, do not bring attention to it. If attention finds you, that's different. There's self-restraint there. Because sometimes you feel that, like, here comes a self-promotion in me.

Here, oh, I'm not gonna let that go. I'm gonna restrain it. Now, I've had people come up to me. I've acknowledged somebody for doing something good at the church and different things. They say, oh, it's Pastor Shane.

I just lost my reward in heaven because you told people. No, you didn't. You did it unto the Lord. You did it in secret. One of the ways that God may reward openly is that others, let others praise you, not the words of your own mouth.

So if somebody acknowledges what you did, you weren't looking for it. You don't take a lot of enjoyment in it and just, oh, more, more, more. Tell me more about me. And they acknowledge what you did. That's not losing your reward.

You're still doing it unto God in secret, and God will reward you openly. And then verse three, but when you do a charitable deed, when you do one, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

Wow, how is that possible? Okay, here's some money. Shh, shh, shh, don't look, don't look, don't look, left hand. What Jesus does a lot of times, actually you'll see it throughout the Old Testament, is a hyperbole, a hyperbole, a metaphor, different things.

They'll use stronger language or things that don't quite go together to really get a point home. Okay, so obviously it doesn't make sense. The point is, his point is, it shows the seriousness of this.

Listen, don't even let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. So he uses that hyperbole, metaphors, different things, to prove an illustration. For example, if I said, hey guys, I'm hungry, or if I said, I am starving to death.

Am I really starving to death? No, no, no, no, no. They were arguing, or they were really locking horns in the battle, right? So he uses different things in the Bible, and I'm hoping to get through that when I get to theology, because the Bible uses this a lot, a lot more than people realize.

So when somebody says, you know, there are allegories in the Bible, there are hyperboles, there are metaphors in the Bible, there are. People say, oh, that's just liberalism. No, the Bible uses things, the right hand of the Father.

Is there a right hand of the Father? No, he's Spirit, and he's truth. But the right hand, the power of authority, rests in the Father. I often think of Isaiah 65, I believe it is, where it says that a child, a child will not die early.

They will grow to be 100 years, and an old man will fulfill his time on Earth. Now, some people take that as the millennium that is coming, but could he be using it as a metaphor to show that there will be no death and no time in this period?

And maybe it's not applying to the millennium, maybe it's applying to heaven or the age to come. So when you look at the Bible, you look at part of homiletics is studying how the scriptures were written, who the author was, what was the context, and it really changes a lot of things.

So that's what he's doing here. How can a left hand not know what a right hand is doing? It can't know, but it shows you that it's serious. Like, that's impossible, Jesus, how can my left not even know what my right is doing?

Exactly, exactly. Try that hard to make sure you do things in secret. And that's hard, actually it's really hard when you're preaching sometimes, because I wanna give you illustrations, and I do sometimes, but I can't tell you everything because then it looks like you're promoting the church too much.

So you have to keep everything in check and take it to the Lord and ask to Him to look at your motives and change all that. So let's go on to the next, well, I won't get to the next verse yet, because I wanna stay on this for just a minute.

When you do a charitable deed, when you do one, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will himself reward you openly.

Giving as an Antidote to Idolatry and Selfishness

So giving releases us from idolatry and releases the blessings of God. Also, when we give to others, doesn't it cost me something? My time cost me something. I don't know about you, but my time's pretty valuable, right, it's valuable to you as well.

So time costs us something, money costs us something, and when we give, what does it remove? Selfishness, what is selfishness? Self, preservation, it's all about self. So giving releases idolatry, and you know what, idolatry is putting something before God, and the world will not like this type of message, right?

I mean, it's all about American pride. It's all about stepping on toes and climbing ladders, and you know, it's all about me, and it's like, humility? That's not, in Hollywood, that doesn't exist. In Fortune 500 companies, I mean, it's like, pride and arrogance and selfishness of pushing your way to the top, so the world will not listen.

My voice texting didn't even listen to my phone. I was voice texting this on notes, and I said, giving releases me from idolatry. You know what it put in there? Dollar tree, the store, dollar tree. I said, no, no, nice try, edit it, idolatry, dollar tree.

No, that's what I'm trying to tell people not to go to. Right, so this aspect of giving is bigger than we realize, because it's one of the truest indications of maturity and of our heart. If a person doesn't give, whether financially, whether of their time, whether helping widows or orphans, if they don't give, they are not very mature spiritually.

It's just, you can't be growing in Christ, growing in godly character, and not give. It'll stunt your growth spiritually. It'll hold you, you're in a holding pattern. It's still having the binky, or sucking the thumb, right?

Or the baby bottle, you're stuck there, because giving releases that selfishness, and that's how you grow, and you gotta give it away. You gotta give it away, you gotta give it away. Now, what does that look like?

Well, I wish I had an umbrella statement, cover this whole room in an umbrella, but each of you, God will speak to each of you individually on what that looks like. I can just offer principles. Giving food, provision, and things away, it has to hit where it hurts, right?

Come on, we, how many, hey guys, is there a family in need? I'd love to donate my couch. No, it's 25 years old, and you're just waiting for your new one from Ashley Furniture. That's not a giving heart.

When we first moved up here a year and a half ago, you would not believe the stuff people dropped off here. I said, get rid of it, or get a dumpster? One of the two. Storage is huge because it's easier to go here than the dump.

See, that's not giving, that's not giving. And going through your closet and giving everything to Grace Resource, oh, look at what I did. No, you just want to clean your closet out for all the new clothes that are coming in.

You really want to hurt, grab the new jacket you just got for Christmas, give that. The reason I'm giving that example is I had to do that. My wife goes, didn't you just get that one? It's a black running jacket.

I'm like, I know, God's been telling me for a month or two weeks or whatever, I'm like, all right. It's so easy to give clothes we don't need anymore, but try pulling that one off the rack with the tag still on it, and it's like, oh.

So I'm just sharing that I fight that struggle as well, that the flesh doesn't want to give. But that's the best way to deal with it is to give it away and give. Because if it doesn't cost you anything, it doesn't mean anything.

Costly Giving and David’s Example

How many of us look back on our lives? Gosh, even that washing machine I gave to that family? You mean the one that broke a week later so you could get, and you got a new one? I mean, we do these things, and Jesus really wants us to check our motives.

David said, I will not give to God that which costs me nothing. He was going to sacrifice to God on this piece of land. He went to the landowner, and he said, hey, can I buy this land? I need a sacrifice, and the landowner said, no, just take it, David, sacrifice to God.

And David said, I will not give to God that which will cost me nothing. So if you really want to grow, if you want to break the shackles of oppression, maybe financial bondage, you want to experience joy and peace, begin to give.

Begin to give, because you were not designed to receive, and receive, and receive, and never give it out. It's like that illustration I've given before, watching the beautiful High Sierra, fresh mountains, rivers run into Mono Lake.

Oh, it stinks down there, the lake's dead, there's no life in it. It's not going anywhere, the water's not going anywhere. The Dead Sea area, too, in Israel. So when you're fed and built up, you have to release it spiritually, right?

We get filled with God's word, we have to release it. That's a joy spout. You want to turn the joy spout on your life? Give me a little joy here. Well, release it, I get it, I release it. That's where the joy comes from.

And when we don't do that, when we don't release it, we get hard, we get selfish, we get critical sometimes. We just walk around with this spirit that is not growing, it's not good. But here's what the order of responsibility is from a biblical's perspective, also.

Providing for Family and Living Below One’s Means

You provide for your family, and you live below your means. Okay, that's gonna be a hard one to swallow. We're supposed to live below our means. Not right out there, oh, I could just, yeah, we're just stretching every month, every month.

And I know there's difficulty in different seasons. I'm not discarding that, but if there's always this never living below the means, then you're always gonna be crunched. You're not gonna be able to give like the Lord wants you to give.

So provide for your family, live below your means, and then from that provision, you reach out to orphans and widows and those in need. That's what Christ is saying here. Now, I wanna talk about something briefly that's important.

Tithing, Cheerful Giving, and New Testament Generosity

This whole concept of tithing. Tithing just comes from the word 10th and giving 10 of income. That's kind of been a rule sometimes at churches, or they preach on a tithe, and that's what people go off of.

Really, it's an Old Testament word, tithing, and they wouldn't just give 10%. I think they were closer to 30%. They would, God called His people to give to the storehouse, to give to the temple, so the priests would have food, so the orphans and widows and things within Israel would have so that was their calling.

God would say, give a 10th. Other times, they would give more and give more. That was the model in the Old Testament. So you switch to the New Testament now, to New Testament believers. A lot of us, including myself, like that model just as a number to go off of.

If a person makes a certain amount each month, 10 right off the top is what we're using for giving, whether we sponsor kids in a different country, water wells, the church, whatever it is, that's an easy number, it hurts, right?

If you got a car payment that's going somewhere else and not a car, it hurts a little bit. But the New Testament model now is Paul, really, we have the record of Paul saying, God loves a cheerful giver, to give from a cheerful heart, to be in a position to give.

And Paul, just my perspective from reading the book of Acts, many times, like some of you, that early believers were givers. I mean, early on, they gave possessions, they gave land to those in need. They were giving, they were giving from a cheerful heart.

So much so that I believe it's in Corinthians, I didn't have it at the first service, I forgot about it till now. Paul said, I do not mean that you should give to where you are in lack, and others are now in abundance.

Make sure it equals out, and you don't give away yourself into poverty. So the problem wasn't not giving, the problem was giving too much. And then we've drifted now into America, even now, we are blessed beyond anything.

I would encourage all of you to take a missions trip, some to Africa, to the Middle East, if you can. I mean, go down, take a Mexico trip, and watch how India, go to India, and watch the little beggar boys on the street, all twisted in their body and contorted, orphans that nobody's helping, they're sitting on.

And we are so blessed, and our abundance, the blessings of God have become a curse, because we're so trusting that abundance. We gotta have our 401k, and our retirement, and our insurance, and we trust in all these things, and here's $10, but we are millionaires in other countries.

Did you know that? If you're in this room, you have a vehicle and a home, even renting, you are a millionaire in other countries. And so this whole idea, I think sometimes, and we get proud of 10%. I mean, maybe that, I mean, is that really, is that really something to be proud of, or is that just, that's just, that's just not even where many believers in early church went.

So I just wanna clarify that, because people do get confused sometimes, well, should I give a 10, should I do this? God just wants it to come from a cheerful heart. However, another thing that I believe, I know there's disagreements on this, but I believe that a person or groups should give to a place where they're being built up and edified.

So if you're benefiting from the electricity, and the building, and the services, and the children's ministry, and the lighting, and the parking, and this isn't free, right, obviously, then you should invest into what is building you up spiritually.

And if you want to, and we invest in orphans, and widows, and hospital homes, and benevolence, and we do that for the people if they don't know who they are. So I have no problem in believing that we should invest into the church, into the local body.

Now, people ask, well, where does the money go? Well, you can talk to Randy, he's a treasurer. We have a whole pie chart available on Microsoft or different things, but it's very simple. We save 10%, we give to missions, we have benevolence, we have budgets.

People think like, well, more, and more, and more, Shane will get a huge raise or huge bonus. It doesn't work that way. No matter what comes in, they set a salary just based on an average pastor of an average church with this type of income, the board sets it, I have no say so in it, and it's what they set.

And that's where it just stays for a long season. That's it, no matter if a million dollars came in. People think, oh, if I give, they're gonna, no, you see where it goes. We have it written down. We remodeled, yes, but this came in actually the week.

$14 ,000 came in for the remodel that week. When we went to do the KC building, we said, hey, we're gonna redo it next door, make it nice for the kids. If you want a gift to it, let us know. 25 ,000 came in that week.

So we opened that door. Now, others sometimes aren't in a position to give financially. They're helping in other ways. They're giving of their time, they're giving of their resources, they're giving, so I don't hold that over them as well.

But there should be some type of giving going on, whether it's time, whether it's provision, whether it's money, whatever it is. A believer in Jesus Christ should be giving somehow in some way. And I also believe that God puts it on a person's heart, a cheerful giver.