7 Traits of a Pharisee - Part 2 — Shane Idleman

Matthew chapter 23 the message the title of the message is seven traits of a Pharisee. Seven traits of a Pharisee. My dilemma is I know Pharisees aren't gonna listen to this so I was trying to word it to where they might want to listen because they desperately need to hear this message.

I talked about part one last week and I didn't get through very many points so I'm gonna read kind of reiterate what I talked about last week and then go right into part two. But I want to be clear on this area a Pharisee.

Legalism Without the Spirit

A Pharisee is somebody who just is is by the book when there's nothing wrong with that. Necessarily we go by the book. We love the Bible but it's all about the truth void of the Spirit. So they beat people up with the Word of God.

They they're. They're so legalistic so on tradition they're so focused on God's Word and they don't even know God. So a Pharisee is actually unsaved. The religious leaders of Jesus's day the majority of them were unsaved.

If you can believe that. Now there's another thing called Pharisee ism. I don't even know if it's a word I made it up so I'm thinking it's in Google it though it's always reliable on Google. So Pharisee ism is those who struggle with Pharisee tendencies.

That would be me sometimes I think all of you come on. Let's get some hands up. We all struggle with Pharisee tendencies because we love the truth and sometimes that can make us prideful can make us arrogant.

But the big difference is the Christian who struggles with it repents and they realize they're wrong the Pharisee. The scary thing is they don't think they're wrong. They're they are blinded. Jesus would say blind guides leading blind people spiritually.

So I want to make that distinction because as we're reading this people immediately go well I'm not a Pharisee. Well you can. You can struggle with one of these traits all of us do. And if you're struggling with something if God is convicting you something of something there's a beautiful word in the Bible called repentance.

It means to repent. Turn Lord. This isn't right. I'm turning from this and I'm turning back to you. So even though you're not a Pharisee you might struggle with some of these traits. In today's term Jesus was thundering against many popular preachers and people who seem to be living holy lives because they were practicing human religion rather than serving serving God with purified hearts.

That's from the inner varsity. Commentary. Here's the interesting thing. Introduction. Pharisees are very serious about their faith but they're also very arrogant. They may teach but they don't know the teacher.

And they have a zeal but it's without love. And they attend church but they don't know God. And some of us go how is that possible. I'm gonna keep with the more Jesus we unpack Jesus's words it'll make a lot more sense.

And a confession up front. I have a heart for for Pharisees I have a heart to have people that are have a zeal for God to get them on track. Because when a Pharisee comes to know the Lord it's beautiful.

You've never seen more tears in your life because they realize how much damage they've been doing. And and it's wonderful to see that person actually realized that they were not on the right path. And isn't this interesting a Pharisee.

They go through their whole life in Jesus's day. Their Pharisees at today's day we would call them very religious legalistic. But they're living their whole life thinking they know God. And then when they get before the Lord they hear they hear depart from me.

I don't know you. You who practice lawlessness that were practice lawlessness is an habitual practice of sin that they did not repent from. So this religion the religious leaders think they're gonna be there.

They're God's spokesman. They think they're gonna be right before God. And God was gonna say depart from me. I don't know you. Let's say how do you not know us. You taught in our synagogues you ate at our tables we we heard you.

How do you not know us. And Jesus says depart from me. I don't know you. I didn't have a relationship with you. And that's my concern. For many people they go to church or they've been in church all their life in it but the church isn't in them.

And that's really the difference. And Jesus begins his rebuke. For those who don't think Jesus can rebuke. He can rebuke. Boy can he rebuke. I mean he is just because he loves the people enough to warn them woe to you Pharisees.

And when he says woe that word means grief sorrow misery heavy calamity. So Jesus you can almost hear just the woe be to you. Woe be to you Pharisees. You whitewashed tombs. And he's he's trying to show them that the calamity that they're about to experience.

Saying the Right Things Without Obeying

So here's the first trait of a Pharisee. They say. But they do not do. They say but they do not do. Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. And then they're just mean as a junkyard dog to their spouse.

They're just as rigid. They rule their house with a rod of iron. They know nothing about the love of Christ. So they love to preach at you. Minus the love they're preachy. Well Shane is that what you're doing.

Yeah. But it's different to how I talk to individuals is not how I talk to a group of people. I hope you realize that there. But they preach at you and they don't obey the preaching that they're giving.

They add heavy burdens to their preaching. You know you can't do this. You can't go. It's just very near. It's on this road. They make this very narrow road that nobody can walk down. But they expect you to walk down it because they load you with heavy burdens that you cannot bear.

So let's read the first point. Matthew 23 Jesus spoke to the multitude and to his disciples saying the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses's seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe that observe and do.

But do not do according to their works. For they say and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders. But they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

So Jesus is saying they sit in Moses's seat. Meaning they are proclaiming the Word of God. So Jesus says do what they say. Because what they say is true but don't do what they do. In other words their lifestyle does not match up with the Word of God.

And on this point I was reminded that obedience to God's Word is not legalism. Obedience to God's Word is what I call very healthy. It's not legalism. And sometimes people say oh that's legalism making me obey.

No Jesus said obey do do what they say when they're in you can imagine they're looking at Genesis and Exodus Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy. And and Deuteronomy talks about the cursing and blessings of God and raising their children and and not provoking them and and and you.

So he's saying do what the Word of God says but don't follow their lifestyle. So obedience is not legalism. So that's the first point they say but do not do. And if you're convicted about that you can leave here different.

And parents are real good at this. Aren't we. And we just we just push. Sometimes we push our kids too much and it causes them sometimes to walk away from God. So it's important that our lifestyle we the kids should see how much we love Christ more as much through our actions as our words.

They should see us apologize. They should see us humble ourselves. And so now I'm preaching I mean I'm backing what I'm preaching by my actions. The second thing that Pharisees love to do is they love to show off.

The Pharisee's Love of Recognition

They enjoy the praise of men. They just enjoy them. When men praise them Jesus said but all your works but all their works they do are to be seen by men. They make their factories broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.

So let's stop there for a minute. Factories. We talked about that last week. It's a little box that goes right here. And what's rolled up in it. The Hebrew text of the Bible to remind them to obey the law.

So instead of a little box they would get a big box. And they would. They would walk around like this. I have the Word of God in in my little factory and I'm so spiritual. So the bigger the box the more spiritual the longer the gown.

And it was can you imagine a gown it was just flowing. Just had these little tassels and just look beautiful. So they love the praises of men. They love to be just oh wonderful isn't that. And yes thank you.

Thank you. And God says that's your gift. I mean that's your reward. The praises of men. And they love the best places at feast and the best seats in the synagogues. And I don't know if you remember many years ago churches used to have sometimes they still do.

They have chairs up here and the real important people would sit up here. You know the board or the elders and you know they would sit up here. So they love those seats. Just look. Can I sit up there and look at the praises of men.

It was it was it was. God says it was a stench in his nostrils. They love greetings in the marketplaces and everybody calling them rabbi rabbi. But Jesus said but do not be called rabbi for one is your teacher the Christ.

And you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father for one is your father he was in heaven and do not be called teacher for one is your teacher the Christ but he was greatest among you shall be your servant.

And whoever exalts himself will be humbled. And he who humbles himself will be exalted. It's not in my notes but this is a good point that a Pharisees will not humble themselves. They will not humble themselves.

They want to exalt themselves. And he's not saying that you can't call your father father. This is the he's. You're putting titles on people that elevate them like in the Roman Catholic Church you know father the papacy the Pope and and these these titles that put them way up there with God equal to God.

He said don't do that. You're all equal. You're all brethren. These people want their name in the bulletin. They want to be leaders. They want recognize me recognize me. It's it's about showing off when they get that opportunity.

And I pulled up some titles from I guess pastors in different denominations. Some are called the most reverend or there's the most right reverend. Or there's worshipful master in in in Masonic places.

Or it's like the most right reverend and caught. And they want these titles. They want this position that you can. If Pharisees love their position at the church they they whatever that position is they love it.

They hold on to it and they don't want to let it go because that their value is in that that title in that position because they love recognition and they want to show off. They look for opportunities to pull others down.

Pride, Condemnation, and the Absence of Love

Now this is huge when because they like to show off what's the best way to look better by pushing others down. Or by pulling others down. As I pull others down I look better. And they they'll do this.

They'll. They'll. They'll look for opportunities to catch people into sin in sin. And I asked the question last week. I want to ask it again tonight. What do you think when you see someone caught in sin.

Do you pull them up and help them or do you continue to push them down. That's what Pharisees do. They'll point out things and they'll they'll just they'll just nail people on the sin that they're caught in.

They're not there to love and nurture and care and support because they don't have the love of the Father in them. So they'll pull other people down. And this is a good time to remind you that our love for one another proves to the world that we are disciples.

I don't care how much Bible somebody knows. If they don't have love in their heart they're on a very dangerous path. And that's a sign of a Pharisee is they didn't have the love of God in their heart.

They how can you express something you yourself don't have. So that's why it's hard for them to love people. Because they don't have the love of God. It's hard for them to say I'm sorry or I was wrong or be teachable because they don't have the Holy Spirit residing in them.

See the Holy Spirit will teach you and guide you and lead you. But without that spirit you become hard rigid and arrogant. And what's what I call modern-day Pharisee. And it's sad it's it's sad because they think they're spiritual.

They think that they're following all of God's rules. And it's not about following rules. It's about a relationship. And then because I have a relationship with God I want to follow his rules. Does that make sense.

You know people say I hate the Bible. It's a bunch of rule book of do's and don'ts. Why I want God to tell me what to do and what not to do because of my relationship with him. I want to know where are those guardrails.

It's like driving on a highway with no guardrails and you drop off a thousand foot cliff. Who would say remove the guardrails. That's exactly what we do when we want to live outside of God's truth. Number three.

The Unteachable Blind Guide

They are unteachable. This is this is this is key because all the Pharisees I know are unteachable. What I mean by most people aren't teachable by nature. Do you like constructive criticism. No right.

I'll give you the answer since you're not helping me here. But most of us are not teachable. It hurts doesn't it. But a person who has is filled the spirit understands that they need constructive criticism understands you know what you're right.

Let me work on that area and you fight it in some things. But a Pharisee is not teachable. You could have you could have a Pharisee right here. Pharisee sitting there. You can have the whole church body just about the whole church body saying listen you're wrong in this area.

Look at. No I'm not. You're all wrong. That's not teachable when you have a hundred spirit-filled believers telling somebody they're wrong and they're not thinking they're wrong. There's a problem there.

It's they're unteachable. They're blind guides. Jesus said this but woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites. For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. For you neither go in yourself nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

So how is this possible. If somebody's entering heaven how does a Pharisee sidetrack them. Well I think what he's saying here is there are genuine seekers people seeking God. They go to the Pharisees.

They go to the religious leaders. They go to the church. I'm seeking God. I'm genuine. But because they're blind guides they lead people astray away from God. So not only do they not go in heaven they shut up which is shut out heaven from those who are genuinely seeking God.

But they're following the wrong people. They're following. And sometimes people you know they'll get worried like Shane. Well how do I know. How do I know. It's very easy. Very don't ever forget this formula.

Stay pray and obey. Stay in this. Pray for direction and obey God's principles. You cannot go wrong when you stay in his word Lord. I'm in your word. I'm seeking your truth. I'm asking you to guide me.

I'm praying for direction. I'm obeying your word. You cannot be led astray. Any called anybody that's led astray is out of this. They get off course because of this. But Shane a Pharisee has this right.

But they don't have the heart of God that they can be straight as a gun barrel theologically. But they're just as empty. There's no there's no. There's no spirit in them. Jesus said that you worship God in spirit and in truth they're married.

When you divorce truth from spirit you'll have cults. You want me to list a bunch of cults right now. You know what they are. Right. They knock on your door quite often. Not everybody but something. They knock.

And they have truth. It's a portion of it. Oh we believe in Jesus. We believe in God. Oh well maybe we're the same. No we're not the same. Keep digging. Digging. Because it's truth void of the spirit.

The spirit wrote the Bible. The Spirit of God wrote the Bible. The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us Jesus. We behold the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. Spirit and truth it's a combination.

So Pharisees always have the truth void of the spirit. How do you know. Shame. Because they're unteachable. They're arrogant. They're blind guides everything we're talking about Jesus. Jesus nails them with a two-by-four to the head and he's just.

I would love to see this. I would have loved to been at this sermon. There's some sermons I would have loved to been at. One of the ones is when he explained all of the scriptures on the road to Emmaus.

And he broke down showing them Jesus and all the scriptures from the beginning till. That would have been wonderful to watch Jesus give that. But this would have been another one just standing back in the ground going oh man because he's not going.

You hypocrites you brood of vipers. Who for who. Who warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come. And he was not that he was preaching and he was. You hypocrites remember he. Later he goes on to say Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem.

I wanted to save you as a mother saves her little chicks. But you were not willing. You hypocrites. You whitewashed tombs. You're beautiful on the outside but in inside you're dead. You're condemned to hell.

That's why they killed him. One of the reasons was because they hated what he's saying. And this is a very good test right now. If a person doesn't like what I'm saying they're probably dealing with. They're probably a Pharisee.

If they hate what I'm saying they are their hearts not tender. Remember what the disciples when Jesus says one of you will betray me. They all said Lord is it I. That's a that's a humble heart. When a person can say Lord is it I.

Are you speaking to me. Are you speaking to me. That's a humble heart versus getting upset. And oh I just he can't excuses. They're excusing everything in their mind. He doesn't have a degree. Who's he to preach the Bible.

That's not true. I I've been. I've given 50 years of my life to this. To God's cause doesn't matter. I know people have given five minutes. Who are farther in the kingdom than a person giving 50 years.

Because the hearts right. So that's an important part. Are you teachable. I mean that that might be a good question for us. Are you teachable. Teachable means are you learning from others. Are you learning from the Word of God and then willing to make changes.

Jesus said for you. Neither go in yourselves. They won't humble themselves. They hold on to their pride all the way to hell. See this is why I hate pride. It is it is the root of all sin. Pride is it the root of all sin.

And pride is what leads people to hell. Well what about this. What. No it's it's pride. Pride leads people to hell. And pride will blind the Pharisee because they think they are so spiritual. And the sad fact is they are not saved.

Exploiting Others Behind Religious Displays

Woe be to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you devour a widow's houses. You devour widows houses. And for a pretense you make long prayers. Let's stop that there for a minute. They would devour everything a widow had.

Remember when the widow gave her a little mite it was all she had. They would. They would. They would require that give all you have. And they would. They would just they would just strip the people of all of their money.

And they would take advantage of them. And then for a pretense which means long prayers. Oh God that wonderful gracious heavenly everlasting Father thou bestow us on all these good things. That whoa isn't he a wonderful prayer warrior.

Wow. Look at that prayer. And they were just to be seen by men. So they would devour widows. They would take advantage of people. And then they would say these wonderful prayer to be puffed up by man.

And their covers getting blown right now. Isn't it Jesus is blowing their cover. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you travel land and sea to win one proselyte.

And when he is one you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourself. Man. Jesus. What's wrong with you. Nothing. Nothing. Sometimes a Pharisee needs to get hit with a hammer on the head to wake up.

He's saying you when you'll travel land and sea to win one convert. And when you have won them you make them twice the son of hell as you are. The reason is they there's zeal to win converts fuels their pride.

Like I'm over this ministry I'm this and and they've got these con look at and they that fuels their pride. It's like a checklist. I got another one I got another one I got another one. Same thing with the with the people knocking your door.

You don't think they go back and say I got another one I got another one. And then when they get the tough houses they have the bishop come over and that's but it's fueled by pride. It's a checklist. Look at these converts.

Look at you know and that's that's it. We have to be careful in this area of what God does. And somebody asked me recently about altar calls and I used to do them. Morgan remember I see the altar calls a lot when I preach at different places I get a lot of people come forward and I was proud of that.

Oh look at our in like look what it's like God was convicting me like you know you didn't do this. You just shut your mouth. You know anybody that would. Well look at the good you know half the half the room came forward and I'd spoken a Baptist conference.

There's like 300 600 people like 150 you know want to respond. I'm like there's that many unsafe people here and it was like a mate you know and you just but you start to think so now I think altar calls can be biblical if you're careful and you let people know.

It's not raising your hand or saying a prayer. It's your heart it's your heart repenting. You can do that right now. You can do that driving home you can do it back with the prayer team. You don't have to come forward.

You can you can do it wherever you're at and that's one of the things though is is we would people gauge and we hear that even even Christians you know well there's 100 people there are 50 or or I witnessed to this many and we throw out numbers like to impress people and God's not impressed he's impressed with the humble broken heart that's teachable and he'll bless the work that what I've noticed from God the more you humble yourself the more he exalts you and you humble yourself he'll he'll put you out there put them he'll he'll do it as we humble ourselves and become teachable but they continue to twist and add and distort the truth because they don't have the Spirit of God so Jesus said woe to you blind guides you say whoever swears by the temple it is nothing but whomever swears by the gold of the temple he is a obligated to perform it fools and blind for which is greater the golf or the temple that sanctifies the gold and whoever swears by the altar is it nothing but but whoever swears by the gift is on the altar he is he is obligated to perform it fools and blind which is greater the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift.

Therefore, he who ever swears by the altar swears by it and by all things on it. He who swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And he who swears the heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits on it.

You're like, phew, wow, what's he talking about? Well, you know what swearing on something is, right? We say I swear to because people don't believe us. So we have to kick it up a notch. It's taking an oath on steroids.

Like, I'm not gonna believe what you say, but if you say I swear on my mother's or I swear on God's Bible, it's like our word's not good enough, so we take it up a notch. But actually in the Old Testament, they were called to swear by the temple.

For example, 2 Chronicles 6 .22. When anyone wronged their neighbor, they were required to take an oath. They would swear the oath before the altar or the temple. So if somebody wronged their neighbor, they would say I swear to the temple, I swear to God's temple that I will repay that sheep I took.

How's that? Right? And it would confirm, okay, if I don't do this, God will judge me. They would swear to heaven, they would swear to the temple. So now the Pharisees are saying, no, you don't have to swear to the temple, but you have to swear to the gold in the temple.

That doesn't make any sense. Don't swear on the altar, but you can swear to the little gift on the altar. And that's a sure sign of a Pharisee is they'll twist and they'll dissort and they'll do all these things so they have a bunch of rules that we have to follow.

The commentary, InterVarsity Press commentary says this about this passage. Jesus rails in part against traditions that have created inconsistent standard of holiness. Anytime tradition becomes a priority, you're on a wrong path.

Anytime a tradition supersedes God's word, that's what the Pharisees did. Jesus actually would say, by your traditions, you have made the word of God of no effect. So when we can elevate traditions, we make the word of God of no effect.

And here's what the commentary says. I like this. We might compare it today to churches that rightly condemn smoking or overeating as polluting the body. Amen, I could preach a sermon on that one. Yet remain silent on watching television programs that pollute the mind.

I've seen this a lot. Some traditional churches regard particular styles of clothing or music as worldly, yet they harbor jealousy, materialism, and other attitudes that the Bible explicitly condemns.

There's a lot of hard words in this sermon. Do you see the distinction here? It's so ironic. They'll say something is worldly, but they'll hold on to bitterness and jealousy and anger and all, and unforgiveness, and they'll hold on to those like, they're okay, but let me tell you off about how you're ruining your life in this area.

You're smoking, but I'm gonna hold on to all these bad attitudes. And there's inconsistency. A Pharisee is always inconsistent. They'll promote this, but then they'll be dropping the ball in this area.

Some churches fight for the authority of Scripture, yet they care so little for it and practice that they ignore the context and the verse. So they'll say, we are a Bible-believing church. Okay, well, where's the love and the grace and the mercy?

Have you ever reached out to your community? Oh, we're just a Bible-believing church. Have you ever went to the homeless shelter? When was the last time you witnessed to somebody or gave them some food?

We're a Bible-believing church. I got it, but when are you doing what the Bible says and we can hide behind that? We're so into the Word, but the Word's not in you. Pharisee, Pharisee. And that's why a lot of churches you'll see in the years to come, obviously, and in the past, when they get so, they begin to worship the Bible, almost, instead of worshiping the Lord.

And I love the Bible. Don't get me wrong, it's God-inspired. I study it, I've given my life to it. But I don't worship the Bible. I worship God. And when they start to elevate this and all the other things begin to be minimized, the fruit of the Spirit.

There are churches that will elevate this and there's no fruit of the Spirit. There's no love, joy, peace, contentment, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. There's none of the fruit, but they have this.

Well, what they have is, they're a Pharisee. And it's not healthy, it's not good. When tradition, oh, I said this earlier, when your tradition becomes a priority, you're on a very slippery slope. Then the fourth point, mercy and compassion are lacking.

Mercy, Compassion, and the Weightier Matters

A Pharisee, this is one of the saddest things to watch. A Pharisee lacks mercy and compassion. They don't have compassion on people. They're not merciful, they're just, you know who they are, just, I don't care if your mom died yesterday.

Get up and pick up that trash. Stop whining, get over it. You know, it's just this hard, rigid, and they have, but the sad fact about that is because they've never experienced the mercy and love of the Father.

Because once you truly experience God's mercy and love and forgiveness, and if it wasn't but for the grace of God, there go I, you treat people a lot differently. Notice I didn't say perfectly, because we all stumble, we all fumble, we all, I shouldn't have said that, I shouldn't have did that, I get in this rut, and we call it a funk at our house, right, when the kids get in there to throw their tantrums and fits and kids do all these things, and you know, please shake your head so I know it's not just me, right, okay.

When you're, you know, it's just, this is not feeling good today. But you're back on track, you repent, there's that beautiful word again, and you have compassion for your kids and for others, but Pharisees lack compassion.

That's why they're so hard and rigid, and just, I mean, if you, I often think of a stone statue, that's what they remind me of is just a stone statue with the Bible in one hand. But there's no love and compassion, that's what breaks my heart is because they don't know the love and the compassion of the Father.

That's why they'll rarely talk about the love and compassion of the Father. They'll beat you up with truth, but they'll forget the other side of the coin. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, Jesus says right here about mercy and compassion, you hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith.

These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, you strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Have you ever, guy got a gnat, get rid of that gnat, but then they swallow a camel.

That's how ridiculous this is. They're blind guides. Now it's interesting, he said you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, those are herbs, like we would use today, herbs in herbs garden and oregano or different things.

And they would give eggs or milk or herbs, they would give 10 of their givings. And so Jesus is saying, that's good, Pharisee, but don't forget justice and mercy and faith and love. Those are more weightier.

And the Pharisee will get caught up on the tithe aspect or what the word says, but they'll forget the heavier things. I mean, all of the commandments and all of the Bible can be summed up on this. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

Everything else hangs on that. So why are they not obeying that main commandment and they're pushing all these other commandments? Because they don't have the love of the Father in them. Now this is interesting, Jesus didn't get rid of tithe.

Now I don't teach that you have to tithe, we're under, people say you're not under the law, well, I mean, the truth be told, God loves a cheerful giver. And a cheerful giver usually gives a little bit where it hurts.

And I believe that giving's gotta hurt a little bit. David said, I will not give the Lord something that costs me nothing. And we joke about it, but it reminds me of, I mean, I've done this, I give my refrigerator that's 22 years old to Grace Resources and think I'm so special.

Why don't I go buy them a new Whirlpool refrigerator? Oh, I couldn't do that. But see, it doesn't hurt, look, I gave to Goodwill. Of course, you just cleaned out your closet. Of course you gave to Goodwill, come on.

I mean, I'll take bags, oh, I just took everything at Goodwill, no, I just cleaned my closet. But so it's gotta hurt. When you give to God, I believe, and that's why I promote attempt. I promote a tithe, not that you have to.

God loves a cheerful giver. I don't need lectures, I don't need emails. I've read both sides of it. But it hurts. You make 4 ,000, 400 hurts. You make 6 ,000, 6 ,000 hurts. You make 10 ,000, $1 ,000 hurt.

I mean, it's like you feel what you're giving. Now, there's people in financial binds and they can't, and God sees the $5 as much as the $500. In God's eyes, it's really an issue of the heart. We need to realize that God doesn't need our money.

This has everything to do with the trust issue. The reason we don't give is because we don't trust that God will see us through. I've done it, oh, not this month. We've got, this came, the kids, and they're like, ooh, this is gonna be tough this month.

What I'm saying is, God, I don't trust you to see me through. And that's one reason why we don't pass a plate or a pouch or anything. We want just people to give as a cheerful giver. We don't want them to feel pushed.