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[ Silence ] [MUSIC - "NOTHING BUT LOVE CAN MAKE ME WHOLE"] Nothing but love can make me whole. ♪ Nothing but the blood can save my soul ♪

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♪ Nothing but the blood can set me free ♪ ♪ Jesus died on the cross for me ♪ ♪ One more time ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood can make me whole ♪

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♪ Nothing but the blood can save my soul ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood ♪ ♪ Can set me free ♪ ♪ Jesus died on the cross for me ♪

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♪ Must you ♪ ♪ And all the world go free ♪ ♪ No, no, there's a cross for you ♪ ♪ And there's a cross for me ♪

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♪ He died on that cross ♪ ♪ For my iniquity ♪ ♪ And I thank him ♪ ♪ For all he's done for me ♪

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♪ Oh, nothing but his blood ♪ ♪ Make me whole ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood ♪ ♪ Can save my soul ♪

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♪ Nothing but the blood ♪ ♪ Can set me free ♪ ♪ Jesus died on the cross for me ♪ ♪ I'd like to tell you one more time ♪

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♪ Must Jesus bear the cross ♪ ♪ And all the world go free ♪ ♪ No, no, no, there's a cross for you ♪ ♪ And certainly there's a cross for me ♪

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♪ He died on that old rugged cross ♪ ♪ For our iniquities ♪ ♪ And I thank him for all he's done for me ♪ ♪ Oh, nothing but the blood ♪

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♪ Can make me whole ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood ♪ ♪ Can save my soul ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood ♪

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♪ Can set me free ♪ ♪ Jesus died on the cross ♪ ♪ Oh, I've been washed ♪ ♪ I've been washed ♪

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♪ In the blood of the lamb ♪ ♪ I'm so glad about it ♪ ♪ I've gotta sing and shout it ♪ ♪ I've been washed ♪

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♪ In the blood of the lamb ♪ ♪ Jesus died on the cross ♪ ♪ Oh, I've been washed ♪ ♪ In the blood of the lamb ♪

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♪ I'm so glad about it ♪ I've got to sing and shout it. I've been washed. Oh, yes, I have.

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Jesus died on. Oh, Jesus died on. My Jesus died on for me. [applause]

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Let's all say amen again. [audience says amen] Our scripture is a continuation of messages that we have been focusing on dead in African-American Baptist Church.

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And W.E.B. Du Bois points out in his book on souls of black folk that three distinctives in the African-American church. The song is the way we sing. Sermon is the way we preach.

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And the shout. All right. Oh, yeah. And I grew up in a church where you had all three

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of those at their best. And if there was not a shout, there was not a church. We've gotten so far removed from the shout that we think something is wrong.

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But those have been the characteristics or the distinctives. And as you read 1 Corinthians and follow what Paul has discussed, he's talked

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about problems in the church. He's talked about division in the church and separation because of focus on human personalities, preachers, and the like.

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He emphasizes the fact that there needs to be unity in the church. Unity and love. Then he goes on in this particular letter to discuss the resurrection.

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And he soars as he talks about the resurrection. And having done that, he comes to these words, "Now concerning the collection." Now concerning the collection.

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I'm going to read just a portion of that chapter. We're talking about the 16th chapter of 1 Corinthians, the first eight verses. Now concerning the collection.

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[ Pause ] >> Looks like I have a Bible here without that in it. [LAUGHTER] Yes.

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Amen. The church looked for the early return of Jesus. Many of them thought that Jesus would return during their lifetime. And so it is said of them that they had a communal society.

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They had all things common. So we had a kind of communism in the New Testament, not communism as we know it in Russian, but a kind of Christian communism in which they freely shared the things that they had. They had all things common.

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And in sharing, they manifested a kind of lifestyle that was different from what was around them, the pagan society that surrounded them. They had a lifestyle of Christian stewardship. They had all things common.

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They shared freely what they had and they prospered. This collection is something that we are familiar with in the African American church. Most of us grew up in a church where after the sermon, the collection was taken. And many times it was taken.

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We had the people to get up and march around. We had some deacons there at the table who counted the money. And you were asked to contribute. Some people had different ways of contributing.

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Dr. Perry Way, who was the president of our convention, says that when he was young, courting and the offering time came, he would march around the table and give them a ten dollar bill and ask for nine dollars and ninety cents. That was his participation in the collection.

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Other than different ways of participating in the collection. After the deacons made their speech about giving, and people came and gave, and possibly they had 20 some dollars, And they would say, "Well, let's see if we can make that up."

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And we would try to make it 25, or an even number, and then go on and on. And on and on we would go, and sometimes we'd get to $30 and go on and get maybe $40,

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getting it a little at a time and asking people to make it out in round numbers. That was the way we had the collection. But this is not the kind of collection

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Paul is talking about. That's the kind of collection that many of us are familiar with. But Paul is talking about a special collection

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that was taken for the poor saints. Because after a short time, Jesus did not return, people began to wonder about how they were going to make it and they developed a group of poor saints in Jerusalem.

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These poor saints did not have any retirement, any plans for their future. They were just there. So the Christian church began to raise funds, raise money to take care of the poor saints. And Paul is talking about that offering.

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He's coming to Corinth and he wants them to be prepared with the offering. Churches in the surrounding district have been raising funds for that purpose and they're all going to meet in Jerusalem. Paul tells them to be ready for that meeting. The people in the work of teaching, stewardship, and the stewardship is based not on some sporadic

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movements among those in the congregation, but it's based on what they have and it's to be reported. It's a systematic way of doing it. They are sharing a fellowship. They are a fellowship of believers, but they are to follow a pattern of giving. Those who are involved in this church are to give, not only in the current expenses

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of the church, but they are to give according to the needs of these poor saints. Notice that there is a time. He says, "Upon the first day of the week." Not when you decide somewhere down the--

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my first church, we had a person who responded to the stewardship emphasis, said, "You know, I just give once a year." I said, "Oh, is that so?"

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So I have the clerk to look up his record. that he gave $52. [LAUGHTER] He was a doctor, and he gave $52 once a year.

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He'd given his collection. So it's necessary every now and then for the preacher to talk about stewardship. Amen.

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That's right. Talk about stewardship. Because if we don't, we'll forget it. I know that there are a lot of people in the church,

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when you announce that you're gonna be talking about money, they said, "Kills the spirit." Kills the spirit. Now, if we really understand the spirit,

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Jesus had more to say about money and material things than he did about a lot of other things that we talk about. Because that is really the heart of where we are. we start dealing with one's money.

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Largest business meetings I've had in my ministry had to do with money. People turn out because that strikes us. It's very hard of our being what we do

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and how we use our money. So Paul here sets a pattern not only for the churches of that day, but for the churches of days to come.

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when he says, "Upon the first day, "first day of the week on Sunday," that Christians had begun at that early period to use Sunday as a day of worship.

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So on the first day of the week, "Put it aside, laid by him in store." Put aside what you're going to be giving. Why is it necessary to put it aside?

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I don't need to emphasize that, because if we don't put it aside and earmark that for the church, it gets mingled up and used in some other way, so much so that we don't have it. We've developed a rather good reputation, and God has blessed us, many of us, so that

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Our giving compares with churches of this size, but we still must grow in giving. We can't say that we have reached the mark, that we don't have to worry about that anymore. We always need to grow. On the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered

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you." As God has prospered. People say, "Well, you know, this is a free will offering, Reverend. Free will, yes, whatever you feel free to give."

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No, he said, "As God has prospered you." So that our giving should be measured by how God has prospered us. God prospered us to have much,

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it should be expressed in much giving. Lay by him in store, put it aside. In your thinking, is where it should go first. In your thinking, you should put aside,

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so now I'm going to earmark this for God's work. So we do it in our thinking, and we do it in our living. We ought to carve out some time. You're too busy that you can't get to church.

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You're too busy. Yes, Lord. You're too busy for the development of your life. Paul says, "Do not wait," so to speak,

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"until I arrive on the scene." Some people like to do what we call emergency giving, pressure giving. No, lay it aside so that when I come,

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when I arrive for the offering, that you are ready. So the early Christian community had a pattern that was given to them by Paul. God wants his saints to demonstrate his power

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in their lives and be ready and able to follow his commands. When I come, I will send those that you have approved by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the letter is written, they're to be ready with the gift to accompany the

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letter. So there's a systematic way of doing this. Paul speaks of the liberality of their giving. He's not trying to squeeze something out of the people.

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He compliments them for their liberality and tells them to continue in this way. They were not giving just enough to get by. What are they giving? What did so and so give?

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No, according to what God has prospered you. They were not measuring their gift by the least that was given. They were among the top givers. This is why they remain a model for the church.

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They are a model for New Testament churches. They're a model for churches today. And if it seems advisable, they were to have someone to accompany Paul. In other words, they don't have to worry about the money getting there safely.

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They were to provide someone to accompany him to Jerusalem to carry the gift. So it's an expression here we have of liberality. If we consider liberality, we must begin with the heart. To love the Lord thy God with all thy mind, with all thy soul, with all thy heart.

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It must be in the heart. Giving must come from the heart. So liberality in giving the church ought to be the place where we develop liberal givers and continue to have them to grow in number.

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One man said to another, he said, "You know, if I had your money, I would give more." And the man said to him, "If you had my money, maybe you wouldn't have your spirit." So it comes from the heart. The apostle here is teaching Christian stewardship for his own, not for his own personal welfare.

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Stewardship isn't something provided so the preacher can make it. God was taking care of the preacher before he got into the church. Main thing is for the church and for one's own personal development, own personal development. If we have children, we should teach them to give in the family.

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I remember having a lesson in our family devotions where children were to give a gift to someone that was a part of their assignment in the lesson in the family devotion. For why must they learn it? So they can cultivate in their own lives the grace of giving.

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So he tells the people to be aware of how one is to grow spiritually in giving, growing spiritually in giving. This is the challenge to which we are to come as we face this message. It indeed is the congregation that has the kind of generosity and the liberality that

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Paul is talking about. And every person needs to be able and encouraged to cultivate the grace of giving. Life has its seasons and in every season we must seek to cultivate this grace, this grace, this grace of giving.

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Life has a time of autumn, time of spring, a time of summer. It has its seasons and in every season we must learn to cultivate this grace of giving. He talks about being in Ephesus. He talks about the hardships in Ephesus.

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But you know sometimes in giving we make our own way hard because we do not cultivate this grace in the manner in which it should be done. I had a friend when I was living in Waco, and he had a Lincoln, and he would come to Bowery from me, and he could not supply enough gas for his Lincoln without coming to Bowery.

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And God was blessing him. He was blessing him with enough to live, but he had to borrow because he wasn't managing well what he had in his possession.

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That is important because more and more in this economy, we are called upon to be able to manage. What's the number one problem in the nation? It's the economy.

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It's the economy. And how we manage what God has given us is what really makes the difference. I was rather young when I discovered that.

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I went to the state fair, which is just either meeting or closing in Dallas now. And my parents sacrificed and provided me with $1 to spend in the state fair.

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And so I went to the state fair with the $1. And I looked at all the exhibits. And I saw the stands that they had. And I ended up spending $0.10.

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And I came home with $0.90. Always save something from what you got. In fact, that's something that for me, it's the Puritanic ethic that our forefathers left us with.

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Mother used to say, you know, always save something back. Have something for a rainy day. And what we do in the management of what we have depends upon whether or not we are going to be spendthrifts

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or whether we are going to be liberal in our giving, as was this church. So it's not what you have. There was a young lady who was a dear friend

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of ours in seminary. Her father was a doctor and he sent her an allowance every so often, every month. And she had to borrow to go from the time

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one allowance check was sent to another. was because she had not learned to manage. Paul here is instructing the church in ways that have to do with management of funds.

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And every person needs to be able to live through the winter. I'm coming to you. I hope to spend the winter there.

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Well, that's a difficult time. and Paul is going to be there with them. And it's a wonderful thing if you have some friends at winter.

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And to have friends at winter, this is the thing that good stewardship would enable you to do, is to have friends at winter.

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Thank God for the journey. He's on a journey, missionary journey. Thank God he's on this journey, but thank God also that he has friends

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with whom to spend the winter. Cold, deserted, abandoned many times, people find themselves in a stress and strain during winter. But Paul has friends at winter,

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and it's a wonderful thing that we can be sure that we have friends at winter. So if we live right during the other seasons, we are prepared for the winter,

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and we have friends for the winter season. A man was walking with his friends, and he came to a certain place on this property, and he turned the man around, said,

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"See, all you can see, as far as you can see in that direction," he said, "that belongs to me." And he turned him from the south to the north and said,

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see as far as you can see in that direction, that belongs to me. Then he turned him east and west and said, do you see all you can see in that direction,

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so that belongs to me. And the friend said, yes. He said, but what I really like to know is how much do you own in that direction?

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(audience laughing) That's what really matters. And the whole matter of Christian stewardship is to teach us to cultivate a relationship with the eternal.

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Oh, we're down here temporarily. We have fine homes. We have fine cars. But they aren't going to last long.

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In fact, we're not going to last long with them. We're all going to leave it here. All of it will be left right here. And so what this message is about,

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is about having a relationship with the eternal. A relationship with God, because God is gonna be with us when winter comes. When the winter of sickness comes,

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when the winter of disappointment, winter of discouragement, winter of unemployment, when all of these winters come,

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God will be with us. Thanks be to God that he is with us. He has sent Jesus Christ to demonstrate to us that he's with us in the winter.

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When things aren't going well with us, God is there to be with us. So I'm a witness. I'm a witness that God will be with us when winter comes.

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And if winter comes, you can rest assured That spring is my proudest hour. So we come, I want to extend the invitation, because if you're not rightly related to Jesus Christ, you're not prepared for winter.

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That's right. He said, "Now, I plan to come, I plan to winter with you, I plan to stay there, and I want you to be warned because I'm glad to have friends for the winter season. [MUSIC]

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I love the Lord. He heard my cry and pitted every ground. It's the faithfulness of God. [ Music ] (audience shouting) (gentle piano music)

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[ Music ] ♪ I love the Lord ♪ ♪ He heard my cry ♪ ♪ And did every wrong ♪

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♪ Long as I live ♪ ♪ And trouble rise ♪ ♪ The hasten to ♪ ♪ His love ♪

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♪ I love the Lord ♪ ♪ He heard my cry ♪ ♪ And pity ♪ ♪ To be grown ♪

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♪ Long as I live ♪ ♪ And troubles rise ♪ ♪ I'll haste unto ♪ ♪ To my God's throne ♪

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♪ I love the Lord ♪ ♪ He bowed his ear ♪ ♪ And chased my grief ♪ ♪ Peace ♪

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♪ Away ♪ ♪ Oh let my heart ♪ ♪ No more despair ♪ ♪ I have breath ♪

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♪ To pray ♪ ♪ I love the Lord ♪ ♪ I love the Lord ♪ ♪ He heard my cry ♪

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♪ And he pitted every, every, every groan ♪ ♪ Long, long as I live ♪ ♪ I don't have to worry ♪ ♪ When trouble, when trouble rise ♪

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♪ I can, I can, I can go to Him ♪ ♪ I can go to my, my God's throne ♪ ♪ And I love, I love the Lord ♪ ♪ Because of His amazing grace ♪

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♪ It saved, it saved the wretch ♪ ♪ Yes sir ♪ ♪ It saved the wretch ♪ ♪ Oh yes it did ♪

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♪ Just like me ♪ ♪ Because, because I once, I once was lost ♪ But now, now I'm found. Oh, yes.

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I was blind, but thank God. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Oh, thank God.

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I am right now. Thank God. I can see. Yes, sir.

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I love, I love the Lord. I love the Lord. [MUSIC PLAYING] He'll hear your cry

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And pity every groan Long as I live in troubled eyes Somebody say I'll haste, I'll haste, I'll haste, unto I can go to him.

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I don't care what the problem is, I can go to his throne. ♪ I'll haste ♪ ♪ I'll haste ♪ ♪ Unto his throne ♪

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♪ I'll haste ♪ ♪ Unto his throne ♪ ♪ I'll haste ♪ ♪ I'll haste ♪

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♪ As long as I live in troubled hands ♪ ♪ I'll go to his throne ♪ ♪ Yes, I will ♪ [BLANK_AUDIO]