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[ Silence ] [ Music ] ♪ The Lord is in my soul ♪ ♪ Yes, he is ♪

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♪ The Lord is now in my soul ♪ ♪ Yes, he is ♪ ♪ We lift up our hands to magnify your name ♪ ♪ For your wonderful name is worthy to be praised ♪

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♪ The Lord is in my soul ♪ ♪ Yes, he is ♪ ♪ The Lord is in my soul ♪ ♪ Yes, he is ♪

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♪ The Lord is now in my soul ♪ ♪ Yes, he is ♪ ♪ We lift up our hands to magnify your name ♪ ♪ On your wonderful way ♪

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♪ It's wonderful to be praised ♪ ♪ The Lord is in my soul ♪ ♪ Yes, he is ♪ ♪ For he is my salvation ♪

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♪ He's my joy and my strength ♪ ♪ He gives me strength and courage ♪ ♪ To make it through the storm ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ You're worthy to be praised ♪ ♪ For the Lord is nearer, my soul ♪ ♪ Yes, he is ♪ ♪ The Lord is my hope ♪

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♪ When I'm feeling despair ♪ ♪ Whenever I call on the Lord ♪ ♪ He's always right there ♪ ♪ And when I feel weak, the Lord ♪

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♪ He makes me feel strong ♪ ♪ And when I feel sad, the Lord ♪ ♪ He makes me feel glad ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ You're worthy to be praised ♪ ♪ The Lord is in my soul ♪

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♪ The Lord is in my soul ♪ ♪ The Lord is in my soul ♪ ♪ Yes, he is ♪ - Amen, amen.

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Amen. Oh. The Lord is giving you the land. And soon you will conquer it.

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Set her down. And plant crops. And when you begin harvesting each of your crops, the first things you pick must be put in a basket.

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Take them to the place where the Lord, your God, chooses to be worshipped. And tell the priests, long ago the Lord our God promised our ancestors that he would give us this land. And today I thank Him for keeping His promise and giving me a share of the land. in the 13th verse reads, "Then you must pray, 'Our Lord and our God, you have said that

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ten percent of my harvest is sacred. I have obeyed your command and given this to the poor, including the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows. The subject, when we get what we want. When we get what we want.

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Our zest for living is based on the fact that we believe life offers certain rewards. We believe that hard work pays off in success. America promises to those who settle here a life of liberty and the opportunity to engage in the pursuit of happiness. The promises we entertain, for the most part, are based on human hopes.

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We want a better life, better surroundings. Yes, we want a better quality of life. On the Exodus story, the Jewish people leave the oppression of Egypt in search of a better life. God promised them a land that flows with milk and honey.

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So they left Egypt, looking for this land. They traveled through the desert, enduring sweltering heat, chilly nights, experiencing the scarcity of food and drink. They were attacked by the ravages of disease.

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They traveled because they wanted the land that God promised. They waited for centuries. What they wanted was worth waiting for. Their journey to the land was one that involved considerable sacrifice.

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Now as we come to this particular experience relating to our text, addressed by Moses saying the Lord is giving you this land they have not earned it it is an inheritance

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it's God's gift how do we respond when after a long wait we get what we want.

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Children are anxious to receive certain gifts at Christmas time. Many times when they get those gifts, they are broken before the day is over. Because they did not respond with proper care. How do we respond when we get what we want?

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There was an old story of a mouse that was running about in the house and came upon some old wine and began to sip it. He sipped a little, dipped in, and this time and that time he sipped, and he got to the place that he was feeling pretty good. So he went and stood in the middle of the floor of the house and said, "Bring on all the cats."

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[Laughter] And soon a large cat showed up, took him and was shaking him around in his mouth, and the mouse began to flee. "Oh, please let me go.

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Just let me go and say goodbye to my relatives." And the cat said, "Oh, no, you won't come back." He said, "Oh, yes, I promise I'll come back." "Just let me go and say goodbye to my relatives."

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He kept it, "Oh no, you won't come back." He said, "Oh yes, I promise I'll come back." So he released the mouse to go and say goodbye to his relatives. The mouse got away and ran over to the far place, corner of the house.

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The holder was there and went down and came back and looked out and the cat said, "Come on, you promised." He said, "Yes, I promised, but I was in my liquor." [Laughter] What do we do?

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What do we do when we get what we want? We... We conduct ourselves in different ways. So Moses gives directions to be followed in getting and giving.

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We need to examine these directions and apply them to our lives. Moses reminds the people that the land that has made it possible

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for them to receive certain produce belongs to God. The very foundation of our existence is God. This land, this land that God promised, this land that you have received And as an agrarian economy, they have planted, they've had seed time and harvest, and in

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the course of the years. And the message is, even before they get in the land, this is some stewardship advice. You may call it a stewardship sermon. Moses says to the people the Lord is giving you the land

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it's God's gift to his people not yours scripture says the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the world and they that dwell within therein for he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods

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by the grace of God we go from desire to development what you accomplish in life depends largely on what we desire we go from dream to reality from vision to venture God is our landlord and we are his tenants he is

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the ground of our being the foundation of our existence in him we live move and have been. The Lord is the strength of our life. So listen again to the words of Moses as he speaks to the people of God. The Lord, he says, is giving you the land and soon you will conquer it. There can be no crops without land. God makes the

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land. God is making the land. There can be no production without the cultivation of the land the Lord is giving you the land and when you get in the land God promised to your ancestors remember that the land is God's gift when you conquer it when you You settle down, plant crops, but remember that the land is God's gift.

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So this is something that many people forget. When they get what they want, they forget how they got it. there was a prosperous farmer who was showing a visitor his farm. And he pointed in the east and said, "You see all the land as far as you can see in that direction?"

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He said, "That's mine." And then he pointed in another direction and he said, "See all the land in that direction?" He started west, east, north and south, saying, "All the land in each direction belongs to me." And the visitor said to him, "What I want to know, not how much you own in this direction and that direction,

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but how much you own in that direction. Our relationship to God. And during this Lenten season, it behooves each one of us to take an introspective view of ourselves, not somebody else, but ourselves.

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examine ourselves as to the fulfillment of our responsibilities to the one who owns us. So even though we may have cleared the land, we may have cut down the trees, we may have removed the stumps, The land belongs to God. And so he says when harvest time comes, remember God gives to harvest.

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The first things picked are to be put in a basket. Take the fruits of the harvest to the place where the Lord your God chooses to be worshipped. You see, giving is testimony of our faithfulness. We cannot love without giving.

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Give God first place in your service. Give Him first place in your heart. Consecrate every part. Our giving is a manifestation of our faithfulness.

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And then as you come and present your gift, tell the priest, "Long ago the Lord our God promised our ancestors that he would give us this life. Today I thank Him for keeping His promise and giving me a share in the land so we are to relate to the Lord as sharecroppers.

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Recognizing that God gives the land, we don't have to sit down and just wait for God to take care of all the needs on the land. We are sharecroppers. We work with the Lord. He is our landlord.

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We are his tenants. And he expects us to cultivate the land and to use it in a manner that it produces good fruit. And once that fruit is produced, we are to bring it to the Lord's house

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and presented there in a basket, a symbolic presentation there as to our stewardship. When you get in the land, don't forget where you have come from.

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This last Sunday in what we call Black History Month. Don't forget, once you get in the land, Don't forget where you come from. Remember.

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So our relationship is based on our actions related to our remembrance. Our ancestors were homeless. And they went to live in Egypt.

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This is the message that is to be rehearsed as they present their gifts. They went to live in Egypt, a nation of many people, and the Egyptians were cruel and had no pity on us. They mistreated us and forced us into slavery. We called on you Lord and you helped us.

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You heard our cries and delivered us. You terrified the Egyptians with mighty miracles and brought us to this land. And gave us this land rich with milk and honey. "Now Lord, I bring to you the best of the crops that you have given to me."

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After you say those things, Moses said, "Place the basket in front of the altar and bow down to worship Him." But you see, giving is not just participating in a service that some people consider as entertainment and tossing a flip or a flipper in the leg, placing a tip in the basket for God. It's related to our faithfulness to Him.

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It's related to His goodness to us. It's related to being recipients of His grace. This is what Moses points out. And he says 10% of the harvest is to be brought to the temple and presented.

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It is to be given thankfully and prayerfully. God himself tells us through the prophet Moses how we are to conduct ourselves in sharing the harvest. So all of us want a good harvest. But many times our attitude changes when we have a good heart, when we get what we want.

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Our attitude often changes. There was a man who started as a youngster, as a youth, he started tithing, 10 cents out of a dollar. And he went on, and in the course of time, he made much more money, and he got to the point where he was making thousands of dollars. And then he went to his minister and he wanted to know if he couldn't get out of that place.

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He was making too much money to pray for him, that he could get out of that place. The minister said, "Well, yes, let us pray. Let us pray that God will reduce your income." Well, he didn't want that. Most of us like to receive in abundance, but we change our minds when it gets to a certain level.

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So when we get what we want, let us not forget the one who made it possible. When we get what we want, let us not forget our ancestors. We who gather here, week in and week out, year in and year out, we're standing on the shoulders of our ancestors.

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Tremendous sacrifices have been made for us to be here at this place and at this time. So we're related to our ancestors. We have a history that involves many difficulties. I can remember when I was a boy going to Sunday school, most of us youngsters, children at that time, we had a penny.

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We had a penny that we gave, and they had little cards that they gave us in Sunday school. And then finally, I remember as I grew a little older, I had a nickel. And that was a lot of money. Come home and have some neck bones, back bones, and pinto beans, and cornbread.

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And many times it was just hot water cornbread. And yet in the midst of it all, we struggled and organized and built churches. Had chicken dinners and chitlin dinners and all of that in order to build our churches. Don't forget that, how God has been with us and how he has led us over the hills and through the valleys.

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God has led us. So don't forget, remember, remember, remember, remember, remember where the Lord has brought you. Remember, don't forget the Lord. You forget a lot of other things. You know, one college president said to me, he said, "You know, we have to practice selective forgetting. Certain things you need to forget and remember

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other things. You have just so much capacity so you got to practice selective. But above all don't forget the Lord. Don't forget the Lord. If I forget the old Jerusalem may my right hand forget her cunning if I forget thee may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth so don't forget the Lord don't become a victim of

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amnesia. For all time is this thing. Don't forget the Lord. Remember. Remember. In other words, when you get there, when you bring your gift to the altar, approach it, the altar, with a spirit of humility and take and place your gift there on the table of the altar and as you place your gift there, give your testimony.

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You know, some people are like a lemon, you just have to squeeze it out of them. But really what I'm talking about today ought to be one of the high points in the worship. We ought to be glad! Glad to bring a portion of that which God has entrusted to us to His house.

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And if there's one thing we need to cultivate, it's the joy. The joy of giving. And if we do not have the joy of giving, we have missed one of the great experiences in the Christian life. Remember give you testimony Lord. I want to thank you I

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Want to thank you for for making it possible you you woke me up Morning after morning and you gave me strength and enabled me to bring this Harvest I've received it and I'm so glad I want to present it to you. Thanks be to God

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I have a testimony to give you and you have a testimony to give don't fail to give it. Thanks Be to God He's the one who puts bread on our table who gives us water And who gives us strength who gives us hope so when we get what we want

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Don't forget God That's the heart of this message is to remember the goodness the grace and the mercy of God We come now to the hymn of invitation

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Privileged to accept this God through Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life We invite you to come if you're here without a church home. We We invite you to come this morning We invite you to become a member of the family of God here at Ebenezer

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Above all of our wants is the desire to be a Christian To be more and more like the master Come, come. [Music]

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Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart, in my heart. Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart. ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪

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♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Lord, I long to be a Christian ♪

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♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Lord, I want to be more loving ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪

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♪ Lord, I want to be more loving ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪

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♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Lord, I long ♪ ♪ To be your glory ♪

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♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Lord, I want to be more lonely ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪

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♪ Lord, I want to be more holy ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪

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♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Lord, I want to be more holy ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪

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♪ Lord, I long to be like Jesus ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Lord, I long to be like Jesus ♪

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♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪ ♪ Lord, I long to be like Jesus ♪

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♪ To be like Jesus ♪ ♪ In my heart ♪