David said, “Riches and honor are of the Lord, and thou who reignest over all; and in thy hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.”  So, we thank You and praise You, but whom am I?  (That’s a good attitude to have, folks.)  “But who am I, and what is my family that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort?  For all things come of thee, (Listen!) and of thine own have we given thee.”  It all came from God.  Let’s not get all caught up when we do something grand.  That’s just giving back to God what He’s given to us; amen?  If we can live with that kind of a heart, that kind of an attitude, “Who am I?  Who is my family that we should know these blessings?”  Most of us never thought we would have what we have today.  God has so blessed us!  Anything we do for Him is from what we’ve received; amen?  God’s so good to us! 

In Genesis 41:29 it says, “And behold the interpretation of the dream there came seven years of great plenty…And there shall arise after that, seven years of famine.  And all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt.  The famine shall consume the plenty.”  God is prospering us and blessing us to prepare for the future.  But the purpose is not to stamp out poverty.  You are not going to be able to do that.  Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you,” amen?  “Poverty isn’t going anywhere,” thus sayeth the Lord.  So, we need to know, then, in our abundance, how do we properly care for the poor?  Biblically, you help the poor when, as the good Samaritan, you run into somebody who’s wounded, broken up, doesn’t have any food; amen?  Over the years, people on the street have asked for money and I say, “I’m not going to give you any money because you’re probably going to spend it on drugs or alcohol or something else, but I’ll take you and get you some food.”  About 70 percent of the people turned me down.  But those who didn’t, I can remember a lot of good times.  Last time this happened, we ran into these guys that said they were hungry so, we took them to McDonald’s and began to share the gospel with them, prayed for these guys, ministered the Word.  I believe the Word of the Lord went into the hearts of those people.  But if nothing else, as we were getting ready to leave the lady that was the manager there said, “Can I talk to you for just a moment?”  She just began to weep.  She said, “I’ve not seen anything like that before.  I haven’t seen it.  Thank God!”  Turned out she was a professed believer, and she said, “This has smitten my heart.  I’m looking forward to the opportunity to be able to bless somebody else,” praise God!  So, we know that in our daily lives there are opportunities.  We know that it, first of all, is to the household of faith.

God is blessing us to prepare for these hard times that are coming.  Don’t eat all of it up.  Pray and ask God for wisdom.  There are examples in the Bible.  There are some statutes that have been set forth that will dictate that to us, but I do want you to know one thing for sure.  God has also given you abundance for you to enjoy and to partake of.  This asceticism that so much of the church tries to promote, talking primarily about Romanism and some of the ancient doctrines there, have taken hold on the church and robbed the glory of God.  These promises that are sure to a thousand generations.

We need wisdom.  We need to glorify His name.  Perilous times are coming.  We need to prepare our hearts.  We need an attitude that would say, “Let me prepare in the midst of all of this abundance and care for one another.”