We’re living in a time of abundance but hard times are coming.  I believe we would be wise to make decisions that would enable us not to look at what can I set apart for me and mine.  I think our attitude should be: “What can I set apart that I might have to help my brothers and sisters?”  And those of us that have more abundance than the rest, God has given us this abundance for that very purpose of being able to minister to and care for those in our midst that might be experiencing adversity sometime down the road.  Now, I want to clarify this, because I know when I make some statements like this—it’s funny how it’s not always the right people that hear what you’re saying.  And I can just envision someone right now going, “Well, you know, this hour’s upon us, so kids, you know that eighty-nine dollars that we spend to rent that spot where we put our tent up and camp for that week on vacation?  We can’t go this year, we’re putting that aside for hard times.”  That’s not what I’m saying, okay?  But I am saying that we need to be aware and take that which is abundance and be prayerful about it, because is any of that ours?  Not in the scope of God being the source of all that we have.  Now, referenced in Acts, the Holy Ghost spoke to Ananias and Sapphira and said, “It was yours to do with as you pleased” (Acts 5:4), right?  God leaves that into our hands, and there’s no mandate beyond the tithe as to what our contributions might be to honor God, but I do know this:  The Scripture says, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom” (Luke 6:38); amen?  I do know this, that “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7), praise God!  There are many verses on providing for the poor among us and analyze how much is said about meeting the necessities, the needs of life, money, riches, provision and providence of God caring for us. 

We need to understand what poverty is.  Here in America, the poverty rate is about 11.6% of the people and the income of those people is between $15,000 and $18,000 per year.  Now, what’s interesting is the people that are living at that level are living at a higher standard than seventy percent of the people in the world.  Those of you who’ve been to Africa, those of you who’ve been traveling to third-world nations, who have been to India, you understand that.  When we go to those places, we’ll hear statements like this, and we can hardly believe it:  The average income for people in India is twenty dollars a month, and that might even be on the high side at times.  We go over there, and we see even some of those that we would consider in poverty, and they’ve got cell phones, and they’ve got some money to go around.  Beloved, there are millions of people that are living below the standard of a lot of those people that we interact with, that are out in the bush, that are out in the different areas of these provinces.  But we’re talking about where the common man lives.  We know that here in Loudoun County not many of us are worried about where tomorrow’s food is coming from; amen?  Most of us have more than one coat.  Amen?  Having food and raiment, we’re to be content.  We’re a rich people.  We’re to operate in a spirit that’s willing and content to be out about Father’s business.  We are blessed, praise God!  And we thank God for it!