TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - Dec 19, 2025 - 2 Corinthians 8:9 - Riches Through Poverty: The Grace That Gives

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

2 Corinthians 8:9 reveals the heart of the gospel through the voluntary humility of Christ: “Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich.” Paul anchors generosity, sacrifice, and grace in the incarnation itself. Jesus did not lose riches by accident—He laid them aside by choice so that sinners could gain what they could never earn. In this Faith Friday edition of Morning Manna, Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart examine the meaning of Christ’s poverty, the nature of true spiritual riches, and how the grace of giving flows from the cross, not from compulsion. Teachers: Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart You can partner with us by visiting FaithandValues.com, calling 1-888-519-4935, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961. MEGA FIRE reveals the ancient recurring cycles of war and economic collapse that have shaped history for 600 years. These patterns predict America is now entering its most dangerous period since World War II. Get your copy today! www.megafire.world Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves! www.AmericanReserves.com It’s the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today! www.Amazon.com/Final-Day Apple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books! www.books.apple.com/final-day Purchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today. www.Sacrificingliberty.com

Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome to Morning Manna. We're finally here. It's the last morning Manna lesson for 2025. Doc and I are going to take a two-week semester break. Not really a vacation. We've got a lot of work to do, but we will be back on Monday, January 5th, 26, our current Faith and Values platform will fade away and make room for the launch of manna nation.com. The first phase will be online in late December. Now, don't worry, if you forget the new name, just enter into your browser, Faith and Values.com, and it will automatically roll over to mananation.com. And after a few weeks, who get used to it, nanonation.com.

You're going to see the first phase in late December, early January, but we will be adding improvements, expanding the platform throughout 2026, and also in 2026, God willing, we're going to launch another platform just for children, ages three to seven. Amen. That's the most exciting thing I've ever done. I love Morning Manna, but folks, I'll tell you right now, I am super excited about creating like a morning manna platform for children to talk to them on their level about the Word of God.

And it's an exciting project. And when you support this ministry, that's what you are enabling us to do, to have the finances to develop. Not only the platform that can cost a substantial amount of money to build, but the content to create original content, for children. It requires an investment of money and time and energy and creativity. But it's happening. And the Lord is blessing this ministry and he will bless anybody who gets involved with this ministry. It's actually going to fit this lesson today. By the way, for now, our mailing address in Viro Beach will remain the same. There will be a change later. But for right now, it will remain the same. Don't worry about it.

The title of today's lesson is The Grace Fueled Generosity, Grace Fueled Generosity. And our scripture reading is going to be in 2nd Corinthians chapter 8. I want to ask Dr. read the first nine verses, 1 through 9, but our focus is going to be only on verse 9. Let's pray. We invite the Holy Spirit. Almighty God, Father at heaven, we come to you in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, whom we adore and revere and worship and magnify and serve, for he is our king and our Savior. And he is the Word.

And so, Father, on this Faith Friday, when we come to the Lord's table, we will feed by faith on our Lord and Savior, who told us to eat his flesh and drink his blood, and we will do it today by faith. And Father, we just thank you for this tremendous gift you gave us, your son. He is everything we desire and need, and we give you Thanksgiving and praise. Holy Spirit, welcome, come, take charge of this morning manna. blessed and teach us the word of a living God in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. And welcome to morning man, everyone. I'm so glad to have you here on a Faith Friday. And we are glad that you

have taken time to devote yourself to the Word of God today, to study His Word and to learn from it today. As Rick mentioned, we will be honoring the Lord's table at the end of our lesson today. And so if you've got bread and either red wine or grape juice for the elements of the Lord's supper, have those ready at the end of our lesson, and we'll be participating in that final opportunity to participate in the Lord's table this year, and so we are looking forward to that. As Rick mentioned, we are in 2nd Corinthians chapter 8, and I'm going to be reading verses 1 through 9 today with a focus on verse 9. So if you've got your Bibles, all along with me, please. Read out loud if you have the opportunity to do so wherever you are. And chapter 8, 2 Corinthians, moreover, brother,

we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonian, how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of the liberalogy. For to their power, I bear record, ye, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves, praying us with much entreaty, that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. Verse five, and this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. In so much that we desired Titus, that as he had, had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.

Therefore, as ye abound in everything in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence and in your love to us, see that you abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. In verse nine, which is our focus for today, for you know, the grace of our in Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor that through his poverty might be rich. God bless the reading of His word. This is going to be a fascinating verse to explore because it's been misinterpreted a lot of different ways, Rick has in it. Well, a lot of verses

are misinterpreted. And this actually dovetails the lesson that we had last week on Faith Friday. So let's look at the at the overall context before we get into verse 9. We're a week away from Christmas. I chose 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 verse 9 as our study verse for this last morning mana lesson in 2025. And you may be wondering, what is the connection between this verse and Christmas, and this is Faith Friday. Where's the faith that's in this verse? Well, I'll tell you. Second Corinthians 8, verse 9 is at the core of the reason for the incarnation that we celebrate at Christmas. The incarnation, the moment that King Jesus left. heaven and enter the womb of a human being named Mary and became an embryo.

God in human flesh. And I'm confident you will see the meaning as we study this verse today. So let's talk about the context. Paul, a doc read the scriptures starting verse one of what Paul was saying to the church in Corinth. Paul opened chapter 8 by addressing the church in Corinth regarding the collection and monetary collection of money that he was going to transport to Jerusalem for the benefit of the impoverished Christian saints in Jerusalem. Right.

He elevates the subject from a mere fundraising campaign to teaching a profound theological lesson on the nature of grace in giving. Using the example of the Macedonian churches, which included the churches in Philippine, Thessalon, Ica, and Berea, ultimately, the prime, the key, The greatest example, the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul teaches us that true generosity is not product of wealth, but it's one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Amen. It's a reflection of the gospel. It is an imitation of the actions of Jesus Christ. This is really what I, I, I desire that you see that when we give, according to the gospel, according to the Holy Spirit's instructions, when we give our money for the gospel to be preached or for somebody to be helped, for family to be fed, we are imitating the example of King Jesus. Now this becomes holy.

So, Paul opens chapter 8, encouraging the saints to give generously to their needy brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. Why were they needy? Well, almost all of them in Jerusalem were Jews, Jewish Christians. They were persecuted by the non-Christian Jews for accepting Jesus Christ, for five. following Jesus Christ. Many of them had their belongings taken from them. Their businesses shut down. The Sanhedron would send, you know, squads into people's homes and just drag the people out, would just ransack their homes, take everything. They were reduced to poverty. And so Paul, who, ironically, Doc, Paul,

is one of the leaders of those campaigns against the Christians. Yes. He was guilty of doing the things that made them for. So Paul does not pressure the churches the Christians in Corinth.

Instead, he's elevating their eyes to Christ. He's not using guilt. He's using grace. Grace is his motivation to give. He's not putting a guilt

burden on them. You know, you've got to, if you care, you've got to, you've got to give right now. That's not the, that's what, that wasn't his technique. He's pointing them to Christ. Right. So what he's teaching us is that

grace is the source of our giving. And Christ is the source of the grace. Right. So once again, we can't do anything on our own. Even our giving is enabled through grace that's given to us by God to give an offering for the gospel. Right. He's giving us the grace to give.

That's right. If I can add one other things to this, the purpose. for this collection, it was also in relation to the famine that Jerusalem was experiencing as well. That had been prophesied by the prophet Agabus to the church. And so it was the church over in Antioch that was organizing collections for the church in Jerusalem.

And Paul's falling up on that by saying, hey, we've got collections from Philippi, from Thessalonica, from Berea, from Macedonia. And he's encouraging the folks in Corinth to fall as soon, do the same. And so, but he uses this passage, Rick, in a unique way in that he puts up a paradox that you can experience joy while suffering affliction. And they seem like two contrasting ideas, but he highlights this.

He makes it, puts it out front. He talks about this great trial of a fiction. He talks about deep poverty, but then he equates that with abundance of joy and riches a liberality. So at the heart of it here, theologically, it's teaching that your external circumstances should not dictate your spiritual atmosphere, your spiritual capacity, because when Greece is present, joy should overflow into generosity, regardless of what's happening. happening in your pocket book or in the economy or anything else. So genuine Christian giving is an act of worship that transcends financial limitations. So Paul, first of all, makes clear

what the need is for the saints in Jerusalem. He doesn't hide the fact that they're in need. He makes an appeal to the Church of Corinth and says to them, these other churches have followed suit. They have seen the faithful saints in Jerusalem who are operating in joy, and then they're operating in joy by giving. And so he's encouraging the church in court to follow suit, not just in the giving, but also with the joy as well. You mentioned the four things that Paul cited. A great trial of affliction combined with deep poverty. but Paul was saying that they produce abundance of joy and riches of liberality. That doesn't make sense in a natural realm.

That doesn't make sense. How can great trials of affliction and deep poverty produce abundance of joy and riches of liberality? It just doesn't make sense. It can only be done in the natural, in the spiritual world. through grace. That's right. So the secret to the generosity of the Macedonians was the order of their offering. Paul said they first gave their own selves to the Lord. Yes. That's really profound. Before they gave money, they first gave their own cell to the Lord. In other words,

they surrendered their will. They surrendered control of their lives. They submitted it to him. They first gave their own selves to the Lord. Yes, before they gave it a penny or farthing or a mite, they gave themselves. So the first, the surrender, the submission to Christ comes first before the giving of money. I'm telling you, this is profound. And it's not taught in very many churches. God does not desire a person's money. unless that man, unless first man or woman has surrendered his or her will to the Lord

and loves him with all their heart, mind, and soul. Amen. I'll just be honest with you. I don't think, you know, a person who's not surrendered to God and is just making a donation. Okay, I'll throw something in the plate. I'll send something online, you know, just to relieve my conscience. That's not an offering. Yes.

That's a guilt payment. The guilt payment. The supernatural blessings of heaven come upon the offerings given by men and women who have already submitted themselves, surrendered their wills to the Lord. and love him with all their heart, mind, and soul. Then the Lord says, that offering, I can bless that offering. Yes. I can do something with that offering. What this means is total surrender to Jesus Christ must precede financial giving.

Let that sink in today. Yes. Total surrender to Jesus Christ must proceed. your financial giving to the kingdom. Amen. Yeah, there's got to be a genuine change in heart in the individual for the giving to have faith attached to it. There are other people to give,

giving a United Way, giving Boy Scouts, you know, whatever it might be. Some even give to the church for a variety of what reasons. But unless for the believer, unless that gives, has faith attached to it, it means really just a scintilla of what it could do when it's activated by faith. So Paul here is referring to this act of giving as a grace, a caris, if you will, a gift. He's also referring to it as fellowship. So combine the two ideas together. Also, Paul is making it clear that this is not a burden. This isn't so an obligation. It's a privilege for us to be able to participate in the giving, in the relief of saints in Jerusalem. So by participating in the relief of those saints,

believers are entering into a spiritual partnership with the rest of the body of Christ. In other words, we're linking up arm-in-arm, hand in and an, saying, we are operating together as a body in faith. Now, it's interesting, you know, in 1st Corinthians, it talks a lot about spiritual gifts. Paul addresses that with them and that carries over into 2nd Corinthians. You know, all the different spiritual gifts. And, of course, spiritual gifts are a hot item today in a certain segment of the church. Gifts of prophecy and speaking in tongues and discernment and, you know, things like that. but Paul is also calling this giving, love giving, if you will, a gift such as a spiritual gift.

And so Paul is encouraging them to excel in this grace also. It's almost as if he's saying, you know what, you guys, you operate in spiritual gifts and everything. Now, I'm going to challenge you. I'm going to really challenge to see how spiritual you really. are. Are you willing to give a love gift to your brothers and sisters in Jerusalem who are suffering right now, suffering and joy? But are you going to participate in that joy by helping supply what they so desperately need? And so to the charismatic church of Corrid, Paul says, let's take your gift a little higher here, a step higher.

grace also in giving in love. So, Doc, Paul was teaching a variation of James' teaching that faith without works is dead. Exactly. He was declaring that love is proven by action. It's my personal view. I don't want to speak for Doc. I don't want to put him on the spot and think that he has to agree with me on this. while he's on camera being recorded

and streamed across the world. No fresher. Fresher, you know. It's nothing to do with your salary, nothing at all, Doc, you know? But, no, honestly, yeah, we, look, we, you know, we have differences of opinion,

and that's fine, that's okay. I've come to the conclusion a long time ago that tithing is not mandated in the New Covenant Church. giving is absolutely free will giving that's what we're teaching here free will from your free will voluntary free will gifts are expected in the new covenant church but legalistic tithing is not required correct doc i think the only reason god put a legal tithe on the jews is because they wouldn't give a free will offering. Right. You got a good point there. It was almost like a tax. Like you're not going to

freely give, so I'm going to require it in the law. Right. Make you give, okay. But in the new covenant, we were to give from our heart. So Paul says, look, this is not a commandment. But he's saying Christian giving must be voluntarily, voluntary, if you desire to be virtue. all right God loves a cheerful giver got to come freely from the heart but he's using the zeal of the Macedonian Christians

as a testing ground to prove the sincerity of the Corinthians love so love love is more than a sentiment it's more than a feeling it's a commitment it's a commitment

verified by action and sometimes that action is sacrificial when you're giving when you really don't have much to give and that's the proof of love here amen so doc let's now let's focus in let's let's zero in on verse nine we'll start with the the first part of verse nine we'll start with the first part of verse nine, For me know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praise God. I'll just read the whole verse. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor so that you through his poverty might be rich. Paul is he begins his appeal for generosity, not with a commandment, not with a guilt trip. He's resting his entire appeal on the gospel. For you know.

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This isn't head knowledge. It's knowledge that comes from intimately knowing someone. Paul said, for you know. The Corinthians had tasted. this grace in their own salvation. They had tasted the Lord. They knew him.

The word no, the Greek word means it implies an intimate relational understanding. He was saying they don't just know about the grace. They know the person of grace. right so and what rick is saying is absolutely true the entire appeal here from paul's perspective to the church at corinth is uh is the gospel itself for you know the grace of our lord jesus christ that's the gospel right in there it's and as rick said it's not academic knowledge not head knowledge but it's a relationship you're in this relationship he's saying to the people in corin so our grace the grace we receive is not just some sort of something floating around the ether out there

grace is defined by what christ did let's be clear on that not by what we deserve because we do not deserve grace but grace is defined by what christ did not what we deserve they've tasted of this they've experienced it so paul in addressing this situation regarding giving to the saints in Jerusalem is anchoring his appeal to human generosity but pointed back to the incarnation.

Now, next week we're going to be celebrating Christmas around the world. What's the basic message? God became human flesh and was born as a baby in Jerusalem to ultimately redeem mankind. So what happened at his birth? Well, we all are familiar with the nativity and the Christmas story, gifts of gold and frankincense,

and murg or provided the nativity narrative, wise men from the east traveled, a great distance, probably from Persia, to voluntarily worship the Christ child with these expensive gifts. Now, did Jesus need gifts? Did he need them? Oh, Christ had pre-existent riches. He had divine glory. He had emptied himself. He became voluntarily poor. It was voluntary poverty. His humiliation at becoming human flesh, dying in human flesh. But that poverty ends up enriching us with salvation, plus also the opportunity we call the child of God, which means we have access to the father. We didn't have access before that. So believers should be giving because they're beneficiaries of that gift, that grace, if you will. So Paul is making the argument here, we sacrifice our resources to bless others

because he sacrificed himself to bless us. Jesus did. So Paul is saying this passage changes, the concept of giving from a legalistic duty, which was under the law, into a joyful response to the gospel. And it teaches that the most powerful generosity comes from those who at first surrendered themselves to God and view their resources through the lens of Christ self-empting love himself. What would Jesus do with the resources that you have right now? So, It's a powerful message, right? Doc, we present to Almighty God our offerings, though they're meager. You know, I mean, we can give our greatest financial gifts or meager to a king that owns the universe.

But the reason we give our best gifts to God in offerings is because he, he first gave his best gift to us. And his best gift was his son. This is the lesson we desire you to learn here today. Every time we give, we're giving in response to the gift of God to us. Amen. He gave the ultimate gift, the greatest gift, the most valuable gift, his son. and so the rest of our lives as saints on earth we are bringing to the Lord offerings to him we're giving our best

as worship in appreciation for what he did but first we have to be surrendered we have to be submitted to his will we have to bow in submission to the king the wise men traveled from Persia, which is most likely is where they came from, which is modern Iran. Nobody knows how long they were traveling. Months, a year? We don't know.

But they went to Bethlehem to bow before a baby. And they worshipped him. Then they gave gifts. First, the wise men bowed.

Yes. Then they worshipped, then they gave. There's the order. That's divine order. And they're called wise men. Is there a reason they're called wise men? They knew the order. They knew the divine order.

They sought him. They followed him. They followed the star. When they found him, they bowed, they worshipped and they gave. there's your divine order. So what we're being taught here is that grace, grace is not some abstract concept,

but it is a dynamic, self-giving action that is defined by the cross. To know the grace of Christ is to be overwhelmed by it. It changes us. We become, we go from being, person gathers and keeps stuff for ourselves, now we gather to give, to help somebody else, to bless somebody else, to enable somebody else to tell lost souls about the ultimate gift, Jesus Christ. That becomes our motivation. So we're being challenged as believers that the greatest

motive for opening our wallets and purses is not the need of the recipient who's going to receive it, but for us to follow the example of our Savior. When you give, being led by the Spirit, you are imitating Jesus. That's the message we desire you to have here today. intimidating our Savior. Yes. Paul, Paul wasn't, what wasn't introducing a new doctrine? He was simply saying, I'm reminding you of the gospel.

You've already received, the gospel you already believe, the gospel that you have inside of you. Right. Yes. Let's talk a little bit about that grace. It says, for ye know the grace for Lord Jesus Christ. You know, to nowadays, I could ask the folks that are watching today or that are listening to our Faith Friday lesson here today, define grace for me. Give me a definition for it. I guarantee you we'll have a lot of different definitions.

But first of all, Paul is making it very clear. This isn't some abstract doctrine that we're talking about. Well, grace, it's out there. No, no, no. he's saying this is the this is what grace is all about it's the personal self-giving love of Christ Christ manifested grace by becoming forward to make us rich in salvation we reflect that grace by love and giving love so it's interesting that the title the Lord Jesus Christ is being used here the full formal designation of Jesus the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord Jesus Christ

It's our Lord Jesus Christ. So it's emphasizing that he's sovereign. It's emphasizing with the word Lord. It's emphasizing that he's human with the name of Jesus. It's emphasizing that he's the Messiah with the title Christ. So you can't just say it's one part of, you know, Christian life. Well, it falls under this or falls under that. No, no, it is encompassing everything.

that Christ did and also should be reflected with us. So for a theological level, this establishes that Christian ethics, things that we do, that's what ethics is, must always flow from Christian doctrine or dogma, who Christ is. Paul makes us very, very clear. You really don't understand giving

unless you understand Christ. And you don't understand the gift that Christ did for you unless you understand Christ. So Paul is saying this grace is equivalent to that divide generosity that was embodied in Christ himself in the incarnation, incarnation rig. Yes. Doc, I mentioned a couple days ago. I don't remember which day it was. You know, at times I say to God, you know, my papa, I'll say to him, I'd serve you if I found out you're a poor God. If I found out that heaven, you don't have a mansion.

You got a log cabin. I don't care. I'll live in that log cabin with you. It's you, I love. It's not your house, not your property, not your belongings. It's you. I love you, Papa. Yes.

The rock. Last night I was listening, I was listening to a podcast, a young Christian businessman. And I've been following him. And I really am finding a lot of these gen Zies and younger millennials. They're stepping out online. and they're exercising their faith in Christ. I'm really being encouraged by it. But anyhow, he said something very similar to what I just said.

He said that his spiritual mentor asked him one time, he said, the same man's name is Travis. He said, Travis, if you found out that heaven is an empty parking lot, and the only thing on that parking lot is Jesus, would he be enough for you? See, that's the question. Is Jesus enough? Right.

Once you settle this question, that he is enough. Once you know who he is and that everything you need is in him, he's enough. And now you start to understand. this grace that

he left heaven where he had everything and came to earth and made himself poor to make you and me rich it is absolutely amazing and what we see, Doc, here

in this verse 2nd Corinthians 8 verse nine we see the evidence of the pre-existence of jesus christ yes he was rich before he became poor right he existed before his incarnation in mary's womb i'm amazed at how many people who identify themselves as christian have no concept that jesus christ existed before he was born in Bethlehem. I just am amazed by it. Do you know who he is?

Right. So this grace that Paul's teaching it is the biblical pattern for Christ's church. We are to imitate the grace that Jesus bestowed upon us when he saved our souls.

We give financially. We give because we received. We always receive first from him. He's always ahead of us. He's the example. He's the role model. And so our giving is to imitate his giving.

He gave, we received. So grace is not a means to get rich. Grace is a means to give, regardless of our financial status at the time that we're giving. Yes. Please do not tell me, and I've heard this for 26 years, Doc. People have sent me emails and letters and saying, Rick, I'd like to give to your ministry,

but I just don't have anything to give. But... Excuse me? You're not giving it to me anyhow. you're obligated to worship Christ with an offering who gave himself so that your sins would be forgiven. Whether you give it to our ministry or another ministry, don't play that poverty line. I'm sorry, I just don't buy it. Don't use that poverty line. And God's not buying it either.

Find something to give. you can give in your poverty. That's what Paul's saying here. You gave in your affliction, in your poverty. Right. They didn't say to Paul, hey, Paul, come back in a couple years we might be doing better if the stock market goes up.

I promise you, Paul, if my investment pays off, man, I'm going to give like you've ever seen me give. No. why do we do this because jesus christ is the ultimate giver yes he did not give tithes of his riches glory he gave his very self on the cross so that we could inherit eternal life and his kingdom and his richest. Amen. You understand this now, why I choose this for this last lesson of 2025 as we enter the Christmas week. He gave himself on the crawl. We're spiritually bankrupt. All of us,

every single person, I don't care if you're worn buffet. It doesn't matter. You're spiritually bankrupt. Yes. And Jesus Christ owns everything in the universe. And yet he made himself poor so that you who are bankrupt can be made rich.

That's right. And the second part of that verse, it says, and though he was rich, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor. So it's making it clear, of course, that there was a pre-existent Christ there, making it clear, he's God.

All right, that's, you know, you can't be pre-existent to your earthly existence unless you're God, okay? So he was rich, and it's referring to those eternal riches and glory, that eternal state before, even before the world began, okay? But even after he created the world, he owned cattle on a thousand hills, The silver and gold are his, the scripture says. The angels in heaven were servants. Glory was his clothing.

And there are several examples in scripture of the riches of Christ. Prior to his existence here on earth, there was that divine glory that was existed there that carried over into his earthly existence. Eternal fellowship with the Father that we find at the beginning of John chapter one in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God, the same was in the beginning with God. It also talks about that sovereign authority in Philippians chapter 2, verse 6. And all throughout scripture, we read about His heavenly majesty and the angelic worship that took place. So there's that infinite spiritual fullness it takes place. Rick, the whole universe belongs to him, the entire cosmos belongs to him because he created it. Yes. So,

His riches is who he was and is eternally, not something he received or earned. So when the incarnation took place, he didn't cease to be God. He wasn't created. The Bible says he was born, not created, but born. That means that he existed before the birth. He volunteered to lay aside the individual. enjoyment of his well to walk in the dusty earth. So becoming poor is literal in this case.

He was born in a stable. He borrowed a boat to preach. He had nowhere to lay his head. He was buried in a borrowed too. I can imagine if Christ had any money, he was putting it right back into the ministry. It also says there were women. They gave to the disciples.

and to Jesus to help support their efforts. And so there were resources that Jesus depended on here on earth, just like we all do. But ultimately, Rick, he had to depend on his father, just like we have to depend on our father as well. Yes. I've heard various preachers over the years, oh, really work hard in trying to prove that Jesus was rich on earth.

And, you know, they've really stretched the gospel, the scriptures to try to prove that, well, he was wearing a designer rope. That's why they were gambling over it at the cross. I heard that one, yeah. You know, you hear all those stories, okay. Why can't you just accept what the Bible says? He was rich before the world was made. Right. Let's take that argument out a little bit, if you will, Rick.

Let's say Jesus was a billionaire on Earth. He's still poor in comparison to what he was before he was born. Right? Right. He's the greatest landowner in the universe. He's got undeveloped land in galaxies we don't even know exist. He'll never run out of land. He's got land.

everywhere. He's a landowner. He's got jewels. He's got gold. He's got precious. Because he made him. He made the jewel. He made the gold. He made the where earth from there. He made the oil that's in the ground. He owns the natural resources. He owns the wind and the water. It's his. He's rich. But he voluntarily made himself poor to come to earth to save. our souls so that we would be made rich. And when he was resurrected and ascended back to heaven, guess what? He's in full ownership of everything again. That's right. He was in full ownership when he was here in a state of poverty, Doc. Right. He just wasn't exercising it. He voluntarily set it aside. So a lot of Christians, especially some preachers,

Do not understand who he was before he came to earth. He says that though he was writ, yet for your sake, he became poor. It means he became destitute. He voluntarily embraced poverty. He descended from on high in heaven to live lowly on earth it was a choice

he did not become less rich he became poor in the fullest sense his poverty included and this might be hard for some people to grasp his incarnation becoming a human

I mean dog that was a step down big step it was a big step he went from being God to creator to being an embryo in a woman that you created I mean he definitely lowered his

standard of living he was born in a stable in a manger he had no home as an adult He had human limitations of fatigue, hunger, sorrow.

He was betrayed, he was mobbed, he was whipped, he was crucified, and he died. And he was buried in a rich man's tomb. Yes. He had to borrow a tomb for a place to be buried. Yes. So all this was done by Christ voluntarily for us. He's showing us the example.

Like he said, Rick, this was done voluntarily. And one of the biggest arguments, I think, against Jesus being, like, wealthy, his crucifixion itself. Because if he was wealthy, they wouldn't have cursed him, crucified him. Rich people get off. That's the way of the world. So, but he chose poverty. for us. He chose it. He became what we are

so he could give us what he is. He became what we are, which is poor, so he could give us what he is, which is rich, rich in grace. So for your sakes makes this deeply personal. So Paul is making this argument here to the folks in Koran. He didn't do this for the angels. He didn't even do it for himself. He did it for you, for your sakes.

He did it for you. So this was an intentional step down, intentional descent. The king of kings left the glorious throne room of heaven to visit the slubs of humanity, not just as a tourist, but to live there. And to live in the slubs of humanity. So this phrase is teaching that,

the richest being in the universe. The richest being that ever existed chose the lowest place to save rebels like me who deserve nothing. So this is grace and his pure estate, that love giving, if you will. So his poverty wasn't some accident of history. It wasn't just a good idea. It wasn't just a great philosophy or anything like that. But it was a strategy of love. so we can see

the heart possible here it's that greedy took place I'm sorry I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt

we had a lesson on that not interrupting so you said something it was very profound that Jesus became what we are so he could give us

what he is amen the greatest poverty that he took on was to become human it wasn't financial it wasn't the fact that you know he didn't have a house didn't have a place lays no his greatest poverty was becoming a human correct his greatest poverty was taking on our sin When I say becoming a human, taking on the sins of fallen humanity, that was his greatest poverty.

He was sinless. Why would he go on a cross and have all the sins of mankind placed on him? Doc, another thing I say, you know, the kind of stuff I say to the Lord in prayer. This is talking about, I'm thinking about how do we describe his greatness, how rich was he? How rich is he? The Bible says that no human has ever seen the Lord and lived. Now, think about that. No human can look upon the Lord and live.

Now, some people would think, well, that's, that's really harsh. If I look at you, I die. Like, what is that about? Yes. You kill me because I look at you. And I was asking the Lord a couple days ago in morning prayer, I go, why is it that no humans can look at you and live? And then I told him, I said, I'm going to tell you what I think it is.

I gave him I gave him Answer to my own question I said I think it's because If we saw you with our human eyes We'd have a heart attack Doc I think we'd have a heart attack Yeah

I think his glory would be so great His majesty and glory would be so great we'd have a heart attack it wouldn't be that he's like hey you saw me you got to die now that's not what he means he's like you can't handle

me right you just can't handle me it's why I think God speaks to us in whispers we can't handle his verbal voice it'd blow out our wolfers

we'd all go deaf if he used his normal voice voice. Because of his greatness, his majesty. So what is this being rich? The Greek word translated as being rich. It asserts a continuous state of existence as the second person of the Trinity possessing all the divine attributes of Almighty God. That's what it means. being rich. He's rich right now. He's now rich. He was rich before the universe was made. And he's right now. He's the second person of Triung God. He became poor. The Greek verb translated as became poor points to a specific moment in time. The incarnation

moment that the sum of God and all of his glory and greatness and richness and power entered into Mary's womb as a human embryo. That's when he became poor. It wasn't when he quit working for his father as a carpenter and said, I'll come poor now. No, he became poor when he left heaven and went into a womb. Yes. he did not empty himself of his divinity

but he emptied himself of the exercise of his divine privilege he was still God in the womb he just didn't exercise his God powers his God sovereignty he made himself poor and this is for your sakes this speaks of the substitutionary work

of Jesus His poverty It went beyond finances It was his poverty of his reputation The poverty of comfort He was the man of sorrow there was a poverty of fellowship he was forsaken by all even his father on the cross

he was poverty-stricken there's an infinite gap that he crossed for us from the height of his majesty to the depth of his misery gave he gave Yes.

And this is the reason that we give. We give to imitate him. His riches included his glory in heaven. His poverty included the shame of the cross. He gave of his riches, even under poverty. He loved us so much that he gave away his riches or walked away from his riches and voluntarily took on poverty to make us rich. That's the next part, that ye through his poverty might be rich. What does this mean, Doc?

Well, you start off there with that, that ye. Okay, so that right there emphasizes that everything that Christ did, Everything that he did was aimed for our enrichment. For us, you're the yee he's talking about here, okay? You that are watching, you that are listening today. You're the that yee that he's talking about. And you've got that phrase might be rich in there. It means more than financially prosperous.

But I would also add it doesn't exclude it either. It means forgiveness. adoption by the father. It means peace. It means an eternal inheritance, which is much more important than any earthly inheritance that we could possibly ever receive. But I think, you know, that we might be rich means also being rich in this life too. Now, when I say rich, I mean, what are some of the things that we can be rich in? Well, how much would you pay for forgiveness of sins, because we receive that as one of our riches, according to Ephesians 117. How much would you pay to be justified? Is it worth a billion dollars to you?

Well, Christ paid it, according to Romans 5.1, you're justified in Christ. You've been adopted into God's family, according to Galatian chapter 4. You've got the end dwelling of the Holy Spirit, according to 1st Corinthians chapter 6. You've got a heavenly inheritance, for sure. but you also receive daily grace and strength. We read that, St. Corinthians chapter 12. You have access to God and prayer. You have access to the most powerful being in the universe, according to Hebrews 416.

We are in fellowship with Christ. We're in union with Christ. In fact, we're seated in heavenly places with Christ. So his poverty, if we can understand this, his poverty was actually the purchase price. Christ. Our riches, all those vast riches that are, you couldn't put a price, an earthly price tag on any of these riches. And yet, the Bible says we're the heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. We share in the inheritance that Christ has. So we're not merely saved. We are saved, but we're not merely saved.

We're comfortable. We're spiritually rich possessing every spiritual blessing. in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, according to Ephesians 1.3. Everything we have, Rick, is blood bought. It was paid for by the one who had no money. So we who had no righteousness could be redeemed. And the poorer he became, the richer we are. Think about it. The poor he became, the richer we are.

Therefore, because of that, we should be giving like people who own everything because our father owns everything. So this is the logic of the kingdom here. We have to decrease in self, like Jesus did, empty ourself, if you will, that he might increase in us. We give away that we might gain. And so to withhold giving money for the gospel,

poor saints is to just completely forget how rich we truly are in Christ, price that was paid for our spiritual wealth and ultimately Rick through his poverty might be rich describes the entire Christian life doesn't it we live on the credit of that man's sacrifice we live on his credit that's right when you were saying what would you pay for the forgiveness of sins what's it worth to you I was I was thinking about President Trump had introduced what, you know, some people call it the Trump card or the Trump passport. It simply means that the State Department has a program that if you would, if you desire a United States passport, which is considered the strongest, the most influential passport in the world.

So the State Department says, okay, if you, if you donate five, $5 million to the United States government, you can get a passport. $5 million. And I've lost count of how many wealthy people have already given the $5 million. Mr. Trump has said there's billions of dollars being raised. Where am I going with this? Jesus gave you and me a passport to the kingdom of God. Yes.

The kingdom of God. Not a country, a kingdom, an eternal kingdom, a kingdom that shall have no end. And you shall have no end because he's going to resurrect you on the last day. And you have a passport to live in that kingdom forever. What is that passport worth? If the United States passport is worth $5 million,

What is the passport worth to the kingdom of God? Yes. There is no monetary value that you can cite because it cannot be purchased except by and through the blood of the Son of God. He gave first. He gave first. God gave first. He gave his only begotten son.

that's the message here and that we are to submit to him surrender to him worship him and then we give to him for the gospel and we go back to our lesson last week from Deuteronomy that he will give you the power to get wealth to establish the gospel in the earth in this day Yes. See, this is all tied together. It's about the gospel. It's about telling other people your sins are forgiven. There's a passport with your name waiting for you to go and pick it up. But somebody has to preach. Somebody has to go. Somebody has to tell. Somebody has to buy television time, radio time, internet bandwidth. Somebody has to do these things. And that's why we are inviting you here at the end of 2020. have you been blessed by Morning Manor in 2025? Have you been blessed by this ministry?

What can you give to this ministry in these last two weeks of 2025? Yes, between you and God. Give him something that impresses him. Give him something that the Lord gives an elbow to an angel. and said, hey, did you see that? Look at what she gave. Look at what he did. He sacrificed.

He gave something that means something to him. He didn't just throw a few books in an offering. Gave from his most precious possession. What do you have? What can you offer? What can you give? give the king the wise men came and bowed down and worshipped him and then gave him expensive gift yes can cannot we do the same at this christmas season to bow down and worship him and give him

expensive gift worship him doc let's let's look at what the commentator said and then we'll go to the Lord's table for Holy Communion. Well, I'll start with Matthew Henry here first. Matthew Henry said, this is the greatest thing of generosity that ever was. He was rich in love, homage of heaven. For your sakes, he became poor. He became poor that we, through his poverty, might be rich. Not in goods only, but in graces and glory.

Yes. Charles Bridges said, here is the wonder of redeeming love, the prince of life, a beggar, that beggars might become princes. Christ's poverty is his stooping to our condition to raise us to his. Carol Spurgeon said this, he was rich beyond all computation, yet he became poor. Poor is the poorest. That we, through poverty, might be made divinely rich. The king of glory became the servant of servants that he might make servants

into sons. And Alexander McLaughan said he was rich, yet for your sakes became poor, the descent from heaven to the manger and the cross, that we might ascend from earth to heaven. The riches were

the prerogatives of the godhead. The poverty was the lowliness of manhood. Yes. So, Gene Campbell, Morgan says that the richest property, that is the measure of his love, poverty of riches, that's the measure of our gain. He impoverished himself that he might endow the bankrupt.

That was made. And William Arnott said, he who was richest became poorest, that we who were poorest might become riches. This is abounding grace. and great comments from these great preachers from the past, Doc. Well, Doc, let's close out this lesson for 2025. I think it's fitting that our last lesson is a Lord's Supper, Holy Communion. It is.

And I'll let you go ahead and begin the service. Yes. So as we enter to the Lord's table, we often get asked who may participate, and we let folks know, if you're a confessing believer of Jesus Christ, you believe in heart that God raised Jesus from the death. He's your Lord and Savior. And you've been baptized in water according to scriptures in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Then we invite you to participate in this, the most holy of meals today, that honors the death, bear on resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our true riches in Christ are expressed in this holy meal today. And so I bite you. Don't hesitate to participate in this. I don't know why you would, but maybe has dropped something in your ear or maybe there's some tinge of guilt in your heart. I'll just say to you right now, just bring it to the Lord, lay it before him, ask his forgiveness,

and participate in the rest of the body of Christ here right now. And this is the body that we're talking about here. This is the expression of the body. Partaking of the bread and the wine identifies us as members of the body. It's what unites us globally. We all participate in this. We all share the same meal. And so I encourage you.

Don't hesitate, but participate in this today. I'm going to pray a blessing over the elements of the Lord's table here today and that we're going to enter into the holy meal itself. Pray with me, if you will. Almighty God, in your tender mercy, you gave your only begotten son, Jesus Christ, for death upon the cross for our redemption. He offered himself and made once for all time a perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.

He instituted this remembrance of his passion and death, which he commanded us to continue until he comes again. So, Father, we ask you to bless and sanctify with your Word and Holy Spirit, these gifts of bread and wine that we may participate. of his most blessed body in blood. Christ our Passover land has been sacrificed once for all upon the cross. Therefore, let us keep the feast out of you. On the night that he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took breath,

and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and then he gave it to his disciples, take eat, this is the body that is given for you. do this remembrance of me thank you hello the body of our Lord Jesus Christ

which is given for you preserve your body and soul to everlasting life this is the bread of heaven take and eat in remembrance that Christ's dying for you after supper Jesus took the cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying drink this all of you for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for many

forgiveness of sins whenever you drink it do this remembrance of me thank you lord hallelujah glory to god the blood of our lord jesus christ which was shed for you preserved your body and soul to everlasting life i encourage you drink the cup of salvation remembrance that christ's blood was shed for you and be thankful. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold Him who take away the sins of the world. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage, supper of the Lamb.

This sacrament is the gift of God for the people of God. Feed on Him by faith. Thanksgiving, Christ died for you. Praise God. Amen. This is the end of our our lesson for 2025, thank you for being such a wonderful class. Doc and I appreciate you more than we can tell you.

This is the most satisfying thing I've ever done in my lifetime to the Lord. I would teach morning manna for, it would matter what circumstance I'm in. I love this work, and I am deeply grateful. that we have such a wonderful class students who are with us to receive the teaching and to support the ministry and to tell other people about Morning Manor. We wish you a very Merry Christmas, a happy New Year, enjoy the holidays, and Doc and I will be back on Monday, January 5th, at 8 a.m. Eastern time, but our new address will be manna nation.com, manna nation.com.

God bless. Merry Christmas. God bless you.