We thank God for the testimonies and the impact that the radio ministry is having on the people. We thank our visitors that are here and that have come through the radio ministry. There is a sister in our fellowship that gave birth to a baby girl. She and her husband were blessed and thankful because I had prophesied the sex of their child. So we thank God who can see that child before the child is born.

We thank God for the prophets that speak the word of the Lord. So you shall be the next person to testify. This month of October is a month of acceptance.Proverbs 18:16 – a man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men. Many of us are familiar with this verse but the Lord led me to share on this verse with different insight. Over the years many of have taken this verse over the area of divine gifts – pastoral, evangelical prophetic and the like. But today I’d like us to take it to a different level. The gift I’d like to talk about is the material gifting like a gift you take before a king. All of us know that when you appear before a king with a gift you are kind of favoured. In the Old Testament, when people used to go before the king, they’d go with a gift. Even when Jesus was born, the wise men came to visit Him with gifts. I believe the author of this book of Proverbs, King Solomon, when talking about the gift making room, I believe he meant that kingly gift.

I’d like us to share a little more about King Solomon. We know that he was a man that was blessed by the Lord, a man that the Lord gave wisdom to know many things. In 1Kings 10:1-3, the queen of Sheba heard of King Solomon’s fame concerning the name of the Lord. Before we continue, I’d like to urge you never to depart from the Lord because in Him is your fame. King Solomon was famous because of the name of the Lord. In verse 2 we see that the queen came with many gifts before the King and asked many questions. Then in verse 3 we see that the King answered all her questions, nothing was too difficult for him to answer. Why is this? She won favor because of the way she presented herself. Today we’d say she came with a convoy – this won her favor. Now when we connect this to Proverbs 18:16, we see that the queen’s gift made room for her. Not every man or king would present or access the great Solomon in those days. There were few people that had access to the king. Today I want us to go beyond the divine gifting and look at the other side. All is connected to the scriptures.

I want to show you the material gifts in scripture. Matthew 2:10-11; here we see the wise men who came with gifts. In Luke 21:1-4 -Jesus was watched the rich and the poor widow putting in their gifts. He then compared the widow to the rich men using the word gift. He said the widow had given more than the rich man reason being that the rich man was giving out of his abundance and the widow out of her heart. A prophet of God once mentioned that God measures giving basing on what you have remained with and not what you have given and I believe him. When Jesus saw that this woman had remained with nothing, he said it was great. For instance if you have one million and you give 50,000 and one that has 20,000 and gives 15,000; when God compares the two he’ll appreciate the 15000 offering more.

Now all the sacrifices and offering that were given in the Old Testament were seen as gifts. Even in the new testament we see the same things. When you read Numbers 18:8-11 – Aaron and his sons were a priestly tribe and all offering were given to him and his sons forever. So we see that offertory and sacrifices are connected to gifts. They were given to Aaron and his sons. Who were the Levites? In the Old Testament, these were men that the Lord has set apart to do the work of the Tabernacle. Exodus 38:21 shows the work of the Levites clearly, they were constantly in service the Tabernacle. When you read Numbers 1:47-53 we see how God favoured the tribe of the Levites and they were not even meant to be counted. It also goes on to show their role and duty. Now God did not do away with the Levites just as he did not do away with the priests. The Bible says that we are all a royal priesthood but we should remember that there is only one High Priest. Some people quote the verses wrongly and mess up things calling themselves High Priests; there is only one High Priest and that is Jesus.

We are all priests because we can each talk to God on behalf of others. I remember some time back, 10 years into Ministry I got a dream where some being was telling me that I was anointed to be High Priest. However I thank God that I was sensitive enough in the Spirit by then and was able to discern that is was from the devil. When I woke up, I rejected that dream and cancelled it. We should not neglect these things and take them lightly. Not rebuking them gives them power over our lives. Alexander Dowin and William Branham were great men of God. For Alexander, his followers used to call him Elijah. At first he rejected it but later he said he heard a voice telling him he was Elijah and soon he began to call himself Elijah of the end times. His was the same of the disciples of William who later called himself the last prophet of God. So do not get deceived by dreams or visions. Even John the Baptist did not change his name. God will still use you as you are.

Mark 1:40-44; here we learn two things; first, God is ever willing to heal people. When the leper asked – Jesus said I am willing. God delights in the prosperity of His people. It is his desire for you to be well and prosperous. Secondly and in line with our word today – Jesus told the leper to go and show himself to the Priest and offer your healing offering according to the law of Moses. Jesus is promoting the offering in the New Testament. If it was not in the New Testament, we’d have said that it is wrong, but here we see Jesus promoting offering to the Priest. Proverbs is telling us that a man’s gift makes room for him. Again I say to you that it is not just the divine gift. We need to keep giving because that is how you win favour before the men and women of God in our lives. I shall give an example of the sister I told you gave birth. She invited me to go to the hospital to bless her child. She was confident that I would go there on, but she won favour before the man of God. It is not easy to move me and she too knew it, but she won favor. So I want to encourage you not to tire of giving as it wins you favour. A man’s gift makes room for him. The Bible also says that do not go into the house of the Lord empty handed. God was serious about giving. Of course in the Old Testament some people used these gifts to corrupt kings but though there is a negative side, there is also the positive side.

So on this day of 18th October, the insight I want to give you is not just to look at Proverbs 18:16 as just divine gifts but also look into the material gifts and wealth. We have seen the queen brought multiple gifts and all her questions were answered. I went to visit the sister and her baby in hospital and she and her husband had prepared an envelope for the man of God. They said that they do not take things for granted. Here in Eagle’s Wings we do not use force to make you give, we encourage you to give from your own heart. We teach these things so that when asked to give, you do not give out of ignorance. The Bible says that you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. The truth is Christ himself. I thank God that the things that I tell you today, Jesus promoted them as well. He told the leper to go and present himself to the Priest with an offering. Anything that Jesus did not stop in the New Testament still works today; it still remains valid. Some people say that tithing is of the Old Testament, but he still tells that Pharisees that it is not bad but love is important. In fact He encouraged giving. Even Paul encourages giving saying, as we shared last Friday that we give a sacrifice with a sweet smelling aroma that is pleasing to God. We all know that God does not eat the offerings. But there is no way we can separate money from the Gospel. Venues, radios, travel, all forms of ministry require money.

When you read 1 Samuel 9:6-8 you see that it was a tradition to go to the man of God with an offering as a sign of honoring the anointing on the men and women of God. Even Prophet Elisha in 2 Kings 8:7-9 received gifts from the King brought by his servant, he did not reject them. The only gifts he ever received were those of Naman. He’d then minister the word of the Lord. There are certain women in the New Testament who used to minister to Jesus with material things. Even today in the body of Christ, women are very supportive to the ministries. Men have a challenge to rise up. Some men believe that this is because they have soft and emotional hearts. Everywhere you go, ministry needs money to run all its activities. Even big and established ministries and men of God need the support. We need to be supportive of them. Do not wait for the need to be identified but keep supporting and surprising the Ministers. Let us wake up, not only here in Eagles Wings but in every church or ministry that you come from.

Andrew Wommack once said that spiritual maturity is not based on how much one know scripture but on people’s finances and how they handle them. Let us mature and grow. Be supportive and see if I shall not pray for you. There are people that I pray for every morning without struggle. Let your gift make room for you. Let us not allow the spirit of self pity or poverty to affect our giving. Let us not be like the widow in the Old Testament who when asked to give, she told Elijah that she had little left for her and her son only. She was afraid that after it is eaten she and her son would die. Elijah helped her fight that Spirit of fear and self pity. When you get rid of the spirit of self pity abundance shall flow into your life. When she got rid of the fear and self pity, she survived with her son for years while others in the land were dying. Delays are not denials. The word of the Lord shall surely come to pass as the Lord says in Habakkuk 2. Do not give up, refuse to die till you see the word of the Lord fulfilled in your life. Do not quit, face your challenger, face your problems with confidence and knowledge in the word of the Lord.