A Giving Heart

Guest (Male): Welcome to Leading the Way with international Bible teacher and the author of more than 50 books including his culture-challenging An Unholy Alliance, Dr. Michael Youssef. Growing up in Egypt where many biblical events actually occurred offered Dr. Youssef many unique personal insights that others can only read about. He attended Bible school in Australia, seminary in California, then added pastoring and years of worldwide ministry endeavors and additional postgraduate work at Emory University in Atlanta. So each and every message contains very distinctive insights into culture and into God's Word. And we thank you for making time in your day for Leading the Way, practical words of truth for life right now in 2026 and beyond. In this episode, Dr. Youssef looks at God's desire to bless those who offer praise. He's calling this life-changing message, A Giving Heart.
Dr. Michael Youssef: As I bring this series of messages to an end, I bring it to a close today. This last message is going to be a challenging message, not to all of you, I know, but to some. But before I get there, I want to recap what we have been seeing throughout this series of messages. We have been seeing how God's blessings, God's peace, and God's joy always follow a praise-filled life. Here is a principle that you must never forget: blessings follow praise. Would you say that with me? Blessings follow praise. Blessings always follow praise. But I want to be very clear. While God does respond with blessings to the praise-filled life, his blessings are only the byproduct. It's the byproduct of the praise-filled life. But there's more that I want to emphasize, at least one more thing. Our Heavenly Father is not motivated to bless us just because we utter some words that we know he likes to hear. But rather, our Heavenly Father is motivated to bless us because praise and thanksgiving place us in the posture of receiving more of his blessings. Let me illustrate this from a Semitic language's point of view. When Psalm 103 said, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name," the root word for that word "Bless the Lord" is *barakah* in the Semitic languages. Bless, *barakah*, it has its root in kneeling. It comes from the fact that in the Middle East, a camel has to kneel all the way down on all fours in order that he may receive the goodies. A camel is very tall; you can't dump the stuff on the camel unless he kneels. So the two words are interconnected. As you kneel in praise, you get the blessing. Think about this with me. The same word, blessing as kneeling. When you want God's *barakah*, you have to *barak* on your knees. Question: how do we bless God? If we bless the name of God only in words? No. With the totality of our being. We bless God by submitting to him in every area of our life. We bless God by pouring out our love on him and on others. And when that happens, you can be assured of the fact that God will say to you, "Keep on pouring it, then I'm going to keep pouring more on you. As you pour it out, I'll pour it in." Today, I want to tell you that praise-living and self-giving are the Siamese twins of a praise-filled life. Praising God just with our lips is hollow. We have to praise God with our substance because praising with lips and praising with substance are inseparable. Praising God in words alone can be empty praise, but praising God with our substance confirms the praise-filled life. Praising God with our mouths can be hollow unless it is accompanied by self-giving. Perhaps there is no greater example of what I'm trying to tell you than in the life of the greatest singer on the face of the Earth in history. King David wrote some of the most magnificent psalms. He knew what it means to enter into the presence of God in praise and in worship. David wrote and composed many of the magnificent psalms that are blessing us now 3,000 years later. In fact, no one understood the importance of a praise-filled life like David. But David did not praise God in words only, but he praised God with his substance. Remember, King David was so overwhelmed in thanksgiving to God for what God had done for him, all the struggles of life that he brought himself through and where he placed him. He was so indebted to God. He was so grateful; his heart was full. He said, "God, I want to build a temple for your glory. So far, we have a tent that is housing the Ark of the Covenant." And he said, "God, it's the longing of my heart to build you a permanent place for your glory, for your honor so people can come and praise you and glorify your name and thank you." And God said, "No." Don't you hate it when God says no? But I can tell you, the greatest experiences of my life are when I prayed for things and God said no. I go back and bless him for that. So don't ever be put off when God says no because that's your blessing. It's for your blessing. David was not put off by that. God said, "No, not you, David; your son Solomon is going to build it for me." He said, "That's fine, Lord. You're sovereign, my gratitude to you knows no bounds." And so he gives his net worth. Everything he has, he piles it up and he says, "I'm going to leave it here so that Solomon can build the temple." Some people estimate that net worth was equivalent to our money at probably about a billion dollars of today's money. Question: what was David's motivation for praising God with his substance? The answer actually is found in 1 Chronicles 29 in verses three and four. He's basically saying in those two verses, "Lord, this is my tangible expression of my personal gratitude to you. I've been praising you all of my life by writing psalms, now this is my tangible way of saying thank you." David writing psalms and singing psalms were not enough. To David, mere words, even those magnificent words that have emanated from a praise-filled life, were not enough. His praise had to be confirmed by sacrificial giving. Look with me at verses 14 all the way to 18, 1 Chronicles 29. I'm going to read them for you. "Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow without hope. O Lord, as for all this abundance that we have provided for the building of your temple for your holy name, it comes from your hand and all of it belongs to you." "I know, my God, that you test the heart and you are pleased with integrity. All these things that I have willingly given with honest intent, and now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. O Lord God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, keep this desire in our hearts and in the hearts of your people forever and keep their hearts loyal to you." And all of God's people said, "Amen." Beloved, here's what David is saying here. He's saying loyalty to God is expressed in giving and in praising. Loyalty to God is manifested when you give with all of your heart and you praise with all of your might. Loyalty to God is expressed in words but also in action. The same principle operated in the New Testament. You see, don't let anybody mislead you by saying that we have two books, Old Testament and New Testament. We have only one book, two sections. One says he's coming, the other one says he's here. It's the Holy Bible. It's the Word of God. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, if you've never taken time alone, quietly read 1 Corinthians 15, you must do that. It is long, 58 verses, but it is a magnificent chapter. And the Apostle Paul is actually giving them intellectual proof and reasoning proof of the resurrection, our resurrection, because of the resurrection of Jesus. And the joy of our resurrection and how we're going to live forever with Jesus, he goes on and on and on. It takes us to the very portals of heaven. And then in verse one of chapter 16 he says, "Now as for the collection." What? You just took us all the way to heaven and then you come to the mundane thing as a collection? Yeah. Paul is saying that heaven and giving are interconnected. That giving and heaven are interrelated. That heaven and giving are intertwined. Here he tells us about the link between the joy of our resurrection in terms of sending on timber for your mansion in heaven. Some are still unable to think about the distinction of the relationship between heaven and giving, so I want to give you three things. First of all, giving back to God is an indication that you really believe that everything you have belongs to God. Second, giving back to God is sowing seed for future blessings. And the third thing: giving feeds on praising and praising feeds on giving, and they both feed on each other. Look at these very quickly. First of all, when we praise God with our giving, we are testifying to the fact that we really believe that everything we have belongs to him, that he owns everything we have. We are affirming tangibly that every breath is a gift from God. Some will say, "God owns everything," and then God gets very precious little of what he owns. Let me tell you about a proven fact. The more you give, the more you are actually creating room for God to give more, to pile it back. See, some people think giving is like having a pie and you slice it, so when you give, you've got fewer slices left. That's not a biblical concept. That's a secular concept. God's concept is that your life is a silo and you have the grain in that silo. And every time you open the faucet and get some grain, God has a key to the top lid of the silo. So he opens up and pours some more. And the more you use, the more he pours it out from the top. Everything we have is a loan from him. Remember when you went to the bank and you borrowed some money, you bought a house, and you moved into the house and said, "That's our house." No, that is not your house. It's the bank's house. It's the mortgage company's house. You don't believe me? Just try not to pay the monthly payment for two or three months and you will see what I mean. I hope you don't do this, but soon you discover it's not your house. Beloved, in the same way, everything we have is all on a loan from the Great Bank of the Universe. Not only that giving proves that we actually believe that God owns everything, but secondly, giving is sowing seed for future blessings. Listen to me. God established the sowing and the reaping principle back in Genesis. The Lord Jesus Christ in Luke 6:38 affirmed this principle of sowing and reaping. The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 affirms this biblical principle when he said, "Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." But you know what? That would not be good to stop here. The apostle goes on, 2 Corinthians 9, "God is able to make all grace abound to you." How many? All. "God is able to make all grace abound to you." Question: what is the result of that abounding grace? He continues, "So that in all things and at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in generosity." Isn't that amazing? Just because some people misapplied the Word of God and used it for their selfish purposes, it doesn't make it less the Word of God. God's desire for his children is abundance. God's desire is not for anyone to perish. He wants all people saved. But what happened? They reject Jesus, so they don't get saved. So God's desire for his children, his redeemed flock, is for them to abound in everything. In how many things? All. I'm talking about all things. Listen to me. We are the ones who can block his desire for our abundance. This is not works. I don't believe in works. I believe in salvation by grace alone through faith alone through Christ alone. Sola Scriptura is what we teach in this church. But this is what the Word of God said. How do we block this abounding? By the measure you use, it is going to be measured back to you. Beloved, listen to me, my plea is for every one of you: please, do not block God's desire for your abundance by being chintzy with God. Let me illustrate this from the Orient. There's an Oriental legend about a potato farmer. It says the potato farmer decided one day that he's going to eat all the big potatoes and sow seed for the next season the smaller ones. Well, he kept on doing this. As years have passed, subsequent harvests got smaller and smaller until the potatoes were tiny marbles. Listen, we can say all day long, "Everything we have belongs to God," and we can say that until we're blue in the face. We can intellectually believe that God will multiply the seeds for the sower, but until we actually sow some seeds, we are proving that our praise is hollow. Neither praise alone nor giving alone is enough to put you in a position of receiving God's blessings. But consecrated praise and devoted giving place you directly under God's shower from the sky. Giving and praise acknowledge God's ownership. Giving and praise is the seed for further blessing. Finally, giving feeds praising and praising feeds giving. They feed on each other. But not only that they feed on each other, but they encourage others to do the same. I have never met a generous person who was not filled with thanksgiving and praise in his or her life. By the same token, I've never met a person who's filled with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord and is not generous in his giving. Now, I want to tell you this only to the glory of God. Whenever I travel overseas, I have people come to me and they would say, "We thank God for Leading the Way. We thank God for Kingdom Sat." "We thank God for their sacrificial giving to make it possible for us to hear the Gospel. We thank God that you are broadcasting the Gospel freely." All praise goes to God. By his will and his strength, we're going to do more and more because we will be invading more and more of Satan's territories. We will help set free men and women, boys and girls from sin and death. We will give more and more the opportunity for people to hear the good news of the Gospel and the love of Christ for them. Beloved, we have so much more harvest yet to come. Soul are yet to be won for Christ. When David, the great praising man of God, gave generously, others were motivated to do the same. When the Macedonians gave out of their poverty, the Corinthians were motivated to give. Beloved, our praising and giving create hunger for God in the lives of the lost. Our praise and our giving are our greatest impetus to reaching the world for Christ. And our Savior is worthy. He is worthy of all the praise. He is worthy of all the giving. He is worthy of everything.
Guest (Male): Thank you for allowing Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef to be a part of your day. And if you'd like to speak with someone about living a praise and spirit-filled life, just reach out to one of the Leading the Way pastors or counselors. You can start that conversation by filling out a brief contact form at ltw.org/jesus. Empowered by Praise, you will experience power in praising and thanking and blessing the Lord as a lifestyle. Now the book is out, it's in the bookstores, but also we have it here at Leading the Way, ltw.org. Do not miss out on the blessing of learning how to be empowered in your life by knowing how to praise God on a daily basis. Call now for additional details at 866-626-4356. A ministry representative will be glad to help at 866-626-4356. Or visit the website, ltw.org. And we also have a mailing address. You can write to us at Leading the Way, Post Office Box 20100, Atlanta, Georgia 30325. That's Post Office Box 20100, Atlanta, Georgia 30325. Well, it's time to say goodbye, but quickly allow me to invite you to join Dr. Youssef right here next time for more Leading the Way. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth.