Deut 14:28+29, "At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
	This morning we will conclude our discussion of the tremendous difference between knowing the ways of God versus seeing the acts of God. To know His ways is to know Him in a deep and abiding and living reality.
As a simple illustration, to keep us moving forward, we can see when a child acts out. We can recognize the pattern of behavior and the actions of the child, but that does not mean that we know why that child is doing the things he or she does. 
However, when we spend time with the little one, when we talk with the child and study the child and examine the ways that the child interacts with others, we begin to learn and to relate with that child in depth. Our knowledge and our understanding of the motivations and the skills and the abilities and the needs and the capabilities of that child grow and grow as we develop a relationship with him or her. We can begin to anticipate how certain stimuli with affect that child and how he or she will respond in given sets of situations. This is because we are able to see the world a little more clearly through his eyes and her conceptual understanding. 
This takes a commitment on our part to spend time and interact with that child and to communicate with him or her. The more time and effort and energy we devote to the little one, the more our relationship grows and deepens. Our mutual interrelatedness becomes more completely enmeshed together. 
	This is a very basic and simplified example because we can never so fully understand the ways of the Lord God Almighty. His ways are far far far beyond our abilities of comprehension. It is more that He is the adult and we are the ones who are being taught and dealt with patiently and abidingly. We are the ones who need to learn His ways. We want to know Him in greater reality. We want to be those Children of God Who do only the will of the Father more and more to perfection as each passing day turns to dusk. We want Him to be satisfied in the life that He has given us in His Only Begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we do commit ourselves to spend the time and the energy and the necessary devotion of our hearts to ask Him to teach us of His ways and the fullness of Himself.
	This brings us to the encouragement of Jesus Our Lord as recorded in Luke 6:35-38. In this passage, we are given a view of the ways of the Lord in dealing with those whom we might find to be difficult, ungrateful, and even repugnant. Yet, God so chose to love them, and even us, that He sent His Only Begotten Son for the salvation of all who will call upon Him. That is the way that God treats those in such dire need and the way we need to learn to view even those who persecute and revile us.
	Luke 6:35-38, "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. "And do not judge and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. "Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return." 
	What we have at the heart of this passage is the need to not see people in the manner in which they treat us. It is so easy to just return anger and insult and animosity upon those who so heap it upon us. We are so very apt to mete back to others that which they fling at us. However, that is not the way that God deals with any of us, thankfully especially with you and with me. He loves and He shows mercy and He sees beyond the actions to the core need for a complete change of nature within each of His created ones. He knows that, of our old nature, we are infused and instilled with anger and animosity and jealousy and evil intent and vicious deceitfulness. 
Rather than giving us what we each deserve before His Holiness and His Righteousness, God chooses to love us and to give us a completely new nature when we turn to Him and call out for the salvation that is only found in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul makes this very evident to us in 2 Cor 5:14-21, if you would please open to it. 
	2 Cor 5:14-21, For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 
To know the ways of the Lord requires that we have the same view of humanity as He does. We need to look past the actions and the insults and the hostility. There needs to be developed within us the perception that there is an utter need for something far beyond the scope of their understanding and even beyond our abilities to love them. Only the Lord can so love them through us. Only the grace of God can cover their actions and their vile deeds. Only the merciful heart of God can cause us to lay down our lives for their sakes. This is nothing less than the unfathomable Grace of God which He manifested on the cross for the sake of all who will call upon Him.
Returning, then to the words of Christ as recorded in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 11, verses 39-44, He related the difference that is in place in the way of God versus the way of humanity in dealing with one another. Of ourselves, there is always the issue of my rights and my stature and my placement of honor and all that I deserve for the endless hours and effort and sacrifices that I make in order to show myself holier than thou.
Luke 11:39-44, But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness. "You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also? "But give that which is within as charity, and then all things are clean for you. "But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. "Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the front seats in the synagogues, and the respectful greetings in the market places. "Woe to you! For you are like concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it." 
	When we learn to know more and more of the ways of the Lord, we are enabled to see that the course of our lives is not that which puts ourselves and our interests ahead of others. Rather, there is the absolute realization that the only reason that we are on this earth at this precise moment in time is in order to manifest the truth of the Love of God in Christ Jesus! We begin to completely view those around us with the perception of what is needed in order to meet their needs in spite of what it might cost us in terms of prestige and honor and human elevation. Our selfish goals and earthly ambitions and carnal delights and selfish comfort are set aside in order to so bless others that they will seek to know the complete difference that Jesus makes in the lives of those who belong to Him.
	Again reading in the Gospel of Luke, Luke 14:7-14, Our Lord Jesus highlights the manner in which we are to seek to show His love to those who are not the wealthy and the exalted among humanity. There should be that humbleness of heart and mind and being which especially considers those who are poor, and crippled, and blind, and considered the dregs of society into the places of the worthiness of our consideration and help and esteem. We must be characterized by an attitude of humility and delight to bring a blessing to those who are disenfranchised and neglected and abused and scorned by the self-exalted of our social order. That is the expression of the way of the Lord Who seeks out those whom He can bless, who dwell in the shadows and the slums of this age. 
	Luke 14:7-14, And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table; saying to them, "When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both shall come and say to you,' Give place to this man,' and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. "But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. "For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted." And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and repayment come to you. "But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." 
	Brother James details this even within the fellowship of believers in James 2:1-8. This is the way that we should be treating all those who are brought together as fellow heirs of the salvation of Jesus Christ.    
James 2:1-8, My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, "You sit here in a good place," and you say to the poor man, "You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool," have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law, according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. 
        Continuing forward then, now please open to 2 Cor 9:6-15. The Apostle Paul makes it very clear as to the manner in which our lives are to manifest a growing knowledge of the ways of the Lord and our depth of relationship with Him. There needs to be a corresponding recognition that all that we have in this life belongs to the Lord and is for His use as He so makes it evident to us. He meets our every need and, through us, He often meets the needs of those so less fortunate. Accordingly, we are to all be characterized by joy and utter thanksgiving unto the Lord as individuals and as His corporate Body.
	2 Cor 9:6-15, Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; as it is written, "He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, His righteousness abides forever." Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. Because of the proof given by this ministry they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 
    	In the letter to the Philippians, Chapter 4, verses 4-8, the Apostle further highlights how our rejoicing is a constant expression of the fact that we know the Lord and His ways. There is a complete confidence in the Lord to do all that is required to keep us through all the seasons of our time on this earth. There is no need to worry or to fret or to be anxious about anything! To do so is to show the lack of our knowledge of the ways of the Lord to meet the every need of those whom He has called and whom He loves and upon whom He lavishes the fullness of Jesus Christ. Accordingly our thoughts and our deeds and our behavior are to give expression to the complete honesty of our relationship with God in His Only Begotten Son.
	Phil 4:4-8, Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. 
	We conclude with a familiar passage from James 1:25-27, as he makes known the full measure of what our relationship entails in the daily expression of knowing the ways of the Lord. In meeting the needs of others, without any expectation of return on our investment of time and energy and resources, we express the love of God in the same manner as He: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, does unto us.
	James 1:25-27, But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does. If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. 
Let us all beseech the Lord to instill in us the same desire that was expressed by Moses all those centuries ago, that God would teach us to know His ways in order that we would know Him all the more intimately. This is a living relationship that is so very vital and effective in the course of our walk on this earth. It will turn our eyes away from the deadness of our old nature and the course of trying to mete out revenge and retribution and judgment upon those who treat us so vilely and miserably. It will cause us to see their need for Jesus. It will also open our eyes to the vast needs of all those around us and will instill in us a heart of sacrifice for their sakes. 
The tremendous difference between merely seeing the acts of God and knowing the ways of God needs to be our heart’s understanding of how we live our lives on this earth. It is all by the power of the Lord God Almighty as He reveals Himself and His ways to us. This is moment by moment and day by day as we yearn to spend our time with Him in fellowship, in prayer, in worship, in thanksgiving, in reading His Word, and in the dedication and consecration of our entire being to do His will. So be it!
"At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do. Amen. 

This morning’s benediction is Ex 15:2. "The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will extol Him. Amen.