The Lord repeated this miracle because the twelve disciples needed to be trained twice. Had the Lord not fed the five thousand and four thousand, the disciples probably would not have been able to handle the situation at Pentecost. If a man has never experienced the feeding of five thousand and four thousand in the Gospels, he could never know about caring for the three thousand and five thousand in Acts. Those who run away at the sight of bears and lions will surely run away at the sight of Goliath. Those who cannot shepherd sheep will surely not be able to shepherd Israel. Here was a group of people who learned the lesson of feeding the five thousand and the four thousand. As a consequence, they had no problem at Pentecost when they were called upon to take care of the poor. Brothers and sisters, we have to go through the same training. Our hearts have to be enlarged. We can hold back what we spend, but God does not want us to hold back His miracles. Many people are too concerned about money. They do not give others the impression that they are servants of God. They do not resemble those who have been trained by God. A trained person will not make money an issue; he will not be that concerned about the money in his hand. Brothers and sisters, the more we count, the more we deviate from God's mark, and the poorer we become. This is not God's principle towards money. We need the training that the twelve and the seventy disciples received. One of the twelve eventually became a thief, a robber; he stole money. He did not learn his lesson, and money became a major issue to him. When he saw Mary pouring the pure nard out of the alabaster flask on the Lord, he considered it a waste. He said, "Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" (John 12:5). To a calculating person, a flask of ointment can be sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor. But the Lord did not go along with this calculation. Instead, He said, "Truly I say to you, Wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done shall also be told as a memorial of her" (Matt. 26:13). The consummate result of the gospel is the breaking of the alabaster flask and the anointing of the Lord Jesus with the ointment worth three hundred denarii. In other words, when a man receives the gospel and for Christ's sake does not count the cost of wasting everything on Him, it is a good thing in the Lord's sight. It is right even when he "wastes" himself on the Lord. Those who do not understand the gospel are always counting their money, but those who understand the gospel realize that it is right and proper to waste themselves on Him. It is right for the Lord to receive our "wasteful" sacrifice. Who was the one who considered it a waste? Judas. He was a man who never learned his lesson. His words were very reasonable. To man, there was no profit in spending three hundred denarii in this way! To Judas, three hundred denarii was enough to betray a man—he sold the Lord Jesus for a price of three hundred denarii. However, to him, the pouring out of the ointment was a waste, and he grieved over it. He wanted to gain something from it; he was a very calculating man. But those who have genuinely received the gospel and who are absolute for the Lord will sacrifice everything. Even if the sacrifice is too much in others' eyes, this sacrifice is made towards the Lord's gospel. Where the gospel is proclaimed, no one should bargain with the Lord. He said, "For the poor you have with you always, but you do not always have Me" (v. 11). The Lord was saying that there is nothing wrong about caring for the poor, but we cannot hold back anything when it comes to sacrificing for the Lord. Even if we overdo and go to the extreme, it is still not a waste to the Lord. A brother once said, "If a new believer tries to take the moderate way once he believes, he will have no spiritual future at all." Brothers and sisters, considerations of moderation can wait ten or twenty years, but when one first believes, he should waste himself on Him. If you are a new believer, you should offer everything you have to Him. You should pour out the entire alabaster flask of pure nard on the Lord. You have to sacrifice everything this way before you will have a way to go on. This was the training the disciples received. We have to learn to take up a little more suffering ourselves and waste more on the Lord and on others. As God's servants, we should be very generous towards money. We should go on, with or without money. Those who always count their money are not the right persons for the work.

In Acts 3:6 Peter said to the crippled man, "Silver and gold I do not possess." The Lord brought Peter and John to the point where they could claim, "Silver and gold I do not possess." Although we see much money being handled in chapter two, we find a testimony in chapter three: "Silver and gold I do not possess." What did Peter say to the crippled man? "What I have, this I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene rise up and walk." They were so trained that even though so much money passed through their hand, they could still say, "Silver and gold I do not possess." Brothers and sisters, if we engage ourselves in the work at all, we have to be firm with regard to money. Once we are weak in this matter, we will be weak in other matters as well. An underlying factor for strong and steady workers is our trustworthiness before God in the matter of money. God can entrust such persons.