The Joy of Gospel Partnership

This is the First Mustang Pulpit Podcast, a podcast of the weekly preaching and teaching at First Mustang.! Thank you for joining us. Our study through this New Testament letter, looking today in verses 14 to 18.

When I was young in ministry, I had an older pastor who told me that you should never preach on giving at all.

And I asked him why, and he said, because people don't like it. Makes sense. And so, tried to take to heart the advice I was given.

And then I had a bit of a crisis that came from just reading the Bible. And I came to see that my goal, if the Lord allowed it, was to preach verse by verse through as many books of the Bible as I can, while the Lord allows me to do this.

And as I was just reading through the Bible, I began to realize it would be impossible to faithfully preach the Bible verse by verse, book by book, and ignore what the Bible says about giving.

And then I thought about what was said to me as a young man, and the answer of why you shouldn't preach on giving because people don't like it.

And I began to realize that while perhaps well-intentioned advice, what that actually was asking me to do as a pastor was to put as the highest priority that people would like me.

And it's always a dangerous thing when the preacher is more concerned with being popular than being faithful.

And then as I began to read the Bible more and study it more and preach it more, I began to see that not only does the Bible have a lot to say about this, but it actually is an invitation to joy.

And to withhold from God's people what the Lord says is a pathway to joy and to blessing, while it may make the preacher popular, does not allow him to be faithful.

You probably have heard statistics like this before, but it's really shocking to see right in front of you how true this is, that there are in the Bible about 500 verses on prayer, about 500 verses on faith, and more than 2,000 that deal with how you handle your money.

It would just be impossible to faithfully teach your people what God's Word says about the Christian life and to take the advice I was given as a young pastor to never speak on it.

Now, I do understand in some sense where that's coming from, because we have all heard, I'm sure, and seen examples of manipulation and trying to make people feel guilty and all of the just mess that so often comes with pastors or evangelists on TV that are trying to just milk people out of money, and rightly so, we should resist all of that manipulative, emotion-driven, the kinds of things that are just trying to help make other people rich.

Rightly so, we want to be completely away from that. But if you read the book of Philippians, the whole book is an invitation to joy.

The whole book is about trusting God in any circumstance and believing that His ways are best and that His Word gives us the path to joy.

Not an easy life, we know that. Paul writes this under house arrest. It's not an easy life. Yet he retains his joy. And as we looked at last week, this well-known verse of verse 13, I can do all things to Him who strengthens me, can be ripped out of its context and it becomes something the Lord did not ever intend, but rightly understood, as I hope last week was helpful for us.

It becomes this amazing promise that God has given to His people. As we look in verses 4-18, what we really see is another way that God invites His people to experience true joy.

I think the title that I put in the sermon note says the joy of gospel partnership, and that's true, but if I were updating this, I would change it to the final frontier.

Because when it comes to the Christian life, to not just be faithful in giving, but to find joy in the worship through giving, really is kind of the final frontier of the human heart.

This becomes a good way to know, do you really trust the Word of God? I have no interest in manipulating you today.

I have no interest in giving you stories to make you feel guilty. If you choose to be faithful to what God's Word says, I rejoice with you in the demonstration of your faith in Him.

And if you refuse to be obedient as your pastor, I care for your heart and want to shepherd you in what God calls us to do. But I have no interest in you doing something because I said so.

So like with all things, I just want to tell you what the Bible says. And if you believe what the Bible says, I want to invite you to respond in obedience, with joy and with faith.

Look at verse 14. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble, and you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the Gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only.

Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.

Yet I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

giving to God has always been a part of worship for God's people. If you are this morning a child, and you have placed faith in Jesus Christ, it should be the desire of your heart to want to give to the Lord.

If you are a teenager, and you know Christ, it should be the desire of your heart to want to worship by giving to the Lord. If you are a college student, a poor, humble, meager college student, it should be the practice of your life to worship the Lord.

If you are an adult, it should be the joy of your heart to give to the Lord. Why? Because this is what has always been true of the people of God. Cain and Abel, Genesis 4, made an offering to God.

Genesis 8, Noah made an offering to God. Job made offerings to God. Abraham gave offerings to the Lord. Moses called the people to give in Exodus 25.

Jesus in Luke 6 spoke of the faithfulness of giving. Paul in 2 Corinthians 9 spoke of the importance of giving. God's people have always been a giving people.

Think about that for a moment. It has always been true of God's people that they have found joy in worship through giving.

Maybe for you, that's not true. Maybe you're not there yet. Maybe you give regularly to the Lord through our church, but there's no joy in it.

Or maybe you don't give at all and maybe you assume it's somebody else's responsibility. But there's really no getting around this as you read the New Testament that one of the things that marks the people of God is that they delight to give to the Lord.

This is why the advice I was given as a very young pastor is not helpful. because if I were to withhold from you what the Lord says about the giving of offerings to Him, what it would be withholding from you is what the Bible says is a way for you to worship and to please the Lord.

In fact, look again at verse 18. He says, as you give, it is a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. Now, I don't know about you, but I would love to know how I can do something that's pleasing to God.

And this is one of the ways we can do it. If you come to our church any number of weeks at all, you're going to always, no matter what pastor is doing the Scripture or the greeting or the welcome, you're going to always hear us say that we don't ask our guests to give money.

I've already said it today. In case you missed it, let me say it again if you're new to us. We don't want your money today. We don't want your money tomorrow. And we don't want your money next week.

Okay? There's a couple of reasons why we say that. One, is because when people are not used to going to church, or maybe they don't know Christ as their Savior, whatever it may be, one of the assumptions they have about the church is the church just wants my money.

And maybe that's been true in their experience. Maybe that's just cliche. But a lot of people come into church assuming they just want my money. And I can't knock down every obstacle between you and the Lord, but I can knock that one down.

And so every Sunday, we tell our guests, we don't want you to give. We want after your money. Another reason we say that every Sunday is there are some people who don't know Christ, but they would confuse generosity with conversion.

So, they don't know Christ, they don't have faith in the Lord, but maybe if I go to church, maybe if I give some money in the offering, then the Lord will accept me, and I never want someone to confuse generosity with conversion.

So, we say every Sunday and will every Sunday as long as I have the privilege to serve here, we will say verbally, out loud, explicitly, if you're not a believer or if this isn't your church home, we do not ask you to give anything.

This is not a plea to try to get money from you. This is an invitation for you to take the Lord at His Word and to worship Him.

Now, when I first started saying that 20-something years ago here, it was not always received well.

I have a very specific conversation in mind that took place in our old sanctuary. We're going way back here to early days when I was pastor here, and a man pulled me aside and he said, Pastor, I don't want you to ever say again to our guests not to give.

And I said, why is that? He said, because the goal of the offering is to make every dollar you can on that Sunday. And if you say that, our guests won't give.

And if they wouldn't have heard that, they might have given something, and that's the goal is to bring in as much money as possible. And so I said, can I ask one question?

I said, did you give today? He said, I did. I give every Sunday, and I believe him. And I said, could you, could you have given ten dollars more today?

Just, could you have afforded to give ten dollars more? And he said, yeah, I mean, I suppose I could have given ten dollars more. And I said, well, sir, if the goal of the offering and for it to be a success is you have to bring in every dollar possible, you would have failed today.

Because you could have given more. And I just said, what kind of standard is that? And I said, besides that, people who don't belong here, that they're not members here, they're not a part of who God has assembled here, why would they need to take on the responsibility of providing for what God has called us to do?

Very early on, I'm told by one older pastor never mentioned money, and I'm told by someone else in the church, shake everybody's pockets to get every dime you can.

I reject both of those. Our goal is not to get every dollar we can. Our goal is to preach the word and pray for obedience and for joy in God's people to respond.

Let's see what His word says about this. Number one, faithful giving is a partnership. This is one of my favorite realities of the New Testament church. Faithful giving is a partnership.

Verse 14, Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. The church in Philippi has heard about the need Paul has, and so they take an offering.

They collect an offering from what the people gave regularly, and they sent a portion of that on through Epaphroditus to Paul to help meet his needs.

It was kind of you to share my trouble. This is a sharing of a burden. This is a partnering together. That's why, rightly understood, our giving to God through the church is not about paying bills.

It's about partnering together to honor the Lord. So let me ask you a question. Last week, our middle schoolers went to camp.

If you were a part of middle school camp in any way, raise your hand. You're a part of middle school camp in any way. keep your hands up, and with love and respect, can I tell you, congregation, trick question I know, you absolutely failed the test.

You can put your hand down. Why do I say that? Because a significant portion of the cost of middle school camp is funded through our church budget.

Those of you who raised your hand are the ones who physically went. but every one of you who faithfully give to the Lord, you were a part of middle school camp.

Tomorrow, high schoolers go to camp. I won't ask the question because I don't want to for obvious reasons, but if you give faithfully to the Lord, and I ask you next month who is a part of high school camp, raise your hand.

We've got people going on mission trips next month. You may not physically be going, but as you give to the Lord, a significant portion of the cost of those mission trips are provided through your giving.

Kids camp is coming up. How many of you are helping with kids camp? Don't raise your hand, but you get where I'm going. It's a partnership. That's the very language of the New Testament that we get to share with each other.

That we get to be a part of that. You may not go down to Falls Creek, but as you give, you're sharing in the blessing of it. You may not be going on the mission trip, but as you give, you're sharing in that.

You may not have physically been able to be here at VBS, but as you give, you're sharing in that. All the ministries of our church, it's a partnership, it's sharing.

You may not understand this in full. Our church supports what we call the cooperative program. As you give to the Lord through giving to the church, you're supporting missionaries in North America.

You're supporting missionaries around the world. You're supporting six Southern Baptist seminaries. You're supporting Baptist collegiate ministries on college campuses all around our state.

You're supporting rescue missions. You're supporting food for the hungry. You're supporting through our church. In addition to all of that, 12 different mission partnerships that we do together.

Every time your family faithfully gives to the Lord through the church, you are partnering together to help support work where your feet will likely never go.

at the end of the year, I had a chance to go and preach for a couple of BCMs, and Mars and I got a chance to do ministry there with those BCMs.

But there were three or four that partnered together, and I got to preach the Word that night. That's the only place physically I was. Jeremy, this last school year, had a chance to go to a number of BCMs and do ministry there and physically got to be there.

But as you give, your support is going places where your feet never will. As my family gives, we're going places through our giving that our feet never will.

It is sharing. It is partnering together. It's a partnership. Verse 15, And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the Gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only.

This is about ten years ago, he says. And he's expressing gratitude that no other church was faithful, but they were. He's thankful for them.

And I want you to know that I'm thankful for every single member of our church who joyfully, freely, graciously worships through giving.

We're thankful for you. A couple of weeks ago, we had VBS, and the offering our kids brought was astounding.

And there were kids that brought coins, and kids that brought birthday money, and there were some helpers that went out door to door and let people know of what they were collecting for for this mission cause.

And the joy in our children as they gave was so thrilling. I want to be honest with you that if you are a child and you claim faith in Jesus Christ, it ought to be true of you that you're giving.

That's not just for your parents, that's for believers. Middle schoolers, if you're a believer in Christ, a member of our church, this isn't just for your moms and dads. It'll be the delight of your heart to be a faithful giver.

It's a partnership. And Paul expresses his gratitude, and I want you to know how thankful we are for so many of you who faithfully partner together to do what God has called us to do.

But the language of verse 15, look at it again, nobody else helped except you only. And the truth is, God took care of the needs of Paul.

The churches who were refusing to give missed out on the blessing. I want to be very clear and very honest with you. I trust with all of my heart the Lord has and will continue to take care of our church's financial needs.

This is not a question of are we going to be able to continue to turn the lights on. I don't think you're going to come in next week and the lights are going to be off. I don't think you're going to come in next month and there's no, you know, goldfish for your preschoolers because we're broke.

Here's the reality of it. Those who refuse to give miss out on the blessing that God has for them. Paul says, nobody else was willing to be generous except you only.

And the people were blessed. Now, if your family is faithful to give to God through the church in a regular continual basis, you're not the only family who does.

But even if you were, even if you were, you'd be blessed by it. I'm told that we have 475 households who have given to the Lord through the church this year.

475 families, not people, but families. And I give God thanks for that. It's a lot of households that are faithful.

It's also a number of families who aren't yet doing this. As with all statistics, there's two ways to see it. 475, that is an amazing reason to give thanks to the Lord.

But when you look at our active membership, that also means there's a number of households who aren't yet faithfulness, which is why I call it the final frontier. People will come to church, they will even teach a class, and they will serve, they'll do all kinds of things, but for some people, this really is the last place that the Holy Spirit gets a hold of somebody's life.

And if that's true for you, I don't want you to feel manipulated, I don't want you to feel like your arm is being twisted, I just want to present to you what God's Word says, and ask you to take Him at His Word.

Some of you were taught at an early age to give, and if you were, you ought to give thanks to your parents for that, because they taught you how to find joy in obeying the Lord.

And some of you weren't taught to give. Some of you, it was just never a part of your life. You came to faith in Christ later in life maybe, and you've just never been taught.

If you need help in learning how to do that, there are people at our church who are skilled in this area who love Jesus and care about you, and they would love to help you with this.

Not to try to do what I was told, and that is get every last dollar we can. That's not our heart, I promise you that. But if you just say, I would love to be faithful to worship through giving, I would love for this to be true of my household, I just don't know where to start, I don't know how to do it.

There are people here who would gladly sit down with you in Privacy 101 and help you with that. If you're a member of our church and you just say, I would love for someone to help me learn, how can I be faithful to give, just take your connection card on the back, just say, I need someone to meet with me to help me learn how to do this.

We'll pass it on to skilled, trained people who love Jesus and care about you, and they would love at no cost to help you to learn how to be faithful in this. not because our church is broke, but because we desire for you to have the joy of partnering with God's people to do what God's people have always done, and that is to worship Him through giving.

Faithful giving is a partnership. Number two, faithful giving is perpetual. Faithful giving is perpetual. If you're a child taking notes, ask your mom on that one.

How to spell it. Verse 16, even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. I love this. He's saying that faithful churches, faithful givers do it over and over again.

This isn't just a one-time thing. This isn't just, and here's the thing, the reason, there's a lot of reasons why I would reject a manipulative approach to this topic. One of them is if you just want to make someone feel guilty, you could get someone to give an offering once, that's not what the Bible's after.

He doesn't want you to read the Bible once, to pray once, to gather for worship once. He desires for these disciplines to be the practice of your life.

But can I just tell you some of the things through the years that I've heard? This may be an encouragement for you. Some have said, well, I don't give, but I serve instead.

I mean, I encourage you, service does not replace faithful giving. That would be like saying, I never read my Bible, but I sure do pray a lot. That'd be like saying, I never come to church, but I read my Bible at home.

I never use my spiritual gifts in any way to serve or bless others, but I pray for missionaries. We would never want to look at the Bible and say, we'll obey this part, but not that part.

That's not faithfulness in any area. I want to encourage you, please, please, on this Father's Day, don't raise your children to think that what God calls His people to do is a buffet list of options and you pick what you like and leave out what you don't like.

Teach your children that God's ways are best and they're a joy and a delight. when I was a little kid and first gave my life to Jesus, I loved coming to church on Sundays.

I loved it. I was just amazed at the joy of getting to come to church and to hear the Word taught and to sing songs about the Lord. I loved it.

I remember being a very, very little kid and I would pick out my clothes on Saturday night for Sunday. I wanted to be ready. I'll be 53 next month.

I did the same thing last night and I got excited all over again about what we get to do in here together.

I have never, ever recovered from the joy of what the church is. I love it. And if someone were to have said to me as a child, you ought to read your Bible but church is optional.

You ought to pray but giving is optional. You ought to obey this command but we can forget these over here. That would be robbing me of the joy of all that the Lord has for me.

don't think that your service or ministry or praying or reading is instead of your giving.

Second, in context, this is very important to understand that wealth is not a prerequisite for giving. Wealth is not a prerequisite for giving.

Philippi is a church in Macedonia. 2 Corinthians 8 mentions the poverty of the Macedonian churches and yet, this church gives generously and sacrificially over and over again.

So many people say when I get more money I'll be generous. When I get older I'll be generous. When I retire I'll be generous. Let your giving be perpetual.

Let it be regular. Let it be consistent. not because some man made you feel guilty but because you really do believe that the Lord's ways are best and you really desire the joy that comes from obeying Him.

I have known some very joyful people in my life and almost without exception the most joyful people I know are the most generous people I know and it has nothing to do with wealth.

I've known some stingy people in my life and it has nothing to do with how much they make because you can be stingy and make little and you can be stingy with much.

This is all about is your heart fully trusting in the Lord? Third and this is what as a young pastor really convicted me faithful giving is profitable to the giver.

Faithful giving is profitable to the giver. Let me tell you why it was such bad advice as a young pastor and I was told to never teach on this topic. verse 17 not that I seek the gift but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.

Paul says I had a need your church is faithful to take offerings you supported me through your offerings and I am well supplied and he says I'm so grateful not because of the gift I got but because he says I delight in knowing that there's fruit that's coming from your giving and it has increased your credit it's increased your blessings.

Paul is saying that because the church gave when someone is converted through Paul's ministry the church enjoys the fruit of that. when Paul disciples somebody the church who gave to support him the church enjoys the fruit of that.

He says that there are eternal rewards there is lasting credit to your account when you're faithful to worship through giving which means the Bible is saying clearly and loudly and without any difficult interpretation of this the Bible is saying that when God's people are faithful to give the Lord gives that to their account he credits them there's fruit there is blessing there is joy given to the giver and so for me if I were to fail to ever teach on the faithfulness of the joy of giving I would literally be withholding from you something the Lord has said is a way that he wants to bless you now and forever so let's be clear our church isn't broke we're not in need the reason I'm teaching this is because it's the next verse if you left last week here

I left off on verse 13 you know where I'm picking up today verse 14 by the way if you're going to preach on giving just to get money don't do it in the summer okay this is just the next text but it's an invitation to take God at his word and his word says there is profit to the giver give you another story from when I was brand new here man took me to lunch I'd been pastor for about two weeks took me to lunch in Yukon sat down here is the first sentence that came from his mouth he said pastor I want you to know I will never give one dime to this church I was enjoying chips and salsa if you've been eating if you've eaten with me you know that is a true spiritual gift of mine and I continue to devour my chips and salsa he said did you hear me

I'm not going to ever give a dime to this church and I said yes sir I heard you he said you don't believe me and then I realized this is the weirdest launch I've ever had you took me to lunch as a new pastor just to fight with me this is this is going to be a great ride and I said yes sir I heard you and yes sir I believe you he said that doesn't make you mad and I called him my name and I said did did you invite me to lunch to make me mad like is that is that what the goal was and he said you don't care if I'm never going to give because I'm never going to you don't think it matters and I said well I care greatly but probably not the reasons you think I said I trust our church is going to be fine the

Lord will take care of us but I am greatly concerned for the condition of your soul that you would be so cavalier about purposefully disobeying the word of God that's not how a Christian talks it was a great lunch if I remember correctly I think it also actually stuck me with the bill if you were to be one of our members and say pastor we don't give and I'm not going to give I'm not concerned for our church I am concerned for you truly because God's people have always been a giving people it's kind of the final frontier of the heart one of the ways you know that you trust

God to meet your needs is that you freely give one of the ways you know that you don't love the things of the world is that you joyfully give maybe you're sitting there today and you're thinking to yourself I can't wait till this message is over and I didn't give last week and I'm not giving next week either if that's the case our church will be fine!

not because giving an offering is going to earn your way to heaven but because God's people have always been a joyful giving people and this is a test for you to see do you take God at his word faithful giving is a profit to the giver some are worldly and selfish some hoard and keep everything for themselves but Paul says I seek the fruit that increases to your credit there is great joy when you give I told you some bad examples can I tell you one joyful one we were building this building 20 years ago senior adult lady I was in her house and she told me about her financial needs she told me about a limited income and she told me the amount she wanted to trust the

Lord to give to help us to pay for this building numerically it was a small amount for her it was a significant amount and my first instinct was to say please don't give please don't hearing your needs hearing your limited resources please don't give and!

and I was this close to saying let's make a deal if you don't give I will promise that my family will pay will cover will give that amount extra every week until the building is paid off and that way the same amount of income so to speak I hate that term but the amount of giving is coming to the church and you don't have to worry I was this close to offering that deal by God's grace I kept my mouth quiet I went home and I thought I really wish she wouldn't give it wasn't a huge amount at all but for her it was I'll never forget the day that we took our final heave ho offering and paid this building off in full I got a text I was up here at the end of the service I got a text of how much the church had given and

I didn't believe it I thought it was too high our church has many faithful givers we don't have large gifts that typically come in that's not the way the Lord provides!

for us and I didn't want to make the announcement because I didn't trust the text I left went back to the room where our men were counting the money I wanted to confirm what they said was right and I came back it was right and by God's grace we were able to complete the project and before I left the church that day that senior adult lady found me and she looked at me I will never forget her words right over here in this hallway in this aisle and she said I can't believe the Lord let me be a part of this and I thought thank you Lord at least once I kept my mouth shut she would have missed out on the joy of worship on the joy of partnership and on the joy of giving faithful giving is profitable to the giver if

I told you the amount she gave you'd say that's not much but for her it was and for her it brought great joy and the Lord says himself that there is fruit that increased to her credit this is an invitation to joy some of you know how to give and you faithfully do and I praise God for you others of you know how to give and you've just gotten a little bit behind maybe you've let priorities shift maybe you've just kind of become undisciplined you know what to do to fix that I pray that you will not because our church needs your money in that way but because like Paul I long for you to experience the fruit that increases to your credit others of you want to be faithful to give you just don't know how let us help you faithful giving is praise to

God faithful giving is praise to God look at verse 18 I have received full payment and more I am well supplied having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent a fragrant offering a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God the church the members of the church gave and they took part of that offering and sent it with Epaphroditus to take to Paul to support him in his ministry to support him in the work that he was doing to support him in his needs he was under house arrest he had to take care of his needs financially in that and they wanted to support him no matter what to the Lord he says it was a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to

God it's interesting I think every pastor this is probably true if you were to ask a hundred pastors what question you could ask the most probably the number one answer across the board would be something related to how can I know God's will for my life something related to that and we so often make that like it's some hidden secret while ignoring what is plain right in front of us if you want to know what is pleasing to God it's more than this but it includes this as you faithfully give to the Lord it is a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God faithful giving pleases God people open the Bible and say I just can't understand this it's so hard and I'll grant you some parts are more difficult but I think it was Mark Twain that said it's not the parts of the

Bible that are hard to understand that bother me it's the parts that I do understand and don't do God's people give it is a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God the Bible describes God's people a number of ways God's people are a singing people God's people are a serving people and God's people are a giving people can you give me three minutes here before we close I want to make sure we're very clear on something if you're not a believer and this is not your church home please keep your money if the Lord should bring you to faith or the Lord should call you to join our church we'd love for you to faithfully give and enjoy what he has for you but I don't want any person in this room thinking that church just wants my money please keep your money if you have a problem with the church if you have a problem with anything at all please keep your money this is not about trying to shake you down and get things out of your pockets not at all!

to give to to give a give! And please don't think that giving is buying a ticket to heaven this is the joyful response of the redeemed this is the blessing of God's people who faithfully worship through giving as a response to what he has done for us for most of us the first verse we ever learned John 3 16 for most of us for God sold the world that he gave his only begotten son our giving is a response to what he's already given to us we love because he first loved us if you think putting money in the offering box is going to earn your way to heaven please keep your money today I don't want anyone to be confused to think generosity equals conversion

I'd far rather you keep your offering and get right with God there's nobody here trying to twist your arm and make you feel guilt or manipulate you but with all of my heart I do want to faithfully preach unto you the entire counsel of God's word but as you give and even for those of you who regularly give all the time please make sure your heart is right that you give with faith that you give with joy and if you don't know Christ as your savior please if you've heard nothing else I've said please hear this you're a sinner as we all are deserving of judgment but God made a way by sending his son the Lord Jesus Christ the father gave the son and the son took upon himself our sin and the

Bible says that all who believe in him and call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved not by our works not by going to church not by giving offerings but by having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ if you don't know Christ as savior today please please don't give anything in the offering go home cry out to God ask for his grace and his mercy to forgive you with faith trust in the promises of God and ask him to give you a new heart and new desires and enjoy the life he has for you and if you are a believer!

God will you will you will! any part of God's will that you're comfortable disobeying repent of that and if our church can help you with giving with teaching your children the Bible with leading family devotions you name it if there's a doctrine or a discipline that our church can help you with please write that on that connection card drop it in one of the giving boxes we would love to help you we do not want to just preach commands to you and walk away we want to faithfully shepherd you and help you to live them out and if if all of the families that are a part of this church if we would all be faithful to trust the Lord in our giving we could delight all the more because that's that much more money for missions and church plants and seminaries and baptist ministries on college campuses and those that are in need we trust

God to meet our needs but through this text he invites you to show you trust him to meet yours with all of my heart and zero apology I'm asking every member household of this church to faithfully give I'm not ashamed of it I'm not hiding from it but not because we're needy but because God in his grace has given us an invitation to joy and why would I want for our people anything less than what God has offered to us this may be the final frontier of your heart this may be the last place for you to be faithful I'm praying you will be and may

God receive the praise and glory as we take him at his word Lord thank you for your word today we trust you with it and pray that through your spirit you would use it to bring encouragement hope conviction and change you're good we thank you for your provision for us and pray that your people would respond in obedience as in all things with each text in Christ's name amen