December 1, 2025
It's funny to be in this position. I don't know if you guys ever been in a position like this. It's kind of new for me still, but there's a lot of thoughts that go through your mind. Like you're thinking some people are like get antsy. Then there's a thought like I don't care. And then and then there's thought but like I should care but I don't want to care cuz I'm indigging it. But then there's this part where you got to be patient and just kind of linger for a little bit and let God do what he wants to do in people's lives. Cuz a lot of us are pretty stubborn. Did that? Anybody know anybody stubborn in here? Don't raise your hands. But sometimes we're stubborn and it's like, "All right, just move on. " What if we just chose in that moment, we wait it out and let that stubbornness come down? And what if when we got that stubbornness out of the way, a big breakthrough happened in your heart? Something happened. Can I just tell you, God's always poised and ready to move in your life. I mean, it really is on us at this point., I beg and squeal and squall and to get to Church and get in the room because there's something about corporate worship, but I'm just telling you, you get to walk in that authority. You get to exercise that authority. You get to connect with God anytime you want.
2 in the morning, 3 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon. You get to walk in authority. Can I help you with something? This is kind of in my notes and it's a whole another message, but spiritual authority. It is it is it is something that we all need to grab Revelation of and then practice walking in it. We understand authority, the concept of authority. And if everything's spiritual, then the idea of spiritual authority is a big deal. that you have an authority in the name of Jesus and only in the name of Jesus you have an authority. And so we say things like this. I want to give you an example of what authority looks like is that you've probably heard this phrase before. People say, "Oh, bless your heart, little thing. Bless your heart. " You ever heard that little phrase, "Bless your heart. " Poor little thing. Don't ever say poor little thing to me. First of all, not that little anymore. But second, don't make that declaration over my life because your words have power. But we say, "Bless your heart. " And if I take those words at face value, those are powerful words. But we associate pity with it.
Bless your heart. Dog on it. You tried. You tried, didn't you? Bless your heart. And there's no authority. And in fact, if anything, there's pity and sympathy and weakness. But if I take the same words and I change my mindset and my attitude and I say, "Bless your heart. Bless, elevate God's presence on your life. " And I'm not teasing anybody or picking anybody. If you say, "Bless your heart in a sad way. Fix it. But let me speak life, not pity, over you. God bless your heart. God strengthen his heart. Strengthen his life. God, I thank you that he hears your voice. He's led by your Spirit. God, he walks in confidence of the power of the Holy Spirit in his life. God bless his life.
Bless his marriage. God bless him. That's authority. My words have power. I understand that when I say those things, it changes the atmosphere. It changes your heart. It changes your response. It changes your reception. My tone, my text, all that stuff. It matters. I can take the same phrase and make you feel sad and sorry for yourself or I can speak life into you. That's the authority that you walk in. Not just with one another. Listen to me. For your life. The only reason you won't walk in your own spiritual authority is because you still buy the lie that you're not qualified to do that. And sometimes we lack a little understanding to think that it means that we can just, point and shoot and hocus pocus. And that's not at all what it is. But you can start changing the course of your life and changing the direction of your life and speaking new life and speaking new hope and lift and walk in a different place, in a different atmosphere, in a different a different stratosphere, a different level, a different viewpoint just because you begin to start changing how you talk about yourself, about your children. I'm telling you, there's a lot of weight there.
, I want to talk for just a few minutes to you. And last night we, no, not last night. Last week we did something we've never done before. We had a baby dedication. And I thought that was really great. Did you guys enjoy that? I thought that was really cool. And u and it and I said it last week that there's no power in ceremony. The power is in the Word. The power is in his presence, which is Word, which is him. the he's the power. Any power that we walk in is his power that he's created. So there's no power in ceremony, but there is significance in ceremony. And this week, we're doing something that we've never done before as a Church, and we're taking a special offering dedicated to ministering to people. A an offering that's dedicated to bringing the Gospel to people. Paul said it like this in Romans 1:16. He said, "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation. " The power of God unto salvation. What do we want? Everybody in here has tasted or experienced some degree of salvation.
What was that salvation? It was the message of the Gospel. It was the Gospel. I'm not ashamed of the Gospel that God is, that God loves you, that God saved you, that God covered you, that God man, the Gospel message has the power to save people. And we have the opportunity to give the Gospel away to people. We have the opportunity to partner with a place called World Compassion and Jason Law and Beth Law who lead that organization and go to countries and they're going to take the Gospel to people who are desperate who have never heard. Many have never heard. They do all kinds of work. We're partnering with one specific project to bring the Christmas through Christmas to bring the Gospel to people. And with that, we're going to we're going to do something locally, too. We're going to put things in your hands. We're going to put gifts in your hands. And it's I promise you, it's not going to be about the gift. It's probably not going to be an overly exceptional gift. It's going to be something simple. And it's nothing more than a tool for you to make contact with somebody to tell them the Gospel. That is your responsibility as much as it is my responsibility. And you don't have to be eloquent with your words. And you don't have to be able to explain every aspect of Scripture and tie it all together. But let me tell you something.
When you take a gift, the Bible says your gift makes a place for you. Man, when you bring somebody a gift, man, it touches their heart. It softens their heart. And to say, "Man, I see you. I know you. God sees you. I want you to know that you're valued. " Those simple terms right there is bringing the Gospel to life for them. I want you to know that God has not forgotten you. He's put it on my heart to bring something to you. And I just wanted to tell you that God sees you. God knows you. God's for you. God gave his Son for you. And I would love I would love to pray with you. Can I pray with you? Can I whatever it's going to whatever it's going to lead to. But let me tell you something. It's going to be in your hands. The whole purpose of Sunday nights and Sunday mornings, if you go anywhere else or anything else you do or any Church you've ever been a part of, the whole purpose of the Church is to equip you, the saints, for ministry.
This is a rallying cry. This is a this is a rallying time. This isn't a teaching time. This is a an inspirational time. This is a time when you God w works in your life when we corporately worship and strongholds come down and breakthrough happens in your life and the Word comes alive in your life and you leave here and you go my gosh I'm liberated let me share with you what I got man you start telling people like and then and then what do you want to do you just want people to come well man will you come with me I want you to get a little taste of what I got we do it all the time with everything you go to a ball game you're thinking man we should go to a ball I'd like to share a ball game with you man I'd like to share the presence of the Lord with you would love what just happened. You would love being here. It was so that's what we have the opportunity to do and to share the Gospel with people. And so I want to I want to kind of rewind the track a couple of weeks and I preached a message about why does it matter? Why does it why does it matter that we try to get better in our life? If Jesus has already covered everything, if the atonement already covers all my sin, my past, present, future sin, why does it matter that I practice the disciplines and practice growing and getting better? Number one, for a little review, number one is it's our reasonable service. God who's breathed his life into you, the Creator of all things, has now saved you and rescued you and died on a cross unrecognizable as a man, sacrificed himself, dipped in his own pocket and pays for it and leads you and gives you a hope for for eternity. It's our reasonable service to give my life back to him. It's my reasonable service, Romans 12:1, to be a living sacrifice that is Holy. It's my reasonable service. It's my bottom line. If there's nothing else in it for me, I've got enough. My sin's forgiven. I'm going to Heaven. If I don't get anything else to benefit while I'm here on this earth, man, I'm good.
Right? It's a big deal. It's my reasonable service. Number two is it expands my capacity for the great mission that I'm on. The great mission that you're on, the great commission that we corporately share this mission, which is what? Building the kingdom of God. Telling people the good news of the Gospel. bringing the Gospel to people, bringing the love of the Creator to his creation that there could be a redemption and a restoration in their life. This is the mission. We are not trying to build an empire. We are not trying to build anything. But people's they only know what they see because they don't have the Holy Spirit yet. So, we want it to be attractional. We want it to be everything. But I promise you, it is nothing more than trying to get the Gospel to them. Because we can we can listen, there's no there's no shortage of entertainment value for you. There's no shortage of opportunities. People take them all the time over Church. There's no shortage of other things that you can do. But what the purpose of it being comfortable for you, the purpose for it being attractional for you, the purpose for it to be is so that it's easier to want to come.
So that God can do something in your heart that nobody else can do. That's it. If you're in the room, God can do something in your life. If you're in the Word in the morning, God can do something in your life. If you're listening to m different music in your truck, God can do something in your life. If you're focused on the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in your life, something great will happen. And if I'm practicing the disciplines of getting better, then I'm going to expand my capacity for leadership and increase and influence in other people's life. If I have a little more margin in my finances, I have more to give to reach more people. If I have a little more margin in my disciplines in my life of guarding my mouth, then people have a little more respect for me and I have a better voice in their life. If I have a little more discipline in my life on my behavior, my character, people can trust me more and I can lead them to the Gospel. Everything about me being better is about you getting stronger. I want to make it about me and my carnality likes it to be about me and it's hard to fight all that selfishness and greed but really it's everything is under the Lord now. I gave my life to him. And so what I fight every day is that my life belongs to him. I want it to be about me. I really do. And so much of this Gospel is for my benefit. But the purpose and the end purpose and the endgame is for his glory. That whatever capacity, whatever benefit, whatever increase in my life only brings him glory. That's why we have testimonies.
It's to bring glory. It's not to hear your story. Okay, you did drugs. Welcome to the party. Okay, you looked at some. Okay, good. Okay, we know all that stuff. You did a bunch of bonehead stuff. And it helps us to understand because your story connects with somebody else. They go, "Man, I I relate to that. I was in that kind of place. I did those kind of things. " And so, I'm inspired by it. But what God did in your life, it's not about where you were. It's about what God brought you out of that makes me go, "Yeah, I want some of that. I want I want some of that. I want some of that goodness. " So, it expands my capacity. So the more growth you have, the more increase you have, the more breakthrough you have, the more disciplines you practice, man, it only opens a door for you to be led by the Spirit of God so you can reach more people. The third thing is there is a reward and we talked about that and it's just a quick review.
There is a reward for you. There is a crown of righteousness. There is the crown of life and the crown of the crown of glory that waits for you. And that crown is synonymous with your trophy, man. You you made it. You achieved. You won. You didn't quit. I wanted to quit. I don't know about any of you guys. I've wanted to quit. I wrestled with it. I grew up in Church. I had my window where I'm like, "This is ridiculous. " I remember thinking one time, "God does what he wants to do. I'm going to do what I want to do. " That did not work out for me. But it was a mindset because it was like, what, I can't figure him out. I can't get him formulized. So, I'm just going to do whatever I want to do.
And so, it becomes about me. It becomes selfish. And what did it result? not good fruit. A great testimony, I guess, of God's goodness and God's faithfulness again. But let me tell you something. I'm just I'm just here to tell you that we don't quit. We don't quit. We don't we don't retreat. We don't we don't fall back. We don't we don't sit back in the shadows. Listen, we have been rescued. We have been saved. We're the family of God. And we get to run full blast. And that's the first verse I want to share with you tonight is 1 Corinthians chapter nine. Why are we doing it? Why? Why do we do the things that we do? Verse 24.
Don't you realize that in a race everyone's running, but only one person gets the prize? You guys get it. You understand it. how it works. So, what does it say? So, run to win. We're not doing participation ribbons. We're not doing participation trophies. If we're going to live this life, if I'm following Jesus, if I'm committed to following him, then I'm committed to following him. AND IF I'M COMMITTED TO following him, then I'm going to I'm going to train for it. If See, here's the deal. I can preach a whole message right now about commitment because once you've made the commitment, all the other decisions start falling in line. So, right now, if we if we all make a commitment that we're going to run a marathon January 1st. Yeah, I know this is this is an example. Suzanne, hang in there. Okay. Then that means right now it changes what I eat tonight. It changes how I go to bed tonight. It changes how I how I what I do first thing in the morning. I now all of a sudden I don't have much time, but I'm squeezing in a two-mile run tomorrow, right?
Because all of a sudden, all the other disciplines that are required are going to be there and I'm not going to feel like doing them, but I've made a commitment that I'm going to run this marathon January 1st. And if I made the commitment that I'm doing it, then by God, I better get some stuff going on. Ryan and I committed to the turkey trot. Anybody else at the turkey trot Thanksgiving? We did not trot the whole time. depends on how you define trot, but we did a little bit of walking. And we had a high expectations of ourselves going into it. And the kids would say, "Dad, are you going to run? " And I said, "Only if Ryan's running. " And I ran till Ryan stopped running. And he only stopped running because we're getting older and his calves weren't cooperating. But and I'm checking his pride right now in front of all y'all. Y'all can mess with him after class. Okay? After class, after Church. The point is this. There was a commitment and we didn't I didn't He was more equipped. I didn't properly prepare for it. I was gutting it out the whole time we're running. This is a goofy story.
Now I'm lost in it. Here we go. I'm like the whole time I'm thinking, "My God, I'm This is going to I'm going to do this because I can do this. I'm mentally I'm mentally there. I'm not in good shape, but I can do this run. I will not walk. I'm going to finish this race. " But about a mile into I'm thinking, I'm going to be miserable today. I'm going to be hurting. I'm gonna be walking. I'm gonna be so stiff. I'm not gonna be able to function because I've made this decision that I'm gonna run this darn race because I ain't no pump. what I'm saying, right? Whatever goes into it, I'm going to finish this thing. And then the Lord saved me by taking him out. But the point is, we made a decision like two months ago that we were going to train for the turkey truck and we were going to invite people to do it all stuff and I didn't I didn't train for it and so it was a miserable experience kind of. Okay. All that to say, cut that out of the video for later. Okay? All that nonsense.
My point was this. When you made the commitment, all the other disciplines come into play if you want to win. If I wanted to win, I would have done a lot of things differently. I just wanted to survive that day. Here we go. Verse 25. All athletes are disciplined in their training. Remember, we talked about this last week with train a child the way they should go. Training is repetition. It's not a one-time lesson. It's practicing things. It's doing them again. Hey, let's do it again, man. These professional linemen, football guys. Hey, run it again. Hey, let's run that play again. Run it again. These are professional athletes. Run it again. Hey, let's do that route one more time.
Hey, you got to you got to jab, step, go. Right. I mean, it's like these are these are these are elite athletes. Hey, run it again. It's training. You're training for that game. You're training for that opponent. You're training for that opposition. You're practicing it. You're doing it. They do it to win a prize that will fade away. But we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose. And every step, highlight, circle the Word purpose. Every step has purpose. Every everything I do has purpose. I'm not always mindful of that. I don't always go to work with the sense of purpose as under the kingdom. But my life, it's easy to get there because my life is just committed to the purpose of God. So all I want to do is be a dad who's full of purpose for God.
All I want to do is be a husband that's full of purpose for God. All I want to do is be a boss that's a purpose for God. All I want to do is inspire you as a friend and a leader has purpose. It's purpose in every step. So then there's the daily private disciplines in my life so that I can effectively operate in those roles that I've got to practice. If I want to see God's promise in those areas, then what do I got to do differently? And I promise you, every day I feel probably what everybody feels where I know where I'm not doing it right, but I'm not going to quit. I want to keep getting better. I'm going to keep working on that. I may have to go back and own it and take responsibility and apologize. Whatever it's going to be, I'm going to keep practicing. I'm going to keep getting better. I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadow boxing. This is not a This is not just a scrimmage. We're not just kind of throwing punches in the air. Like when I throw that punch, I'm trying to land on your jaw and take you out. That's the objective. Verse 27. I discipline my body like an athlete.
There's the Word training again to do what it should. That's great verbiage. training it to do what it should. By natural default, it does not want to. I train it to do what it should do for the glory of God. Otherwise, I fear after preaching to others, I myself become disqualified. Man, I if I were talking to you about prayer tonight, you would receive it and you would practice and we can talk about prayer and we want to get a better stronger prayer life. We talk about worshiping, lifting our hands. I'm always trying to encourage you to lift your hands. Not that there's anything specific about that other than I'm trying to just loosen somebody up, right? Turn them up here, put them up high. I don't care how you do it. Take a knee, bow your head, whatever it is. It's just it's symbolic of what's posturing in your heart, right? And I could talk about worship. We could talk about singing. We could talk about friendship. We could talk about friendliness that needs to be permeating through this congregation. through this Church. When people walk in here, we can talk about forgiveness and we can talk about we can talk about all these practice.
We can talk about our words and we can talk about what we watch and we can talk about what we listen to. And if we talk about money, all of a sudden you assume that I have motive and I'm talking about the Church as a whole, not you specifically and me specifically because money is a different deal. And we're going to give an offering tonight and I'm invited you to be part of an offering, but it feels different. It's like, "Yeah, I'd love to work on my words, but those other people can get a job. " what I mean? I'd love to I'd love the forgiveness talk, but I'm not trying to get rid of my money. I worked really hard this week for it, man. I I'm on board with the lifting my hands. I'll lift my hands if you let me keep my money. Right? And it's how we start to feel and the reason is it feels personal and all of a sudden I could talk about any of those other topics and you would just be very receptive to it. But the moment I'll start talking about money or giving or generosity or anything like that, all of a sudden there's motive in my heart because people have abused things and all of a sudden it's different. And here's the main reason why is because there can be a love for money. There is the God of mammon which is on money. And money feels totally different. A lot of us equate our value to money. A lot of us equate our achievement, our sense of confidence. that's associated with money. And money is neutral. Money's nothing.
Money is just a means of exchange. You want to buy a new coffee pot, you better give them something. So, we use a currency. Way back in the day, they use seashells. We're now moving towards digital currency. It's just it's just the tool, the means of exchange for things. But there's this love and this fear of having enough. And we're associated with it. We're connected to it. And so if I start talking about money, all of a sudden it feels different. And a lot of people get very resistant to it. A lot of people don't want to be at Church because we're all about the money. This is another first tonight is this is the first time I've talked about money on extended K in almost three years of being here because it is a sensitive subject for people, but I want to touch base on it because there's blessing and promise on the other side of how you operate with money. In the same way, there's blessing and promise on the other side of you guarding your mouth. There's blessing and promise on the on the opposite side of serving and volunteering and laying your life down for the people. That's a portion of how you lay your life down. When you give a portion of money that you've worked for, it's a sacrifice. It's a sacrifice and it's my reasonable service. What else would I want to give my money to? I can give my money to getting the Gospel to people in Iraq, Cuba, wherever.
Or I can give my money to a football game or a concert. I can give it I can give it I can give it to Taylor Swift. She's kind of tight on money right now. Probably I will save up the money to go to something, but I'm not going to I'm not going to fork it over. And if I do, I'm going to be in control when I do it. I'll let . And I've had people say to me, "Preacher, I'm one of those guys. I'll give, but I'm," and they have these like boundaries because they want to be in control of it. And the bottom line is I'm not in control. I don't get to decide to God which words are okay and which ones aren't. I don't get to decide with God, when it's okay to worship and when it's not okay to worship. I don't get to decide that with God. I don't tell God how it works. I'm submitted to him. And if I gave my life to him, I gave my life to him. And so that includes every aspect of my life. And when the Holy Spirit convicts me on different topics, I just want to be sensitive to obey in that area of whatever it is, man. If it's friendship, if it's serving, if it's if it's marriage, if it's if it's work ethic, if it's if it's getting up in the morning and seeking God, if it's whatever it is, if it's exercise or getting in shape, or if it's budgeting, or if it's giving, I want my life to be surrendered to the lordship of Jesus. And we trust him and we act out of obedience. Everything that you will hear from me on any other topic for the last three years, you hear it and hopefully you something gets down deep inside of you.
Maybe you go back and reread it and then you start looking for how to apply it. But why are you doing it? Cuz I said so. I hope not. I'm trying my best to share the Word with you and what the Word says to do. And then you're going to let it be personal between you and God. And what you do is an act of worship, your reasonable service and a sacrifice to him. Why? Because he sacrificed for you. So now, how can I make a sacrifice? How can I die to myself? And we're comfortable dying to ourselves in certain areas, but not other areas. And that's okay for a season, for a time, cuz we're growing. I'm not here to bust anybody's chops. We talked about this a few weeks ago. We're not we're not sizing each other up. We're all growing. But what I'm telling you is if if I've committed to him and everything in my life is as unto him, then let me be open to every aspect of my life as unto him. Let me let me get Revelation. God, speak to my heart on these different topics.
Man, we're believing God for restoration and health in our marriage. God, speak to my heart. What can I do different? You're believing God for health and strength in your body. God, speak to my heart. What can I do different? You believe in God for financial margin and some financial liberty in your life? God, speak to my heart. What can I do different? What am I what where do I need to put you first that I need to be serving and putting you first as a priority in my life in this area? Man, I want a better relationship with my kids. I want to see things. God, what do you want to speak to my heart and show me what to do differently as a dad? God, teach me. I'm open to whatever you do. I'm following your lead in my life. And I want to be part of that growth and breakthrough in our lives. Man, I don't want to just listen. I don't want to just be good. I want to live free.
I'm not trying to perform good behavior as a Church boy. I want to live free as a Son of God. There's liberty for you to walk in. There's liberty for you to live in. I'm not trying to perform all the duties. I willingly accept the duties because I've committed my life to him so that I can live in the abundance in the life that God saved me to live in. I want to live in the freedom. I get to stand here and go Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. and make the darkness tremble. I want to live in that place. I want to live in that place of victory. I want to live in that place of authority. I want to live in that place where I get to proclaim and speak Jesus over every area of my life. Man, I want to be the most equipped and the most prepared that I can be. If I'm trying to run this race to win, then I want to be the best that I can be. If you're training for a marathon and you go running every day, but you don't improve your diet, you're probably not going to have a great race. you may not finish it if you're not sleeping well but you're eating good but you're not getting good what like all the different aspects of your life. I want to be the most equipped I can be to run this race in such a way to win. So let me evaluate every aspect of my heart. What did David say in Psalm 138?
God, search my heart. If there's anything in me that's not of you, man, make it evident to me. Show me. Cuz I don't want anything I don't want any of that darkness to have any part of my heart. You understand when Goliath was on that hill, he was inside the promised land. He's inside the promised land. He's got the Israelites still standing there 40 days and 40 nights. And that's their hill. And it's been said and I've heard it taught that the Israelites had him where they wanted. They were excited. They were ready to go fight him. And David would go out there. It says when he'd go, he heard him chanting and getting fired up and doing all their war chants and stuff. And they'd go out on the hill and then they'd stand there and do nothing. They had him where they wanted him and they could have taken him out and that was their land. And then this big goofy giant showed up and just wrecked them. He just showed up and he defied the authority of their God. He never attacked them. He stood there for 40 days and just chat, talked, taunted, and they just sat there and took it. And that's what a lot of us will do in different areas of our life.
Man, that's our land. And I get to live in that area that area of marriage, that area of finance, that area of health, that area of children, that whatever that area is, man. That area of peace, that area of liberated, liberation from anxiety and worry and fear of the future. I don't have to live with that. I don't have to worry about losing because he's already won for me. He's my banner of victory. He's my means of victory. I I'm winning because he won, right? And I get to live in it. And so I want to be the best that I can be in every way possible. Here's what I want to share with you tonight. The gift that we're giving tonight is what I said to you earlier about authority. It's not a gift of pity. It's not a gift of pity. It's a gift of power under salvation. Man, when you give when you give anything, what is it going to? is going to effectively reach people for the cause of Christ. That's the goal. This offering especially in every way is going to every dollar is going to go specifically to the outreach. That's what we're giving for.
And so and so it's not a gift of like, well, we're going to we're going to help the people less fortunate. I don't care if these people got a billion dollars in their account. Let me tell you something. Loneliness is loneliness. I don't care what your bank account says. Fear is fear. I don't care what your bank account says. Depression is depression. I don't care. Why did Robin Williams kill himself? He's got all the money in the world. He's got all the fame in the world. And he kills himself. Why? Why do celebrities kill themselves? They finally got the money and the fame. Why are they killing themselves? Because they have no hope. And let me tell you something. Hopelessness is hopelessness.
And I don't care what you look like, how tall you are, how strong you are, how fast you run, or how much money you got. When you're hopeless, you're hopeless. But you have Christ in you, the hope of glory. You don't have any hopelessness in you. You will never have you should never have hopelessness in your life because the hope of glory Christ in you the hope of glory is hope for tomorrow no matter what your day looks like today. So you will never you should never have any sense of hopelessness. Why would anybody get to the place of taking their own life because they have bought the lie there's no more hope for them. So, I'm going to tell you right now, this opportunity is to is to put something in your hands, something in the hands of these churches that are in Cuba and these underground churches, these different places to say, "Hey, here's some tools for you to go give the Gospel to people. " The Church in Carter County, the Church in Van Beern, here's some tools for you to go give the Gospel to people. It's putting it in your hands. I want to share a passage of Scripture, 2 Corinthians 9. We're going to go through it kind of quick, but it's interesting because Paul's writing, if you've never read chapter 8 and chapter 9 of 2 Corinthians, it he's writing. Now, think about the context here. He's writing a letter to the Church in Corenth, and he's not there. He's in Macedonia, and I'm not super geographical wiz here, but they're not the same town. Okay? And so, he's writing a letter, and it says in context, I don't remember chapter 8 or nine, we'll see in a minute, but they've been waiting for a year to try to get this offering. The Corinthians have been excited to give an offering to help the people, the believers in Jerusalem, but they haven't been able to get the offering there. It's been over a year because it's not that easy as we take it for granted. See, we just Vinmo each other.
Tonight, you can just pull out the app on your phone and just give us an offering to it and then we're going to send it to Jason and they're going to take it to and it'll be that fast. Back then, they're waiting to get together to see each other again and pick up that offering to help people. And so, here's what's happening in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse one. He says, 'I really don't need to write to you about this ministry of giving for the believers in Jerusalem. Can we just highlight and circle ministry of giving? Man, a little bit later in this chapter, it says your ministry. It's not the noun ministry. It's the action. The ministry of giving, the ministry of serving, the ministry of cooking, the ministry of playing music, the ministry of greeting people at the door, the ministry of cleaning up the building and putting it back, the ministry of helping set up for events, the ministry of working what's that at the festival booth, whatever it is, the ministry of serving, the ministry, it's hands-on ministry of serving people, helping the ministry towards widows, the ministries towards orphans, the ministry towards those hurting, the ministry of hope, the ministry of giving. It's ministry. We're doing ministry. This is what we're doing together collectively where every gift and every joint supplies. Right? Verse two. For I know how eager you are to help. And I have been boasting to the churches in Macedonia that you in Greece were ready to send an offering a year ago. In fact, it was your in listen to this. Look at it. In fact, it was your enthusiasm that stirred up many of the believers here to begin giving themselves. Your enthusiasm to serve God inspires other people to want to serve God.
Your enthusiasm to give and minister and do min Your enthusiasm to volunteer and help. Your enthusiasm to serve and make it an awesome Church for kids to be at. Your enthusiasm to greet people. Your enthusiasm to bring 2 liters of bottles. Your enthusiasm to work a camera to help sound. Your enthusiasm to do things inspires other people to go, man, I want to go do that. I want to be a part of it. That's look that looks like fun. That looks like great. Look what God's doing in their life. I want to be a part of that. Verse three. But I am sending these brothers to be sure you ready. You really are ready. This is interesting. Paul's looking out for his homies as I have been telling them and that your money is all collected. I don't want to be wrong in my boasting about you. we would be embarrassed, not to mention your own embarrassment if some mass believers came with me and found that you weren't ready after all I had told them. So Paul's like, "Yo, I've been I've been talking you guys up for a year. Man, you guys were jacked a year ago to give.
It's been a whole year. I've been talking about how generous you guys are, how you guys are awesome. That's what we do. That's what I this is I feel like Paul a little bit like, man, these are the friendliest people in Church. " And somebody walks in for the first time and you're like, "No, no, don't embarrass us. I've been talking forever how friendly you guys are, right? How generous you guys are. About how kind you got. Man, you guys are ready to serve. You guys are those kind of people. The people that you can call it to in the morning, they're going to be there, right? Verse five. So, I thought I should send these brothers ahead of me to make sure the gift you promised is ready. He's helping them out. Hey, heads up. We're coming. Watch. But I want it to be a willing gift, not one giving grudgingly. Just cuz I've been talking you up. Just because you're enthusiastic, don't let this sneak up on you.
I'm sending the guys ahead just to make sure you guys are prepped and ready and man let's be a blessing to these let's be a blessing to these people. Let's I'm giving you a heads up. But he said but don't do it because I'm asking you to do it necessarily. Do it because you want to do it. You want to serve God with your life. You want to be the best you can be. You want to give God all your you want to submit to the lordship of Jesus. Is he the king of your heart? Is he the king of kings? Is he is he the only name by which is he your righteousness? Well, can he be your provision? He's your sanctification. He's your forgiveness. He's your He's your He's your ticket to Heaven and your escape from hell, but he can't be your healer, too. He's all of it. He's everything. He's the reward. He's all you could ever want. He's everything. And so, like, listen, in the same manner now, if you've given your life to him, don't be a part of this.
It's like, well, I guess I'll give something to the Church offering because that's what we're doing. I guess we're doing something for Cuba or something. I don't know. Can I help you with something? God takes no pleasure in that. Keep your 10 bucks. Keep your hundred bucks. Keep your million bucks. It doesn't matter. God doesn't Listen to me. Listen. Check. Check. God doesn't need your money. He doesn't need your money. It's the opportunity for us to be part of what God's doing in people's lives. God's not like, "Well, if they'd pay their bills, I could get me a new God's not hurting for cash. " God can increase your life and still feed starving people, too. Just so . He's not on a budget.
God's not a man that he should like. He's not like us. God doesn't need your money. And if you don't want to be a part of it, don't be a part of it because it doesn't honor him anyway. God can get the resource to the people in Cuba. He doesn't need you. He's giving you an opportunity to be a part of it. This is what's amazing about it. You get to have seed in the ground. Some little Cuban is going to get to Heaven someday and going to go, "Thank you for giving that offering because your money is why I got this book and they taught me about Jesus and I got saved and now I'm here in Heaven because you gave a hundred bucks in an offering because your preacher guy did because he's friend. " It's like, "Yeah, that's how it works. Every joint supplies. We're the elbow to Jason's hand going to Cuba. We're the connection to it. " Right? Verse six. Remember this. Everybody say remember. You got to remember. You got to remember, you remind yourself, remember this.
A farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop, but the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. Duh, that's easy math, right? 2+ 2 equals four. You must each decide in your own heart how much to give. And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully. We don't put a lot of pressure on tithes and offerings here. And just for clear distinction in case you never heard it before, the tithe is something that we bring into God's house. It's the 10% of your income. An offering is anything over and above. It's a special offering like tonight. We can talk another time about tithe. We can go get a coffee about it. You want to pick a bone, pick a fight with me, we can do it, okay? But they're all throughout Scripture. And so this is an offering and we've never pressed anybody here because it's got to be your obedience. It's got to be your heart. So our responsibility, we have a responsibility to teach on it. But again, I go back to where I started this thing. It's hard to teach on it because people are like resistant to this particular topic.
But here we go anyway. We're going to keep going. Verse eight. And God will generously provide all you need. Who? Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. Can I read that sentence for y'all one more time? Okay, here we go. And God will generously provide all you need and then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the scriptures say, they share freely and give generously to the poor. I guess that means if we're giving to the poor that we're not the poor anymore. So apparently God has plans for you to not be the poor. We're not the victims where we're waiting for the Church to come fix all of our needs. Let's be the Church that goes out and shares with enthusiasm so that they're like, "Man, I want to be part of that giving. I don't have much to give right now, but next year I'd like to be part of this offering. " Great. They see your enthusiasm and giving and next year they're like, "Man, I want to give in that thing. I want to help be a part of that. " Right? That's the same principle.
We give to the poor, meaning we're not them anymore. We might have been them and we all have our stories. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. The impact of this can have eternity eternal ramifications for verse 10. For God is the one highlight that circle it. God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then he provides bread to eat from that seed. In other words, he's the one that created the seed and he's the one that makes the harvest to grow. All we do is plant and water. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources, means of exchange, and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. He will provide and increase your resources that you can be a part of things like this and produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Verse 11, yes, you will be enriched in every way. Man, I'm not telling you I'm not going to sit here and tell you that if you give a dollar tonight, God's going to give you $2 back tomorrow. What I'm telling you is because you surrender your heart and trust him and be obedient to what God's put in your heart to do, I'm telling it's going to open for God to move in your life. You've opened your heart and acted in obedience in this specific manner. Right? So, it's not about the money or the amount or the dollar you give. It's about the obedience in your heart that makes room for God to come in and affect your heart. And out of your heart flows the issues of life. And God will enrich you in every way because he's moved in your heart because you got yourself out of the way for him to come in. One act of obedience, one sacrificial gift offering in this way, enriched in every way so that you can always be generous.
And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. Isn't that what we want? We want them to be full of gratitude and thanking God and loving God and knowing God. They will take when we get those gifts that you're giving. When we get those gifts to Jason and Jason takes the presents over there and gets them to the Church and the Church disperses them and tells people about Jesus, they will give thanks to God. They will never meet you, but they will give thanks to God because of the dollar that you give. So, two good things will result from this ministry of giving. The needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met. Needs will be met, practical needs. And they will joyfully express their thanks and gratitude to God. The need will get met and their heart will be changed because of your obedience and your generosity. Verse 13, as a result of your ministry, not a noun but an action, your service, your ministry, your gift, your generosity. As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the good news of Christ. Not prove from an arrogant, egotistical way like let me prove it. That's how we hear that Word prove. Let me prove it. No, that there's evidence in your life that you've given your life to God. Let me ask you, take the topic of money off for just a minute. Let's go back to any other topic.
Is there evidence in your life that you belong to God? Do people do people in town recognize the evidence in your life and go, "Oh, that's a man of God right there. That's a woman of God right there. " Well, now it's the same way in our in our finances, man. People, we give an offering and we go to meet a need and people see the evidence of God's moved in our heart because of how we use our money. Verse 14, "And they will pray for you. " Watch this. They will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. What is grace? It's his supernatural favor, power, and ability in your life that's unmmerited, not deserved. You're going to Heaven. You didn't earn it. It's his generosity and his grace. And in the same Word, we're the same way. And so, they will give thanks to God. They will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace that God has given to you. Verse 15, thank God for this gift to wonderful for words. What is this gift, man? It's this cyclical flow of God's presence. Man, God got your attention.
Some of you had the Church things new for you all in the last couple of years at some point. And God's doing this work in your heart and you're growing and you're and you're, why does it matter? and you're getting better and you're practicing the disciplines and God's doing his work in your life and then you gave a result and you stopped cussing and you started giving money and you started praying more and you got up and got in the Word and you got in a Bible study and you committed to being at Church and God's and then and you did all these things and then and then God's moving in your heart and then you reached out and you served and you touched somebody else and they thanked God because of what God's in your life and then now they start praying for you because they love you so much because YOU CHANGED THEIR LIFE. YOU BROUGHT SALVATION to their life and their home and you've changed their life and they love you now and they celebrate you and it's this amazing THING AND IT'S ONLY BECAUSE OF God'S grace in your life that you were able to be a blessing to SOMEBODY ELSE AND God'S JUST THIS BIG CYCLICAL FLOW OF HIS presence in everyone AND WE'RE ALL LIKE WOO THIS IS A GREAT LIFE WE get to live God's doing this work in me I'm growing so let me share with you it changes your life now you're growing your channel with her and we just keep expanding to keep growing we keep building the kingdom we don't retreat we don't cower power. We don't quit. Well, what if they don't like me? So what? Well, what if they get offended by me asking? WELL, BE MORE POLITE ABOUT IT, BUT KEEP ASKING. Get creative, right? Cuz I'm cuz what? Cuz I'm committed to this. I'm all in. So, what can I do? What can I be a part of? I'll leave with this verse. And we're not going to have any pageantry about everybody coming up and giving the boxes back there. There's envelopes you can write on it. You can download the app and you can click on what fund. I added a fund that just says outreach.
There's a general fund and then there's this outreach, not forgotten offering. But listen to this verse in Hebrews chapter 13. Chapter 13:3. It says, "Remember those," there's that Word remember again. "Remember those in prison as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated as if you felt their pain in your own bodies. Remember those who are being persecuted for the Gospel. Remember those who are being mistreated. We take for granted the country we live in. We take for granted how easy it is to come to Church tonight. We take we take it for granted. And Justin was here and he's telling that story about the people that were at that conference and they're sing they have to sing quietly in their apartment because if the neighbors hear them, they're going to call the police and they're going to go to jail. So they sing quietly and so then they're staying there till midnight. Man, if I kept you out here at midnight, you'd never come back. But they were staying till midnight. Why? Because they had this liberty to get to sing because they don't ever get to have that liberty to sing. And so we take it for granted. And so what's the point of this offering to say, "Man, I haven't forgotten this. I remember.
I didn't forget. " There's people that are going to prison because they got a Bible. There's people that are singing quietly in their apartment so the neighbors don't call on them. There's people that don't know, have never heard the good news of the Gospel. So, I'm going to make sure that I'm probably never going to go to I Iraq. I'm probably not going to go. I might, but I don't expect to. So, let me send some money to a Church that's in Iraq that can get the Gospel to people because I'm probably not going to go give it to him myself. Let me be a part of it. Let me help them. Let me be the people in Greece that can help the people in Macedonia, wherever it is. Right? Same concept, same principle, man. Let me not forget that those are being persecuted, who are lost, who are hopeless, who don't know the life of God, that didn't grow up like you got to grow up, and maybe you had a hard story, and we can get into all that, but man, you had a pretty good one. Most of us just stiff armed the Gospel. And now we're here tonight. No more stubborn. No more stiff arming. I'm all in. So, what's that mean?
I'll be here early next week. What's that mean? I don't know. I'll bring some bottled water. What's that mean? I don't know. I'll get in the kids rotation. What's that mean, man? I'll clean up at the end of the night. What's that mean? I'll give in the offering. I'm in. What can we do? I'll volunteer and do a booth, a 30-minute rotation. Whatever it is, that's what I'm going to do. All right.