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2 Corinthians 9:1,15 -The Cheerful Giver- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2025-05-04
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Second Corinthians chapter nine verses one through 15. Would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together? For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you. For I know the forwardness of your mind for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia that Achaia was ready a year ago, and your zeal has provoked very many. Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf, that as I said, you may be ready. Lest happily, if they have Macedonia come with me and find you unprepared, we that, we say not ye should be ashamed in the saints confident boasting. Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before unto you and make up beforehand your your bounty, whereof ye had noticed before that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty and not as of covetousness. But this I say, he which sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give not grudgingly or nor of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work. As it is written, he has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness remains forever. Now he that ministers seed to the sower both minister bread for your food and multiply your seed sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causes through us thanksgiving to God. For the administration of this service not only supplies the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God. Whilst by the experiment of this ministration, they glorify God for your professed objection under the gospel of Christ and for your liberal distribution under them and under all men. And by their prayer for you, which long after you, for the exceeding grace of God in you, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Father, we thank you for your unspeakable gift. Lord, we're simply responders. We want to be worshippers. Lord, as every good and perfect gift comes down from the father of lights, Lord, the last thing we want to be in these last days is stingy. We don't wanna be stingy. We don't wanna be mad or sad about about participating, contributing, giving, serving, surrendering our life unto you, Lord. Lord, we pray that you would help us to discover the secret of spiritual growth in our lives, Lord, is just is just responding, being worshipers, just giving out. And Lord, we can't out give you, you just give us more. And Lord, we're talking we're we're we're alluding to the spiritual side of of our walking relationship with you, Lord. We wanna grow spiritually. So bless now we pray, pour out your Holy Spirit, be our teacher, and help us to understand and apply these truths to our lives. And Lord, us the faith. Give us the faith to act upon that which you're about to learn. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Would you please be seated? The cheerful giver, chapter nine of second Corinthians. God loves a cheerful giver, means hilarious, a hilarious giver. He doesn't like a sad giver. If you're sad about giving, don't give. He doesn't like a mad giver where the pastor's grinding on you and making you feel guilty every week or whatever. Various scams and marketing ploys and all that. Don't don't give into that. He likes a glad giver. Hilarious. That's what that cheerful means, hilarious. You're joyful. And you'll discover that those that give are joyful. The fruit of the spirit is joy. And they're they're hilarious about giving. They love to give, and they they they spiritually continue to grow. Those who I've seen over the thirty years of being a pastor who are stingy, and they're Calvary Bremerton's a great church to attend if you don't wanna give because there's no pressure on you. We're never going to single you out. We're never gonna put a ledger out front there in the foyer and show who gave and who didn't and and none of that. You know? It's it's your secret between you and God, but it's a fabulous church to come to and not feel, you know, pressured. Because when you go to the churches that are, you know, more business minded, and we would call them, you know, like a, country club mentality, the only way to the inner circle for those relationships you want is to give publicly. And as you give publicly, you're noticed, and you're in the inside group. But if you're a person that doesn't give in those churches, then you're kinda ostracized, aren't you? And you're made to feel like, hey, you're not with it. You're not you're not going with it. So here at Calvary Bremerton, you're anonymous. It's between you and God. But just know that if you do give, give hilariously. You know, give hold back until you're ready to give, till you understand the purpose in giving and a desire wells up within your heart from a spiritual standpoint, you know, of why you want to give. Why do I want to give? Well, a buddy of mine or a friend of Wayne and Brittany's, I was talking with him about, food, and Jesus told Peter, if you love me, feed my sheep. Are you being fed? You being fed the word of God? Is Peter doing his job? Feeding, loving, tending the sheep? Are these other churches feeding the sheep? What kind of food are they giving? What what kind of psychology? What kind of garbage are they feeding these people? Are they able to grow spiritually? So a friend of mine, as I was saying, he was he's got a truck, a a food truck, and he parked the food truck over by the monster truck that was going on at the fairgrounds. And then there was a little hamburger place nearby, and the demographic he told me the demographic's all wrong. The demographic's all wrong. And I said, what's wrong? What do you mean by that? Well, the demographic is such that the people near the fairgrounds chose the cheapest food they could get. Didn't matter if it was healthy, that didn't enter into the equation. They just wanted the cheapest garbage they could get. And his was a little bit more expensive, but much much more healthy. So from one standpoint, are you growing spiritually from the good spiritual food you're getting? This other food, the the food truck stuff is you're you're gonna pay the doctor in meds and pharmaceuticals and trips to the ER by eating junk food. It's gonna catch up with you. So too spiritually, your relationship with God, your marriage, your family. If your diet is garbage spiritual food, you're gonna pay for it eventually anyway. How do we know? Because when the wind and the waves come, when the storms come, it's gonna be apparent that you weren't a doer of God's word. You're just a hearer only. Your house is built upon sand. And so your relationship with the Lord, I've seen it so often. I've seen people be stagnant in their walk with the Lord because they refuse to give, and they're always first. And they go into debt, huge debt, tons of debt. And then once you get all that debt, you can't give anymore. And you're always wanting to buy more and more and more and trips and the whole thing. So so don't stagnate yourself, you know. Anyway, the guy at the food truck, as I was listening to him, he goes, that's a wrong demographic. I needed to go up to Gig Harbor. They appreciate. Listen to that word, appreciate. They appreciate the food that I'm serving. They don't want the garbage food. Now here's the irony of this. His food's a little bit more expensive than the garbage food, but this food here is cheaper. It's better food, and you know it is, but it's also the cheapest food because we don't harangue you for money. It's gonna cost you a lot of money to go to these churches that are marketing you, and you know it, and you're never marketed here. We don't beg. We leave it up to you. But we don't care what you want in the way of food. We give you what Jesus tells us to give. And many people choose to leave because they don't like the food we're serving. But those that do attend grow. That's the objective. When I stand before God, I don't wanna be one that has to give an account for giving psychology and garbage, false doctrines of demons and such. I wanna make sure that you're taught prophecy, you're taken through the Bible, or at at least have the opportunity, and freely we receive, freely we wanna give. We want you to experience freedom. Freedom when you come here. You're free to receive, and you're free to give if you want to, but no no grinding. No no none of that angst, you know. And I I want you to be able to bring unbelievers here that the bite's not gonna be put on them, you know. If they come today, I apologize. After today, we won't be talking about giving. Right? We're gonna move on to spiritual warfare. And you can let them know, hey, he doesn't do this every week, you know. And we we've been proven in that when we were losing our buildings and everything, we did not we did not we did not beg for money. We let it happen. God, your will be done. We prayed, but we just left it to the Lord and God's people. If they wanna give, they can give. If they don't, then we're gonna be renting at the seven day Adventist, I guess. I don't know. I don't I don't know how it works. So anyway, God loves a cheerful giver. Number one, the preparation for giving. You need to prepare. Verses one through five. Verse one. For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you. So it's a no brainer. It it's it's certainly, you know, are you ready to give cheerfully now? It's been a year, the church of Corinth. The church of Macedonia was already given, already, you know, contributed to this gift that's going to Jerusalem to help the church that's that's suffering financially there. For I know the forwardness of your mind, in your mind you're ready. You you like the idea, for which I boast of of you to them of Macedonia, which would be Philippi. And, that Achaia, which is Corinth, was ready a year ago and your zeal has provoked very many. So they heard of your exuberance and desire, and when one person gives, a everybody wants to jump in. So if we're gonna, at Christmas time, present Samaritan's Purse, you know, gifts for children, Christmas gifts for kids, you know, people it becomes infectious. Everybody wants to provide gifts for, you know, the kids and Samaritan's personal. It's it's a very good thing. And, but as the the excitement begins to build as people just need to hear about it, and then they wanna do it. So they're cheerfully wanting to give. Hebrews ten twenty four says, let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Verse three, yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf, that as I said, you may be ready. So he's saying, you know, I hope you guys are ready because it's been a year now. We haven't heard back from you that you're ready to give. So I'm sending some guys, and they're gonna start breaking some legs. You know? They're gonna they're gonna start going door to door. These I'm sending some debt collectors, man. And no, that's not what he's saying. He said, but be ready. Be prepared. And and I hate that feeling. I hate that feeling in Christendom like it's some sort of a, you know, grind on you. You know? I I can't tell you how good it felt to attend a church for, you know, twenty years, twenty five years. They never asked for money. Ain't that amazing? That's just amazing. Because you look at Christian television and all, and it's just constant, constant marketing. And it just it just felt so good to know the motive was they came, they were there to feed us the word of God. Pastor Chuck was prepared to, you know, to make sure that you were the most loved and the best fed sheep in the community, you know. And, that's so liberating, such incredible freedom. So Jesus said, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father who's in heaven. So church of Corinth, it's time to let people see your good works. It's time to get the money out, put it together, and allow, Luke and Titus and the others to, you know, deliver it to the church in Jerusalem. We hope that they appreciate it. That word appreciate. Do you know that when they brought this gift, the church of Jerusalem did not appreciate it? Do you know that James, the brother of our Lord and the heavies, didn't treat the apostle Paul very well? They didn't come out there and instead a whole riot, a whole a whole series of events against Paul. They wanted to force Paul to show his sincerity as a, you know, as a still being a Jew. Pay off some of these guys that are had this Nazarite vow. You take and get ready and shorn your head and go in there. I mean, they weren't very receptive to Paul. But he was willing in the book of Romans to give up his own salvation like Moses. If he could just get his countrymen to see the truth. If he could just get them to see it, and he thought he could. But when he started to preach, a riot broke out. And then he's in a it takes the centurion, the Antonio Fortress to put him in there to protect him, you know? And then he has to appeal to Caesar, doesn't he? We know the story. But the heavies, the guys, the recipients of this gift, the leadership, never showed any kind of appreciation. Phenomenal, isn't it? But your works, that which you do for the Lord, don't let your left hand know what your right hand's doing. God who sees in secrets can award you openly. So it doesn't matter if people appreciate your service under the Lord or your giving or time, talent, treasure, whatever. The Lord sees. And he's not unrighteous to forget your labor of love that you give and bestow upon the saints. And you're you guys are very, very generous people with each other. You give cars to each other, clothes to each other, you help each other, you pray for each other, and that's way it should be, the one another's in the body as you get to know each other and, minister to the needs of the body here. And so for we are his workmanship, Ephesians two ten. We're his workmanship. It's the Greek word poima. You're God's poima. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus under good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. We should be a people known in the community that are do gooders. We make fun of do gooder churches because there's an imbalance an imbalance in getting away from the teaching of the word and becoming more Catholic, a Catholic type do gooder mentality, where you get away from the the the Rick Warren taught them all, the Baptist, the Silverdells, all the different churches rebranded. And what he did is he said, it's deeds, not creeds. So we've got twenty five years of nobody being taught the word of God in these churches anymore. And they were duped into thinking that if they solve the crisis of homelessness and paint off the graffiti and do deeds everywhere, that that would make them really cool and, you know, and that would get them into heaven. So you have a whole lot of people in the pews who never heard the word repentance or sin or an emphasis upon being born again. Instead, you saw a compromise and a tolerance toward same sex marriage and all the other stuff there because why? Because they said, we're afraid we might offend them. Well, the cross is offensive. You've gotta come the Lord's way. You gotta come on your knees. You gotta come in repentance. You don't come standing up shaking your fist at a at a gay pride parade. You're not coming that way. You know, nobody's coming that way. So why don't the pastors have the guts to just simply teach the Bible simply? Take people through the script. Let the holy spirit do the convicting, you know. But, but they don't. And so we're created in Christ Jesus under good works. So what happens is we in the Calvary Chapels, we start out very charismatic, and we speak in tongues, and we believe in the gifts, and the operation of the gifts are for today. But then we got the vineyard that spins off, and they abuse the gifts, and they make us look silly. And so we love the worship music. We love all that, but, you know, they've they've gone beyond the word of God confirming their experiences. So now we don't wanna be lumped in with them, so we start to head more toward the Baptist side. We get imbalanced. We wanna be in the middle. Right? So we wanna be do gooders, but we also want to do be doing the good because we've learned, and we first receive from the Lord, so we know doctrinally, and we know by getting to know Jesus and getting to know the disciples in the early church, they were about doing good. So it doesn't mean we need to be legalistic or stingy or, you know, pseudo intellectuals, you know, and act like we we're on the far sphere on the one side of the doctrine need to be balanced. As a man thinking in his heart, so is he, and so you can't out give God. And there's such a joy and a blessing when you alleviate suffering, when you visit somebody, pray for somebody, give something to somebody, spend some time, write a letter, make a phone call. It's such a blessing to be used of God. And so we're his poema, his work of art on display for others to see. And it's the Christian community. It's the Christian churches all over the world that alleviate suffering. We're not those that go and behead people because they won't say Jesus is Lord. Never seen Christian groups do that, you know, trying to force people into submission. Seen Muslims do that. Right? Seen Muslims cut people's heads off because you won't say Allah Akbar. Right? And we've we we don't see Muslim group going all over the world alleviating suffering. But you sure see Christians going all over the world with missionaries and and relief agencies bringing food and clothing and everything all over the world because that's who we are as Christians. Samaritan's Purse, all of the sorts of relief ministries recognizing the need to go to Haiti or wherever it is all over the world, and Christians give to these these parachurch ministries, recognizing it's a way that we can facilitate and help with the suffering and calamity that can take place, you know, at a moment's notice. So lest happily, if they have Macedonia, verse four, come with me and find you unprepared, that's gonna be pretty embarrassing. You need to be prepared. We that we say not ye should be ashamed in the same confident boasting. So missed opportunities. There's a day of visitation. You guys need to be ready. You've had a year to get ready. How long did the people in the first coming of Jesus have to get ready for his ride into Jerusalem on a donkey? They had a lifetime to get ready. They had thirty some years to get ready if they were students of prophecy. If they were listening to Anna and Simeon in the temple when they knew that he, the babe of Bethlehem, was the Messiah. You know? Even his own brothers didn't believe in him until after the resurrection. Right? And so after he's causing the blind to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to be able to hear, the demons cast out, you've got some time. You need to consider this man. Who do men say that I am in a general sense? That's a question you need to answer. And some say you're Jeremiah. Some say you're John the Baptist. Some say you're that prophet. But who do you say that I am? That's a question every single person in the time of the first advent of Christ and is walking along the Galilee, every single person heard about him. This wasn't done in a corner, Paul said. Everybody knows about it, old king Agrippa and Festus and Pilate. All of you know. This wasn't a secret agent thing. This wasn't Joseph Smith having on special glasses and find certain keys or whatever in the some wilderness area. This was done publicly. He was whipped publicly, crucified publicly, buried publicly, and raised himself from the dead with eyewitness accounts. 120 in the upper room and that were there with the early church before Pentecost. He told them to wait. Ten days later at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit's poured out. He's seen over 500 people in first Corinthians 15 and all these different witnesses as we as we studied on Easter Sunday. And, as we continue every day is resurrection day, and, we celebrate the resurrection. Without the resurrection, there is no Christianity. We thank the Lord for his unspeakable gift, the giving of his son. And we simply respond in giving because God initiates, and we cannot give God. We wanna give. So missed opportunities. They didn't know the day of their visitation. Jesus wept over the city because they didn't know the day of their visitation, the nation at, you know, at large. In first in in John's, chapter one, he came unto his own, and his own knew him not. They didn't receive him. He was in the world. The world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own. His own received him not. The Jews didn't receive him. In John chapter five, he said, I came in my father's name and he received me not. Another, the antichrist shall come. And you guys are gonna receive him nationally. The nation of Israel is gonna receive the antichrist. They're gonna be deceived by this guy that's being prepared right now. You've got an opportunity. You and I have got an opportunity to be Christians who are aware of the time we're living in, that it's a prophetic time, and to be looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and savior. We have an opportunity to be occupying till he comes to be about our father's business, which is what? Get the gospel out and use prophecy to set the stage to to bring the interest, to bring the validity that God is unique and that he can tell us what's happening before it happens. And nobody else can do that with a 100 accuracy. You've got the evidence. You've got the proof. Don't lose this opportunity. You're gonna be ashamed because you did not prepare for his coming. The five virgins who did not prepare were ashamed at his coming. The wise virgins were filled with the spirit. Right? The oil, and they were ready. They're watching for the groom's return. Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before unto you and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had noticed before that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty and not as of covetousness. So we want you to prepare beforehand. We don't want to feel like it's a grind or a, you know, a guilt kind of a thing or a covetous thing, and I like how Paul, when he's addressing the Ephesian elders in, Acts chapter 20, he said that he didn't covet any man's silver or gold. That's a good rule of thumb for pastors. Don't be coveting. Don't be coveting people's monies and stuff. Don't try to study demographics that you'll get more money from rich people. You know? When I first came here, the group that was inviting me here wanted me to to Bainbridge. And I chose Bremerton because it was so powerful on my heart that this was a place that was abandoned. All the windows boarded up downtown. Everything it was a blighted community in that day. And I thought, you know, this is a spiritually blighted place too. And I felt very drawn here. And that whole demographic idea, my buddy Eric down in Tennessee, I think I told you this last week, some guys from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, very wealthy area, very wise businessmen, They came up and they planted a church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is very successful. They came over, to where Eric is, and he had a chance to meet with them. And and they told him, Dixon, Tennessee, the demographics don't show that a church is gonna grow here. Why? Because they're poor middle class people. You gotta go where it's rich, man. You gotta go where there's lots of money. Plant the church where there's lots of money. If I'd have been a student of demographics, I'd have just stayed in Orange County. Why go out? Why risk it? So it's all all a step of faith. It's all a step of faith. And the objective is just go by faith. Go where the Lord shows you. Trust the Lord. I don't know how it works economically. I just know what the Lord's saying here. I haven't gone to a business school. They didn't teach us in school of ministry how to how to market the church in the area, you know. We were told you teach the bible, people would appreciate the good food, and they'd wanna support that ministry. And I found out the opposite is true. They don't want the majority of people don't want the good food. They want the doctrines of demons, fairy tales. They want it to be a clown show. That's the dominant church in this community. But I'm not listening to you. I'm listening to the Lord. So we're gonna have a struggle here because I'm not giving in. I'm gonna my objective is quality. I wanna make sure that you're loved and fed, that you're growing regardless of the marketing strategy saying that won't work. The church growth moment told the pastors, the more the bible you teach, the smaller your church will be. That's what came from Rick Warren, the boys. As they surveyed the people, the people were looking for teachers with itching ears. We want teachers that'll tell us what we wanna hear. We want smooth things. We want life coaches. We don't want the word of God that's too convicting. We want an hour of feel good music, and we want the pastor to give a little sermonette that last fifteen, twenty minutes. You're in the wrong place, aren't you? So I'm very thankful as I follow the Lord that he has his people, no matter what demographic. And that I have the privilege and the blessing of not compromising no matter how hard people try to leverage me by not giving. Cause there were times where all I had to do to give to to succeed was to give in to the big givers in the church. The guys that wanted to rest control of the church. All I had to do is give them control. Twice it happened to me in thirty years. And they'd pay the bills. They'd make they'd stand up here and tell you how rotten you are if you don't if you don't give. That's what they do. And they formulate plans and strategies. Well, I had to protect the church from them. I had to be willing to be leveraged and abased to maintain the integrity, because money is a huge thing in churches. It's a huge thing. But with God, that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination unto God. So we walk by faith, don't we? We trust the Lord. And so he says, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust can corrupt, where thieves can so this is your business portfolio. You need to prepare ahead of time. You need to, during the week, decide if you even wanna give to at Calvary Bremerton or where you wanna give. You need to prepare your heart. You need to, on Saturday, as I said, wash your clothes. Get your clothes ready. Take your Saturday night bath. There's no excuse on Sunday morning about you ran out of time. And the other thing is you look at your budget and you say, hey, do I wanna give or don't I wanna give? It's up to you. It's totally in your court, Ananias and Sapphira, but you gotta prepare. You gotta prepare. It's not just like, you know, and it's a part of your walk with the Lord. So lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust corrupt and the thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust can't corrupt, where thieves can't break through and and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. So be prepared. Send some of it ahead. Send some of it ahead. It's it's in it's in your stewardship. Do you wanna invest in the kingdom of God? What do you wanna invest in? God's gonna reward you as you invest, as you give back to his kingdom. So our giving should be a matter of bounty out of generous heart, not bounty in in that I have an abundance because Jesus brought the attention to the widow's mites. The giving, the greatest giving is that which cost you the most. David said, I will not give to the Lord that which cost me nothing. The threshing floor of Aruna. Aruna was gonna give it to David. David said, no. I'm gonna pay for it because it's an act of worship. So it's not the bounty of I'm giving out of the bounty, it's the bounty of your heart. The widow's giving out of her heart, and that means something to the Lord. Out of a generous heart, not stingy, not covetous. And so Paul said he wasn't covetous, that he was willing to work day and night, you know, in planting of that church. And he didn't cover their silver or gold. He came there to give, and he neglected not to give them the full counsel of God over the space of three years. I've been trying to do it over thirty. Sometimes in one sermon, I try to give you the whole bible. And that's what Mike was Shannon was saying with Mike. He was he was he was frustrated that and then and then like Vicky, anybody, after a while, you get it. You start to develop a greater working knowledge of the scripture, and it's not so overwhelming as when you first come in here. And pretty soon, you start to think biblically, you have a building to think biblically, your reservoir's building up, and you appreciate the bible teaching the bible rather than Rick Baudrillard's stories. That's what they do. They just have to keep coming up with different themes and stories to make you laugh, make you cry, make you get goosebumps. That's why I throw you butterfly kisses all the time. You know? And I sing feelings. You know? It's crazy. So many not many don't give because of debt. Way too much debt. Our whole country, the whole world is in debt. And once you get that far in debt, it's interesting to me that when we're renters, we got a lot of money and time to serve the Lord. The rents went up way up this time around, but typically when you're renting, you're not putting a new deck on the on the rental house. You're not remodeling the kitchen. You buy a house, a fixer upper, you're gonna spend the next if you're a blue collar person, you're gonna spend the next five, six, seven years remodeling everything. All your money going on that. And then, oh, by the way, Lord, we need a vacation. You're I can't give this I can't give right now either because we we got a vacation coming up. Oh, and our car doesn't fit all the kids anymore, so we need a bigger van, a bigger this, bigger that, more debt, more debt, more debt, more debt. We gotta have it now. That's not walking by faith. That is not walking by faith. That's you in charge. That's what happens. The personal stinginess, unprepared, me first. And I've I've watched middle aged people, people that should know better, and they don't grow spiritually. They attend church, and they're there to get, but they don't grow spiritually. And you know the irony with people that are stingy and covetous? They're always worried about what you have. How come you're able, you know, let's call work. We work, you know. We're blue collar, we work. Ain't that funny when you work? Oh, God blesses you. People want a shortcut, a short way. And and the the fantasy of social media and all, I mean, why can't we be content with being blue collar middle class? Why why do you dream of being a billionaire and trying to spend like a billionaire? You're not a billionaire. You're not a millionaire. Stay within your budget. The cheerful giver. God loves a cheerful giver. The preparation for giving. Secondly, the promise for giving. From verse six to 11 a. But this I say, he which sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully. So you can't out give God. God promises to bless the generous giver. Now, I'm not gonna teach this verse that if you give, God's gonna make you rich. If you buy my hanky, I I I was working and I sweat, and I got this hanky that I signed, I got a bible I signed. I got I got CBD. Is that it? I've got gummies for you. I got the pastoral gummy because my back hurts. Now I need to go in the CBD business. What kind of nut job are you? Stay with the word of God. Don't you have enough money? You're you're worth $50,000,000. Why are you going into this pot business? You know? They're crazy, aren't they? Just crazy the way they're marketed. Yeah. I could take your name, and I could get you this much more money if you'll let me use your name to sell. You know, that's how it works. Publishing companies and such is it's ridiculous. How much is enough? And so what we're saying is, no. If you're generous in heart, God's gonna let you grow and be bountiful spiritually. When you don't give, when you're not generous, and you're stingy, you don't grow spiritually. Your portfolio, your house, you might you might be looked at as successful in the world, but you're like a worldling. The world make lots of money. They make lots of good business decisions. Well, how bountifully are they spiritually? The thief comes not but to steal, to kill, to destroy. Jesus said, I've come that you might have life, you might have it more abundantly. I'm saying it's part of your spiritual growth. It's not you may not get a $100 back for your investment, whatever whatever you gave, whatever you sowed, but you can't out give God. It's always an act of faith. Some people, they're entrusted. God's able to entrust them, and he gives them more. They do give. But for most of us, it's the spiritual part we want. I don't want what the world has. It it looks empty to me. I want the spiritual. Lord, I wanna be a spiritual man. I don't want anything impeding me, anything encroaching upon my growth spiritually. So Lord, you make the rules and I'll follow them. We'll do it according to your design. God's promise is to bless the generous giver using the imagery of a farmer. We've got some farmers in the room here. So farmers understand the laws of sowing and reaping. He knows you don't get something out of nothing. He not only has to prepare the soil, but must make the decision of how much of the seed I'm gonna sell, how much of the seed I'm gonna eat, and how much of the seed I'm gonna replant. If he replants a lot of the seed, the harvest can be greater. If he sells off the seed, if he eats too much of the seed, then he's got very little seed the next season to be able to replant to harvest. Given, it shall be given to you, Jesus said in Luke six thirty eight. Good measure pressed down and shaken together and running over shall men give into your into your bosom, for the same measure that ye meet with it all shall be measured to you again. So loss of sowing and reaping. God's promise to bless. Proverbs nineteen seventeen, he that has pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and he that which has given, it'll be given him again. So as you give to the poor, and your left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing, you don't broadcast to everybody. Because if you broadcast it, then you're a Pharisee, and Jesus said you already have your reward. Why is it rich people have a very difficult time giving privately, anonymously, that nobody's watching? Boy, they'll give publicly. They'll put their name on it as a philanthropist, and everybody, woo, woo, woo. But they can't do it privately. They're so obsessed with being recognized, being important, and hey, look at me. I mean, you can you can cause call it Hazelwood YMCA, you know? You can name the buildings after yourself and the whole thing. You can make philanthropic gifts and tax deductible, the whole thing, but man, everybody needs to know you. How many of you have been to churches where they manipulate you in a building a building vision to put your name up front there in the foyer? Robin Vicky gave this much. Or or you're walking in the foyer and it's a tile. There it is. Rob told me he's got tiles at several churches around here. So do you guys. It's manipulation, and there's pressure grinding grinding on you. Rob's got some great stories, Rob and Vicky, ways that the pastors and the whole you know, I I don't have those stories because Calvary Chapels don't do that. I mean, some of them might. I don't know the stories, though. My pastor didn't. And I don't hear in the teaching, you know, the the the pitch and then the hook. You know? I don't I don't hear it in the teaching. When when I'm listening to the teaching and even even in the the beginning and the ending of the thirty minute teaching and all, pastor Chuck, you know, they they would say something along the lines of of if you need to contact us and they give you the the name and the place or whatever, but it wasn't a big appeal for money. It was just respond. You know? Let us know you're listening. And if you need a bible, if you need a, you know, a new believer packet, if you just got saved, you know, let us know. Done in good taste. Bank on it. Verse seven. Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. So who? Every man. How much? According as he purposes in his heart. What motive? Not grudgingly or of necessity. God loves a cheerful giver. The word purposes means to choose. God wants you to exercise your free will about giving. Grudgingly, out of sorrow or grief, God doesn't love a sad giver. Necessity speaks of forced constraint. God doesn't love a mad giver. I've seen people where it's the first of the month and they're mad that they got a tithe. Well, don't give. So mad. Why are you so mad? Because if I don't tithe, then I can afford a new car. Well, go get the new car. Who cares? Where's your priorities? What's it gonna be next time? It's always something. The eyes of the wicked are never full. The material things don't satisfy. When you when are you willing to grow spiritually? It's gonna cost you something to grow spiritually. You're gonna have to die to self, take your cross up, and follow them at some point. It isn't always about you and me. You believe the lie from Joel Olsteen, your best life. No. No. They get more money out of you than any guy like me. As I said, they cost you a lot more than me, than this church, as they're marketing you. Necessity, force, constraint. I I look at it as grinding. It's grinding on you. It makes me mad. I just hope pastor Rick curries up and gets done with this topic because I I hate this topic. Well, I'm not real pleased about it either. Not a sad giver, not a mad giver. God loves a glad giver, cheerful, hilarious, joyful, readiness of mind. In the Septuagint, the Old Testament word, it means to cause to shine. Those of you that have gift, the gift of giving or, you know, a glad heart like Pollyanna would say, Nobody can stop you from giving. It's it's who you are. You can't wait to give. It's just part of your being. And you shine. You shine bright because you can't out give God. You're so in love with God. It's in response to God. He took you out of the jail cell. He took you out of the being a drug addict. He took you from your life just not working at all, and he saved you. And he cleaned you up, and he gave you a job, and gave you a spouse and a family. And, man, You appreciate you appreciate what he's doing for you. And you wanna respond in worship, and you wanna do it hilario I can't even say the word. Cheerfully. God loves a cheerful giver, and you're shining. One who shines, one bursting forth with God's grace, radiating, beaming God's love, not grumpy. No grumpy givers. Don't you love that freedom? I love that freedom. I love the freedom that we can rely upon the Lord. That presently, can afford to rent this building. Praise the Lord. If the economy crashes and everybody quits giving, we'll go meet at Robin Vicky's house. I don't know. Blessed are the flexible. I got no plans. I Lord, it's your church. You set upon this rock, I'll build my church and the gates of hell not prevail against it. God's able to pay his bills. Right? And if he doesn't wanna pay his bills, then everything goes into foreclosure and bankruptcy for me. I've been through that. I I still can't reconcile it, but I went through it. But we haven't changed. We haven't changed our approach to money, except that we're not doing any debt anymore. That's a bad thing. Learn my lesson. So as the Lord gives, we'll just respond as as how he gives. And you're free. We're free. There's no pressure. There's no vision to go buy a piece of land and build a building right now. Buy a church building. If God wants us to do that, he's gonna have to give the whole cash, everything, or they're gonna have to give us the building. I used to drive around looking, oh, we could buy that. We go, oh, we could buy that. You know? Not anymore. Now it's it's more of focus upon the freedom and the blessing, the joy of not having that pressure on us. Imagine the pressure that's on a young pastor and a pastor's wife, all those bills. Hey, we wanna go to Mexico. We need a church van. So I go and trade in my Cadillac that my father-in-law gave me as a down payment, we could buy a church van. So we've got a $450 a month payment. We got the Roxy payment. We've got a sound. They need sound gear. We got a sound gear payment. And then we need a new roof. Well, we got a roof payment too. Go to Kitsap Bank, and we got a roof payment now. The payments just started. We need a Sunday school building. The Sears Building's empty. Let's buy it. Payments. Payments. Payments. Payments. That's a big burden on a body of believers. Right? It's hard. So we tried to start a daycare in a school as a financial engine to help pay for it, and it worked for five years. And man, I was wanting to get one paid off. Let's get one paid off. Guys approached me and they said, let's buy one more. Let's buy one more. Let's buy that big building there. And I said, do you mean? The church? Because it'd been nice with the poor church to buy it, fix it, and sell it, and pay everything off. Right? If we're in the real estate business, hey, let's do it. Let's flip it. They said, no. No. No. They liked how well things were working, and they said, oh, no. Just just just us two and you. And I'm like, only reason they want me is they think I got free labor. They're gonna want everyone in the church to fix that thing, make it worth a bunch, and then they wanna you know, you can't imagine the the deals that the Lord would give us, and then people swoop in, they want it for themselves, and then turn around and lease it to the church. And I'm like, why? Why can't the church own that? Why do we have to lease it from you, mister big businessman or whatever? You know? Don't you have a vision that the church has something paid for? But they didn't. So they kept going online and looking at my house and and saying, you know what your house is worth now? You know what your house is worth? So I've been through that. Won't won't do that again. Sad, mad, glad I'm glad. I'm free. None of that's hanging over me, and I don't want it hanging over you. So no grumpy given. Verse eight, and God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work. So God promises abounding grace for the cheerful giver. He promises sufficiency, contentment. Money can't give contentment. Godliness with contentment is great gain. The apostle Paul said, I learned to be content in whatever state I am, whether I'm abased or whether I'm abounding. I learned the secret of contentment. What is the secret of contentment? Be content with the Lord. Enjoy what enjoy each day with what he's given you. Don't be owned by things. As is written, he has dispersed abroad. He has given to the poor. His righteousness remains forever. So he's quoting Psalm one twelve verse nine. God promises spiritual enrichment, abundance, and that's where we're looking. Not you give and it'll be given back to you, which is true, but the greater teaching is spiritual riches, spiritual abundance. You're not gonna be a stingy, grumpy, defeated, covetous, so called Christian. You're gonna be freed up in knowing that you're walking by faith, that the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Like Job. Job had it all, then he lost it all. And that's the real test, isn't it? The church of Laodicea, they were delusional. It's the last day's church. They said we're rich and increased with goods and in need of nothing. They're delusional. What was their true condition? They kicked Jesus out of the church. He's knocking on the door, verse 20 of chapter three. Jesus said, you're lukewarm. You make me sick. And Jesus said, your true condition is you're naked, poor, blind, and miserable. You're poor spiritually because they were so self satisfied with self. Verse 10. Now he that ministers seed to the sower both minister bread for your food and multiply your seed sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness. Verse 11, be enriched in everything to all bountifulness. So God keeps giving as you cheerfully give. The Lord the Lord keeps giving. I mean, think of your home. Think of the home you grew up in if you grew up in a nonbelieving family. Think of how rich your home is now as a Christian father or mother. So much richer. Your parents may have had more material things, but, man, they were poor spiritually, weren't they? And they were searching. My parents were searching. They wanted they wanted to understand. They wanted to fill the void and the emptiness. They just didn't know how. And then my dad got saved the same time I did, and boy, everything opened up. And he's the most contented man I've ever met. You know? Wasn't striving, wasn't fighting, grinding it out, trying to gain approval from people. He just lived his life. Went golfing, fishing, church, great guy. You know, one thing I noticed about my dad, when he when he tells a story, he's not the hero in the story. So he's talking about being in Hong Kong, and, he's a sailor, and they go out and they go drinking. And, he's walking back to the ship. He's just a little guy. He's walking back to the ship. He's got two of his buddies in front of him, two beside, and there's a guy on the side there that makes a sly remark to him. And my dad says, alright. Let's go. And the guy warns him, says, well, I'm a Golden Gloves boxer. Do you sure you wanna do this? My dad said, hey. Let's get it on. And my dad got knocked out. And the next morning, he's delivering food to the officers, and they said, woah. Looks at you. How's the other guy? And he goes, I didn't lay hand on him. So he's he's that kind of guy, the butt of the jokes, you know. He's not trying to be the hero like we see so many people today. So he can walk in a room and everybody likes him. He's not trying to, you know, toot his own horn and all that sort of stuff. So I really admire that who he is in that way. He's my baseball coach, and he'll he'll talk about how, yeah, we won three games the whole, you know, whatever. And he'll say it in such a way like you think, you know, he's he's not boasting, but but we won all but three games or something like that. We only won three games that year when he was coach. And he'd wear a shirt that would say, it's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am. Stuff like that. So he was always able to ingratiate people and all that, and that's that's a cheerfulness. That cheerfulness came with him as a Christian, and so it was never the downer, the Debbie Downer, striving, being enriched in everything to all bountifulness. God keeps giving as you cheerfully give. So God loves a cheerful giver. The preparation for giving, the promise for giving, and thirdly and finally, the praise for giving. God is praised when we give. When you alleviate suffering, what do people do? They praise God. God's receiving praise. People my prayers are answered. Lord, you sent relief. Lord, you sent somebody to help us. Got Paul's saying, that's a blessing in itself that God is receiving thanksgiving and praise right now. Appreciation. During pastor appreciation months, man, I I know you guys love me. It happens. It happens. You praise the Lord for me. Right? She sends a card around. You put money in it. I've never seen that happen before. I'm really appreciated. Thank you very much. You're not laughing. It's a joke. Alright? God is praised for your cheerful giving. So the recipients of your generosity lift their hearts in praise and thanksgiving unto God. God allows us to be instruments of worship, a stimulus for worship. God is praised. A spiritually healthy church is a generous giving church. Churches can get sick. Churches can be backbiting and covetous and jealous and nasty and mean. We don't wanna be a part of church like that. That's why if you don't wanna give, don't give. Don't be sad, be glad, you know, don't be mad. It's just there there needs to be a freedom as you purpose in your heart. It's it's no big deal. A spirit of worship, praise and thanksgiving prevails. The people are not depressed. Joy fills the air. God's grace abounds. And again, freedom. I like that freedom. Don't wanna give up our freedom. For the administration of this service not only supplies the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God. So giving is an act of worship. This word service is the Greek word means to function as a priest. Priestly service. Giving is elevated to that of priestly service. So like Jesus in Hebrews chapter eight, it's the same word used for his priestly service in heaven on your behalf. He ever lives to make intercession on your behalf. So as you serve the Lord in giving, it's as a priest. It's a it's a means of worship. Verse 13, While by the experiment of this ministration, they glorify God for your professed objection under the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them and unto all men. So your offering to God proves to others your subjection to the gospel of Christ. You're free to give. You're free not to give. But giving proves your subjection. You're in submission unto Christ. You're not just talking the gospel. You're acting out the gospel through your liberal the word distribution is the Greek word. It speaks of fellowship, communion, contribution. People come into fellowship and communion because of your giving. In first John three seventeen, but who so has this world's good and sees his brother have need and shuts up the bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him? My little children love not in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And so we can give lip service. These people do draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. God wants our hearts. And so we see somebody in need. You don't need permission, just give if you can. If God's moving on your heart, it's all a matter of praying. Sometimes some of you come up to me and you say, hey, we wanna give. We we who in the church needs some help? And then I kinda direct you to someone I think might need help. I mean, everybody thinks Thomas Poole needs new shoes. His shoes are fine. He's he's okay. You think he's he's not homeless. He's got a place to live. But as soon as people see him, they wanna give to him. And that's fine. That's great. But, he's that's just his style, you know. It's how he rolls. And but if if you wanna give him a ride to church and give him that way and buy him some shoes, he cuts the shoes off him because his feet are ulcerated. They're hurting all the time, you know. And and we have other folks, other people that from time to time who need help. Getting rides to church seems to be a big one. And sometimes they need help, maybe some clothes, maybe some food at the holidays, maybe some presents at the holidays. You kinda have your heart strings out there, you kinda get the feel, the pulse of the church. You just do it. Just take it over to them. And by their prayer for you, which long after you for exceeding grace of God in you, so those loved in this way will not only praise God, but will respond by praying for you. And so we've seen you guys give cars to people, give monies to people, you know. You're very, very generous, giving, loving people, and that's why you sense the freedom, the blessing. And I have to keep reminding you, I have no vision for you to pay for. So relax. Relax. Enjoy the ride. God's providing everything that we need to be students of God's word, and you give if you want. And if you can't or don't want to, wait till you do. So it's no pressure. Philemon one seven, we have great joy and consolation in your love because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. And so people are desperate. They need to be refreshed like Philemon and and by your love, and it's it's just a blessing to watch to watch the body of Christ minister one to another. One of the things pastor Chuck also did at Costa Mesa is at Thanksgiving, they get tons of turkeys cooked up, and the fellowship hall is open and ready for anybody that doesn't have a place to go for Thanksgiving, the food, and the whole thing's all spread out like that at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and all. If we when we had a building with a kitchen and all that, we had a lot of potlucks. And the Max Hale Building behind us, the people didn't even attend church. They'd all come over for our potlucks, and there was so much food. And Kathy called it the loaves and the fishes, and and it was a very, very integral part and a fun part of the ministry there because we had the facilities, you know, to do that for people. We have a Christmas party each year over across the street, and we have a picnic, so we we do a little bit, but nothing like we did before where, we were doing on a regular basis. And so you do what you can. So thanks be unto God for this unspeakable gift, and so being a cheerful giver is simply responding in the worship of giving. That's why as I said before, when we have the worship leaders receive the offering, we never take. Lee listened to pastor Chuck talk about that. You never say as a worship leader, we're gonna take the offering now. We don't take. We receive. We don't we're not there's no hitmen here. There's no bill collectors. There's no pressure. We receive. Right? So we're gonna worship, and so I've asked them to phrase it this way. We're gonna worship the Lord in giving. Giving's an act of worship. You're ascribing worth under the Lord. And then we we pray over, Lord, we ask that you bless your tithes, they belong to him, and our offerings. And so it's a means of trying to teach us that giving is an act of worship. It's not by constraint. And so important to understand that. And it's a response to God's giving, this unspeakable gift that he's given to us. For God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son, you know, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. So how can you out give God? All of giving is a response to him giving. So Romans eight thirty two, he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? So God's not stingy. And we we typically, we go to Ephesians four, but my God is able to supply all of your needs according to the riches that are ours in Christ Jesus, and we differentiate between needs and wants. Right? And so God is able to give us shelter and food, and with food and raiment, therewith be content, Paul said. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine you being content with just food and clothing? Shelter from the rain? That's what he says, with food and raiment, therewith be content. If a man don't work, he don't eat. Right? Boy, how we've come a long way. All the amenities, all the wonderful things that we have. What a what a blessing. I love the blessings too. God's not stingy. God is able chapter nine verse eight. God is able to make all grace abound toward you that you always have an all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work. God loves a cheerful giver. At this stage in my life, the thing I'm most important, most thankful for is spiritual. Is the spiritual relationship I have with the Lord, with Kathy, with my family, with you, the role that I have in the body of Christ where he's placed me. It's the spiritual part of my life that is so such an incredible privilege. The second part is the emotional and relational with my family and friends. Not very many friends, but family. And another joke. Okay. And and your health. How important is your physical health? If God's blessed you with physical health, I mean, you are way ahead of the game. I mean, that's a huge thing we we don't think of. I mean, to wake up each morning and you're not in pain, if you go to hospital visits like I do, you're walking away going, Lord, how did they do it? How did they do it? You see my dad, everybody is like, alright, I know my day's coming, but I'm glad it isn't here yet. Okay? So I'm thankful, so thankful for the little things, the things that we don't think about. Right? We're always in such a intense desire to get more physical things, know, for our houses and stuff. And we retire and they tell me that you're dead within eleven years. Was it worth it? And you're sick in those eleven years before you die. Slow painful death. So if you have good health, if the Lord has blessed you with some good health, then you're rich. And if you have good spiritual health, you're even richer. You're gonna be like my dad. He he's almost 88, but he has such incredible spiritual health. It used to take him two six packs of beer to get to sleep after his divorce. And then he got saved, and he had peace. How much is peace worth? You know? And he's dying, and my brother, you know, has got his car and a little bit of money in the bank. I mean, he's dying with nothing, basically, but so rich in his relationships with his children and grandchildren and people that know him. I mean, that's a wealthy man. And he's walked with Jesus. He spends four hours a day, you know, studying in the word, getting to know Jesus more, ministering to his neighbors. No. That's a man to emulate. That's a man to mimic. That's that's a person that's walking with Jesus, and he's rich. The riches that are ours in Christ Jesus. He's not poor. God loves a cheerful giver. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely receive, freely give. Wouldn't that be amazing? If we've been gifted with spiritual gifts that we could cast out demons, cause the lame to walk, the blind to see. If we're like the early church and we say with Peter and John, silver and gold have I none, the name of Jesus Christ stand up and walk, wouldn't that be amazing? You wouldn't really care about not having a bunch of coins in your pocket, would you? It'd be so amazing that God chose to use you to raise that guy, that leopard, that that impotent man for forty years to help him to walk? Wouldn't that be a mindblower? Wow. You didn't let the, you know, the World Economic Forum guys, the Yuval Harari's, Elon Musk do that. You took us lowlife fishermen, and you filled us with your holy spirit and gifted us that we might alleviate suffering in the lives of others. Those are true riches, aren't they? And the praise and the worship goes up to God, and next thing you know, they're preaching the gospel, and they're catapulting off of that that healing. The religious leaders are so angry. Wanting to incarcerate and put them in jail and all, but there's 3,005 people responding in faith to Jesus Christ. Wouldn't you like to be a part of that kind of a revival? That kind of work of God's spirit? Second Corinthians eight verse nine, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. He left the free exercise of his deity. He left the splendor of heaven to take on the form of a man, become the son of man, the God man, to be the babe of Bethlehem, to suffer and die in our place. He gave up his riches so that we could be rich, the life of the spirit. For the joy that was set before him in Hebrews chapter 12, the joy of saving you and I. For the joy that was set before me endured the cross despising the shame, seated down at the right hand of the father. God loves a cheerful giver. What kind of giver are you? Sad? Mad? Glad? I quoted out of Philippians two. It's Hebrews 12 verse two. Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. So I did get it, but not the first part. It's for you. He went and sold all that he had to purchase this field, the field that he created, that Adam, the first Adam lost. He's the last Adam, our federal head, our representative, the creator of the universe, but also our redeemer. And he purchased this planet because there was a treasure on this planet, and that's you, the saints, the church, his bride. He sold it all to get you. He had lots of planets out there, didn't he? Whole universe out there, but this particular planet had a treasure, the bride of Christ. And he is willing to pay the dowry with his blood to purchase you. So you decide if you wanna respond in worship or not. The ball's in your court. No pressure. It's gotta be by love. It's gotta be by love or it doesn't mean anything. For Kathy to tell me she loves me, it's gotta mean something. It can't just be a rote duty, you know? It can't just be, oh, I I have to tell this lug I love him again. You know? Forty three years of saying that, I I I don't know. You know? It's gotta mean something. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your love. You never fail. And although we fail, Lord, you're there to pick us back up, to teach us, to help us, to get us back on track. And Lord, we pray as we assess, as we reassess, as we take inventory, Lord, that you'd help us with faith, Lord. That we'd evaluate, Lord, how we're to respond to your love. Lord, if you give us the courage and the faith to give, I pray, Lord, that we we we could step out in that way. If we're not ready, Lord, we pray that you'd help get us ready in your time, in your way. We pray for all the young people, Lord, who are raising families, and it's so difficult, especially on one income. And, it's it's hard for them to give now in their walking relationship with you. The older people, they have extra income and find it a little bit easier, some some not so with fixed income. So whatever it is, Lord, you know, with the widow's minds, whatever it is, Lord, we pray that there'd be a hilariousness, just a hilarity, a joy, just a great joy bursting forth with whatever it is that you encourage us to give, that we enjoy it. We wanna enjoy giving. We wanna enjoy worshiping you, Lord. We don't want it to be a ugly thing, a weird thing. So bless, we pray. Give us that freedom, that liberty, that peace within our heart, and knowing we're in your will and that you're well pleased. We wanna be well pleasing. So bless, we pray in Jesus' name. And while you're here this morning, and you haven't received that unspeakable gift of Jesus in your heart just yet, God wants to bless you with himself. He wants to come into your heart and life. If you're turning from your sins, you're crying out to God, God be merciful to me a sinner, he hears that cry of your heart, and he's ready to come in and take away that that loneliness, that aching, that pain, that emptiness, and to fill your life with the riches of his presence. God dwelling in you. He's gonna transform and change you. He's gonna wash away all of your sins, past, present, and future, and there's not gonna be any condemnation. There's gonna be great joy and blessing. Anyone here this morning, you wanna receive the blessing of Jesus Christ into your life, just lift your hand up. We wanna pray with you. Jesus is not about what can I get from you? He came to give. He came to give himself, and he wants to give himself to you. Anyone here this morning? Father, we thank you. We thank you for your love. Thank you for saving us from ourselves, Lord. Where would we be without you? And Lord, I thank you for the peace, the joy, the blessing of not only being a Christian, but being able to interact with this flock, to be a friend, to be a shepherd, an under shepherd, to preach and teach the gospel, to be with Kathy with the Sunday school. Such a privilege to gather with the people here in this room here. And I just pray that the fellowship would continue to grow, the intimacy, the joy, the blessing, the love, the koinonia would grow. And it would never ever ever be predicated on money, Lord. Let it always be, Lord, predicated upon your love. Being in love with you, don't let anybody ever, ever, ever, Lord, go away from here with a bad taste in their mouth because we put any kind of pressure on anybody. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
