A Generous People

Please turn your Bibles according to the Old Testament, 1 Chronicles chapter 29.

1 Chronicles 29 · chapter mention

You begin reading in verse 10.

This would be a good week, though, if you do have your Bible, or there are also a few Bibles to follow along in the Bible.

I'll be referencing some verses beyond what's printed in the bulletin.

We are in the fourth week of this sermon series arrives, a life of stewardship.

And we saw that the foundation of all this, our reason for being here, is because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We have seen that we do have life in Christ, and many of us have testified that Jesus Christ has given us new life in him.

We have experienced the miracle of regeneration.

That God can make people who are dead in their sin come alive.

Don't ever get over that.

You once were dead, but in Christ Jesus you have been made alive.

We saw that this same gospel that saves us also sanctifies us.

Last week we saw that this same gospel that brought us into the kingdom of God, as we look to Jesus Christ by faith, continues to grow us and renew us.

And that's very necessary because we fall asleep sometimes spiritually, don't we?

And sometimes we get off the trail and we end up in spiritual deserts and wildernesses where God doesn't seem maybe as close.

But this same gospel, as we look to Jesus Christ, brings us back.

This same gospel wakes us up.

This same gospel grows us and matures us.

Arise.

Get up.

This season of APC life, we are asking God to help us to rise up spiritually.

We're asking God to bring many more people into the kingdom of God through the preaching of his word, through the witnessing of his people.

This is a, we're calling everyone at APC to rise up in this gospel movement for the good of our city, for the good of the world.

This gospel movement in Christ, after years of searching for worship space with our lease expiring at Delray Baptist Church three years from this month, after being here already 21 years by God's grace, God has been so faithful in providing all that we've needed.

God has led us, the cloud has moved us to 1302 West Braddock Road, one mile from this campus.

The Lord's fingerprints seem to be all over this journey.

He gave us a wonderful gift, a property with a great location.

I honestly can't think of a better location in the city of Alexandria.

I really can't.

God saved that property.

God reserved that property for Alexandria Presbyterian Church.

After the elders of Alexandria Bible Church offered us this property at an incredible value.

It started with a prayer.

It did not start with plans.

It did not start with people in a boardroom sitting back and scheming or planning or strategizing.

It started with a prayer.

God had me in a place of spiritual challenge in my life.

I was asking God that the gospel would become new in my heart in a way that it had not.

And I knew that I needed other people to pray with me, and I needed other people to pray with me for the city of Alexandria.

And the first phone call I made was to Pastor Bruce Forcy, the pastor at Alexandria Bible Church.

And I asked him if he would be interested in praying with me every Wednesday morning.

We did that for about 10 years, and other people came into this church, and other people came into that prayer group.

That's how Mike and Tracy Powell ended up at this church.

That's how Red and Dorothy McDaniel ended up at this church.

And the blessings go on.

Out of that phone call and out of those times of prayer came a close relationship between these two churches.

We did youth ministry together for about 20 years.

Alexandria Bible Church sent their teenagers to our youth ministry and they did ministry together.

They took mission trips together.

Out of that relationship between those two churches came a marriage.

This arise journey that we're on started with God.

It didn't start with us.

God's fingerprints are all over this.

It was birthed in prayer, and it has been bathed in prayer and fasting.

God has led us to this property.

God has given us the plans we believe.

God has led us to the architects.

God has led us to the committees.

God is forming committees.

There are many people who are sitting near you who are working very hard, who are logging many hours.

And some of them have been doing it for the last three to four years.

This is something that's been going on, that God has been moving in many different ways.

Thank God.

There are people who are all in.

There are people who are committed to this, trusting God with their time and their energy and their prayers.

We also are trusting God to provide the financial funds that we will need in order for his vision to be completed.

And as we will see, he usually does this through his people.

As we see in the text that I'm going to read, David led his people to furnish the resources for the building of the temple, and God is still working today, much like he has done throughout history.

So let's read it.

This actually happened in the history of Israel.

This happened after all the financial resources had been collected by the people of God, given by the people of God to God to build this new temple.

We pick up.

Therefore, David, the king, blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly, and David said, Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever.

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty.

For all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.

Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all.

In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.

And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

But who am I?

And what is my people that we should be able thus to offer willingly?

For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.

For we are strangers before you and sojourners as all our fathers were.

Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.

O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand, and it is all your own.

I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness.

In the uprightness of my heart, I have freely offered all these things.

And now I have seen your people who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.

O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you.

Grant to Solomon, my son, a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which I have made provision.

And David said to all the assembly, bless the Lord your God.

And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and paid homage to the Lord and to the king.

And they offered sacrifices to the Lord, and on the next day offered burnt offerings to the Lord, one thousand bulls, one thousand rams, and one thousand lambs, with their drink offerings and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel.

And they ate and drank before the Lord on that day with great gladness.

And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and they anointed him as prince for the Lord, and Zadok as priest.

This is the reading of God's inspired holy word.

Please join me in prayer.

God Almighty, please may your spirit teach us this morning.

Lord, may your spirit open us up to new ways this morning.

We ask for your saving your name saved.

Amen.

So we come to not only people coming alive and people rising up, but this morning I want to talk about a building rising up at 1302 West Fraddy Road.

The elders of your church believe that God wants to build a building.

And that's the property he gave us.

And we've seen abundant times his provisions for this church and how God's gospel is going deep in the hearts of many.

It's time.

It's time to give to the Lord's work in a special way.

It's time to give toward the building of the Lord's building for the Lord's people, for the city of Alexandria.

Not only for our next few years.

It's time that we find a permanent home that God provides, that permanent home that will probably outlive many of us.

It's time.

And God is still working today, much like he has throughout history.

I have three points this morning.

The first point is we are a blessed people.

Look at verse 14 of the text.

King David speaking.

David is just looking around at all the collections and the gatherings of the people because that's what the people of God did.

They were commanded to bring their tithes and their offerings and their free will offerings to the Lord so that this temple would be built.

And they came.

And they came.

And next Sunday morning, we're going to do that here.

Next Sunday morning on Commitment Sunday, we're going to ask you to come forward with your commitment and give it to God as an act of worship.

We pray that we all will do that.

Because we are a blessed people.

But listen to verse 14.

David says, as David surveys the generosity of God's people in his own generosity, he says, But who am I?

And what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly to build this temple?

You see, their temporary sanctuary, the tabernacle, had served its purpose.

It was now time to build a permanent home.

I went back and you go back and you read in the book of Exodus the building of the tabernacle, which happened hundreds of years earlier.

And once again the call was given to the people of God to give sacrificially, to give generously to building this tabernacle.

And do you know what the book of Exodus says?

The people of God gave so generously that they had to be told to.

They had to be restrained, is the Hebrew word.

They had to be restrained because they were bringing so much that they had more than they needed, because they were responding to the generosity of God then as well.

David is saying, and David is asking the question that we all ought to be asking ourselves who am I?

That God has blessed me as he has.

He says, for all things come from you and of your own.

Everything we have in life is a gift from God, is what he's saying.

Verse 16, all of this abundance that we have provided for building you a house comes from your hand, and it's all your own.

Every gift we have, friends, as we have seen in the past three weeks, we are truly blessed.

Blessed people are thankful people, and thankful people in turn are generous people.

Our spiritual inheritance, our spiritual riches, as we saw in Ephesians chapter 1 and chapter 2.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

We were the people.

We are the people who were dead in our sins.

And if you are in Christ Jesus, you will never pay that debt.

You never could pay that debt.

That debt has already been paid by Jesus Christ.

So that you could be spiritually alive today.

All of our riches.

Our spiritual riches, which far surpass our monetary riches.

But Jesus says, give it all.

So that you in him might become rich.

It has been said that 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9 is the greatest passage on giving our money to the Lord in all of the Bible.

2 Corinthians 8:9

But notice what that verse doesn't say.

It doesn't say to the Macedonians or the Corinthians, congratulations on being so generous.

It doesn't say that, does it?

How does that verse end?

But thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.

The focus and the spotlight is always on Jesus.

It's not on us.

We don't pat ourselves on the back for how generous we might be with the Lord's resources.

We bow and we say, Lord, this is yours.

We give you what is your own.

We give generously because we have received generously.

That little book that I've been recommending, The Treasure Principle, written by Randy Alcorn, that many of you have picked up and read.

If you haven't, it's not too late.

Let me encourage you to order it.

You can get it on Amazon in a day or two.

It doesn't cost much.

It might just change your life.

It might just change your life.

As you go deeper in understanding what God's word says about giving generously.

One of the things that he says, that the Bible says so clearly, God owns everything.

You are God's money manager.

God owns everything.

God owns every nickel you've ever earned.

It's been given to you as a gift.

If you're a money manager, what did it we just say?

You and I are God's money managers.

Let that sink in.

The job of the money manager is to find out how the investor wants his money to be invested.

It's not our money, friends.

It's just not.

I love some of the illustrations Randy uses in the book.

Okay?

You've got a package that you want to deliver by FedEx.

What would you do if the FedEx guy took your package instead of delivering it where you intended, took it to his own house, opened it, and kept it for himself?

Like every year around Christmas time, you see videos of that, right?

Home video cams.

You know, where somebody comes and steals the package.

What if the FedEx guy actually just didn't, he didn't have to do that because he just handed it in his truck, and instead of taking it where you wanted it to go, he took it to his house.

He took it to his house, he opened it up, you know, whether it was a stereo or a TV or whatever it was.

What would you say?

If that was your gift that you were sending to a friend, it doesn't belong to him.

What's he doing?

That's robbery.

He's the middleman.

You and I are stewards of all, owners of nothing.

Let that sink in.

We don't own that.

True story is told of the great preacher John Wesley a couple hundred years ago.

Somebody came up to Mr.

Wesley when he was on a writing circuit preaching and said, Mr.

Wesley, something terrible has happened.

Your house is burned to the ground.

How would you respond to something like that?

How would I respond?

Something terrible has happened, your house is burned to the ground.

You know what Wesley said?

No, the Lord's house is burned to the ground.

That means one less responsibility for me.

Now, the only way that anybody could respond like that is somebody that would really walk in with the Lord.

That's the only way.

It's not my house.

We are stewards of everything we hold.

We are owners of nothing.

I heard it said as a young pastor many years ago.

I heard it in a sermon where the preacher said, has the Lord saved your wallet yet?

Has your wallet been converted?

I know you've been converted, but has your wallet been converted?

According to the national studies that are done among all professing Christians, evidently very few Christians have had their wallets converted.

And it must just bring heartache to God.

We don't own this stuff, friends.

Clearly, David understood this.

Do we?

All that we have have has been given to us as a gift, both spiritually and financially.

We are a blessed people, but secondly, we are a heaven-bound people.

Verse 15.

David says, For we are strangers and we are sojourners, as all of our fathers were.

Our days on this earth are like a, what did he say?

Shadow.

Do you know how long a shadow lasts?

Not long.

I was at a funeral yesterday.

A fellow pastor, colleague, I'd worked with on committees for several years.

He was my age.

And he passed away after a long ballot of cancer.

Isn't that true every time you go to a funeral?

Aren't you just reminded a little bit more again that this life is a shadow?

That we really none of us have any guarantees of how long we're going to be here.

Why do we forget that so easily?

Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 6, in the Sermon on the Mount, to transfer our funds from earth to heaven.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Lay up treasures for yourselves, not on earth, but in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy.

We're modest, dunk, corrupt.

Invest your money in something that's going to last.

Are you struck by the fact that Jesus said that so boldly?

He's telling you to lay up something for yourself, not just God.

Lay up for yourselves.

What are you investing in God's kingdom?

Investments.

Jesus is simply making a logical argument here.

We are all either storing up things on earth or we're storing things up in heaven.

Again, one of the illustrations from Randy's book is a really good one.

A couple of them actually.

First one is just that you're a financial planner.

Or let's just start with the fact that you have a financial planner.

Your financial planner is telling you to, hey, think 30 years ahead.

Don't think three years ahead.

Certainly don't think three months ahead.

Think 30 years ahead because you start young, right?

We were all told that, whether we did that or not, but we were all told, start when you're young.

Put it away.

Let that money grow.

Let that money earn something.

But think 30 years.

Well, what Jesus is saying, store up for yourselves treasure in heaven.

He's not saying for 30 years.

He's saying for three million years.

He's saying for 30 million years.

Is that hyperbolic?

Am I exaggerating?

Or is that true?

Is that literally true?

Class?

The answer is yes.

That is literally true.

Put your money, send it forward.

Send it ahead of you.

So that when you get to heaven, Jesus says in Luke chapter 12, so that when you get to heaven, this is not much of a paraphrase.

Luke 12 · chapter mention

When you get to heaven, there will be people there who will welcome you.

And thank you.

Not that we get the glory, but you played in the critical part.

And they're being there.

Use your financial wealth for spiritual gain in the lives of other people.

That is why this church, up to this point in time in our relatively young history, we have been blessed to give away six and a half million dollars to other people, not us.

We have been a channel.

God send it, give it to us, and let it flow through us.

On continents all around the world.

And people in Alexandria, Virginia, in Washington, D.C., people in this church, many times over.

We are blessed to be a blessing.

It's supposed to flow through us.

John Wesley said, I get rid of money as fast as I can, otherwise, it'll burn a hole in my heart.

It can do that.

Whatever treasures we store up here on earth, we're going to leave on earth.

Whatever financial treasures we store up in heaven will be waiting for us when we get there.

Invest in what will have lasting value.

Here's the other illustration that I find so effective.

You're living in France for the next three months.

You're working there, you're living in a hotel, but you can't bring anything back on your airplane home, your jet home.

But you can earn your money in France and you can send your deposits home.

Would you fill up your hotel room with expensive furniture and art?

Of course not.

You're going to leave it there three months.

You would only spend what you needed on the temporary residence.

You would send your treasure ahead so that it would be waiting for you when you got home.

Isn't that true?

But we're not in France and our home isn't the United States.

We are in the United States and our home is where?

In heaven.

That's true.

This isn't home.

But it takes faith to believe that, doesn't it?

And it takes faith to let go of our money because we think we need it.

We think that if we don't keep it, we won't have enough.

15% of Jesus' teaching involves money.

Jesus talked about money more than he talked about heaven and hell combined.

Is that because heaven and hell are less important than money?

No.

But he knows something that maybe we don't know.

For where you put your treasure, where you put your money, your heart always follows.

People, we are heaven-bound.

One day Jesus is going to create a new heaven and a new earth.

And we're going to have all eternity to reflect on how we had the privilege of investing in the kingdom of God.

And you will not regret.

I will not regret one dollar that I invested in the kingdom of God on earth.

We are a blessed people.

We are a heaven-bound people.

And thirdly and lastly, we are an obedient people by faith.

The Apostle Paul talks about this in Romans chapter 1, verse 4.

Romans 1:4

He talks about the obedience that flows from faith.

Obedience comes from faith.

1 Chronicles chapter 29, verse 9, not printed in your text.

1 Chronicles 29:9

Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart, they had offered freely to the Lord.

With a whole heart.

Verse 17, I know, God, David says, that you test the heart.

So let me ask you.

Is God testing your heart today?

And the answer is what?

Is God testing your heart?

And the answer is, is there anybody here, preacher included, he's not testing our heart?

Do any of us get a pass on this?

Because we we mean well.

God wants us to be obedient for a greater cause.

I know, God, that you test the heart.

David and the leaders went first.

The leaders, the leaders go first.

The leaders in this church have already gone first in this capital campaign.

The leaders in this church have already given generously, I can tell you that.

But a whole lot more is required to build that building.

We need you.

Mark and Shannon, thank you for sharing your testimony last week.

And one of the things that stuck with me is that you said you very likely won't be here when the building is built.

I speak to those of you who won't be here when the building is built.

Will you still invest so that future generations will come here and worship and hear the gospel in Alexandria Presbyterian Church and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and be growing in the gospel?

Whether you're here or not, is this something that you can follow to?

Is this something that you can commit to?

The priest went first when they crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

Leaders always go first.

David told the people about his gifts.

We're not asking you or any of us to share publicly what our gifts are.

David did.

The people rejoice at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly.

Our leaders by faith.

I firmly believe this.

Whether we ever build a building or not, and I think we're going to.

All indications are that's what God wants us to do.

But I believe that this is really good for this church, this Arise Capital campaign.

This is really good for us.

This is about rising up in our faith.

This is about growing.

This is about learning how to trust God in new ways.

I believe that with all my heart.

God wants us to take this journey.

He wants to teach us, He wants to grow us, He wants us to learn how to live by faith in new ways.

Friends, this is just the truth.

It's easier to live on 90% of your money inside God's will than to live on 100% of your money outside of God's will.

If you're struggling with trusting God, even with the tithe, the tithe, you see in the bolt and every week, the tithes and offerings, you know that's not redundant.

The tithe is 10% of your income.

The offerings are the free will offerings above and beyond the tithe.

But it's true.

How many times in the Bible do we read this?

In the book of Haggai, he says, you're neglecting God's house, and as a result of that, you know what?

God's burning holes in your pocket.

Your money's just coming, your money is flowing through as fast as it's coming in.

Do you think that's an accident?

Do you think that's a coincidence?

He says it again in the book of Malachi.

If you're keeping your money because you think you need it, if you're keeping your money because you think God will not provide for you, you're gonna forfeit a lot.

You're gonna forfeit spiritually the most of all.

You're gonna be deprived of joy that you'll never have if you don't.

And growth and faith.

That's just the way it is.

It's been that way every generation.

Trust God with your money.

Give it to him and say, God, you be my provider.

God, you be my security, God, you be my identity.

God, let me not try to shore myself up by spending things on things I don't need.

By faith.

If God created you, if God redeemed you, can He not be trusted to take care of you if you trust Him with your money?

We're asking God to teach us how to give sacrificially.

As I shared a couple weeks ago in my testimony with Sharon and I, we're asking God to stretch us like we've never been stretched.

We've gone back on our budgets multiple times.

What can we cut?

What can we cut back?

What would be a step of faith?

How do we give generously beyond the tithe?

And let me say this to friends, let me say this.

If you haven't yet learned how to trust God with your money, with your tithe, start there.

Start there.

Say, God, would you please give me faith to start trusting you regularly, giving to you to the general budget, because we we can't rob Peter to pay Paul.

Would you help me to start trusting you with my money in the operating budget?

Because we need that for so many reasons.

And then consider if there if there is something that you can give to the capital campaign, we would love that.

And maybe it's a very small amount.

I've been reminded I've had a lot of conversations with teenagers and children, my young grandsons.

They're saving.

If it's a little, give what you can.

If it's a lot, give what you can.

We by God's grace are an obedient people by faith.

Verse 29, chapter 29, verse 5.

Who then will offer willingly consecrating himself today to the Lord?

And I close with that question.

Who then will offer willingly consecrating himself, herself today to the Lord?

This journey is about gospel transformation.

Make no mistake about it.

This is not about a building, this is about gospel transformation first and foremost.

Walt Disney never got to see, I think it was Disneyland.

Mike Vance, the the uh creator, creative director for Disney Studios, was talking to somebody at the dedication of Disneyland.

And the guy said to Mike, boy, isn't it a shame that Walt never saw this?

You know what Mike Vance said?

He did see it.

That's why it's here today.

He saw it in his mind.

May God give us all the grace to see a new church home that will be here for generations.

Proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And may he give us faith to trust him on this journey.

Where there is fear, may the Holy Spirit give us faith.

Amen.

Would you close?

Prayer with me.

Heavenly Father, we we come.

And Lord, we we should just acknowledge we have a lot of fear.

We have a lot of fear, but what will happen to us if we trust you with your money?

And Lord, it's for the person here who's never done that, never learned how to do that, God, I pray that you would give our friends grace and faith to believe that you will be their provider.

Father, for those here who have trusted you with your money and have been tithers and even beyond, Lord, I pray would you give us grace to even more, to become even more generous.

Who are we that we should be able to give to you?

That which you have given to us.

Holy Spirit, I pray would you please touch every heart here, mine and the leaders and everyone to trust you in new ways.

So that a new building will be built, will arise on that property, so that hundreds and hundreds more people will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and thousands more people will be renewed by this gospel.

I pray in the name of Jesus.

Amen.