United In Our Giving Part 2 - How We Give

If you would open up your Bibles to page 627 of your pew Bibles, it's Proverbs chapter 3, if you've brought your own.

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

Last week I started preaching two sermons on generosity.

And let me just read this for you. This is Proverbs chapter 3.

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

I'm going to focus on 9, and I'm actually going to focus on one word in verse 9.

Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce.

Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce.

May God bless the hearing and application of His word.

Let's say this week you get an unexpected phone call from an estate attorney.

Your recently deceased neighbor, she was in her 80s, and you and your family had essentially adopted her.

You were showing her kindness. You were helping her out in so many different ways.

Well, it turns out she wrote you into her will.

You didn't plan that. You weren't pining for that.

You didn't even know she had any money.

You were just seeking to love your neighbor.

This lawyer says, I'm just calling to let you know that you're going to be receiving $10,000

from Gladys' estate by the end of this month.

So for us, it'd be like this coming week. We'd get $10,000 in the mail.

Let me ask you a question.

What do you do?

How does God want you to respond to that?

What should be your attitude, your posture towards that $10,000?

And then what should be your actions, your practice?

What do you do with that?

I hope you're at least asking this.

As God's steward of all that He has given you,

you're asking God, what would you have me do with this?

What would you do with this?

Let's move from a kind of one-time windfall

to now your monthly income.

Most of us in this room are receiving some kind of monthly income.

Maybe you are receiving $20,000 a month,

$10,000 a month.

Maybe you're receiving $5,000 or $3,000 a month.

Maybe you're receiving $5,000 or $3,000 a month.

What should be your posture toward that monthly income?

And what should be the practices of good stewardship

in stewarding that money in a way that pleases the Lord?

Now, if you weren't here last week,

I preached on Proverbs 3, 9 and 10,

and I was trying to make a case that the gospel of Jesus Christ

radically, radically changes our hearts towards money.

Instead of seeing money for our own glory,

now we have been rescued and money is a means to God's glory.

So we're going to steward it to God's glory

because we're God's stewards trusting in God's promises.

This is what the gospel does.

It de-golemizes us.

Remember that?

My precious.

The love of money is like the ring of power in our hands.

It's not a ring.

It's usually on our smartphones

where we're looking at our bank accounts.

Oh, my precious.

The gospel rescues us from that.

This morning, I want to move from

the why we give last week

to the how we give.

And it's that word firstfruits

that is such a help.

When you read that in 3.9,

firstfruits,

with the firstfruits,

we're to honor the Lord

with the firstfruits of all your produce.

The original recipients would have been thinking

like the firstfruits of their barley harvest,

of their wheat harvest.

There's multiple harvests

during the growing year in Israel.

Or if you had a flock,

it would be the firstfruits of your flock.

And it's okay to think in terms of sequence,

like this is the first we give back to God

of what He's given to us.

But this word is not just sequential

in its firstfruits.

This word is qualitative.

We give our best to the Lord.

When we honor the Lord with our wealth,

we give Him the best we have.

And so this morning,

what I want to help you to think through is,

you're going to hear me say that,

give your best to the Lord.

In light of what Christ has done for us,

let's give our best to Him.

And so, I want to help you think through

how to give your best to the Lord

attitudinally,

and how to give your best to the Lord

by way of action.

How to give your best to the Lord

by way of posture of heart,

and how to give your best to the Lord

by way of practice.

There is much grace here.

Now, let's just state the obvious.

There in this room are people

with a wide range of incomes.

Not all of us have the same income,

and that's okay.

We're not making any claim

that all of us should have the same income.

But here's what's going to unite us,

brothers and sisters, as a church.

It's when we are united

in giving our best to the Lord

with whatever He's given to us.

When we are doing that together,

it unites us in a God-pleasing posture.

And so let's give our best to the Lord.

Whatever He's given of us,

let's give our best back.

And let's start off with this

kind of sense of attitude, of posture.

By attitude and posture,

what I'm talking about

essentially is your motivation.

What is the motivation

behind your stewardship in general

and your giving in particular?

And in order to drill down into that,

we're going to move away

from Proverbs chapter 3,

Proverbs 3 · chapter mention

and I want to bring you

to a passage in 2 Corinthians.

It's in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.

If you're looking at your pew Bible,

it starts on page 1149.

And so I just want to give you

some background of what's going on

in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9.

At this time in the first century,

there was a devastating famine

that had broken out in Jerusalem

and the surrounding areas of Jerusalem.

And it was wreaking havoc

in the Jerusalem church.

So the Jerusalem church

were primary Jewish Christians,

and they were now suffering

because of this famine.

And so the Apostle Paul does something.

It's one of the first Christian relief efforts,

a Christian relief fund.

Do you know what the Apostle Paul does?

He reaches out to primarily Gentile churches

around the Mediterranean basin,

churches in Macedonia,

and the churches in Galatia,

and the church of Corinth.

And he says,

okay gang,

what can you do

to help your brothers and sisters

in the Jerusalem church?

And so what he's doing

in 8 and 9

is he's circling back

to a commitment

they had already made,

and he's motivating them to give.

And so for us,

it's very helpful

because we're going to apply this

not to a one-time gift

to people in need.

We're going to apply this

to our monthly stewardship of God,

what he entrusts to us.

And so with that said,

what I want you to see

in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9

are three motivations,

three attitudinal

kind of lining up

to what pleases God.

The first one is this.

It's in 2 Corinthians 8, 8 and 9.

It's gospel.

It's a gospel-shaped generosity.

It's attitudinal.

It's posture of heart.

It's motivational.

Look what he says.

In verse 8 he says,

I say this not as a command,

but to prove by earnestness

of others that your love

is also genuine.

He's talking about this relief effort

that they've been kind of gathering

for about a year

and they're going to send it.

And he says in verse 9,

for you know the grace

of our Lord Jesus Christ

that though he was rich,

yet for your sake he became poor

so that you by his poverty

might become rich.

This is a gospel motivation

towards generosity.

What's being said here

is that Jesus himself

became poor

so that he would enrich us

with salvation

and that should motivate us

in our giving

to divest ourselves

of some of our wealth

to help other people

become enriched in Jesus.

Jesus.

It's a gospel motivation.

The idea of

he who became rich,

he who was rich

became poor

is talking about

his incarnation.

This is Philippians chapter 2,

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

3 through 11

where Jesus who

before he took on flesh,

before the second person

of the Trinity

was incarnated,

he was in glory in heaven

and when he took on flesh,

he took the form of a servant.

He humbled himself.

He became poor

and then he lived

a perfect life,

died on the cross

and through that death

and resurrection,

he brings wealth

to sinners.

He makes us rich

for those who believe.

Yet for your sake,

he who was rich

became poor.

And you know what kind

of riches

it's the riches

of salvation.

It's the riches

of God's grace

that are in Christ Jesus.

It's Jesus himself.

Our riches

in Christ.

Jesus is our treasure.

And so,

when you think about this,

that Jesus is our treasure,

can you stack Jesus up

next to anything

you could possibly think of

on this planet

and say,

how could that

in any way

be more valuable

than him?

This gospel motivation

gets at something

in us

in which

God is saying to us,

just as your God

became poor

to make you rich,

so now you

handle your wealth

to make others

rich in Jesus.

it's powerful motivation.

It's powerful motivation.

Didn't deserve it.

We didn't deserve

Jesus becoming

poor to make us rich.

That's why we read

that this is

the grace

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ.

So this first

motivation,

this first dimension

is gospel.

The second aspect

of it is

generosity.

We're to be generous.

If you flip over

to 2 Corinthians 9,

6,

Paul starts drawing

on a particular

illustration,

particular way

of being

that that congregation

would have been

very familiar with.

The point is this,

Paul writes,

whoever sows sparingly

will also reap sparingly,

and whoever sows

bountifully,

generously,

will also reap

bountifully.

We're not talking

about sowing

as in a sowing machine.

What we're talking

about is

sowing seed.

We're talking about

planting

and growing

and harvesting.

And Paul

is using

this

illustration

to attend

to how we give.

You sow a little,

you reap a little.

You give a little,

you reap

a little.

The sowing

is analogous

to financial giving.

Giving of your

financial resources.

And we're not

to give minimally

according to what

Paul is saying here

is the

principle is we

give generously.

We give abundantly.

Now, if you flip

back to 2 Corinthians

8,

Apostle Paul does

something really

interesting.

In verses 1 and 2,

he brings up

some other churches.

The churches

of Macedonia.

And he's kind of like,

you know what,

Corinthians,

let me just tell you

what the Macedonians

are doing.

And then he goes on

in verse 3

and he says,

for they,

the Macedonian churches,

gave according to

their means,

as I can testify,

and beyond their means

of their own accord.

In other words,

they had started

to give sacrificially.

Going beyond their means.

These Macedonians

who had nothing

were finding ways

to give

because they

had a gospel

motivation going on.

And they want to be

part of this

relief effort.

They want to be part

of what God was doing.

And so,

what we see here

is not only just

a sowing,

not of a little,

but a sowing

of abundance

and even moving

into sacrificial

giving.

It's kind of like this.

Let's say we're

living in first,

let's say we're

living in Corinth,

but it's Corinth

21st century.

And if your family

is kind of a,

you stop at Starbucks

a lot.

And there's not

necessarily wrong

with that,

but let's say

you hear about

this need

in the Jerusalem church

and you gather

your family,

you're a dad,

you're leading your home

and you're like,

here's what we're

going to do, gang.

We're going to go

without Starbucks

all year long

and we're going to

take the stuff

that we'd spend

for Starbucks,

we're going to

pile it up

and we're going

to send it

to the church

in Jerusalem

because we can

go without Starbucks

so that they can

eat.

It's that kind

of mentality,

others oriented.

What is really

interesting is when

you start asking

the question,

well, what is

the abundant

harvest that's being

talked about here?

If we're to sow

abundantly,

we're going to

reap abundantly,

what is the

abundant reaping

that we're talking

about?

And you start

to see it

at the end

of chapter 9,

starting in verse 11,

I'm going to

highlight some

words for you.

You will be rich

in every way,

to be generous

in every way,

which through us

will produce

thanksgiving

to God.

Verse 12,

for the ministry

of this service

is not only supplying

the needs of the saints,

but is overflowing

and many thanksgivings

to God.

By their approval

of this service,

they will glorify God

because of your

submission that comes

from your confession

of the gospel of Christ.

Gospel-driven

generosity

and the generosity

of your contribution

for them

and for all others

while they long

for you

and pray for you.

It's uniting

these Christians

because of the

surpassing grace

of God upon you.

Their generosity

is an outworking

of God grace

in them.

And then Paul says,

thanks be to God

for his inexpressible gift.

The harvest

is thanksgiving

among God's people

all over the place.

God gets the glory.

God gets the praise.

He knits his churches

together.

And everybody's saying,

yes and amen,

isn't this good?

It's the second

kind of attitudinal feature

in this passage.

We saw gospel.

Now we've seen generosity.

The last thing

I want you to see

is the joy

in 9-7.

Each one must give

as he's decided

in his heart.

We all have

different incomes.

We're all in

different situations.

But we each must decide

before the Lord

what we give.

Not reluctantly

or under compulsion

for God loves

a cheerful giver.

Would you look at

the person next to you

and just say,

God loves

a cheerful giver?

God loves

a cheerful giver.

And the way

that Paul is talking

about cheerful giving

in the actual verse,

he qualifies it

with some nots.

He says,

cheerful giving

is not reluctantly.

Could you imagine

someone writing a check

to Christ the King Church

and they're kind of like,

oh, fine.

Yeah, okay.

I'll write this,

I guess.

Take it.

You're kind of reluctant.

Paul's like,

keep it.

God loves

a cheerful giver.

A voluntary giver.

Not under compulsion.

You don't feel like

you're having

your arm twisted.

But this is flowing

out of God's work

of grace.

This is flowing

out of what Christ

has done for you

and you're like,

you just,

give me opportunities.

Have you heard

of those stories

about churches

that pass the plate

and the head

of the stewardship

committee looks

at the plate

and that's not enough

and they pass

the plate again?

It's called compulsion.

It's a little manipulative.

Let's just see

what God's word says

and let's respond

in faith.

A cheerful heart

is a heart

shaped by gospel grace.

It's a heart

that is generous

in wanting God

to be exalted

and praised.

it's a heart

that is finding

joy

in what God

is doing

and is happy

to share

their wealth.

It's this

kind of idea

where you're like,

whatever I'm contributing,

if that's going

to more

and more people

treasuring Jesus

above all else,

it's going

to more and more people

that Jesus

is the treasured

center,

the controlling

center of their lives.

Oh,

go

with joy.

So,

these are what

goes into

forming

a mature Christian

attitude

when it comes

to stewardship

in general

and then giving

in particular.

So,

let me ask you,

let's do an audit.

How does your heart

line up?

how is the gospel

shaping,

motivating

your stewardship

and your giving?

How is this,

is there,

is there this sense

of abundant,

I want to be giving

more abundantly,

not sparingly,

but abundantly

so that there would be

this harvest of praise

to God.

is that functional

in you?

Is there joy

in your heart

as you give?

Now,

if you're saying,

well,

no,

I'm not really,

do you know

what you do?

You run

to chapter 8,

verse 9,

and you give thought

to the second person

of the Trinity

becoming poor

in order to make you

rich with Him.

That gospel

tending to your heart

will bring about

a God-pleasing change.

So,

this is getting at,

hey,

let's give our best

to the Lord

and it starts

with attitude.

It starts with heart posture.

So,

for the balance

of our time,

what I'd like to do

is,

what does it mean

to give our best

to the Lord

by way of actions

and by way of practice?

So,

let's say

that you bring

this gospel-shaped heart

to your $20,000

a month income

or $10,000

or $5,000

or $3,000

and your posture

has been transformed

towards this money.

You're like,

Psalm 24,

1,

all of this

is the Lord

so I'm going

to give back

some of it

to the Lord

with joy.

Now what?

What does that look like?

I wish someone

would have told me

what I'm about to tell you

when I was 23 years old.

This isn't rocket science.

What I'm about to share with you

is common grace,

but I think it will help you.

Here are three categories

to think about

all of your income

of what God entrusts you.

Here are three ways

to think about it.

Three words,

give,

save,

spend.

And as a starting point,

you want to be thinking

very practically

to be giving 10%

of what God has given you,

to be saving 10%

of what God gives you,

and to be spending 80%

of what God gives you.

Just as a starting point.

And so it just gives you

something to aim at.

And so what I'd like to do now

for the rest of our time

is just kind of unpack

these things.

I'm going to spend

the bulk of my time

in the giving category,

move to saving,

and then if I've got some time,

I'll talk about spending.

Give your best

to the Lord

of your monthly income.

9-7,

each one must give

as he decided

in his art.

Each one of us

is to be stewarding

that which God entrusts to us.

We're to give

a portion of that

back to the Lord.

First fruits,

the best.

The first,

the best.

So the principle

I want you to hear right now

is when you give,

don't give leftovers

at the end of the month.

Give the best

at the beginning of the month.

start there,

and if you come up short,

you're going to deal

with that in your spending,

not your giving.

Decide how much.

And the,

under the Old Covenant,

Old Covenant saints

were commanded

to give 10%

of their monthly produce,

of their monthly income.

And when we get

to the New Testament,

the New Testament

is rather silent

on the tithe.

And so,

you really can't make

this airtight argument

either way

for the tithe

in the New Testament

because it's pretty quiet on it.

But I'm with Randy Alcorn.

Randy Alcorn

wrote this book,

The Treasure Principle.

I think we've got

four copies still

at the Connect Desk

out there

if you want this.

It's outstanding.

What Randy Alcorn does

is he makes this case

of using the tithe

to help you give.

Think of the tithe

as training wheels

on your giving bike.

Just getting started.

And it helps you

in terms of aiming

at something

to be giving back

to what God is giving you.

Giving your best

back to the Lord.

And you know what?

You're going to find this.

Because

riding your bike

with training wheels

is kind of fun.

Riding your bike

without training wheels

is even better.

And so,

see those training wheels

as to get you going.

But you don't have to stay

riding your bike

with training wheels on

if you're able.

He makes this case,

Randy Alcorn,

when it comes to the tithe.

The old covenant saints,

well,

they were commanded

to give 10%.

How much more

should new covenant saints

who know the grace

of the Lord Jesus Christ

give more?

There's this study

that was done.

I came across it

this past week

getting ready.

It's called

The Giving Gap.

Changes in Evangelical Generosity.

It's really interesting.

I just read

the executive summary,

which is 12

kind of summary statements.

And

this is what

the eighth summary statement is.

Generosity is the proportion

of household income

given away.

Now,

this is all evangelicals

in the American church

over 2024.

Think of it as a percentage

of your annual income.

The average donor gives

Do you know how,

do you know what the percentage is?

The average donor gives

blank of household income

to the church annually.

It's 2.8%.

And that's down

from 3.2%

in 2021.

It's interesting.

It's like,

okay,

giving's good.

We're giving something.

But if you're going to

talk about this

in terms of

giving sparingly

versus giving abundantly,

where would that fall?

And where would that fall

in terms of prioritizing

your giving,

giving your best

to the Lord?

It's a helpful

assessment

of where the American church

is,

the wealthiest church

in the world.

It's a helpful

So maybe right now

you're saying,

10%?

We can never do that.

How about this?

How about

asking the question,

what can

you do?

Are you giving

to begin with?

And

what's your next step

in your giving?

Can you start

looking at

what you spend

and say,

you know what,

that's a want.

We don't need that.

Let's reassign

that to

that which is

even more pleasing

to the Lord.

Are you giving at all?

What's your next step?

And see the 10%

as training wheels

to be

getting going

in your giving.

And remember,

Jesus became

poor

to make us

rich

so that

we

could

sow

abundantly

so that

more and more

people

would reap

a praise

harvest

to the Lord.

Finding their

treasure in

Jesus.

I was going to

talk about

frequency.

I'm going to

skip that.

Here are two

thoughts.

I was given

this book

by a brother

from the church

to read.

It's called

True Riches.

It's by

John Cortinez

and Gregory

Baumer.

It's a really

helpful book.

I'd recommend it.

I don't agree

with everything

in it.

But you know

what was

challenging

about this

book?

Here's what's

challenging

about this

book.

They raised

the question

of what do

you base

your lifestyle

on?

Do you base

your lifestyle

on your

income

or do you

base your

lifestyle

on your

giving?

It was a

very challenging

and provocative

question.

So it started

us re-evaluating

hey what do

we need

what do we

need to

live on

so that we

can free

up more

money to

give?

Because we

delight in

Jesus.

Another thought

is this.

It's about

progress.

It's about

growth.

Giving is an

act of grace.

2 Corinthians

8.

It's something

that God

is at work

in us

and we

respond to

and step

into

and experience

more and more

of his joy

so what's

your next

step?

What's

your next

step

individually?

What's

your next

step as

a family?

How can

you excel

still more

in this

act of

grace?

So

giving.

Give.

Give your

best to

the Lord.

Second

category is

save.

Saving

is putting

away money

and if

you're aiming

at 10%

aiming at

it.

Just like

giving,

you're aiming

at it,

you're moving

towards it.

That's

good.

It's just

important to

start.

Can I give

you a principle

from the

Proverbs

about saving?

This is

really helpful.

This is

Proverbs 13,

11 and

it says

this,

wealth

gained

hastily

will

dwindle

but whoever

gathers

little by

little will

increase it.

Little by

little.

saving

little by

little.

So maybe

it's long

term saving

little by

little.

You're

saving,

you're putting

money away

for your

retirement or

you're building

up towards

a new car

to you that

you need to

purchase.

It's little by

little you're

putting away.

Or it's more

of a short

term 12 month

savings.

You're saying

okay you know

what we've got a

summer vacation

coming up and

so we're just

going to put a

little money

away little

bit by little

bit kind of

throughout the

year to be

ready for that

when it

comes or we

have a property

tax come and

due in December

and we're going

to put away

a little bit

little bit

little bit

and be ready

to pay that

property tax.

Christmas

we're trying to

save now put a

little way a

little way for

Christmas 2020

25.

And so you're

just putting

money away

tucking away

a little little

by little for

different things

coming down the

line.

But when it

comes to saving

I want to give

you a category

that I think

you should

consider.

It's called

an emergency

fund.

And what an

emergency fund

is is something

you save

towards.

It's usually

about $1,000 to

$2,000.

And how to

think about it

is like a

red case with

glass that

says break in

case of

emergency.

And so this

money for your

emergency fund

would be something

like you have a

medical expense that

you weren't

planning for.

you break into

your emergency

fund.

Or you have a

house expense

something goes

big time on your

house and you

weren't ready for

it.

Emergency fund.

Something else

happens.

Car expense.

Or maybe you

have a brother

and sister that

is facing a

crisis.

Break into the

emergency fund.

What then you

do is you

rebuild the

emergency fund

after you use

it.

And what that

will do is

it will protect

your cash flow.

It will help

you if you're

living paycheck

by paycheck

and maybe you're

in a cycle of

debt to help

you get out of

a cycle of

debt.

When it

comes to

saving,

I just need

you to hear

this.

We don't

trust in our

savings.

savings.

We trust in

God's promises.

But we're

wise in doing

our savings.

The third

category of

kind of like

giving our

best to the

Lord is by

way of our

spending.

You know,

I gave you

the percentages.

Give 10%,

save 10%,

spend 80%.

You know,

you don't

have to

spend 80%

if you

don't want

to,

if you don't

have to.

You don't

have to do

that.

What has

been really

helpful for me

over the years

has been

thinking in

two categories,

what are my

needs and

what are my

wants?

Can I just

define for you

what a need

is?

A need

is something

that is

necessary for

you to

live.

It's food.

It's clothing.

It's shelter.

It's, you

can make a

case for

transportation.

I think you

can make a

case for a

phone to be

functional in

our culture.

And so,

when you start

realizing what

your needs

truly are and

then what are

your wants,

what is

unnecessary,

but good.

Helpful.

It gives

you a sense

of priority.

And so,

if you're

putting together

a budget,

which is

simply a tool

to help you

steward God's

funds,

the first

things that

you're going

to want to

spend on

are your

needs.

And then,

and then the

discretionary

spending are

your wants.

Very helpful

categories.

Now,

if you want

a helpful

exercise,

download your

monthly bank

statement and

look at all

of what you

have purchased

as you have

made and

right next to

each one in

N or a W.

This is a need,

this is a want.

It'll be

interesting to

see what you

find out.

Jenny and I,

neither of us

are money

managers.

Neither of us

are administrative

powerhouses.

services.

And the tool

that has helped

us grow us,

serve us in

our financial

stewardship is

called a cash

envelope system.

It's old school.

And what it is,

is we have this

little accordion

file with 12

slots.

And at the

beginning of

every month,

I go to the

bank and I get

cash out and I

put it in each

slot for groceries

and for

upcoming auto

maintenance and

for clothes and

for haircuts and

for other things

like that.

And for us,

this is just

where we live.

It helps us

because we

always see what

we have in a

category.

And when we're

out of it,

we're out of it.

And it has

served us as

we want to

give our best

to the Lord.

And if that's

where you are,

I would highly

recommend it.

It is a really

helpful tool.

And it can

function as an

emergency fund at

the same time.

Now, I know I

haven't talked

about debt.

I know I

haven't gone into

talking about

budgets.

Let me point you

to some resources

that can help you

without some

websites,

Crown Financial,

Dave Ramsey.

People are

different sides of

the fence with

Dave Ramsey,

but he offers

this course called

Financial Peace

University.

It will help

you.

Compass,

Compass

Finances

God's Way.

It's a good

organization to

help.

You can go to

any of those

websites to

get help here.

There's this

book,

a recommended

treasure principle.

There's true

riches.

But if you want

to talk to a

human being,

and you're

like,

we need help,

would you come

find me?

We can direct

you to someone

in our church

who can really

help you with

these kinds of

things.

things.

So when we

talk about

giving your

best to the

Lord,

three categories.

Give,

save,

spend.

What's your

next step?

To give your

best to the

Lord in your

actions.

Giving your

best to the

Lord is both

dealing with

posture and

practice,

kindness.

And every one

of us in the

room has room

to grow.

We all have

different income

levels in this

room, but what

will unite us in

our generosity as

we move forward

is if each of us

is growing in

giving our best

to the Lord.

We can do that

together.

So,

if you receive a

10,000 check in

the mail this

week from the

settlement of an

estate, what

would be

governing your

heart and your

actions?

I'd hope it be

at least this

question.

God is your

steward.

How can I

honor you best

in stewarding

this money?

Let's pray

together.

God in heaven,

we do thank you

so much for the

money you've

entrusted to us.

We want to be

delivered from the

love of money

day by day, and

the gospel does

just that.

It moves our

heart off of

money and moves

our heart onto

the treasure of

our soul,

Jesus.

Would you grow

us in our

attitudes and our

actions, our

postures and our

practice so that we

would excel still

more in this act

of grace.

It's in your name

we pray.

Amen.