Unanswered Prayers For Grace

The Bible says, Now he that ministereth 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 causeth 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.

While by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto all them and unto 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.

I'm in verse 14 is the heart of our message today.

And I want to speak on this subject today, the unanswered prayer of grace.

As we are gathered here in the month of March to celebrate what God is doing through our missions program all around the world, it just reminds me of something.

Someone somewhere around the world.

We don't know who they are.

We don't know where they live.

We don't know the circumstances of their lives.

We don't know their need.

But I can guarantee you this morning, someone is praying for you.

Someone who needs the gospel.

Someone who needs a church, someone who needs a Bible is praying for people just like us.

That this grace we've been speaking of for the last two weeks might flourish in our hearts.

And let's look at this passage today as we continue to recognize our responsibility to God and to reach others with the gospel.

May we pray together.

Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ and thank you for the hope that we have in you.

Lord, it is our prayer today that you will speak to our hearts and motivate us to a greater level of Christian service.

Lord, we recognize there might be someone here today who does not know the grace of God.

May that initial grace, that saving grace, Lord, be made manifest to them in the person of Jesus Christ.

And Lord, we pray for these ongoing graces, these gifts that you provide for your children in order to make us a blessing to others.

May this gift of grace flourish in our hearts today.

And may the prayer of Paul be the desire of our hearts.

And we praise you for all that you will do, for we ask and pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you for standing, and you can be seated together.

In the back, if you don't mind, I'm gonna switch I'm gonna switch to this.

I saw a guy on TV preaching with one of these, and I thought, man, those those TV preachers can really preach.

Maybe I should transition to this.

There's often a gap between what we feel and what we finish.

I was talking to one of my friends yesterday.

I'm doing some research for a degree, and he didn't think I could get this word into my sermon, but I I fit it into my sermon, so I'll show you how I'm gonna do that.

In modern research, scholars uh often use what they call a Likert scale.

It was developed by a man named Rensis Leichert.

Now, how many of you have seen a scale that looks something like this?

Will you raise your hand?

Now, a Likert scale measures attitudes by asking people to rate their level of agreement or disagreement with a particular statement.

Now you note the one on the screen, for example, asked this first question please rate your opinion of a new teaching curriculum.

And if you were taking this scale, you could strongly disagree with that statement, you could disagree, you could be neutral, or you could agree or strongly disagree, or you would prefer not to answer.

And if you completed the scale, we could kind of come up with a composite view of your feelings or knowledge about a particular situation.

So what if I said to you this text is a Likert scale of our feelings about reaching the world with the gospel?

If the question were, I intend to follow through on my commitments, would you strongly disagree?

Would you agree?

Or would you maybe be neutral to that statement?

Now, a Likert scale may not measure exactly what people do, but it does measure how they feel about what they say they're going to do.

So in this passage, the Apostle Paul is measuring the Corinthians' heart, their feeling towards generosity.

Now, not with a survey, not with a questionnaire, but with a pastoral observation.

He's reminding them that a year earlier they had the desire to give an offering to their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, the saints at Jerusalem.

The willingness to give was there, the intention was there, the enthusiasm was there.

And if you had handed them a modern Likert scale a year previous to this writing, and asked, I am eager to help the needy saints in Jerusalem, they probably would have circled, strongly agree.

Strongly agree.

But Paul is gently exposing the tension in every believer who knows too well that good intentions are not the same thing as faithful completion of a task.

He says here in chapter 8, verse 11, now therefore perform the doing of it.

In other words, Paul is not merely interested in where they would rate themselves on a scale of enthusiasm.

He wants to see whether their desire has matured into obedience, whether their intention has turned into actions, whether their affections for the work of God has produced a follow-through in what they're doing for God.

This morning it raises a question for all of us.

If our Christian lives were measured, and I want you to get this, if your Christian life and my Christian life was measured not by our intentions or our enthusiasm, but by our completion of what we said we're going to do, where would we stand as believers this very morning?

In the kingdom of God, the Lord is not looking for people who will say, I want to do the right thing.

He's looking for people who, by the grace of God, finish what God has placed in their hearts to begin.

What's telling is the very thing that conveys the feelings of their heart, the liker scale, so to speak, of feeling and affection for the work of God is measured on the battlefield of money.

Paul is not alone in his perception of the nature of feelings and intentions when Jesus himself says in Matthew 6.21, and you know this verse well, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Can we all say that together?

Ready?

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Jesus said that your heart follows your treasure.

Where our feeling is is based upon where we are in our commitment to follow through.

So far in this passage, we have noticed the unspeakable gift, and that's chapter 9, verse 15, which is Christ.

And last week we discovered the uncertain gift, the disconnect between their profession of what they would do and their performance of what they said they would do.

And today I want to talk about, at the conclusion of chapter 9, this unanswered prayer, verse 14 again, chapter 9.

And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.

So I want us to notice as we kind of survey, I'm going to teach a little bit this morning through the remainder of chapter 8, and we're going to finish chapter 9 this morning, and we should be done by 1.15.

And so you'll have no trouble getting a table at the restaurant once I'm done today.

If you're visiting with us today, I want you to know we're not going to do you that way, okay?

First of all, I want us to notice in this passage policies and giving.

That's the conclusion of chapter number eight.

Paul is writing to this church and saying to them, You have said you're going to become part of this offering for the saints of Jerusalem, and they've they've kind of drugged their feet, so to speak, and now the apostle Paul is sending a helper whose name is Titus to help motivate the people's generosity and provide some accountability as he receives this offering.

And so notice these three policies.

First of all, there was faithful motivation and organization.

Look in chapter 8, verse number 6.

Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.

And then come down to verse 16, where again the apostle says, But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you.

There was faithful motivation and organization.

Now they they have a bit of a problem with the Apostle Paul.

There's been a lot of sin that's invaded this church, and Paul has had to write to rebuke them, to exhort them to a higher level of Christian conduct, and maybe they haven't given the offering because they're angry at Paul.

And Paul sends Titus, his mentee, his disciple, to this church to encourage them and to motivate them.

But secondly, Titus becomes a faithful partner and a personal representative of the Apostle Paul.

Look at chapter 8 again, verse 17.

For indeed he accepted the exhortation, but being more forward of his own accord, he went unto you.

Paul is saying, Titus has come to your church, and he's going to encourage you to receive this offering.

Now I just want to stop here for a moment and say this.

This offering is not for the benefit of the Corinthian Baptist Church.

It is not for their benefit.

It's not to build a building, it's not to buy a bus, it's not to add ministries.

This offering is designed for purely the benefit of another local assembly or body of believers.

And Titus is going to receive this so that distribution might be made.

And notice the third policy.

Let us see there was a faithful administration of this great offering that provided integrity and accountability to the offering.

Now keep in mind, the apostle Paul has come under intense attack from these believers, from other believers, questioning his apostleship, questioning his authority.

And maybe they're not giving the offering because the whisper campaign of Paul's enemies has finally reached the ear of these people.

And maybe they're saying we can't trust the apostle Paul to give this offering.

And so Titus is going to come with the brother, with other faithful men who will provide some oversight and integrity and accountability as they receive this offering.

Those are the policies of this gift.

But notice number two, very quickly, principles in giving.

Now that brings us into chapter 9.

And these are universal principles.

Now, over the last three weeks, we've tried to give you Bible truth that doesn't just pertain to this cultural moment, but does give oversight into the decisions we make and how God promises to bless those who are faithful in giving.

So first of all, notice the measure of our giving is proportional to God's provision in our lives.

There's a ring up here.

Maybe we can maybe turn the monitors down just a little bit.

And I'd appreciate that.

Thank you so much.

Look at chapter 9, verse number 6 together.

Paul says, But this I say, can you read verse 6 with me there?

Chapter 9, verse 6, ready to begin?

But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

The measure of our offering is proportional to God's provision in our lives.

It was Jesus who said in Luke 6, 38, give, and it shall be what?

Given unto you.

Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over shall men give to your bosom for the same measure that ye give, or meet withal it shall be given to you.

Again, and Paul is just laying down a principle here.

If you'd like to reap sparingly, give sparingly.

But if you'd like to reap bountifully, he says you are to sow bountifully.

And be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap.

And I'll just tell you in the little church I grew up in, I mean, I thought that church was just the thunderbolts of God's wrath, right?

Be not deceived, God is not mocked.

Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

And I used to think, oh boy, God comes after sinners.

But wait a minute.

If you go back to Genesis chapter 1, you'll discover that God created every herb yielding seed and fruit tree and vegetable after its kind, the seed what's in itself.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Why?

Because one seed that doesn't produce one orange, it produces lots of other oranges.

And if you sow bountifully, you will reap bountifully.

How many of you would like those bountiful reapings in your life?

This is a universal principle.

And so there's a negative to Galatians 6.7 and a positive to Galatians 6.7.

Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

If we sow to the flesh, we'll have the flesh reap corruption.

But if we sow to the spirit, we'll have the spirit reap life everlasting.

It's like the Indian that was saved by the missionary, and he forgot some of the details of this conversion, and so the missionary came around again to the church and began to talk about those who had accepted Christ.

And the Indian said to the missionary, he said, I ha have a question for you.

He said, My Christian life, he said, feels like there's two dogs inside of me.

You've heard the story.

Two dogs inside of me.

There's a black dog and a white dog, and the missionary said to the Indian, which one wins?

And he said, The one I feed the most.

Be not deceived, God is not mocked.

Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

You reap what you sow, you reap more than you sow.

And Paul is giving a principle for giving here that if we live a life of generosity, we can expect that God will deal generously with us.

Now, notice number two, notice the mindset of our giving.

Verse 7.

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth the cheerful giver.

Now, there's three little words here.

First of all, he said we're not to give grudgingly.

The word here has the idea of giving with regret or being overcome with grief or to be made painful or to be sad when we give.

In other words, God is saying, don't begrudge the idea to feel as if there's pain or grief as we give our offering to God.

Don't grudge this offering.

Number two, he said it's not compulsory, it's not of necessity.

It's not a gift given by compulsion.

It's not a gift given by guilt.

It's not given under obligation or under pressure.

This gift that was given, God wants a free will offering.

By the way, there is no taxation in the kingdom of God.

He says, don't give it grudgingly.

Don't give it out of a sense of duty or compulsion, because the third word here is God loveth a, what's the word church?

He loves a cheerful giver.

And I'm going to teach you a little Greek word today.

Okay, the Greek word for cheerful is hilarious.

Hilaire os.

Do you hear the English word there?

Yeah, he said, be a hilarious giver, okay?

Now, we we took an offering up this morning, if I remember correctly.

Did we take up an offering?

Did anyone beside you laugh when they put their check in the offering plate today?

Hilarious giver.

A cheerful giver.

God loves a cheerful giver.

He speaks of our motivation for giving.

That's in verse 8.

Notice it.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you.

There's that word again.

This is the word of these two chapters.

Grace.

Grace, grace.

What is grace?

It is God's unmerited favor.

It is the riches of Christ given to us through his sacrifice.

It is God giving us what we do not deserve in the absence of giving us what we do deserve.

How many of you have been saved by God's amazing grace?

Now we should, as a Christian, understand this grace, but we ought not to confine it to that moment we placed our faith in Christ.

There is new grace that we need as we progress on our journey to heaven.

And Paul is saying this grace to give, to be generous, ought to freely flow in the life of a believer.

And he says that God is able to make this grace abound in you.

Now he that ministereth, seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food and multiply your seed and increase the fruits of your righteousness.

Now, there's a there's a there's a pronoun there in verse number 10, and if you miss the pronoun, you'll misinterpret the verse.

He that ministereth.

Everybody see that word he?

Now I have a good basic question here.

Who is he?

Who is he?

Well, remember what we just read a moment ago in verse number eight.

Maybe if you're in the habit of marking things in your Bible, you'll circle the word he in verse number 10 and draw a line to God in verse number eight.

Circle it and put a line between them.

Look at it.

Verse 8.

God is able to make all grace abound toward you.

That ye always, having all sufficiency and all things, may abound to every good work.

As it is written, He, that's God, he dispersed abroad, he that hath given to the poor, his righteousness remaineth forever.

Verse 10, he that ministereth seed to the sower.

Now, he that ministers this grace is not the giver.

He that ministers this grace is God Himself.

It is God that worketh in you.

Remember the message from last week?

It is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

As I said last week, I've known Steve for a long, long time.

And last time I had Steve preach for me, he was not married, and he had one great desire and prayer request and passion.

It was on his prayer cards and his website and his Instagram and his Twitter and his Facebook.

God, give me a wife.

That was the desire of his heart.

But the miracle for Steve is not he's a missionary in Kenya.

The miracle is that God's grace so flowed into Steve's heart that he desired to do what God had called him to do.

It is God that ministers seed to the sower and bread to the eater.

This is what God does.

He gives bread and seed.

Now watch carefully.

He gives bread and seed.

God will help you to live.

And he'll provide what you can give.

I want you to get those two thoughts.

God will help you to live, and God will provide what you can give.

It is God that enables us.

My pastor used to say this.

He used to say, I work a job to do the following things.

I work a job to provide for my family and to provide for the work of God.

Where is the work of God?

Oh, it's all around us.

Jesus even said that if you give a drink of cold water in his name, you'll not lose his reward.

Oh, I'm saying to you, the work of God surrounds you today.

And we'll go home and we'll have a nice meal and we'll be surrounded by people that we love and they love us, and there's some comforts in that home.

And God has used us to work and labor, and he's given us the strength to provide for our own and to provide for his work.

And I believe if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these other things of what we shall eat and what we shall drink and wherewithal shall we be clothed.

If we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, God would ensure that you'd not only have something to live by, you'd have something to give to God.

My good friend Scott Cottle used to say, God will give through you what he never intended to give to you.

Have you ever been to the Dead Sea?

How many of you have been to the Dead Sea?

Raise your hand if you've been to the Dead Sea.

What a place.

Lowest point on the face of this planet.

Brie and I were there in 2015 and we were on a preacher's tour and we went out in the Dead Sea, and I've seen pictures and heard stories that you could go out into the Dead Sea and you could float and not sink.

So sure as the world, we go out in the Dead Sea and we're floating and you can't sink.

It's nutrient rich, it has healing property.

I remember having a cut on my hand, and I spent about 30 minutes in the Dead Sea, and I came out.

And it had already scabbed over.

I mean, there's spas, and you can go in the malls, and there's Dead Sea mud that's sold all around the world for its healing purposes.

But you know what you won't find in the Dead Sea?

You won't find anything living.

And would you like to know why?

Because the Dead Sea has hundreds of tributaries that flow into it and no tributaries that flow out.

And can I just meddle for a moment and say this morning, there's a lot of Christians like that.

Hundreds of things that God provides to flow as tributaries in our lives, and we soak them up like sponges, and we are so grateful for all of God's blessings, and we ought to be grateful for God's blessings.

But can I say to you this morning, God doesn't just bless us so that we can sit and tower and just sit back and enjoy all his blessings?

He gives through us what others need for the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Oh, I'm saying to today, He provides, He multiplies.

Paul means that God expands the impacts of our generosity.

That's what God does.

There's policies for giving, there's principles in giving, but I really want you to get to this third point this morning, and that is prayers for the giver.

Now, up to this point in these two chapters, we've only thought about the work of the giver.

And we do well to remember that the greatest giver of all is Jesus Christ.

Chapter 8, verse 9, ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

At this junction, Paul has focused on why they had committed but failed to execute in this offering.

We've discussed whose.

We've discussed the Corinthians and the Macedonians and the Achaeans.

We've talked about Paul and Titus and others, but there's one audience we haven't thought much about, and they are, of course, the saints at Jerusalem.

Paul says in verse 12, the administration, the ministry of this service, this offering, supplieth the want, the needs of the saints, but is abundant by many thanksgivings unto God.

Look at verse 13.

While by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God.

Who are they?

They're the saints at Jerusalem.

They glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel.

They glorify God for your liberal distribution unto them and to all men.

Verse 14, and by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.

I want you to imagine for a moment this morning a gift so great that it caused those who received it to rejoice and to come into a deeper relationship with the giver.

Imagine a partnership so sweet that a gift is given for the benefit of others that caused the recipient to rejoice and to come into partnership with the giver.

There is an indelible connection between those who give and those who receive this offering.

What is this?

It's the basis of the gospel.

Now, mankind was in a horrible situation.

He was lonely, he was poor, he was isolated through the consequences of his sin.

You remember Adam and Eve?

God gave them one commandment, he gave them the parameters of that commandment, he gave them the consequences of breaking that commandment.

Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

They did.

And they were separated, not just from the Garden of Eden, they were separated in a sense from the presence of God.

As by one man sin entered into the world, death by sin, death passed on all men for that.

All have sinned.

But someone intervened.

His name is Jesus.

We read it a moment ago, chapter 8, verse 9.

Jesus Christ intervened.

He came into our lonely, broken world.

He came into human flesh.

He meddled with it.

He fellowshipped with it.

He saw it.

He cried for it.

He was forsaken by it.

He was betrayed by it.

He was stricken by it.

He was wounded.

He was bruised by our sin.

And on a cross 2,000 years ago, the thunderbolts of God's wrath rolled over the shoulders of the Son of God as he tasted death for every man.

Praise God, somebody intervened.

Because he intervened, and because the gift of grace was given.

It caused a group of people to rejoice.

Can we all say amen?

Oh, the redeemed rejoice because we were in such a low estate, Spafford said.

We were in a helpless estate, and he shed his own blood for my soul.

It caused us to rejoice, and because he intervened, and because we rejoiced, we've entered into an eternal relationship with Jesus Christ.

This emancipating gift of God's grace started at all.

This unspeakable gift did not start in the heart of the Corinthians.

Oh, never.

God's work didn't start here at Calvary.

It doesn't start in your heart.

It started in the heart of God.

This is the gospel.

Somebody said God thought it, Jesus bought it, the Holy Spirit wrought it, Satan fought it, and one day I caught it.

Praise God, I'm glad I'm saved today.

And the Jerusalem saints are about to receive a gift.

They were poor, despised, and discouraged, persecuted, but someone intervened.

Paul intervened, Titus cooperated, the believers, churches, caught the vision.

And when this offering is brought to the saints, we know what will happen.

First of all, they will rejoice.

Now notice, notice verse 13 together.

They glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel.

Now, now let's just hang there for a second.

Your professed, the word is your agreement, your subjection, your obedience, your subordination to the gospel of Christ.

Why did he leave us here after he saved us?

How many of you have been saved longer than five years?

Will you raise your hand?

Longer than 10 years, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years, you're still here.

Oh, to dwell beloved with the saints we love, oh, that will be glory.

But to dwell below with some of the saints I know, that's another story.

I shouldn't have said that.

Sixty years.

Why are you still here?

You're here for one reason.

That's to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

It's to bear witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's why we're here.

You profess agreement as you subject yourself to the gospel.

If you've believed in the power of the gospel, wouldn't you want to send it all around the world?

How many of you have been set free by Jesus?

Will you say a hearty amen?

I mean delivered.

Set free from addiction.

Help me.

He's cured your thought life, your flesh life, your attitude, your desires, your passions.

He put your family together.

He helped you raise a godly home.

Aren't we grateful for the gospel of God?

What do you want everybody in the world to hear the gospel of Christ?

I did a little research of the monies given to causes people believe in.

Since from 2016 to 2023,$51 billion has been given to find a cure for cancer.

From 2003 to this present year,$120 billion has been raised to find or give relief to those with AIDS.

The war on drugs, since 1971,$1 trillion has been spent in defeating the plague of drugs in our country.

I'm simply saying people give sacrificially in causes they believe that has power for a cure.

The hopes of a cure.

And that's exactly what we're talking about here.

When we give someone around the world notes that we actually believe the gospel.

When you take a little tract that has Easter information on it and pass it out to someone, they may not say it, but somebody says they believe the gospel.

Robert Ingersoll was a famous atheist.

He went to hear D.

L.

Moody preach.

Why would an atheist go here, D.

L.

Moody preach?

Someone caught Ingersoll at the end of the meeting and they said, Why did you come hear Moody preach?

He said, I didn't come tonight because I believe what Moody was preaching.

I came because I wanted to hear him because I know he believes what he's preaching.

Do you believe the gospel?

And then he says, because of their liberal distribution to the saints, I'm I'm coming to a close.

I think the Methodist church is letting out, and I've got about 10 minutes to let you let you go.

Their liberal distribution.

They gave, he says, these Achaeans, these Macedonians, they they gave of their deep poverty.

May we may there be an equality.

There is no equal giving.

But there could be equal sacrifice as we all participate in the gospel.

They rejoiced.

And then these saints entered into fellowship with one another.

These Corinthians have pulled back.

They've backslidden, haven't they?

That's a word we don't hear very much anymore.

They've withdrawn from God the giver.

And because they've drawn away from God, I want you to get this, Calvary.

Because they've withdrawn from God, you know what happened?

They've disconnected from each other.

When we do God's will, what happens?

We come together.

They retreated into themselves.

Self-mindedness was not the gospel focus here.

You cannot assert the power of the gospel and be preoccupied with self.

As I was thinking about this missions emphasis month, we changed the name to World Impact, and I've struggled to say that for the last three Sundays.

This World Impact Advance.

You know what occurred to me?

It occurred to me that the Calvary Baptist Church has needs too.

How many of you enjoy the opportunity to pay the light bill and the water bill and the insurance bills and operating expenses that fund this ministry?

But watch.

I'm not coming to you passionately for three weeks to talk about our needs.

For a month every year, we emphasize the needs of the world.

We look outside ourselves to a world that God loves, to a world for which Jesus shed his precious blood.

And I believe if you'll seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, he'll meet the needs of this assembly as we cooperate and answer the prayer of those who need the gospel.

Got one more reference, and I want to give it to you very quickly.

Go to Acts chapter 16 very quickly.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

Ever seen those pictures on the internet, how it started and how it's going?

Have you ever seen those contrast pictures?

Sometimes they're good, a lot of times they're negative.

This is how it started.

This is how it ended.

How did this church start?

How do these people even know the power of Jesus?

How is there a church in the city of Corinth?

Well, Paul was on a missionary journey.

In Acts chapter 16, Paul had determined that he would go in an entirely different direction in ministry.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

And the Bible says, as Paul was packing his bags and buying his fare, the Spirit stopped him.

You're not going into Bithynia.

The Bible says in Acts 16, verse 9, a man of Macedonia, as Paul was sleeping, a man of Macedonia prayed that Paul and Silas would bring the gospel to them.

Acts 16:9

Let me read the verse for you.

Acts 16, verse number 9.

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night.

There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and helped us and help us.

Come this way with the gospel.

The Macedonians have the gospel because someone prayed for them that God might send a preacher to them that they may hear about Jesus.

You are saved because someone was praying for you.

How many of you would readily admit, I know, before I trusted Christ, I know someone prayed for my salvation.

Wonderful.

Wonderful.

And now someone's praying for them again.

Saints at Jerusalem are praying for the saints to be fruitful in the grace of giving.

How it started with prayer.

How it's going, they need to be prayed for again.

They've forgotten the magnificent grace of God.

And may God help us to live with generosity and with purpose and with faith that we might reach the world with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

May we pray together.

And as we pray, we're encouraging our church family to take this month and just pray.

This offering that we're talking about is what we call our faith promise.

It's a commitment that we make.

Some make it on a weekly basis, some on a monthly basis, some on a one-time gift basis or a yearly basis.

But this is what we're trusting God to give through us.

As we anticipate God will give through us what He wouldn't give to us.

How many of you'd say, Pastor, I'm praying about what God would have me to do to participate in the fellowship of the gospel around the world.

And when we take that card up next week, just know it's it's been bathed in prayer.

This is what I'm praying about.

God's been working in my heart.

Would you lift your hand?

You say, I've been praying about what God wants me to give.

God bless you.

God bless you.

And I'm praying for all of us that this grace might flourish in our hearts.

Time is short, the laborers are few.

Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest.

He would send forth laborers into his harvest.

He's brought laborers to us, and it's our job to do what we can to assist them and help them fulfill the ministry God has called them to.

Just a moment, we'll stand and sing.

And if God has spoken to your heart in a special way, we invite you to come.

If you've been attending Calvary and you believe God wants you to join in membership with Calvary, we invite you to come.

If you've been saved and never baptized and you want to prepare for that next step of obedience, we invite you to come.

Or maybe you're here today.

And that grace that Jesus showed us when he died for us on the cross, that grace is what God is working in your heart to receive.

Now is the accepted time.

And maybe today is your day of salvation.

We invite you to come.

We'd love to pray with you.

Let's let the Lord have his way in our hearts as we stand together.

Father, may your will be done in our hearts and lives today.

Help us to be obedient.

Help us to be cheerful.

Help us to give, not in order to get something from you.

Help us to give because of what you've given to us in Christ.

So blessing, this invitation is our prayer.

We pray in Jesus' name.