Motives of Grace Giving

Welcome to this week's message from the church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

But here we are.

Here we are, church.

So exciting to see.

Hey, Psalms 115, verse 12.

Psalms 115:12

God has been mindful of us to bless us.

Wow.

Is that not good?

God has been mindful of us.

He will bless us.

He will bless the house of Israel.

He will bless the house of Aaron.

He will bless the house of Danny Levitt.

He will bless the house of Plate Brockton.

He'll bless the house of everyone here.

He'll bless the house of CCW.

Why?

His grace.

He has blessed us with his grace.

Let me show you another one.

One more.

I know it's not up there.

Well, actually, there's two more that's really good.

Psalm 68, 19.

And this was for David.

And I forgot to share it to him, but he's listening.

He had to go to, they've got storm stuff going over.

He had to go to Nashville.

But now look at Psalms.

Throw up Psalm 68, verse 19.

Psalms 68:19

It says, Bless the Lord.

No, not on my soul.

But that's a good one.

Oh my soul.

Blessed be the Lord.

Watch the next phrase.

Who daily?

Woo! Say that with me, church.

Daily.

Daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.

Is that not good?

That's grace.

You're breathing today because of his grace.

You're here today because of his grace.

You're hey, you're sitting in that chair because of his grace.

You're reaching to have a fantastic New Year meal.

Do we do we have black-eyed peas today?

All right.

But hey, you're gonna eat black-eyed peas today because of his grace.

Can I get an amen?

He daily.

You say, well, I don't know if he's daily blessed me.

You got out of bed, didn't you?

Well, most of you did.

Huh?

You blessed, folks.

You're blessed.

Do you know realize I've been going back just doing a lot of studying on five?

Do you realize the$50,000 a year income, you're in 1% of the people in the whole world.

Now I thought it'd been a lot higher than that.

But we're talking about the whole world, the third world countries and all.

Do you understand that?

We Americans are blessed.

We are rich.

Now you understand why most of the world thinks we're rich.

We are.

According to the other parts of the world.

So we ought to get up in the morning and just say, I am rich in the grace of God.

Thank you, Jesus.

I'm starting to do that.

I've been taking it for granted.

Hello?

Don't look at me like that.

You do too.

Did you get up this morning and say, thank you, Jesus, for your grace.

I'm alive.

Amen.

We got to get the right perspective here, folks.

We're so self-confident and self-sufficient and so humanistic in our education and teaching, we think it's all about us.

But it's all about Him.

Amen.

What?

Truth.

And then here was the verse God gave me.

David, if you're listening on your iPad, here's the verse he gave me.

Hey, uh, Benji throw it up.

And these are Old Testament verses, but the principles are the same.

Look at Exodus 23, 25.

Except we're now living under grace.

In other words, God's already provided all this for us.

Amen.

It's not that he's going to, like he told Israel he would do it in the Old Testament.

He's already done it.

He did it 2,000 years ago on that place called Calvary.

This is your standard in too.

As Sylvester was praying.

Watch this.

And ye shall, whoo! Read it out loud.

This is so powerful, you gotta read it out loud.

And ye shall serve the Lord our God.

And he shall bless thy what?

Bread.

He shall bless thy water, and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

Can we give God a clap offering?

Wow.

Woo! That's ours.

You say, Well, I want some.

Well, it's up to you.

Enter into it.

You got it.

If you're saved, now if you're not saved, you got to get saved.

You can't have it if you're not saved.

You don't have it if you're not saved.

But once you get saved, it's there.

He's in you.

The hope of glory.

The hope of what?

Blessing your bread, blessing your water, taking the sickness away.

Is that not good?

I will come on.

That's good, preacher.

I'll come down and start.

I've done it before.

That's good preaching, preacher.

Thank you.

I'm coming.

Here's the definition.

Someone said grace is.

You know what grace is?

Let me give you a simple unmerited favor.

That's the theological definition.

Let me tell you what I what grace is.

You know what?

You know what grace is?

Here's the definition of grace.

Grace is God for you.

You missed it.

Grace is God for you.

Say that with me.

Grace is God for me.

Say it.

Grace is God for me.

That's grace.

God's for you.

And if God be for you, who can be against you?

Nay, in all things we've been made more than conquerors through him that loves us.

Romans 8, 31 and 37.

Man, that's good.

That's what grace is.

Grace is this.

Hey, God is for us.

God commended his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

That's grace.

That's grace for you, Romans 5.8.

That's it.

Number two.

First motive is grace.

Second motive?

Gratitude.

Oh yeah.

Go to 2 Corinthians 9 and look at verse 11, 12, and 15.

Being enriched in everything, verse 11, to all bountifulness which causes through us thanksgiving to God.

You are so abounding.

You're going to see in a minute.

I'm going to give you.

I hope if my papa was here, when I get to this one section where I'm going, well, he'd already be shouting, but he'd probably just run out of here, take a lap.

Because it gets so good.

You can't stand.

I used to say, Papa, he used to sit on the front row and he'd get so excited sometimes.

First Baptist Church at in Sylvester, Georgia, we called it the chosen frozen.

You'd sit on the front row, nobody, you couldn't do anything, say anything.

If you did, you know, you'd get in trouble.

Or the deacons, if you got too excited, they'd ask you to leave.

That's the truth.

But you know what?

20 years later, I got to go back there and preach to God broke out, had 50-something people saved, went for six days of revival, moved to the gym.

But but on Sunday nights, because my granddaddy and grandmama believed the family that prays together and goes to church together stays together.

So we'd go to First Baptist Church on Sunday morning, sit on the front row, then Sunday night we went to Assembly God and sat on the front row.

And Papa would get happy.

And every once in a while he'd just be sitting there, and I'd be sitting next to him.

And he'd just say, Woo! Yes, hallelujah! And he'd just do this.

And come right back and sit down again.

And I finally had enough nerves to ask him.

I said, Bob, what are you doing?

He said, I gotta move, I gotta do something about to explode.

And I used to think he is crazy.

Guess what?

He is.

And I'm just like him the older I get.

Because I can't, I'm about to explode.

The truth is so good and it's so real.

But why?

And see, somebody look at me, he's crazy.

Yes.

Because the more you live in that truth and really live it, not just read about it, not just think about it, but activate it, you're gonna be going, whoa! It's that good.

Amen.

Well, we're too sophisticated.

I got a PhD?

Teach?

Hello.

I did that.

You know why I went on and got my doctorate?

So I could have a spell and you couldn't say anything.

Hello.

From Reformed Theological Seminary, one of the best in the country, too.

I didn't just go to a podunk seminary.

Hello?

You okay out there?

Woo! That's good.

Then look at what he says.

Verse 12, for the ministration of the service not only supplies the won't.

Hey, oh, oh, did you hear that?

Oh, watch.

It supplies not just the needs, but the wants.

Woo! Did you see that?

Only supplieth the wont of the saints, but is in abundance also by many thanksgivings unto God.

And then he ends verse 15.

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

You know what's wrong with most of us?

We don't know what we have.

You don't know.

I don't know what I really have.

You've got the omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God living in you through the third person of the Holy Spirit of God, Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Is that not good?

I'm gonna even get clay shouting here in a minute.

And it's so good.

Oh, it's so good.

And by the way, the grace of God and all He has done for us, our hearts will be filled with gratitude.

Now, watch this.

I put a star to me right here.

Our gratitude will overflow.

See, let me say something.

Our gratitude is not just in us saying thank you.

That's important.

But that's just the front part of it.

But it's in doing it.

Living for Him, giving back to Him in our times and our talents and our treasures.

Man, is that good.

Man, that's it.

That's the motive, and that's what we do.

It's born out of our joy and thanksgiving for what we ourselves have been given.

We will give out of thanksgiving, not out of legal obligation.

And when we give out of gratitude, we won't be trying to figure out how much I gotta give to God.

We'll just give and give and give.

Can I get an Amen?

You won't have to try to figure it out.

You'll be giving abundantly.

Much is required.

So, gratitude.

Three things.

Ready?

A.

Giving brings blessings to those who receive the gift.

Now look at verse 14 in 2 Corinthians 8.

That's good.

Because of my affliction.

Because of his affliction.

Let me see.

But by the equality that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there may be equality.

In other words, hey, giving brings blessing to those who receive gifts.

Ladies and gentlemen, when you give to the church, the church gives to people, we help people, or you give directly to people.

Hey, hey, God uses that to bless them.

Now let me give you this.

Don't miss it.

Luke 6.38, give, Jesus said, give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, shall men give back unto you.

Hey, God uses each of us.

He uses me to bless you and uses you to bless me and uses you to bless him or her.

It's a chain reaction.

And if you ever break that chain, guess what?

Not only do the people that you should be blessing suffer, guess who else suffers?

You.

You miss your blessings.

What does it say?

Give, and it should be given.

You quit giving.

God's not gonna give back to you.

He'd go against his word.

And then you wonder why.

I do.

Why am I having such a hard time?

Hello?

Yeah, but I can't.

No?

You can't afford not to.

That's it.

That's it.

And he tells us over and over to give it.

Hey, look at look at the end of verse 14.

Excuse me.

Go to Philippians 4.

This is awesome.

Look at go to Philippians 4.

Oh.

Verse 14.

And listen, Paul's writing to the end of, at the end of Philippi.

Remember when we went through the book of Philippians, we studied this in detail, but it's worth just reviewing just quickly.

What he's saying is, thanking the church at Philippi for the way they had given to him and the church at Macedonia and how they had given, but he's talking to the church at Philippi and listen to what he says.

Now he says, nowwithstanding, ye have well done that ye did communicate.

In other words, you shared with my affliction.

In other words, you helped me in my times of troubles.

Can I get an amen?

Folks, that's why we have grace giving.

We help people in time of trouble.

And when you do, giving brings blessings, those that are receive that blessing.

Romans 15, 1 and 2.

We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of those that are weak and not to please ourselves.

Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to his edification.

Romans 15, 1 and 2.

And that's good.

That's tough preaching, though, isn't it?

Now it's not too tough if you're receiving.

Hello.

But it's tough if you're supposed to be the giving.

But you don't please don't miss it.

You can't get the receiving till you do the giving.

And then when you do the giving, he is required.

It's not an option.

He is required to bless you.

But he already has.

So really, that's the Old Testament.

I'm giving you the difference.

But he's already blessed you.

But now you're going to enter into sin and actually in action.

That's what I'm talking about.

You go, sister.

She helps me preach.

She and Sylvester both.

Number two, being giving.

Gives blessings to God.

Look at verse 18.

Look at verse 18.

As we go back to 2 Corinthians.

Well, actually.

Yeah, it's verse 18.

And my Bible, I'm just I'm just getting excited.

And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches.

That's not it.

That's right.

Thank you.

Stay in Philippians, preacher.

Thank you, honey.

Look at verse 18.

Look at verse 18 in Philippians 4.

But I have all and abound.

Uh-oh.

Look at here, church.

I am full.

When's the last time you've been full of grace?

I can't remember, but I sure want it.

In 2016, I want to live filled with grace.

That's my goal.

I want to walk in grace.

Oh, we say it, but do we do it?

I want the full.

Paul says that hey, he's in jail.

Remember, he's in jail about to be beheaded.

And he's just, he's having a Holy Ghost spell in jail.

And what's this?

He says, I am full having received of Aphroditus the things which were sent from you.

Now watch, an odor of a sweet smell of sacrifice, acceptable, well pleasing to God.

You want to be a sweet smelling aroma?

I've been having sweet candles, Christmas candles burning all month.

And man, I love that Christmas tree smell.

I walk in the house and I, oh yeah, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas.

How would you like to be that candle going to the nostrils of God Himself?

Because you're living by grace.

And he's looking down and he said, Oh, that's my boy Danny.

Ooh, that's my boy Sylvester.

That's my sister Susan.

I know y'all think I've lost it.

Is that not what it says?

Hello.

Oh, hmm.

That's my church at CCW.

Oh, that's my church.

What a sweet smell.

What an aroma.

You can tell I'm ready to preach.

I've enjoyed Rick, but I don't like sitting on the sideline.

But that was an awesome message.

Now watch.

Watch.

Here we go.

Number third thing.

See.

Giving gives blessings to God.

Giving brings blessings to those that receive the gift.

Now notice the third thing.

Giving brings blessings to the one who gives the gift.

Woo!

Look at verse 17 in Philippians.

At the end of it.

Not because I desire a gift.

Paul says, I didn't desire that help.

Not that he didn't need it.

And he thanked him for it because he did need it.

But notice what his desire was.

Here is Paul still not thinking about himself.

You want to talk about a person walking by grace when even you get blessed, you're thinking about somebody else.

You're thinking about the ones that's blessing you.

How you can bless him.

I had never seen that before.

I had to just say, God help me.

Look what he said.

Now I desire not to give, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.

In other words, he says, I want you, I want this to go to your account.

You're going to be rewarded for this.

Acts 20, 35, it's more blessed to give than it is to receive.

When we give out of a gratitude, what's this?

The recipient is blessed.

What's this?

When we give out of gratitude and grace, the recipient's blessed.

God is blessed, and we are blessed.

Is that not good?

That's it.

That's it.

Now that's living in grace.

That's walking by grace.

Number three.

The third motive is gladness.

We go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 2.

2 Corinthians 8:2

Watch this.

Oh, this is good.

How that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

That verse is so uncomprehensive that it blows everybody's mind.

Here's a church.

They don't have a lot.

Actually, they're poor, but yet they're outgiving all the other churches.

Unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

Right there.

Deep poverty.

But hey, I never understood it.

I understand it now.

My mama and papa used to teach me: you may be, hey, poor in material things, but you can be rich in spiritual things.

Ladies and gentlemen, here's the truth.

Right here in the Word of God.

They were poor in material things, but they were rich in spiritual things.

And how do you know that?

They were filled with joy.

They were abundant joy.

They were running over in joy.

Exuberate in joy.

In fact, when you look at 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 7, look at what it says.

2 Corinthians 9:7

I told you we'd see that.

Every man according as he has purposes in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Let me pause right here and say thank you, many of you.

That 70, almost$70,000 that came in in the month of December did not come just fall out of the sky.

It came from people like you, many of you.

And you purposed in your heart, you chose in your heart to give willfully and hilariously and cheerfully to help God do his work in this community.

And I commend you, and I am, as Paul said, to you as your pastor.

I thank God for you, but not just for the gift of the money here, so that we can carry on God's work, which we do and we will.

But now that is recorded in heaven to your account.

You have invested in eternity.

That's something money can't buy.

That kind of reward.

It's not a material object.

So the word there, the word cheer for giver is a Greek word from which we get our English word hilarious.

All Christians should be joyful.

But Paul is especially concerned here with the link between the joy and giving.

Joy and giving.

Joy is seen most readily in the lives of the Macedonians because they had not been forced to give.

Look at what it says.

They were giving willingly and hilariously by their own choice.

Oh, there is no joy in force-giving, but there is when we give out of an abundance of our heart.

Oh, we give of our time, our talents, our treasures.

Frances Ridley Harvigal, Hovgorl, Gall.

I'm not sure I'm pronouncing that correctly.

Anyway, she wrote the song for some of us older ones.

Take my life and let it be.

Remember that song.

Oh, it was so beautiful.

And which she writes in that song, Take my silver and my gall, not a mite would I withhold.

Take it all.

Number four.

The motive of gain.

The motive of gain.

Many people's first question to themselves, and it's a good question.

It's a legit question.

It's not, and sometimes it's out loud, it can be heard.

What am I going to get out of giving to God?

That's a fair question.

Don't wait now.

I used to say that that's a ridiculous question.

I gotta repent.

That's not a bad question.

Let me ask something.

When you invest, if you do invest in a savings account or a retirement account, what's the first question you ask?

I didn't hear you.

What is my return?

That's a good question.

But we spiritualize, oh, oh, oh, oh, that's you shouldn't be asking God that.

Why not?

If I read my Bible right, there's crowns of rejoicing, there's crowns of life, there's incorruptible crown.

And then I'm also reading Revelation 3.11, we're to fight to hold on to those crowns.

Why?

Because one day Revelations 4.10 says we're gonna cast them at Jesus' feet.

We are gonna get it a reward.

So it's not a bad question.

Well, what am I gonna get if I invest in God's work, in God's kingdom?

That's not a bad question.

Can I answer it?

You're gonna get all of God's grace.

You're gonna be full of grace when you give it all.

100%.

Give it all.

Your time, your talents.

Get involved in all of it.

Giving and proportion the way God's given you.

By the way, that's in your treasures.

That's also in your time and your talent.

Some of y'all could be playing and singing, some of you could be out here helping us visit.

We're gonna start needing help for visitation.

I've tried to keep it just four or five of them, six.

But now we gotta go, we gotta shepherd our people.

So if you're a people's person, now if you're scared to talk, you don't need to be on visitation.

But but but yeah, you can go and pray, that's true.

But if if you can't stop talking, you'd be a good one.

And I know some of you, so I'm coming to see you.

But get involved where you're gifted.

Use it here.

We've got so much, we got so much we're gonna plan, we're gonna do.

Oh, we need help.

We need help.

We want to reach this community.

We've got people here today because of the ice cream crook.

We do, we do.

I always ask new people because they see it in a parade, see it at festival, everywhere we go.

We care.

I mean, hey, you can work the ice cream.

Rick needs people to help work the ice cream crook.

All this stuff he's doing.

He needs help.

I mean, we need help.

So get involved.

The motive of gain.

Let me show you what you gain.

You ready?

Don't you want to know?

Say, I want to know what I gained.

What do I get?

What's my return?

I'm glad you asked.

A.

The abundance of joy.

Look at verse 2.

You've seen it, and I'll say it again.

How that in a great trial of affliction.

By the way, the great joy was in a tough time.

It wasn't in the mountaintop, it was in the valley.

Whoa, can I get an amen?

Wasn't that the mountaintop, it's in the valley.

And look, look, great their joy.

It was an abundance of joy.

Unbelievable joy.

Isn't that good?

These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full, Jesus said in John 15, 11.

Notice the second thing.

Verse 2 again.

The abundance of riches.

Look at verse 2.

In their deep poverty, though yet abounding unto the riches of their liberality.

There's riches.

There's two types of riches.

There's riches materially and there's riches spiritually.

And ladies and gentlemen, they had a little bit, even though they weren't rich in material, they were rich enough to give, but they were rich in spiritual things.

That ought to help you.

Some of you sitting there, well, I don't have a lot to give.

Don't you ever say that?

You got a lot to give because God gave to you.

Can I get an amen?

God loved you, He saved you, you got something to give.

You got a personality, you got talents, you got treasures, you got your testimony, you got a lot to give.

Romans says that you live the whole life for the work of building the church.

Notice the third thing.

The abundance of supply.

Look at 2 Corinthians 9, 6.

Now this will get you excited.

But this I say, he which soweth sparingly, look, shall reap sparingly.

But he which soweth bountifully shall reap boundfully.

Now notice it wasn't the mount, it was their attitude and their grace and their hilarious giving of what they had.

They gave abundantly, hey, of what they had.

It's how God's blessed you.

It's not how much you got, it's how much you give in proportion of what you got.

Did you catch that last part?

That was important.

Remember the wealthy one that gave, and then the widow gave the widow's mind.

She gave really all she had.

And God said, Hey, I'm not even interested in those big old boys, even though they gave most of the money.

He said, That's the lady at woo! She got a good smell.

Woo! That old bunch over there they don't smell.

They smell, but hello.

You with me?

Right.

So we see the abundance of supply.

The abundance there.

My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory through Christ Jesus.

And then in verse 8, all grace, he gives all grace, all sufficiency, all supply in all things.

Everything.

Which brings me to the next one: the abundance of grace.

Verse 8, all grace.

All sufficiency.

All things.

What else is there?

All grace, all sufficiency in all things.

That's all.

All means all.

And then, 2 Corinthians 9.8, we see the abundance of service.

Look at the end of verse 8.

May abound to every good work.

There's your service, there's your talents, there's your working.

It's all there.

And then, 2 Corinthians 9.11 and 12, I've already read them, so I'm not going to read them again.

The abundance of thanksgiving.

There's a great gratitude.

Woo! Generous grace giver.

If you give as God asks you to give, you don't have to worry about your future.

People say, Well, I don't I can't afford to give.

Well, you know what that what I feel like that means?

And I've been there.

Hey, I'm preaching to me too.

You know what you're saying?

You're controlling your situation.

You're controlling it.

Because if God tells you to give it, whether it's your time, whether it's your talents, or whether it's your treasures, all three involved, you can't take one and say, oh, that's what.

No, all of them.

But mainly this is talking about treasures.

I'll go ahead and tell you that.

But here's what he's saying.

When you say, I don't know if I can do that, you're saying you're in control.

You're not walking by, hey, hey, by grace and by faith.

Now you're walking by sight.

Your sight.

Guess what?

You're not going to get very far.

Been there.

My stomach's growling.

I'm hungry.

I know.

It's about time to wrap it up.

I got it.

I got it.

God.

Listen.

Knowing that you have given faithfully and obediently to the Lord, you can go to him.

Watch.

When you know you're walking in grace, you can go to him anticipating his willingness to make all things abound towards you.

That's what I want you to see.

When you're walking in grace, you're doing what God tells you to do.

You're giving it your all.

You are, hey, you have the right to go to heaven as we did this morning with David and say, I've got a problem, I've got a sickness.

I need you to heal me.

Woo! Now do you see the authority?

But you've got to have the foundation to have the authority.

Do you get it?

I'm telling you, trust, trust God, not me, but trust if you grasp this, folks, you think we've seen something.

You haven't seen anything yet.

That building will go up so quick, it'll make your head swim and it'll be filled.

Because we'll be loving people.

All of us will be loving people, meeting people's needs.

Don't you love people?

Loving God and loving people.

I, you know, people think I go to the Y to work out.

I do that because I have to.

I go to the Y to fellowship and socialize and preach Jesus.

Because I got a captivated audience.

Pam and her husband are in there a lot on Fridays.

Ask her.

I'll walk in there.

I'm gonna tell everybody and invite everybody I see.

Be praying for Steve, her husband.

Amen?

That's why.

I want to be around people so I can share Jesus.

I want to share the grace that God's given me.

It doesn't mean, by the way, now he's a vending machine.

Okay?

Dispensing whatever we ask for.

That's not what I said.

But he will cause whatever we need to abound to us, even if it's wisdom instead of money.

Thought I'd throw that in.

I need that sometimes a lot more than I need money.

Ask my wife.

She'll say, are you thinking straight?

That means rethink what I just said.

And I've got some great thinking.

I was talking to David yesterday what God's given me when I meet with the board.

I got some things God's laying on my heart.

I don't do this quickly.

I've been thinking and praying, but I'm excited.

And Susan said, slow down, preacher, slow down.

I can't help it.

Maybe some vocational training.

Maybe some.

I know, I know, but I'm excited.

Don't you want to radically change this community?

Don't you want to train up these kids?

And and and these young men graduating, and all of them don't want to go to college?

They want vocational training?

Christian vocational training?

Wouldn't you like to have some dynamic godly body men and more godly plumbers like Todd?

God, you may have to start teaching some, son.

Hello.

My wife saying, just go back to preaching.

Okay.

Number five.

Number three.

Oh, God.

One minute, Susan saying, Well, honey, do you you not know what you want to do?

And then when I start sharing a big, she says, slow down, slow down, slow down.

I tell you, I only have two speeds.

I'm stopped or wide open.

There is no cruising with me.

I either park and go to sleep.

Or I can't get him floorboarded.

She's lived for 35 years of that.

Y'all, y'all pray for her to have more grace.

Look at her.

Please.

God, she receives.

And then the last one is the motive of God's gift.

The last motive for our giving to God is his gift to us, Jesus Christ.

Can we get an amen?

Here it is, and I'm through.

There's four stages.

There are four stages.

I didn't put this in there because God gave it to me later, after I turned it in.

But that's okay.

It's quick.

Hey, there's four stages in 2 Corinthians 8.9.

Look at that one verse.

Look at 2 Corinthians 8.9.

It's a verse that nobody ever touches, and I skipped it all these years till God gave me this unbelievable truth.

Here it is.

Now watch.

Here it is.

Though he was rich, Jesus Christ was rich beyond human comprehension before he came to earth, before being born in Bethlehem.

Jesus was in the presence of Father in heaven.

Everything heaven was his and on earth was his, and he gave it all up for you and me.

Amen.

Stage 2.

Yet for your sakes he became poor.

Philippians 2, 7 and 8.

Thought it not robbery.

He became a servant.

Form of a servant and became obedient to death of the cross.

Now what do servants have?

Nothing.

Jesus gave up everything to become a servant for our sakes.

He set aside his riches and became poor.

Stage number three.

For your sakes, for Danny Lovett's sake, he became poor.

We had no resources by which we might pay our way to heaven.

Jesus had to come to earth to save us, and he gave up the glory and riches of heaven to do that.

He had nothing to commend us to.

Hey, we had nothing to commend us to God, and the only thing we had in abundance was the guilt of sin.

Stage number four.

That you through his poverty might become rich.

Wow.

Jesus took on our poverty so that we might take on his riches.

We were lifted out of the depths of our poverty and given citizenship in heaven where we became fellow heirs of Christ as sons and daughters of God.

Now that's a good place to say hallelujah.

Psalms 40, and I'm through.

Psalms 40 verses 1 through 4.

Psalms 40:1–4

Here it is.

Here's what grace.

What is the definition of grace?

God is for you.

That's my definition.

God is for you.

He waited, Psalms 40, verse 1 through 4, waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined David's praying out unto me and heard my cry.

Psalms 40:1–4

Now watch verse 2.

He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

And he's put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.

Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord.

That's it, church.

2016, we want a new song.

We want a new song.

And in order to have that new song, you gotta have a new heart.

Amen.

So let me ask you this morning.

Do you have that new heart?

Do you have it?

Boy, I tell you what, the grace of God is so sweet, so powerful, so rich, so so comforting.

Do you know that grace?

He says, for by grace are you safe, not in yourself.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.