The Blessings of Missions Giving | Revelation 5:9-13 | Pastor Andrew Coleman | 03/01/2026

This morning we're going to be looking

at the blessings of missions giving. You

know, it's amazing that God has called

us to be involved with his work. And

it's kind of interesting that we often

talk about praying and giving and going

for the sake of the gospel. Um that

missions would be going on that the

world would be hearing of a savior who

has died. That is the message. The

message is someone has died for you. You

can live. You can live eternally because

someone has died for you. And that is

the gospel message. And we would say

that to you in this room this morning.

There is no hope for our lives. There's

no hope for our salvation. There's no

hope for the millions of sins that

Andrew Coleman has committed without

someone paying for those sins. I can't

pay for them because I am not a holy

sacrifice. You can't pay for them for my

sins. You're not a holy sacrifice.

There's only one that can pay for our

sins. And it was the sacrifice sent by

God. It was Jesus Christ, the son of

God, who died on the cross for our sins

that we may know him. And the our job is

to tell the world that. And um there's

been 2,000 years of the church declaring

the fact that Christ has come and he has

died for our sins. And so we want to

look at this issue of missions. And

here's the interesting part about

missions that it's not only the call for

us to pray for that and it's not only

the call for us to to go. We stood we

had a bunch of people stand up through

the last 60 years of this church. We've

sent many people out as career

missionaries. We've had hundreds of

people go as missionaries from our

church. Um, Marcy and I were two of

those people. We I grew up in this

church. I married Marcy in seminary. She

was from Brazil. And one of the reasons

I married her was because she shared the

same calling that I felt was to go to

people who had never heard. And so we

went and we we had done many trips uh

short-term trips and then those

short-term trips turned into a long-term

trip, a 10-year trip. And we were

overseas for 10 years until she had a

massive heart attack and almost died.

And we had to come home and we had to

come home. And Miss Jean Manning was one

of the people who looked around and

said, "Well, Andy's home from the

mission field. Why didn't he become our

pastor?" So, you can blame it on Jean

Manning. Um, she was one of those people

who had that bright idea. Um, it had

never occurred to me to be the pastor of

my home church. And I'll guarantee you

until that happened, it had never

occurred to anybody else either.

Guarantee. Especially when I was in high

school. I'll guarantee you it didn't

occur to anybody. But God and his

providence, 25 years later, here I

stand. And we've been here 15 years. And

our church has been a mission-minded

church since the beginning. And I'm so

thankful for that. Um, I want us to look

deeply at something this morning. And I

pray that every person in this room will

hear from God as we read um from his

word in Philippians chapter 4. But

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

notice here with me, the blessings of

missions giving. That's the title of

this, the blessings of missions giving.

And um, let's just kind of start off

with a statement. This is on the screen.

This is not on your outline. Uh look at

this first statement here. The letter to

the Philippians was written by the

Apostle Paul to the church at Philippi.

Okay. So, those of you who are new to

us, maybe you've never really studied

the Bible, nobody's encouraged you to

open the Bible and read it. I just want

to say this that there's a letter called

Philippians and it's it's very short um

just a few chapters long but it's a very

important letter. It's one of the gems.

It's one of the favorite letters in fact

of the New Testament and it was written

by the Apostle Paul. um he was first

called Saul when he was persecuting the

church and then the Lord got a hold of

his life and converted him to faith in

Jesus and he went from persecuting the

church to proclaiming and planting

churches and so that's who he was. So

let's look at this next statement here.

And this is before we read the passage,

I want us to look at the background of

it so you understand it a little bit

more. Look at this. Paul was a scholar.

Remember he was a Pharisee. Listen to

this. Trained in the school of Galial.

That means he was a very intelligent

scholar um as a Jewish Pharisee. Trained

in the highest of the schools um in

Jerusalem. He was a scholar. He became a

pastor. He was a theologian as a result

of that. But we see in the long course

of his whole life, he was mainly fill it

in a missionary. He was mainly a

missionary. And um I want us to remember

a little bit about the ancient world. If

you're new to studying the Bible, this

map will help you out and help you

understand a little bit. First of all,

this is Africa down here. Here's the

Middle East. All the trouble is right

over here this morning um with Iran and

uh everything going on over here and in

the Gulf. But here we see Jerusalem.

Here's the Mediterranean Sea. What is

that right there? What what country is

that?

>> That's right. There's Italy and there's

what? What's that?

>> Italy and Sicily got in a fight. Italy

kicked Sicily out of sight. You remember

that? That's how you know Italy is the

boot. Sicily is the island here. Okay.

So Rome, center of the world when this

was written. This was the New York City

of the world right here. Rome was it.

This is where the emperor for the for

the uh whole empire, Roman Empire. If

you ever seen gladiator and all of that,

that's that the picture of Roman period.

This was the New Testament era. Well,

Jesus comes. He's born in a town outside

of Bethlehem. He grows up there.

Jerusalem is the center where Abraham

had come to sacrifice Isaac. This was

the center of faith. God chose to touch

down and use that. Eventually to 1500,

2,000 years later, the Messiah finally

comes. That's Jesus. He dies on a on a

cross is is sacrificed on a cross just

outside of Jerusalem. The disciples and

all of their cohorts lived right in this

area. That little blue spot right there

is the Sea of Galilee, north of

Jerusalem. Everything in the New

Testament happened right here in the

Gospels. In the Gospels. And then the

the gospel starts to go out and across

and it goes across the North Africa and

it goes across that. Marcy and I used to

live right here in Algeria when we were

missionaries. So here we see the gospels

going out. Now I want you look at the

next slide. This helps you understand.

Those are Paul's missionary journeys. It

was amazing. Paul traveled over 15,000

miles as he was a missionary. He

traveled 8,000 miles on foot. That means

he walked and walked and walked. Listen

to this. He traveled if 20 miles a day.

That means just from the record of the

New Testament, from the book of Acts and

from the letters, we see that Paul,

listen to this, he walked 435 days. Now,

not all at once, but over the course of

his life, he walked 435 days. He he um

he went through all kinds of troubles

and hardship. Listen to this. I'm going

to read this statement. And as you look

at that map, you just kind of listen to

these words. After his conversion, Paul

served his Messiah for more than 30

years by faithfully preaching salvation

in Christ. He was making disciples and

planting churches everywhere he went. At

first, he was doubted and feared and

avoided by Christians. Why was he

doubted

and feared and avoided by Christians?

>> Because he had spent years persecuting

them. He would round them up and take

them to prison. He stood there and held

the coats while Steven, the first

martyr, was stoned to death for

converting to Christ. So Christians were

afraid of him at first, but eventually

that that gave way to realizing, "No,

it's true. He's been changed."

At times he had Christians, Jews, and

Romans attacking him all at once.

As the decades went by, he would be

whipped, beaten, jailed, tried,

convicted, shipwrecked, snakebit,

stoned, left for dead, run out of town

after town, and abandoned by friends

many times.

He walked thousands of miles in the

heat, and he slept in the cold. He was

often hungry and always in pain. He

spent years of his life in various

prisons until Neero finally beheaded him

as a treasonous Roman citizen.

And yet at the end of his life, Paul

would write this little letter that

mentions

joy

16 times.

And he wrote it from prison. Amazingly

here is not found bitterness, anger,

despair, disillusionment or resentment.

We only see a humility, a gratitude and

an attitude that transcends the troubles

of life through the joy of having

Christ. This is amazing. So this is Paul

traveling all across the world. And

notice this next slide here. This one,

he's a missionary and the first church

that he planted in Europe was Philippi,

the church at Philippi.

And uh look at this. He had a wonderful

experience with them there. The first

person that he ever led to Christ in

Europe was a woman named Lydia. And she

would prove to be a friend of he and all

of his co-workers for a long time. They

supported the church at Philippi

supported his missionary journeys for

years after he left. When he writes this

letter, he's now in prison in Rome. But

they are not ashamed of him. As we'll

read, they continued to send him. Notice

the two things that they sent him. What

are the two things that they sent him?

Financial support and what's the other

one?

Workers. Okay, that was very weak. Look

at the screen. What are the two things

that they sent him? Financial support

and workers.

My friends,

financial support by itself does not win

people to Jesus.

It takes people

to share the gospel with people. And so

the Apostle Paul was calling for help

very often. And what did they do? They

sent help. Sheridan Hills, the

missionaries that we support, they need

financial support. And listen, what else

do they need? They need help. They need

workers. And so, we see that the

Philippian church did that. Notice this,

the letter to the Philippians, it

contains many loved passages from the

Bible. I mean, just a couple of them are

um listen to this passage. You've heard

this. I can do all things through Christ

who strengthens me. that comes from

Philippians. Um we we see numerous other

places I have loved you with a great

affection that in Philippians chapter 1

Philippians 1 · chapter mention

we see that we see over and over rejoice

in the Lord always and again I say

rejoice let your forebearing spirit be

made known to everyone the Lord is at

hand. Listen to this. In Philippians, it

says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in

everything by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving, let your requests be

made known to God. And the peace of God

which surpasses all human comprehension,

it will guard your hearts and your minds

in Christ Jesus." Those are beloved

verses. There's many beloved verses from

this little letter written in a jail. It

is often called the letter of

encouragement

written from a jail cell. Listen, look

at this. They had much persecution. The

Philippian church had much persecution

and economic hardship. So they were not

in a rich area. There were people around

them that were rich, but the church

itself was not. And there was

persecution. They were really, really

chastised for being Christians. And yet,

look at the next one. They were

passionate about missions giving. They

were passionate about missions giving.

You say, "How in the world do you know

that, Pastor Andrew?" Well, let me show

you how I know that. Look at the next

part here. The Philippian church was a

fill it in. Missiongiving church. They

gave financially for missions. They

supported missions in Corenth. That was

a godless city and yet there was a

church there and they planted a church

there. They sent people to there and

they sent money so that it could be a

church. They supported missions in

Thessalonica

and they supported missions in Rome. So

we we see throughout um the book of Acts

and we see in these letters evidence of

that. You can go and look those things

up. Well, let's read our passage.

Philippians chapter 4. So, this is the

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

very end of that little letter. This is

the end of it. And I want you to see how

he ends the letter of encouragement.

Um, so flip. Now, you're turning over

your page,

but the scripture that we're about to

read is on the front page in the box.

So, you need the front page. You know,

the screen is fine, but the the page is

better. Okay,

go to Philippians 4:14 on the front

Philippians 4:14

page. Look what it says.

Paul writes, "Yet it was kind of you to

share my what?

>> My trouble." H

and you Philippians, you yourselves know

that in the beginning of the gospel when

I left Macedonia, now that's Greece,

no church entered into partnership with

me in giving and receiving except you

only. Hm.

Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help

for my needs once and again.

Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the

fruit that increases to your credit.

Verse 18, I have received full payment

and more. I am well supplied, having

received from Apapraditis the gifts you

sent. So they would have sent the gifts

with a guy that was trustable. So and

his name was Apaproditis. He went to and

took the gifts to them and then he got

sick. He got sick while he was there and

he nearly died. And so Paul eventually

was able to send him back home to

Philipp to Philippi. And he said, "Man,

he's alive. Praise God. Thank you."

Verse, look at verse 18. I have received

full payment and more. I am well

supplied, having received from

Apaproditis the gifts that you sent, a

fragrant offering, a sacrifice

acceptable and pleasing to God. Verse

19, and my God will supply every need of

yours according to his riches and glory

in Christ Jesus.

Verse 20, there's a doxology here. To

our God and father be glory forever and

ever. Amen. It's a praise statement.

That's what a doxology is. It's a

statement of praise. And he's he's

saying that because of what they have

done. So it's like he's saying, "You did

this for me. Praise the Lord." Look at

verse 21. He ends his letter with this.

Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. Now

remember, saints are anyone who has been

saved by Christ. It's not a statue in

Rome. It's not people who have done

certain things contrary to what some

denominations teach. That's not

biblical. The Bible calls anyone who has

been forgiven of their sins through

faith in Jesus Christ a saint. That

means he has made them holy. It's

amazing. This is the gospel. Greet every

Christian, every saint in Christ Jesus.

The brothers who are with me greet you.

So he had Christians there with him in

prison. All the saints greet you,

especially those of Caesar's household.

We'll look at that in a minute. Verse

23. Read it out loud together with you

with me. These are the last words of the

book of Philippians. Read it out loud.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be

with your spirit. Amen.

So, let's look and see from this this

box, from this passage, the blessings

that come. And for those of you who are

new to us, let me explain to you what we

do. We read a main text like we just did

and then we go see what it says and we

our main points from the sermon come

from that. So, we point out where it

was. So, we're going to see some verses

that come from that. So

what is this that you see the blessings

of missions giving? What are the

blessings of missions giving? What are

the blessings of mission given missions

giving for the Philippian church 2,000

years ago? And what are the blessings

for the for missions giving for Sheran

Hills and for you can put your name in

there. What what are the blessings that

we experience? I want us to see it from

this text. Number one, missions giving

blesses the missionary. Missionsgiving

blesses the missionary. You say, "Well,

that that should be obvious." Look at

verse 10. He says, "I rejoiced in the

Lord greatly that now at length you have

revived your concern for me. You were

indeed concerned for me, but you had no

opportunity." So that's back in verse

10. He's saying, "I I've I knew that you

were concerned for me. You had no

opportunity. there was maybe no way to

get it to us, but but you were concerned

and you eventually acted on that and

that he rejoiced in that. It was a

blessing to him. Look at verse 10 or

excuse me, verse 14. Yet it was kind of

you to share in my trouble. That's where

we started just a minute ago in our

text. He's saying it was kind of you. He

was blessed by their kindness to share

in his trouble. How did they share in

his trouble? They were concerned for him

and they sent money to help with some of

the troubles that were there. It's very

very strange. If you were a Roman

citizen and held under house arrest,

there would be sometimes um you would be

held um in a house and the Roman

government didn't pay for that house.

You still had to rent the house. You

still had to do other things. You would

be held um in in captivity in that way.

Um, sometimes you would be um in a

prison and you even had to pay a prison

debt and if you didn't have money to do

that, you didn't eat. Some would starve

to death or become very very sickly

because they couldn't be given enough.

But um people could give so that your

trouble would be less

in that we that's not how we do prison

in America. Uh some of you have lived in

countries where they do do prison that

way. If the family members don't really

bring food, if the family members don't

bring medicine, the person in prison

will die. Well, that's similar to this.

It was kind of you to share in my

trouble.

And then verse 18, and you'd have to

look at either the front sheet or look

at the screen if they have that, but

look at verse 18. He says, "I have

received full payment and more. I'm well

supplies ha supplied having received

from Apaproditis the gifts you sent a

fragrant offering sacrifice acceptable

and pleasing to God. So who is first

blessed in this?

The missionary.

Now this is amazing.

Look at my bullet points that are right

here underneath this. When you give to

missions, you step into

the trench with the missionary.

Some of you are young. You're not sure

what we mean by a trench.

On a battlefield, the way you are not

killed instantly by a flying bullet is

that somebody digs a trench and you're

able to hide down in the trench. So the

bullets are flying over your head.

When a bomb goes off nearby, unless it

lands right on you in your trench, the

ground uh protects you from the flying

shrapnel and the explosion or the

whizzing bullets. So the trenches are

where the battles are fought.

In World War I, it was the the battle of

trenches. Horrible, horrible war.

Even right now in Ukraine, there's

trenches all over the country that have

been dug out where they fight one

another from those trenches. It's called

being in the trenches. When you join

someone in your trouble, there's this

phrase of saying you join into the

trench. You join into the battle with

them.

And so I use this language here. When

you give to missions, you step into the

trench with the missionaries.

You're you're with them in their

trouble. Your gift may never preach a

sermon, but it strengthens the one who

does.

It supports the one who does.

You see, missions giving is how a church

refuses to abandon

those on the front lines.

You know, it's something when people go,

"Oh, yeah, we'll pray for you."

And that's all.

There's no s. And then the question is,

"Do you really?"

You know, when we say we pray for

someone and we don't, do you know what

that's called?

It's called a lie.

We need to be careful about that.

If we say we pray for someone, we ought

to really pray for them.

And sometimes the safest thing to do is

to stop right then and pray for them.

We got a couple of guys in our church.

We'll talk about something and they're

quick to say, you know, let's pray about

that. And they're they're not showing

off. They're not trying to be super

spiritual. They're just trying to be

faithful.

Don't show off with that. Jesus really

came down hard on that. But when we

genuinely enter into prayer for one

another, God is blessed by that. He's

honored even as we'll see. Number one,

let's read it out loud. Number one is

what? Missions giving blesses the

missionary. That was very weak. Number

one, let's read it. Missions giving

blesses the missionary. Number two,

missions giving blesses the giver.

Number two, missions bless giving

blesses the giver. Look what he says

here in verse 19. And my God shall

supply every need of yours according to

his riches and glory. You have given to

me. And here's what he knows. I know

that God is going to take care of your

needs.

In fact, I've also included here Acts

Acts 20:35

20:35. Paul too is speaking, but he's

not speaking to the Philippians. He's

speaking to the elders at the church at

Ephesus. And look what it says here.

Read it out loud together with me. What

does Paul say there as he speaks to the

elders at Ephesus. Let's read it out

loud. Remember the words of the Lord

Jesus? How he himself said, "It is more

blessed to give than to receive." Jesus

said that. So when we say number two is

missions giving blesses the giver.

That's really true.

We are blessed when we give.

To be sure we're not talking about

prosperity gospel. Prosperity gospel

says, "Oh, you give and God will give to

you." And the p gospel preacher says,

"Oh, you give to me and God will give to

you." And that's a real popular notion

in this day and time. um false gospel,

false idea. We're not talking about

prosperity gospel. We're talking about

basic things that are very very true in

scripture. You see, we need to remember

this. God is no man's debtor.

God is no man's debtor. You know what

that means?

He doesn't owe anyone

anything.

He doesn't owe anyone

anything.

But here's what we see. When his people

invest in his mission, he promises not

luxury

but sufficiency.

He does not promise indulgence, but he

does promise provision.

And he does not promise earthly riches,

but he promises riches in glory in

Christ Jesus. That's what it says in

verse 19. Riches in glory in Christ

Jesus. In fact, up there underneath that

uh underneath number two where there are

verses, and my God shall supply all your

needs according to his riches in glory

in Christ Jesus. Underline that. Riches

and glory in Christ Jesus. You know what

that means? That means things that go

way beyond money

because money is not the true thing.

That's not the ultimate thing that you

need. I know some of you believe that.

You believe that money will solve

everything. No,

there's a lot of things money won't

solve. Money won't solve cancer in

itself. I mean, I know you can get

medical care, but there's some cancers

no money, no amount of money can solve.

I know that there's anxiety. There's a

lot of people that are just really

anxious and they have lots of money.

Money won't solve anxiety. I mean, the

Xanax bill for billionaires is just as

big as the Xanax bill for everybody

else.

My friends, there are riches in Christ.

Being forgiven of our sin, being given

the hope of heaven, being given real,

real, genuine relationships,

that is what Christ came for. And there

are riches that go beyond what money can

ever buy.

Notice this with me. The third bullet

point there. The safest place to put

your resources is in to to put your

resources is in the hands of a

missionary God.

This is a God who loves missions. Jesus

said, "I have come to seek and to save

the lost." That was his mission.

Jesus was the first missionary. He came

to die on the cross so that we might go

free. That's a mission. He came to

rescue us from hell. That's a mission.

And this missionary God is the one that

when you give, you're giving to a

missionary God who knows all things.

Look at this. You never impoverish

yourself by giving to what fills the

heart of God. You see, he knows how to

care for your needs and reward your

sacrifice. And that is not prosperity

gospel. That's his promises.

He knows how to care for your needs. And

that's what the Apostle Paul is saying.

And my God will supply every need of

yours according to his riches in glory

in Christ Jesus. This is the the great

the missionary, excuse me, missions

giving blesses the giver. Well, there's

the third one. Missions giving blesses

those who are without Christ. Those

without Christ. Fill that in. Those

without Christ.

In verse 17, we see it. In verse 21 and

22, we see it. In verse 17, it says,

"Not that I seek the gift,

but I seek the fruit."

Right below the fruit on your outline

outline right there. those without

Christ.

That's what he's talking about. The

fruit is those who come to faith in

Christ. The fruit is those who believe

upon Christ. That's what he's seeking.

He doesn't want the gift for himself. He

wants to be able to continue doing the

work. And this is a fruit that increases

to your credit. He's saying God sees

this.

God recognizes your involvement with

what's going on. Look at verse 21-22.

Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The

brothers who are with me greet you.

Verse 22, look what it says. All the

saints greet you, especially those of

Caesar's household. Now, who is holding

him in prison?

Caesar. Is Caesar a good little

Christian? No. I mean, eventually it's

Nero. and Nero beheads Paul. So Caesar's

house, Caesar's himself is extreme

ungodliness, wickedness, evil. But

Caesar has all these people in his

household that take care of him. There's

servants, there's guards, there's cooks,

there's whatever, child care, there's

tutors and everything else. Just like

any world leader has a whole entourage

of people around him. What is hysterical

here is that the Apostle Paul is giving

us a little hint to what's going on in

Rome. While Rome is persecuting

Christians, the people in Caesar's own

household are becoming Christians.

Isn't that hilarious?

>> Please say yes.

>> All right, that's cool.

And the Apostle Paul gives them a little

hint.

And Paul's linked into the whole thing,

probably being held very close to Caesar

himself.

And so he puts in here, "And all the

saints who greet you, especially those

of Caesar's household, it's kind of like

he's saying, I'm cool with this. The

Lord knows what's going on. He's the one

who judges all things. I I'm cool. He

He's He's working even in the one who is

against us in all of this." This is

amazing. Isn't the Bible amazing? I

think the Bible is so amazing. You see,

the Philippians, the people that he's

writing to, they've gave coins. They

gave silver coins in Macedonia, also

known as Greece. He they gave coins in

Macedonia. And pagans were becoming

Christians in Caesar's palace.

Most Philippians probably never saw

Rome.

But heaven did.

Heaven saw Rome. And heaven was using

the Philippians sacrifice and their

gifts

to support those who were sharing the

gospel

in that place. You see, missions giving

turns earthly dollars into eternal

souls.

it. God takes our sacrifice, your

sacrifice,

and translates that

into people coming to faith in Christ.

It's just kind of amazing. And this is

one way that the person who never

becomes a missionary can still be very

involved, listen, with the missionary

task

because they support. We see this in the

Old Testament and we see this in the New

Testament. This is why God's people

should give sacrific sacrificially. So

it's not just in their own life. And and

this is this is one of the areas where

you really see where somebody's heart

is. That's what Jesus said. Jesus said

what you do with your money reveals

where your heart is.

There are some people in this church

that don't give anything.

They'll sit there in a sermon like this

and they'll say, "Amen. You preach it,

Pastor Andrew."

And you don't give anything.

You should be ashamed of yourself

because God has called you to trust him

with your money.

And I have a guest here for the very

first time today and she and her

children are having to hear me talk

about money a little bit and that's

okay. I would be a bad pastor if I

didn't tell you the truth.

I would be a bad pastor.

What God calls us to do is to be

faithful with everything in our life,

including our provision and our money.

God calls me and Marcy to do that and

God calls you to do that. And if you

have the attitude, well, I I'm in too

much trouble. I've got too much

financial. I've got too much debt. I I

do that. I don't make enough money. If I

made more money, I'd give. But pastor, I

can't. My friends, that is not at all

what we see in the Bible. The Bible says

you take from what God has given you to

live, and you give a portion of that

back to him for the sake of the gospel.

And here's the deal. It's trusting him

with your with your income. It's

trusting him with your expenses. And and

Malachi 3:10 says, "Test the Lord in

Malachi 3:10

this and see if he will not take care of

all of your needs." And that's really

what we see the Apostle Paul say here. I

know that my God will supply all of your

needs according to his riches and glory.

And so if you need to be rebuked on that

this morning, I pray that my words

through the power of the Holy Spirit

rebukes you if you do not give. If you

do not give to the regular ongoing

ministry of this church that feeds you

and if you do not give to missions,

you should. Amen.

>> I hope all of you who said amen do that.

Okay. Uh I don't know how to be more

clear. Um, so notice this with me. Um,

number three,

we've said those who are without Christ

are greatly in need of hearing the

gospel. And I I want you to imagine this

that one day you're in heaven

and someone walks up to you and says,

"Hey, you don't know me.

But you gave.

And because you gave, I heard.

You see, God knows. It says here, he

knows. It's to your credit. He knows

what you give and he knows how he's

going to use it. But before you turn the

page too much, just kind of look at that

in the screen.

God

can cause what you give

to be used to help people come to faith

>> in Christ. You see, we have missionaries

that need diesel fuel to put in their

Land Rover to drive to the next village.

And if they don't have the diesel fuel

to put in, I I remember when I was a

mission leader and we would be going

through all of the budget with the IMB

and we would say, "Okay, uh, we've only

got this much. Well, they've requested

this much for this many trips.

Okay, but we don't have enough. We don't

have what he's asking for. And so we're

just going to tell Bill Kerr, you can

only do 20 trips. You can't do 30 trips.

Sorry.

because we don't have the fuel. We don't

have the money to buy the fuel.

Our giving should not limit what

missionaries do.

Or should I say our lack of giving

should not limit what missionaries do.

We should give so that people can hear

the gospel. Amen. Last page. We're going

to go very fast here. Number four,

missions giving blesses God. Missions

giving blesses God. I have, look what he

says, I have received full payment and

more. I am well supplied, having

received from Apaproditis the gifts you

sent, a fragrant offering. Read it out

loud together. A sacrifice acceptable

and pleasing to God. You see what

happens here? Your giving blesses God.

When you give to missions, you're not

merely funding a trip. You're offering

worship.

You're saying, "Lord, I trust you and I

value what you value."

God receives it as a fragrant offering.

You can go this afternoon right out

there to the side of Leviticus 1 3-9.

Homework. There's homework right there.

Homework should be review the whole

notes, but then also go look up

Leviticus. It's a fragrant offering

pleasing to God.

Look at this. Missions giving rises

beyond budgets and becomes doxology.

What is doxology? Worship.

It becomes worship.

It's money turned into worship. That's

what it does.

That you're not instead of worshiping

money, you're worshiping God with your

money. That's really cool

because the world very often worships

money and sometimes Christians worship

money too.

The highest blessing of missions giving

is this. God is pleased.

God is pleased when we give.

Okay, let's be real clear. Ephesians or

Philippians chapter 4. Here's the

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

summary recap. Let's read it out loud

together.

Missionsgiving blesses the missionary.

Missionsgiving blesses the giver.

Missionsgiving blesses those without

Christ. Missionsgiving blesses our

missionary God. Let me remind you our

missionary God, he came on a mission. He

laid down his life and he calls us to go

on with that mission. So our mission

Sunday picnic and auction is not mere

fundraising but rather it is fellowship

and partnership in the gospel and that's

what the apostle Paul called it

partnership with them this is worship

when we give this is eternal fill it

investment

that we're investing in something that's

not temporal but eternal

and the Philippian church was not

wealthy. Let's just remember where this

is all going. But they were persecuted

and they were pressured. They lived

under that.

But notice that they were passionate

about sending the gospel forward. Isn't

that cool? So, they didn't give from all

their abundance.

They gave even from their struggle.

But they were faithful to give. You

know, some churches didn't give. We read

that some churches didn't give. He said,

"You were the only church that supported

me in Thessalonica. You were the only

one.

What about us?"

What will be said of Sheridan Hills?

May it be said that Sheridan Hills

Baptist Church is a missionsgiving

church.

Amen.

>> Amen.

I hope and pray that you will be part of

that.

Would you stand to your feet with me in

prayer?

>> Lord, thank you for Philippians. Thank

you for this little letter that speaks

so clearly to our lives.

Lord, I thank you that

you let us see what was going on with

the Apostle Paul and how he did what he

did. How he bought those ship tickets to

sail from place to place. How he paid

for hotels

or food.

Lord, I think about the same things for

us

this morning. We have missionaries all

over the world that need our support.

And they not only need money, but they

need help. They need people to come join

them.

Some to come join them permanently

career. Some that need to resign from

their jobs at Sheran Hills

and our church family and and go.

Lord, I pray that

whether young or old in this room, that

we would be willing to obey you,

that we would go when your Holy Spirit

calls

when you put it on our heart to reach

the lost.

Lord, that we would obey.

Oh, the comforts of America

when there's some who have never heard

of Jesus.

Oh Lord, I pray

that you would raise up laborers for the

harvest for the wheel the fields are

white.

Lord, I pray that we would be able to

send people from our church on trips to

encourage missionaries, to encourage

their children like we did in Athens

recently,

to encourage other pastors like we did

in Colombia just last week,

Lord, like we're going to do in Munich,

cities of great lossness that need

someone to come up and say, "Have you

thought about God?"

Lord, I pray that we would be a generous

people,

that we would be a mission-minded

people,

and that you would bless these efforts

even today. In the wonderful name of

Jesus, we pray. Amen. Two.