1 Cor 16:1-4 | September 6, 2026 | Will Rutt

Create in meeting.

So God, your grace is my sleep.

Create in me.

This broken life is my love for me.

Restore to my heart, your joy.

My shame has left me broken.

God help me say that.

So God's got a lot of people.

Good morning, church.

Happy Labor Day weekend.

Would you stand to your feet and make your way to a seat?

We're gonna sing how great thou art together this morning.

Oh Lord my God.

Oh Lord my God.

When I get awesome, the world's life.

It saves my soul.

It saves my soul.

I sick got to me.

I'll break thou I'll break thou art when I think that God is not everything, scared to die.

I'll break the heart.

I'll break thought I'll break our heart when Christ shall come.

When Christ shall come with shall of my club, we shall and take me home.

Then I shall come and I'll come and break down six my sole.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.

He may be seated, and uh as the team to Wales comes up, and I'd like them to assemble right here in the middle, don't be shy, uh, I'm reminded this morning about that hymn that it is sung worldwide and that our God is the God of the whole world.

I thought about the Russians and I was singing it, uh, moiduch kaspod kaktivelyik, kaktivelik.

Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee, how great thou art.

So he is the God of the whole world.

So thanks be to God.

And as that team comes up, just a couple quick announcements.

Uh grab a bulletin, everything is there.

Uh, but uh a few things to highlight.

What you know, I hope you know by now that no one gives to a church.

We all give to God.

And so if you have offerings that you bring to God as part of our worship, they uh go in the boxes here.

And this church, the church at Sandhurst, the 501c3, does not receive from donors, it receives from God.

And we imagine those envelopes zipping up to heaven.

God receives them, marks them, sends them back to the box.

You give to God, we receive from God, and this is how he does it.

So for those who give, uh, you can give online in the boxes and so forth.

Also, baptism is coming up.

Uh, we will have communion here in this service momentarily.

The other sacrament we practice is baptism, and it is on Fallback Sunday, November 1st.

And if you'd like to be baptized or consider baptism, uh give us a call or uh shoot us an email, hello at Sanders.net.

And uh by the way, if you've been uh a Christian many years, if you are a Christian at all and have not been baptized, whether you've been a Christian today or uh 50 years, this is your next step.

Caleb Allen reminded me that he was on staff at the Church of Sanders for 18 months before he was baptized.

Uh and so uh he realized, okay, I'm gonna make this connection, I'm gonna be baptized.

And so that is your next step if you are a believer November 1st and coming up.

Uh the team is heading out to Wales this week.

Tim, uh, tell us about the team, why you're going, what the mission is.

Testing, testing.

How about now?

Can everybody hear me okay?

So my name is Tim Bachelman.

For those of you who have not had the opportunity to meet me yet, uh I'm an elder here at the church, but I'm also a part of this fantastic team.

But as I'm looking at it, it's only 60% of the team.

Uh so we're missing uh four people um Bill Bessinger, Mary Leslie Messinger, um Joan and Fulton Urban, uh, none of which are going to be here today.

So um I'm here representing the team, and I'm gonna tell you a little bit about OAM and why we're going.

I've got a couple minutes, only a couple minutes, so I'll be brief.

One of the reasons I wanted to take a minute to talk about OAM is because when I go around the community and I ask people, um, what do you know about OM shift?

You know what I get oftentimes?

I get this.

Yeah, books and bows are really right.

And that's not necessarily untrue, but it's a very uh limited view of what OM ships is.

So I want to take just thirty seconds and tell you guys normally up here doing this, oh we're gonna be here today.

Oh, wait, what is OM ships?

We have these are big ships and we have five hundred crew members.

These five hundred crew members almost all of them are supported missionaries.

And these are supported missionaries come from.

It's really amazing.

So what do these ships do with these sixty-nine uh different countries represented, right?

Oh my ships is called the largest floating bookshop in the world.

And you think, well, Tim, that's why a floating bookshop, right?

Well, not everybody lives in the United States and pick up their phone, I can stand here and order a book right now, and it'll be on my doorstep when I get home, right?

That does not happen around the world.

Most people in the world do not have access to good quality literature.

So what does OM ships do?

They take these ships around, they pull into port, and because these people don't have access to books, thousands, literally thousands of people every day come to get on this ship.

And OM has a little uh uh different motive.

They want people to have access to these books, a lot of them Christian literature, some of it secular, but as they route them out through the cashier, once they leave there, there's crew members waiting for them, and they walk them through this maze uh uh of paintings, and it tells the uh prodigal son a story.

So a crew member walks them through this parable and they hear the gospel.

And then once we finish with the maze of the prodigal son, they come out and they're dumped into our cafe and they get coffee, ice cream, popcorn, and guess what?

More crew members waiting for them to tell them one-on-one about God, about the gospel, and pray for them if that's something they would like.

And then thirdly, before we let them leave, we're gonna give them a free tract of the Gospel of John.

So they're really hearing the word when they come on the ship and thinking they're coming to get good quality literature.

That's that's the intent, high level of what OM ships does.

One more thing on the history.

Fifty years OM's had a ship doing this work.

And in those 50 years, they went to 150 different countries and ports in these countries.

A lot of these countries have been visited on more than one occasion over that 50-year time span.

And 45 million people have come across the planet.

45 million people in the last 50 years hearing the gospel.

So that's what OMG is all about.

And you may think that's pretty impactful, 45 million people.

Well, I would say yes and no.

Yes, and 45 million people is a lot of people.

But when you think about it, 40% of the world has never heard the gospel of Christ.

3 million people.

And the way the math works, there's 60,000 people added to that list every day.

60,000 yesterday, 120 today, 180,000 tomorrow.

45 million is a lot, but it's really a drop in the bucket.

So why are we going?

Several reasons.

I think Bob and Lori, you know, they they're they're looking for opportunities to where prime timers can come along beside uh the staff and crew and the people that we minister to on OM ships.

That's what they're doing.

I think we have other people that are looking at possibly uh other ways that they can support OM.

And we have people that are looking to maybe financially support them or support them with their time.

So a ra wide variety of reasons why this team is going.

And with that, I'm starting to get the side eye from Will.

So I'm gonna stop and I'm gonna let Adam Pray for this team if you would.

Wonderful.

All right.

Let's pray for these guys.

So, Father in heaven, we thank you for this team.

We thank you that we can be a part to partner with you around the world.

Lord, we thank you for the Christians in these nations and the Christians in Wales where they are going.

We thank you for the long-termers on the ship.

And that we can be the third leg of that school in the short term to bring in fresh energy, to bring in fresh encouragement, to bring in fresh words of hope and life.

And so I pray, Lord, that you would fill this team with your strength, your hope, your life, your truth, and that they would be able to share your truth in the grace of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, Lord, that they would encourage the one, that they would win the lost, and that you would open the dark hearts into life, and that you would encourage and strengthen those flickering lights, that they would be they would shine even brighter.

And so thank you that we could get to send this team and be a part and to go and be a part of your work around the world, a part of sharing your gospel.

And I pray that it would play its role, and that the whole one body, the one church around the world could come together in this moment, and that we could all play our part.

And so we descend them with our blessing.

We ask them for your strength, your power, your provision, and we pray that you would bring them home with hearts full, and that their efforts and sacrifices would be rewarded and multiplied for your kingdom now and for eternity.

For the sake in the name of Christ we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's thank this team for going.

Thank you, guys.

Would you please stand as we continue in worship?

Amen.

Thank you, Wales team.

So excited for what God is going to do through all of you in the coming days.

We gather together this morning to lift up our God in praise and worship, but also to encourage one another.

We encourage one another by sending out those who are going around the world to share the gospel, and we encourage one another by just helping each other keep going.

Um I know there are some folks in our body this morning who are really looking for some hope.

And for me, I draw a lot of hope and strength in hearing all of you sing to the Lord together.

Our uh Will Rudd our lead pastor shares that sentiment often, and I share it as well, that it encourages my faith and builds me up when I get to hear you pouring out your hearts through your words and your songs to say how much you love the Lord.

It reminds me that our God is alive, that He is true, that He is good, and that He's faithful.

So we want to sing a new song this morning that talks about that.

And uh but the heart of this and my heart for teaching it to you this morning is really found towards the end of the song where it says, I pray that peace and love would surround you from a God who understands, and that the family all around you would lift up your arms when you can't.

We are singing together, yes, to praise the Lord, but also to encourage and remind each other of his goodness, of his faithfulness.

I'm gonna teach you this chorus in just a minute, and I want to encourage you as a way of taking a way of taking up arms together.

If you feel led to, take that, take the hand of somebody near to you, put your arm on somebody's shoulder, or maybe if you need to, go pray with our elders and ask them to lift you up and give you strength.

Let's sing together, praise the Lord forever.

The chorus goes like this Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord forever, bless his name, let always it be stay, praise the Lord forever.

Let's try it together, come on, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord forever, bless his name, let all it in peace, praise the Lord forever, let all that is with him, bless his holy name for his love and doors for it, his mercy new today.

We will enter with Thanksgiving, fill his courts with praise, come on, lift your voice and sing, praise the Lord, come on, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord forever, bless his name and all it's the Lord forever.

And if you win expectations for a king yet to come, all you still stand up, sons, daughters of the key of your voice and Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord forever.

Let all the babies the Lord forever.

Would you take the hand if someone forced?

For the one who's broken heart, it's hard to sing this song Cause you've been walking through the value.

Your faith is feeling small.

Well, I pray peace and love surround you from the God who understands, as the family all around you.

Lift your arms up when you can't join the choir of creation with the song of the Come on and lift your foot.

Coming back to the music phase, all this stripped away, and I simply come longing just to bring, longing just to bring something that's worth that will bless your heart.

I'll bring you more than a song.

I'll bring you more than a song.

For a song in itself is not what you have required.

You search much deeper within Through the way things appear.

You're looking into my heart.

You know it, sing it out.

I'm coming back to the heart of worship, and it's all about you.

It's all about you, Jesus.

I'm sorry, Lord, for thing up when it's all about you, it's all about you, Jesus.

King of endless work, King of Endless Word, no one could express how much it is good.

Oh I'm weak and more.

I'll bring you more than a song.

For a song in itself is not what you have required.

You search it deeper, you search much deeper within through the way things are single coming back to your heart.

I'm coming back to the world, it's all about you, it's all about you.

I'm sorry for singing it's all about you, it's all about I'm coming back to your heart, I'm coming back to the word, and it's all about you, it's all about you.

I'm talking about the big bound, it's all about we offer our hearts to you.

Take us back to your heart.

It's all about it, it's all about it.

Lift your voice, I'm coming back.

I'm coming back to the heart of worship, and it's all about you.

It's all about you, Jesus.

I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing when it's all about one more time, part of worship.

I'm coming back to heart of worship and it's all about you.

It's all about you, Jesus.

I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made when it's all about you.

Oh, it's all about you, Jesus.

Amen.

It's all about you, Lord, and we give you our praise.

As the deacons are passing out the elements.

Every month we celebrate a tradition that the whole world celebrates and has for two thousand years now, and we name this tradition after what it gives us with God, and that is a communion.

If you're a follower of Christ, regardless of where you may be visiting from, you are welcome at this table.

It is not Saturn's table, it is the Lord's table.

If you are not a follower of Christ, we respectfully ask that you refrain and simply watch and imagine and reflect on the great mercy of God to you.

And if you're wondering, remember this table is not for the perfect, but for the penitent.

And so if you've trusted in Christ your Savior, you are invited by God Himself to participate as His family.

And I don't know if it's ever occurred to you, like if we have this Christian faith that is spiritual and in our hearts, why do we do this physical thing, this ritual, if you will?

This bread and this cup, and even for that matter, baptism, why do we need water?

Why don't we just believe in God and get on with it?

And I think it was important to remember that when Jesus came and died and rose from the dead, this was not simply just to save your soul or your spirit or some non-material thing.

It was to redeem the world he made, including us, all of us.

And yes, our bodies are declining and dying, and I know well with Harvey Younginer's service this afternoon and a service earlier in the week for Ken Waters, and while I'm still here, uh the artwork yesterday reminded me of how weak I am and how quickly I'm dying.

But you know, God came and Jesus died for our sins, yes, and he rose from the dead.

And so this body and this blood, he it matters that Jesus came in the flesh.

He was born.

God was born into the world, and when his moment came and his moment of trial came, you know what he prayed?

He didn't say, Lord, here I am, send me.

He said, May this pass from me.

He prayed it wouldn't happen.

God, may this come pass from me.

Let not my will be done, but yours.

And you know what?

He suffered.

And God answered his first prayer with no.

You will drink it.

And he answered his second prayer, this is my will.

And God brought about a great redemption.

Sometimes God answers our prayers in the ways that we wish, and sometimes he doesn't.

But this life that we live in the body, Jesus didn't just die for our souls, he died for the universe to redeem it.

And one day, Harvey is now with the Lord in a in can in a spiritual state.

But when Jesus returns and his eternal new creation is set up, it will be more glorious than the one we have now.

It will be renewed forever.

Like the body that Jesus rose in wasn't just a resurrection, it wasn't just a resuscitated human body.

He didn't just kind of wander out of the grave.

He had a new creation body, and we will one day get that body, and it will rejoice forever with the Lord and be in his presence and be perfect in perfect fellowship with God and each other.

Cannot wait for that day.

But until that day, we walk by faith through the valley with tears, with pain, with loss, with grief, yes, with joys, yes, with delights, but most of all with hope in a resurrected Savior.

He didn't just die, he rose.

And so we take these elements, these physical elements, to remind us that Jesus really died, and that that really matters, and that our lives really matter, and that one day we'll rise with him.

But until that day, we sacrifice for him as he did for us.

And so this is a picture of the sacrifice of Christ and a picture of our devotion to him.

Amen.

And so if you will join me in the communion to the blessing, the Lord be with you.

Lift up your hearts.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

Father in heaven, it is a right and a good and a joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you, creator of heaven and earth.

Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with angels and archangels and Ken and Harvey and with all the company of heaven who forever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your name that holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.

As we approach God, let us remember to do so humbly.

And let us take a moment to search our own hearts and to confess our sins to God as David prayed in Psalm 139.

Search me, O God, and know my heart.

Test me and know my angel thoughts, and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

And just pray to God a private prayer of confession and renewal of fellowship with him.

By the Apostle John in 1 John 1 9, that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

A true miracle.

So Sanders believes, and I believe, the good news is that Jesus died and rose to forgive us, to birth us into his family, and to welcome us into his presence, holy along with him.

And if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

It is not on the strength of your faith, but on the strength of the object of your faith, which is the resurrected and eternal Christ.

So if you would stand as we take a communion and celebrate the sacrifice, the Lord Jesus, on the night that he was betrayed, he took the bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, And by the way, when Jesus gave thanks, that word is Eucharist, the Eucharist.

So we also name it after this process of giving thanks.

He took it, he gave thanks and broke it and said, This is my body given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

And in the same way after supper, he took the cup, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Whenever you drink it, do it in remembrance of me.

For whenever you eat this cup of bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again.

And so, Lord Jesus, in obedience to your word and in honor of your sacrifice, we remember you.

Father in heaven, that you are glorious and we remember, we celebrate, we honor the gift of salvation, and we give thanks along with Christ for his body, his blood, and we join our voices to those who sing around the throne.

You are worthy to take the scroll, to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them to be a kingdom and priest to our God, and they will reign on the earth.

So, Father in heaven, thank you that we are your sons and daughters, that we participate in your life, and we participate in your mission, and give us courage and strength to keep walking through the valleys, to retain the hope of the resurrection, to encourage one another, to pray for one another, to bear one another's burdens, and most of all to remember God, to remember you until that day when we see you face to face.

And join the saints of old.

And then will you bring your new creation?

What a glorious day it will be.

And until that day, Lord, may we be faithful for the sake and the glorious name of Christ we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

At this moment, kids, you may be dismissed at children's church, and then when the rest of us remain standing for the reading of the word.

Now, concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you are to do as well.

On the first day of every week, each of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper, so that no collections need to be made when I come.

When I arrive, whomever you approve, I will send them with letters to take your gift to Jerusalem.

And if it is appropriate for me to go also, they will go with me.

This is the word of the Lord.

You may be seated.

Every Sunday morning to come together and worship.

Appreciated you, Plyler, this morning.

And when you said take somebody's hand beside you, I thought, nah, not doing that.

But then you said, you know, maybe put your hand on somebody's shoulder.

And I was like, I might do that.

And but it was good for me.

It was good for me.

And I think it's good for us as a church to be challenged in our worship, to do something outside of our comfort zone, to actually kind of put wheels and get into motion in a kind of singing that really is worshiping God and encouraging one another.

So I appreciated that.

And it was good for me to take action in that way.

I appreciate that.

And I don't know if it was good for you this morning, but it was good for me.

Something just happened in my heart every time we sang, I'm sorry, to God.

Maybe it's just that we don't sing it enough, or maybe I don't enough.

I'm sorry, Lord, for the things I've made it.

It's all about you.

What a sweet and simple and much needed song for us.

I'm sorry.

And where there's confession of sin, there's grace upon grace.

And that's what we got to celebrate in communion.

Really good morning, and I'm thankful for it.

This morning, what we just read, the verses on giving.

And so if you're new this morning and you're like, man, church is always talking about money.

What how is this happening?

You know, you're somebody, you're like, I invited a friend, and we've got it.

This is the morning we've got to talk about giving.

Um, well, a couple things on that.

One, we just talk about what the Bible talks about, we go through it, and when the Bible talks about something, we talk about it too.

That's first.

Second, we don't have to be apologetic about anything in the Bible.

Everything that God has said is good, and it is good for us and for our joy.

So we get to approach any topic, and 1 Corinthians has taken us through some topics, man.

Uh, we approach it with humility and joy before the Lord.

Say, Lord, teach me, teach me.

And my hope for this morning is that uh God's word would uh sanctify us towards biblical giving and towards outrageous generosity that is founded on the gospel of Jesus.

That's my hope this morning.

Here's where we are in the context of the book.

We are getting close to the end.

We know the first six chapters, Paul's rebuking them.

And then chapters seven through sixteen, he's answering questions, and as he does so, he gives them instruction, very practical, how they should respond to these issues.

And he doesn't just give them instruction, he gives a gospel, he gives a gospel thread through it all.

A gospel thread that is constantly pointing them back to Jesus.

And that is why we've had that stool underneath the cross all this time, uh, to remind us, hey, we preach Christ and Him crucified.

And then you come to chapter 16, and it's not just Christ crucified, it's Christ who is crucified, and spoiler alert, he rose, and that makes all the difference.

So I really do.

I hope that this morning we get some biblical, that the God's word would sanctify us towards biblical giving and towards outrageous generosity that is founded on the gospel of Jesus.

To do that, we're actually gonna work a little bit backwards.

We're gonna start gospel and then see how that impacts outrageous generosity, and then go to biblical instruction.

So it's gonna take us a few minutes to get through uh to get to 1 Corinthians 16, 1 to 4.

That's okay.

We're going somewhere here, all right?

Okay, all right.

So let's read the verses.

We just read them together, but I want to read them again.

He says, now concerning, and that's always his transition, where he's gonna answer a question that they've asked.

So they've asked him a question about hey, now that we've embraced Jesus as Lord, how do we engage money in how do we do this whole money thing?

Okay?

So he's answering a question.

Now concerning the collection for the saints.

As I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also.

On the first day of every week, each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.

When I arrive, whomever you approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem.

And it is fitting for me to go also, and if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me.

Alright.

So he's giving instruction about giving.

But before we look into those verses, um, I think we need to do a little bit of gospel groundwork.

All right.

Anytime we're taking a passage of scripture, we want to go, okay, what is the context?

What does it say around it?

So let's go back up one verse earlier and see what he said right before this, okay?

Chapter 15, verse 58.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil in the Lord is not in vain.

Now that verse starts out with, therefore.

So he's going, everything he said for 57 verses in chapter 15, which is all about Christ being risen.

He really rose, and that impacts everything.

If he really rose, and we will be glorified, our bodies will be resurrected with him, and we will be able to hear the sound, the the song, I've called it a song, because okay, pause.

We taught 1 Corinthians 15 at Easter, and that's why Hal did the first part last week, but we did three.

So if you want to get a refresher on 1 Corinthians 15, you have to go back to Easter.

But this saying will come up, O death, where's your victory?

Oh death, where's your sting?

Because if you've put your faith in Jesus, then we have a present hope that is sins forgiven, but there's a launch pad.

This is what Hal preached last week, and it was just so good.

A launch pad of a real hope for a change of life now that God has poured forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.

We have real power for supernatural living now and real hope that will be that as Jesus was raised, so will we.

This changes everything.

It changes everything about the out about our outlook on life, about our outlook on death, and how we engage every part of life.

And after all this talk about Jesus rose, and we are no longer in our sins, we have much to look forward to, he says, therefore be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain.

And then he goes, What's the what's the first thing he talks about after saying, always abound in the work of the Lord?

He brings up giving.

Now, this is helpful to me because if we ask the question, what does it mean to always abound in the work of the Lord?

What does that mean?

Well, it means to abound in the work God has called us to, right?

To always abound in the work of loving God.

Like that is the first and greatest commandment.

Abound in that work.

To always abound in the work of evangelism.

Like actually winning our one by the power of his spirit, daily prayer, monthly relationship, quarterly truth.

This is how we win our one.

Abound in that work.

Always abounding in the work of worship.

This is what God has called us to.

Because Jesus rose, always abounding in the work of repentance.

Repentance is a good gift for us, church.

Always abounding in the work of employing your spiritual gift in love for the building of the body.

This is the work of the Lord.

There's all kinds of work God calls us to as ones who have been saved by the finished work of Jesus.

But we can't miss that the next verse, after he tells the church to abound in the work of the Lord, the next thing he does is he starts talking about giving, which tells us very simply that giving is one way.

A gospel-gripped 1 Corinthians 15 type church abounds in the work of the Lord.

Giving is one of the ways that a gospel-gripped church abounds in the work of the Lord.

Now, I anticipated saying that, and you having that uh quiet little thought, like, meh, not so sure I buy that.

Like maybe it sounds good.

Yeah, giving is one way, a gospel-gripped church abounds in the work of the Lord, but it still just kind of sounds like pay up.

Give.

And I so to help speak into that, I just kind of want to double-click on that and and see what comes out.

That what is it, what does it look like when a church really does have a heart that's gripped by the gospel and it comes out in giving?

What does that look like?

Two passages that will give us a picture of how awesome it is when the gospel grips a church and goes, Dad gummit, let's give.

Acts 4.

Acts 4.32 says this.

This is the recounting the story of the early church says this.

And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul.

Not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.

And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Okay, I highlighted that because that's that's 1 Corinthians 15.

And abundant grace was upon them all.

That's the the implications of 1 Corinthians 15.

For so here's what comes out of that, that resurrection theology as it impacts the church.

Verse 34.

For there was not a needy person among them.

Here's why.

For all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed to each one to the extent that they had any need.

And I wanted to include this because we know Barnabas, but this is the first uh mention that we get of Barnabas in the New Testament.

Now, Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the Apostles.

So did we know Barnabas was his nickname?

Because it's translated son of encouragement, okay?

Owned a tract of land, so he sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

See, in the early church, in Acts 4, we see a group of believers whose hearts are so gripped by the gospel that they go, oh, we believed one heart and soul.

So here's what we're gonna do: we're gonna have our antennas real finely tuned to where's need, need, need, need, need, need.

You got one?

Boom, I got it.

There's not a needy person among them.

Man, that was the story of the early church, and by God's grace, that'll continue to be the story of the church at Sandhurst.

I was talking to um a guy this morning.

He goes, Man, I I signed up for the one body repairs team because I just want to be ready for anytime there's a need or an opportunity to bless somebody in the church, raking leaves, trimming bushes, anything I want in.

I was like, come on.

That's a gospel grip to church.

Then, fast forward like 10 minutes later, I'm talking to a woman and she goes, I just really could use somebody to like help me with uh trimming my bushes and like raking leaves.

I'm like, huh, interesting you should say that.

And by God's grace, there would be among the saints in Sandhurst, a heart so gripped by the gospel, we go, hey, there's a new action that gets developed in this kind of church where there would be not a needy person among them.

This is the portrait of a church gripped by the gospel and say, hey, I'm put me in, put me in, coach.

If there's a need, I'm gonna fill it.

I'm ready to give.

That's the first passage I want to highlight.

Let me show you another one.

This was Acts 4, second favorite.

2 Corinthians 8, first favorite, in terms of giving a picture of this church that's gripped by the gospel in a way that leads them to give.

Check it out.

This is 2 Corinthians 8.

And Paul is telling them the story of the Macedonian church.

And, well, no more commentary there.

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.

And when you think, if you know anything about the church in Philippi, Philippi was in Macedonia.

In the midst of very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welded up in pinching every penny because that no, not welled up in rich generosity.

Verse 3, for I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability, entirely on their own.

Listen to verse 4.

They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people.

And they exceeded our expectations.

They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.

So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part.

But since you excel in everything in faith and speech and knowledge, in complete earnestness and the love we have kindled in you, see that you excel in this grace of giving.

Here's what I love about it.

In Acts 4, we get to see the action giving.

You have a need?

I'm gonna sell some stuff to help you.

And in 2 Corinthians 8, we get to go a little bit of a layer deeper, not just the actions of the giving, but the attitude of the givers.

I know I've highlighted a couple different colors.

Um let's look at yellow.

Here's the attitude: overflowing joy, rich generosity.

See, this is the story of the early church gripped by the gospel of grace.

What comes out of that is giving, but how that happens really matters.

Because you can squeeze some dollars out of people, right?

You you can raise some money, tell an emotional story, um, you know, show some pictures.

You can raise some money.

But when he's talking about the church in Macedonia, it has nothing to do with that.

It's a story of a church who gave from a particular kind of attitude: rich, overflowing generosity.

Nobody was twisting their arm behind their back, no fundraiser, rich, overflowing generosity.

Action, giving.

What's behind that is this attitude.

And I would just, instead of saying rich, overflowing, joyful generosity, let's just call it outrageous generosity.

They gave to their ability and beyond their ability.

So it's a story of a giving church.

It's but but a layer deeper, it's the attitude, it's the story of an outrageously generous church.

But then you go one layer deeper, and it's actually not really the story of an outrageously generous church.

How did he start in verse one?

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about an outrageously generous church.

It's not mostly the story of an outrageously generous church.

Let's read it.

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.

It's not mostly a story of a church who's giving.

It's not even mostly a story of a church who's outrageously generous.

It's mostly the story of the grace of God at work in the saints who had gripped their hearts so tightly that what comes out is outrageous generosity, which comes out in giving for the saints.

My hope in sharing this is that before we even get to the biblical instruction, that there would be a sense in all of us that goes, God, I want you to grip my heart with the gospel in a way that's like this.

So that what would come out of me is outrageous generosity, so that what could be said of our church and what would be true of our church, that not a needy person among us want this for our church.

God wants this for our church.

And and um and this is what the gospel does.

How does the gospel grip a heart so much that what comes out is outrageous generosity?

That's how we'll close.

But for right now, I want us to see that giving is one way that a church who's gripped by the gospel abounds in the work of the Lord.

So at this point, I'm I'm kind of like, at least this point in my study, I'm like, okay, God, you've kind of prepped my heart to be outrageously generous.

Now teach me.

Teach me how to do it.

And that's 1 Corinthians 16, 1 to 4.

Lord, teach me how to give.

That's what we got here.

So let's jump in now to 1 Corinthians 16, 1 to 4.

It's not complicated at all.

All right.

Uh giving is one way, a gospel gripped church abounds in the work of the Lord.

Here's here's the outline.

It's very simple.

Uh he says, first day each week, each one set aside as he may prosper.

We're just taking the language of the text and seeing what he says, and this is gonna be biblical instruction for us to be a giving church as one's gripped by the gospel towards outrageous generosity.

All right, chapter 16.

Now concerning the collection for the saints.

As I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also.

Okay, so what's the collection for?

It's for the saints.

Thank you.

It's for the saints.

As I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also.

Okay, so whatever he says here is the same thing he's already said to the church, to the churches in the region of Galatia, which happens to be the same thing he says to the church in Rome.

He references this in Romans 15.

And so he's got this massive effort from the churches in Galatia, Rome, and Corinth making this contribution to the church and Jerusalem.

What's happening in the church of Jerusalem?

We don't know for sure.

Um, we can make some guesses, but something, some sort of trial has clearly hit the church in Jerusalem, and Paul's like, hey church, let's get on board with helping this church over here.

Which again, can I just say to us as a church?

Um, we believe in evangelical unity.

That means when another church wins, Sandhurst wins.

When we win, other churches win.

Paul was Paul saw zero competition between the churches.

He wanted the churches to join together for the sake of this other church.

And that's part of my heart.

Thank us God's heart for his church that we'd be able to celebrate when another church wins and um suffer with other churches when they're suffering too.

Evangelical unity.

All right, now concerning the collection for the saints, here's his instruction first day each week, each one set aside as he may prosper.

And the verse on the first day of each week, Each one of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper.

Okay.

First day.

Giving is how I abound in the work of worship.

This is we we see in Acts 20 that the church actually began meeting for the worship gathering on the first day of the week.

Now, previously, under the law, the Jews would have celebrated on Saturday.

That would have been their day of worship.

But at some point in the church, they changed it to start going, hey, we're gonna make it the first day of the week because what key event happened on the first day of the week?

Resurrection, Easter.

So it's like, hmm, let's move our day of worship to the first day of the week.

And I just appreciate that when Paul talks about, hey, on the first day, in other words, when you're when you're gathered for worship, here's what you're gonna do: you're gonna set aside and save.

Because uh giving is not just something that happens during the worship service.

Giving is how we worship during the worship service.

I think the way Adam, you said wherever you are, Adam, you said it so well today that we don't give to a church.

We give to God.

And and if you want, like, is that is that in the Bible?

Psalm 96.

Ascribe to the Lord all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory to his name, bring an offering and come into his courts.

Worship the Lord and sp in the splendor of his holiness, tremble before him, all the earth.

When when the Old Testament and the New Testament talks about bringing an offering, it is bringing an offering to the Lord.

And so usually when we think worship, we think, hallelujah, we think singing.

And one of the ways we actually worship is through our giving.

It's not something that happens during the worship service, it's how it's part of how we worship during the worship service.

Um, 2 Corinthians 9, uh Paul says God loves a cheerful giver.

Okay, so I don't think if if if we don't have a cheerfulness about our giving, it's not that, well, then don't give.

Um I think part of what can lend itself towards uh cheerfulness, because usually before we get to a point of delight, usually there's some duty that you have to get through before there's delight, whether it's learning an instrument or giving or whatever.

But we can get to the point of cheerful giving when we see this is part of my worship, giving to the Lord.

That giving, it's not like paying my church dues.

Okay, we don't have that.

It's not paying my God tax, it's not that.

This is a gift to the Lord.

Okay, my wife's birthday is on Tuesday.

Um change seats.

Um I'm gonna give her gifts.

That's my duty, man.

I'm gonna be a husband.

No, you know why I give her gifts?

Because I love her.

Love her.

It's an expression of love.

This is what giving is.

First day.

Giving is how I abound in the work of worship.

The first day, each week.

Each week.

Now, um, there's a there's a reason why Paul says he that each one is to set aside on the first day each week, and it's so that he doesn't, when he comes back to them, he doesn't have to do some like big old fundraiser.

So there seems to be a practical uh reason for this.

But here's here's the principle.

First day each week is that my worship would be regular.

Regular.

I'm not saying that I think it's sin if you give on a monthly basis.

I think the principle is regular.

But if giving is one way that I worship, can you imagine if we were like, hey, um, church, got a lot going on in our worship services, and so instead of doing weekly worship, we're just gonna save it all to the end of the year, and we're gonna do an end-of-the-year massive worship service to kind of make up for all the uh the worship that we didn't do on a weekly basis, you know, kind of make up for it at the end of the year.

Uh you'd be like, what?

You'd be like, I'm leaving is probably what you'd say.

I d because there's a part of you that goes, no, I want to worship in that way every week.

And so I don't think I think the principle is regular giving.

Um I think that there are benefits though to weekly giving.

Because it reminds you on a weekly basis, uh, God, I love you more than money.

And God, I want to worship you in this way every week.

So um, if if you're like me, man, I uh based on this text a long time ago, I started going, I want to start giving weekly instead of monthly.

Problem is at that point, you know, we were writing checks for our giving, and I had I had this like sincere desire to give.

I just forget.

Forget, forget, forget.

Like, oh, how many weeks has it been since we can get and so now what Sweetie and I do, because of this, as part of our regular giving, is we just started doing the the online um automated giving, which was great because it was weekly, but you know what that bypassed?

The worship kind of just was automatically pulled out every week.

So here's how that works for us now.

In terms of regularity, we we give weekly, and then there's a little email that comes to our that comes to the inbox that says, hey, you gave on Sunday.

And as soon as I see that email, I t I send a text to Sweet D every week and says, hey, uh just a reminder, it was our privilege to give back to God as part of what He's given us as part of our worship from Sunday.

Regular, because worship should be regular.

First day, each week.

Next one, each one.

Uh by universal I mean everyone in the church.

Were there poor people in the church in Corinth?

There were.

We know that for certain because of how they were taking communion in 1 Corinthians 11, that the wealthy people were leaving out the poor people.

And when they were taking communion, some were had so much they were getting drunk, and some had nothing.

This would have been Paul's perfect time to say, hey, you know what?

Um I know there's kind of times are tough, and not everybody's the same, but uh so the wealthy people, you know, pay your fair share.

And this was his he had every chance to say that, and he says, each one.

Each one.

Each one of us worship in this way.

So my uh my young friends over here and spattered draw, I uh thought I will I'll start giving when I have like more established is kind of how I felt.

And then I s I was like, I kind of felt like giving was for old people, is what I felt like.

And then uh I was like, oh man, I gotta start saving for college, so I can't give.

And then I was in college and I thought I gotta pay for college, so I can't give.

And then I got married.

I was like, oh shoot, now I have more stuff to pay for.

And then I had kids.

And then um, and then I was like, oh man, now kids are expensive.

Now uh giving needs to wait.

And then I met with a financial advisor who told me like how much I start have to start saving for each kid to pay for college, and I was like, I can't like there is no margin here.

Um and now I have four daughters, and I mean I hope they get married, but there'd be pros to them not getting married.

What what am I trying to say?

All of us are always gonna have something to go, man, now's not a good time.

Now's not a good time.

And it's one of the things that I've really appreciated about uh about Financial Peace University on Wednesday that the way they presented it is uh giving being a guarded priority.

It was the first thing that in on Wednesday that that we accounted for in our budgeting.

A guarded priority, because this is this is worship.

And it's for each one of us.

And and so um I really I I want to say that with a level of um compassion that for some of us in here, you're like, no, no, but you just you really don't understand.

And and I understand that giving maybe a real act of faith to you and say, Lord, I'm trusting you here.

And I would encourage you to step out in faith in that way abounding in the work of the Lord by faith in the resurrected Jesus.

First day each week, each one.

Set aside.

Um this I would say is prioritized giving.

So the this everything I'm about to say, really the next two points, I may challenge some things that you've uh kind of heard in the past about giving.

And and maybe just give you some thoughts that when I first learned this, when I first heard this, I was like, man, this is so helpful.

I hope you find this really helpful.

To set aside.

That word means to appoint.

So in Ephesians 4, when God appointed some as uh apostles, some as prophets, some evangelists, some as pastor teachers.

That that word appointed is the same word here, to appoint your dollars, to set them aside.

And that was a good uh uh visual for me to appoint some of my dollars weekly uh for the sake of worship.

And scripture actually gives some instruction here on how to or where to appoint those dollars.

All right, if I think of dollars like ammo, um I like if I if I had the point the choice to shoot something like a target or shoot tannerite, my gun people, tannerite goes boom when you shoot it.

Boom! I want I want to shoot something that's gonna go boom.

And there is a sense in us that's like, okay, I want to direct my giving at whatever is gonna feel like it gives gives the greatest boom, the best ROI on my giving.

Okay?

Um but scripture actually tells us how we direct our giving.

Oh, we're not gonna be able to have time, but maybe in the podcast we will go through each of these.

But this is really helpful to me.

Here's set aside some priorities in giving that the New Testament gives us.

Priority one is our immediate family.

It's in 1 Timothy 5, and he's specifically talking about elderly parents.

That is our highest priority.

Second priority is to our spiritual family, i.e., the local church.

We'll talk about that in a second.

And then third priority, actually, not in the New Testament, but throughout throughout the Old Testament, we see God's heart for the poor and the vulnerable.

These are our priorities in giving.

Here's what Paul says in 1 Timothy 5 that if you don't provide for your family, you are worse than an unbeliever.

So that's my first priority.

Immediate family.

Second priority.

Uh so we have spiritual family, and then under the spiritual family, here's what scripture says.

We give to those shepherding the spiritual family.

SF is spiritual family.

Why?

Because that is what the Lord has directed.

1 Corinthians 9 and Galatians 6 say this.

The Lord has directed this.

Priority 2 in my spiritual family, those extending the spiritual family.

In other words, who's that?

Missionaries.

Uh Philippians 4 says, this is pleasing to the Lord.

Priority 3 in the spiritual family is those who are in need in the spiritual family.

And Acts 15 would say, remember this.

Remember them.

And then the poor and the vulnerable, Proverbs 22, 9, would call this blessed.

Okay, and I don't want to get too much in the weeds here, but I do want you to note this has been so helpful to me and how Sweet Dee and I uh give, and how the church, how we steward that which we receive not from the people, but from the Lord.

Here's what that looks like in our church.

Well, I'll I'll brr nope, don't I won't talk about sweet Dean and I.

We'll talk about just the church.

Um and the way the church we steward that which is given is some of what is given from the Lord goes to those who are shepherding our spiritual family.

In other words, um that is paying the salaries of those who work on staff.

Some of that goes, and that's not something that we feel bad about or feel apologetic about.

This is what 1 Corinthians 9 and Galatians 6 says.

And he says, the Lord has directed this.

Second priority, and so our the way the church stewards is dollars goes in that direction.

Extending the spiritual family.

The way the church stewards our dollars that we receive from the Lord goes to extending the spiritual family.

If you don't know, the church gives one-third of our income, our giving that we receive from the Lord, to global missions, to world missions, to ministry outside of our local church.

At our budget, that's$600,000 a year,$50,000 a month that our church seeks to steward and say, Lord, um, would you help us use this to advance the gospel beyond our local church?

So this starts to gain like traction in real life.

Those in need in the spiritual family, tens of thousands of dollars have been given to those in our body who have needs.

And that's happened organically, and I'm really, really happy that now we have a sort of structural way to be able for the church to be able to contribute in a way that would go directly to the needs of the body.

Um, that's with one body gives on the right.

If you wanted to give to that, if you go to the website, click the giving, you have a giving general, and then one body gives.

This is a fund that if you wanted to give that in a way that uh funds would go directly to those within the body who have needs in the body, that's what this is for.

See, I I'm I'm just really thankful that the way our church is trying to steward the money from God reflects the priorities in giving.

And this has been helpful to Sweetie and I as we um prioritize our giving as well.

I'm gonna leave that up for now.

The no, I'm not.

Oh boy, I'm gonna Will you put up the one that has like each one each uh each week set aside as he may prosper?

Okay, thank you.

Last one, as he may prosper.

There's a word in here that, as Paul talked about giving, that we have not used yet, that he doesn't use in this passage.

But it's a word that often gets used in church about giving.

Starts with a T, and it's an I.

Tithe.

Tithe.

So where is that in all the why why haven't we talked about tithe yet?

Did you know?

Okay, this this can be, this will be debated, I'm sure it will be.

But tithing is not anywhere commanded in the New Testament.

It was in the Old Testament, but it is not commanded in the New Testament.

When you read the New Testament, you read Paul saying things like this, or in 2 Corinthians 9, to give as each one has purposed in his heart.

Here he says, to give as he may prosper.

So, bet you didn't expect to hear this.

Uh, congratulations, church, you got your 10% back.

And then the tithe is a tenth.

It's giving a tenth to God.

Which, if we really want to stick to the Old Testament law, then it was actually more like 30%.

So we got our 10% back.

No, no, no, actually.

See, it was just good about what we see in the gospel and what God has done, that we were that we were bought with a price, therefore glorify God with our body, that um we didn't get the 10% back, is that we lost the other 90%.

That it's not like 90% belongs to me, 10% belongs to God, and we just kind of like keep it easy you know, keep it that way.

It's 100% belongs to God.

It's his.

And so then that leaves a question so how much do I give?

And here's what here's what Paul says as you may prosper.

Well, how much is that?

He says, Well, as you've purposed in your heart, you say, Well, dad gummit, now just give me a number.

And that's kind of the point, I think, actually, is it all of a sudden takes it from a percentage to the heart?

So, how much should you give?

As you've purposed in your heart, as you may prosper.

Now, in the absence of a percentage, there is a precedent in the Old Testament that if you really just go, ah um I need a number, and then I think you can go, there's a good precedent in the Old Testament to say, Lord, I'm gonna start with 10%.

And that's gonna be what I start with as a guarded priority in my worship.

Um, because uh this was a helpful thought to me to go, why would I give, as a Christian under grace, why would I give less than an Israelite under the law?

This was a helpful thought to me.

And so it just it brings it back to the heart of outrageous generosity, not percentages.

So uh two two questions, and I want to look in and then I want to look up.

Will you put up the two questions for me since I sorry I'm great.

First, uh, question for me is just looking in, does my giving reflect biblical instruction?

In the absence of biblical instruction, here's what I think we tend to do.

We give when we feel like it and when there's kind of an emotional pull to it.

And I think there's a better way to worship, to abound in the work of the Lord as ones whose hearts have been gripped by God's grace.

That uh God has God's word has given us good instruction how to direct our dollars and worship.

Does my giving reflect biblical instruction for many of us?

The answer is yes.

And our church has been blessed by it.

I believe you've been blessed by it.

One of the early um founders at Sandhurst, they felt prompted by God to say, hey, uh, we've been saving, putting aside for our kids' college, and they felt prompted by God.

This is what God had, how they had purposed in their heart to say, we're gonna take every dollar that we had been saving for our um for our kids' college, and we're going to give it to the Lord.

For some of us, does does our giving reflect biblical priority?

Some of us, yes.

And I want to say thank you.

Thank you.

Not for a bottom line number, but for how our church, for how that would be evidence of our church abounding in the work of the Lord.

Um, for many of us, I think there can be some changes here to turn irregular giving to consistent giving, to turn emotional giving into giving that reflects biblical priorities.

That's why I was talking about, like, I'm not just looking for the the biggest, what can I give to you that would give the biggest boom?

Because let's be honest, the ch the Church of Sanders doesn't really need my money anyway.

And that's why I go, I'm not looking for like the thing that would make me feel like I get the biggest boom for my gift.

I'm looking for what does scripture say in terms of how I can give.

That's why that was helpful to me.

And to uh make giving a guarded priority.

Second, uh, does my giving reflect a heart that is gripped by the gospel?

And this is how this is how I want to close.

Um if not, if if everything that I've said this morning still just at the ends of at the end of the day feels like a um a kind of stuck tithing and church teaching in a blender and just poured it back out.

Um if you go, man, I I just don't sense in me.

This is any pool tool, outrageous generosity.

What do you do then?

And here's your answer.

The same answer we've had every week in First Corinthians.

Watch, watch.

Because while there may be there is a call to outrageous generosity in the church.

Listen, listen, church, no one has been more outrageously generous than God Himself.

And when we turn when we look up, we're good, we're looking up to the outrageous generosity of God.

Let me read this to you.

This is from Ephesians 1.

You might know where I'm going with this, and if you do, that's great.

It says this He says, We were dead in our trespasses and sins.

Verse 4 says, But God being rich, he's rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us.

Okay, so God's got deep pockets, deep pockets, and in one, he's got deep mercy and love.

He's rich, but that's not just necessarily good news in itself, because you can be rich and greedy, you can be rich and stingy, but God being rich in mercy because the great love with which he had for us, seriously, he made us alive.

And if you go back, that was Ephesians 2.

I think I said that was Ephesians 1.

If you go back to Ephesians 1, this is what it says.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace.

So got mercy and grace and love, deep pockets, watch, which he lavished on us.

See, when I talk about like a heart gripped by God's, by gospel, gospel of grace, we're going, nobody's been more outrageously generous than God and his love, his grace, his mercy.

Nobody's been more generous than God.

And it is by his grace that he then welcomes us into his family as his child through faith in Jesus that we begin to be able to take on the family DNA, be like, man, God, you are outrageously generous.

That's who you are, and that seeing that about God within to make his people outrageously generous, like a 2 Corinthians 8 type generosity.

See, when I I don't like to spend money and um and when I'm in the store, I'm like, oh that or that or that.

Like I don't want to spend that.

I don't want to spend that.

I'm checking my Amazon, I gotta get it cheaper there.

And God doesn't do that when it comes to his grace and your life.

That when you come to him, he's not like ooh, not sure I got enough grace for that one.

Might need to wait till next month.

I'm serious.

Sometimes we feel that way.

We gotta kind of like wait for God to earn up a little bit more grace for that one, a little bit more mercy for that one, and God is rich, pockets deep in love and mercy, and he never goes, he only goes, I want to lavish you with that, lavish with you, with his grace, his mercy, his love.

And when we start to through communion, through our songs, through our encouraging of one another, when we start to feel um well, maybe not feel, when we start to believe and see the outrageous generosity of God, it grips our heart, it brings up generosity, which looks like giving as worship to the Lord and honoring Him, so that there's not a needy person among people in the church.

This is what I wanted to lift our eyes to.

So you stand with me in view of God's deep pockets that are full of rich full of the riches of his mercy and grace and love.

Can we just in the quietness of our heart say, yes, Lord, would you but before we try to address the actions, Father, would you sanctify us in our hearts to not love money, but to love Jesus.

To let our the way we appoint our dollars reflect biblical priority.

I believe that your instruction is good, and I do ask that you would sanctify us towards biblical giving, outrageous generosity that is founded on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Let's sing.

Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord to thee.

Take my moments and my days, let them fall and ceaseless praise, let them fall and cease praise.

Take my telephone shall choose every power thou shall choose Take my will and make it thine.

It shall be no longer mine.

Take my heart is thyrown It shall be thy room It shall be thy throne before we dismiss, I actually we have an announcement to make.

So if you would take a seat, if you hang with us just for a couple minutes, we have big news for the Plyler family, as Willard and Caitlin and their son Toby have taken a job at a church in North Carolina, and uh we'll be starting there at the beginning of October this year.

So we'll have Willard and Caitlin here for the rest of this month, and then uh we'll be starting, like I said, in October.

So um I wanted to just take a moment and say thank you on behalf of the church for your leadership, and um we're so grateful for you for the things like what we said this morning, just challenging us to uh to worship even when it's uncomfortable.

But want to give Pyler a chance to to speak to us.

He's not leaving yet.

We have through the end of the month, um uh but and then I'll share a little bit of the plan.

Yeah.

Thank you, Will.

Um, it's been a real joy and a privilege to be uh part of this family for the last two and a half years.

Um Sanders is a really special group of people.

Um I love to hear you sing.

I love leading you.

And um this is not an easy decision to make, but um uh like we just sang, like we've been talking about with our finances and with all of our lives, we live with open hands.

And um sometimes God makes it clear in your in your uh in your heart and in your life that it's time for uh a seasonal change, and uh we've kind of been in that place for the last couple of months, and this opportunity um at Swansboro First Baptist came up uh through a family friend.

I didn't even go looking for it.

Um somebody that um I love sent it to me.

And uh we were there this last weekend and God just made it abundantly clear that that's the next chapter for us, and um, so it's a bittersweet thing for us because we love each of you, especially to my uh worship and tech teams.

You guys mean the world to me, and I'm gonna miss serving alongside of you every week.

But we're also excited for um for whatever God's gonna do with us and what God's gonna do for you guys.

I firmly believe that the plans that God has for my family um are good plans for you too.

Um and um so we love you.

We're gonna be here.

I'll be here for three more Sundays.

Uh though my last day will be the 27th.

Um and uh like I say, we love you.

We we're so thankful for the opportunity and thank you for the blessing that you've been um to me, to my wife, to my son um in our time here.

I love it.

Um yeah.

Um church, uh here's how we can bless the Plyler family in their final weeks here.

When you see him, even if you've never talked to him before, grab his shoulder like this and say, Hey, I want to thank you for.

And just give him this maybe it was a moment, maybe it was a song, uh, maybe it was something that um uh a song that he wrote that you would be able to just say, Hey, thank you so much.

We can really bless the platters as they're heading to a new season in that.

Um one of the ways that he's seeking to help us as a church is the onboarding of some people who are gonna help in the short term as we now begin to look for a full-time worship leader.

Uh, what we're doing now is we're taking his responsibilities and dividing them to three part-time people who are gonna be helping um fill his responsibilities and leading us in worship.

And um, so that's the plan.

We'll keep you updated with that.

But I do appreciate him sharing that like part of what made a difference for him is somebody in the church who is looking for a uh worship leader, text him and say, hey, uh job opportunity, and we could do that as a church to help as we're looking for somebody um to lead us in worship.

So um as we close, uh if you'll stand up with me and we will remember what we sang this morning, that we're coming back to the heart of worship, and it's not about a worship leader, it's not about a song, it's not about a band, it's not about a style, um, it's not about a personality, it's all about you.

It's all about you, it's all about you, Jesus.

This is this is the point of worship, and appreciate that you've led us in that way.

So, church, we go forth into the world, we're gripped by God's grace, surrounded by the grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will confirm us to the end, blameless.

Change us, send us, help us, amen.

Let's go give Piler a hug.