2 Corinthians 9 - Pastor Jonathan Shelley | Stedfast Baptist Church

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen, here in chapter nine,

we're continuing the thought of chapter eight.

It starts out with the word verse four, meaning because

and he's trying to relate this comment

to the previous context of chapter eight

was just giving money to the poor saints at Jerusalem.

Now he says, four, as touching the ministering

to the saints, it is superfluous

for me to write to you.

The word superfluous means something

that is unnecessary, vain.

It doesn't really have any meaning.

And so he's saying, I don't really need to

tell you guys about ministering to the saints

because you guys, you know, by his testimony,

you guys are already all in.

You really want to do this.

This is something that you excel at.

It would be kind of like me telling soul winners

how to give the gospel or telling a bunch of people

on the missions trip, like,

hey, preaching the gospel is important.

It's kind of like superfluous in his mind

because it's like, oh, you guys are already got this down

or you guys already nailed this.

You guys already showing this zeal.

So he's saying, you know, I don't really need to

write this to explain this to you guys.

He says in verse two, for I know the fordness of your mind

for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia

that Akaiya was ready a year ago

and your zeal provoked very many.

So he's saying, I didn't really need to write this

to tell you about the importance of ministering to the saints

because you guys have already said this yourself

and you've already proven that you want to do this

and you've talked about this

and I personally have been boasting of the fact

that you guys are really interested

in ministering the saints

and that you're very zealous

for ministering into the saints.

And so you've provoked other people.

Now, Akaiya is like the southern portion of Greece

and Macedonia is the northern portion of Greece.

Akaiya is capital city is Corinth.

So Corinth is like the main city of this region

like the southern region of Greece.

And so that's just kind of labeled Akaiya

and then the northern portion is Macedonia.

And so he travels up to that portion of Greece.

And so you kind of have this rivalry in a sense.

You kind of have the southern region.

You have the northern region.

And he's saying like this southern region,

their zeal for giving

and their zeal for ministering the saints

has provoked the northern region to be like,

well, we want to be like them

and we want to follow like suit.

And so, you know, sometimes your faith

and the things that you do

not only affect your local area,

but they can affect other regions

and other parts of the world

and provoke other people undoing good.

You know, we're supposed to love people

and we're supposed to revoke them unto love

and good works is what the Bible says.

And so, you know, by going to church

and going soul winning and going on missions trips,

sometimes you don't realize the impact

you may have on another church

or another area or Christians in another part of the world.

And, you know, unfortunately most people

we're just very influential.

We're not, we're not these lone rangers

where we just kind of just do our own thing.

We're very impacted by the things that we see

and we hear and we experience

and whether this be positive or negative.

And unfortunately, we just don't have very many people

that are good influences in the world.

You know, we talk about this social media

and the internet now,

a lot of people strive to be called an influencer

and, you know, whatever they are saying

is going to majorly impact the minds and the hearts

and the affections of a lot of people

and that's the point of the influencer.

But the influencer kind of in some ways

has an ability to actually put people

in a particular mood that they want.

If they want to be positive,

they can kind of impact a lot of people

to be really positive.

And if they're negative,

it can cause a lot of people to be negative.

And, you know, when major events happen

or there's something in the public discourse,

oftentimes whatever the leaders say

many people will follow suit.

You know, they'll put up the France flag

on their profile picture.

They'll put on the mask.

I mean, how many people just put on the mask?

And it was just based on, well, everybody's doing this.

And so, you know, we have to realize that

by and large humanity is very influential

and it can be influenced very easily.

It's just very adaptable and it's like sheep.

And that's why the Bible uses these kind of terms

is that people will really be impacted

by what they see and hear.

And so that's why it's important to have leaders

and have good leaders pushing good narratives

and good works and good things

because it will revoke many people under good works.

And we can't dismiss the impact of good works

and zeal and faith and being steadfast.

And notice this region wants to give.

And so it impacts a lot of people to want to give.

If they were stingy, then it may have impacted

the Macedonians to be stingy and like suit.

And so it's important the decisions you make.

It's important how you approach faith and Christianity.

It provokes a lot of people.

You know, your church attendance

impacts other people's church attendance.

And there's some people, they're just kind of waiting

for someone to be negative or positive in their life.

You know, there's some people that are just waiting

for someone to be like, hey, let's go to church.

And then they're gonna go to church with them.

And then there's some people that are saying

they're kind of waiting for you to say,

let's skip church today.

And they're kind of like, yeah, let's skip church.

And it's like people are just kind of very influential.

People are kind of ready to be influenced one way or another.

And so that's why it's important for men

to be a positive impact and a positive influence

and to lead their families and actually do the right thing

because you can provoke many people to want

to do good things, to have a good impact.

And so, you know, this church is impacting a lot of people

that want to give money to the poor.

And that's a good thing.

And without their example, without their zeal,

and you know, the Corinth church kind of gets a bad rap.

You know, let's just be honest.

First Corinthians is a rough book.

I mean, if we were to like,

just go through First Corinthians

and just kind of look at every single page,

it's just like idolatry and weird fornication

and they're eating meat sacrifice in idols

and they've got the weirdest fornication.

And I mean, they've got some major, major issues.

People don't even believe in the resurrection.

They've got a strange speaking and tongues thing going on

and chapter number 14.

I mean, it's kind of messy.

There's a lot of problems, but you know what?

They got some good things too.

And you know, I think that also goes to illustrate

the complexity of humanity that people are complex

and that even if they are screwed up

in some areas of their life,

that doesn't mean they're screwed up in every area.

In fact, you can almost argue

that while they are screwed up in some areas,

they're kind of like excelling in others.

Like, oh, okay, well, they are screwed up

on church discipline.

They're screwed up on the Lord's Supper.

They're screwed up on, you know, some doctrinal issues.

But you know what?

They have a lot of charity

and they have a lot of love for the saints.

And you know what?

Love covers a multitude of sins.

And so, you know, we don't want to sit here

and just think that, well, this person's bad

in this one area, so there's a bad person.

There's nothing redeemable about them.

You know, we sometimes need to also focus

on the good attributes

and the good things they have going for them

and not always just picking them apart

for not being perfect.

You know, most people are just not gonna be perfect.

Most people don't have it altogether.

Most people aren't just excelling

in every ministry, in every area.

And I'm not saying we don't call it out.

I'm not saying that we don't try to help them

to improve in those areas.

You know, sometimes it's also beneficial

to recognize the good.

You know, recognize the good in your children,

recognize the good in your spouse,

recognize the good in your church,

in your pastor.

You know, I'm not a perfect pastor.

I'm sure I have many deficiencies.

I'm sure that we don't excel

in every single program and every single ministry.

I'm sure I'm not, you know, the best in every category.

And that's okay.

But you know what?

Why don't you appreciate your pastor

for the things that he does do well

or the things that he is doing good at

and the things that you can learn from.

And you know what?

That's what we should try to do in life

is not always only focus on the negative

but focus on the positive.

And here's the other good thing

is even if you are screwed up in a few areas,

we'll lean into the things that you got going well

for you at least.

You know, like, hey, you got this area that's bad.

Okay, well, that doesn't mean

you can't still do good in this other area.

It's like some people, it's like,

well, I'm getting bad in one area

so I'm just gonna give up or quit.

It's like, no, how about you just,

you know, keep doing the good thing

and we'll work on the problem areas.

We'll work on your issues.

But you know, people are complex.

People aren't just all good or all bad.

Churches aren't all good and all bad.

Ministries aren't all good and all bad.

You know, sometimes it's a mixed bag.

And we don't wanna just sit here and say,

oh, the Corinth Church is all bad.

It's got some good in here.

In fact, it's not just got good, it's got great.

Because it's saying this is a church that's provoked many

and this is an important ministry

and it's gonna help a lot of people.

And you know, it's gonna be easier for this church

to just tweak like a few church discipline issues

than it is for a church to go from being really stingy

to just being really charitable.

Like it's probably easier for them to just fix

that church discipline issue

than it's gonna be to get a church

to go from all being really stingy and covetous

to end up being very generous and charitable.

And so, you know, even though

you might look at a lot of their issues,

some of their issues are easy to fix and can change

and they'll never have to work on that again.

Whereas you just being an uncharitable person

and just being kind of a covetous,

greedy, stingy human like Uncle Scrooge or something,

then, you know, that's even more difficult to change.

That's even more difficult to fix.

And so, you know, you don't wanna just be overly critical

because maybe you're a little bit more doctrinally sound

but you're just kind of a stingy grumpy person

and this other person that's a little bit, you know,

squirrely, undoctrined

but it's just a really loving, charitable person.

They might be able to fix themselves way sooner than you

and end up even being a better Christian than you anyway.

So, you know, you don't wanna necessarily just judge people

because you got one area right

or you're better than them in some other area.

You know, we're complicated, we're a mixed bag

and you know, Paul is commending this church.

He boasts about this church often.

I mean, think about it.

This is like a screwed up church.

You'd kind of wanna like be like,

I don't even wanna talk about them.

Like, they've got weird issues.

In fact, when he brought up the issue

in 1 Corinthians chapter five,

don't you remember he was saying like,

this is like being widely reported?

Like, everybody's talking about this.

So, you kind of think like,

oh, I don't even wanna bring them up

because they've got this issue.

But you know what?

He's like, hey, yeah, they got that issue

but you know what?

They're really charitable

and they really love ministering the saints.

So, that tells me, you know what?

You can like people that have problems.

You can like people that you don't even agree

with everything they do

or everything that's going on in their life

or that's made mistakes.

You know, it's like, oh man, you support this person

but you know they have this issue.

It's like, okay, but everybody has issues.

And even if I did technically disagree with them

in some areas of their life,

doesn't mean I can't just be friendly or support them

where I can and where I like and whatever.

You know, there's preachers

where I hear them preach a sermon,

I don't agree with it.

Okay, well then, don't agree with it.

But you know what?

That doesn't mean you can't agree with other sermons

or other ministries

or other things that they're doing.

The Apostle Paul is promoting the Corinth Church

and bragging and boasting about the positive things

they have going on.

And so, you know, we wanna make sure

that we don't just demonize people based on one thing

and not considering the whole package,

not having grace, not having mercy.

And you know, I see that the Apostle Paul is able to

praise people where they can be praised

and to correct or approve

where he needs to correct and reproof.

So we wanna be like the Apostle Paul

and we don't wanna just go one way or the other.

We don't wanna just go all grace.

Well, I'm never gonna address sin or issues or problems.

But we also don't wanna go fully like,

well, they're just bad.

And I only wanna correct them and just rebuke them

and I want nothing to do with them.

It's like, he's kinda trying

to blend these two ideas a little bit here.

And you know, I think that's why we should approach

a lot of things that we care about and love.

You know, with your children,

don't only focus on the criticisms, love them,

appreciate them, talk positively to them.

You know, encourage them in the areas

that they have going well for them.

But at the same time, you don't wanna do the opposite.

You don't wanna only, you know,

just sugar and candy canes and roses

and you never discipline them.

You never tell them the wrong.

You know, we need a healthy level of both, don't we?

And that just, we should learn from these lessons.

But one of the things that's just really important

and just one of these things that,

it seems like it's very hard to change

in someone's personality is just being a generous person.

And you know what, this chapter

is really emphasizes being generous

and just being someone that loves ministering

to other people and cares about other people.

And you know what, it's hard to cause people

to really have a lot of love for others.

You know, the Bible warns about the end times

that the love of many shall wax cold.

And you know, it's kind of a sad thing

when you see people that are just only out for themselves,

they only are working for themselves

or considering themselves and they don't love others.

You know, that's not Christianity.

Christianity is a true faith of loving other people

and ministering to other people

and finding people that need help and need love

and you're trying to help those individuals.

This has a verse three.

Yet if I sent the brethren,

lest their boasting of you should be in vain

on this behalf, that as I said, you may be ready,

let's happily, if they have Macedonia come with me

and find you unprepared,

we that we say not ye should be ashamed

in this same confident boasting.

Now, the apostle Paul is saying,

it's not necessary that I write this under you

because you guys already said you're gonna do this,

but what I didn't want to happen is you said all this,

I went and bragged about how you're gonna give

all this money and then we show up

and they're like, oops, we didn't collect any of the money.

So we're sending a few guys ahead of us

and these guys are gonna come and remind you

and help you prepare this gift

so that when we show up with all those people

from Macedonia, we're like, hey,

remember how I was bragging about it?

Well, here's the gift that they're gonna give

and they've ready and so my statements match reality here

and that you guys aren't caught

not having delivered on what you said.

I don't look like a fool for having bragged

and boasted about your love and generosity

and so things are kind of lining up.

So he's just kind of trying to tell them,

hey, this is one of the reasons

why I'm sending these guys to you

is to make sure you are good on your word

that what I've been boasting and bragging about you guys

you really want to do and then it works out

because it would be kind of embarrassing if you say,

hey, hey, in a year you're gonna need money,

no worries, I got you.

And then it's like a few weeks away

and you haven't even been thinking about it

and it's just like, it's kind of nice to be like,

hey, remember how you promised

to give some money to this guy?

Yeah, in three weeks he's gonna come to collect.

It's like, oh, thanks for letting me know

so I can be prepared, get my finances ready

so I can honor that promise, I can honor that word

and I can deliver on that so that it's not,

you're just caught unaware

and you had to replace the air conditioning unit

or you had to do whatever and you're just like, oh crap,

I wasn't gonna help you but then I wasn't thinking about it

and then I wasn't prepared

and look with money, sometimes money takes preparation.

Finances, getting your money in order, timing

and stuff like that and so planning is important.

So he's sending these people, they're planning.

You know, often you don't really accomplish things

that you don't really plan to do.

You know, you're not gonna just get someone saved

without trying.

Like you're not, I know there's like lifestyle evangelists

that they go out there and they try to teach

like people are just gonna walk up to you

and ask how to get saved.

But here's the thing, if you've never even tried

to figure out how to get someone saved,

even though you may be saved,

you may not do a very good job.

You know, I've seen people that are not prepared

in giving the gospel and then when they get put

in that pressure cooker, they kind of freeze up,

they can't remember where verses are,

they're not really good at explaining things

and so that's why it takes a little bit of preparation.

So you know, think about the verses you wanna say,

think about how you would communicate that,

watching other people, how they kind of handle

different situations and different objections

and different scenarios and stuff like that.

You know, getting someone saved takes some planning,

it takes some preparation.

You know, learning verses, preparing yourself,

going out, seeing it, then just getting some experience

of actually talking to people

and trying to actually persuade them to repentance,

to change in their mind.

Now once you've done it several times,

you start getting the confidence and you know,

hey, I am able to deliver the gospel effectively

when given an opportunity.

You know, even if you're really good

at giving the gospel, if it's a family member

or someone you really care about,

it's still kind of nerve-wracking.

Like it's still kind of difficult, you know,

for whatever reason, giving the gospel to a stranger

is easy, you know?

And just like, I'm never gonna see you again, I don't care.

It's like someone that you love though

or someone that you care about

or that someone's that close to you,

isn't it just like way harder and more like,

they're more anxiety and giving them the gospel?

Who would say, yeah, it's way harder to get,

yeah, exactly.

I mean, it's just, it's the interesting phenomena.

But you know, if you really care about that person,

you wanna practice on some strangers

before you even get in that scenario.

And so, you know, oh, I wanna get someone saved.

Yeah, it takes planning, time, effort.

I want a good job.

Well, you know, you want a good job?

It's not gonna just magically happen.

You know, you gotta actually put some planning,

some time, some effort, some energy,

you know, whether that be going to school,

getting a degree, getting some kind

of a technical experience, getting on job training,

you know, interviewing, you know, working your way up.

I mean, and you're gonna have to put

a lot of effort and energy to acquire a good job.

You wanna buy a house?

It's not gonna just happen overnight.

You gotta put in, you know, a lot of diligence,

a lot of time, even when you have the money,

buying a house can be very difficult.

Just the market could be, the timing

and the market could be difficult.

Interest rates are constantly changing.

You know, there's all kinds of different factors.

There's been many houses that I put offers in,

was excited to buy, didn't happen,

fell through issues.

You get the house and then the inspection comes back,

everything's broken, everything's a train wreck

and then you still buy it because you're crazy,

I don't know.

But I mean, there's all kinds of different scenarios

but I'm just telling you, you wanna accomplish something good,

you wanna accomplish something,

you have to put time, effort and energy.

And you know, giving a special gift,

giving a big gift as a church to another church,

it takes some effort.

You may not just be able to do that overnight.

You know, things that are worthwhile,

take a lot of effort, take a lot of planning,

take a lot of diligence.

You know, and as a church, we have lots of goals

and we have lots of visions

and you know, they're not gonna just happen automatically,

they're not gonna happen magically.

We are gonna have to plan and put in the hard work

and put in the diligence in order to accomplish those goals.

And so we should realize, hey, you wanna be a giving church,

you wanna be a mission sending church,

you wanna do these things,

you have to put in the diligence, the time,

the planning, the effort

and you don't want to be unprepared.

You wanna be prepared.

And you know, if someone is helping you

to keep your word and to be prepared,

don't hate the messenger.

Love the person that's coming to you.

You know, these guys are gonna be sent to them

to help them be prepared for this.

So, and you know what, you're gonna have people

in your life that are helping you prepare.

You know, who's the number one person

helping you to prepare?

Is your parents for life.

You know what, you should be listening to your parents.

And even as a teenager, listening to your parents

because they're preparing you for the world

and they're preparing you for life

and they're preparing you for marriage

and they're preparing you for all kinds

of different situations.

Preparing you to be a parent one day.

And you know what, in those final years,

it's really easy to want to be dismissive to your parents

and not care and not be interested in what they have to say.

You know what, you should really consider

what they have to say in those final years.

And even beyond, obviously, consider

still getting their advice.

You know, they're preparing you for this world.

And you know, this world is difficult, it's tough,

it's mean, it's not fair, it's dark,

it's filled with Jews.

Now it's being filled with Muslims and Hindus

and all kinds of crazy stuff.

Politics is screwed up, which has never was good,

but it seems like it's getting worse.

You know, it seems like it's getting worse in some cases.

The economy is difficult.

The job market is changing quicker than it has in the past.

I mean, there's a lot of challenges in this world.

Feminism is on the rise.

You know, finding the right kind of spouse

is gonna be difficult.

There's challenges spiritually.

Our culture is becoming less Christian every second.

Colleges are getting crazy.

The fornication and adultery is out of control in our country.

Drugs are out of control in our country.

There's all kinds of just crazy things in this world.

You know what, listen to your parents.

They're trying to prepare you for this world.

Just like this church, hey, what are they saying?

We don't need these people, we don't care.

We're just gonna do our own thing.

Well, then you're gonna be caught ashamed

and caught embarrassed.

And you know what, when you don't listen to your parents,

often you'll be caught and you'll be embarrassed

and ashamed of a lot of the bad decisions you've made.

You know, listening to your parents about who to date

and who to marry, this is an important thing.

You know, I heavily consider the opinions of my parents

on who I was dating and who I would consider marrying.

And you know, my mom was very opinionated

in this subject, okay?

She was extremely opinionated

and she was very negative towards lots of women

and calling them whores and whatever.

But you know, she didn't want me to marry someone like that.

She had very high standards for me.

And look, I'm not trying to disparage anybody.

I'm not even saying that you have to do this.

I'm just telling you that my mom would say like,

you're not allowed to marry anybody from a broken home,

women that aren't going to church,

women that are dressing in a hoarse outfit.

And you know, to her that was short shorts,

to her that was a short skirt.

You know, to her that was people

that didn't care about church.

You know, she had all these different things.

She said, if a girl calls you, she's a whore.

You know, like, I mean that,

I'm just telling you the advice my mom was giving me

and the kind of the thought she had.

Now, maybe things changed.

Obviously, I'm not saying people couldn't be redeemed

or changed from some of those bad habits,

but you know, she had high standards

and you know, I considered them.

And she was right.

You know, a lot of these girls

that I was maybe interested in or thought of, you know,

in hindsight, it's like, wow, she was a train wreck.

Wow, she was a bad person.

Wow, I'm just so glad I wouldn't even consider

going down that road.

You know, when I was younger in junior high

and high school, some of the girls that I was interested in

or I thought were really pretty or I liked at the time.

Boy, it changes.

And you know, don't get so invested

when you're in junior high, okay?

Because things change, people change.

The cool kids are not as cool, you know,

from junior high, even to high school.

You know, a lot of things change,

a lot of things develop.

You know, you don't have to get married

when you're in junior high, okay?

Now again, I'll be honest, I was kind of like interested

in girls as far back as I can remember, okay?

I think when I was in second grade,

I proposed to my girlfriend, all right?

So, you know, it was weird, all right?

I am not recommending that.

I'm not suggesting that.

I don't think you should do it, okay?

I'm just telling you that like, hey, I was ready.

But you know, that's silly.

I don't even know who,

I don't even remember her or anything about it.

But it's just like funny because obviously things change.

People change.

You know, when me and my wife, we went to school together

and probably when we first were aware of each other,

I mean, I might have been like six

or eight inches shorter than her,

maybe even a foot shorter than her, I don't know.

And I was probably extremely annoying.

And you can ask her opinion, okay?

But she'd probably say amen.

But you know, I was probably not someone

she would even consider dating, you know?

And it's just like, yeah, but then things,

then I grew, things changed, all right?

Obviously girls like taller guys or whatever, you know?

I don't know.

I was just tall enough.

I just met the mark, all right?

But here's the thing.

It's just like things change, people change.

And you know, you don't want to just necessarily

just get your heart set on things

when you're a teenager and when you're a kid

because you may not know what's best.

You need to listen to your parents

and they're there to prepare you.

Just like these people are sent to this church

to prepare them for this gift.

You know what?

Marriage is a gift and marriage is special.

You should consider what your parents have to say.

Consider what advisors have to say.

Hey, even consider what your pastor has to say.

Consider what ministers have to say.

You know, they're looking out for you.

You know, it's not like I want my kids

to marry a bad person for them.

It's not like I want bad things

to happen in other churches and stuff like that.

You know, that's why it's important

to consider these things.

You know, some people take this so far

that they have like courting and like parents pick

the spouses and stuff and all these crazy,

I'm not saying you have to do that kind of stuff.

I'm not saying I'm approving of arranged marriages, okay?

But you know what?

I'm also not going to say that arranged marriages are bad.

I don't have anything negative to say about it

because frankly speaking, if you asked me,

like, do you think you'd pick a good spouse

for your kids?

I probably would, you know?

But am I going to do arranged marriages?

No, I'm not going to do that.

But you know what?

I do think it would be bad to ignore your parents' advice.

I do think, again, if your parents are not even saved,

they hate God and they don't want you

to marry a Christian lady or something, okay,

maybe there's an exception there.

But I bet even unsaved people will be like,

yeah, I like her, she's nice, she's sweet,

she's a Christian girl.

They probably wouldn't even be mad about it, okay?

But boy, when they're just saying,

this guy is a bozo, this guy is a weirdo,

this guy is a freak, this guy's not going to provide well.

You know, this girl seems like a rebellious girl,

she doesn't obey her dad,

she doesn't care what her dad thinks,

she's constantly just doing bad things.

Like hey, those are things to consider

and to be aware of and say, hey, I don't want to be around,

I don't want to disregard my parents' advice

because I guarantee they're going to give you good advice.

And you probably don't care,

but I'm just going to tell you anyways.

You know what, listen to your parents.

Consider their advice.

You know, my parents totally approved of my wife.

I asked both of my in-laws, I took them to lunch

and I was asked both of their permission

before I even asked my wife to marry me.

And you know, I think that that's really important.

And I would have been, it would have been,

I would have been heartbroken

if that wasn't even on the table or was an option.

I don't know what I would have done for sure

because I really loved my wife.

But you know, getting the parental blessing

was a big deal to me.

And you know, I know that's not necessarily

directly the context of this passage,

but I think just in general, you know,

taking the advice of people trying to prepare you

for important decisions and things that are important,

you should consider their advice

so you're not ashamed.

So you're not embarrassed later.

Verse five is,

So he wants to go there.

I'm sorry, he's sending people there.

And these people are going to help them prepare a gift

that's a bounty.

And again, the bounty, what it's meaning here

is it's meaning like gift of your abundance.

It's bountiful in the sense that like you're not,

you're not obligated here.

And again, he's using the word covetousness

as being stingy.

So they're kind of, they're kind of

a little bit more difficult words to understand.

Maybe what is really being communicated.

But the bountiful is like generous and free will

and the covetousness is kind of like being stingy

and not, and kind of feeling like maybe giving out

of obligation in a sense.

And so he doesn't want them to just have

some small gift that they felt obligated to give.

He wants them a large gift that seemingly

is out of their desire.

And that's explained in the next few verses more clearly.

But he says here in verse seven,

every man according as he purposeth in his heart,

so let him give not grudgingly or of necessity

for God loveth a cheerful giver.

So notice he's really clarifying what he means here

by the bountiful and by the covetous

that he doesn't want someone to just be giving

the grudgingly, but they want to in their heart.

They desire to give this.

They love these people.

They want them to have this.

And that should just be your mentality anytime you're giving.

Shouldn't really be giving out of a grudging attitude,

but it should be out of generosity,

out of love, out of a compassion,

out of what you want to do.

You love this person and you desire to do good unto them.

And so we should give not grudgingly or of necessity,

but cheerfully, meaning you're happy

to give somebody something.

You're not like, I guess I'll give you this money

or whatever, here, have $20, you know.

It's like, no, you have 40.

I want you to have this money.

I'm so excited to give to you.

I would feel honored to be able to help you.

I feel honored to be able to bless you

and to do good and I'm excited to help you.

Not so that you can feel good about yourself,

but so that they can accomplish what they need to do, right?

You think about, hey, there's this church

that needs this money so they can go on a missions trip

or they can fund some work and you're like,

I'm excited to give the money so they can fund the work.

It's not that I like getting anything out of it.

I just want them to be able to accomplish their work

and accomplish their goals.

And I want to give this money

so their pastor can be taken care of

and that, hey, the pastor is having a good time

and that he's not having to feel bad

or the missionaries are doing good

or we want Christians to be excited about the work

and we want Christians to be able to do their work

and we don't want them to be held back

because they're just something simple like money.

And so there's some people in this world, God bless them

that genuinely just want to give money

to the work of the Lord and to poor saints

and to poor people.

And it may not even be related to church work.

It could just be you want to bless somebody

that needs help with their car or with their house

or with their family or with bills or whatever.

And you just want to be a blessing to that person

because you just love them and you want to help them

in their walk for Christianity.

And that is what God loves.

God loves that cheerful giver.

It's not about the money.

It's not like, well, I gave $10

and this person gave $10,000.

Yeah, but maybe the $10,000 was grudgingly

and the $10 was cheerful.

And it's like he actually prefers,

God actually prefers the heart giving,

the cheerful giving over the amount of money.

It's not about the amount of money for God.

It's about the heart.

Now obviously if someone comes to you needing,

hey, I really need like, let's say it was $1,000

or something and it's like, well,

I'm really happy to give you this nickel.

It's just like, well, now you're kind of like

venturing in on like James chapter two

where it's like, be warmed and filled.

And it's just like, okay,

look, if that was all you had

and you're willing to give it, go for it.

But obviously not actually supplying their need

isn't necessarily like gonna help them either.

So you kind of wanna find that balance

of meeting their need, it being cheerful.

Obviously, it's for a purpose that makes sense too.

The Bible says that the righteous

consider it the cause of the poor.

It's like, well, okay, are you using this

to get drugs or using this to get alcohol?

Are you using this to skip church and to not serve God?

And you know, I mean, I've had somebody

ask me for money so they could divorce their spouse.

I'm not joking.

Like they wanted a charity handout from the church

so they could divorce their spouse.

And it was just like, the long speech

was just about how bad their spouse was

and the lead up to, so I need this money

so that I can divorce them and get away from them.

And I'm just like, well, I can't,

I can't in good conscience give you money for that.

You know, even if you thought it was justified,

which I don't personally believe that,

but I'm just saying like, even if you believe,

and again, the story is the person's a reprobate, whatever.

And it's like, some people see that as a justification.

Even if you did see that, like I just not,

I gotta give money in that way.

Now look, obviously if someone needs help,

maybe I'll give them a job

and I'll give them money for that job.

Now if they use that money for whatever means,

then so be it.

But you know what?

I'm not gonna just directly fund sin.

I'm not gonna just directly fund something

that violates my conscience and that I don't agree with

and that I don't think is right.

You know, and then in some cases,

I may not even just give money to people.

I may give them a job and then just,

and then just pay them generous or something.

Just pay them something that wouldn't even

really make sense to pay.

So, you know, at least they get to work for it.

You know, that's discretion.

That's for you to discern how you wanna operate.

But you know, we should consider the cause of the poor.

Obviously liberals and Democrats today,

they wanna just give our money away through taxes

to fund bad things.

To fund women not living with their husband,

divorcing their husband, single motherhood,

planned barrenhood, all kinds of like things

that are sinful.

And it's like, oh, well, we didn't give the money

to the abortion directly.

We just gave them money to pay their electric bill.

It's like, oh, okay, look, that's silly logic.

That's just an excuse.

That's just, you know, Republicans still funding abortion,

whether they wanna admit it or not.

Well, it didn't go to the abortion fund.

Well, by paying all the other bills,

that bill money then went to the abortion fund.

So, yes, you did fund it.

Yes, you did support it.

And you know, that's not what God is talking about here.

God's also not talking about giving people

other people's money.

It's like, you're giving your money

that's in your power that you want to give,

that's what giving should look like.

That's the right heart.

That's the right mentality.

He says here in verse eight,

and God is able to make all grace abound toward you,

that ye always having all sufficiency

and all things may abound to every good work.

As is written, he hath dispersed abroad,

he hath given to the poor,

his righteousness remaineth forever.

Now, he that minister cede to the sower,

both minister bread for your food

and multiplier cede sown,

and increase the fruits of your righteousness,

being enriched in everything to all bountifulness,

which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

So, this is a wordy thing that he's saying here.

And again, the language in Second Corinthians

is a difficult language.

But what is he saying?

He's he saying, okay,

if you give to these poor saints,

then God can make all grace abound toward you,

meaning that now God is gonna try and be gracious to you

and help you financially

because you are giving grace to these saints

and helping them financially.

And notice he'll make all grace abound toward you,

that ye always having all sufficiency

and all things may abound to every good work.

Did you notice that?

It's having all sufficiency

and all things to abound to every good work.

What is he trying to say?

He's saying, well, if you give to this ministry,

you're giving to help fund this work,

then God will make sure that you guys have the money,

the finances and the assets

to accomplish all the works you guys wanted to do.

So it's like God doesn't wanna rob Peter to pay Paul.

God doesn't want like steadfast Baptist church

to give money to some ministry so that they can do soul winning

and then we now can't do soul winning

or now we're funding this mission's trip over here

so then we can't fund this other mission's trip

or something.

What is he saying?

You have to have by faith trust God

and that if you are helping others

to fund their ministries out of a cheerful heart,

out of cheerful giving

that God will then give you grace and will fund you

so that you can continue and your work

because he doesn't want to rob Peter to pay Paul.

He doesn't want to cripple the guy

that's funding everyone else.

He wants to continue blessing that person.

But again, this takes faith, doesn't it?

Because there isn't just like some carnal guarantee.

There isn't something that we can see with our eyes.

It may not make sense to us

how God could possibly fund our operations

or give us the things that we need.

It's by faith.

But what he's saying is if you do this,

this is a promise that God makes.

This is the promise that God delivers unto us

that he will take care of you

and that he will bless you

and that he will cause grace to abound towards you.

He says, as it is written,

he hath dispersed abroad.

He hath given to the poor his righteousness.

Here, what is he saying?

Remaineth forever.

Now, these are some quotes that we have in the Bible.

Let's go to a couple.

I'm gonna Psalm 112.

Keep your finger and go to Psalm 112.

That is what's being quoted here in verse number nine.

Is Psalm 112.

And honestly, it's kind of a shorter Psalm.

So I kind of want to just read through it quickly.

But notice that it says,

praise ye the Lord,

blesseth the man that feareth the Lord

that delighteth greatly in his commandments.

His seed shall be mighty upon the earth.

The generation of the upright shall be blessed.

Wealth and riches shall be in his house

and his righteousness endureth forever.

Onto the upright there arise a light in the darkness.

He is gracious and full of compassion and righteous.

A good man showeth favor and lendeth.

He will guide his affairs with discretion.

Surely he shall not be moved forever.

The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.

He shall not be afraid of evil tidings.

His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.

His heart is established.

He shall not be afraid until he sees his desire

upon his enemies.

He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor

his righteousness endureth forever.

His horn shall be exalted with honor.

The wicked shall see it and be grieved.

He shall nash with his teeth and melt away

the desire of the wicked shall perish.

Now, verse nine is what's being quoted.

It's, he hath dispersed.

He hath given to the poor

his righteousness endureth forever.

You know, the Bible often speaks in this,

this double meaning or this double situations

where it's talking about a person

and then it overlaps with the Lord and with God himself.

And so, of course, we can first understand

that it's talking about this person.

There's this person that he's talking about.

There's a person that's righteous

and how does God describe this person?

Someone that's doing right all the time.

That's following all of God's commandments.

What is gonna happen to him?

Well, his seed's gonna be mighty on the earth.

Verse three, his wealth and riches are gonna be in his house

and he's gonna show favor.

And then verse six, he's never gonna be moved ever.

He's not gonna be afraid of evil tidings.

His heart's established.

But then what is he like?

What is the type of person that has all this stuff?

He hath dispersed.

He hath given to the poor.

So someone that actually is considered righteous

that is following God's commandments.

It's someone that's distributing to poor people,

giving money to poor.

He's helping the poor people when they need it.

And specifically his righteous is in the earth forever.

His horns should be exalted.

And then of course all the enemies

are just gonna be so mad

they can't destroy this guy.

It's like you can't beat him.

You can't defeat him.

And taking this in some applications,

it's like, yes, someone,

and I mean, let's just think about it.

Especially in America,

I get in some countries

we may not have same opportunities

and ability to climb the ladder.

But in America, you have still a pretty

big opportunity to succeed, by and large.

And the main reason why people are not succeeding

in this country is themselves.

Because if you were to take God's law,

if you were to take God's principles,

you're gonna take the proverbs and apply them correctly.

Where you are working diligently.

Your work six days shout thou labor.

You're getting wisdom and you're studying

as hard as you can

and you're seeking the Lord with all your might.

Everything that you find to do at work,

you never have eye service.

You're always doing everything that's right.

You're seeking the greatest wisdom.

You're working as hard as humanly possible.

Like you will succeed.

Like it's not a question.

And of course, you're gonna be able

to use your money with discretion

and you're gonna invest

and you're gonna do all these things.

You're gonna be so financially stable

that even if inflation hits

and even if COVID hits and all this stuff,

like it doesn't even matter.

And this is what people don't even understand,

especially in our economy and especially in our world.

You know, when you have money,

here's the sad thing that I explained to you.

When you have money, inflation doesn't hurt you.

It hurts everybody that doesn't have money, okay?

When you have assets and you have money

and you have a 401k and you have all this stuff,

you know what inflation does?

It gives you even more money.

Like you just keep getting, it's like monopoly

and you just put all the houses

and the hotels on the property.

When they land on your spot,

you're not getting a little bit now.

You're getting triple quadruple, 10 times, 20 times.

It's multipliers.

It's like, hey, you own,

I mean, these people that owned real estate in COVID,

they got multipliers

because all the property values went up a lot.

I mean, houses in the DFW area are going up

$100,000, $150,000, $200,000 each.

I mean, you own 20, 30, 40, 50 properties.

You just made millions of dollars doing absolutely nothing.

And so it's like evil tidings inflation.

But you know, for all of us living paycheck to paycheck,

inflation is bad.

Inflation's rough.

For those of us that have no assets,

getting assets just got that much further away.

And it's just like, it's just, it's more difficult.

And again, I'm not, I'm not trying to criticize the poor

and I'm not trying to like shame the poor.

But what I am trying to say is like,

hey, you know, the guy that's doing all this stuff

is probably gonna be fine.

But you know what's one of the characteristics

of this high version?

It's someone that's really generous.

And that seems backwards.

You think like, no, no, no,

the guy that's got a lot of money,

he is, you know, saving everything he's got.

He's stingy, he's uncle Scrooge.

It's like, no, actually the righteous guy

is someone that's actually a very generous person.

He's kind to people and he loves people.

And you know, here's what you don't understand

about how God's economy works sometimes

is that when you're generous,

you know what you do?

You gain favor with people and you make connections.

And those connections last a lifetime

and you have a good name and you have a good reputation

and people like you.

And just all this favor and blessing

and grace works towards you.

Whereas when you're stingy and ungrateful,

then everybody calls you a Jew.

And they don't like you and they don't wanna work with you

and you run a lot of your connections

and you kind of like don't have things.

You know, even really rich people in our minds

don't even have money.

I mean, there's how many professional athletes

and actors and whatever,

they've made millions and millions of dollars

and they're broke or in debt or have nothing.

You know, it's more important to have wisdom

and knowledge and hard work than it is

to just have a bunch of money poured in your lap

because a fool with money will stay a fool

and he'll lose it all.

A wise man with little can build and have great wealth

and have all the things he needs.

Now again, our life is not about building wealth

and having money and being rich and all that stuff.

We're supposed to seek you first, the kingdom of God.

But here's the interesting thing.

You seek God first and you still follow the commandments.

He just adds all those things within anyways.

It's what the Bible teaches.

It's what the Bible says.

And think about it.

If our kids were actually wise

and they don't just waste $200,000

playing beer pong for four years

and get behind the eight ball

and go get a job that's skillless labor

and just do whatever the man says

and waste all their money on frivolous things

and just stupid things and whatever.

I mean, I worked for a software company

and there's like 10 of us that were developers

and I was like the only one that was married, I think.

I was like the only one that was married

and all of us were making very good money

and they were all making six figures

and this was like way before COVID.

This is like several years before COVID.

This is when six figures meant something, okay?

All right.

Sorry, it doesn't even mean anything anymore.

But like these guys, they would waste their money

on the dumbest things I've ever seen in my life.

I mean, when it came to Halloween

they all had like professional outfits.

They had like Pokemon outfits

and like Harry Potter outfits and like ninja suits

and like this one guy had like four motorcycles

and like they would come to work.

They were super into Pokemon.

I don't know.

It was back when it was like the Pokemon go

or catch them or whatever.

I don't know.

I didn't understand it

but I was the only one that didn't play in the office.

Okay.

They would come and they'd be like

I bought this actual Pokemon ball online.

It's like $450 and I'm just like, what is wrong with you?

Like this person is making so much money

but it's like, but they live in an apartment by themselves

and they waste all their money on stupid dumb crap

that they don't even care about.

And it's just weird.

And it's like, having wisdom will help you

with what money you have.

You can make less

and with wisdom end up having more overall

than the guy that makes a ton and has no wisdom.

And while you might think this is inverted

giving is not gonna stop you from building wealth.

According to the Bible,

being generous is actually a good thing.

And you never know.

Lots of people have plenty of testimonies

where they give and they're generous, they're cheerful

and God somehow just like does something in their life.

They weren't expecting and God just blesses them back.

And you know, that's how God's economy works.

But you know, it also is God.

God is the one that's dispersing.

God's the one that's giving to the poor.

God's the one whose righteousness endures forever.

And God's the one whose horn is gonna be exalted.

You know why God likes a cheerful giver

because God's a giver.

God gave us the gift of eternal life.

God gave us life.

God reigns on the just and the unjust.

God's the one that gives us the power

to get wealth anyways.

And sometimes we demonize the rich

but I'm like, why would God give someone the power

to become wealthy and then be mad at him for getting wealthy?

Like, hey, I'm giving you his brilliant brain,

mind, opportunity, and I want you to work

as hard as possible, then he uses his brain,

effort, energy, works really hard and makes money.

He's like, why are you making money?

Idiot, you fool.

Like, no, you know what he wants?

He just wants the guy to say, okay,

even though I have this power and ability

and even though I'm making money,

I'm gonna still put God first.

And I'm gonna take some of that wealth that I built

and I'm gonna give it to poor people.

You know, the Bible talks about the rich man in 1 John.

He says, hey, that guy is supposed to give under the poor.

But you know, if no one's rich, then no one can give.

And then, you know, that stinks.

We want the rich guy.

We want the guy that works hard.

We want the guy that builds wealth.

We want the guy that works, you know,

so that he can help other people.

And you know, that's what the man does.

I mean, the man, we work to take care of that family

and they're not bringing anything in.

You know, for most of us, our wives don't bring anything in.

Our kids really don't bring anything in.

And you know, you have to work really hard

to provide for all these other humans,

all these other people,

and not even just you and your family and your kids,

even other people.

It's a different mindset.

It's a different mentality.

It's kind of similar, you know,

and I rag on single guys,

but you know, I'm gonna continue doing it.

It's funny that it's like when I go on a trip

or I travel or I'm working with men,

it's like somehow the guys that are married

and have a family and a job and all this stuff going on,

they're more helpful and they have more time

and more energy to give

than the guy that's single with nothing going on.

And I'm just, I'm like, I don't even get it.

And it's just like, well,

it's like God just makes these things work, you know?

And when you have a mentality

where you've been working to give to other people

and helping other people,

it's just like God somehow is able to use that.

Whereas if you're only thinking about yourself

and you only care about yourself,

well, then you're not gonna necessarily,

you're not gonna be as blessed.

And you're better being blessed by God

and having little than being cursed by God and having much.

Go for Isaiah 55.

Isaiah 55 has the second part of this quote.

It says, now, hear that minister seeded the sower,

both minister bread for your food

and multiply your seed sown

and increase the fruits of your rights.

And so this is quote from Isaiah 55.

Let's just start with

verse 10, for as the rain comeeth down

and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither

but water of the earth and maketh it bring forth

and bud that it may give seed to the sower

and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that go forth out of my mouth

that shall not return unto me void,

but it shall accomplish that which I please

and it shall prosper and the thing wherein to I sent it.

So some interesting things here in the book of Isaiah,

but notice he says in verse 10

that the rain comes down and snow

and notice this, it says it returneth not thither

but water of the earth.

It's saying like when the rain comes out

it's not gonna just go straight back up into a cloud.

What the rain is gonna do is gonna soak into the ground

and it's gonna bless the ground.

So this is the idea of giving.

You know, you're not, it's not alone

because you're not getting it back.

It's not alone with interest.

It's not the rain comes down,

soaks up the extra moisture and then goes back up.

No, it's going down to bless the earth.

The rain is truly going out and so it's a real gift.

It's really being given and it's not gonna be coming back.

Obviously if you understand the water cycle

eventually we understand the water recycles.

But what I'm saying in the context

is just saying at that moment

the water's not going back, it's going in the earth,

the earth's gonna soak it in

and the earth's gonna then use that to what?

To produce fruit, to grow, to actually prosper the seed

and it bringeth forth the bud

that it may give seed to the sower

and bred to the eater.

So the sower is the one who sows the seed.

But here's the thing, he can't eat seeds.

I can sunflower seeds or something

but I'm just, you're not gonna survive on seeds.

You need some bread.

And he's saying, well, this guy can't just live

if he's just always sowing seed and he gets nothing.

No, God's gonna cause him to get bred too

so that he can eat so then he can continue sowing the seed.

And what is our parable?

Well, in verse 11, so shall my word be

that goeth forth out of my mouth.

So he's trying to illustrate this parable.

Now we could use other parables

to kind of help figure out what we're talking about here

but the sower sowing the seed in Luke chapter eight

and in other gospels is what?

Someone preaching the gospels, preaching the word of God.

Now here's the thing, as that sower

you wanna preach the gospel,

you wanna be a consistent soul winner

but you can't do it if God doesn't give you the bread.

And what is he trying to say?

Hey, if you're a faithful soul winner,

if you're a faithful evangelist,

if you're a faithful preacher of God's word

then God is gonna reign on you,

that God's gonna shower blessings on you

and God's gonna take care of you financially

so that you can continue to preach the word

because God cares about the word being preached.

And if you're generous with your time, effort, energy

and money, God is gonna take care of you

so you can continue being generous

with your money and preaching the word of God

and so he's gonna take care of you in that illustration.

So the apostle Paul is taking those passages

and bringing them in here to remind you,

hey, God is gonna take care of you when you put him first.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness

and all these things shall be added unto you.

Talking about the food and the rain

and the clothes and everything else.

Of course, part of that is us being generous

and part of that is taking care of other people

when they need things.

Go to it back to 2nd Corinthians, chapter nine.

And we see in verse number 11,

being enriched in everything to all bountifulness

which cause it through us thanksgiving to God.

So when God does end up blessing you financially,

when you get a promotion at work,

when your bills are paid,

when you get that unexpected bonus, money, whatever,

we are to thank God.

We are to praise God.

We are to be always thankful to the Lord

for the things that He gives us.

And sometimes we try to separate our lives

from a carnal and a spiritual.

Look, God giving you a job is a blessing.

It's something to thank God for.

He cares about your real job.

He cares about your knowledge.

He cares about your promotions.

He cares about your work.

He cares about your business.

He cares about everything about you.

And you know what, you should be thankful

to God for these things.

But if you don't work hard,

you don't follow God's commandments,

you're not a generous person.

When you're not preaching the gospel,

well then you shouldn't really expect to God

to be that generous to you

and have all grace abound toward you.

You know, I want that grace.

What is grace?

I don't deserve it.

It's a blessing.

I didn't earn it.

It's grace.

You know, there's a lot of things in my life

that I've probably in my past especially thought,

well, I kind of got this because of me.

And in hindsight, I'm realizing it was grace.

I'm realizing it was God helping me

and blessing me.

You know, it's like someone doing investments

for the first time and a bull market, okay?

And this may go over a lot of people's heads,

but it's like, a lot of people like to try

and play the stock market for the first time, okay?

And there's this thing called a bull market, a bear market.

A bull market means the market's just going up, okay?

It doesn't matter what's happened, just going up.

A bear market means going down, no matter what.

And some people they think like, oh, I'm just so smart.

So they start buying money, buying stocks

and investing during a bull market.

And they're like, this is easy money,

but they've never really done it before.

And they don't realize that a bear market's coming, okay?

And they end up just losing even way more

than they ever gained in their little bull market

because they're just immature and silly

and they don't realize what's going on.

And I think for a lot of people,

they have good things going on in their life

and they think it's because of them

and they don't realize it's God.

And when they don't give God the glory

and when they're not seeking the Lord,

that bear market's gonna come

and they're gonna realize, wow, I wasn't that special.

Wow, I wasn't really that smart.

Wow, I wasn't some genius

and I don't really know that much

and I actually need God's favor and God's wisdom

and God's blessing.

It's easy to get puffed up,

it's easy to think that you're special,

but we need to have grace and we need to have humility

and we need to realize that the blessings

are coming from God.

He says here in verse number 12

for the administration of this service

not only is applied at the one of the saints

but is abundant also by many thanksgivings under God

while by the experiment of this administration

they glorify God for your profess objection

under the gospel of Christ

and for your liberal distribution under them

and under all men

and by their prayer for you

which long after you

for the exceeding grace of God in you.

Now again, this language is very difficult

but I believe what he's trying to say here

is that not only is this ministry

not only is what's happening

are we gonna be able to thank God for the actual money?

Okay, so it's like you got saints in Jerusalem,

Corinth gives them money.

Well, Corinth can say thanks for the money, right?

That's one really obvious thing

that we can all thank God that I got money

but more than just being thankful for getting money

they're thankful that the Corinth church

is spiritually mature enough

and seeking the Lord so much

that they will want to actually give a gift

that they're thankful to God for this service as well

because it's exercising their spiritual maturity,

it's exercising their willingness to serve God

and of course by them giving to the Lord

it's gonna cause them to seek the Lord more

and for God to bound more grace towards them

and to do good under them.

It's kind of like kids sometimes don't even realize this

or maybe employees don't always realize this.

Sometimes you're being tested.

Sometimes you're being tested by a parent

or an employer or whatever,

they give you a little bit and they see how you handle it

and you don't know that they wanna give you so much more

and they're just seeing how you do with it.

It's like the parable of the talents.

God gives the one, five and 10

and it was really to see who he's gonna give

10 cities to

and it's like you're so excited

not only do they gain the 10 pounds.

Good job, you got the 10 pounds,

that was good and I'll say thanks for that

but what we were really trying to do

is we really wanted to give you 10 cities

and so it's like, hey, this church,

God wants to bless with so much more grace

and so much more money

and so much more spiritual blessings

but they're not gonna get there until they do this task

and so the saints in Jerusalem are not only thanking God

that they got the money, that they got the relief

that they're gonna be able to accomplish the work needed

but they're thankful that this church

is gonna now be abounding in more spiritual blessings

and more spiritual graces

and that God can pour out onto them even more than they need

because they've been faithful in God's word.

And you know, more important to a parent often

is, you know, their kids being good kids.

It's like, it's like Mother's Day.

You know, your mom will be thankful

for the gift you gave them

but you know what, they're more thankful

that you gave them a gift

meaning that you love them and you were thinking about them.

So it's like, they're just happy that you're on a good path

and that you're a good child.

They care more about that than they did the actual gift.

It's like, thanks to the gift

but I'm even more thankful

that you wanted to give me a gift.

I'm even more thankful that you thought of me.

I'm even more thankful that you're a good daughter

or you're a good son.

I'm even more thankful that you're loving your kids.

I'm even more thankful that you're walking in truth.

And so it's just like he's trying to say,

hey, yeah, not only does it supply the want of the saints.

So not only is it actually just satisfying

that financial request,

but it's abundant also by many thanksgiving into God.

He's saying, while the experiment of this administration,

he's like, hey, it's like a test.

We're experimenting to see how much faith

you really have

if you're gonna really follow God's commandments here.

They glorify God in your professed subjection

unto the gospel of Christ

and for your liberal distribution in them and unto all men.

And by their prayer for you,

which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.

So it's like, I'm praying that this church

would be spiritually mature,

which submit to the gospel,

would be faithful to the word of God.

I want them to do this.

And then by them giving the money,

they're saying, wow, not only I get this money,

my prayers are working.

They are growing in the Lord.

They are mature.

They do love the gospel.

This was a test.

This was an experiment to see how much they really love God

and how much they really love the gospel

and they passed the test.

And so thanks so much to God

that not only did we supply the want

of the need of the saints,

but more importantly that their heart was tested

and it came out gold.

Because at the end of the day,

it's like God wants you to give the 10 talents

and work with them

and gain more 10 talents in this world.

But you know what?

He cares more about, oh wow, that's a good heart

that I can bless in the future.

And I'm just more excited about their maturity

and their heart and their service to God

and this objection to the gospel than anything.

And you have to realize that this life in some ways

is just an experiment.

You're just being tested.

You're going through an experiment.

And what is that experiment?

The experiment is when given complete free choice

and complete free will

and you can do whatever you want

in a country that has the most freedoms at this time

with the most prosperity

and the most excuses,

the most vanity,

what will you choose to do?

Will you go to church on Wednesday night?

Will you go soul winning this week?

Will you read your Bible?

When your husband asks you to do something

you don't want to do, will you say yes, Lord?

When your parents aren't looking,

are you going to obey their rules?

Are you going to work hard?

When your boss isn't looking, are you going to work hard?

Are you going to accomplish the things that you said?

You're being tested.

We're all being tested right now.

Will you continue going to church?

Where will you be in five years?

Will you be on the 10 year plaque?

Will you die a faithful Christian?

You are being tested.

Oh, I would love to give money to somebody, okay?

Here's the person, here's the time.

Are you going to write the check?

You know, that's what's happening in this is,

hey, this is an experiment.

This is a test.

Who are you?

What's really going on?

And you know, you're not usually tested

by the good things, the easy things.

You're tested by the hard things, by the difficulties.

Hey, when there's protestors, we still go to church.

Hey, when your job is asking you questions

on where you go to church.

I don't know, somebody told me, they were like,

they were like, there was a paper that said

something about steadfast, better church.

And they're like, hey, don't you go to this church?

Whatever.

Like, I know not the man, you know what I mean?

I mean, hey, you know Christ?

Do you believe the Bible?

You know, are you going to support the man of God?

Are you not going to support the man of God?

Are you going to believe the Bible?

Are you not going to believe the Bible?

Are you going to marry who God wants you to marry?

Are you not going to?

Are you going to obey your husband?

Are you not going to?

You know, some people are having some tough tests.

Do you stay married when you have a screwed up marriage?

The answer is yes, by the way.

Do you commit fornication?

No.

Do you do drugs?

Do you go back to the alcohol?

Do you stay away from the people

that 1 Corinthians 5 is telling you to stay away from?

Do you stay faithful to church?

Are you reading your Bible consistently?

You know, these things you're being tested on

and we see who you really are,

what your character is really like.

And you know what?

Not only is this church passing

by just giving the money,

they're passing by their subjection under the gospel.

They care about the gospel succeeding.

Hey, how do you,

what do you think about this missionary?

Are you going to support this missionary

when times are tough?

Are you going to give to the Lord

when times are tough?

You know, hey, oh, money's getting tight.

Are you still going to, you know, go to church

and preach the gospel and do the right things?

You know, you're being tested.

He says in verse 15,

thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

You know, it's not like God's going to ask you

to do something he's not willing to do.

You know, when he was tested,

when Jesus was tested, he succeeded.

When he was in the garden, not wanting,

he said, not my will, but thine be done.

He was willing to go on the cross.

He was willing to learn obedience.

He was willing to submit himself

and subject himself under the gospel.

And as the Bible describes it in an unspeakable gift,

it's kind of hard to even understand what that means.

But the Bible uses that language in other places.

It says about, you know, unspeakable words in chapter 12.

It talks about joy unspeakable in 1 Peter 1.

It talks about Romans 8, words that cannot be uttered.

In Ephesians 3, it talks about knowledge,

or things that pass the knowledge

or pass all understanding.

I think what it's trying to say

is that while we can communicate the gospel

and while we can talk about God's gift,

words alone are almost insufficient

to how sacrificial, how generous,

and how good God's gift was.

It's almost like it's indescribable in a sense.

We do our best.

The Bible describes it for us,

but it's almost like you can't say enough good things

about the gospel,

enough about how good God's gift was to us.

And that should be our picture and motivation

for the things that we do when we give,

when we sacrifice, when we're obedient,

when we subject ourselves.

And you know, don't despise the people

that are sent to you in your life

to prepare you for the works

and the gifts that you have to do.

Hey, we're sending these people to you to give this gift.

But you know, let's take that application

to all areas of our life.

Don't despise the parents God gave you

to prepare you for life.

Don't despise the pastor and the ministers

and the preachers that God gave you.

Don't despise the people in your life

that have been given to you to help prepare.

You prepare and realize that you are being tested.

You are going through an experiment right now

of your Christian life and who are you.

And whatever you do now in this life

is gonna follow in the next.

Your rewards, your place in heaven,

how pleased God is with you.

And you know what, I hope that many of us,

if not all of us, Jesus and God will look at

and say, well done, the good and faithful servant.

It's not slave, because it's King James Bible,

you know what I mean?

Servant.

And you know, I just, you know,

this is a kind of a easy chapter.

Just kind of skip over and not worry about

and not really think that much about.

But let us just think about, you know,

hey, am I preparing myself to do a good work for God?

And you know, you're never gonna do something great

for God on accident.

We gotta prepare ourselves,

we gotta plan to give a special gift.

And you know what we're supposed to give?

We're supposed to give our lives as a living sacrifice.

So let us prepare, let us take the weight of our lives,

let us recognize God as an unspeakable gift

he's given into us.

And let us do our best to give back to him.

And you know what you do?

He'll establish you and he'll bless you

and he'll have all grace bound towards you

and you'll have great rewards in heaven.

I mean, it's a win-win, but it takes one thing, takes faith.

Let us have great faith.

Let's go some prayer.

Thank you Heavenly Father so much for your word.

Thank you so much for your unspeakable gift.

Thank you for the sacrifice of your son

and his willingness and obedience

to die on the cross for our sins

and be buried and rose again to empty himself

of all riches and glory and just be a humble,

unknown servant to be born in a manger

to just rid himself of all the glory and riches

and just come in the form of a humble servant.

And I pray that we could too also have a desire of humility

that we could have a desire to be serving

that we could work hard, not for our own self

or selfish gain, but rather to be a blessing

to help others.

I pray that when we give, we'd give out a cheerful heart.

I pray that we'd bless ministries and churches

and saints as we see opportunity

that we'd have that cheerful and willing heart.

I pray that you would not only prepare us

for financial giving, but also that you prepare our hearts

to give of ourselves, to give of our time,

to give of our energy.

I pray that you'd help prepare the young people

to look up to their parents and to their pastor

and to their teachers and to those

that are ministering in their life

to take their advice seriously.

I pray that you'd help raise up a generation of people

that love you, that work hard,

that follow your commandments

and that are very generous people.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.