Thanks Be to God for His Inexpressible Gift
First B Jackson
2015-11-15

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Oldies but goodies that have kinda come out of retirement today too to sing and it's good stuff. So, stand with us and sing one you know. Amen. Alright. Take the name of Jesus with you.

Amen. Sorry. Sorry. Let's just do it. Alright.

Amen. Y'all sound good. We're gonna sing a couple of em in a minute that y'all might not remember. We've been a while since we've sung em but if you would, you can have a seat right now. I'm gonna encourage you to get out your hymn books and look at your lines this for the next couple of em that we sing though I want you

to help because I hadn't seen them in

a while either. So, it's good stuff though. Welcome. Glad that you're here. I know some of you are here visiting and some of you here visiting for the second week in a row.

Praise God you're back. You hear the rest of that message from last week. Welcome. The announcements. Last weekend, we had tough guys and drama queens was a parenting seminar that was done by Mark Gregston from Heartlight Ministries in Texas It was really good.

The only thing that we lacked, I felt like, was it was on a weekend where there was so much activity going on with the football game on Friday night and volleyball and basketball and everything else going on on Saturday that a lot of people missed it. So we have taped it. We have the audio available on the website probably starting tomorrow. So you can listen to it. He also left behind a lot of books and that we that we'd like for y'all to see and have if you want them.

So Mark Grexton, those books and audio is available, Tough Guys and Drama Queens. It's actually really, really good. I thought the series was great. Monday nights at First B is happening tomorrow night, 06:00, guaranteed meal, music, and a message every Monday night, and it's gonna be down the hall in the fellowship hall, and that's a great time. Carl Clemmer, associate pastor, is preaching through Philippians right now.

He's up to the end of the first chapter, and it's been just fantastic. A real nourishing kind of thing. No pun intended, Bill, music, and a message. Solid Rock Youth Group, everything is as it should be. We have had this morning a middle school and high school class that meets during the during the first service downstairs.

The guys meet in my office upstairs. We have Solid Rock youth group on Thursday night at 06:30 as par normal, and we also have the high school breakfast at 07:30. That still kills me, that the best time to have a high school youth group meeting in this town is 07:30 in the morning, but they come. They show up, and Renzi gives them a blessing before the weekend, and it's it's just a fantastic time. I got to be there this past Friday morning.

07:30 in the morning. Wrapping party this week for the Operation Christmas Child boxes. If you've been down the hall, you've seen that there's a pile of shoe boxes. If you have more and you wanna bring, you're welcome to bring those in. Casey, would you stand up?

You have anything you wanna say or?

Yeah. So, I

Party, Wednesday night, six to eight and today, Melissa met a bunch of folks in my office between services and she's standing in the back back there right now. If you would like to talk to Melissa more about her ministry, she's here for another three weeks, I think but we're gonna show a video right now and you're gonna come up at the end of it and say howdy? Okay, good.

Hello. We're here at Red Cliff Sports Ground, where we meet every week to play soccer. And we're just waiting for more boys to come now, and then we're gonna start our session. We're here at High School where is talking to the principal and gathering some information. We just spent the day running around delivering porridge to the rural schools, and we're on our way to pick up a thousand pairs of shoes.

Can you hear me? Great. I'm Melissa Landis, for those of you who don't know me. And that's just a little bit of what's going on over in South Africa. I know it's kind of a dark video but thanks for watching it.

I just want to say a very special thank you to all of you for your prayers and your amazing support. This church has been incredible over the past couple years. I ask for your prayers as I head back in about three weeks. A lot of the boys that you saw in my soccer team in the beginning pictures are are Muslim kids and so I've been it's been a new challenge to read up about Islam and talk to these kids and engage them and just be a light and talk about who Jesus is to them or what the Koran says and then who Jesus is to me. So yeah, just thank you so much.

And if anybody does have any questions about what I'm doing, this church has my email. Or you could leave your email in one of the offices, the office there, and I can get in touch with you. So thank you so much.

Thank you. This morning also Mike Moyer made an announcement in the first, and I'll make it for him right now unless he's here somewhere. I don't think he is. So Turning Point has started doing classes for fathers, not just for mothers of their expected children or for mothers of small children. They're doing father classes now too.

And Mike Moyer and John Micus are two of the guys that are helping lead that off. So, that's it. Would you stand up and greet one another? Wait a second. Lindsey says no.

Oh, yes. Wait a second. Veterans, because Veterans Day was on Wednesday this past week, didn't get a chance last Sunday and I didn't want to forget this Sunday. So, if you are a veteran, if you served in the armed forces for this country, would you stand first? We'll catch up with you in a minute.

Would you stand? Thank you. And would the rest of you gather now and greet and hug one another, and thank you very much. Get together, and we'll bring you back together with a song. Amen.

I have not myself heard that one in a long time. The next one is hymn number 34. Y'all can have a seat. I can invite the frontline team to come forward Pastor Bud, would you plan on, would you plan on right now? Plan on it.

Would you guys the operatory prayer before I get to you with this mic? Thank you. I appreciate you, bud.

Heavenly father, we come to you at this particular time of worship today to remember that he who was rich in every way gave it all So that we who are poor in every way might receive. Amen. The greatest gift from God. Amen. So, lord, as we think about our giving today, let us think of it as an act of worship, worshiping you with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and that which many of us, lord, hold so dear.

The resources that you give us. So, thank you lord that we can worship you in this way and we praise you in Christ's holy name. Amen.

There's nothing like family harmony. My goodness. It's beautiful. I I I have I don't really know exactly what to say about what happened in Paris recently, and I get clamped up and verklempt to think about it but can we just pray right now for God for every family that's been affected every member of the every family that has been lost, Lord, and those that have been injured. I heard that ninety were in critical care still this morning.

So, God, would you heal those, and would you promote your comfort and your peace in Paris? What was once a stronghold of the Christian gospel, evangel. Lord, would you please, please, work out against the insidious evil. Lord God, I ask for you to bring revival through this horrible, horrible tragedy. And, God, I moved to tears yesterday and here in the night before.

Would you be with each family, Lord, and bring them closer to you? And, God, punish those transgressors, lawbreakers, evil. Lord, you bring the people to justice in earthly law and heavenly law, lord. We ask for you to do your work in those lives and everyone affected. In Jesus name, lord.

Amen. I heard from somebody in Jackson that was planning on spending Thanksgiving in France and they have kind of put their plans on hold and it's changed a lot of a lot of things but when it when it hit home, Frenchie is here and I I just I thought of you immediately the other night when I heard and This is why I didn't do it in the first service. I did it at the very end but lord, help us. Get. So, last week, last week, we went over second Corinthians eight and it was part of a sermon.

It was a long one. It ended up right at the hour and then we had communion after that but in any anybody's estimation, when you look at second Corinthians and you're reading along and you hit chapter eight, the the string of thought from chapter eight one all the way to nine fifteen. There's no doubt. That's one continuous message about the same thing. It hits different notes but it's a symphony about giving and so, last week, we covered, how does then and there, Paul's specific instance, then and there apply to the here and now.

So, he was writing to Corinth And I told you, be thinking about how then and there apply to here and now. And I told you about this is a if the shoe fits message, and if the shoe fits, wear it. But I'm pretty sure it's a one size fits all shoe. Some of you might already be wearing it, but if you're not, really consider giving in in this context. Now, also since last week, I met with Ben Paschal from Presbyterian Church.

We had lunch on Friday. We're friends. We love each other, you know, and so we were eating and he said, well, what are you going through right now? What are you going, you still going through chronologically? Yep, still doing that.

So, we've been through life of Jesus and life of the early church and then chronologically forward, we're up in second Corinthians nine. He goes, I'm speaking about that too. This week, I was like, Well, that's cool and I talked to somebody else in town. He says, well, that's funny. I'm I'm speaking about that this week.

Well, it's that time of year. It's getting close to the end time of year and I told him, I said, we just hit this one naturally. This is where we are in our study. I'm not smart enough to figure out months in advance where we're gonna be but I I said, well, this is where we are but this is the same message that you would've heard if you're at the Presbyterian Church. No, I'm just kidding.

It's the same same passage you would've heard this morning anyway but I'm gonna I'm gonna go over for those of you who missed last week or or I wanna ground it in real life first century. Think about this being a real person right into a real group of people and so, if you look at the map, Paul wrote first Corinthians from Ephesus right here and he wrote to Corinth right there. That's first Corinthians. This was a year or so earlier, maybe more than a year earlier and he after writing that first Corinthians and after sending a severe letter to the Corinthians also, he went up to Troas and he had expected to meet Titus there. Second Corinthians two says that, when I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, amen.

Even though a door was open for me, amen, in the Lord. My spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So, he went on. I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. So, this is Macedonia up here.

For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest but we were afflicted at every term fighting without and fear within. So, that's from second Corinthians two and seven. Just bringing you up time wise where we are now but Paul and Titus do reunite in Macedonia. They get back together and this brings Paul great comfort but God who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus and it wasn't just the coming of Titus. It was the coming of Titus with a good report from Corinth.

So, Titus had come up from Corinth and met up with him somewhere in Macedonia. We don't know exactly where. Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, all of those are in Macedonia. So, it's Minneapolis. Not Minneapolis.

That's in Minnesota but anyway, second Corinthians from from Macedonia. He wrote this while he was in Macedonia to send to Corinth. Now, that helps a lot to know that he sent this in advance of his trip. He was gonna go next to Corinth but he sent it ahead of time to them. Does that make sense to you?

It will in a few minutes if it doesn't now. One more map. So, I'm bringing this map up here because yeah, Ephesus was where he wrote first Corinth thians and Troas where he should have met him but he didn't. Macedonia was right there. This is where he's writing to Corinth but the letter that he's writing especially these past two chapters and chapter 16 from his from first Corinthians says that they're doing a collection in Corinth to be given to the saints, the Christians who are in Jerusalem.

I didn't go over this as much in the first service as I'm going to hear but Jerusalem was going through an absolutely desperate time of famine and poverty anyway. But if you were a Christian, you had been kinda kicked out of the synagogue, which the synagogue was a had a welfare system within it for Jews. But if you're a Christian and you had rejected Judaism as such or accepted Christ, then you were shunned from that list, and you were not gonna be receiving those alms. So Christians were in a bad situation. They had been shunned.

Romans didn't really care for them. The Jews didn't care for them. And so Paul was looking to care for them, and he was looking to use funds from Macedonia, which he described last week. They had given within their means and beyond and he was planning on using these funds from Corinth to go to Jerusalem to benefit the Jerusalem Christians. Why Jerusalem?

Because Paul knew of their poverty. He knew about it and thought, I can do something to minister there. Could've chosen anywhere I suppose but Jerusalem was in particular need at the time. So, there you go. Last week, the big idea, if you had to pick one big idea from last week, it was the biblical reaction to grace that's received from God.

Is grace extended others? The biblical reaction of grace received from God is grace extended to others and the and the Macedonians had practiced that and Paul was telling them the Corinthians about how the Macedonians had extended that grace. This was our series of kind of the takeaway slide. Questions and one statement. Are there still people right now that are experiencing severe affliction of poverty?

Yes or no? Yes. Yes. You saw him on the video a minute ago. You see the kid with the one extremely large shoe but no, that was the only shoe on the on the field?

Yeah. There are people who are experiencing. It's not just in South Africa but it is in South Africa. Does God's grace, that is his charis, grace, unmerited favor. Does it still exist?

Yes. Have you personally received of God's grace? Yes. I could argue that from his general revelation that every single one of you in here has experienced the grace of God whether you've accepted him or not. If you're standing and breathing, or sitting and breathing in your case.

You've experienced the grace of God. Will you extend that grace that you've received to others? That was the question, kind of the the challenge really. Will you do that? And then, it's voluntary and we hit this over and over last week that it's voluntary.

It is not something that Paul saying, this is a must. You have to do this. When I get there, if you don't have it ready, I'm gonna be upset with you. He's not saying that. He's not saying this is a payment or a price that you must pay for me having preached to you.

In fact, when he was living and working among him, he did not receive a salary from them, okay? So, it's voluntary. That was the end. The extension of grace is voluntary. Otherwise, it wouldn't be grace.

It's gotta be of your own volition, unmerited favor given to someone else in order for it to even be grace in the first place. That makes sense. So far, so good. Alright, the biblical reaction to grace received from God is grace extended to others and I would go so far and I mentioned it a couple times but I didn't put it on the slide. The biblical reaction to forgiveness received from God is forgiveness of others.

Paul's very forthright in saying, forgive one another just as God in Christ forgave you. Amen. Biblical reaction to love received from God is love extended to others. Biblical reaction to comfort. This whole section is about comfort.

Actually, the the whole book, a lot of it's about comfort. Remember, the God of all comfort, the God of all mercies, comforts us so that we may comfort others. Biblical reaction to comfort received from God is comfort extended to others. Amen. There it is.

Biblical reaction to money. The biblical reaction to money received from God is money extended to others. The biblical reaction to generosity received from God is generosity extended to others. I think that all of those things are in chapter eight and I think all of em are in chapter nine too. So, here we are in chapter nine going forward.

It's kind of the middle of the section. How many of y'all remember happy days from television? Happy days. Do you remember watching happy days and being so into it and can't wait to see it revolve and then all of sudden, it comes up to be continued? Do you all remember that on television you're watching and you're really into it?

Or the Incredible Hulk or whatever you were into. To be continued. Dukes of Hazard, Cars in the Air. That's my childhood. Cars in the Air.

To be continued. Oh, are they gonna make it? Oh, they make it every time. To be continued. So, this is the second half of that same message last time and I think it's funny that chapter nine starts off this way because he has been talking about giving for 15 straight verses and there's no doubt about it and when he gets to nine one, which is right in the middle of the passage, he goes, now, it's superfluous for me to even write to you about this ministry for the saints.

Meaning, he'd already told them about it in first Corinthians. He'd already sent Titus to him. He'd already sent a letter to them in between time. Made another visit himself in between time. He knew they were getting ready for this collection and they knew all about it but he says, it's superfluous for me to even mention it to you.

Ain't that funny to you? He's mentioning it. He's been mentioning it for a chapter. He's gonna mention it for another chapter. It's superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints.

Those were the ones in Jerusalem. For I know of your readiness of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia. Now, last week, he said the Macedonian spontaneously without him even asking, had given within their means and even beyond and he said, it blew him away. He was very surprised by it And so he was using that all of chapter eight. He was using it as an example for the Corinthians who were people who were wealthy.

Corinth was a wealthy town. They had a middle class, and Macedonia was mostly poor. For I know of your readiness of which I am boasting or I boast about to the people of Macedonia, saying, this is I am saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. Now Achaia is where Corinth is. Corinth is a city.

Achaia is an area. Has been ready since last year. So, there they are. He's in Macedonia writing this letter. Poor area and he's saying, these folks have been given and I've been bragging about you saying, listen, Corinth has been ready since last year but they had not sent it yet.

They hadn't had anybody to administer the gift and get it to where it was going in Jerusalem. So, he says, the readiness is there and I'm sure of that. And your zeal has stirred up most of em. Remember about three weeks ago, we were talking about godly sorrow and what godly sorrow brings. One of the things when you realize your own sin, you realize your own lack or you realize just your own pain.

It creates in you a zeal if you let God do with that pain what he will do and so he says, your zeal is what stirred them up. Hebrews 10, you remember? Let us consider one another in order to stir one another up into love and good works. Charity and good works. And your zeal has stirred up most of them.

Not all of them. Most of them. But I'm sending the brothers and presumably sisters. I'm sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter. So that you may be ready as I said you would be.

So that you may be ready. Now, up here he had said, it's superfluous for me to write but I wanted you to give you a warning. I'm sending this letter ahead of time because I'm coming soon and when I get there, I want for you to be ready with this collection that you've been ready to do but I want for you to get your affairs in order and be ready to hand it over. Okay? But I'm sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter so that you may be ready as I said earlier, that you would be.

Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you're not ready, we would be humiliated. Are you with me? Is that kinda funny? It's actually, it's kind of funny. He's not saying, now, you better, he's not wagging his finger at him.

He's saying, I know you're ready. I know you're going to do this. I believe you. I trust you. He's been saying that all along in this letter but he's saying, hey, now is the time people.

Get it together. We would be humiliated to say nothing of you. If I've been bragging about you up here this whole time, knowing your heart, knowing your generosity, knowing your love, and your care for the saints. If we get there and you're not ready or you spend it on something else or you're just not ready at all, that would be humiliating not just for us but for you too. So, I've been so confident of you.

Don't make me into a liar, basically. Do y'all get that? Does it sound like a salesman's trick to you? Yes, every single one of you does. I see y'all y'all sitting there like, oh, don't fall.

I feel the same way. I feel that in my heart. I feel it because we're so used to it. We're cynical because everybody's out to get your money all the time. It's constant.

Sales papers. How many y'all get bulletins and sales papers every single day? Oh, it's a glorious thing. Wonderful. Yeah, it's all the time.

It never stops. However, we can extract from you your money to sell you our junk. We'll be glad to do it. Well, Paul is not saying that. Paul is just letting them know ahead of time.

So, I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift that you've already promised so that it may be ready as a willing gift and not as an exaction. This is how I can say it's not a salesman's trick. He's not telling them that they owe it. He's telling them it's voluntary. He's told them that multiple times through chapter eight.

He's gonna say it a couple more times in chapter nine. So, that it may be ready as a willing gift. The Greek right there is Euligeon. Euligeon right there is where we get our word eulogy. Eulogy.

What we say at a funeral is a blessing. It is the good word about someone. It's a blessing. So, a willing gift, some translations even say, blessing so that it may be ready as a blessing and not as an exaction. Now, how many of y'all use exaction in normal common parlance all the time?

You do? Okay, just making sure. Only real estate agents these days. Most of the time, it's still written into a lot of contracts. It's still written into a lot of legal stuff.

But we hardly ever use it, in fact. If you look at the numbers on this, exaction in English in eighteen hundreds, 1825, it was used all the time but it's kind of fallen off in usage. We hardly ever use the word at all. So, rather than explain to you what it is in Greek, I just thought I explained what it is in English because I didn't know exactly myself. Exaction is the action of demanding or obtaining something from someone, especially a payment or service.

He supervised the exaction of tolls. In fact, most of the time, only time we use this is he exacted revenge. That make sense? We hear that in comic books and things. He supervised the exaction or extraction of tolls at various ports.

It is a sum of money that's demanded for a payment or service. It's an act of demanding, unfair, and even exorbitant payment, an act of extortion. Okay, are we all together now? Paul is saying what we want is so that you just be ready so that when it's handed over, it's actually handed over as a blessing and not as an exaction. Are you with me?

Okay. Okay. In in Greek, why not? In Greek, it's pleonexian is what it is and I'll put this up here because it's made from two words, to have numerically more. He said, I'm not asking you that you would give your money to me, Paul, and my running buddies so that we would have numerically more.

I'm not asking for that. I'm not trying to enrich ourselves and make ourselves richer. I'm not lusting for a greater number of temporal things that go beyond what God has determined is best. He's saying, not that but a blessing, a good word. And then he makes that very very clear by this next sentence.

The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. I mentioned this morning in the first service that I hate agricultural everything. Now, I'm glad that it exist. I like to eat but I'm terrible at it. I hate mowing my grass.

I don't like pruning anything. I don't like to weed the garden. My grandfather had about a 10 acre garden right next to my house and I had to weed it. When I got off the bus, we'd have to go through the garden to get home and hoe a weed, hoe a row of weeds or whatever. I'm not complaining about that.

I just hated it. Just hated it. Can't stand it. I know a lot of y'all had a lot worse time. I just hated it.

So, I like fixing stuff. I like mechanical stuff but I do understand the metaphor. If you put out you know, one seed of corn every two feet in a row, or you put out a line of corn, there's gonna be a big difference come harvest season as to how many corn plants come up. It's based on what you sow. And if you sow sparingly, you're gonna reap sparingly.

That's just the way that it is. If you sow bountifully, you will also reap bountifully. That's just the way it is. We are all in agreement about that. The next sentence to me, when I see this, I I smile that each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver.

The reason I smile is because in Mexico, every single Sunday, in every service, in each of the churches that I went to, it didn't matter the church. It was a tradition that as the plates were being passed by their frontline team, while that's being passed and the money is, you know, coming out of pockets and going into the plate or bowl or hat or whatever. As it's being passed, everybody recited in unison this verse in Spanish. It's like, each one must give as he's decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.

Should we adopt that? It was a little uncomfortable for me. I didn't really, I didn't really like it because I think, oh, here it goes again. Not reluctantly or under compulsion. If you're actually saying that verse while you're giving it, you have to either be cheerful or recognize you're doing one of those other two things.

You're either doing it reluctantly or under compulsion. This is actually the Greek right there too and I I'll put it up there because I think it's it's cool. Hilleron, Dotein, and that's how you pronounce that. Hilleron Dotein. Hilarious giver.

Ain't that great? Hilleron is where we get our word hilarious. Dotain is actually where we get our word for donate. Doron. Donate.

So a hilarious giver. Ain't that cool? Cheerful is one thing, but hilarious? That's even better. God loves a cheerful giver.

This is actually another way of saying that this is voluntary. It's voluntary. What you're gonna give, you need to have decided it in your heart and be happy about it. Not under compulsion. Somebody's forcing you.

It's voluntary. Not reluctantly either like, ugh, I really don't wanna do this. I don't know. I'm gonna regret this if I do it. No.

Or under compulsion. Like you must do this. You have to do this. Actually, in this area, there are a lot there are a lot of folks that are under compulsion to give of their tithe. Y'all know that, right?

In the in the Mormon Church, it is a requirement. It's not voluntary. There might be voluntary above that but there is a certain part that is required by the church. They know how much you make. They know how much you can bring in.

Just for local color there. For God loves a cheerful giver and God's able to make all grace abound to you. Praise God. Who's able to give grace? Only one place that's producing it.

God gives grace. Now, God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency, contentment, having all your contentment in all things at all times, Paul says, other other places. He said, I have learned how to be content in all circumstances. I've had little enough had much. I've learned how to be content and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all contentment in all things at all times, you may abound in every financial blessing.

It doesn't say that. So that you may abound in every good work. Amen. God's grace flowing through people. Is the way that he spreads that grace around.

As it is written, he is distributed freely. He is given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. When we look at that, immediately, we think, well, that's God. It's gotta be God because it says his righteousness endures forever.

But it's not. Actually, this is from Psalm one hundred twelve nine and I'll I'll just quote the whole Psalm for you here. It's great to do a Psalm before the Lord. Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments.

His offspring will be mighty in the land. The generation of upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house and his righteousness endures forever. Light dawns in the darkness for the upright. He's gracious, merciful, and righteous.

It is well in the man who deals generously and lends, who conducts his affairs with justice, for the righteous will never be moved. He will be remembered forever. He's not afraid of bad news. His heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady and he will not be afraid until he looks and triumph on his adversaries.

He has distributed freely. He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn is exalted in honor. The wicked man sees it and is angry.

He gnashes his teeth and melts away. The desire of the wicked will perish. That last line reminds me of the story of the manna from last week. How God gives manna. He gave him quail at night, manna in the morning, and the people would gather it up and as they gathered, there was enough for the day.

And if they tried to save it till tomorrow, it rotted and stank. The wicked man sees it and is angry. He gnashes his teeth and melts away. The desire of the wicked will perish. Paul goes on in verse 10.

He who supplies seed to the sower. It's just like grace, right? Who's the only one who can make a seed? God's the one who made those seeds. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food.

He's the one who gives our daily bread. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. Now, he will supply and multiply your seed. He's already said, whoever sows sparingly is gonna reap sparingly. Whoever sows bountifully is gonna reap sparingly.

He's saying the one who gives the increase is God but in this verse, it actually says, why he gives the increase? So, he says, he who supplies will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. Now, once you get the harvest is righteousness but the seed is for sowing. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way which through us will produce Thanksgiving to God. Now, why does he say that we'll be enriched in every way?

It's very simple. It follows a straight path. It's linear. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way. It's not just money.

It's every way. Every single way that God gives you grace. He's expecting you to pass that on along to other people. And think about this, the through us, the ministers of that gift, through us, it will produce Thanksgiving to God. So, you're the one that's giving and we're the one who's ministering what you have given.

So, just the channel of blessing through us, it'll produce Thanksgiving to God. Those kids, when Melissa was going to get the thousand pairs of shoes, she mentioned in that video. All those kids run around with no shoes. She's going to get a thousand pairs of shoes through her in that case because somebody else donated them. Somebody else got them there, but she's the one who gets to minister the gift to put them on the feet.

We did that actually in Guatemala, didn't you, Casey? Putting shoes on people's feet. Through us, that'll produce Thanksgiving to God. That's that's cool stuff. If you've ever been the one that's actually put the shoe on the person, that's that's cool stuff but it's just as much a blessing.

Paul is saying because it brings Thanksgiving to God and you're a part of it. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints. I love it the not not only is in but also is in the scripture I love because one of them you might think of but the other one you might not. He's saying, for the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints. It's great that those kids have shoes but it's also overflowing in many Thanksgivings to God.

So she's just engaged in some of these folks who have believed a lie, an insidious evil lie of Islam. And some of those kids, maybe not all, but some of them will overflow in many Thanksgivings to God and it happens a little at a time through God blessing him. By their approval of this service, that's the people receiving it. By their approval of this service, what you're given, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ. Do you get that?

It's all contingent upon your having received the grace of God, the confession of Christ, your submission to his will but their approval of this service, they will glorify God because you submitted to God. Your confession of the gospel of Christ and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others. The biblical reaction again, I'll say because it's the same message this week to grace received from God as grace extended to others. The biblical reaction of forgiveness received from God is forgiveness extended to others. Biblical reaction of love received from God.

Is love extended to others? The biblical reaction of generosity received from God is generosity extended to others. Comfort. And then this one. And I talked to Blake after the first service and he said, if that one hits home, all the other stuff falls in line.

Y'all remember our slide for those of you who are visiting, you probably don't but this slide, we've been using since the first chapter of first Corinthians. It is the message of the cross. First Corinthians one eighteen and nineteen. Says that to those who are perishing, the message of the cross is foolishness but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God. The message of the cross is the dividing line for every soul for all human history ever.

Either it's foolishness to you and you are perishing or it's the power of God to you and you are being saved. So, the biblical reaction to that message, the message of the cross, received from God is to extend that message, the message of the cross to others. While they long for you, these are the people who are receiving. While they long for you and they pray for you because of your the the surpassing grace of God upon you. Do you feel like you have surpassing grace upon you?

I do. I honestly do. There's another one that you ask that guy back in the soundboard. You say, how are you doing? He goes, better than I deserve.

That's exactly right. Better than we deserve. What we deserve, we all know, is death, hell, and the grave. If we're upright and we know Jesus, we have surpassing grace. While they long for you and they pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you, Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift.

Now, most of the way through this, Caris has been translated grace, favor, grace, favor. I told you last week about five times that Caris, the word can be grace, favor, or in this case, it's thanks. Thanks. We have been receivers of grace. All of us have admittedly been receivers of grace.

To return to God that thanks is not something that he demands. It's something that we voluntarily give but I think it'd be really hard to recognize that God's the giver of all good and perfect gifts and he's the giver of grace and not thank him for it. That's next to impossible. If you've realized God's grace in your life, you have to give him thanks for it. So, he's saying thanks be to God for this inexpressible gift and I highlighted that word right there too because gift in this case is not what we would expect it to be, what it's been for the whole two chapters.

This last word is actually goes back to excuse me. It goes back to here. Wow. Here. It's the same as that.

The giver and his inexpressible gift. So, whatever the inexpressible gift is that he's given to you and I it could be myriad things. Paul was asking for money. No doubt to take to those Christians in Jerusalem but that inexpressible gift is amazing. That's what God was saying.

Carus, thanks. Grace back to God for us to go back. He deserves everything. That's why it has to be translated thanks because he deserves everything. It can't be unmerited from God.

We have to translate it thanks for that. Renzi, can you get me to the very end there? I'll do it. Never mind. Oh, I wanted you to look at this too.

In just that last three verses right there, look at how how those highlights stack up. By their approval, we hear a lot about disapproval and disgruntled and everybody's upset about everything these days. By their approval, those who are receiving this gift of this service and it is that. They will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession because you've received the gospel and the generosity of your contribution which is the natural outgrowth of your confession of the gospel. For them and all others, the surpassing grace of God upon you.

Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. Amen. Caris, be to God for his inexpressible gift. I think that's it. Would you all stand up with me and let's pray again and I'll ask Bob and Judy to come forward and we'll we'll sing a song.

Actually, we're going to sing kind of a eulogos, a blessing out the door. God bless you till we meet again, I think kind of song. God, we do find difficulty expressing the goodness of your gift but we, those of us who have accepted the gospel and it's terrible simplicity, lord, that a savior has been provided, that Jesus Christ came and lived a perfect life, did not owe any sin debt at all, and because he did not owe any sin debt, he could choose to lay down his life as a ransom for many. God, would you make it clear and make it click today for anyone who's in this building that doesn't already understand and have already accepted the fact that Jesus Christ laid down their life for their sin. That inexpressible gift.

Lord, would you give joy unspeakable and full of glory to those who would put the trust in Jesus today? Thank you, Jesus, for your willing sacrifice, for your willing grace towards us, that completely unmerited favor on our part. Forgive us where we fail and pick us back up and comfort us to comfort others. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

Would you join us on this next song? God be with you. Hymn number two thirty two. Have also one of the announcement that I forgot completely in the first service until everybody was in the lobby. I am actually heading out this week on Wednesday to go to Nepal for about almost two week long trip and so I'm asking y'all.

I I I'm expressing something because I what I have been given or blessed with is a seminary education that I love so much. I get to do this here and I get to do this there. And a love for people, love for his word, and a guy a while back about a month ago said, I would love for you to go to Nepal, be a part of this evangelistic crusade in Nepal and I will pay for it if you'll go. So, I've been blessed to bless others and I want for y'all to be praying as I go. So, November 18 through the thirtieth, I'm heading to Nepal.

I'll be back. Carl's going to preach the next two Sundays. So, pray for him too. It'll it'll be great. I think he's going to switch over to Philippians for a couple weeks and we'll be back in Corinthians when I get back But I do want to mention this for this service especially, that the constitution for the government in Nepal changed in September to allow complete religious freedom.

Now, this constitution, they had a provisional one that nobody paid attention to for the last nine years. But this was a Hindu government nine years ago, completely Hindu. And so they allowed complete religious freedom in the constitution, but all of the anti conversion laws are still on the books. So, we're going, we've got the constitutional right to do it but the laws are stacked against us. So, would you pray for us as we go and share God's good news?

In schools, about 200 schools around Nepal will be going in and and sharing the gospel. So, in Jesus name, would y'all express to him your thanks for his inexpressible gift. Amen. Amen.