WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:23.460 Amen. Would you take your Bibles and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 9. 2 Corinthians 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:32.260 chapter 9. We're continuing our series this morning entitled We Are the Church. We are the 00:00:32.260 --> 00:00:40.040 church. And by way of refresher, and maybe you haven't been here for the entire series 00:00:40.040 --> 00:00:45.240 and that's all right, we're going to give you a quick refresher on this. Let's say it together 00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:49.100 as you're turning. Would you look up at the screen? Maybe you don't have to by now, but 00:00:49.100 --> 00:00:57.020 let's say this together. Ready? Begin. We don't just go to church. We are the church. I told 00:00:57.020 --> 00:01:02.260 y'all last Sunday you would get it first time and you did. Great job. Very well done. That 00:01:02.260 --> 00:01:06.659 is right. We don't just go to church. We are the church. We talked about that with the children 00:01:06.659 --> 00:01:11.859 just a little bit ago. The church is more than a building. It is a body. It is the people 00:01:11.859 --> 00:01:18.040 gathered together. We get that concept from the New Testament. They use the word ecclesia, 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:24.880 ecclesia, which means assembly, congregation, a called out gathering of people. So the first 00:01:24.880 --> 00:01:31.100 week in our study of what we call ecclesiology, which is the doctrine of the church, comes from 00:01:31.100 --> 00:01:38.920 that word ecclesia. We talked about we are the church and the church is not about who? Me. 00:01:39.180 --> 00:01:44.320 Who is it about? God. That's right. The church is about God. The church is not about you. 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:51.279 It's not about me. It's about God. The next Sunday we talked about the church, how it's 00:01:51.279 --> 00:01:56.519 unified in its diversity. We all come from different backgrounds. We're different kinds 00:01:56.519 --> 00:02:01.519 of people. Oftentimes people that probably wouldn't associate in other walks of life, 00:02:01.619 --> 00:02:08.719 but we come together as the body of Christ and that brings glory to God. He can unite us, 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:15.280 people from all different kinds of backgrounds together under his name. And then last Sunday, 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:23.280 we talked about the church. Are we a customer or a minister? How every one of us is qualified to be a 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:30.099 minister. Everyone is called to be a minister. That doesn't mean we're all the same kind of minister. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:36.539 We all share the same kind of ministry, but we are all called to minister. Specifically, 00:02:36.539 --> 00:02:43.599 we're all called to the ministry of reconciliation, reconciling God with man. We do that through 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:49.859 sharing the gospel with one another. We do that by making sure we're reconciled. There's no strife 00:02:49.859 --> 00:02:56.139 and discord among our body of believers in the church. So we are the church. Today, we're going to 00:02:56.139 --> 00:03:03.959 talk about this subject, investing from the heart. Investing in the church from your heart. 00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:10.540 Y'all ever heard this before? Bless your heart. Somebody ever said that to you? 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:18.500 You ever said that to somebody else? Well, bless your heart. What does it mean exactly? Well, 00:03:18.540 --> 00:03:24.719 I found this online and I don't know exactly how accurate it is, but this little sliver up here, 00:03:24.840 --> 00:03:29.159 I don't care, but I feel like I should. Maybe that's what bless your heart means sometimes. 00:03:29.159 --> 00:03:33.439 This one is especially cruel. You're pitiful, but you just don't know it. 00:03:34.379 --> 00:03:40.319 Then jump over to the other side. I'm praying for you. You ever said that to somebody? You know 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:45.759 what? I'm praying for you. And then you forgot to pray for him. Ever done that before? And then 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:53.359 the little grace lover here. I wish I could say what I'm really thinking. That's rough. And then I love 00:03:53.360 --> 00:04:01.340 the bottom one. Can I bring you a casserole? That's especially Baptist right there. Bless your heart, 00:04:01.420 --> 00:04:08.660 right? That's kind of a southern thing. And I guess Texas is enough of the south that we get in on that 00:04:08.660 --> 00:04:14.380 bless your heart action as well. Let's look over in Acts chapter 20 and verse 35. Remember the words 00:04:14.380 --> 00:04:20.080 of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, you could stay in 2 Corinthians 9 if you want to. I put these 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:24.060 up on the, we're going to spend more time in 2 Corinthians 9 so you don't have to bounce around 00:04:24.060 --> 00:04:29.800 after I asked you to turn. But I put these up here. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, 00:04:29.939 --> 00:04:38.379 how he himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. It's more blessed to give than to 00:04:38.379 --> 00:04:46.500 receive. When Jesus says, bless your heart, you know what he does? He blesses your heart. He really does. 00:04:46.500 --> 00:04:53.959 He actually does it. He means what he says. He is the fountain of all blessings in our life. 00:04:54.459 --> 00:05:03.139 We can be blessed by walking closely with the Lord Jesus. Proverbs 11 verse 25, the generous will 00:05:03.139 --> 00:05:11.920 prosper. Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. It's talking about a blessing. When you 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:18.220 bless others, you yourself will be blessed. When you bless the heart of something, of someone else, 00:05:18.420 --> 00:05:24.800 your heart will be blessed. And that's not a joke. That's not a bless your heart joke. So generosity 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:33.780 will allow you to prosper in all kinds of ways. When you refresh, I love the usage of that word refresh. 00:05:33.879 --> 00:05:41.300 When you're refreshing to someone else, God will refresh you. He's talking about your inner being. 00:05:41.300 --> 00:05:49.340 He's talking about your soul, your heart, the seat of the mind, will, and emotions in you. That is what 00:05:49.340 --> 00:05:55.020 God will bless. That is what he will refresh. So the takeaway from the sermon this morning that we're 00:05:55.020 --> 00:06:01.759 going to try to dive into the scriptures and search out today is the more I give to God from my heart, 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:15.819 the more he blesses my heart. The more he blesses my heart. Doesn't necessarily mean the more you give 00:06:15.819 --> 00:06:21.980 to the church, the more God blesses your heart. That's not the takeaway. The more you give to God 00:06:21.980 --> 00:06:29.920 from your heart, then we find the promises in scripture that say, that says he will bless your 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:36.720 heart. So would you stand with me in honor of the reading of God's word? I know we don't always do 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:41.280 that. And if you're not able to stand this morning because of physical disabilities, that's totally fine. 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:47.300 But if you can stand, let's, let's do this. They stood in the Old Testament for the reading of God's 00:06:47.300 --> 00:06:52.460 word. We're not necessarily commanded to do that every time we read the Bible, but it's, it's not a 00:06:52.460 --> 00:06:58.000 bad practice to get into. So second Corinthians chapter nine in verse 16, the person who sows 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:06.480 sparingly will also reap sparingly. The person who sows generously will also reap generously. Well, 00:07:06.500 --> 00:07:13.800 that seems pretty obvious, right? That part of it, that's kind of straightforward. If you sow sparingly, 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:19.040 you'll reap sparingly. If you sow generously, you'll reap generously. Verse seven, each person should do 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:26.280 as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful 00:07:26.280 --> 00:07:34.660 giver. And God is able to make every grace overflow to you so that in every way, always having everything 00:07:34.660 --> 00:07:43.019 you need, you may excel in every good work. As it is written, he distributed freely. He gave to the 00:07:43.019 --> 00:07:49.859 poor, his righteousness endures forever. God didn't hold back. He distributed freely and he sets the 00:07:49.859 --> 00:07:56.060 example for us. Verse 10, now the one who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will also 00:07:56.060 --> 00:08:03.240 provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched 00:08:03.240 --> 00:08:14.600 in every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us. Do you see that? Generosity 00:08:14.600 --> 00:08:28.620 produces thankfulness to God. Giving generously makes us thank God more for his generosity to us. 00:08:28.620 --> 00:08:35.340 Verse 12, for the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, 00:08:35.340 --> 00:08:43.000 the saints gathered together here as a church, the ministry of this service, your generosity is not 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:49.919 only supplying the needs of the saints or the church, but is also overflowing in many expressions of 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:56.440 thanks to God. Once again, their generosity produces thanks to God. Verse 13, because of the proof 00:08:56.440 --> 00:09:02.380 provided by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ 00:09:02.380 --> 00:09:08.960 and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, 00:09:09.100 --> 00:09:14.480 we thank you for this time this morning. We thank you for your word, your living word that comes alive 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:22.940 and challenges us every time we open it. God, it's a terrible thing for us to live with the guidebook to 00:09:22.940 --> 00:09:34.860 life. The living word that can transform us and not seek truth from it, not go to it, not heed its 00:09:34.860 --> 00:09:40.400 counsel, not obey what it teaches. I pray that we would not be guilty of that this morning, God. 00:09:41.680 --> 00:09:45.980 Do a work in each of our hearts. We'll give you the glory in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. 00:09:45.980 --> 00:09:55.000 This passage in 2 Corinthians 9 just gave us the law of sowing and reaping. The law of sowing and 00:09:55.000 --> 00:10:04.279 reaping. How many of you guys are currently farming? Anybody a farmer? Ish? We got two kids raising their 00:10:04.279 --> 00:10:11.200 hand. That's awesome. I need to invest in you guys' businesses, man, because you're getting started 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:17.540 early. That's great. How many of you guys grew up on a farm of some kind? Anybody? Yeah, we got a lot 00:10:17.540 --> 00:10:22.640 more of that. So you grew up in it and then you got away from it. You're like, I'm done. I ain't doing 00:10:22.640 --> 00:10:27.580 the farming thing anymore. The law of sowing and reaping. You definitely understand that and the 00:10:27.580 --> 00:10:33.640 Bible gives it to us right here. If you sow sparingly, you reap sparingly. If you sow generously, 00:10:34.220 --> 00:10:40.460 you reap generously. Can I tell you, remind you that the same is absolutely true in the Christian life. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:52.220 So if we sow generously in God's work, we will reap God's blessings generously. If we sow a little bit, 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:59.100 we will reap a little bit. That's what the Bible is teaching us here. So what do we need to do? 00:10:59.100 --> 00:11:11.580 I knew y'all would get there. Yes, that's right. We need to sow generously. Absolutely we do. 00:11:12.100 --> 00:11:17.759 So let's look back in 2 Corinthians chapter 9 in verse 6, that first verse. The person who sows 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:25.519 sparingly will also reap sparingly. The person who sows generously will also reap generously. 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:35.559 Now notice verse 7. Each person should do as he has decided in his heart. Not reluctantly, 00:11:36.039 --> 00:11:45.259 not out of compulsion, not being forced to, since God loves a cheerful giver. So there's two ways you 00:11:45.259 --> 00:11:54.480 can go with this in interpreting this verse. One, you can say, the Bible says I'm not supposed to give 00:11:54.480 --> 00:12:00.480 reluctantly. I'm not supposed to give because somebody compelled me to do that, not out of compulsion. 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:09.180 And if I give that way, I can't give cheerfully. So I give how I want, I give what I want, 00:12:09.179 --> 00:12:18.779 and you can't tell me any different. Or you could say, each person should do as he's decided in his heart, 00:12:19.319 --> 00:12:27.359 I'm going to let the Holy Spirit affect my heart. Do you know nine times out of ten in the Bible, 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:32.500 when it talks about the heart, it talks about it in a sinful context. 00:12:32.500 --> 00:12:40.440 Now I just pulled that stat from, you know, left field, okay? So it might be eight times out of ten, 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:48.740 rather than nine, okay? But the point is, our heart is deceitful. Our heart is wicked. 00:12:48.740 --> 00:12:56.340 So if we completely on our own decide that we are going to give to God, 00:12:56.840 --> 00:13:00.299 out of our own sinful heart, 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:07.480 we're, first of all, probably not going to give anything. And anything we do choose to give 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:15.340 will be for the praise of man. It'll be to make us feel better. It'll be to somebody to notice us and 00:13:15.340 --> 00:13:23.120 pat us on the back or meet some expectation that is put on us. If we let the Holy Spirit affect our 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:33.040 heart, guide our heart, direct our heart, then we will do what God wants us to do. That's true for 00:13:33.040 --> 00:13:41.139 every area of our life, including giving. God loves a cheerful giver. How do you be cheerful 00:13:41.139 --> 00:13:44.779 if you're a child of God? Anybody want to take a guess at it? 00:13:48.779 --> 00:13:51.120 How do you be cheerful if you're a Christian? 00:13:55.000 --> 00:14:00.179 Smiling helps, that's true. But sometimes you can force a smile on your face when you're not even 00:14:00.179 --> 00:14:09.480 necessarily feeling cheerful. How do you be cheerful? Let's change it to joyful. How do you be joyful? 00:14:09.480 --> 00:14:16.120 Keep your eyes on Jesus. That's very good. Focus on his blessings. 00:14:19.899 --> 00:14:20.980 We're missing one. 00:14:25.220 --> 00:14:33.960 What's that? Have a full heart. Jesus, the Holy Spirit. Yes. Obedience. 00:14:33.960 --> 00:14:43.720 Obeying that Holy Spirit. Letting that Holy Spirit fill you. Obeying him. Obeying God 00:14:43.720 --> 00:14:52.600 will eventually produce joy in your life. Paul writes throughout the book of Romans about a war 00:14:52.600 --> 00:14:59.960 inside of himself. There's the war of the flesh against the spirit. It's constantly at war. 00:14:59.960 --> 00:15:09.860 Our natural desires, what we think or want to do, are at odds with what God thinks and wants for us. 00:15:10.680 --> 00:15:16.980 So there's a constant battle going on, and depending on which dog you feed more, that's who's going to 00:15:16.980 --> 00:15:27.000 win the fight, right? Depending on whoever wins that struggle, you reap the rewards of that win. 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:34.360 If the flesh wins, you reap the rewards of the flesh. Anybody ever tasted the rewards of the flesh? 00:15:35.340 --> 00:15:40.340 They can taste sweet for a minute, can't they? And then they always turn bitter, don't they? 00:15:41.240 --> 00:15:46.879 They absolutely do. They turn bitter. They leave us empty. They leave us wanting more. 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:56.600 The rewards of the spirit winning that battle are eternal. They're fulfilling. They keep our heart full. 00:15:57.100 --> 00:16:03.820 They keep us filled with joy. Even in the midst of death of a family member. Even in the midst of 00:16:03.820 --> 00:16:12.379 financial uncertainty. Even in the midst of having no rain for your cattle, etc. Even in the midst of 00:16:12.379 --> 00:16:24.939 struggles that we know will come, God can still make us joyful. God can make us cheerful. But it takes 00:16:24.939 --> 00:16:34.820 obeying him. It takes listening to him. So as we decide in our heart, we must follow the leading of 00:16:34.820 --> 00:16:43.920 the Holy Spirit of God. Not our own thinking. Not our own fleshly thinking. Who's going to win that 00:16:43.920 --> 00:16:50.840 battle? So I wanted to make that point before we move on. Y'all ever heard this? The Lord loveth a 00:16:50.840 --> 00:16:59.740 cheerful giver. He also accepteth from a grouch. It's true. Look, however you give, we can take it. We can 00:16:59.740 --> 00:17:06.019 use it. God can multiply it. God can use it for his glory. And we are grateful for it. But for your own 00:17:06.019 --> 00:17:13.660 heart. For your own well-being. Give cheerfully. Let God dictate to you in your heart what you should do. 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:19.359 And then you do it. Not you dictate what you think you should do. And then blame it on God. Y'all ever 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:23.339 done that? Y'all ever been guilty of that before? Decided something on your own and then blamed that 00:17:23.339 --> 00:17:30.459 decision on God. Give God credit for something. And I imagine God sitting up in heaven thinking, 00:17:30.619 --> 00:17:35.480 I didn't have any part of that decision. But thanks for telling everybody it came for me. 00:17:36.399 --> 00:17:40.419 Well, God wants me to do this. Like, are you sure that's God or is that just you? 00:17:41.799 --> 00:17:49.759 We're all probably guilty of that at some level. But the Lord loves a cheerful giver. Yeah, 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:56.200 he can use whatever. He used Balaam the donkey to talk. You know, he can use all kinds of things. 00:17:57.200 --> 00:18:03.599 Now, maybe we have more in common with the donkey than we'd like to imagine. But the truth is, 00:18:04.259 --> 00:18:15.640 God loves when we give him a willing, able vessel to use. Teenagers, God can use you at school. 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:24.259 He can use you on your volleyball team, on your football team, your track and field team. 00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:28.160 God can use you with your coaches. He can use you with your teachers. 00:18:29.800 --> 00:18:33.680 He can use you on the cheer squad too. I don't want to leave anybody out. They're going to get mad at me. 00:18:33.740 --> 00:18:39.860 Why didn't you mention our team? Probably did, didn't I? Did I cover them all? We haven't gotten to 00:18:39.859 --> 00:18:46.439 baseball and basketball and all that yet, so I'm not, not even there yet. Listen, God can use you in 00:18:46.439 --> 00:18:54.000 your fantasy football league. I'm coming for you today, child. Where y'all at? In case y'all weren't 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:58.259 aware, we got a little church fantasy football league kind of going under the surface here, so 00:18:58.259 --> 00:19:02.839 we're going to try to let the Holy Spirit reign over that. 00:19:02.839 --> 00:19:11.199 God can use you in every single area of your life, but you've got to submit to him. You've got to be 00:19:11.199 --> 00:19:17.779 usable, and giving is the exact same. God can use you to do more than you possibly think you could do. 00:19:19.339 --> 00:19:26.339 So how are you going to give? Deuteronomy, the Old Testament gives us a wonderful recipe kind of, 00:19:26.419 --> 00:19:32.319 don't have a stingy heart. First of all, don't have a stingy heart when you give. Because of this, 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:37.159 if you don't have a stingy heart, the Lord will, the Lord your God will bless you in all your work 00:19:37.159 --> 00:19:45.119 and in everything you do. Does that mean God's going to make you rich financially? God makes us 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:51.439 rich in all kinds of ways, but not necessarily financially. Why? Because y'all, it doesn't matter. 00:19:52.019 --> 00:19:58.919 Being rich on this earth does not matter at all. It's a means to an end. If God chooses to give 00:19:58.920 --> 00:20:08.380 for a season of life in abundance, then use that abundance for his glory. If he chooses to withhold, 00:20:08.800 --> 00:20:19.660 then use what little you have for his glory. God will take care of you. God will take care of me. 00:20:19.660 --> 00:20:29.060 I have had seasons of life when I've had more than other times. I've had Christmases where we couldn't 00:20:29.060 --> 00:20:36.180 afford a Christmas tree. I've had, you know, all kinds of things that times in life when we had 00:20:36.180 --> 00:20:47.660 a lot or a little. Through it all, God took care of us. God will take care of you. Why? Because he's a 00:20:47.660 --> 00:20:54.480 father. Because he loves his children. He's never going to let you completely be shamed. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:02.060 He's never going to leave you completely on your own. He might take you through difficult times. 00:21:02.900 --> 00:21:12.600 He might take you through times of leanness, times of being without, but God will take care of you. 00:21:12.599 --> 00:21:20.619 And he will bless you in all your work and in everything you do. But you can't be stingy with 00:21:20.619 --> 00:21:27.319 God. Don't be stingy with God. That messes up the process. Then you're not giving everything to God for 00:21:27.319 --> 00:21:33.079 him to bless. Then you're withholding. Say, you can bless all this area of my life, but I'm holding on to 00:21:33.079 --> 00:21:40.259 this one. You can't have this. Okay, fine. Then God can't bless that area. Whatever you keep back 00:21:40.259 --> 00:21:48.920 from God, you limit his blessings in your life. So it's a mind shift. It's a mental shift. 00:21:49.859 --> 00:21:55.599 I'm not saying every single person in here has to take 10% of their paycheck and write a check on 00:21:55.599 --> 00:22:00.859 Sunday morning and drop it in the offering plate. That's not what God said. God said, don't have a 00:22:00.859 --> 00:22:09.519 stingy heart. God said, give cheerfully. Let the Holy Spirit guide you and do what the Holy Spirit of God 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:15.940 wants you to do. But look, y'all, that means you're accountable to God. Say, sweet, I'm just 00:22:15.940 --> 00:22:20.680 accountable to God. I'm not accountable to you, and I'm not accountable to you. Y'all, 00:22:21.339 --> 00:22:27.740 God's going to demand a whole lot more from you than we ever would. God's going to ask you to give 00:22:27.740 --> 00:22:35.180 up your children to go be a missionary in Africa. God's going to ask you to give something to someone 00:22:35.180 --> 00:22:40.900 that would never even enter your mind to do. God's going to ask you to step out of your career and do 00:22:40.900 --> 00:22:45.920 something else. God's going to ask you to do all kinds of things, but he will sustain you through 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:53.299 that process. I'm a living testimony of that. God has sent me all over this world, and there's other 00:22:53.299 --> 00:22:58.680 things I could have and maybe would have even rather chosen to do with my life, but God knew what I needed 00:22:58.680 --> 00:23:05.920 to do. And I'm absolutely in my sweet spot in my life. But if I had held back from him, 00:23:06.680 --> 00:23:14.480 where would I be? Whatever you're holding back from, I'm not shaking my fist at you. I'm not pointing my 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:22.960 finger at you. I'm just saying, God can't use it. God can't bless it. Let go of it. Relinquish it. 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:29.480 Hands off. Give it to God. He'll do something much greater with it than you ever could. 00:23:30.440 --> 00:23:36.740 The next principle, we have the law of sowing and reaping. Whatever you sow, that's what you'll reap. 00:23:37.559 --> 00:23:40.680 Now we have a principle, the principle of the heart and the treasure. 00:23:42.860 --> 00:23:47.900 Before we dive into this verse, I want to get back, and I probably should have put this in. 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:51.079 Did you see verse 7 here? 2 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 7. 00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:54.539 Each person should do as he has decided in his heart. 00:23:55.519 --> 00:24:01.339 Okay? Now let's jump back to Matthew. Here we go. Matthew chapter 6. If you want to turn there 00:24:01.339 --> 00:24:05.480 quickly, you can. If you want to just read it on the screens, that's fine too. Don't store up for 00:24:05.480 --> 00:24:11.980 yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 00:24:12.839 --> 00:24:18.919 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, 00:24:18.920 --> 00:24:22.220 where your wife doesn't spend it all at Target. 00:24:25.660 --> 00:24:32.860 Just made all the ladies mad, didn't I? It's a joke. I probably spend as much as my wife does at 00:24:32.860 --> 00:24:39.019 Target, so what are you going to do? And thieves don't break in and steal, and all the things that 00:24:39.019 --> 00:24:44.940 happens to our money on this earth doesn't happen in heaven. Where your treasure is, 00:24:44.940 --> 00:24:51.519 there where your heart will be also. You don't have to worry about the stock market doing well or not. 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:56.700 You don't have to worry about taxes. You don't have to worry about all the different things that 00:24:56.700 --> 00:25:08.100 accompany earthly riches, earthly wealth. So don't chase so hard after earthly wealth. 00:25:08.099 --> 00:25:13.339 Does that mean you shouldn't be financially wise? If that's what you're getting out of that passage, 00:25:13.459 --> 00:25:19.859 you're just not getting it. Absolutely not. You should be financially wise. Throughout the Proverbs 00:25:19.859 --> 00:25:27.519 and throughout the Bible, we see great golden nuggets of wisdom on how to manage your finances well, 00:25:27.619 --> 00:25:32.299 how to be fiscally responsible. But it's for a purpose. 00:25:32.299 --> 00:25:40.180 It's not just so you can accumulate it all and build it all in your storehouses and point to your 00:25:40.180 --> 00:25:45.359 riches and wealth and say, look what I have. Look what I built up in my life. Because then you're 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:51.559 getting all the glory. And what good does that do anyone? None. It doesn't even do you anybody good. 00:25:52.339 --> 00:25:58.539 It doesn't even do you any good. But if you give God the glory, then you unlock his blessings. 00:25:58.539 --> 00:26:07.059 Then you unlock his full scope of what he can do in your life. 00:26:09.339 --> 00:26:14.379 You just give it all to him to you. God might choose to give a lot of it back to you. 00:26:15.059 --> 00:26:25.220 Or he might not. That's up to him. We trust his wisdom in those areas. But where we store our 00:26:25.220 --> 00:26:30.200 treasure, that's where our heart is. That's the recipe. 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:39.319 Where your heart is, that's where your treasure will be. And vice versa. Where your treasure is, 00:26:39.660 --> 00:26:43.740 that's where your heart will be. Look over in Exodus chapter 35 and verse 29. 00:26:43.740 --> 00:26:49.500 The Israelites brought a free will offering to the Lord. All the men and women whose hearts 00:26:49.500 --> 00:26:55.119 prompted them to bring something for all the work of the Lord that the Lord through Moses had 00:26:55.119 --> 00:27:01.099 commanded to be done. So they brought a free will offering to God as their hearts prompted them to 00:27:01.099 --> 00:27:07.859 bring something for the work of the Lord. All the work that God commanded them to do, they knew 00:27:07.859 --> 00:27:15.559 it couldn't be funded except through them. So they said, okay, we value that. So we're going to put our 00:27:15.559 --> 00:27:23.359 treasure toward it. That's where our heart is. Our heart is in what God is doing in this community. 00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:29.720 Our heart is what God is doing through our people. That's what the Israelites said. And so they put 00:27:29.720 --> 00:27:36.259 their treasure toward it. They applied their treasure toward the work that God was doing because that is 00:27:36.259 --> 00:27:45.019 what, that's where their heart was. So they did it freely. Free will. 00:27:45.559 --> 00:27:50.220 They didn't have to be compelled. They didn't have to be begged. They didn't have to have somebody 00:27:50.220 --> 00:27:54.339 beating them over the shoulder saying, why don't you guys give? We don't have enough to support the 00:27:54.339 --> 00:28:01.259 ministry here. They just did it because that's where their heart was. George Mueller, one of the 00:28:01.259 --> 00:28:11.720 people in life who, in the history of Christianity, who has put more practice to his faith in depending on 00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:18.980 God, trusting God to provide, doing without knowing that God would come through. You read the biography 00:28:18.980 --> 00:28:26.299 of George Mueller. He lived that. Ran an orphanage and, you know, absolutely there were days when they 00:28:26.299 --> 00:28:31.460 had nothing, had zero food to feed the children, etc. And people would just drop off food for them. 00:28:32.500 --> 00:28:39.160 He says, laying up treasures in heaven will draw the heart heavenward. And I'll take him at his word on that 00:28:39.160 --> 00:28:45.240 because he lived it. You want to get closer to God? You want your heart to bond more closely with 00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:50.400 the Lord? Wonder why you're not getting all his blessings in your life? Maybe because your heart 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:54.540 has wandered far away from him. You're holding back. You're limiting what God can do in your life. 00:28:55.000 --> 00:29:00.600 So if you lay up treasures in heaven, that draws your heart heavenward because you're putting your 00:29:00.599 --> 00:29:05.839 treasure in something and your heart will be there. Your heart will follow. 00:29:08.959 --> 00:29:14.539 So there's two ways we can look at this. One is public and one is private. 00:29:16.439 --> 00:29:25.859 Public company, company A on the left here, owned by who? Shareholders, promoters, general investors. 00:29:25.859 --> 00:29:33.419 That's kind of like the church. Our members, our givers, our regular attenders, our partners in 00:29:33.419 --> 00:29:38.539 ministry, those who are involved here, those are the shareholders. We should not, we can also be 00:29:38.539 --> 00:29:42.679 promoters out there telling people, you know what? God's doing something in our church. Y'all need to 00:29:42.679 --> 00:29:48.259 come be a part of it. Sharing the gospel with people, helping them to meet Jesus. And then general 00:29:48.259 --> 00:29:53.979 investors, those who actually lay up their treasure in what's going on in the work of this church. So 00:29:53.980 --> 00:30:02.039 that's kind of like a public company. Some of you probably view it the other way. And there are 00:30:02.039 --> 00:30:11.200 churches that operate this way. It's more private. It's owned by management, the founders, private 00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:21.440 investors. Do you understand the difference there? It's not a direct one-for-one comparison with 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:25.799 publicly traded companies and privately, you know, privately owned companies and the church. 00:30:25.799 --> 00:30:33.400 It's not an exact comparison. But there is a distinction between the concept of public and 00:30:33.400 --> 00:30:41.440 private. The church should be more public in this way. Shareholders, promoters, general investors, 00:30:41.960 --> 00:30:50.700 anybody can come in, meet Jesus, start to have him transform their lives, invest in what's going on in 00:30:50.700 --> 00:30:59.259 this ministry and see God do something through them powerfully. As opposed to the us for and no more 00:30:59.259 --> 00:31:06.100 concept. This is our unique exclusive club. You can't necessarily be a part of it. 00:31:07.660 --> 00:31:15.680 We take care of the needs that we have and etc., etc. So there's a distinction between this public 00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:24.660 and private. Are you an investor in what God is doing in Henrietta, Clay County, and beyond? 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:32.779 Across Texas through Mary Hill Davis offering. Across the United States through our Annie Armstrong 00:31:32.779 --> 00:31:37.420 offering that we take at another time of the year. Across the world through our Lottie Moon 00:31:37.420 --> 00:31:45.100 Christmas offering. As we support missionaries across America, around the world, we get to have a part 00:31:45.100 --> 00:31:52.060 in what God is doing across this globe. But right here at home, the vast majority of our work and 00:31:52.060 --> 00:32:00.140 ministry affects Henrietta, Texas. Affects Clay County, Texas. That is where we live. That is where we work. 00:32:00.140 --> 00:32:07.920 When you invest in the work of this church, you're investing in that. You've seen anybody who's been 00:32:07.920 --> 00:32:13.380 in this church for any length of time has seen the impact this church can have on our town, on our county. 00:32:15.220 --> 00:32:21.400 Are you investing in that? Is that worth your investment? If it's not, I ask you to seek God 00:32:21.400 --> 00:32:28.020 about that. Let God speak to your heart. Influence your heart about what he wants you to do. I can't tell 00:32:28.019 --> 00:32:32.599 you what to do. You might need to do like I do and give 10% of your income. 00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:39.940 I can't command you to do that. That's what's best for me and my family. We give 10% of our salary and 00:32:39.940 --> 00:32:44.859 then we go above and beyond sometimes and give special offerings on top of that. But that's what 00:32:44.859 --> 00:32:50.319 God wants us to do. But what does God want you to do? Are you going to be honest with yourself? Are you 00:32:50.319 --> 00:32:56.980 going to be honest with the Lord and truly do what he wants you to do in making an investment in this 00:32:56.980 --> 00:33:04.039 ministry in this church? I want to leave you with this concept. Anything our church does is paid for 00:33:04.039 --> 00:33:12.579 by God working through you. We're not independently wealthy, y'all. We don't have a rich uncle. 00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:22.860 Our ship's not going to come in. Anything that this church does is paid for by the church. And who's the 00:33:22.859 --> 00:33:31.339 church? We are. We are. So anything this church does, say, man, I wish this church would. Well, 00:33:32.039 --> 00:33:39.019 you're the church. Why don't you do it? I wish this church wouldn't do this. I wish we'd do this 00:33:39.019 --> 00:33:45.659 instead. Okay. Well, let's do it then. Let's do it. Let's do it together. Anything our church does 00:33:45.660 --> 00:33:52.779 is paid for by God working through you, working through me. As generously and cheerfully 00:33:52.779 --> 00:34:00.580 to God's work as I could be. Am I giving as generously and cheerfully to God's work as I could 00:34:00.580 --> 00:34:05.440 be? That's the question we all need to take away from here this morning. I'm not telling you, I don't 00:34:05.440 --> 00:34:10.000 know what you're giving. I'm not telling you that you're giving exactly what you should be or not. 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.619 I have no idea. I don't know your heart. I don't know what God's telling you to do. 00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:20.980 But we should all be asking ourselves. I'm going to ask myself that question. Talk it over with my 00:34:20.980 --> 00:34:27.599 wife. Are we doing what we could be doing? Are we giving as generously and as cheerfully to God's 00:34:27.599 --> 00:34:34.420 work as we could be? That's the question we should all be asking ourselves. So how much am I investing 00:34:34.420 --> 00:34:40.960 in my church from the heart? How much am I investing in my church from the heart? Back to the takeaway. 00:34:41.639 --> 00:34:50.200 The more I give to God from the heart, the more he blesses my heart. Guys, ladies, gentlemen, 00:34:51.480 --> 00:35:01.220 children, youth, if you want God to bless your heart, you got to give him your heart. Don't hold back. 00:35:01.219 --> 00:35:08.539 Don't hold back from God. With your money, with your time, with your energy, don't take one of those 00:35:08.539 --> 00:35:17.299 areas and hold it back. Give God freely everything you have. God won't be stingy with you. Let's pray. 00:35:17.859 --> 00:35:22.399 Lord Jesus, we love you. We thank you for your promises to us throughout scripture. We thank you 00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:30.220 for these promises that tell us, my goodness, you're such a heavenly, wonderful father that 00:35:30.220 --> 00:35:35.980 there's nothing earthly about you. There's nothing man-made about you. You have different motivations. 00:35:36.220 --> 00:35:41.980 You have different priorities than we have. Yours are always good. Yours are always right. Yours are 00:35:41.980 --> 00:35:49.160 always loving. It's always for our best. So I pray that we would just stop holding out on you, 00:35:49.159 --> 00:35:54.739 God. I'm confident there's people in this room that need to do more than they've been doing. 00:35:55.579 --> 00:36:01.039 Maybe they need to change the way they give. Maybe they need to make an investment that they 00:36:01.039 --> 00:36:06.299 haven't previously made. There's needs in this church, God. We want to do so much in this community. 00:36:07.059 --> 00:36:11.679 We want to do more for the school, for teachers in the school. How great would it be if First Baptist 00:36:11.679 --> 00:36:18.480 Church decided to be a blessing to every teacher in our school with a thoughtful gift when the school 00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:26.240 year starts? The kindness ministry does so much, and they could do so much more if our people joined 00:36:26.240 --> 00:36:32.500 together and said, we're going to invest in how God is using this church to bless this community. 00:36:33.260 --> 00:36:39.119 There's so many extra ways we could get the gospel out, God. We need to buy printed materials. We need to 00:36:39.119 --> 00:36:45.179 do all kinds of things. We need to paint our building or fix things that are broken and be a good 00:36:45.179 --> 00:36:51.119 testimony that we're taking care of the facilities God's giving us. There's all kinds of needs, Lord. 00:36:51.199 --> 00:36:57.419 That's not the issue. The issue is the people that make up this church. 00:36:59.419 --> 00:37:05.679 We are responsible to say yes to your Holy Spirit. So I pray that that would be the testimony 00:37:05.679 --> 00:37:14.139 over the weeks to come, that you would make a clear impact in my heart and every person in here, 00:37:14.980 --> 00:37:22.619 even children, that they would begin to understand why it's important to give back to God out of what 00:37:22.619 --> 00:37:30.279 he's given to us, to invest in the work that God is doing. We'll thank you for it, Lord. 00:37:30.280 --> 00:37:35.940 Lord, while our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed, I'm going to ask this question. 00:37:36.940 --> 00:37:42.160 If anybody here has never put their faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, 00:37:42.700 --> 00:37:48.660 believe that Jesus died on the cross, that he rose from the grave, and he's willing and able 00:37:48.660 --> 00:37:55.760 to forgive your sins and make you God's child. If you've never made that decision, would you slip 00:37:55.760 --> 00:38:02.800 your hand up now? Say, I don't want to leave church this morning without knowing Jesus as my Savior. 00:38:04.640 --> 00:38:10.280 Let me ask this question. How many of you would say, God is talking to me right now 00:38:10.280 --> 00:38:17.340 about changing the way I give, whether it's increasing the way I give, changing what I give to, 00:38:17.340 --> 00:38:23.020 et cetera. God's working on me. Would you pray that I do what God wants me to do? Would you slip your 00:38:23.019 --> 00:38:30.099 hand up right now? I'll pray for you. Thank you. God, you know every heart in here, Lord. 00:38:30.719 --> 00:38:34.860 I pray that we wouldn't be a church that just goes around asking for money all the time. 00:38:35.759 --> 00:38:40.340 But I pray that we, as the church, would take ownership of our ministry here, 00:38:40.739 --> 00:38:43.219 that we would invest in what you've given to us.