The Cheerful Giver

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Here we go, let's sing that together. Our God, a firm foundation Our rock, the oldest solid ground Nations rise and fall Kingdoms once strong now shaken We trust forever in your name The name of Jesus We trust the name of Jesus You are the only king forever Almighty God, we lift you higher You are the only king forever Forevermore, you are victorious You are the only king forever Almighty God, we lift you higher You are the only king forever Forevermore, you are victorious ♪ You unfashion all your wisdom In love and justice you will reign And every knee shall bow We bring our expectations And our hope is anchored in your name The name of Jesus We trust the name of Jesus You are the only king forever Almighty God, we lift you higher

You are the only king forever Forevermore, you are victorious You are the only king forever Almighty God, we lift you higher You are the only king forever Forevermore, you are victorious Mother of worship, we lift the banner of the Lord High in this place together We lift our banner high We lift the name of Jesus From age to age we raise Your kingdom as the way We lift our banner high We lift the name of Jesus From age to age we raise Your kingdom as the way You are the only king forever Almighty God, we lift you higher You are the only king forever Forevermore, you are victorious You are the only king forever Almighty God, we lift you higher You are the only king forever Forevermore, you are victorious When all I see is a battle You see my victory When all I see is the mountain You see a mountain view And as I walk through the shadow Your love surrounds me

♪ There's nothing to fear now, for I'm safe with you. ♪ ♪ There's nothing to fear now, for I'm safe with you. ♪ ♪ So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees, with my hands lifted high. ♪ ♪ Oh God, the battle belongs to you, and every fear I will lay at your feet. ♪ ♪ I'll sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. ♪ ♪ And if you are for me, who can be against me? For Jesus, there's nothing impossible for you. ♪ ♪ When all I see are the ashes, you see the beauty. ♪ ♪ When all I see is the cross, God, you see the end too. ♪ ♪ So when I fight, I'll fight on my knees, with my hands lifted high. ♪ ♪ Oh God, the battle belongs to you, and every fear I will lay at your feet. ♪ ♪ I'll sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. ♪ ♪ Oh mighty fortress, you go before us. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. ♪ ♪ You shine in the shadows, you win every battle. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. ♪ ♪ Oh mighty fortress, you go before us. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. ♪ ♪ You shine in the shadows, you win every battle. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. ♪ ♪ Oh mighty fortress, you go before us. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. ♪ ♪ You shine in the shadows, you win every battle. Nothing can stand against the power of our God. ♪ ♪ Oh when I fight, I fight on my knees. With my head lifted high. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. ♪ ♪ Every fear I lay at your feet. I'll sing through the night. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. Oh God, the battle belongs to you. ♪ ♪ ♪ I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene. And wonder how he could love me. A sinner condemned, a queen. ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. ♪ ♪ He took my sins and my sorrows. He made it His very will. ♪ ♪ Behold, behold the birth to glory ♪ ♪ And sovereign and high above ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful ♪ ♪ And my song shall ever be ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful ♪ ♪ Is my Savior's love for me ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful ♪

♪ And my song shall ever be ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful ♪ ♪ Is my Savior's love for me ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful ♪ ♪ And my song shall ever be ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful ♪ ♪ Is my Savior's love for me ♪ ♪ For me ♪ ♪ When with the ransomed in glory ♪ ♪ His face I at last shall see ♪ ♪ T'will be my joy through the ages ♪ ♪ To sing of His love for me ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful ♪ ♪ And my song shall ever be ♪ ♪ How marvelous, how wonderful ♪ ♪ Is my Savior's love for me ♪ ♪♪ Sing this with us. ♪ Come Thou Fount of every blessing ♪ ♪ Tune my heart to sing Thy grace ♪ ♪ Streams of mercy never ceasing ♪ ♪ Call for songs of loudest praise ♪ ♪ Teach me some melodious sonnet ♪ ♪ Sung by flaming tongues above ♪ ♪ Praise the Fount I'm fixed upon Him ♪ ♪ Bound on Thy redeeming love ♪ ♪ Here I rest, I am a believer ♪ ♪ With a mind I'm filled by love ♪ ♪ And I know by Thy good pleasure ♪ ♪ Safely to arrive at home ♪

♪ Jesus saw me with a stranger ♪ ♪ Wandering from the home of God ♪ ♪ Jesus, He heard me from danger ♪ ♪ Heard the call of His precious blood ♪ ♪ And I know by Thy good pleasure ♪ ♪ All the days of great adventure ♪ ♪ Daily I come straight to You, Lord, to You alone ♪ by my wandering heart to Thee. ♪ I come straight to You, Lord, to You alone ♪ Oh, to wonder what I'm feeling, ♪ I come straight to You, Lord, to You alone ♪ oh, to linger down my path. If my heart were thick and still, if my heart were thick and still, still and for Thine. But above all else, I adore Your Name. Above all else, to my heart to sing Your praise. Above all else, I adore Your Name. Above all else, to my heart to sing Your praise. Above all else, I adore Your Name. Above all else, to my heart to sing Your praise. The highest praise, the loudest praise, to Him above,

every day. Oh, to wonder what I'm feeling, oh, to linger down my path. If my heart were thick and still, still and for Thine. Here's my heart. Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it, seal it for Thine courts above. Do you have a Christmas in your mind that stands out for you personally, that stands out maybe more than any other Christmas? It's something as you think, it's like, you know, it was this Christmas this year that was the best Christmas, the best experience at Christmas that I ever had. I was thinking about that this week in my own life. It was a number of years ago that I would say was my best Christmas. And it was my best Christmas, not because of what I received, but because of what I gave. Debbie's mom passed away in April of 1995. She was only 54 years old, died of pneumonia very unexpectedly and suddenly and Debbie's an only child. And so it hit her very hard as it did her dad and our whole family. And Debbie's mom had, you know, Debbie got all her mom's jewelry.

Well, Debbie's mom had a ring that she had taken the diamonds out of her wedding ring and she made this other ring that looked like a bonsai tree. And it was, Debbie just hated that ring. And her mother Doris just loved it, but it was just this tall thing. And you know, Debbie was like, ah. So she got all her mother's jewelry and she said, you know, I'm not, my mom's friend Patsy likes this ring. I'm gonna take all the diamonds out of it and I'm gonna give just that bonsai tree ring to Patsy. She can put her own diamonds in it and I'll see what to do with the other, you know, the diamonds, the loose diamonds. Well, I had this idea for Christmas. Now I'm not great at Christmas. I'm not great at gifts. That's not my longest and strongest suit. But I had a friend of mine who was a jeweler. And so I said, Sam, I said, Sam, here's Debbie's mom's old wedding ring, her old setting, you know, everything was just, nothing was in it. And I said, here are the diamonds. Can you clean all this up and put it back together for me? I wanna give it to her for Christmas. And Debbie didn't know anything that was going on. And so he did it for me and looked beautiful. And so at Christmastime, you know, the kids are little, and at Christmastime we're giving gifts

and that was the last gift I gave her. And she had no idea. She opened it up and she saw her mom's original wedding ring, the setting and all that stuff. She just burst out into tears. That gift meant so much to her. She's wearing it today if you want to come by afterward and take a look, but it was so special. It was special for the girls. It was special for me. Debbie was crying. I started crying. The kids are little. They don't know. They just start crying. You know, might as well cry too with mom and dad. But the reason it was so special and I got such a blessing was because it wasn't something I received. It was something I gave. Jesus said in Acts chapter 20, verse 35, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Now, we want to start a new series, OK? That kid needs to receive somewhere out. He's upset. But it's more blessed to give than to receive. We're starting a brand new series today simply titled More Blessed, and it's based off Acts 20, 31. And we want for you, we want for ourselves to be more blessed. If there's more blessing on the table that the Lord wants to give us, well, we don't want to let that go by.

We want to get in on the greater blessing. You know, Jesus said in Luke chapter 6, verse 38, give and it will be given to you good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. They will pour into your lap. Proverbs 11, verse 25 says, the generous man will be prosperous and he who waters will himself be watered. So, for the next three weeks, we're going to talk about giving and generosity and stewardship. You know, the Bible has so much to say about that. I was looking it up, 2,300 plus verses on the subject of stewardship and money and possessions and generosity. More than verses on faith and prayer and love combined. God has lots and lots and lots to say about how we handle our possessions and what kind of steward that we are and about giving. Now, this series is going to conclude on June 14th. And on June 14th, we're going to do something special as a congregation. We haven't done this in a long, long time, but we're going to take up a one-time over and above offering so that we can finish out all the work on the gym and the kitchen. That is, we started that just several weeks ago. The gym and the kitchen is going to, when it's all said and done, the gym, not the kitchen, but the gym, old gym is going to look like this. And it's going to be beautiful. And it's going to be where we have Tuesday Senior Adult Bible Study. We have Wednesday night meals. We have Thursday Man Up. Chris's class, we'll meet in there. We'll do membership class in there. We'll do lots of special events in there, things that involve food.

And let's face it, we're Baptists. When we get together, we want to eat, right? And so, lots of things involve food. And so, we were thinking about, well, what should we call this new renovated space? The old gym just doesn't seem to cut it, right? That's the, we don't want to call it the old gym. And so, I was thinking through some things, and it dawned on me that when Larry Sims came here in January of 1978, that this facility was built. It was built in 1975, the old gym. It's called the Christian Life Center, and people just all called it the CLC. Well, Larry was the first staff member that was staffed out here. He had an office out here, the only one, and he came in January of 1978. And that began his 44-year ministry at First Baptist Texarkana. That's pretty cool. So, here's what we want to do. As you, when this is all completed, as you come in from the atrium, you're going to see this sign. The new CLC, Christian Life Center. Welcome to the CLC. In 1975, the Christian Life Center was constructed as a satellite campus for FBC Texarkana, located downtown. Larry Sims began his 44-year ministry at FBC in January of 1978 as the Activities Director and sole staff member at the CLC. As FBC grew, the CLC became simply known as the gym, and Larry retired in 2022 as Associate Pastor Emeritus. And we want to dedicate this beautifully renovated building to him. space in his honor and return this facility to its original name, the CLC. And here is the good news. So we voted a couple of few Wednesday nights ago to take the rest of our overage money

that we had from some years past, a million dollars, and put it toward that project and that's the good news. Here is the not so good, well, the rest of the good news is that we have all the money that we need to complete the project. But here's the struggling news, some of it is still in your pockets. And so, so it's all here, it's just not here. And so, so here's the goal, the goal. On June 14th, we give a one-day over and above gift, and our goal is to raise $300,000. And so, we have never, since I've been here as pastor, we have never used an outside company, you know, fundraising company or anything like that. I just don't really believe in that. Other churches do that, that's fine, I'm not throwing stones at them, but here's what I'd like for everybody to do, myself included. We listen to what the Lord has to say, as I'm going to be preaching these messages, we pray, Lord, what do you want me to do? And then thirdly, we obey, we just do what He wants us to do. And I just think that when we do that, we come before the Lord with an open heart, God, you show me, and then when the Lord shows us, we say, yes, Lord, I will do what you want me to do, and then we do it, and God will bless us for that. So to kick off this series, we want to start by talking about the cheerful giver. Second Corinthians chapter 9, the Apostle Paul is talking to the Corinthians about the gift that they were giving for the saints in Jerusalem, that saints in Jerusalem and in Judea were having a hard time, those Jewish believers having a very hard time. Persecution was really ramping up, and there was a famine, and things were difficult for them. And so he was excited about the Corinthians, these Greeks that were going to give to the Jews to help them. He said, now this I say, verse 6, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion,

for God loves a cheerful giver. Here's my question for you, for me, for us. Have you entered the wonderful world of cheerful giving? That's that place where God says, boy, I love it when my children give cheerfully, gladly, hilariously, that word cheerful is the Greek word where we get our English word hilarious, and they're just so excited to give. Have you entered into that world? Three key insights for this morning about the cheerful giver. Number one, the cheerful giver has experienced the grace of God. One of the things about the cheerful giver that you say, well, that person has been touched by God. They've experienced the grace of God. Now Paul said in chapter 8, 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich. The gift that God gave when he gave his son, the gift that Jesus gave when he gave his life. The cheerful giver has experienced the grace of God. Now, we all know that God is the world's greatest giver. Everything comes from God. Psalm 24, the earth is the Lord's and all it contains. The Bible says, ask the question, hey, what do you have that you didn't receive? Everything you have from God, everything you have is a gift from God because God is the giver of every good and perfect gift. It comes down from the father of lights in whom there is no variation nor shadow of turning, nor shifting shadow. God gives to all men, as the Bible says, when you pray for wisdom. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. God is the world's greatest giver.

And God gives generously because he loves greatly. The most famous verse in the Bible is arguably John 316, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He gave the greatest gift. Jesus is the greatest gift that anybody could ever receive. The greatest gift. And God gave the greatest gift out of his love for you and me. For God so loved the world, for God so loved you and me, that he gave his only begotten son. For Jesus so loved you and so loved me and so loved us, that he willingly gave his life, as he prayed in the garden three times and began to sweat blood. Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. I choose your will, Father. Now, it is well been said, you can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. Because when you really love, you want to give. And a mark of true salvation is cheerful giving. How do you know when someone is really changed, when the Lord has really come in? There's a change inside. I was talking to a guy just the other day, and I led him in a prayer of salvation to receive Christ. Hey, when Christ comes in, he changes you. How do you know it? Well, you know, some people say, well, I don't really know if the Lord is in my life. Well, think about it this way. If I came to live in your house,

how long would I have to be there before you would notice somebody's in my house? You would know really quick because I'd take the master bedroom. And you, listen, when the master comes into your house, he takes the master bedroom, so to speak, because he's the master. It doesn't make any sense that somebody says, well, I'm not sure if the Lord is really in my life or not. When he comes in, you know it because he starts to change you from the inside out. And I told this brother, I said, listen, you'll know that this is real because your attitude towards sin will change because the Lord starts to convict about things that you're doing. He comes into the house and says, now we're going to clean up the house. And so your social life, let's go in there. Let's clean up that. Your business life, let's clean up that. Your worship life, let's clean up that. He just starts to work. And so the mark of true salvation is a change in heart. And it's a change in your attitude toward money and toward giving with your treasure and your time and your talent. Now, the poster child, I think for this, is the greedy little guy from Jericho named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus is the one, he climbs up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see, if you remember that song. And Jesus says to him, Zacchaeus, come down for today, I must stay at your house. And the people didn't like it because Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector. Now, if you're a chief, if you're a tax collector, you're a scumbag deluxe in the minds of Jews.

They hated you because you're a Jewish turncoat. You're working with Rome and you're extorting the people and you're getting rich and fat off the labor and the taxes of the people and you're extorting them and they hate you. And he's a chief tax collector. He's not only making money for himself off collecting taxes, he's probably got some other tax guys underneath him. He's getting a cut off of that. Well, those people can't stand this guy. Jesus points him out and he says, Zacchaeus, I must come to your house today. And the Bible says that Zacchaeus received Jesus gladly. Now, I think that is in the physical sense, it's also in the spiritual sense because as they were going to Zacchaeus' house, Luke records these words in 19 verses eight and nine. Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, behold Lord, half my possessions I will give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much. And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham. For the son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. Zacchaeus is the most unlikely candidate for salvation in the minds of the Jews because he's such a scumbag. But the Lord called to him and Zacchaeus responded to the Lord. And how do we see the change? It's in his attitude toward money.

He used to just be. This greedy guy that was wanting more and more and more. And now half my possessions I give to the poor. A mark of true salvation is cheerful giving. So the cheerful giver has experienced the grace of God and it's unmerited. It's unearned. God's grace comes to us. We didn't do anything for it. We can't do anything to get it. It's just given to us by the goodness and love of God. Secondly, the cheerful giver has the right heart in giving. So think about that true statement. You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. And you can give with impure motives, bad motives. And the Bible points these out. Paul points these out. He said, each one, verse 7, must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Now the cheerful giver has a right heart in giving, not a wrong heart, a right heart. The cheerful giver doesn't give grudgingly. That would be having a wrong heart. You're giving grudgingly. That word means out of sorrow and grief and heaviness and sadness. You're like, oh, I have to give. They're asking me to give. Wow. I mean, to part with this money, that's just so hard. One of my best friends is Ben Franklin.

To give that is just so difficult. He says, don't give that way. That's where you're just so sad about it because you're giving. The Lord loves a cheerful giver, not a sad, heavy-hearted, sorrowful giver because they love their money so much. The cheerful giver also, he doesn't give forcibly, under compulsion. I mean, it's almost like someone has a gun to your head. You're going to give. And you say, well, when do you see that, where people give that way? Every April 15th, you see people giving under compulsion, right? I have to pay taxes. I don't want to do this, but I know if I don't do it, I'm going to get in trouble. And the only way I can not get in trouble by not paying my taxes is to move to Minnesota and open up a leering center. Then they give money to you. You don't do it under compulsion. And the cheerful giver doesn't give pridefully or selfishly. It's not about me. You're not giving because it's all about me. We have people that do that. Many people do that. They have impure motives when they give.

How is this going to benefit me? How is this going to help me? There was one guy had a business, and he gave a lot away to people in his community, but he would tell his guys when they were going to give these items to help people that a house burned down or something tragic happened. Now, when you get there, wait. Don't unload the truck until the TV cameras come, because we want to make sure that we get credit for this. You know, in Jesus' day, he said in Matthew chapter six, and when you give, don't give like the hypocrites do, because when they give to the poor, guess what they would do? They would blow a trumpet to announce to everybody, hey, I'm giving to the poor now. Look at me. Jesus said, well, that person, he's not going to get anything from God. He has his reward in full. What is your reward? Everybody looks at you because you blew the trumpet and you announced that you were giving. Now, the cheerful giver, he gives prayerfully, and wisely, and gladly. You pray about what you're going to give. You ask the Lord, okay, Lord, here's the need. What do I give? What do you want me to do? And he gives wisely, knowing 2 Corinthians chapter nine, verse six.

There's a principle in giving. He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Everybody knows that. I mean, it's just a principle of agriculture. You know, if you want to plant seeds from tomato plants or something like that, and you have one packet. and your neighbor has 100 packets, who's gonna get more tomatoes? Well, all things being equal, he's gonna get a whole lot more, why? Because he sowed a lot more seed than you did. So he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. So the cheerful giver is thinking prayerfully, he's thinking wisely. I want to err on the side of generosity, not on the side of stinginess. And he's thinking about giving gladly, why? Because the Lord loves a cheerful giver. He's saying, you know, this is a great opportunity for me. And I want to, Lord, anything that I have, it already belongs to you, because the earth is the Lord's and all it contains. I don't really own anything, I just manage God's stuff. And so, Lord, whatever you want me to give, I'm not holding onto it like this. I'm open-handed with what you give me. And Lord, you remember when Jesus told his disciples, go and get a colt, a mother in the colt.

And if somebody says, why are you taking my colt for the triumphal entry? Says, he said, say to them, the Lord has need of it. And so, when you pray, it's like, God, you've entrusted these things to me. So, what do you have need of that you've entrusted to me? Because I just want, I don't want to hold onto it, I want to have an open hand. Whatever you need, Lord, you take that. The cheerful giver has the right heart in giving. I like what one pastor said when they were asking him the secret of his success. He said, two words, I pray and I obey. That is the secret to how God has blessed my ministry, pray and obey. And then insight number three, the cheerful giver makes a genuine difference, a genuine difference. Second Corinthians chapter nine, beginning in verse eight in the CEV version, contemporary English version, says this, God can bless you with everything you need. And you will always have more than enough to do all kinds of good things for others. The scriptures say, God freely gives his gifts to the poor and always does right. God gives seed to farmers and provides everyone with food. He will increase what you have so that you can give even more to those in need. You will be blessed in every way

and you will be able to keep on being generous. Then many people will thank God when we deliver your gift. What you are doing is much more than a service that supplies God's people with what they need. It is something that will make many others thank God. The way in which you have proved yourself by this service will bring honor and praise to God. You believe the message about Christ and you obeyed it by sharing generously with God's people and with everyone else. Now they are praying for you and want to see you because God used you to bless them so very much. Thank God for his gift that is too wonderful for words. Hey, you make a genuine difference when you are a cheerful giver. Now notice how you make a difference. First of all, the cheerful giver blesses the recipient. And that's what Paul was saying. Hey, you're gonna help these Jews. They're in trouble. These Jewish Christians, your Jewish Christian brothers and sisters in Jerusalem, they're in trouble. There's persecution against them. Acts chapter eight tells about the persecution. After the death and stoning of Stephen, there was great persecution. They came upon the saints in Jerusalem and there's a famine that hit that area. So they're in trouble.

As one pastor said, we talk about the cancel culture here. If you say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing and a group gets mad at you, they will try and cancel you. Where those Jews were getting canceled and people weren't buying from their businesses and things and they were in trouble. So these Gentile believers were able to help in a very significant way. So the cheerful giver blesses the recipient. And we always enjoy when someone helps us and it is a blessing. For the ministry, verse 12, of the service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but it's overflowing through many thanksgivings to God, but it was supplying their need. But not only does the cheerful giver bless the recipient, the cheerful giver blesses the Lord. That is the thing that is so wonderful because God loves a cheerful giver. Does that mean that God doesn't love a cheerful giver? Any time that you've ever given that you gave grudgingly or under compulsion, you didn't really want to do it, but you gave, well, I got to, does that mean God says, well, I don't love you? No, that's not what that means. It just means that God really gets excited

when somebody is willing and glad and ready to give. When people, His children are open-handed with the things that God has given them. You know, it's like a reservoir that keeps flowing out. Things can flow in and those things flow out. Some people are like the Dead Sea. You know, the Dead Sea is dead because things flow into it and they don't leave there. It's just stagnant. And so we bless the Lord when we give and it pleases Him. You know, God is a giver, as we've said, and God wants us to be like Him. You shall be holy as I am holy. And when we tell the truth, when we walk in the light, we please the Lord because that's the way He wants us to live. And when we're generous with the things that He gives us, that blesses Him because that is the way He is. He gives to all men generously and without reproach. Now, I realize that some people are more generous just in personality than others. You know, in John chapter 12, Mary, the sister of Martha, she had that very expensive vial of perfume and she broke it and poured it on the Lord's feet and prepared Him for burial. And you remember who got mad about that? Judas. Judas Iscariot. Why was this ointment not sold and given to the poor?

It would have brought in 300 days wages. And the Bible says, he didn't say this because he cared anything about the poor, but because he was a thief and he used to pilfer what was in the money box. And Jesus said, let her alone. She has done a good deed. She did what she could. She prepared my body for burial. It blessed the Lord. And then thirdly, the cheerful giver is blessed by the Lord. God, it says in 2 Corinthians chapter nine, verse eight, God is able to make all grace abound to you so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. As it is written, he scattered abroad. He gave to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. Now 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. You will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. God will bless you when you are a generous, cheerful giver. The generous man will be prosperous and he who waters will himself be watered. Now that is true even for unbelievers. When an unbeliever is generous, they receive back because God is a good God. I had a Jewish uncle, Uncle Harry.

Harry taught me a lot about generosity. He was so generous and he loved being generous. You know, it's fun to be generous. Some of you, I don't know who you are. This is not directed at any one person, but some of you are not very generous. You know you're not very generous. The waiters and waitresses that serve you know you're not very generous. It's fun to be generous. It's fun to bless somebody with an unexpected gift. A waiter, a waitress, you find out about their lives and then you give them a over-the-top gift. You know, you think about the word miserable. Nobody wants to be miserable. Look at the word miserable. What's the first word in the word miserable? Miser. Misers are miserable. Those who hold on to everything they have. You know, we sing that song, take my life. Sometimes we sing it. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. Take my silver and my gold. Not a mite would I withhold. And then we hold on to it with all our might. Mine, not taking mine, that's mine. So much better to live life with your hands open. Lord, whatever you have need of, Lord, I want to supply that need.

How are you doing with being a cheerful giver? The Lord loves a cheerful giver. I ran across a story this week as I was studying for this message. It was a story told by Bob McEwan. He was a congressman from Ohio for a number of years and a strong Christian believer. And he was telling about his brother-in-law, or his brother, I'm sorry, so his brother had a little son, Bob's nephew, and his brother and Bob's nephew, they go to McDonald's. And the boy is little, probably four or five years old. And they go to McDonald's because the little boy wanted his dad to buy him some french fries. So his dad, they go to the drive-thru, his dad buys him french fries and he gets him a big old, you know, deal and gives that little boy, he's in his car seat, he gives him the french fries and the little boy is in french fry heaven. And they're driving home and Bob's brother said, you know, the french fries were just kind of filling the air in the car and they smelled so good. He said he reached over to grab one and his little son said, hey, those are mine, can't have a french fry. And so Bob's brother said three things came to my mind. He said, number one, does this kid not know that I took him to McDonald's? I drove him here. He couldn't do any of this on himself, by himself. I drove him here. I bought the fries. I went to the window. I paid for the fries. I am the source of all french fries in this kid's life. Does he not realize that? Number two, does he not realize that at any moment I could take those fries away from him? They're not his fries. I bought those fries.

They really belong to me. At any moment, I could say, you lost your privilege to have the fries. Or does he not realize that we could turn around and I could go back to McDonald's and say, hey, I want to get five more orders of french fries. I could load this kid down with fries. He'd have fries coming out his ears. Does he not understand that? And thirdly, does he not realize how need his fries? I can get my own fries. I got his fries. I can get my own fries. I'm not dependent upon him for his crumbs, the little, you know, leftover fries that he might have. And he said, isn't that kind of what we do with God? We forget that it all belongs to him. This isn't my stuff. We're just stewards. We're managers of the Lord's things. He owns it all. And when you die, guess what? When you die, you leave it all behind. Because it doesn't belong to you. It belongs to God. And God can take it all away as he did with Job. Just like that. Job, who was wealthy, wealthy, wealthy, wealthy, lost it all in one fell swoop. Nebuchadnezzar, who was so wealthy, lost it all, lost his mind. God took it away just like that. God can take it away and God can bring it back just like that too. He is God. And that God does not need us.

We need him. And why does God ask us to enter into the joy of giving? Is it for God? You know, poor God. He's month to month. You know, if you don't give this month, I don't know if God's going to make, has nothing to do with that. God doesn't need you. He wants to invite you into this joy of giving. Because it is a great joy. So I want to ask you as we close out. As you think about it. And just be honest. You don't have to share this with anybody. This is between you and the Lord. And as it relates to our church, I don't know who gives what. I have no knowledge of that. That's between you and God. We challenge people that the membership class to give according to biblical standards. The tithe is the Lord's. And if you give according to biblical standards, God promises, Malachi chapter 3, that test me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open up for you a window in heaven and pour out a blessing so great that you can't even contain it. That's like Luke 6 38. Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. They will pour into your lap. God wants to give because God is a giver and God is. testing us to see, will we be generous? He loves a cheerful giver. So as you think about your own life,

do you tend to hold on to things? Thinking there's never gonna be enough? God is able to make all grace abound to you. You think there's never gonna be enough? Oh, I gotta hold back because there's not gonna be enough. If I get too generous, you know, don't wanna be too generous, that would be bad to be too generous. And I don't think that's very many of our problems we're too generous, we holding it on or do we have open hands that say, Lord, you've blessed me so much. I wanna be a blessing, whatever you have need of Lord. Now, remember this, not every need is a personal call. Not every cause needs to be your cause. You could easily run out of money today because there's so many needs, there's so many causes. So you bring everything to the Lord, what do you want me to do? You can trust God that he will show you if you're willing to do, Jesus said, if any man is willing to do his will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God, you can know God's will as you just come before the Lord and say, Lord, here's the situation, you show me and I'll do whatever you want me to do. But listen, here's something that probably all of us need. We need to be touched again by God's amazing grace. As the song says, the wonder of wonders

that thrills my soul is the wonder that God loves me, that God would send his son for me, that Jesus would die for me, that the Holy Spirit would come to live in my life. Oh, the wonder of it all, the wonder of it all, just to think that God loves me, just to think that God loves me and he gave to me while I was yet a sinner. And that knowledge makes me want to give to him. Now we come to the most important question of all. Have you turned from sin and selfishness and given your heart and life to Jesus? Listen, if not, today is the day for you. Just pray this simple prayer from your heart. Lord Jesus, I need you. I know that I'm a sinner and I can't save myself, but I believe Jesus that you are God in the flesh. I believe you died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead. And right now I ask you to forgive me and save me, come into my life, change me, make me the person you want me to be. I surrender my life to you and I promise to follow you all the days I have left. And if you pray that kind of prayer and mean it, the Lord will come in and your life will never be the same. Listen, I would love to hear from you. So please contact me and share with me what's going on so we can pray for you. And if you are ever in the Texarkana area,

we would love for you to visit us live and in person at FBC Texarkana. Listen, you really are important to God and you're important to us and we're here for you.