Book of Mourning again. If you'd open your Bibles with me to the book of Philippians, Philippians chapter two, as you're turning a couple of announcements, Novi Sparks is having trouble again with the throwing up and stomach upset, and they have discovered that the hernia that they repaired is re-ruptured.

So it's probably gonna require another surgery for her, I hate that, but she'll go a while feeling OK, and then she'll really suffer for a while. So we want to remember her in prayer. And Brother Marvin Stoniker, I think it must have been on Saturday or Friday, had another seizure. And he is in the hospital. I don't know anything other than that, other than the family's asked that we all not call and bug him to death. So I'm sure he's feeling pretty poorly. We want to remember him and Glenda in prayer too. All right, Philippians chapter two, we're gonna read the first 16 verses.

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels and mercies. Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither later in vain.

All right, let's stand together as Sean leads us in singing our call to worship. Look upon me, Lord, I pray thee. Let thy spirit dwell in mine. Thou hast sought me, thou hast bought me. Take my heart and make it thine. Naught I ask for, naught I strive for, but this grace, so rich and free, this Thou givest by the Savior, He hath all things, who hath Thee. Precious is the name of Jesus, who can half its worth unfold. Far beyond angelic praises, sweetly sung to harps of gold. Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land. I am weak, but thou art mighty. Hold me with thy powerful hand.

Okay, if you would, turn in your hymnal to song number 17. We'll sing, Come Thou Fount. Number 17. 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 mount, I'm fixed upon it, mount of thy redeeming love. Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither by thy help I'm come.

And I hope by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God, he to rescue me from danger interposed his precious blood. Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. If you would, turn your Bibles to the book of Acts. Pastors ask us to read chapter 11 verses 23. I'm sorry, 27 through 30. Verses 27 through 30.

And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that there should be a great dearth throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea, which also they did, and sent it to the elders, by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. Let's pray. Our dear and most gracious and most merciful Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, again.

First and foremost, for giving us this place of worship, this true place, a place in which we can come and hear and have this gospel preached to us in a way in which only you can send forward. And that's in power and truth. We thank you, Lord. For the ministry in which we have here, the ministry of reconciliation, the only true means in which we can and will be reconciled to our God and to our Father, is through the preaching of this gospel.

Lord, bless us. Bless our pastor this morning, the words in which you have laid on his heart, Lord. Let him preach unto us these words in a way in which only you can send forth, and that's in spirit. Let your spirit be upon each and every one of us, Lord.

Help us. Help us, Lord, as we live in this world, in this life, in this flesh. Help us, Lord, this constant struggle we have going on in this flesh and this this flesh fighting against the spirit, the spirit fighting against the flesh. Lord, help us. Keep us. Let not this sinful flesh have dominion over us, but keep us by the faith, the God given faith in which you have given us to believe.

And we pray this blessing, Lord, not only for ourselves, but if there be any among us here this morning that you have not yet called into this grace, we pray that this might be the hour in which we would grow in number. We pray also, Lord, for those in whom you have brought into these very, very difficult times, those whom are suffering. We have so many in the church. We have so many in our families that are suffering these afflictions of this flesh, these These infirmities, the trials and tribulations of this world, Lord, help them, help us, help them to look to the one and only true physician, look to the one in whom the mercies of the grace, the true healing mercies can be bestowed upon. Lord, bless us in that way. These things we ask in Christ's name, for his sake, amen. Keep your Bibles open there to Acts 11. That will be our text this morning. I titled the message this morning, Christian Giving.

Remember, if you recall that last week we looked at what does grace look like? What does God's grace look like? And the last point was that God's grace produces Christians. Christians are those who are followers of Christ, who are believers of Christ. But there's one more thing that grace always produces, and I didn't have time to deal with it last Sunday, so I'll deal with it this morning. It's the grace of giving. God's grace always produces giving in the hearts of his people.

Now, this giving is not a tithe, like the Old Testament law, where the people were required to give 10%. You know, that's a tax. That's not giving. That's a tax, something that you're forced to give. What we're talking about here, and what scripture teaches, is Christian giving. How do those who are followers of Christ give? And this is the result of God's grace. Now, what is Christian giving? You know, I mentioned just a second ago, it's not tithing.

One real good piece of advice, I remember Brother Henry saying, is don't give 10%. Give a dollar more. Give a dollar less, but don't give 10%. Because if you're giving 10%, it's according to the law. And you're putting yourself under the whole law of God. So this is not a tax. This is not telling everybody to give 10%. It's Christian giving. Well, what is Christian giving? Well, our text that Gary just read for us gives us a very good example of Christian giving. First of all, our text tells us which Christians are to give.

Every one of them, every one of them. Verse 27 says, in those days came prophets from Jerusalem, an Antioch, and there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that there should be a great dirt throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, every man, according to his ability, every man, every man gave. Now remember, Everyone here, everyone. You know why it's everyone?

Well, there's several reasons that every believer gives. Number one, it's because God always gives all of his people enough to share, always. Now look at 2 Corinthians chapter 9, and you might want to mark this because we're going to be looking, we see this example in Acts chapter 11, and Paul expounds on it in chapters 8 and 9 of 2 Corinthians. that God always gives everyone enough to share, to give.

2 Corinthians 9, in verse 7. Every man, according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give. Not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth the cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. God gives everyone, every believer enough to share, and you're not gonna go to the poor house giving an offering to God because he's able to make all grace abound towards you. Every believer is to give. Look back across the page there, 2 Corinthians 8, verse one. Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit.

We want you to know of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. How that in great trial of affliction and abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, for their ability to give, I bear record. Yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves, praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. Now every believer is to give, even those who are in deep poverty. These people that Paul had been with there in Macedonia, they were in deep trial of affliction. They were in deep poverty. And they heard of believers in other places who were in need, who were also in great trial, in the depths of poverty.

And you know what, these people who were, I mean, they're afraid for their lives. They've lost everything. They're on the run, you know, from people who would kill them for being Christians. And they took up an offering to send to some other believers who were in times of trouble. And I can just see them bringing this gift to Paul, and Paul said, I can't take this.

Y'all need this. Y'all are in poverty. Y'all are struggling to have enough to eat. I can't take this. And they said, no, we want you to take it, Paul. It's a joy for us to give. We want you to take it. You take it and you give it to these other people. Because I don't know if you caught this in Gary's prayer, talking about those who are in times of trouble. He said, help us help them. That's the heart of a believer. We want to give so we can help them.

And I got a current day example of this too. On one of our trips to Mexico, one of those churches, one of those pueblos, I mean, every last one of us here this morning are wildly wealthy compared to them. And you know what they did? They took up an offering to give to the men that came to preach to them.

And Cody handed us that wad of money. And both of us there that day said, Cody, we can't take this. We bring gifts to give to y'all. We can't take this. And Cody said, oh, no, you take it. They wanted to. I didn't suggest to them. They just did this. They want to do this, to give. Now, you let them do it. You let them enjoy this.

Every believer is to give. And you talk about a humbling experience. I mean, how humbling is that? Believers, they give. They give liberally. They give sacrificially. Because you know what they're doing? They're thinking about somebody else before they think of themselves. That's the reason that every believer gives.

Look at verse 13 there in 2 Corinthians 8. For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye be burdened, but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there be equality. As it's written, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack. Now what Paul's telling us here is every believer's to give.

Not just the rich. Don't just think, well, let the rich give. They can afford it and they'll support the ministry. The poor to give too. The poor to give. Everybody give what the Lord has enabled them to give. Absolutely the rich will give more, but the poor give too. Because every gift matters. Every gift. Everything that you put in the offering. Everything that you do for one another. Every gift matters. You know why? because you're offering it as unto the Lord. You're not doing it for personal recognition. You're doing it as unto the Lord.

So God gives every believer enough to give, and then he blesses them forgiven. He blesses every believer. Every believer wants to give because God's blessed me so much. Every believer wants to give because I love Christ so much. I love him because he first loved me, but I do love him. And I want to give out of that heart of love and thanksgiving.

So that's which Christians give? All of them. Well, how much do Christians give? Well, look back in our text, verse 29. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief. Every believer gives according to their ability. You give out of what God has given you. And like I told you a moment ago, God's blessed every single one of us with abundance. Every one of us. And we're to give out of our abundance.

Look at 2 Corinthians 8 again. Verse 12. For if they be first a willing mind, it's accepted. According to that a man hath, not according to that he hath not. Don't give what you don't have. No, you give out of the abundance that God has given you. Let me show you something interesting. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. 1 Corinthians 16. Verse two. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you, there it again, every believer is to give, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. as God has prospered us.

And when God blesses you, you give it. That's how much you give. Nobody's putting a dollar figure on it. Nobody's putting a percentage on it. You give what God's given you. You decide. All right, number four, or number three. Now this is important. How do Christians give? How do Christians give?

Well, they give from the heart. Our text says they gave what they determined to give. How did they determine what to give? It was in their heart. It was in their heart. And they gave willingly. You know, they weren't coerced. You know, they didn't hear about this, you know, these people suffering. And Paul and Barnabas, you know, twisted their arms and said, you know, y'all ought to, you know, give. They heard of a need. You know, they just heard about the need.

And they just naturally, just instinctively started taking up an offering to send to hell, because that's what's in their heart. Look at 2 Corinthians 8, verse 12 again, it says, for if there be first a willing mind, it's accepted. It's a willing mind. If we give willingly, any size gift, any gift that you give, any size, is accepted of God when we give willingly, give willingly.

And here's an example, it's kind of a silly one, but you imagine you're doing a job, those of you that have small children, and you're doing a job, and the little one wants to help you, wants to help you. We got a video yesterday of our grandson, who had been watching his daddy repair a stone wall, and he'd been watching him build that stone wall, and he wanted to help, he wanted to help.

Now, a two-year-old, and that, endeavor is nothing but a hindrance, right? But his daddy let him help. Daddy let him help. And even though it was, you know, it just made Clark happy. You know, this little boy just wanted to help out. Even though Clark didn't need him, even though it actually was a hindrance to him getting the job done faster, it was a joy to him.

Now listen, God has plenty of money. He has plenty of money. Let's never be deceived into thinking God needs us to accomplish his will. He doesn't need us. The cattle on a thousand hills are his. Now he doesn't need our money. But how we give, how we give is important because it has pleased the Lord just like it pleased the Lord by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

It's pleased the Lord to support his church, to support his pastors, to support sending out the gospel throughout the whole world. Which remember, we looked at this in the lesson a couple weeks ago. That's the commandment of God to us. Go into all the world and preach the gospel. Well, now you're gonna need a little bit of money to do that. I mean, that's just the fact of the matter, you know. And God's chosen to support his church by the giving of his people. And how we give is important. How we give. The attitude in our giving.

And the same thing is true about every facet of the believer's walk. It's not just what you're supposed to do. And when we talk about the believer's walk, I always try to deal with it in this way. Yes, there are certain things that the believer's supposed to do, but our attitude in doing them is far more important than what we actually do.

Because you can do the right thing outwardly, and your heart be full of a dead man's bones, can it? That's what the Lord told the Pharisees. Outwardly, they did everything right according to the law, but God looks on the heart. God looks on the heart.

2 Corinthians 9, verse seven. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful gift. So that's why I say our attitude is more important than our actions. Our attitude in giving is even more important than how much we give. God loveth a cheerful giver. And if you look at Mark chapter 12, I'll show you a striking example of this. Mark chapter 12. In verse 41.

Then Jesus and Jesus sat over against the treasury and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury and many that were rich cast in much. Now the Lord wasn't just watching people cast into the treasury. He wasn't looking to see how much they were casting into the treasury, was he? It was how, how. He was looking at their heart. He was looking at their attitude in giving.

Read on verse 42. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which is cast into the treasury. For all they did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all of her living. God looked on the heart. Now, as a percentage of her income, a percentage of her wealth, she did give more than all the rich gave, but that's not what the Lord's talking about. It's how she gave, how she gave, willingly from the heart.

Now, let me ask you something. People are funny about money, aren't they? People are funny about money and how they think about money and people think about it. in different ways, but everybody knows you need some. Everybody knows you need some. What could make a person be like this poor widow and give so much? What could make a person give so much? Well, number one, clearly, it's because I trust the Lord. It's because I trust the Lord. Number two, because I love him. Because I love him.

When it comes time for Christmas presents birthday presents, nobody has to tell me a minimum amount of money that I need to spend on Janet. I already mentioned my little grandson. Believe me, nobody has to tell us the minimum amount we're going to spend on that kid. We kind of maybe have to rein each other in a little bit, you know.

It's out of love. It's out of love. But you know what else makes a person give like this? It's because my whole self, my whole being belongs to the Lord. I'm not my own. I'm bought with a price. Look at 2 Corinthians 8 verse 5. Here they took up this offering when they're in such deep poverty to give to Paul and to take to these other believers. And verse 5 says, and this they did. Not as we'd hoped. I mean, maybe we'd hope they'd give an offering, but now we'd just only hope that it'd be a small offering, you know, something that they could afford to give.

But they gave so much because first they gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of the Lord. See, this thing of giving is more than just giving of my money. Now, it includes that, but it's much more than that. It's giving my whole self to the Lord. and my whole self to you, my whole self to you. Of our time, of our talents, of our faithfulness to show up to the service, of our faithfulness to look for ways to be a help to one another, of our faithfulness to see something that needs to be done and just do it. It's because I've given my whole self to the Lord. I mean, given. He bought it. He bought my whole self. I belong to Him lock, stock, and barrel. So I'm willing to give sacrificially because I'm denying self. I just naturally deny self. I belong to the Lord.

I give sacrificially because whatever it is, whatever it is that I can do to worship Christ and to see Christ and hear of Him and for other people to hear of Christ and see Him Whatever it is, I got to give up so that that happens, it's worth it. I mean, it just, my money doesn't compare to hearing Christ preached, to being able to worship Him, to having other people be able to hear of Him and worship. It just doesn't even compare, so of course I do. And we give sacrificially because we're thankful. We're thankful for Christ. And it's following His example. I don't know, maybe I shouldn't feel this way, but it always bothers me. I always have to throw out this disclaimer when I say that we're following Christ's example. Christ didn't come as an example.

He came as a savior. He came as a savior to save his people from their sin. But now he did leave us an example. When he washed the disciples' feet, he said, now I've left you an example that you should do the same thing. So in this sense, following the example of the Savior that we love, I want you to listen how he gave. Hebrews 9 verse 26 says, but now once, in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin. And it doesn't end there. Yes, Christ came to put away sin. How did he do it? By the sacrifice of himself. Himself. Hebrews 9 verse 14.

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? What else would cause you to quit your works and trust Christ and serve him other than he offered himself without spot to God? Titus 2 verse 14, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, a special people, a purchased people, zealous of good works. What could make you more zealous of good works that he gave himself to redeem us? Ephesians five, verse 25. This one phrase is, should be, should be all the marriage advice any believing husband ever needs to hear. Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. He gave himself for it. What would prompt a husband to do without so that his wife could have? What would prompt a daddy to do without so that his children could have? he's gonna give himself for them because Christ gave himself for him.

He gave himself. He didn't just pull out his wallet and pay the redemption price. In order to pay the redemption price, he gave himself. Galatians chapter two, the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Now there, Paul's getting right down to brass tacks, isn't he? Yes, Christ gave himself to redeem the elect, to redeem all those that the Father gave him to save. He did. But here, Paul says he gave himself for me. If I was the only one that the Lord intended to save, he would have had to do everything he did that's recorded in scripture.

If he's gonna save me the same way as he did to save a multitude, that no man can number, miracle of miracles, wonder of wonders, a wonder that I'm just confident will never understand. Even in glory will never understand this. We're in a perfect body with a perfect mind, will never understand this.

Christ gave himself for me. In my sinful mind, I esteem you so highly, I can see that God would send his son to offer himself for you. I know that's wrong, but I can see that. I can't see how he'd give himself for me. That's what I can't see. And if Christ gave himself to redeem me, how can I not give myself to give in the offering? to give to serve you, to give to help you, to do whatever I can to further the gospel so that other people can hear of him, the one who loved me and gave himself for me. Of course I give myself to you. Of course I do. Of course I do.

That's how a Christian gives. Then fourthly, what do Christians do? What do Christians do? They give. Look at verse 30 back in our text, Acts chapter 11. They had determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea, which also they did. And they sent it by the elders, to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Paul. What do Christians do? They give. These fellas, they didn't sit around and talk about it. They did it. They didn't say, you know, we ought to plan to take up an offering. They did it, they did it. Believers give, that's what they do.

Look back at 2 Corinthians again, chapter eight, verse seven. Therefore, as you abound in everything, the church at Corinth abounded in so many gifts of grace and so forth, seeing as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and in knowledge and in all diligence and in your love to us, you see that you abound in this grace also. this grace of giving. Now, I speak not by commandment, but by the occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

And herein I give my advice, for this is expedient for you. who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. You planned to do this a year ago, now therefore perform the doing of it. As there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which you have. You had a desire in your heart to give, now do it, do it. You had planned to take up this offering, now do it.

That's what Christians do, they give. Now here's the last thing, and this is so, so vital, why? Why do Christians give? You know, why did these new believers in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas stayed there for a year, so if they had been hearing the gospel for a year or less, they'd never met the believers in Judea, they didn't know any of them, why would they care? Why would they just have this overwhelming desire to take up an offering and send to these people that they've never met?

There's only one answer. It's love. It's love. We love Christ, who we haven't seen. And we love other believers who we haven't seen, too. We love them. There in verse eight, Paul, in 2 Corinthians 8, He said, I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. Love acts. I know that love is an emotion that we feel and so forth, but if you feel an emotion, whatever you want to call that emotion, if you feel it, but it doesn't act, My friend, that's not love. I mean, I don't know what you call it, but it's not love.

Love gives. And love gives the best that it can find to give. The best. And the motive for all giving, for all, we're talking about Christian giving here, the motive for it is love. 2 Corinthians 9 verse 6. But this I say, he which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly. And he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. And I point this out, this verse out, and talking about the motive for giving is love. The motive for giving is not investing.

I mean, this gets on my very last nerve. It makes me so angry. When you hear false prophets say, now you give me, I mean, you hear them on TV and talking to widows that, you know, give me your last dollar and God's going to bless you with a whole lot more. You send me this seed money and God's going to bless you. That's investing. And it's poor investing. That's a Ponzi scheme is what that is. The motive for giving is love. It's love. You give with an open hand out of love.

You know, again, we talk about Christmas presents. Christmas is a big deal at Tate Household. And I spend all year trying to come up with gifts for Janet, gift ideas for Janet. And I think of one in March And don't go looking for it. I got a secret spot. I write down stuff, ideas I want to give her, you know.

And I don't think, oh, I better spend X amount of dollars on me so she spends X amount of dollars, or on her, so she spends X amount of dollars on me. That's not love. That's not giving. That's investing, hoping to get something in return. You give because you love Christ. You give because you love his people. And if that's your motive, God will bless it. And if your motive is to get something from God because you gave, God won't bless that. That's just all there is to it. That's just all there is to it. And let me give you this in closing. Believers give. Why do believers give? First of all, because of love. And second of all, because we're thankful.

Paul says in Romans 12 verse one, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, not just your money, but yourself, your bodies, all that you are living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

It's your reasonable service. It's just reasonable since God has blessed me so much that I give. It's just reasonable since I belong to Christ that I give to His cause. He's made me a citizen of His kingdom. It's just reasonable that I give. It's just reasonable that I give to help others that God has saved by His grace. He owns my whole self. He owns everything that I have. There's not one thing I have God doesn't give me. Not one.

It's just reasonable that I give. And since I love Christ, It's just reasonable that I give. Of course I do, because I love him. And then thirdly and lastly, Christians give for Christ's sake. Now again, you know my disclaimer about following his example, but following his example, believers give because nothing grips the heart, the emotions, the mind, the being of a believer other than what Christ gave to redeem me.

2 Corinthians 8, verse 9. For you know the grace. You don't just know about it, you know it by experience. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

Oh, to think how our Savior became poor. the Son of God became poor when he appeared in human flesh. And he didn't grow up in a household of a nobleman, he grew up in the household of poor people. He became poor. And at the cross, he became poor. He became poor of righteousness when he was made sin for his people. He became poor in fellowship with his father. When his father turned his back on his son and smote his son with the sword of justice, he became poor in fellowship with his father. He suffered and died that he might give his people all of the immeasurable mercy and grace that his father has reserved for his people.

Brother and sister, if you trust Christ, if God's given you faith and trust Christ, you're rich. Rich in mercy, rich in grace, rich in faith, rich in knowledge of the Savior. Oh, you're so rich. I wish I would always see my life that way. I wish I would, because it's true. We're rich. 2 Corinthians 9, verse 15. Paul spends two chapters devoted to this thing of the grace of giving. mostly talking about giving and offering. And this one verse says everything a believer really needs to know about giving.

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. When the father gave to his people, the father, the almighty, gave the best that he has. He gave his son. And Paul calls that unspeakable. There's not words to describe the glory and the riches of that grace that God would give the very best that he has. He gave his people his son. He gave his son to redeem us.

He gave his son as a sacrifice for the sin of his people. He gave his son to be the sacrifice that God requires that would enable him to be just and justifier. but He also gave His Son to you. He gave His Son to you to dwell in your hearts. He gave His Son to you so that when you hear Him preached, you know Him, you believe Him, and you rejoice. He gave Him to you.

That's all I have to know to tell me if I should give, how much I should give, when I should give, and with what attitude I should give. That's all I need to know, how Christ gave himself for me. I hope you see this as good instruction on giving, because it's important. Believers give, but we also have to be taught to give. But I hope more importantly, when you think about this message, You think about the glory of Christ and the absolute wonder that God would send his son and give himself for you.

That's redemption. That's redemption. And if we see that, it's going to set our attitude just right. And if our attitude is set right, our actions will follow. All right. I hope that'll be a blessing to you. Let's bow together. Our Father, We thank You for Your Word.

How we thank You for Your Word, which reveals the Lord Jesus Christ, the wonder of wonders, the wonder of Your grace, that You'd send Your Son to give Himself for us, to redeem us from all of our sins, to be our Savior, to be our Lord, to be our Master, to give us the faith to see Him and the grace to follow Him. And father, that you have put us in your family. You've put us here in this congregation to be a help to one another, to be an encouragement to one another, to, to worship together. Father, we can't begin to thank you, but with what heart you've given us, what mouth that you've given us, father, we thank you. Oh, how we thank you. And father, we pray. that you'd be pleased to bless us with both the ability and the desire to be used in your service, to be used in your service, to spread your glory, and to be a help to your people.

Father, it's in Christ's name. For his sake, we give thanks. Amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would turn in your hymnal to song number 75 and stand as we sing Abide With Me. 75. Abide with me. Fast falls the eventide. The darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide. When other helpers fail and converts flee, help of the helpless, so abide with me. Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away. Change and decay in all around I see.

O Thou who changest not, abide with me. I need Thy presence every passing hour. What but thy grace can foil the tempter's power? Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be. Through cloud and sunshine, O, abide with me. Hold thou thy word before my closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies. Heaven's mourning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee. In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.