Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / The Good That Comes from Giving Great Sermon- Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 0:28Speaker 1: So the campus ministers and I really would like to
- 0:31Speaker 1: thank you for our haircuts. We entered the room with
- 0:36Speaker 1: a lot of hair, we came out of the room
- 0:40Speaker 1: with much less hair. Remember, in case you didn't know
- 0:47Speaker 1: or didn't or visiting today, we did this deal with
- 0:50Speaker 1: our end of the year offering and jazzed it up
- 0:53Speaker 1: by I promised to give to get a buzz cut
- 0:56Speaker 1: if we raised a million dollars. The campus ministers agreed
- 1:00Speaker 1: to do the same if they if we raised one
- 1:03Speaker 1: point five million. They really thought they were safe because
- 1:07Speaker 1: we've never raised one point five million in our end
- 1:10Speaker 1: of the year offering, and so they thought we were safe.
- 1:13Speaker 1: What they didn't know is that you're a very generous people,
- 1:17Speaker 1: and it was a It was a real surprise to them.
- 1:20Speaker 1: Some of them had to be drug in to that room,
- 1:23Speaker 1: and I think they're still in need of therapy, a
- 1:26Speaker 1: few of them are, but they're they're getting over it again.
- 1:29Speaker 1: That total is one million, five hundred and sixty thousand dollars.
- 1:33Speaker 1: We're very, very grateful for that. And this came in
- 1:39Speaker 1: a year in which you're already giving over budget. Came
- 1:42Speaker 1: in a year in which we're already a part of
- 1:45Speaker 1: a capital campaign. And it also came in a year
- 1:49Speaker 1: in which we decided to use all of our end
- 1:51Speaker 1: of the year offering just to pay down the debt.
- 1:53Speaker 1: And you know, all of us have heard the stories
- 1:56Speaker 1: that debt dollars are the hardest dollars to raise, and
- 2:00Speaker 1: fundraising consultants have been telling me that for years, but
- 2:03Speaker 1: I bet they wouldn't bet a haircut on it anymore.
- 2:07Speaker 1: It's also important for you to know that this wonderful
- 2:11Speaker 1: outpouring was not a result of just a handful of benefactors,
- 2:15Speaker 1: but it was really a great cross section, a very
- 2:17Speaker 1: healthy cross section of all campuses, many many people doing
- 2:22Speaker 1: their part, and so for that we're extremely grateful, and
- 2:26Speaker 1: so our barber thanks you, and I think the campus
- 2:31Speaker 1: minister's wives thank you. I'm very convinced that God will
- 2:35Speaker 1: bless you. In a passage truly that we had already
- 2:39Speaker 1: decided to study, but it fits so well as we
- 2:42Speaker 1: think about God's generosity to us. This is the point
- 2:46Speaker 1: that is made by the apostle Paul in the last
- 2:49Speaker 1: chapter of the Book of Philippians. If you'd like to
- 2:51Speaker 1: open your bibles, we're going to look at this text
- 2:54Speaker 1: found out in Philippians, chapter four, If you'd like just
- 2:57Speaker 1: to follow along as I read it on the screen.
- 3:00Speaker 1: Philippians four, verses fourteen through twenty. The apostle says, it
- 3:05Speaker 1: was good that you helped me when I needed it.
- 3:07Speaker 1: You Philippians, remember when I first preached the good News there.
- 3:11Speaker 1: When I left Macedonia. You were the only church that
- 3:15Speaker 1: gave me help. Several times you sent me things I
- 3:18Speaker 1: needed when I was in Thessalonaika. Really, it's not that
- 3:21Speaker 1: I want to receive the gifts from you, but I
- 3:23Speaker 1: want you to have the good that comes from giving.
- 3:26Speaker 1: And now I have everything and more. I have all
- 3:30Speaker 1: I need because of Paphroditis brought your gift to me.
- 3:33Speaker 1: It is like a sweet smelling sacrifice offered to God,
- 3:36Speaker 1: who accepts that sacrifice and is pleased with it. My
- 3:40Speaker 1: God will use his wonderful riches in Christ Jesus to
- 3:44Speaker 1: give you everything you need. Glory to our God and
- 3:47Speaker 1: Father forever and ever. Under the theme the good that
- 3:52Speaker 1: comes from giving, Let's see what the apostle Paul here
- 3:56Speaker 1: has to say about the advantages of generosity. Let's pray
- 3:59Speaker 1: to God, Thank you Lord for this opportunity to consider
- 4:04Speaker 1: really a promise that it's contrary to our nature. We
- 4:08Speaker 1: tend to be like Scrooge, we want to be stingy.
- 4:13Speaker 1: But you're teaching us, father, that it's good to be generous. Now, Father,
- 4:17Speaker 1: you are the source of generosity. You are the only
- 4:21Speaker 1: true giver. We may give what you have first given
- 4:24Speaker 1: to us, but only you give what is truly yours
- 4:28Speaker 1: and yours alone. So we give you thanks. Father. We
- 4:31Speaker 1: pray you'll forgive our speaker because his sins are many,
- 4:35Speaker 1: and help us to see Christ, just Christ through Christ.
- 4:38Speaker 1: We pray, and all the church said. So word reached
- 4:42Speaker 1: the Philippians that the Apostle Paul was in trouble. Not
- 4:46Speaker 1: only was he in jail, but he was in need.
- 4:49Speaker 1: Now we don't know exactly what the need was. We
- 4:52Speaker 1: don't know exactly how much money Paul needed. We don't
- 4:55Speaker 1: know why Paul needed money, and we don't know how
- 4:58Speaker 1: much was raised. But we i do know that the
- 5:01Speaker 1: church took up a collection and sent it to the
- 5:04Speaker 1: Apostle Paul. Someone did what is often done today. They
- 5:08Speaker 1: stood up in a church gathering or a Bible study
- 5:11Speaker 1: group and they said, well, Paul is in need of help,
- 5:14Speaker 1: so we're going to pass the hat, and the hat
- 5:16Speaker 1: was passed, the collection was taken, and hearts were revealed,
- 5:22Speaker 1: and the Apostle Paul was blessed. If we were to
- 5:25Speaker 1: make a list of the different things that happened in
- 5:27Speaker 1: a worship assembly, I kind of doubt that anybody would
- 5:31Speaker 1: rank the collection as the high point of the worship service.
- 5:36Speaker 1: You may put when we sing those hymns or sing
- 5:40Speaker 1: those songs, or when we have prayer time, or when
- 5:44Speaker 1: we receive one of Max's wonderful, brilliant sermons. You'd probably
- 5:48Speaker 1: put one of those at the top of the list.
- 5:50Speaker 1: Not many people would rank the passing of the plate
- 5:54Speaker 1: as the high point in the worship service. The Apostle Paul, however,
- 5:59Speaker 1: might contend with us and urge us to reconsider. He
- 6:03Speaker 1: helps us remember that giving is an act of worship.
- 6:06Speaker 1: He even calls it a fragrance that appears too the
- 6:10Speaker 1: presence of God. There's something special that happens when the
- 6:14Speaker 1: plate is passed. I think there are three declarations we make.
- 6:18Speaker 1: We won't spend a whole lot of time on these,
- 6:20Speaker 1: but let's move through them somewhat quickly. If you'd like
- 6:23Speaker 1: to fill in the blanks. First of all. When the
- 6:25Speaker 1: plate is passed and we participate in an offering, we
- 6:28Speaker 1: say I'm all in, I'm all in. We actually become
- 6:34Speaker 1: what Paul calls partners at that point. You know, if
- 6:38Speaker 1: I were to come to you and say, Hey, I'm
- 6:39Speaker 1: starting a paper clip company, would you pray for my
- 6:42Speaker 1: paper clip company, you'd probably say yeah. If I were
- 6:46Speaker 1: to say a few weeks later, hey, we're making good progress,
- 6:49Speaker 1: but you're a businessman or a business person, could you
- 6:52Speaker 1: give me some advice, you might very well say yeah.
- 6:55Speaker 1: But if I were then to come to you and
- 6:57Speaker 1: say I'd like to give you an opportunity to end vest,
- 7:01Speaker 1: to write a check to transfer funds into my paper
- 7:04Speaker 1: clip company, well we crossed the line right at that point.
- 7:10Speaker 1: You would, if you said yes, become a partner, a
- 7:15Speaker 1: partner in that paper clip company. This is the point
- 7:20Speaker 1: to the apostle Paul. The Philippians had proven that they
- 7:24Speaker 1: were partners with Paul. This is his word. He says,
- 7:28Speaker 1: only you Philippians became my partners in giving and receiving.
- 7:35Speaker 1: And then he says it was good of you to
- 7:37Speaker 1: share in my partnership, I mean in my hardships. And
- 7:41Speaker 1: so there's something about the act of giving that causes
- 7:45Speaker 1: those who do give to become partners. They're saying, I'm
- 7:48Speaker 1: all in, I'm all in. God bless you because you
- 7:52Speaker 1: are partners in the greatest venture in the history of
- 7:56Speaker 1: the world, and that is the expansion of the Kingdom
- 7:59Speaker 1: of God God. And you're discovering that it is good
- 8:03Speaker 1: to give because in doing so we actually become partners,
- 8:08Speaker 1: partners in this great venture. We're really a blessed church.
- 8:12Speaker 1: We really are. We have seven vibrant campuses, we have
- 8:17Speaker 1: small groups that meet all over the city and the
- 8:19Speaker 1: hill country, several hundred groups. We have so many wonderful
- 8:23Speaker 1: things that we're involved in. Twelve very vibrant and healthy
- 8:26Speaker 1: mission posts around the world. So we have so many
- 8:30Speaker 1: things to be grateful for. We're blessed, and we realize
- 8:33Speaker 1: that we're blessed by God in order to be a blessing.
- 8:37Speaker 1: We're not blessed just to be a sponge and keep
- 8:40Speaker 1: We're blessed so that God can squeeze the sponge and
- 8:44Speaker 1: release the blessings of His goodness from us into others.
- 8:50Speaker 1: And we are reminded through the act of giving that
- 8:53Speaker 1: God doesn't need what we have, but we need to
- 8:56Speaker 1: give it less we learn to love it. You remember
- 9:00Speaker 1: a comedian by the name of Jack Benny. Well, you're
- 9:04Speaker 1: older than I thought you were. He was a famous
- 9:09Speaker 1: comedian of the last century, and he had this stick.
- 9:11Speaker 1: He had this kind of theme to his comedy of
- 9:15Speaker 1: being stingy. You recall that, and I remember seeing a
- 9:19Speaker 1: routine in which he's walking down the street and this
- 9:21Speaker 1: robber comes up and holds a gun up to him
- 9:23Speaker 1: and says, give me your money or your life, and
- 9:28Speaker 1: Benny doesn't do anything. The robber repeats money or your life.
- 9:34Speaker 1: Jack Benny still doesn't do anything. Come on, money or
- 9:37Speaker 1: your life, he says. I'm thinking, I'm thinking, I'm thinking. Well,
- 9:43Speaker 1: God wants us to know that our money is not
- 9:45Speaker 1: our life. It's not our life. You are not what
- 9:48Speaker 1: you have. You are much more than the sum total
- 9:52Speaker 1: of stuff. Jesus made this point real clearly. He said,
- 9:57Speaker 1: is not life more than food and the body more
- 10:02Speaker 1: than clothing? Or we might recast that question to read,
- 10:06Speaker 1: is not life more than what you park in the garage,
- 10:08Speaker 1: or deposit in the bank or hang in your closet. Now,
- 10:12Speaker 1: how many of you know that we live in a
- 10:14Speaker 1: world that tells us we're as good as what we own.
- 10:19Speaker 1: Every day, people are telling you, you'll be happier if
- 10:22Speaker 1: you own this, You'll be more important if you have this.
- 10:26Speaker 1: Did you know that on an average day, the average
- 10:30Speaker 1: American here's sees or reads three thousand commercials a day.
- 10:40Speaker 1: Three thousand times somebody is saying to you, you need
- 10:47Speaker 1: what we got, and you need it right now. And
- 10:50Speaker 1: these are some of the best, most creative minds in America,
- 10:54Speaker 1: the advertising world, and all they're thinking is how can
- 10:58Speaker 1: we get into lo cane pocket. They're putting their best
- 11:03Speaker 1: thoughts and many dollars into one thought, and that is,
- 11:06Speaker 1: we've got to convince him he needs it, and he
- 11:09Speaker 1: needs it soon. Consequently, many of us suffer from what
- 11:14Speaker 1: Dave Ramsey calls stuff it Titus, stuff it Titus. We
- 11:21Speaker 1: think we need more stuff, and we equate our value
- 11:26Speaker 1: with stuff, and it takes incredible, incredible decision on our
- 11:32Speaker 1: part to say, no, I am more than the sum
- 11:35Speaker 1: total of what I have, and stuff will not make
- 11:39Speaker 1: me happy. Now psychologists are getting on board helping us
- 11:43Speaker 1: understand that truly you can have a lot of stuff
- 11:45Speaker 1: and not be happier than the person who has less stuff.
- 11:49Speaker 1: Some time ago, a study was revealed of when psychologists
- 11:53Speaker 1: interviewed two desperate, disparate groups of people. One was a
- 11:59Speaker 1: group of people who had won the Illinois state powerball
- 12:04Speaker 1: lottery and they had won anywhere between fifty thousand and
- 12:10Speaker 1: one million dollars, and they interviewed them on their level
- 12:15Speaker 1: of happiness. Then they turned to a completely different population group,
- 12:22Speaker 1: and these were people who had recently experienced catastrophic accidents
- 12:27Speaker 1: and they were either quadriplegic or paraplegic. Listen to this study.
- 12:34Speaker 1: In interviews with the two groups, the people were asked
- 12:37Speaker 1: to rate the amount of pleasure they got from everyday activities,
- 12:41Speaker 1: small but enjoyable things like chatting with a friend or
- 12:44Speaker 1: watching TV, or eating breakfast, or laughing at a joke
- 12:47Speaker 1: or receiving a compliment. When researchers analyzed the results, they
- 12:52Speaker 1: found that the accident victims reported a higher level of
- 12:57Speaker 1: happiness from these every day pleasures than the lottery winners.
- 13:04Speaker 1: In other words, more stuff doesn't guarantee more happiness. Another study,
- 13:10Speaker 1: just to quote a conclusion from it, states that while
- 13:13Speaker 1: US citizen's personal income has more than doubled in the
- 13:17Speaker 1: last fifty years, our happiness levels have remained the same. Now,
- 13:23Speaker 1: just to be clear, God is not anti stuff, but
- 13:27Speaker 1: God is anti trusting stuff. He's anti the idea that
- 13:33Speaker 1: says if you have more stuff you'll be more valuable.
- 13:36Speaker 1: It's called materialism. And He wants our identity to depend
- 13:41Speaker 1: upon Him, not upon what we wear, or drive or
- 13:45Speaker 1: have in the bank. You're not better if you have
- 13:47Speaker 1: a lot, you're not less if you have little. God
- 13:49Speaker 1: and God alone can meet the deepest needs of the
- 13:52Speaker 1: human heart, and our use of money really reveals how
- 13:57Speaker 1: we depend upon Him to do so. Apostle Paul says,
- 14:01Speaker 1: we are God's fellow workers. In other words, we're co
- 14:04Speaker 1: workers with God, and we're invited to share in an
- 14:08Speaker 1: enterprise far beyond that of paper clips. So here's the
- 14:12Speaker 1: invitation God gets to you and me. He says, I'm
- 14:15Speaker 1: building a new kingdom. Would you pray for it? Oh, yes, sir,
- 14:19Speaker 1: I'm building a new kingdom. Would you like to use
- 14:22Speaker 1: your spiritual gifts to advance it? Absolutely, I'm building a
- 14:26Speaker 1: new kingdom. Would you be willing to invest in it?
- 14:32Speaker 1: When we say yes, there, that's when we become partners.
- 14:36Speaker 1: In the gospel. We say I'm all in Not only
- 14:40Speaker 1: that when the plate is passed, when we participate in
- 14:44Speaker 1: this act of worship, we also make a second statement.
- 14:47Speaker 1: We state I'm going home. I'm going home. You see,
- 14:53Speaker 1: the Apostle Paul had an understanding that every time we
- 14:56Speaker 1: invest in the Kingdom, that investment was being registered in
- 15:00Speaker 1: our eternal home, and that everything here is passing away.
- 15:05Speaker 1: Imagine that you were living in the South during the
- 15:08Speaker 1: Civil War, and through a series of events, you became
- 15:11Speaker 1: convinced that the South was going to lose, and you
- 15:15Speaker 1: happened to be in possession of large amounts of Confederate currency.
- 15:21Speaker 1: What would you do? If you were smart, what would
- 15:24Speaker 1: you do with that Confederate money? If you had any sense,
- 15:30Speaker 1: you'd get rid of your Southern sense. Or you're picky,
- 15:34Speaker 1: I'll work on those sentences so hard. You would put
- 15:39Speaker 1: every penny you could into the currency that is to come.
- 15:45Speaker 1: You would put every penny you could into the currency
- 15:47Speaker 1: that is to come, and prepare yourself for the end
- 15:51Speaker 1: of the war. Now you and I need to be
- 15:53Speaker 1: doing the same. The world economy is going down. I
- 15:59Speaker 1: don't care how hell healthy it may appear, how unhealthy
- 16:01Speaker 1: it may appear. There is coming a day when that
- 16:03Speaker 1: money that's in your bank account is going to be
- 16:06Speaker 1: absolutely worthless. Would you agree that day will come when
- 16:11Speaker 1: you die, or if you don't die and Christ comes first,
- 16:16Speaker 1: that money that's in the bank account will suddenly be
- 16:20Speaker 1: worth it. So if you and I stalkpile only earthly
- 16:25Speaker 1: treasures and not heavenly treasures, what does that say about
- 16:29Speaker 1: our faith? I'd like to give you a financial tip.
- 16:34Speaker 1: Invest in heaven. That's the only financial tip I've ever
- 16:38Speaker 1: given in my whole life. But there it is, invest
- 16:41Speaker 1: in heaven. I've got some insider information. This world is
- 16:45Speaker 1: passing away, but the investments in the world to come
- 16:48Speaker 1: are growing. This is why Paul applauded the generosity of
- 16:55Speaker 1: the church in Philippi. And while I'm so happy to
- 16:59Speaker 1: applaud your generosity. Look what Paul says, What I desire
- 17:03Speaker 1: is that more be credited to your account. Same verse,
- 17:09Speaker 1: different translation. What is valuable to me is the interest
- 17:13Speaker 1: that is mounting up in your account. Another translation, All
- 17:19Speaker 1: I care for you is the prophet accruing for you.
- 17:23Speaker 1: Look at those words credited account interests mounting, prophet accruing.
- 17:29Speaker 1: Paul sounds more like a I don't know if Hutton
- 17:34Speaker 1: than the apostle Paul doesn't he it's like he knows something,
- 17:39Speaker 1: he has a sense of something. He's been reading the
- 17:41Speaker 1: stock report. Really, he's been reading God's report. Here's what
- 17:46Speaker 1: Jesus said. Jesus said, I tell you the truth. No
- 17:49Speaker 1: one who has left home, or brothers or sisters, or
- 17:52Speaker 1: mother or father, or children, or feels for me or
- 17:55Speaker 1: the gospel will fail to receive one hundred times as
- 17:58Speaker 1: much in this present age holmes, brothers, sisters, mother's children,
- 18:03Speaker 1: feels and within persecutions and in the age to come
- 18:07Speaker 1: eternal life. So God promises to take your investment, your donations,
- 18:13Speaker 1: your offerings, and multiply them one hundred times. Is my
- 18:19Speaker 1: math correct? I think that means a ten thousand percent
- 18:22Speaker 1: in interest, ten thousand percent interest. If you've ever seen
- 18:29Speaker 1: a financial institution offer ten thousand percent return on your investment.
- 18:37Speaker 1: But I'm looking at people. I just sense right now
- 18:40Speaker 1: in my heart, I'm just hearing somebody say, that's happened
- 18:43Speaker 1: in my life. That's happened in my life. Can I
- 18:46Speaker 1: get an amen from anybody who would say? Amen? Now,
- 18:50Speaker 1: maybe that investment hasn't come in terms of dollars. Maybe
- 18:53Speaker 1: it has, or maybe it's come in terms of love
- 18:59Speaker 1: or or community, or purpose in life or meaning in life,
- 19:06Speaker 1: or family or restored relationships. You see from God's perspective.
- 19:11Speaker 1: We tend to see prosperity as defined in dollars and cents, right,
- 19:17Speaker 1: But from God's perspective, prosperity is defined in a million
- 19:22Speaker 1: in one ways, everything from a song in the heart
- 19:25Speaker 1: to a sunset in the sky. He blesses us, He
- 19:29Speaker 1: makes us rich. He promises to increase what we give
- 19:34Speaker 1: him financially, emotionally, and spiritually. He gives us promise. A
- 19:39Speaker 1: generous man will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
- 19:46Speaker 1: Has that proven true in your life? And this one
- 19:51Speaker 1: give to others and God will give to you. The
- 19:54Speaker 1: measure you use for others is the one that God
- 19:58Speaker 1: will use for you. I met a happy, stingy person,
- 20:03Speaker 1: have you? I haven't, But I've met people who are generous.
- 20:10Speaker 1: They're just the happiest people. It might have to do
- 20:14Speaker 1: with this, Jesus says. The measure you used to give
- 20:19Speaker 1: to others, that's the measure God is gonna give to you.
- 20:22Speaker 1: Imagine that I have up here. You know ten measuring cups,
- 20:26Speaker 1: and one of them is really big, and one of
- 20:28Speaker 1: them is very very tiny. And God says to you, now,
- 20:32Speaker 1: the measuring cup you used to dispense kindness provisions blessings.
- 20:38Speaker 1: The measuring cup that you use to give to somebody else,
- 20:41Speaker 1: that's the very one I'm gonna use when I dispense
- 20:45Speaker 1: blessings to you. What are you gonna do? Which one
- 20:49Speaker 1: are you gonna pick? I'm gonna reach down here and
- 20:53Speaker 1: grab the biggest one possible, right, God says, Okay, you
- 20:57Speaker 1: get to pick. You get to pick the measuring cup
- 21:00Speaker 1: I use when I dispensed blessings upon you. By the
- 21:05Speaker 1: way you bless others, this is the good that comes
- 21:11Speaker 1: from giving. No wonder generous people are so happy. No
- 21:15Speaker 1: under stingy people. They're so unhappy because all they're getting
- 21:19Speaker 1: is that tiny cup. One other thing happens at the
- 21:22Speaker 1: time of offering. Not only do you say I'm all in,
- 21:26Speaker 1: not only do you say I'm going home, but also
- 21:29Speaker 1: you say I dedicate my heart. Some time ago, a
- 21:35Speaker 1: lady slipped into a large church unnoticed. There were so
- 21:39Speaker 1: many people coming and going that no one noticed her. Besides,
- 21:42Speaker 1: she only occupied one seat. Was it that so long
- 21:45Speaker 1: ago that her family took up an entire row at church.
- 21:49Speaker 1: But then her husband passed away, and her children grew up,
- 21:53Speaker 1: and well, now she's all alone. No one noticed the
- 21:56Speaker 1: lady on the back row. Everyone noticed well coifed dressed
- 22:02Speaker 1: man on the front row. However, with great fanfare, he
- 22:05Speaker 1: was escorted into the building, and with loud applause, he
- 22:08Speaker 1: was welcomed into the worship service. After all, this was
- 22:11Speaker 1: the big day, This was the big day that the
- 22:14Speaker 1: man was going to write a big check to pay
- 22:16Speaker 1: off the church building. And so they sat him on
- 22:19Speaker 1: the front row. She sat in the back. He came
- 22:23Speaker 1: by limo, she came by city bus. He stood and waved,
- 22:28Speaker 1: She sat and smiled. And when the plate came his way,
- 22:33Speaker 1: he reached into his pocket and he removed the check,
- 22:35Speaker 1: and he waved it up in the air so everybody
- 22:38Speaker 1: could see it, and then he dropped it in the plate.
- 22:41Speaker 1: Everybody noticed, Nobody noticed the lady in the back. She
- 22:45Speaker 1: had no check to give, no paper to wave. She
- 22:48Speaker 1: only had an envelope with a meager amount of cash,
- 22:52Speaker 1: some money from her pension. Not much, not enough to
- 22:55Speaker 1: save the budget or pay off the building, but enough
- 22:58Speaker 1: to reveal her heart. And when the plate came her way,
- 23:01Speaker 1: she said, Lord, it's not much, but it's all I have,
- 23:07Speaker 1: and I just want you to know I love you,
- 23:08Speaker 1: and she dropped the money into the plate. No one noticed,
- 23:13Speaker 1: no one, that is except Jesus, because, according to the parable,
- 23:19Speaker 1: he was watching. He saw her enter, he saw her
- 23:22Speaker 1: take her seat, he saw her open her purse, he
- 23:26Speaker 1: saw her open her heart. And when she dropped her
- 23:29Speaker 1: offering into the plate, Jesus said, I tell you that
- 23:34Speaker 1: this poor woman has put in more than all the others.
- 23:39Speaker 1: Everyone else gave what they didn't need. She's very poor,
- 23:43Speaker 1: and she gave everything she had in the parable of
- 23:48Speaker 1: the poor widow. And Jesus is teaching us that really
- 23:52Speaker 1: what matters most is not the amount of the gift,
- 23:55Speaker 1: but the sincerity of the heart. What matters is not
- 24:00Speaker 1: the amount of the gift, but the love, the tenderness,
- 24:05Speaker 1: the openness in the heart. A reluctant gift is not
- 24:08Speaker 1: received by God. He loves a cheerful giver, but it's
- 24:12Speaker 1: a sincere gift that gets his attention. The apostle Paul said,
- 24:16Speaker 1: the gifts are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice pleasing
- 24:23Speaker 1: to God. You want to bring a fragrant offering up
- 24:27Speaker 1: to God, well, do so with your singing. He loves
- 24:30Speaker 1: our worship. Do so with your prayers. He loves our intercession.
- 24:36Speaker 1: Do so in the times of communion as we think
- 24:38Speaker 1: about the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Do so
- 24:42Speaker 1: in the sermon as we open the scripture and consider
- 24:45Speaker 1: his word. But do not underestimate what happens when the
- 24:48Speaker 1: plate is past. It may seem mundone and routine to us,
- 24:53Speaker 1: but it's important to God. It's a time in which
- 24:56Speaker 1: a fragrant offering is offered up into heaven, and in response,
- 25:01Speaker 1: he gives us this promise. My God will use his
- 25:04Speaker 1: wonderful riches in Christ Jesus to give you everything you need.
- 25:10Speaker 1: And all the church said, thank you, Father for this promise.
- 25:14Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you for teaching us to be generous.
- 25:17Speaker 1: We want to be even more so we do. Father.
- 25:21Speaker 1: It's hard because we tend to think that all of
- 25:24Speaker 1: our stuff is us, and all of that stuff is
- 25:27Speaker 1: our own identity. But Father, you're teaching us, and we
- 25:31Speaker 1: thank you. Lord. As we look into the new year,
- 25:34Speaker 1: we're grateful for the opportunity to see what You're doing,
- 25:37Speaker 1: and we pray we can align ourselves with where you're
- 25:40Speaker 1: leading us. Thank you for being such a faithful shepherd
- 25:44Speaker 1: of your flock. We bless you now in Jesus's name. Amen.
- 26:19Speaker 2: This world is endless, so wide, so long, but somehow
- 26:29Speaker 2: I'm still lost in you.
- 26:47Speaker 3: The streets are full of moving shadows, countless please as
- 26:53Speaker 3: I could go, city shining, people passing, Yet I still feel.
- 27:00Speaker 4: So every year old keeps leading nowhere.
- 27:05Speaker 2: Every sky feels cold and blue.
- 27:09Speaker 3: In this world so fast and open, I'm still lost
- 27:13Speaker 3: in missing you.
- 27:17Speaker 5: The world is wild so wide before me, but I keep.
- 27:27Speaker 4: Blues in my way.
- 27:32Speaker 2: Somewhere indeed.
- 27:35Speaker 6: Less distance your memory makes mistake the world loser.
- 27:50Speaker 5: Without us, but my home remains unshoe for no matter
- 28:00Speaker 5: where these feet may.
- 28:04Speaker 3: Wonder, I'm still lost in seeing you.
- 28:14Speaker 7: I have tried to outgrown silence, try to leave your
- 28:19Speaker 7: ghost behind, but your name still let cost softly through
- 28:25Speaker 7: the corners.
- 28:26Speaker 2: Of my mind.
- 28:30Speaker 4: The world is wise, so may before me, but.
- 28:38Speaker 5: I keep lose in my way somewhere less your memory
- 28:54Speaker 5: makes me stand the world loves without us, but my
- 29:06Speaker 5: heart remain untrue.
- 29:12Speaker 4: Form.
- 29:12Speaker 5: No matter where these bee may wonder, I'm still lost
- 29:21Speaker 5: in this sing you. Maybe someday stop searching for your
- 29:30Speaker 5: face in every crowd, but until that day is broken
- 29:37Speaker 5: heart will keep calling your name out.
- 29:42Speaker 4: The world is wise, so I before me, but I
- 29:51Speaker 4: keep losing my way.
- 29:56Speaker 5: Somewhere in f bless dis us your memory, thanks may stand.
- 30:10Speaker 2: In the worlds.
- 30:14Speaker 5: Without us, but my heart remains stue.
- 30:24Speaker 1: Do no matter.
- 30:26Speaker 4: These feet.
- 30:28Speaker 2: May you wonder, I'm still lost in this sing you