(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So, this sermon, I wanted to kind of go through 2 Corinthians chapter number 8. Now the interesting thing about the Bible is sometimes you have certain situations kind of come across in the Bible that don't necessarily apply all the time, but then there's a time when it really applies. Let's look at verse number 1. The Bible says, Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded under the riches of their liberality. For to their power 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. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God, insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also. So in this very beginning, he's talking about churches in Macedonia, and they had a great trial of affliction. They're going through a lot of suffering, a lot of persecution, but it says that they're very joyful about it, and it also says that they're very poor. They have deep poverty, but this abounds under the riches of their liberality. Think about it this way. When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose, and because they have so much poverty and so much affliction, they're just ready to serve God. They just say, you know what? It doesn't matter. We're going to give it all that we got. Whatever we got, we're going to give it to the work of the Lord, because they didn't have much. It says for their power I bear record. It also says in verse 5, as they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord. So these people are sold out to the Lord Jesus Christ, and so much that we desire Titus. What is he saying? The apostle Paul, on his missionary journey, wanted Titus. He wants Titus to go with him to do the work of the Lord, and even though they're poor, even though they're in a great affliction, they're willing to give Titus to the ministry. He says, hey, we don't have much, but we got Titus. Would you take Titus? Would you take Titus for the work of the Lord? Look at verse 7. Therefore, as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence and in your love to us, see that you abound also, abound in this grace also. So now we have to keep in mind that Paul's actually talking to the Corinthian church, and he's saying about the Corinthian church that they have everything. They have faith, they have utterance, they have knowledge, they have diligence, they have great love, but he wants them to abound in another grace. There's something else he's asking them to do. He wants them to be faithful in everything. I mean they're knocking out of the park, they're doing all these great things, but then there's something else that he's going to ask of them to do, and he wants them to have grace to do it. Verse 8. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others and to prove the sincerity of your love. Now the interesting thing about 2 Corinthians 8 is what he's telling them is you don't have to do this. You have a choice. He's going to be asking the church for a great gift, but he's going to say, look, you don't have to do this. I'm asking you to do it because you said you want to, because you're saying, I want to serve Christ with all of my life. I want to give him everything I've got. I don't want to hold anything back. I just want to, you know, whatever it takes, I'll give it to the Lord if I have to. I would give it to God, and he's saying, hey, let's put your money where your mouth is. They're going to be tempted and tested. I mean, you know, it's easy to say, I would do anything for Christ. I would die for Christ. I would sell my house if I had to. I would quit talking to my favorite person in my family if I had to. I mean, I'd do anything for Jesus Christ. And then when you have to do it, it's different. When the rubber meets the road, it's a lot different situation. Look at verse 9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that he 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. Now therefore perform the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which you have. So what's he saying? Let's stop for a second, okay? He's saying, let's think of the green picture. The Lord Jesus Christ in heaven had everything. All riches, all glory, all honor, and he decided to humble himself, to give himself to become poor for your sake, to help you, to give you the gift of eternal life. Jesus didn't have to do it. He wanted to because he loved. He loved us so much that he gave himself on the cross. He took our iniquities upon himself. He took the shame of the cross for us. Very hard. Very hard. But now, yes, he says, look, this is good for you. Why? Because a year ago you were being forward. You're saying, we can't wait to just serve God. We can't wait to just do anything. We're ready to do everything. We're on fire. We're ready to go. And then verse 11, he says, now perform the doing of it. Now it's time to do what you were saying. You were saying you were ready to serve Christ in any possible way. Now it's time to do it. Look at verse 12. For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not. So what is he saying? Well, imagine someone says, look, if I won the lottery, I'd give it all to church. It's pretty easy to say. He didn't win the lottery. If I had a million dollars, I'd give it all to the missions. Hey, if I had this opportunity to go preach the gospel in this country, I would do it. It's real easy to say I would do something great when you don't have the ability to do it. When you don't have it. He's saying, well, look, a ready mind's great. Okay. What is he saying? If there first be a willing mind, it's accepted, but it's according to what a man hath, meaning you're only going to be rewarded by God for when you do it because you had it. Not just the thought of it. Not thinking, well, if I had a million dollars, I would give it to church. God's not going to give you a reward for that. God will give you a reward for actually taking what you do have and using that to serve Christ. What do I have? What could I give? Look at verse 13. For I mean not that other men be eased and ye burdened. So let's make it clear that what he's trying to say is he's saying obviously I'm not just trying to steal from one, making one worse off and another better. That's not his goal. That's not the point of what he's saying. Look at verse 14. That 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 may be equality. As it is written, he that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack. So what is the Bible saying? He's saying this. In a church that has any kind of abundance that decides to bestow it on others, to help others with it. The goal is to bring more equality to the cause of Christ. Ultimately he's saying, look, whatever you have that you could give, that would be to help the cause of Christ so that we'd all have some level of equality. Now he says again, look, it's not to have some men burdened and other men to ease. That's not the goal of this. That's not his purpose. But at the end of the day, sometimes you have a lot more abundance than you realize. Sometimes you have a lot more than you give yourself credit for. And even our church, our church is abounding in my opinion. Our church has a lot of things going well for it. It's got a lot of good things going for it. Would we really be willing to put our money where our mouth is though, and take our abundance and give it to others that are in need? Someone that's in desperate need, would we be willing to take our abundance and give it to them? Obviously, you know, when we look at the state of our country today, we look at our world today, how many people need a strong spiritual leader? I mean, how many people need a great church? How many people are designed to go to a church building today where they can actually hear the Bible preached and believe the Bible, and they don't have it? They have nothing. Let alone, what about a church of a whole bunch of people that have it and it's stripped from them? Now again, my goal is not to strip this church of anything. That's not a goal. That's not a desire. Look at verse 16. But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. For indeed he accepted the exhortation, but being more forward of his own accord, he went unto you. So let's think about this, what he's saying. He's saying, look, I'm going to ask you to give a great gift, but realize that Titus already came to you. Titus already was a great gift bestowed unto you. This person of Titus coming, exhorting you, and encouraging you. This great gift of Titus, he already did it. You don't think they could have used him where he was? Obviously they could have used him. You can use a great man of God anywhere. There's not a bad place to put a great man of God. Do you realize that? There's not a bad place. Let's just get a good man of God anywhere on this planet to turn up the world with the Gospel. But he's saying, we took Titus unto ourselves, and then we've blessed the church of Corinth with Titus. So now we're going to ask you for a great gift. Look at verse 18. And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the churches, and not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind, avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us, providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men, and we have sent with them our brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent upon the great confidence which I have in you. So what he's saying, well, you know, some people might criticize Paul by kind of assembling this super team. He's like, why do you need all these great guys? Why are you taking all the good people out of our church and give them to somebody else? Why are you taking Titus from us and giving him to the Corinthians? What are you doing? You know, why are you doing these type of things? And he says, look, I'm providing for honest things. I'm not doing this of any malicious intent. I'm doing this to help people. I'm doing this for an honest purpose to try and help serve the cause of Christ and to help other churches where they might be, you know, not having any money. They have no money and they're a great affliction, but they have great people, so they bless somebody with a great person, okay? And this other church, Corinthian, you know, they have a lot of money and he's going to say, hey, why don't you help the poor with the money? So there's kind of this quid pro quo. But, you know, the thing that's interesting is, did the Maciadonia church know, okay, that the Corinthian church would potentially bless them with a gift? Did they send Titus knowing they would receive something great? They didn't. They just said, you know what, we're just going to send Titus. We're just going to give Titus. We don't know what's going to happen. We're going to just bless somebody else. Look at verse 23. Whether any do inquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellow helper concerning you and our brethren be inquired of. They are the messengers of the churches in the glory of Christ. Wherefore show ye to them and before the churches the proof of your love and of your boasting on your behalf. So he's saying, all right, you have great love, let's prove it. Let's really prove your love. Now let's keep reading into verse chapter 9. Look at verse 1. For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you. For I know the forwardness of your mind for which I boast of you to them of Maciadonia, that Achaea was ready a year ago and your zeal hath provoked very many. Yet have I sent the brethren lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf that as I said, ye may be ready. Just happily if they of Maciadonia come with me and find you unprepared, we that we say not ye should be ashamed in this same confident boasting. So what is he saying? He said, there's no reason for me to tell you, you should try to give because you've already said that you're willing to give. So it's not a question of you understanding the doctrine and saying that you're going to do it. The only question is, are you going to do it? And they're going around boasting. They're saying, well, have you heard about the Corinthian church? They're ready to give. They're ready to help out. They're ready to serve Christ. They're ready to do all these things. And he goes around telling everybody boasting of this church. And then he kind of makes this little side comment in the parentheses. He says that we say not ye. So he was saying, if for some reason the Corinthian church failed to deliver, he would say, we would be ashamed because we went around boasting of you. He said, not that you should feel ashamed because he didn't command them to give. Now, obviously it's kind of a shame to say one thing and go back on your word, but he's saying we would feel ashamed of the fact that we were going around bragging about how much you want to serve God and how great your love is. And then we have something to ask of you and you're like, well, you know, we don't want to do that. We don't want to, we don't actually give anything. Look at verse five. Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before unto you and make up beforehand your bounty. Where have ye had notice before that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty and not as of covetous? But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. But he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart. So let him give not grudgingly or of necessity for God loveth a cheerful giver. So he says, why don't you go ahead and just prepare your gift now? That way when you know the time comes, you're already ready to give it. You've already been ready. And not only this, he's trying to help them say, look, I don't want you to give because I'm telling you, I don't want you to give grudgingly. I want you to be a cheerful giver. Why? Because God is going to bless those that give. When you give bountifully, God will give back to you bountifully. If you give sparingly, he'll give you sparingly. Look at verse eight. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. As it is written, he hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness remaineth forever. Now he that ministers seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness, being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God. Whilst, by the experiment of this ministration, they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men, and by their prayer for you, which long after you, for the exceeding grace of God in you, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. So he's saying, you know what, I'm boasting of this experiment of this ministration because of your liberal distribution unto him. You've been so willing to give liberally. Liberally means generously. You want to help others, you want to bless them, not only to them, but unto all men. So this is a very giving church. He's asking them to do another time, why wouldn't you give? And then he brings up the fact that, well, you know what, God gave the unspeakable gift. And the question is, what is the purpose of our lives? Isn't the purpose of our lives to preach the gospel to every creature? Every single one of our decisions should be to furthering the gospel, to getting more people going out and preaching the gospel, encouraging more people to go out and be evangelists and preach because, look, I can't do it by myself. One person can't preach the gospel to every person by themselves. We need lots of people to go out and preach the gospel. And if we care about the gospel, then we don't want to leave soldiers behind, do we? We don't want to leave people behind that are faithfully going out and preaching the gospel. We want to help them. And if we encourage them, go to Philippians, chapter number four, Philippians, chapter number four, having a liberal distribution unto them. Look at Philippians, chapter four, verse 11, the Bible says, not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned and whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound, where everywhere in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me, notwithstanding ye have done well that ye did communicate with my affliction. Now ye Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity, not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. So notice in Philippians, first of all, Paul has the great verse in verse 13 says, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. What is that? It's talking about a time of not as much as abundance. So, you know, sometimes in your life you're going to have more and sometimes you're going to have less and according to the Bible we need to have the character to decide to always be content. Keep your finger here and go to Job. Go to Job chapter number one. Look at verse number 21. The Bible says, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. And all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Now Job was a man of great wealth, was a man of great blessing. He had everything. He was like the richest man of the east is what the Bible says. And the Lord took it all away from him. But you know what? He stayed content in that state. He lost his family. He lost all of his money. He even got sores and boils all over his body and he still yet praised the Lord. And he said, You know what? The Lord gave me all these great things but he also took them away. And if we think, go back to Philippians chapter number four if you would. But what would you rather do? Would you rather have something taken from you or would you rather give something away? Wouldn't you want to have something given away? Because look what the Bible says in verse 17. Not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. You know, when they gave, they got fruit. They benefited from the giving. They're going to get a reward for their giving, for their charitableness, for their hospitality, for the fact that they're trying to serve Christ. They're trying to bless the cause of Christ. And by them giving, Paul was enabling them to receive abundance, to abound on their account, to desire fruit and it's going to help that church. Do you really think any of these churches that gave abundantly to the Lord, the Lord is like, ah, whatever, that church, who cares about them? I know they're trying to serve Christ. They're trying to do that which is right. Go back to chapter two. And there's always going to be times in our life where we lose something. There's always going to be times in our life where we gain something. There's always going to be times where you go through strong, great situations. There's going to be times where you go through really tough situations. And that's the tempting that the Bible talks about. Where is your faith? Is your faith in Christ in the good times? Are you a fair-weather Christian? You know, it was raining pretty hard when we were going soul-winning. It was raining really hard. Do you go soul-winning when it's convenient or do you just go soul-winning because it's time? Do you go soul-winning because, hey, it's soul-winning time, I'm going to show up. I don't care if it's rain, I don't care if it's snow, I don't care if it's blazing hot, I don't care what's going on, I want to preach the gospel to get people saved. Look at Philippians 2, verse 1. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, of any comfort of love, of any fellowship of the Spirit, of any bowels and mercies, fulfill you 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 vainglory, 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. And that's a hard verse. Putting other people's needs and desires before yours, to say, you know what? It's more important for them to have than for me to have. It's more important for them to be blessed than to me to be blessed. Especially picking somebody else out and saying, I want them to have something more than me. I care more about them. Look at verse 5. 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 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. Now think about these Macedonian churches, okay? You might look at them and be like, they're no name. But I bet God knows. The ones that give Titus, the ones that give abundantly unto him, you know, they might be poor in the flesh, but when you read about the churches in Revelation, the one that's poor is the one that's abounding with riches, is the one that God's looking at and saying, look at this great church. They're abounding in the work of the Lord. They're doing the work of the ministry. And look at this really rich church. They're poor, blind, miserable, and naked. They have nothing. So you can't judge the rewards of God based on anything in the flesh. Nothing on the flesh. You know, when the poor widow comes, and she casts in her two mites, and the Pharisees, they're casting in all this extra money, and Jesus Christ said, she's casting more than they all, because she casts in all that she hath. They're casting in of their abundance. This poor widow, who has nothing but two mites, decides to still just give it all to God. I don't have anything. I have two mites, but I'll give it to God. I'll give it to Christ. You know, that's a great attitude. Keep here. Let's read verse eight again. But being found in fashion is many, humble to self, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore 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. Think of the power of this. In the early days of the church, the apostle Paul was in your church, but he didn't stay. The apostle Paul would leave, and he would say, you know what? Are you going to serve God when I'm there, or are you just going to serve God? He's saying, hey, I like the fact that not only just in my presence do you serve Christ, you do it without me being there. And you know what? It shouldn't take another man for you to serve Christ, should it? We should have the character, and the honor, and the integrity to serve Christ, period. To want to serve Christ. It's about the gospel, and look, everybody's going to kneel before Jesus Christ and confess him as Lord. Look at verse 13. For it is God which worketh both in you to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings. They may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, and the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye 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 labored in vain, yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all, for the same cause also to you joy and rejoice with me. But I trust in the Lord Jesus, to send to mote thee shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state. He's saying, you know what? It really hurts me to leave you. When the apostle Paul had to leave a church, it really bothered him. He really struggled with it. Many times in the Bible, you can even see him crying, because he had so much care and love for these people. And he says, I was really excited to send to you, what, to Mothius, why? That I may be of good comfort when I know your state. He said, I know that you're going to be taken well care of when I send to Mothius unto you. He said, I might have left this church, but when I send to Mothius unto you, I know that you're going to be in good state. Why? For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ. But ye know the proof of him, that as a son with a father, has served with me in the gospel. Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But I trust in the Lord, that I also myself shall come shortly. Yet I suppose it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and companion, labor and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants, for he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because he had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick, nigh unto death. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that when ye see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord of all gladness, and old such, and reputation. Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me." What is he saying? Paul was saying, look, I sent you to Mothias, then I even sent you to Epaphroditus. You know, Epaphroditus was really close to me. I didn't want to send him. And I was afraid that if I'd send him, I'd lose him. He said, you know, that's why I sent him the more carefully. I don't want to lose this guy. This guy's precious unto me, but I still sent him unto you. I still want to be there. And when he comes, hold such in reputation. You know, if the man of God sends somebody unto your church, you should hold that guy in high esteem. Treat him better than the guy that sent him. You know, I always heard this in public school. It's probably the one good thing I learned in public school. But you know, the teacher would always say, when the substitute teacher comes in, treat her better than you treat me. You know, usually it would not happen. But obviously that was the admonishment. It was to try and treat the sub with more respect and more dignity than you would serve the teacher. And you know, Paul's saying, look, as much as you would, you know, basically have a respect of persons, because I'm the apostle Paul, you kind of just act right and do things right. Well, you should have a lot of respect for this guy that I'm sending unto you, regardless. You shouldn't be a respecter of persons. You shouldn't decide, well, you know what, I'd be faithful to church if I had, you know, the best pastor in the world. Well, guess what? You don't already. Who has the best pastor in the world? I don't know. Does it really matter? You say, well, I'd only go to church if I had, you know, X, Y, and Z. You shouldn't be a respecter of persons about who wants to preach you the word of God. You know, if a guy's qualified or if a guy is trying to serve the Lord, he's going to preach you a message. Even as a pastor, I should not get up and say, you know, I can't learn something from some layman. I can learn lots of things from lay people. I learn lots of things from all kinds of people. I shouldn't think of myself more highly than I had to think. I might not think that I can't learn something when someone's going to sit down and open the Bible and teach me the word of God. I should be ready to hear, ready to listen. Obviously, anything you hear, you better make sure you check it, too, though. You better be a Berean. You better check diligently what you hear. Don't just trust anything that comes from this pulpit, whether I say it or whether anybody says it. You yourself are your own person, and you need to check out your own salvation. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Meaning what? If you want to be saved from the filth of this world, if you want to really serve Christ, that's up to you. It's your job. Obviously, it's great to have a pastor kind of helping lead the flock and guide and direct, but at the end of the day, you also have to take part. You can't just be the dumb sheep running off. You got to stick with the flock. You got to stick with Christ. You got to be faithful. You got to follow. Go if you would to Hebrews chapter number 11. And when we read these stories, we see, as you even read anything in the book of Acts, there's always transition. Transition is not something that you can avoid. There's always going to be transitions in the Bible. We transition from Moses to Joshua. We transition throughout all the judges. We transition from king to the next king to the next king. We transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament. We transition from the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, the Lord Jesus Christ came and went. I mean, the apostles could have just gone and went into a corner and cried about it. Said, we don't have Jesus anymore. Let's go fishing. You know, that's what Peter did, right? And he's like, you know, it's more important to go feed my lambs. Don't get down upon yourself. Don't look down upon yourself. Go serve Christ. Go fulfill the Great Commission. It's the calling for every single person's life. And transitions will always happen. You're always going to have transition. You're always going to have change. The question is, how do you deal with it? What do you do in times of transition? What is your character like in a time of transition? If the people of the Bible were so fixated on just one idea, one place, they were never willing to change, our Bible would look a lot different. You know, the people of God constantly had to make change. They had to improvise. You read the book of Acts, they constantly are beating their heads against the wall, and then they've got to make a change. Hey, preach to the Jews. Preach to the Jews. Oh, wait, that's not working. That's not working. Hey, preach to the Jews. That's not working. Then they've got to go to the next city. And they go to some city, they're persecuted, so they flee to another one, and they get a whole bunch of people saved in another city. So we see throughout the book of Acts, they don't even know where they're going, what they're doing, but they're constantly getting people the gospel. They're constantly going out and preaching the gospel. Why? Because the what of God's will is more important than the where of God's will. And look at Hebrews chapter 11 verse 8. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for inheritance, obeyed and he went out, not knowing whether he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which had foundations whose builder and maker is God. So Abraham, when he's called by God, he has to leave a place that's comfortable. He has to leave a situation that he knows. I'm sure he liked it. I'm sure he liked being there. But God's saying, hey, there's this calling, there's this opportunity to go out and serve him and he decides I'm going to go. But we notice he's just a sojourner, isn't he? He says by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country. You know the reality is you're not going to be in Houston for more than 70 years. I mean once you die and go, Houston's not going to be the same. There's a thing called the new heaven and the new earth. We're all sojourners, we're all strangers, and we ought not get so fixated on a physical piece of land. What do the Zionists do? They're so fixated on some piece of land in the Middle East that they ignore the Messiah. Oh, is that important to get saved and go to heaven? They're going to literally be so focused on a piece of dirt that they're going to just die and split hell wide open. And you know in the New Testament, we don't see any fixations on a place, do we? Is there any commandments on a place? If anything, the only commandment really is just to not go where the Jews are and go preach to the Gentiles. Okay? Go find the dispersed of the Gentiles and the Bible says to teach all nations. So the where is only important in the sense that you're going everywhere. It's more important to be spread everywhere than to just be fixated on one specific place. Go to 2 Peter chapter number 3. You know and sometimes we have to get a looser grip on the things of this world. And a lot of times, unfortunately, it only happens through loss. I remember one of, I had several jobs, but when I finally kind of took my first real serious job that I really liked, I switched into computer programming, I was working for a family company, and I loved this job. I thought, you know what, I'm going to work for this company forever. I love working here, I love everything about it, and every decision of my life was based on the presupposition that I would always work for that company. Every decision. Okay, well how does that work with me always working for that company? Where I'm going to live, what I'm going to do, what church I'm going to go to, what my life's going to look like. It's always based upon this presupposition that I'm going to work for this company. And then I decided to relocate, they were still willing to let me stay on as a remote employee, and then one day I get a call and they're like, see ya. I didn't think I would ever happen. I didn't think that I could ever lose that job. I thought I had a good thing going, I thought I was working hard for them, but they were like, we don't really like the remote thing, you know, sorry, best of luck, we'll give you a good reference, you know, and whatever, but it's gone. And it just being taken away like that, it kind of threw me for a loop. I was like, wow, I was banking on that for a long time. I thought I had that in the bank. And then when I lost it, I realized I was putting a lot of importance on something that was fleeting, that could be taken away from me in just a second. And you know, our decisions in our life should not be on things like that, they should be on the things of God. You know what's never going to change, this. You know what, bad things are going to happen in our life and good things are going to happen in our life, but this is going to stay the same. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That's why we've got to be founded on the rock, because look, there's going to be winds and waves that bead on, you know, your house, and if you're founded on the rock, you won't fall over. If you're founded on God's word, you can go through any trial, any struggle, any temptation, and the question is not, can I avoid every temptation, it's how am I going to respond in temptations? How am I going to respond in struggles? How am I going to respond when conflict arises? Am I going to step up? Am I going to keep, you know, serving Christ? Or am I just going to, you know, wither away? Am I going to be selfish with the things that I have? Am I going to just stay in my own comfortable zone? How many of the apostles lived a comfortable life? That doesn't sound very comfortable to me. Sell all that thou hast, come follow me, take up thy cross daily. I mean the Bible is one of being uncomfortable constantly, constantly pushing themselves to get the gospel out, and the question is, what's more important, your selfish ambitions for the gospel. Help esteeming others better than yourself. I mean if you really had to choose between you or somebody else being better off, which one would you choose? And the question that Christ did is he said, hey, I'm going to be a perfect example, I'll lay down my life for everybody, even the people that won't even believe me. Think about that. Think about giving somebody an incredible gift and they didn't even appreciate it. They threw it in the trash, it tore it up, but that's still great love, isn't it? It's just a great example of love to give somebody something like that. Look at 2 Peter 3 verse 10. But the day of the Lord will come is a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought ye to be? And all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless, and account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. Even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also the other scriptures under their own destruction, ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the air of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to him be glory both now and forever. So he says, look, everything that you hold precious to you right now is going to burn up. All of it, every last bit of it, your house, your cars, everything you think is great, this mural, I love this mural, it's going to burn up, it's not forever. And what's the purpose of us, he's saying, look, if you take these things into consideration, everything that all these things have to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you be? What should be your focuses, what should be your desires, that you should be to serve Christ? And you know, my job as a pastor, what I believe with all my heart is to help you better serve Christ. So I can give you a great admonishment to say, hey, here's a great trial, here's a great opportunity for you to serve Christ, what are you going to do? You know, I like the idea of having great opportunity. You know, if you think about in the Revelation, the Bible says that some people are going to be beheaded for the cause of Christ. Now when I think about that seriously, it's pretty terrifying. I don't want to be beheaded. But at the end of the day, if I really had a really strong eternal look upon my life, would I rather have that opportunity than just go hide somewhere and die of starvation? Wouldn't I want a great opportunity to help people, to serve other people? And you know, some people have things taken away from them, and they're in just loss. But wouldn't you want to just give all your stuff? Think about it. What if you had a million dollars in the bank and you have two options? You can give it all away now, or in tomorrow, you're going to lose it all, to be taken away. Which one would you rather done? Which one would you have rather chosen? And the Bible is saying, you know, we should grow in grace. What is grace? Some people like to ask this and they go, what is grace? It's unmerited favor, isn't it? It's giving somebody something that they don't deserve. And the Bible says just as much as God has the greatest gift of grace given unto us, we also should be those that would be willing to give grace unto others. Help others. So when we as a church say, hey, we want to serve Christ. We want to do the most for serving Christ. We want to help others. We want to esteem others better than ourselves. We want to bestow the grace of God unto other people. And we see other people struggling and hurting and in need. How can we sit by and say, oh, you know, hopefully someone will help them. Let's just be like the Levite that sees the man, you know, beaten up and on the side of the road and just, well, you know, somebody will take care of him. But then the Samaritan comes along. He helps him. He takes him to the end. He pays for him. I bet that was inconvenient, wasn't it? I bet he had somewhere to go. I bet he had stuff to do. But he took it out of his own heart. You know what? I'm just going to help this person because they're in great need. They have a great need here. And I can help with that. I could supply something that I have, even though I have two mites, like the poor widow, right? She's just going to bestow it unto them. And so I'm going to, you know, I'm going to ask this church that you greatly pray for this situation. You know, you pray for a situation. We have a great door open before us, though, to help people, to help the cause of Christ. And you know, I'm asking y'all, I'm putting y'all in the situation to give a great gift unto others, to steam others better than yourselves. And you know, the Bible says it's more blessed to give than to receive. If you could give somebody the gift that you want, or you could receive the gift that you want, which one's better? According to the Bible, it's more blessed to give than to receive. And the Bible makes it clear that whatever you give, pressed down, shaken together, God will repay. God will give back when you do that which is right, when you give a great gift unto others. And look, I'm the pastor of this church. Something is changing about that. But you know what, this is a tough situation, this is a difficult situation. And I want to help others as well. My job is to get the gospel out as many people and to help this church grow and to help every single one of you serve Christ better. And I believe as a church, it would be a great gift that we could give unto others to help. We have the abundance, we have the ability, we can help others, and I believe that God will bless them. I believe that God will bless every single person in this room, and God will bless that this church can continue to grow. You know what, it takes every single person for that to happen. It's not one person. You know, the cause of Christ is not about the quarterback, it's about a team. It's a team that's serving Christ. It's about the whole body. And you know, the members that you look at and you think aren't that important, the Bible says they're more needful. And He's going to bestow more comely honor unto those parts that you look at and you don't think, you know, that needs anything. And so, I would just again, we'll finish in prayer. Just be in prayer about this situation. And if you have any questions, if you have any concerns, anything, you contact me. The Bible says ye have not because ye ask not. And that would be my admonishment to you from the future. If you feel like you don't have something, ask for it. Ask for it and, you know, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. But you know what, praise the Lord. Let's close in prayer. Thank you Father so much for your word, thank you so much for this church. I pray that you would just greatly bless every single person in this room. You would exhort them to go out and preach the gospel, to serve you with their lives, to read the Bible themselves, to pursue after Christ. I pray that you would just bless this opportunity for us to esteem others better than ourselves, to go out and to further the gospel. I pray that this would all be done to your glory. I pray that we would just lose the grip that we have on the things of this world and that we would just grab, hold tight on your gospel. We grab, hold tight on eternal life, the importance of others hearing the gospel, the furtherance of the gospel, and whatever afflictions and temptations and struggles that we'd all be comforted through your word, through your exhortation, through the brethren, through knowing that the gospel is going out and getting further spread. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.