Amen. We're so appreciative of the local organizations we can be in touch with and support. And the Bible does tell us to go into all parts of the world, take the gospel, or to begin in Jerusalem. We just saw two examples of where our Jerusalem is and everything. And there's some other areas we can be in touch with and stay in touch with these. And I'm glad they got to come to be with us in our conference this time. and kind of get an idea of what's going on and things that we're in our own community and things we can participate in. At this time I ask you to open your Bibles with me. And 2 Corinthians chapter 10, first I'm going to read our theme verse in Galatians 6, 9. It says, And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. You know, 26 years, it would be easy to get tired. It would be easy to say, well, what's the use? Why are we still, you know, keeping on and keeping on and everything and, you know, what good is it doing? And I think that's part of the reason of the conference and everything, to kind of get a glimpse into the things that are being done and how God's blessed with what we've done so far. He says, and be not weary in well-doing. In other words, keep on keeping on. You know, I know sometimes you're But, you know, the pregnancy center and the God's food box, it seems like, well, what am I doing this for? You can get tired, you can get weary, you know, and then, like you said, one thank you card or somebody just says thank you one time or see a child's face and a smile or a baby born. You know, there's all kind of things and everything. God's still in the miracle business and we see that happening. But I want to share with you tonight and everything in Second Corinthians chapter 10. As I shared, I'm not gonna preach the whole, well, I'm a preacher, so I'm not gonna lie in the pulpit either. I'm gonna share a few verses with you, okay? We'll see where it goes from there. But turn with me and your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians 10. Verse number 15. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 15. It says, not boasting of the things without our measure, that is other men's labors, but having hope when your faith is increased that we shall be enlarged and by you according to our rule abundantly, to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you and not to boast of another man's line. of the things made ready to our hand. Father, we thank you, dear God, Lord, for your precious word. Lord, dear God, we didn't come up with faith promise mission, Lord, it's in your word right here, Lord. We're looking at a few verses here even tonight, Lord. What Apostle Paul, dear God, Lord, even called out, Lord, in this verse, Lord, he's telling them that as their faith grows, Lord, his opportunity grows, and his spirit of influence will grow. And Lord, dear God, our spirit of influence grows Take up the opportunities, dear God, Lord, to be a part in the ministries, Lord, that you've brought our way. Lord, bless this time together. Lord, bless your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. As I was saying there, it says, in verse 15, he says, not boasting is nothing to brag about, about our measure and nothing of what we've done. We have nothing to brag about. He said, what happened here? He says, when your faith is increased, that's where the faith promise comes in. when our faith has increased and everything. And each year, and I'm gonna give an opportunity here in just a little bit for some of y'all have been here since day one. Some of y'all have taken part in all 26 conferences and give you an opportunity. That's how God's moved in your life and maybe some things that God has shown you and taught you. And I've asked a few of y'all and everything, and it's open to anybody that wants to share. But I just wanna kinda lay the groundwork. But Paul was even saying here, he said, as your faith increased, Verse 15 he says, that we shall also be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly. You know, each one of us has a sphere of influence. Each one of us and everything runs into people each and every day. Whether it's on our job, in the supermarket, or in a store, or school, or wherever you're at, you run into, you meet somebody. And you can, each one can meet one. And each one can reach one. We can be encouragers. We can help each other. And we can show the love of God in our hearts with the people that we come in contact with. But what Paul's talking about here and what happens in faith promise, we're going to look at a few verses, is that when we all come together and my spear meets your spear and your spear meets someone else's spear, our spear of influences is enlarged. And when our faith grows and everything and we don't get weary in what's going on and And we begin to grow, the ministry grows. And he said the purpose of it in verse 16 says, to preach the gospel in regions beyond you. In other words, the Great Commission tells us and everything to begin in Jerusalem, Samaria, and the outermost parts of the world. Not all of us can go to the outermost parts of the world. We can't reach up, just looking up there in Mexico and everything, Cindy Hershey. You know, we can't be where Cindy Hershey is. But we can in proxy. Proxy means in everything that it's the center representative. have someone in our stand, in our sphere of influence. But I want to share again just a couple of verses back over a page or two there in 2 Corinthians 8 verse number 5 to start with. The prerequisite is that we first give of ourselves. Chapter 8 verse 5 says, And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave of their own selves to the Lord. and then to us by the will of God. You see, faith promised missions starts not, it's not about how much money you bring. It's not how much material possessions you have. If it's going to be something that God's going to bless, it's giving of ourselves to God first. It's surrendering ourselves. Now, some people would say, you know, well, faith promised missions, it does involve money. Yes, it does. But it involves what God has blessed you with, what God has blessed you with. Look with me in verse number, Verse number 3, actually I skipped a verse, go to chapter 9 verse 7. Chapter 9 verse 7, it says, Every man according as he purposed in his heart, so let him give. And it doesn't stop right there, does it? Not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loved with a cheerful giver. You see, the reason we have to give ourselves first to the Lord and everything is so that our hearts can be right. We're not doing it to be in the limelight. We're not doing it to say, hey, look at me. Look what I did. Look what I've accomplished. Look what I can do. Those are individual things. What we do is we give ourselves to the Lord. We surrender to the Lord. And when we're praying, and many have already been praying about what the Lord would have them to give this year. And what, again, I call it the miracle of missions is how it all comes together. You know, I mean, every year that we've come up here and we start to tally it on and this coming Sunday, We're going to have a tally of anonymous cards that are going to be turned in. When those anonymous cards are all tallied up and everything, we're going to get a total. And every year we get the total. I mean, I've never ceased to be amazed at what God has done. Like I said, we're not great in number. I don't think we have any millionaires to go to this church. But like I shared while ago, $1.5 million. And we don't have it here in our bank account. It's gone. The money goes out. It goes to use. And I mean, you know, I think about some of those songs and everything. One day somebody, a little boy's going to come tug you up on your curtails there or your shirt tail there in heaven and say, that dollar you gave is the reason I'm here today. You know, I wasn't even supposed to be born because of that love offering you gave. I was able to live a life. I was able to meet Jesus. I was able to learn what love is. I was able to go from a foreign land and hear the gospel being preached because a missionary was sent out. But he says again, he's talking about our spear of influence. And back over in chapter eight, verse three, he says, for to their power, I bear record. And yet beyond their power, they were willing of themselves. You know, and again, it's talking about the spear of influence, the spear of influence. We all have a limited amount what we can do. You know, it's again, it's not how much in your thing, how much you give. It's about your giving of yourself. It's giving of yourself and whether you give $5 and God lays on your heart this this year and everything that you're going to give $5 a week or you're going to give $50 a week. It's between you and God. Because it's based on what God has told you or given you to do. You remember the story of the talents? Was there any difference in everything in the talents that were given? One that was given 10, one was given 5? Was the guy that was given 5 less than the person that was given 10? No. It's what God has given you to be responsible for. And it's the same thing with faith promise. You don't give, I mean, you could say, well, I'm going to step out in really big faith. I want to give a million dollars this year. Well, that would be foolish, wouldn't it? That wouldn't be faith. Because there's another verse there. Look with me over here in chapter 8. Verse number, let's look at verse number 11 first of all. And he says, now therefore perform doing of it, that is there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also of that which you, what's that word say? That which you have. You know, what you're getting to right here and there is every one of us knows what we make, you know, pretty much each year, okay? When we're making an agreement with God in Faith Promise Missions what we're saying is, Lord, how much of what I have coming into my income can I live on? How much can I live on? How much is it going to take? Do I need to make some cuts? Do I need to make some sacrifices? Maybe so and maybe not. Again, that's between you and the Lord. But then you decide from there and everything, okay, how much of my income is left over? How much of it can I give back? How much of it can I sign on a pledge card? And that's when, again, whether it's $5 or whether it's $20 or whether it's $200. If you're just doing your part, that's all you're responsible for between you and God. But when it all comes together is when the miracle occurs. I mean, I can't explain it to you any different than that except it's right here in the Word of God. Look at verse number, let me see another verse there. Verse number seven. It says, therefore as ye abound in everything in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence in your love to us that ye may be abound in this grace also. Again, that's where our faith grows. You may have started off with, and I'm not asking anybody to raise their hand, because we sign anonymous pledge cards that we give out and everything on Sundays and everything. People sign out whatever amount God's going to tell them to do for this year. But it's amazing and everything how sometimes your income doesn't grow, but your giving does. I'm not probably the only one that can attest to that and everything. It's a little, sometimes it's a lot and everything, but it's based on what God has done. I can't say that I've given totally and everything, what I've given and everything, because it's what God has given through me and the way that God has blessed my family. And sometimes when the blessings aren't always in our bank account, looking at our bank account, it's in the things that he's protected us from, the things that we haven't gone through. It may be in good health. It may be in a vehicle that lasts. It may be in clothes that last. I mean, it can be all kinds of different ways that God continues to use his people and through faith-promised missions. Again it says, verse number, back over to 8-2, it says, how then in a great trial of affliction and abundance of joy in their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality and to their power I bear record, yea and behold Beyond their power, they were willing themselves, praying us with much entreaty that we would have received 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 to us by the will of God. In so much that we desired Titus that as he had begun, he would also finish in you with the same grace also. Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and in knowledge, and all diligence, and your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion, for the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, and through his poverty might be rich. Verse 10. And herein I give my advice that is expedient for you who have begun before not only to do but also to be forward a year ago. Verse 11 says, now therefore perform the doing of it that as there was a readiness to will so that there may also be a performance also that which ye have. Verse 12, for if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to as he hath not. So it goes again, it's based on what we have and what God has blessed us with is what we decide on how we're going to use it. We're not going to go into debt in order to give. We can't let our own responsibilities and everything with our family and things like that. God doesn't expect us to do that. God challenges us to give. according to our faith and trust in him and what he's going to do each and every one of us individually and come together collectively and each one individually seeking the Lord and bringing each week collectively as the Lord is blessed we're to give out of our need rather than out of our excess and this is how God works in demonstrating and everything and our faith commitment. As the name suggests the faith promise mission is giving a based on faith commitment in addition to our regular ties. and our offerings. So what that does and everything, that also gives us more money and everything that we need and everything here in our local church. It doesn't come out of our tithe. Our tithe and everything is something that's already in the Word of God and everything that we're called to tithe. Malachi 3.10 says, Prove me here what say the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that you will not be able to contain it all. God has promises in His Word. And some of his promises are conditioned on based on our obedience. If we trust him and obey and we have faith in God that his word is true and we can abide in his word and we believe that if I, you know, almost like when he says prove me now, it's almost like he's saying I double dog dare you. Step out. Step out and do more than you can do for yourself, more than you can do of yourself. Again, God's not looking at our bank accounts. He's looking at our hearts. He's looking at our hearts. And praise God, looking at those boats on the wall, looking out here at you. And just for perspective and everything, how many of you have been here for all 26 conferences? because those hands. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. That's awesome. 26 years. That's awesome. That's 26 opportunities. 26 opportunities we've had to participate in what God's doing. The challenge of faith promise again is not how much can I trust God to give me for faith promise each week. Rather the question is how much can I give to faith promise each week and still trust God to meet my own needs. The first question again does not really involve faith except on the part of the missionaries. These missionaries are leaving their families. These missionaries are going in some cases to foreign fields or away from where their home is and everything and go into places and everything where they don't even know anybody to establish a home and establish a church. They're stepping out in faith also. And they're trusting us. And I can attest to this and being a part of this for 26 years. We were actually gone for two years at Faith Baptist Church, but we still participated while we were gone. So I guess we could actually say we were here for the whole 26 years also. and giving part of it but and all of that and I've been missions director for quite a bit of that period of time. We have never ever dropped support for a missionary because we didn't have the money to give it to them. God is blessed so we must be doing something right. We've never had to drop anybody because of lack of money. There's things and everything that have happened And things that have gotten, you know, not doing what they're supposed to be doing sometimes or whatever, you know, the situation is and everything that we have dropped some or some of them have come off the field. But we've never had to drop one because we didn't have the money to give them. And that's all due to God. That's all praise to God and what he's done. Again, how much can I trust God to give me? It's not about what I can trust God to give me for faith promise. It's how much can I give to faith promise each week? The real faith, again, is because I accept my commitment as a firm obligation, determined to trust God to help me live within his provision. How much does it take for my family to live on? How much does it take us to survive? And then what do I have to spare? What can I give? What can I commit unto the Lord? You know, one thing I found out also in 26 years, you can't out give God. You can't out give God. He's blessed us, like I said here at this church, beyond measure. The simplicity of faith promise, I'll wrap it up with this, makes it appropriate for churches of all sizes. God's people are encouraged to take time to pray first. You know, if you're not willing to pray for missionaries, God's not going to bless your support. If you're not willing to pray for these ladies, again, God's not going to bless the support. They need support and everything. They need prayer, first of all. And that involves when you give yourself. You give yourself into the Lord and you come to Him boldly to the throne of grace and you pray for these people and these missionaries and these works. And that's our first thing that we commit to. The second thing is we pray and consider the commitment that God wants us to make. And again, we tally up the anonymous cards. And based on what we tally up, we decide how many of these missionaries we can continue. And like I said, we've yet to have to drop any of them. And based on how much support we got coming in versus what we have to give out is how many more of these missionaries we can take on. And I don't have the exact number in front of me, but I know we're well over 100% of giving this year of what we had originally taken cards in for last year. The Lord has truly blessed us. It's like I told our brother, Brother Bruner, we're looking for missionaries to support. That's a good thing. God has blessed us beyond our capability right now of finding missionaries to take on and to support. So we're definitely praying and we need you. I'm saying that to ask you to pray. God will put us in contact with the missionaries that we need to be in contact with because I know there's missionaries want to come out. You know, and get out there and want to get on the field. And there's ways we can help. God's given it to us and everything, not to have a big bank account. But God's given it to us and everything because we've got a big heart. Because God's heart's big. And God wants, again, to give us the opportunity to be involved with what He's involved with. And that's reaching people and telling them about Jesus and what He can mean to them and do for them. All right, would you stand with me? We'll close in a word of prayer. Amen. Father, we thank you, dear God, Lord, for this evening, Lord. And, Lord, dear God, for meeting with us tonight, Lord. Thank you, dear God, Lord, for the testimonies, dear God, Lord. Thank you, dear God, for what you've done already, Lord. And we just look forward, dear God, even throughout this week, dear God, Lord, what you're gonna do in our hearts, dear God, Lord. We look forward to tomorrow night, dear God, from Brother Bruner sharing with us, dear God, Lord, call upon his life, dear God, Lord, and his family, Lord, dear God, to go to Australia, Lord. Lord, again, we just thank you, dear God, Lord, for bringing us together, Lord, to be able to participate, dear God, Lord, and the opportunity, Lord, before us, dear God, Lord, to Get to know them, Lord, and to possibly even hold the ropes for them, dear God, Lord, as they venture out, Lord, and follow you by faith, dear God, Lord, to see the work that you have for them. Well, thank you, dear God, Lord, again for loving us. Thank you for blessing us. Lord, help us, dear God, Lord, to share that love. And Lord, dear God, to grow in our faith in you, Lord, that we can just see more of you, Lord, and people can know you in us, dear God, Lord, and see you in us. Lord, dear God, Lord, not only in in our words, dear God, but, Lord, in our actions. We love you now, Lord. We just ask for your safety, dear God. Lord, you watch over us, dear God, throughout this evening, Lord. And again, Lord, just bring us back to the appointed time tomorrow. In Jesus' name, amen. You're dismissed.