He was the Kool-Aid man at our camp. Whenever I was pastoring in Southwest Missouri, we would take our boys to Baptist Hill Camp in the summer in Mount Vernon, Missouri. It wasn't just our church. Churches and the association would come together. We'd have about 300 boys down at camp. And there was this man and his wife, Kool-Aid man, who would go to camp. They were great people, faithful, faithful members of the church that I pastored. And their ministry at boys camp to these 300 boys was the Kool-Aid. It's a big job. It's summer, and you've got 300 thirsty boys. And they were in charge of making all the Kool-Aid. They were in charge of pouring all the Kool-Aid into 300 glasses. And then they were in charge of cleaning up the Kool-Aid mess. After all the boys got their Kool-Aid, you could always tell what flavor it was that day by the cleanup towels, if they were orange, red, or purple. And they did this three times a day, five days a week, making, pouring, and cleaning up a lot of Kool-Aid. They did more for the camp that no one knew about. They didn't want anyone to know about it. They sacrificially sold some material things that was important to them, and they gave $80,000 to the camp to redo the worship center for the kids. Outside of ministerial staff, I never look at what people in the church give. But I knew that this $80,000 gift they gave after selling some stuff, it was not like I'm going to stop giving to the church." This was on top of their regular tithes and offerings, because they were a very, very faithful giver. They were just some of the most generous people I ever met in my life, some of the most joyful people I ever met in my life, because those two things go together. I remember him saying, you know, Pastor, about the tithe, where you return to God 10 percent, live off 90 percent, because 90 percent spent God's way has more buying power than 100 percent spent my way. He would say, the goal of my life is to someday give 90 percent, live off 10 percent. I don't know if you ever got there or not, but they were generous people. So they gave that gift to redo the worship center at the camp. And that week, inside that worship center, about 50 boys came to Christ. Kool-Aid man and his wife, tears in their eyes. They were smiling. You know why? Because they get it. They understood that through the ministry of Kool-Aid, And through the generosity of their gift, God allowed them to play a part in seeing souls saved. And Donna and I, we were overjoyed also because one of those almost 50 boys that got saved was our son Dustin at that camp. That story sums up what the ending of the book of Philippians is all about. Through the generosity of love, time, abilities, and resources, God's people have the joy of participating in God accomplishing His mission to the world of saving the lost. Today we're going to wrap up after a four-month journey in this year of going through the book of Philippians. The series is called Overjoyed, and we've been looking at together, discovering together the joy that God intends for our lives, for our homes. For this his church in part 14 our final message is called the joy of generosity the joy of generosity I would ask you to open your Bibles to Philippians chapter 4 verses 14 through 23 let me set the table as we look at these final 10 verses in the book of Philippians the Apostle Paul remember is a prisoner of Rome and He is chained to a Roman guard 24 hours a day in prison simply because he loves Jesus He doesn't know if he'll be released or if he's going to be executed But God's at work in at all. See on the surface. It doesn't make sense to us Why would God take the number one missionary in the world? who is absolutely Reaching people who've never heard about Jesus before why would God take that? Missionary off the mission field and put him in chains in Rome Well Paul said in chapter 1 verse 12 that everything that happened to him God was using it to further the gospel and See, God put Paul in chains in Rome. He allowed that to happen because a door had been opened for Jesus and his love and his salvation to go into Rome and even into the very Caesar's palace, not the place in Vegas, but the real Caesar's palace, that place for the gospel to go into there. Only God could orchestrate that. But also as a prisoner, Paul had needs as he's getting out the gospel because being a prisoner then was very different than our day. We've talked about this in this book. In our day, if you're a prisoner, you're supported by government and the people's taxes. In Paul's day, you were not supported that way. In Paul's day, if you wanted blanket, clothes, and food, you had to supply it yourself or your family and friends had to supply it for you. Well, the church at Philippi loved Paul. And they sent a very sacrificial financial gift through this guy named Epaphroditus to meet the needs of Paul. And this whole letter is really a thank you note from Paul. Paul is rejoicing in the Lord. Paul is thankful for them because not only this sacrificial gift they gave To care for Paul like Kool-Aid man at camp. You see the church at Philippi gets it They get the bigger picture here God was using them allowing them to play a part in Paul's mission of taking the gospel to Rome and even to those who are in the household of Caesar they Understood that they were a part of something much bigger. They were a part of God's mission of of seeing lost people saved. So that brings us to our text in Philippians 4, verses 14 through 23. And Paul wraps up this book by sharing, look at what giving can do. He's encouraging them, thanking them. And what we're going to do as we look at these 10 verses, we're going to look at six encouraging lessons for living about the joy of generosity. Now, let me just say a few things about generosity, okay? When you preach through a book, you take what other topic comes next. And there's no doubt, the ending of the book of Philippians, the topic is about generosity. So we're not gonna skip it, of course. Now, you may be a guest saying, ah, the preacher's trying to talk the church into giving. Hear me, we're not a perfect church, but I don't have to talk this church into giving. This is a very, very generous church. I'm grateful for that. You see, generosity is not a popular topic in our culture today, but as your pastor, I will never apologize for preaching anything in the Bible. I'll never shy away from preaching anything in the Bible. In this church, we believe all God's word for all God's people. Because when it comes to the topic of generosity, there are three groups. Which group are you in? When it comes to biblical giving, people are in one of three groups. They're informed, they're misinformed, or they're uninformed. The goal of today is to inform all of us about what the Bible teaches, and I'm just going to preach through the text, and we'll see what God's word has to say to us. So six lessons for living on the joy of generosity, and we'll go verse by verse. We're starting with verse 14. Lesson for living number one, joyful generosity, the partnership, the partnership. Verse 14 says this, first word Paul said is nevertheless. In verse 10 of chapter four, he started talking about the gift they gave. Then he took a detour, we looked at last week in verses 11 through 13, talking about contentment. Now in verse 14, nevertheless, he returns back to the topic of generosity. He says, nevertheless, you have done well that you shared in my distress. I want you to notice that last phrase, shared in my distress. That word shared means to partner. We're talking about the partnership. It means to have a deep partnership. You see, like the church at Philippi, believers, you and I are on the same team. We are in this together. We are working for the same goal, which is for the glory of God to make disciples in all nations. We want to advance the mission of Jesus Christ to see lost people saved. That's our partnership. Matter of fact, if we were to go back to chapter one, Paul talking about the gift they sent and how thankful he was, he used this phrase, our partnership in the gospel. The gospel is the good news of God that is found in Jesus in his death, his burial, and his resurrection, the saving good news of God. So you and I, through generosity, we partner the mission of the gospel matter of fact in the little book of 3rd John verse 8 talking about when we Support and are involved in the mission of getting out the gospel. It says we're co-workers in the truth so partnering together We get out the gospel and notice what he says in verse 14. He says you shared in my distress and That word distressed speaks of being pressed upon or pressure. My grandmother on her farm in Howe County had this little bitty grape vineyard and we used to love to pick the grapes. And I remember as a boy, what I used to love to do is smash the grapes, get all the juice out of it. And my grandma would take that juice and make grape jelly. That word distress in verse 14, that's what it means. It's a picture of squeezing a grape to get all the juice out of it. You see, there is a pressure for missionaries who are on the field, and there is a pressure for local churches like ours when it comes to fulfilling the ministry and mission of Jesus Christ. If we were to take the time to look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul talked about the external bad pressure and the internal good pressure. He talked about persecution and difficult challenges that he faced. And then in verse 28, he talked about the daily pressure of caring for the church. The mission of Jesus is a joy, but the mission of Jesus will flat out squeeze the juice out of you. And what Paul is saying to the church of Philippi, because you partnered with me in the gospel, he says, you relieve the pressure. Your generosity is sharing the load. He says, Paul's saying, I know I'm not in this alone. I know that what the challenges I face through your giving, you're facing those challenges with me. And again, First Baptist Arnold, thank you for your joyful generosity. Thank you for sharing the load. Thank you for relieving the pressure of missions on the field and ministry and missions here. On a weekly basis, you partner with our international mission board that has 3,502 missionaries reaching unreached people around the world. Some of those missionaries are from this very church. Through your generosity, you are partnering with our North American Mission Board, which is taking the gospel right here in our own country where churches are being planted. You know the tornadoes that hit these recent days? Do you know that we have 70,000 trained people in our denomination? We're the third largest disaster relief organization in the United States behind the Red Cross and the Salvation Army. They will be going to those areas of tornadoes, sharing the love of Jesus of people who are facing some of their worst moments. It's lost everything. Through our North American Mission Board, do you know, and through our denomination, Compassion Ministries, Feeding the Hungry, last year, $3.5 million was given to world hunger through our denomination. You're part of that every single week. 3,300 chaplains who are taking Jesus and his love to our first responders and our brave soldiers. And then you're partnering and sharing the load that no one is alone in what we do as a local church when we gather to worship like this. I mean, we're getting ready to redo this 40-year-old auditorium as we gather in small groups, as we fellowship and share our lives, as we care for one another. I'll be in probably two or three funerals this week. We grow together from bed babies to senior adults. We're learning the Bible together. We're becoming more like Jesus through your generosity. We go locally and globally with the mission of Jesus, physical, spiritual needs, and it's all to glorify him. Gospel partners are deepening their own faith as their generosity makes an eternal difference to people around the world. That's your joyful generosity. Let me show you a photo here. I love this photo. It's from last summer in Florida. The guy there at the very end was about ready to drown. He was caught in a riptide, and the lifeguards in Florida saved his life. But I want you to look at what they did. It wasn't just one lifeguard. All these lifeguards connected like a human chain. They connected together to save this guy's life. You see, lifeguards know what their mission is. It's to rescue. And the lifeguard knew that not by themselves, but they partnered together to rescue this guy. I love that. That's a picture of us as a church. We know our mission. Jesus wants to rescue the lost through us. And folks, it's not us by ourselves through our joyful generosity of ties and offerings. We partnered together. Hear me, church. We are better together. than we are by ourselves. Generosity speaks of the partnership. Thank you for sharing the load. Number two, let's go to verses 15 and 16. Joyful generosity, the gratitude. So we've seen joyful generosity in the partnership and now joyful generosity and gratitude and gratitude. Verses 15 and 16. For you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia, look at this, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. For even in Thessalonica, you sent aid once and again for my necessities." That word necessities there, it means to supply need. Missionaries on the field and local churches doing missions and ministries, we have missional gospel needs. Missionaries need to get on the field missionaries need to survive once they get on the field as a local church we're kind of partial to having lights and heat and air conditioning and babies and diapers and all those sorts of things and all that we do and missions and materials to make disciples and grow and Love and touch our community. There's there's always needs involved with that and that's what Paul is saying here and the ties and offering of God's people is God's planned how he funds meeting the needs of of taking Jesus to the lost around the world. Giving tithes and offerings is not something we came up with. This is God's plan. God's plan to fund his mission vision is God's people generously giving. You see, God's plan is this. God is the owner of everything. You and I as Americans, we possess a lot, but folks, we own nothing. Psalm 24-1 says, the world is the Lord's and everything in it. God entrusts what is His to you and to me to use according to His biblical plan of what we do with our finances and resources. And this is God's simple plan in the Bible. Number one, we work hard and do our best. We make an honest living. Number two, we give to God first. We return to him the tithe, and then we give him offerings on top of the tithe. Number three, we give to bless others. We want to bless people physically and spiritually. And number four, we provide for our families now and in the future. We save up for our future retirement and those sort of things. That's God's generosity plan for you and for me. What's happening here in our text, Paul is talking about, remember he says at the beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia, he's talking about his second missionary journey where they were taking the gospel into Europe to people who had never heard about Jesus before. He says the church of Philippi generously gave. They were thoughtful, sacrificial, and generous. And they gave, they were partners in that work. And notice what it says in verse 16. It says again and again, they continually gave, because it's just a fact, a healthy, biblical, on-fire Jesus Church will have a missionary vision for all the nations that expresses itself in generosity. But then's that troubling part that we focused on just a moment ago. There were other churches that didn't give anything. That's what Paul said. Paul said, you all were generous, thank you. He says, but no church shared with me concerning giving. Now think with me for a moment. I would say those churches that did not give, I would say Paul probably planted a lot of them. And think about the giving those churches received. Jesus gave himself sacrificially on the cross to save them from their sins. Paul sacrificially gave of himself. He endured brutal persecution to take the gospel to them. And God's faithful people gave to support Paul so thousands of people in these churches could be saved and go to heaven and not go to hell. And now these churches who receive the free gift of salvation, who receive the gospel through a guy who was persecuted named Paul, where other believers sacrificially gave so they could go to heaven and not go to hell, now there's other people who are lost, other people who need Jesus, other people who are heading to hell, and these churches that were given so much, you know what they gave back? Nothing. Benefit me bless me, but I won't do anything to help anyone else Meet my family's need meet my kids needs I've that it does this the church strength me that I say it's a wonderful thing as long as somebody else pays for it You would think Just common sense. You would think they would be so grateful that other people gave so the gospel could go to them that they would respond with generosity so the gospel can go to other people. What's your blood type? God made us with eight blood types. O negative, A negative, B negative, AB negative, O positive, A positive, B positive, AB positive. The most common blood type is O positive, that's 38% of people are O positive. Second most common type is A positive, that's about 34% of the people. The rarest blood type is AB negative, only 1% of the people are AB negative. The second rarest blood type is AB positive, only 3% of the people are AB positive, I'm AB positive. Here's what this means if I have a need in my life. If you are O negative, you can give me blood. If you're O positive, you can give me blood. If you're A negative, you can give me blood. If you're A positive, you can give me blood. Appreciate it. If you're B negative, you can give me blood. If you're B positive, you can give me blood. If you're AB negative, you can give me blood. If you're AB positive, you can give me blood. Now, if you need blood, you know what you're gonna get from me? Nothing. I receive from everyone. Give me, give me, give me. But if you're in a reckoning need, sorry, I can only give to people exactly like me. Now I have nothing to do with that giving and receiving about my blood, but man, I don't want to live that way. I don't want to live where everything in life is give me, give me, receive, give me, give me, and do nothing to give back to bless somebody else. Jesus said in Acts 20, 35, it is more blessed to give than to what? Receive. I think he meant it when he said it. Jesus gave his blood on the cross to save us, and he wants us to be like him and give so other people can be saved. You cannot separate gratitude and generosity, you can't do it. Gratitude's like breathing in, generosity's like breathing out. And if all you do is breathe in and never breathe out, you're holding your breath and that's not a fun way to live. There's no joy in walking around holding your breath. Joyful generosity, the partnership, joyful generosity, the gratitude. Wow, look at this next one, this is so cool. Joyful generosity, the investment, verse 17 now, the investment. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Love this verse. Paul says, not that I seek the gift. It means this. Church at Philippi, I didn't beg you or bug you to give. Let me tell you how we approach giving in this church, how as pastor I approach giving. I will never beg you. There's no gimmicks. I'm going to preach the word of God and trust the Holy Spirit to stir your heart. That's our strategy. And thank you. Say we're not perfect, but you know that every year we've had a record year of giving and this year is already ahead of last year. This is a generous church. But look what Paul says here. I love this verse. Paul's not seeking the gift, but what is Paul seeking? He's seeking the benefit they're going to get from giving the gift. That's what he's seeking. He says, I am seeking the fruit that abounds to your account. That word fruit speaks of spiritual fruit. Souls being saved, lives being changed, disciples being made by Jesus. He says to your account, don't miss this, that's a bookkeeping term. Here's how it works for Paul and for us today. Paul is telling the church at Philippi, listen, you gave a sacrificial gift to care for me and to continue the gospel ministry taking place in Rome. Let's — Paul is chained to a Roman soldier 24 hours a day. Let's hypothetically say, I'm sure it probably happened, that Paul had one of those Roman — imagine a Roman soldier being chained to Paul for eight hours. Paul goes, hey, what do you want to talk about, you know? I believe one of those Roman soldiers probably got saved. Now imagine one of those Roman soldiers leading two of his Roman soldiers' buddies to be saved. And maybe one of those Roman soldiers' buddies led his wife to be saved, and maybe his wife is like one of the main administrators with Caesar in the palace, because we know people in Caesar's palace got saved. Again, not Vegas, but you know what I mean, Bible, Caesar's palace. Don't miss it, the Bible, God is saying in his word, I am going to credit that eternal dividend to your heavenly account because you gave. So, faithful, generous givers here at First Baptist Arnold, you give your tithes and your offerings and in a few weeks we have some kids saved at Kids Week. Or one of our pastors preaches a funeral this week and someone gets saved. Or you have heat and air in this campus and there's someone, a family who comes in here, your small group, they experience the warmth and the worship of God and two months from now, they get saved. 3,502 International Mission Board missionaries. In 2022, they saw over 178,000 salvations. God's Word is saying, generous giver, everything that you do where God bears fruit, He is going to credit it, an eternal dividend to your heavenly account. Jesus taught the exact same truth of verse 17 He said it like this in Matthew 6 do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth Where moth and rust destroy where thieves break in and steal? But lay it for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys Where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there? Is where your heart will be also the Bible is clear our treasures in one of two places. There's not four or five There's two my treasures either on earth or in heaven If it's on earth, it's going to go away. If it's in heaven, it will last forever. I cannot take anything with me, but I can send everything on ahead of me. And if I really want to know the condition of my heart towards Jesus, the gospel, and the lost, it's not what I say or what I think. It's not subjective. It's not an opinion. Where is my treasure? Where is my treasure? It has nothing to do with an amount. None of us can give the same amount, but all of us can give the same proportion. Remember the widow's two mites? So really it comes down to, is Jesus really my Lord or not? Is everything in my life under the Lordship of Jesus? We need to look at our giving. What do I really feel the best way of life is? What's the best way for me to live life in the real world on a daily basis? My way? or God's way. We need to look at our giving. Financial planners teach about making decisions today that you will be thankful for in the future. Make the decision today to lay up your treasures in heaven. It's the greatest investment in life that yields the highest returns. We're not saved by laying up treasures in heaven. We do it because we are saved. Number four, we're down to verse 18. Joyful generosity, the worship, the worship. Indeed, I have all, and I abound, and I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things that you sent." Look how he describes their gift, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice. Well, well-pleasing to God. Paul says, the overflowing gift you sent, don't miss this, he said, you did not give this gift to me. The gift the church at Philippi gave was not to Paul. It was not to the church budget. It was not to a favorite ministry program. It was not to a southern gospel group they really love. They gave it, look at the last two words of verse 18, who did they give it to? To God. Generosity is an act of worship where we give to God. We give it to God. It is for God. Verse 18, a sweet-smelling aroma, acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. All that verbiage Paul is alluding to Old Testament worship. where they would take like a lamb and put the lamb upon the burnt offering as a sacrifice and the priest would pour water over that and the steam would come off of that lamb and people in the area would smell the aroma of the sacrifice and the Bible painted a picture of that aroma of that vapor going up to heaven to the nostrils of God As an act of worship a fragrance and aroma of worship to God to tell you how accurate that is If you were to take the time to look at Ephesians chapter 5 verse 2, which is a picture of Jesus hanging on the cross Sacrificing himself as a lamb of God for our sins the exact verbiage we see in verse 18 is used in Ephesians 5 to describing Jesus as a fragrant aroma of worship Going up to the Lord Joyful worship joyful generosity is worship It's an act of obedience that declares the worth of God to us and that the Lord has all of our hearts Think about the wise men in Matthew 2 11 they found the baby Jesus the Bible says they fell and Worshipped him and did what they gave gifts and from cover to cover of the Bible. Worshiping God is connected to an offering. It's a center part of what worship is absolutely all about. Ralph Cushman said this, the worship that is empty-handed is, according to Scripture, simply not worship at all. The bringing of an offering to God is pictured in Scripture as a high and immeasurable part of worship. This past week, Man, we had an odor in this church. It was bad. It was bad. I mean, it started in the lobby and kind of went down the hallways. It smelled to me, this is my opinion, it smelled like firecrackers inside of raw sewage. That's what it smelled like to me. It was bad. Now we have an incredible, church, you have a great staff. And our staff works so hard pulling out all the stops, brought in outsiders. We could not solve what is this smell? Is it a sewage problem? Is it an electrical issue? Is it, did a dead animal crawl inside of our air handlers or something? We could not figure it out. If you came to church Wednesday evening, we had signs posted all over the church that said, sorry about the smell, we're working on it. Finally, Thursday, we solved the mystery. Would have never thought this. You know what was causing that horrible odor? One, there was a dying battery on one of our electric wheelchairs in the lobby. And that dying battery was going up into the air handler and then going out throughout the church. Now, I did some research on dying batteries, and I found out that they put off hydrogen sulfide gas, which is described, quote, as rotten eggs in sewer water. That's not the smell we want when you walk into our church. Hi, welcome to Rotten Egg Sewer, Water Baptist Church. Glad you're here. We know we smell. We know we stink. No, we want to smell like the church at Philippi, don't we? You see, because a selfish, stingy church is not a worshiping church. and it puts off a choking stench before our holy God. But like the church at Philippi, a joyful, generous church, God's people please God as their lives give off the sweet aroma of worship. You can write in the margins of your Bible next to Philippians 4, Pastor Kenny said as a church, thanks for not being stinky. Thank you for smelling sweet. The sweet smell of worship. Joyful generosity, the partnership. Joyful generosity, the gratitude. Joyful generosity, the investment. Number four, joyful generosity to worship. Look at number five, joyful generosity, the promise. We're to verse 19, the promise. And my God, you've heard this verse before, haven't you? My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. This verse paints an incredible, amazing picture. In 2 Corinthians chapter 8, Paul talks about being supported by the churches in Macedonia, which would include the church of Philippi. And it says in 2 Corinthians 8, those churches gave out of their deep poverty. The majority of the church members at First Baptist Philippi, okay, they were poor. They were very poor people. You know what verse 19 paints a picture of? They knew the need of Paul, and more than that, they knew the gospel need of lost people. They gave to Paul from their poverty to the point they now were in need. They gave to meet the missional need of Jesus to the point they put themselves in need. And Paul gives them a great promise here. My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Oh, this verse is quoted so carelessly. This verse is one of the major verses in the Bible taken out of context. This is a verse that people, I'm gonna claim it over my life. Philippians 419 is seen as God's big blank check or you know, Philippians 419, my God will supply all my needs, it's God's big giveaway. Basically people think this, I can live any way I want with the resources I have and I'm gonna lay this verse over my life because no matter what I do or how I live with my resources, God's gonna meet all my needs. It's the big God giveaway, get on board. No, we gotta keep this in the context of Philippians. Look at the first word in verse 19. See that word and? Verse 19 is the outcome of what Paul has been saying in the previous verses. In other words, he's talking to a very specific group of people, giving a very specific promise to them. He's talking to joyful, generous, sacrificial givers. That's who this promise is for. He's not promising health. He's not promising wealth. It's not some prosperity thing. He's not promising luxuries. He's not promising your life won't have needs. He is saying that if you are a faithful, generous giver, supporting the work of God, God promises not to meet all your wants, but to meet your needs. Why? So you can keep serving Jesus and keep supporting the mission work of Jesus. Dwight Pentecost says this, it is foolish to think you can squander what God has given you on yourself and then expect Him to step in and meet your need. We see this same truth in the Old Testament. Listen to Proverbs 11, 24, and 25. One man gives freely, yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly and comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper. He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. This is what this verse is saying. This is God's promise to faithful givers. We cannot give God, okay? God's saying this, hey, if you are sowing seed in my field, I'm going to keep giving you more seed so you can keep sowing more seed in my field. It's not prosperity. It's not health and wealth, not luxuries, not wants. When we faithfully are generous, involved in the mission of God, he will meet our needs so we can continue to be faithful and generous in the mission of God. If that makes sense, say amen. Two key words in verse 19 to this entire message, Paul says, my God. My God, personal. Personal relationship. The reason why Paul is so generous and the reason why the church at Philippi is so generous is because they're in a relationship with Jesus who is generous to them. Think about generosity. God is the great giver. He gave us creation. He gave us life. He'll give you that next bit of oxygen that you breathe into your lungs that doesn't smell like sewer water, praise the Lord. He is the great giver. He gave His Son. And He is offering the greatest gift ever. It's free. You talk about giving, it's free. He'll give you the gift of himself, of heaven, of salvation forever. And in the most generous act ever from the greatest giver to receive the greatest gift was Jesus gave himself on the cross when he died for you and for me. Let me give you the single greatest definition in the world of generosity. If you're ever trying to define generosity, here's the greatest definition in the world. For God so loved the world he His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. We need to admit our sin and turn to Jesus and receive the free gift of eternal life. Finally, I gotta go here, the final lesson for living, joyful generosity, the glory. Paul gives an affectionate goodbye in verses 20 through 23. Verse 20, now to our God and Father, now, after all that He said about that generosity, now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Look at the partnership, the love. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those. See, people got saved in the very palace of Caesar's, those who are in Caesar's household. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Verse 19, the word glory. Verse 20, hear the word glory. He wraps up by saying this, everything, including generosity. Folks, it's all for the glory of God. It's all for his glory. Are you a generous giver? It's never too late to start, okay? I don't have time to go into the whole story, but I've shared it before. When Donna and I We were new believers, had a little baby. Things were pretty tight. We were members of Ham Memorial Baptist Church. Our first three or four years, we never gave on Sunday or maybe would throw in five bucks. We were very sporadic. Chester Sims was a man in his 80s, married 60 years. He talked about how him and his wife were faithful tithers. Don and I left church that day. The Holy Spirit convicted our hearts. And we said, do we trust God enough? If we do what he's going to do, he's going to take care of us. And by God's grace, we started tithing that day, and now we'll be married 40 years this October. We've never once stopped. And God's always met our needs. So if you're a non-giver or a sporadic giver, it's never too late to start. Experience the overjoyed life. Trust God. Follow God's plan. all that we've talked about. Each step you take becoming more generous is one more step you take in becoming more like Jesus. The spirit of Jesus is the spirit of giving, and if we want to be like Jesus, giving has to be part of our lives. Generosity comes down to this, how much do I really love and trust God? That's it in a nutshell, in a nutshell. The informed, the misinformed, and the uninformed. The bottom line is this, if I'm saved, How much do I trust God if I do what God's calling me to do? Let me read a letter to you. This letter came in in 2018. It took me a while to read it to you. It's addressed to our church, but I got there eventually, okay? I'm gonna read this letter to you. This came into our church office. Dear FBCA, I'm sorry my tithe money is 22 years late. I recently found this pink offering envelope at my parents' house. I accepted Christ while attending this church. I will always cherish my memories of Pastor Buddy, that's Buddy Perestrope, who's now the senior pastor of First Baptist St. Charles, who was over our children's ministry in those days, and all of the volunteers in Victory Street, that was our children's ministry. Nowadays, I'm married to a pastor, and we serve in San Antonio, Texas. But First Baptist Arnoble always seemed like my home church in Christ, Laurie. And then the envelope she sent in, I photocopied it. Again, she was just a little girl back in February of 1996. It's for $1.50. 22 years later. Back in 1996 and here in 2024, thank you to the faithful, generous givers in this church. And you know who you are. You're just faithful. It's not an amount. You gave to where we could have this campus. You gave your tithes and offerings where we could have this auditorium where that little girl could come in and worship. You gave to where we had ministry space and different Bible materials and different things in children's ministry and staffing to where she could learn about Jesus as a child. She experienced us going to the world. You gave and that little girl experienced the love of Jesus in this place. You gave and that little girl came to know Jesus as her Savior and Lord. You gave and that little girl Knew that Jesus loved her begin to grow in her love for Jesus and you want to talk about the investment of? Eternal fruit who knows how much fruit God has brought in the life of this pastor's wife over all these years And to those faithful givers of this church Any fruit that comes through her life You're going to have an eternal dividend credited to your account in heaven She learned joyful generosity in this church as a child. She learned to be a faithful giver, 22 years late, but still a faithful giver. It took Donna and I a while to figure this out, but God's full of mercy and grace. Man, we love you. We're not here to press you into anything. I'm just going to tell you what the Bible teaches us here and what we've discovered in our lives, my wife and I, okay? If you want an overjoyed life, I didn't say everything easy. I didn't say prosperity in your heart. If you want an overjoyed life, be generous like Jesus. Let's pray.