I'd like to just continue a little bit with a theme from this morning about thankfulness. Chapter 9 of 2 Corinthians, if you want to turn there, we just kind of focused on that passage. And it crescendos, this chapter crescendos with the last verse, thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. That verse gets used a lot. in Thanksgiving-type messages. And, you know, Thanksgiving ought to be a whole lot more than just one celebration a year, amen? We need to be perpetually reminded that we need to have thankful hearts and grateful hearts. I am so grateful. to be allowed to do what I've been able to do here. It's just, it's incredible. I marvel at all the things God has enabled me to do. And you think, wow, you give your life to Christ, you give your life in service to Christ, your life is over. No, no, it's just beginning. It is great. And even at our age now, I mean, I just, I get up every day with purpose and excited about what God is gonna do today, today. And I pray that I never get back into the nostalgia. I'm always reaching forth, always reaching forth until the day that God calls me home. It's going to be great. But I have so much to be thankful for. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. I think to add a little texture and life to that verse, you need to look at the whole context. The verse is just usually grabbed out and used. It's a great verse. I'm not trying to minimize it in any way, shape, or form, but a lot of people do not consider the context. I'd like to quickly give you the context. Verse 1, Paul says, is touching the ministry of the saints. is superfluous for me to write to you." Superfluous is a word that we don't use an awful lot today. It just simply means it's unnecessary. I shouldn't even have to do this. I shouldn't have to write to you concerning the ministry to the saints. You say, what ministry? What's going on here? I'm not gonna go into massive detail here, but Paul is talking to the Corinthian believers about the needs of the Christian brethren in Jerusalem. The church had just basically, you know, gotten started, and where did the Christian church actually have its beginning? It was Jerusalem, right? Day of Pentecost. And what had happened in years following Pentecost, persecution had been leveled upon those saints. There were literally tens of thousands of believers at the church of Jerusalem at the time Paul wrote here to the Corinthian church. And a very high percentage of those believers were living in extreme poverty because of persecution. They were being mercilessly persecuted. Multitudes had lost their source of income, their livelihood. And these Jerusalemites, these believers in Jerusalem, they needed the basics of life. They needed food, they needed clothing, they needed housing, they needed money to survive. And Paul was spearheading an effort to physically minister to these people. Corinth, on the opposite end of the spectrum, of course, Jerusalem, predominantly Jewish, right? Predominantly Jewish. Corinth, predominantly Gentile. And at the opposite end of the spectrum of Jerusalem, here they were impoverished, not doing well. But Corinth was a wealthy, wealthy, mostly Gentile city. And the members of the church there in Corinth were well able. to give a substantial amount to help their fellow believers in Jerusalem. And it's clearly intimated that the folks there in Corinth had made some kind of vow. They said, yes, we're going to do that, and we're going to give this amount. We're going to get this amount to help out. It was a very, very generous amount. But the problem is they never followed through with it. They said they were going to do it, but they didn't do it. And Paul, in this chapter, is urging them, you know, you've made this promise, now's the time to step up. We need to get the resources to these people. So now, you know, promises, we all know about how much good promises do, right? Like nothing, nothing. Good intentions, how much do good intentions really help? Anything. They don't. And Paul is saying here, I appreciate your intention, but now it's time to step up. And so he's saying, it should be unnecessary for me to even write to you about this, but he does. Okay, verse two. He says, for I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago. Your zeal hath provoked very many people." Your promise of a great amount of money and resources to help the people in Jerusalem has motivated other people to give. But as yet, Paul said, you haven't done anything. You need to do more than promise here, folks. You need to step up. You need to start giving. You need to follow through with what you promised. And he said, you have been a great encouragement to other believers in other places to give, and they have already given. And what encouraged them was the amount and the generosity that you expressed that you were going to do. He said, but you haven't done it yet. and you need to follow through. So you think about giving thanks. I'm going to just, again, it's just kind of piggyback off of this morning with talking about Daniel and then 2 Thessalonians 5. Take the word Thanksgiving, for example, divide it in half. What do you have? Thanks? Giving. And you know, Paul is saying here, if you're really thankful, it will bring about a giving attitude in your life. You will have that sort of spirit about giving. So then Paul brings an agricultural illustration into play here, verse six. He said, but this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Verse 10, jump down to there. and it's still following suit with the same illustration here. He said, now he that ministereth seed to the sower, both ministers bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness, being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, verse 11, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. So giving is illustrated by sowing seed. What may the stingy sower expect? Verse number six, sparseness, leanness at harvest time. You know, hey, how come I'm not getting a big harvest here yet in so much seed? And you're expecting a big harvest. So what about the person who puts copious amounts of seeds in the ground? Well, What should they expect? Bounty. Bounty at harvest time. There's other things involved, of course. You say, Pastor John, isn't this prosperity theology? I've heard about the evils of prosperity theology. Isn't this that false religious belief that financial and physical well-being are always the will of God for people of faith who give to certain causes? When I say certain causes, guess what? The cause is usually the person promoting prosperity theology. They're the ones that want you to give to their particular cause. You know, I'm not sure that Crefalo Dollar needs any more multi-billion dollar jets. You know, I'm just not sure that he does. This is different here in 2 Corinthians 9. This is different. This is not prosperity theology. Paul, the human author of this book, writing to these people, was not being personally enriched. Everything that came through his hands just got passed on, everything. In fact, Paul was a selfless giver himself, whose very life and testimony motivated other people to give and do the same thing, live in a selfless kind of a way. And even though the Corinthians hadn't followed through on their promise to give, their promised generosity had inspired the church in Aki, it says here, to give. They had given already. There's kind of a contagion going on here. You know, we hear about a lot of things going viral. Listen, usually a virus is not a good thing. Think COVID, right? Not a good thing. But a contagion in giving and having a giving spirit, that is a good thing. That is a contagion that we all ought to be involved in as a virus that is good. If anything's going to go viral, may it be a giving spirit. You see how it works? We need to determine to sow tons of seed. Suppose the seed is money that we sow and we're sitting around going, all right, Lord, it's time. I'm waiting. I want to see a return on what I've sown. You know, many times God gives us things in return that are far greater than money. far greater than what we sowed. We need to understand that. God is a gracious giver. And if God sends a bountiful crop our way that is more valuable than money, we need to go, thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you so much. The seed sowing of generosity is our business. The reaping bounty is God's business. He is the one that determines the harvest and what comes. I love verse eight. I love how it starts. Just look at it. I just take the first four words, and God is able. Do you believe that? God is able. God is able to do anything. Things above our imagination. I challenge you, try to out give God. So here's a Yucca Valley illustration. We were having revival meetings. And people in the church were inviting Pastor Ennis and my wife and I and the evangelist to meals. There's a lady, I'm sure that she has been in heaven for a really, really long time. They lived way out, used to be that Jellystone Park thing out there, they lived way out there, way beyond where Pastor Casey lives out that way. And she was Welch, a little Welch lady. And it was lunchtime. And they put on a seven course meal, this lady and her husband. And when I say seven-course meal, they stripped the table of all the dishes, set all new place settings, and served a different course. I mean, it was one of the most extravagant meals that I have ever experienced in my life. And my wife was talking to this little lady, and we were just expressing to her that we have never had this kind of treatment. We've never been treated so lavishly. It was just beyond. She said, you know, she said, I just shovel it out to God and he shovels it back to me. I shovel it out to God, he shovels it back to me. He's talking to my wife. He said, the only difference is, he said, God's got a bigger shovel. Amen. Isn't that great? Isn't that great? So I challenge you to try to out give God. Go ahead. Accept the challenge. It's kind of fun actually. All the seed in the world is of little value if it just stays in the sack. Let's get it out there. Let's sow it where it can do something eternal. God is the determiner of growth. But remember, God is able. God is able to what? I love the words of bounty in verse eight. They're great. I'll read it and then we'll just go back and highlight the words. God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. Do you see the words of bounty there? Do you see the words that God is responsible for? Notice, all grace abound appears twice, all sufficiency and all things, a generous spirit on our part, is met with verse 8. Take verse 8 to the bank, you know, if I encourage you. Read it over. And allow that to motivate you to give. Now we need to talk about the attitude in giving. Not just giving, but our attitude. It's expressed in this chapter. Okay, Paul. You've sufficiently shamed us now. Here's your money. Just take it and go. We hope you're happy. Whoa, hold on. Hold on. God doesn't need any of our money, does he? God wants us. He wants us. And Paul, in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, addresses our hard attitude in giving. Notice verse seven. Great verse. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give. Attitude here, not grudgingly or of necessity. For God loves a cheerful giver. And you probably have heard people preach on this passage and you know what the Greek word for cheerful is. I love this Greek word. It's hilarion. It's a Greek word. It's the word from which we get hilarious. It doesn't mean hilarious as in a joke. It means hilariously generous. We just give, because it's fun. We enjoy it. This is a ridiculously small illustration. You saw the picture of the Church of Marysville, a beautiful building. It's fairly new now, fairly new. About two years before we started the building project, I stumbled across a 1949 Ford sedan. And you say, what's so special about that? It was the very year of CAR that my grandparents had. And I have all these memories as a boy, you know. There were no seat belts. They weren't even invented yet, you know? But on the back seat of the Ford, they had a cord that ran across the back of the front seat. And as a boy, I'd stand on the back seat holding onto that cord, and I'd go driving with Grandma and Grandpa, you know, in the Ford, 1949 Ford. I found a 49 Ford. And I bought it. And I drove it a little bit. And then it just kind of sat, I was going to restore it. I was going to make it look just like grandma and grandpa's kind of elephant gray, all glossy, you know, pretty. And, uh, but it sat under a car cover and it sat there and it sat there for a couple of years. It sat there and I'd walked past it and I go, well, I'm, I'm intending to get to it. I'm intending to get to it. And we were trying to build the church debt free. I walked past that car and one day I walked past that car and I looked at it. I said, Lord, would you ask so much? And, you know, there was a little hesitation, but then it was like, Lord, I'm so glad that you put this car into my possession. And now, I am going to have the privilege of selling it and putting all, I wasn't anonymous to Sapphira. All the proceeds went into the building fund. It all went in there. And, you know, I was just so excited to be able to sell that car and put that money, you know, towards this. I do not have an ounce of regret. Will I ever own a car? like that again? I have no idea. And you know, quite frankly, it just doesn't matter. It just does not matter. But I'll tell you what, the cause of Jesus is going forth in Paiute County as a result of the testimony of Marysville Baptist Church and the outreach. And I'll tell you what, Mormons who would never, ever attend our church when it was the rehabbed old bar, they never would, they come and visit the church that is a dedicated church building. It's amazing what happened with that new building. You say, it's just a building. I know that. But we're trying to reach people and having a nice building, and it's every bit as nice as their building. And they come. A lot of times they're just curious. They want to see what it looks like inside. They come, but they get to hear the gospel of Christ. I'm so glad that I do not have that car anymore and that it's in doors and windows and other things. You know, it's gone into that, in that church building. May this church become known as a hilariously generous giving body of believers. It's just fun to give. It's fun to give. Through our giving, verse 11 happens. being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. Our giving can cause thanksgiving to God to redound. The next verse reinforces this. For the administration of this service not only supplyeth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God. Our giving produces thanksgiving in the lives of other people. Not only is a need being met but copious thanksgivings are offered to God as a result. Now picture the band playing, a huge band is playing and the music is reaching a crescendo. And the guy or the gal, you know, they got the big bronze garbage can lids and they're about ready to slam them together, you know, the symbols. And it's just reaching that crescendo. Think about the 1812 overture or something like that. You know, they're ready to slam those things together. The cannons are about ready to go off. This is the apex of the music here. And it's verse 15. You see why we built all this to verse 15? Thanks be unto God. where his unspeakable gift, the cannons are going off. Man, this is it. This is the apex of the apexes. God gave his only begotten Son, John 3, 16. We know the verse. God planted a seed, and from that seed a massive organism grew. I live near, biologists have said that where I live, very near, is the largest organism on planet Earth. You know what that is? It's the Pando Aspen Grove. There's about 120 acres of aspen trees. There are several thousand aspen trees in that 120 acres or so, and they're all one root system. It's the largest living organism on planet Earth right now. But I disagree. The largest living organism on planet Earth is the church of Jesus Christ, the body of Christ. Every person that's saved is part, it's not an organization, it is an organism. And God planted a seed and it has grown into this huge I mean, the Pando is great, it's something to see, but it started with one seed, one tree, and it has gone to thousands of trees, all related, all one root system. Well, we're all part of God's harvest. We're all part of God's planting. And it's way bigger than the Pando-Aspen Grove. Amen. Through the death and burial of Jesus, God put a seed in the ground. And from that seed comes a redeemed humanity. Amen. Praise His name. And the word unspeakable here is just simply a word that we would use as indescribable. You can't describe it. How do you describe it? There aren't words. There just aren't words to describe what God did for us. And we ought to stand every time when we ponder our salvation, we ought to stand in awe and silence as we ponder what came to us through God's planning. I have three sons, Tim, Steve, and Josh. I cannot imagine me allowing to happen to them what God allowed to happen to Jesus if I could do anything about it. God is the God of all creation. He could do anything. He could have intervened. He created everything, ex nihilo. Do you believe that? I do. Created things out of nothing. But He chose, the God of all power, chose to allow His perfectly innocent Son to bleed and to die and to be buried for three days. And yes, He was really dead. And the awesome power of God was seen, however, on that third day when Jesus burst out of the ground alive forevermore. And He is the seal of our redemption. And I'll tell you what, that seed that God planted is still bearing fruit today, amen. And we're all part of it. We're all part of it. And that is cause for thanksgiving. Isaiah 9, 6 has been fulfilled. I love this prophecy. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. That happened. It really happened. God planted a seed. Thanks be to God for the gift of His son. Does it really say gift here? It really does say gift here. And indeed, There are a couple of Greek words that express this English word gift, this particular word is, well, one of the words for gift in the New Testament is charisma. And you talk about charisma, you talk about the spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14, right in there, you get a treatise on the spiritual gifts. And the word charisma is used every single time. A more familiar verse and usage of the word charisma is in Romans 6, verse 23, for the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God, charisma, is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Charisma means a gift of grace, literally what the word means, a very technical definition of it, a gift of grace. The word here in 2 Corinthians 9, 15 is a different word, still translated gift in our English language, but a different word. It is the word doria. And the literal rendering of Doria is very interesting. It means a free gift. You say, well, isn't that the nature of a gift? It's free. God wanted to bring it home to our hearts that it really is a free gift. So He used, had that particular word used. So you put them all together. You put them all together, the whole picture is coupled to Rio with charisma. Salvation is the free gift of God's grace. Praise His name. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. Be filled with gratitude. If you haven't received the gift, you need to. You need to, it's a free gift. You say, well, I've got to earn. No, if you earn it, it ceases to be a gift. You cannot earn it. You can receive it, but you cannot earn it. So if you've not received the gift, receive it. Just do it. Don't put it off. Just do it. Be filled with gratitude to the giver if you have received it. Just be constantly standing in awe and amazement that God would love you enough as an individual to give a gift like this. To God be all the praise and glory. May our spirit of giving right here, Calvary Baptist Yucca Valley, may it become contagious. That's a good contagion. If you're sick, and you got the flu or something, stay home. But if you have the contagion of giving, come, be here. Man, you can spread it. It's okay to spread that contagion. It's good, it's good. And may it all ultimately be inspired by God's giving to us. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable Indescribable gift. You know, folks, I'll finish with this. There's only three eternal things. There's God, His Word, and human souls. That's it. Three eternal things. How about we put our resources that God has blessed us with, how about if we put those resources to work toward things that will last forever? How about we do that? And may we do it, though, with extreme gratitude to God for His extravagant giving to us. May this week be one of demonstrating your appreciation to God by what? Cheerful giving, not just money. God doesn't really need your money. But if God wants your heart, and if God has your heart, He has your resources as well. Make this a week of giving. Thanksgiving. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift and may it manifest itself in our lives.