Well, that was tremendous. One of my favorites. You know, I'm hoping when I get to heaven, preacher, I can sing like that. I sure can't do it now. I'm hoping when I get to heaven, I can preach like that. I want to encourage our folks here at Calvary Baptist Church. I know pastor has been mentioning this and will continue to mention it, but faith promise card. Missions is personal to me. Because sometime in the late 70s and in the early 80s, there was a missionary family that was traveling around and they were trying to raise support. And they went to churches like ours and they conducted, they were involved in faith promise conferences and there were folks in the church that decided to give to support this missionary family. And in the late 70s, early 80s, they left Kissimmee, Florida, and they went to Germany. And in 1993, I was in the United States Army, and I was commissioned to go to Germany. And there was only one person in the whole unit on the whole post, of hundreds and hundreds and thousands of soldiers that went to that particular church, and that one person was the platoon sergeant in the unit that I was in, and his name was Stan, and he invited me to that church, and there I heard the gospel. And there I got saved. And there I surrendered to preach, because some folks gave. Now, none of those folks will ever know this part of the story. But you know it. What we do here, it matters. Will you look with me in your Bibles to 1 Chronicles 29. Pastor, thank you. Thank you to Calvary Baptist Church for your faithful support, your prayer support, your friendship. You've just been dear to my wife, Susie, and myself, and our family, and we're so grateful. 1 Chronicles chapter number 29. If you're able, when you find your place there, would you stand with me in reverence to the reading of the word of God? If you're able. If you're not, you need to keep your seat. The Lord will understand that. In 1 Chronicles 29, verse number 1, the Bible says, Furthermore, David the king said unto all the congregation, Solomon my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great. For the palace is not for man, but for the Lord. Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver. and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood, onyx stones and stones to be set, glistering stones and of diverse colors, and all manner of precious stones and marble stones in abundance. Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house." Look with me in verse 6. Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel and the captains of thousands and of hundreds with the rulers of the king's work offered willingly. Now verse 9. Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly. Because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord, and David the king also rejoiced with great joy. Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation and he said blessed be the Lord blessed thou Lord God of Israel our father forever and ever thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine thine is the kingdom O Lord and thou art exalted as head of Above all, both riches and honor come of Thee, and Thou reignest over all. And in Thine hand is power and might, and in Thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank Thee and praise Thy glorious name. But who am I? And what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. I'd like to preach tonight on that thought, and of thine own have we given thee. Father, will you meet with us once again tonight? I felt your presence every single service thus far. Every service, I've walked away knowing that you spoke to me through your word, through the preaching. Father, we're asking you to do it again tonight. Would you accomplish in our hearts what you desire? Would you help us to purpose in our heart what we might give in this upcoming Faith Promise Missions campaign? We're going to praise you. We're going to thank you. And we ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen, you can be seated please. David was a man's man. A man that when he decided to do it, he did it with all of his might. We read in Scripture that He danced before the Lord with all of His might, He fought with all of His might, and we read in the Psalms, He would say it this way, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. He would praise with all of His might. But now here in this text, He's going to tell us in chapter 2, or verse number 2 rather, that He has prepared with all of His might. Here in this text, He is going to give with all of His might. And we understand David had a desire to build the temple. He approached God and let God know that he had a house of cedar, and God dwelt in tabernacles and tents, and he wanted to build the house. And it was a noble thing that he wanted to do, but God had another plan. And God instructed David that he wouldn't be allowed to build the temple. There were a number of reasons. One in particular was the bloody campaign. He was a man of war, and God would have his house. Jesus said, this is a house of prayer, but you've made it a den of thieves. And God didn't want a man of war to build his house. God wanted a king of peace to build his house. And David was told no. I can imagine sometimes in many churches throughout the church history, someone coming to the preacher and saying, hey, I want to head up this project, Pastor. And the pastor tell him, I'm sorry, you can't head up the project, but you can jump in line and follow the orders and do something else. And him not being very excited about that because he wants to be in charge and in control, but it doesn't faze David. He's not upset because God tells him he can't build the house. He still does everything he can do. Now he's motivated by a couple of things. We see it. He lets us know his motivation. He tells us in the first verse, he said, Solomon, my son, whom alone God hath chosen, is yet young and tender. And the work is great. So he's motivated by the fact that his son's going to take over and he wants to set him up for success. And the work is great. He's inexperienced. And David wants to do everything he can. And then there's a second thing. We see it also in verse number 1. He said, For the palace is not for man, but for the Lord God. See, the second thing that motivated David was this. This thing was not man's thing. This was God's thing. This thing that we're doing didn't originate with a man somewhere. It didn't originate with a missionary somewhere. It didn't originate with a movement or a particular church at a particular time. It originated with God. It originated with Christ and he's the one that said go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. So this thing that we're involved in, it's not man's idea. It's God's idea. So David would prepare with all of his might He could die knowing that future generations would have a beautiful house of prayer and praise where they could honor the Lord. He not only served his own generation, which every child of God should do, but he served generations to come. Now, David provided the materials to build the temple. He organized the temple ministry. He wrote songs for the temple singers, and he designed musical instruments for the Levites to play. All the while, God telling him, David, you can't do it. but he had a heart. David invested in something that would live beyond him, something that would be a blessing long after he was gone. Imagine when the temple was completed, and folks would come and worship, and they would enter into a covenant relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they would meet with the Lord there in the temple, they would sacrifice there, and David, he was dead and gone, and in heaven, or paradise at that point, but folks would enjoy the fruit of his labor. People probably died, Brother Scotty, that supported your ministry, and they're in heaven right now with this ministry that they supported while they were alive. It still is carried on. David made the work of God his treasure. He said, I've prepared with all my might, in verse number two, and then in verse number three he says, because I have set my affection to the house of my God. He made this the most important thing in life. He put his heart into it. He set his affection there. He made it his treasure. And the Bible tells us that where our treasure is, there will our heart be also. Lay not up for yourselves treasure upon the earth. Where moth and rust doth corrupt, the Bible tells us, and where thieves will break through and steal. But rather, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal. For where your treasure is, we've heard it this week already, there will your heart be also. Now I want us to look at the succession of giving. We read verse three, verse six, and verse nine. I wanna refer to that again. In verse number three, we see the Bible says that David gave. He says, I have set my affection, I have given to the house of my God over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house. So the king gives. Then look what happens when the king gives. Verse 6, Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel, the captains of thousands and of hundreds with the rulers of the king's work, they offered willingly. So David the king gives. Now he doesn't demand that anyone else give. He was the king, he could have, but he didn't. Those, they saw what the king did, and they said, we want to do it. You see in verse six, the Bible says, the rulers of the king's work offered, what does it say, church? Willingly. So what's everybody else going to do? What's the people going to do? Now again, they weren't commanded to do it. The king could have said, he could have demanded, but he didn't. Then the people rejoiced. Why did they rejoice? Verse 9, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord. And David the king also rejoiced with great joy. Every man, as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, For God loveth a cheerful giver, and we see that verse in action right here in this text. People gave, you know why they gave? Because they wanted to. They saw what the king did. The rulers followed suit, and the people gave. Now we have a king that's given us, for you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. I'm telling you, church, the king's given. And when it comes to missions, He's outlined that we give because we want to, because we love Him. We're motivated by His sacrifice and His service and what He did. And we see how the folks gave willingly. Now, as a result of this, in verse number 10, David blesses the Lord before all the congregation. And he said, blessed be Lord God of Israel, our Father forever and ever. And David lets us in on some things about our finances and about our giving. We see in verse 11, he said, Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted. We know that all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine. He realized, David realized something, that God owns everything. Not only that, he said both riches and honor come of thee. Now it just makes natural sense that if God owns everything and you end up with some of that everything, that you have to understand where you got it from. If God owns all of it and it's all his, And you get some, I get some. David realized something. Both riches and honor come of thee. And thou reignest over all, and in thine hand is power and might, and in thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all. He realized that everything in heaven and earth was from God, that God owns it all. He also realized that in God's hand was power and might. In his hand it was to make great. He realized this, that promotion comes from the Lord. Promotion, Psalm 75, 6, cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge, he putteth down one, and setteth up another. And David realized all too well, he knew very well where his success lies, and the reason why he was in the place that he found himself. It was because God had elevated him to that place. He would say both riches and honor come of thee in verse number 12. We're reminded in James 117 that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Now he says in verse 13, now therefore our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious name. But he asked a question. He says, but who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sword? Wait a minute, David, you're the king. That's who you are. You're the king. I mean, you have the power. You have the authority. You're a man of stature. You're a man of great prowess. But David realized something, that he wouldn't have been in that place were it not for God. I want to remind you of the day that Samuel went looking for the next king. How long are you going to mourn for Saul? God would ask him. I've chosen me a man after my own heart. I want you to go to the sons of Jesse, and I'm going to reveal the next king. And he went there before the sons of Jesse, and the first passed a lie of the eldest, and surely he thought, man, this has got to be him. I mean, he looked like king material, but it wasn't God's choice. And number two passed by, and number three passed by, and four. five, six, seven, are these all thy sons? Well, we do have one more son, David, but he's out there keeping the sheep. Go get David and bring him in here. And David realized something, that if God hadn't found him, he'd still be out there keeping the sheep. He would have never been king were it not for God. God picked him up in the sheepfold. God would remind him of that in chapter 17 of 1 Chronicles. When I found you, David, I called you from the sheepfold. And if it weren't for God's hand in David's life, he'd still been there. So everything that he had, all the wealth that he'd amassed, all the power that he enjoyed, the prestige that he wore, it was because God had blessed him. Because God had raised him up. I remember, Brother Vernon, the first time you shared your testimony of where you started at in the ministry. And you were a yellow line leader for the Iwanus clubs. Yellow game team, the Iwanus clubs. We had an Iwanus program in Germany. And I got saved, and that was the first thing I got into. Now there's four teams in the Iwana program, and there's four colors, and one of those four colors is yellow. And I was the yellow line leader. I had about six or seven kids. And you'd run around the circle, and you'd go in there, and they had a pen, and under the pen, they had a bean bag. So I'd tell those kids, now listen, that pen was number one, the bean bag was number two. I said, I don't want the bean bag. Don't even come back over here with the bean bag. Get the pen, or get the arm of the person that's got the pen, and bring it back over here. That's all we're gonna settle for. Now, during that time, man, I thought that was the biggest thing. I mean, if the president could have called me and said, hey, I need you to come up here to Washington, D.C., I said, I'm sorry, President, but I got this yellow line thing going. I don't think I'm gonna be able to make it. But God found me there, and God found me in the next spot. But I'm only able to do a little something for God because he's put us here. David realized, who am I? And then he said this, and who is my people? Now the Israelites, they're God's chosen people, but I want to remind you, were it not for God, they wouldn't even be in existence. Were it not for God, they would have died there at the Red Sea when the Egyptian army chased them down. They would have all died right there. They couldn't have fought them all, but God marvelously, time and time again, when they were hanging by a thread, God saved them multiple times, and now, not only are they a strong people, but they're able to give in a marvelous way, and they realized that it was God. You ever consider this? A country that we call America, and in just a short time, just over a couple hundred years, what has happened here, and how blessed we are. Now, Americans are wonderful people. I love them. But I gotta think that there's something else going on somewhere that's allowed us to get to this point. We've had the blessings. If it weren't for that, we wouldn't be able to give like we give. Who am I? And who is my people, he would say. That we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort, for all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee. You know what David's saying? God, we're not really giving you anything. Because everything we have, we wouldn't have it if it weren't for you. So how could we even say that we're giving you anything that's ours because we would have nothing and everything is yours. And if we've got some of it, it's because you've given it to us. And now we're going to turn around and give it to you. But we're not giving you what's ours, Lord. We're just taking what's yours and giving it back. Sometimes we look at it as, how much of my money am I going to give to the Lord? But that's not the right way to look at it. Because everything we have, God's given us. And all we're doing is turning around and giving back to Him what was already His. For Scott and I, I'm a little bitter at him. We have a lot of things in common. We have the same grandkids. But all of my grandkids are also his grandkids. And I've only got three. And he's got like, I don't know, a lot more than three. They stayed with us for a couple of years when Josh was going to school. And those grandkids, many times I would come home, and they would have made something. They called me Poppy, called my wife Honey. And I would come home, and they'd be like, Poppy, we made something for you. They were so proud, preacher. They drew something. And they'd color on it or paint it. And they'd be like, hey, Poppy, do you know what it is? And I'm like, oh, yeah, man, that's a jackrabbit. No, it's a kangaroo. Oh, OK. I mean, I can't tell what the thing is. It's really hard to tell. And then they want you to know. They want you to get it right. They want you to know. Oh, I can't believe you didn't know what it was. And so then I would come home other days, and they would be like, do you know what it is, Poppy? And I'm looking for clues from some adult in the room that feels where I'm at and they're trying to mouth it so I could get it right and every now and then I'll get it right. And now why did they do that? They weren't coached to do that. They just decided to do it because they wanted to. But here's the thing about it. They were in our house. They used our paper. They used our crayons. They used our paint. They sucked down our air conditioning. And when they painted that crayon off the paper, it went onto my countertops. And when they painted and it ran down to the white wood holding up the countertop there, I walked in one day, I mean, that was ours too. And if it got on the floor, you know what? Those floors, those are our floors. I mean, pretty much everything that they put, everything that they put their hands on, it wasn't theirs. It was all our stuff, but they put their hands on it and they gave it back to me. And guess what I did with it? I put it up on the refrigerator. Sometimes I couldn't even tell what it was. But they did it because they love popping. And they did what they could with what they had to work with. And that piece of paper, before they touched it, Those crayons, before they touched it, wouldn't have meant a thing to me. But after they put their little hands on it, they gave it back. I can imagine if they're looking at my life as a drawing up in heaven right now, smart aleck Peter's probably saying, what's that? What did he do with his life? Yeah, I got outside the lines sometimes. And I didn't use any of my own materials. I used only the things that God has given me. But I put my hands on it, and I did what I could. And God's going to take that thing and put it on the refrigerator in heaven. Don't come up here and think that you're gonna be able to give something to God. Because everything you have, you've been given. Think about what you can give back to God. And take what he's given you, put your hands on it. Do something with it. Give it back. And of thine own, have we given the we stand with me please