2 Corinthians chapter number 11. I would like to begin the message this morning by reading the first nine verses of this particular chapter. We'll be looking at other scriptures in 2 Corinthians, but I trust that you do have a copy of the Word of God. And if you don't, maybe there's someone sitting in the row with you that can share God's word, because it's what is really important, not what I say, but what God says. And I've been praying that God would just use me to convey the truth of His words to you, because God's word is always important. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, and beginning in verse number 1, the Bible says, Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit which ye have not received, or another gospel which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles, but though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge, but we have been truly made manifest among you in all things. Have I committed an offense in abasing myself that ye might be exalted? Because I have preached to you the gospel of Christ freely. I robbed other churches, taking wages of them to do you service. And when I was present with you and wanted, I was chargeable to no man. For that which was lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied. And in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself. " Paul wrote this second epistle in response to the report that came to him from Titus. Titus had come bearing a report of the affairs in the state of the church at Corinth. If you're familiar with the first epistle, 1 Corinthians, you know that the church at Corinth was a carnal church in many ways. It was a church that was filled with fussing and fighting and people were more interested in their own exaltation rather than that of Christ. And so in the first epistle, the Apostle Paul had written to correct them, to rebuke them, and to give them some direction as to what they needed to do. And so when Titus came and brought the report to the Apostle Paul, he wrote this second epistle in response to what he had heard. Titus had also been sent to Corinth concerning an offering that Paul was raising to take to the poor saints back at the mother church there in Jerusalem. In chapter eight and verse number six, he wrote in so much that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, he would also finish in you the same grace also. So Titus had been sent by Paul on a mission to go to the church at Corinth to encourage them to give toward this special love offering, but also to bring a report back to Paul about their response to the first epistle. And when Titus gave him that report, it was actually twofold. There was good news and there was bad news. You want to hear the good news first, of course. The good news was that the church had indeed responded favorably to Paul's admonitions and his rebuke. In chapter 7, we read in 2 Corinthians how they sorrowed with a godly sorrow. And they sought to make corrections in the way that they were doing things. And Paul was very pleased to hear that kind of a report. But then the bad news was that the false teachers had arrived. And as we saw in the Sunday school hour, any time the word of God is to be preached and the gospel is to be preached, there's going to be opposition. And the opposition in the early days of Christianity came from false teachers. The first of these were known as Judaizers. They were people who, even if they were Christian, they had a strange idea that in order to be properly saved, you need to have ritual in your life. they were Jews, so the ritual they focused in on was circumcision. Of course, in time that morphed out to infant baptism in the history of Christendom. But these false teachers came and Paul, he speaks about them and we see this in the 11th chapter, beginning in verse number 11, wherefore he said, Because I love you not, God knoweth. But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. For such are false apostles. deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ, and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. And we do well to take heed to these verses today to realize that not every man who claims to be a preacher is a true preacher. If he's not preaching the word of God, if he's not giving the pure gospel of the grace of God, then he's a false teacher. And we see in these early verses in verse four, that not everybody who talks about Jesus is talking about the Jesus of the Bible. Not everybody who claims to have the Spirit of God is filled with the Spirit of God. Not everybody who has a gospel message has the right message, because many times the gospel message that they preach is another gospel, which is the gospel of good works. In other words, they say that if you want to go to heaven, there is a list here that you need to do in your life, whether it's to be a good person, whether it's to join a church, to be baptized. And by the way, some of these things are all good and well, and we need to do them, but that's not how you get saved. It's through faith, repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul is rightfully concerned about the state of this false doctrine that was making inroads into the church at Corinth. And so the text that we've read here, he's reminiscing and reminding them of how he started the church. In verse number two, he said, that I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you a chaste virgin to Christ. In other words, the church that he started in Corinth was meant to remain pure and not to be made impure by the inroads of false doctrine. And this was coupled with a fear in verse 3 that, by many means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. You know, the devil wants to complicate the gospel. He wants to make it where you've got to jump through hoops if you want to get to heaven. And it's a simple gospel. It's simply that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. For whosoever, that means everyone, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's simple. It's not always easy to humble ourselves and to come repenting and admitting that we are lost and we need to be saved. But when we do and when we receive Christ and ask Him to come into our life, He makes a tremendous difference because we are born again by the Spirit of God. And so Paul is rightfully concerned and he remembers how he started the church. He uses some strange language. He said, I have espoused you to one husband. But here he's likening the church to a bride, and he has brought this bride into existence in the city of Corinth, and he wants to present this bride as a pure, chaste virgin to Jesus Christ, who is the heavenly bridegroom. Just as John the Baptist was the friend of the bridegroom, he said that in John chapter 3 and verse 29, but he said that Jesus Christ is the bridegroom and the church is the bride and Paul is concerned that just like the devil beguiled Eve in the Garden of Eden. that somehow these false teachers were going to cause this church to lose its candlestick and its purity and no longer be a real church. Now how did the devil do that in the Garden of Eden? He said, yea, hath God said? He put a question mark over the Word of God. And that's what the devil will do today. If he can, even in the life of a Christian, put a question mark over what God has said, then he has caused you to doubt the true word of God. And how can you put your faith and trust in the Bible that you doubt? And the devil's a master at that. He's invented all kinds of versions and perversions of the Bible that add confusion to people's minds. The devil is subtle. He'll cause you to think that God really doesn't care for you, because God isn't doing things that you would ask Him to do, that somehow you're not in His will. Anything He can do to get you to doubt God, He'll do that. And so Paul here is talking about how he started the church there in the city of Corinth. And that's really what I want to speak about here this morning and sort of focus in pretty narrowly on some thoughts about giving. What does it take to start a New Testament Bible-believing Baptist church today? What does it take? What is required? After all, that's what missions is all about. Missions is preaching the gospel and winning people to Jesus Christ. Missions is then seeing that those who are saved follow the Lord through the waters of baptism and identify with him. And then missions is teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. That is what we refer to when we talk about missions. And that's exactly what Paul did when he came to Corinth. Back in the book of Acts chapter 18 we have the historical record of when he established the church there, and in verse number 8 the Bible says, and Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed, and then were baptized. That's God's order. Hearing the word of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And when they heard the good news, that Christ died for them, that His shed blood has washed away their sins. If they'd put their faith in Him, they believed, they were saved, and then they followed the Lord in baptism. Baptism doesn't save anybody, but it identifies us as Christians. Now the town where we live, in Okaba, Washington is a military town, it's a Navy town. And I use this as an illustration of what baptism is all about because a man who is a sailor or a Marine, he can be walking down the street in what we would call civilian clothes and we would not necessarily recognize them as being in the military. But they are, but when they put on the uniform, it's very, very clear. They're identifying with the military and the branch of military to which they belong. And baptism is like putting on the uniform. You can be saved without being baptized, but when you get baptized, you're declaring to the world your allegiance to Jesus Christ. And baptism is a picture of the death and the burial and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Paul came to Corinth, he preached the gospel. People heard the gospel. They believed the gospel and were saved. And then they followed the Lord in baptism. And then also in Acts chapter 18, fulfilling the Great Commission. In verse 11, he continued there, a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them. And so now we fast forward to the 11th chapter of 2nd Corinthians, and Paul is fearful for what the devil is trying to do with this church, and he's remembering how he espoused them as a chaste virgin to Christ. He espoused them, he brought them into existence through his evangelistic endeavor, and he's jealous over that church. Paul wrote in chapter 10 of 2 Corinthians, in verse number 13, he said, But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reach not unto you. For we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ. He uses the term measure, and we would think of a tape measure of how far he could carry the gospel. And he's saying, I got the gospel to you. I came as far as I could to Corinth. That's the measure that I had that was distributed unto me. But what he's talking about here is how much money he had, how much he had in order to travel where he traveled. And he said, I can only go as far as the money goes. That's a stark reality. And I realized that, you know, in our churches, we don't preach a lot on money, but when it comes to Faith Promise Sunday, it's all about money. It's all about increasing the measure so that the evangelist can carry the gospel further. And Paul is thinking about this and really that's what I want to talk about just briefly here for a few moments on three aspects of giving that's needed if we're going to see the gospel continue today. I think most of us, if we gave some basic thought to the idea, we would understand that it takes money to get the gospel to the lost world. It takes a lot of money these days. Just think to send a man, let alone a team of men, but just a man and his family, there is the cost of airfares. There's the cost of setting up their home in a foreign country, buying all the things that they need for the home and so forth. And then there is the cost of the ministry and the cost of living. And all of that can be very, very expensive. It does take a lot of money. But what kind of giving is needed to see churches continue to be started? Well, I want to give you three things. I believe it takes church giving, it takes faith giving, and it takes self-giving. And if you can just listen for a few moments, I believe that this will challenge us, each one, and help us to understand the commitment that is going to be made here in just a few moments in this church body. But starting New Testament churches requires church giving. I want you to look here, if you would, in chapter 11, verses 8 and 9. And Paul is telling the church at Corinth that he said, I robbed other churches. taking wages of them to do you service. And when I was present with you and wanted it, I was chargeable to no man. For that which was lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied. And in all things, I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself." He robbed other churches. Now that doesn't mean that he held them up with a firearm and said, give me all your money. But in a sense, he was taking money from other churches so that he could travel further and take the gospel further to reach other people with the gospel. And that's what he did in Corinth. when he left the church at Antioch on this evangelistic journey. We know that the church at Antioch, according to Acts chapter 11 verse 29, they had means. There were people in the church that gave to help Paul and Silas travel on that second journey. and supplied the means. We know that Paul, sometimes he labored with his hands just to get enough money so that he wouldn't be burdensome to the people he was preaching the gospel to. In fact, he was following the principle that our Lord Jesus Christ gave to us and gave to his apostles in Matthew chapter 10 and verse number 8 where he said, freely ye have received, freely give. We don't go to a place and charge people to come and hear the gospel. There is no charge given for preaching the gospel. And Paul said, I didn't even seek help from you when I was going without. I was relying on other churches to give so that I could freely give you the gospel. And that's why it's important that you as a church understand the need to be involved in faith promise giving. You are giving and those that are sent out from this church and those that you help support, in a sense, they're taking wages from you because they need the money to live on. They need the money to travel. They need the money to just to conduct their ministry. And Paul said, that he took wages from them. Now we know the churches that he took wages from. If you look back to chapter 8 for a moment, in chapter number 8, he is boasting here of the churches in Macedonia. If you're familiar with the geography of the Bible, in the country now known as Greece, in Bible days in the north was Macedonia. The cities up there were Philippi and Thessalonica and Berea. If you travel down south, the province, the Roman province was Archaea, and that is where we would find Athens and in particular the city of Corinth. So he says in verse one, moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto you the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And so it was the churches in Macedonia where Paul had preached the gospel previously that now they in turn were helping Paul as he traveled further. If you turn back to the book of Philippians chapter 4, he even speaks about this in chapter 4 beginning in verse number 15. of the book of Philippians. Now ye Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica, ye sent once and again unto my necessity, not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. So can you see the picture here that Paul was reliant on the giving of churches to advance his preaching of the gospel. And if the money ran out, listen, he wasn't a superhuman. He couldn't just go without. He had to have means as do preachers and evangelists today. They need to have the means. And so what is required to start a New Testament church? Number one, it requires church giving. Number two, it requires faith giving. If you look at chapter 10, I read from there in verses 13 and 14, but let's read on to verse 15. Paul is now saying, not boasting of things without our measure, that is of other men's labors, but having hope when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. That was Paul's hope. He was coming to the church at Corinth, and now, since it was an established church, he was seeking that they would have a part in his ministry also. in chapter 1 of the epistle. He talks about that church having a part in his ministry. Let me read to you 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 15 and 16. Here the Bible says, and Paul is saying this, and in this confidence I was minded to come to you before. that ye might have a second benefit, and to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judea." to be brought on my way, means to be helped financially, so that he could travel after he had come back to Corinth, that he could then make a long sea journey to Jerusalem in Judea. He was asking the church, he said, now I have espoused you, you are a church, I have poured my life into you and now, and I did that because I was helped by other churches, But now you need to help in the furtherance of the gospel. And what does that require? It requires faith giving, when your faith is increased. When we talk about faith promised missions, some people have the idea that faith is me writing a figure on that card, and I don't know how I'm ever going to do it, but I'm just going to trust God, and we just put into that offering some figure that we haven't really thought about, prayed about, and sought God's will about. That's not faith. That's got nothing to do with faith. That probably could be foolishness. Faith is believing what God says and acting upon it. That's what it means. And the Bible says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. I understand that through this month, being a missions month, you've had men come and either preach to you or have shared their burden for missions with you. And as you listen to what God is saying through the preaching of His word, your faith should be stirred. It should be increased. so that you can trust God more, you can believe God more, and it's believing what God says in His word that we have a responsibility to get the gospel out. Let me give you a simple breakdown of faith, promise, missions, giving. Four words, faith. Faith is the motivation. Faith is believing God's word and doing what God says and giving to missions is what God says. So faith is simply obeying God's word. Promise is the means. Faith is the motivation. Promise is the means. When you turn in a card and it's counted, it's not a question of who gave what or anything like that, but it's enabling the church to see what the church can do in the coming year. It enables good planning. And that's what Paul wrote back in chapter 8, verses 10 and 11. He said, and herein I give my advice. For this is expedient for you who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. Now therefore perform the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have." You see, the church at Corinth had made a commitment. They'd made a promise. They said, we're going to give to this offering. Now Paul's coming a year later and he's saying, okay, it's time to collect the offering. I'm here to get it, to take it with me and these men who are traveling with me to go to Jerusalem. That was the purpose. And so when we speak of faith, promise, missions, the promise is the commitment that you make. Missions, faith, promise, missions. Missions is the mandate. It's the Lord's command. It's the commission that he has given to his churches to go into all the world and to preach the gospel to every creature. And so this is not wishful thinking. This is Bible thinking. It's not a leap in the dark, hoping that God will bless. It's a leap in the book, knowing that God will bless. And then giving. Faith, promise, missions, giving. Well, giving is the miracle. Giving is the miracle, because when you give in such a way, it is a work of God's grace. Look again, if you would, in chapter 8, verses 6 through 9. Chapter 8, verses 6 through 9. In so much that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also. Therefore, as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of 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, that ye through his poverty might be made rich." The Bible talks about giving as a grace, and grace is a gift from God. It's a gift that God will give you, putting into your heart a desire to give in the same fashion that our Lord gave. Now we can't out give the gift of God, which is eternal life. But we can respond in kind by giving. And so faith, promise, missions, giving is something that really is based in the Word of God. It's the way that you and I need to give. There is the motivation, there's the means, there's the mandate, and there is the miracle of what God will do. And so what does it take to start a New Testament church? Well, it requires church giving, it requires faith giving, and then lastly, it requires self-giving. Self-giving. If you're struggling with faith promised missions today, and I understand that that's a common experience, especially if you're starting out. Maybe this is the first time ever that you're going to give consistently over the next year a set amount to missions. and you're struggling with that, notice the key in verse five of chapter number eight. The Bible says, and it's talking about the churches of Macedonia, and they gave, the Bible says, out of great trials and deep poverty. So it wasn't wealth, the money isn't really the issue, it's the heart. And they gave to their ability, and they gave beyond their ability. But how did they do that? Well, verse 5, this they did not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord. You see, faith promised missions requires that you have given your life to the Lord, and you've said, Lord, use me in whatever way you lead me and help me, and you're given over to the Lord. If you're not surrendered to Christ, it's gonna be real hard to give properly and faithfully to faith promised missions. You see, he really doesn't want your money, he wants you. It's like He wants you to put yourself into the offering and to say, here my Lord, use me. Some of you, that means, here my Lord, send me. That God would call you and put it into your heart that He wants you to give your life to Him to be one of those who would carry the word of life, who would be an evangelist and taking the word of God and preaching the word of God to those who need to hear it. But He wants you. They first gave their own selves. That made it a whole lot easier to put their money in the offering plate when they were surrendered to the Lord. But they didn't just give themselves to the Lord. Notice again in verse 5 of chapter 8, this they did not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us. They were committed to the cause. They were committed to the cause of world evangelism. Are you really committed to getting the gospel out? I'm not saying, is that what you say? But is that what you do? Because faith promise giving is really a measure of your commitment. How much do you want to see souls saved? How big of a burden do you have that lost people, not just your friends, but people around the world, would have that opportunity? The key is to give yourself to the Lord and unto us, the work of God, by the will of God. Starting a church requires a total commitment. Paul spoke about this. Look over in chapter 12 and verse 14 and 15. He not only gives us a principle of caring for our loved ones, but remember this church was on his heart And in verse 14, he said, behold, the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be burdensome to you. I seek not yours. I don't want your money. I'm not coming to get money from you. He said, for children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. But notice verse 15. This is a self-giving commitment. But I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." Paul was not real popular with some people in that church. He said, that doesn't matter. I'm giving myself to you. and to get churches established around the world today, here in the 21st century, nothing really has changed. Maybe the cultures are different, maybe languages are different, I don't know, but the fact is, what is needed for this church to have a part in evangelizing the world, there needs to be church giving, there needs to be faith giving, and there needs to be self giving. giving to the Lord what he asks of you. Paul understood what it took to see a church established in Corinth. When he came to Corinth, he had some fear. It wasn't that long ago that he had been beaten to an inch of his life in Philippi. He'd been thrust into prison. And even though God did a great miracle of getting him out of prison and seeing a church established, Paul was just a man like everyone. He was just like you and me. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go through that again. But the Lord encouraged him. The Lord stood by him and encouraged him and said, I've got much people in this city. And with that encouragement, he began to preach the gospel to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles. People were saved. People were baptized. The church was established. And people were grounded in the faith. And that's God's plan, that that church then would reproduce itself by starting other churches. by sending out men themselves and going around to the regions beyond. Beloved, when your faith is increased, then these men will have the ability to extend their measure and preach the gospel to the regions beyond. Paul had the Word of God. The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. He had the power of the Word of God. He had the power of the gospel. He said, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. He had the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God would come and you shall receive power when the Holy Ghost has come upon you and the Holy Spirit is present and He is powerful in working in people's lives. And Paul was backed up with the power of prayer, but he still needed those that would give. He still needed a church that would stand behind him and other churches that would help by contributing so that he could travel and take the gospel further. And he needed those people to do that by faith, not of necessity, not that Paul would send them a bill and say, hey, you owe me this much because I preach the gospel. But they, out of a heart of love, would give so that the gospel could go. And then Paul set the example of self-giving. He gave his life to the cause of Christ. And whether God calls you to preach as a young man, or whether God calls you to give, all of us need to give our life to Christ, to be surrendered to Him and to His cause. I wonder today how you're going to give to the Lord. Yes, you'll come down here perhaps and lay a card on the altar and say, well, this is what I'm going to do, but I think God wants a little bit more. Perhaps you could breathe a prayer and say, Lord, I want to give myself. I want to give myself. Let's pray together, shall we? Let's pray and ask the Lord to do a work here in this congregation this morning, and God bless you as you would give of yourself as well as your offerings here. Our Heavenly Father, as we bow in your presence, we're so thankful that this church has been in existence for many years. And Lord, doing what churches are supposed to do, reproducing itself here and around the world. We thank the Heavenly Father for the churches that down through the centuries have kept the light of the gospel burning. Dear Lord, I pray for these dear folks as they come and present their offerings to you and present themselves to you. that they would be living sacrifices, wholly acceptable unto the God, which is our reasonable service. So we pray for your blessing now in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. First verse of the invitation, we'll sing softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling. Page 154. Jesus is tenderly calling thee home, calling today, calling today. Why from the sunshine of love wilt thou roam farther and farther away? Home. While the piano plays and these are praying in the altar, You know, the main reason that our church is here is to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel of Christ is just this, that Jesus died for our sins according to the scripture, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scripture. Jesus didn't die for his own sins. He died for my sins. He died for yours. He did that because he loved you. There's not a person in this room who Jesus doesn't love deeply and Jesus loves you more deeply than any human person on this earth. You say, how could anybody love me more than my mother? Jesus did. How could anybody love me more than my father or my friends? Jesus did. He gave his very life, and he called you his friend. There could be somebody here today, and you don't know Jesus as your Savior. I want you to know Jesus wants to save you, and it's as simple as the pastor described it today. Come to the Lord. He doesn't turn away those who come to him. Jesus himself said, come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden. Are you tired of being lost? Are you tired of living a life where you're unforgiven? You stand with sins yet unforgiven? Jesus is willing to save you from every sin and save you for every sin that you've ever committed and offer his forgiveness. But it takes you to come to him in faith. Let's sing verse number two together and may God bless us as we sing. Let's sing verse two. Jesus is calling the weary to rest, calling today, calling today. Bring him your burden, and thou shalt be blessed. He will not turn thee away, calling And all of God's people said, Amen. Thank you for being here today. At this time, I'm going to ask if you're a deacon in this church, would you please come to the front row? And I'd like our church to know who our deacons are anyway. These are leaders in our church who helped me serve. If there's ever a need you have in the church, our deacons are here to serve you. A deacon is a servant and our deacons at the end of our service are going to collect these cards and take them to the room where we tally things up. We're going to try to give a report tonight of what has been pledged for Next year now if you didn't come prepared today or perhaps you need more time to pray And you didn't give your offering and you want to give an offering come back to the service tonight and we'll be inviting Anybody who has not given yet if you'd like to give we want to give you that opportunity tonight. We have services at 6 p.m And it's really closing our missions month, the month of October. Every single message that's been given to our church has been an encouragement to be participating in missions. And this message, of course, was for the giving of missions. And we just want you to know that We love you if you've come to church today. Thank you for coming. All of our messages here are obviously not focused upon money. This isn't one of these churches that pressure people to give. But we do want to give our people the opportunity to give. And we thank you for those who've given. And we pray that God would have his way in our church tonight. Now, as you know, there are several changes that you see in our building. First of all, today, Sister Joyce Bolduc has been playing our piano on Sunday mornings because Sister Deborah Stevens has been diagnosed with a pretty severe cancer. And I want to invite all of our church members to pray for our faithful pianist, Miss Deborah Stevens, that God would help her and her husband. Brother Ronnie was back in service today. It's great to have him running the sound back there. Make sure you show your love to that family. We love you guys, Brother Ronnie. It's church isn't the same when you guys aren't able to be here and that we have many members of our church who right now are shut in They can't come to church. They want to be here, but they can't be here and so please show your compassion to those people who cannot be here and Another update that you see is now we've kind of lit up our stage and we're trying to solve the lighting problem in the church. For those of you who come here and the building is dark, we are fully aware that some of you struggle to read in this building. I have good eyes. You know, I have 20-20 vision because I've memorized the 20-20 line at the eye doctor. It is D-E-F-P-O-T-E-C. But even with good eyes, I struggle to read in our pews. And some of you have mentioned this over the years. We're going to try to change our windows out and also change our lighting on the inside. And so we are aware of the problem and we're trying to bring change that would really bring our worship experience to a better place. Please pray with us as we do that. To close in prayer today, I'm going to ask our lead deacon. He's the chairman of our deacon committee, if you will. And Brother Mark Davison, if you would please come and close the service and prayer. Our deacons in our church are Brother C.R. Dominey. Brother C.R. has been here for many, many years, probably the most senior member. He dates back to the Civil War. And then Brother Daniel Flores is, not only is he a deacon, but he also serves as our youth pastor. And we're trying to start our Spanish ministry here. He's our Spanish pastor. And so pray for Brother Daniel, but Brother Daniel is also a deacon here. Brother Lonnie Barnes, is a deacon. He's done a lot of things for our elderly people. If you ever need help with anything, Brother Lonnie can help you with fixing things and organizing men in the church to come over and help you with something you may have wrong in your home if there's something going on. Brother Jeff Evans is another one of our deacons, and he serves also as a Sunday school teacher and as the leader of our TTUS program. And then all of you know Brother John Davison, who Both Brother John and Brother Mark have poured hours and their time and effort into our tech ministry. Brother John is a computer man, and he's helped many of our people in our church with computer problems. And he leads our choir. He teaches a children's Sunday school class, as does his wife. There's just so many servants in our church that we're thankful for, but these men make up our deacons. And we want you to know that we're here to serve you. Brother Mark, if you would please close the service in prayer, please. Thank you for attending today. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for allowing us to be in your house today. Thank you for the many blessings that we've already experienced today. Thank you for every part of the service that just kind of dovetailed into everything that we're trying to do for your sake, Lord, to promote missions in our church throughout this week, this month, but also in the years to come. Lord, I thank you for the, Cards that are being collected this morning Lord I pray for each and every one of the families that are represented that you take this money and You further it to the gospel not only in this area, but also in the other most parts of the world we thank you for brother Brian and his testimony about Lithuania today and we're excited to see you work in those areas of the other side of the world Lord and Lord, we thank you for Brother Robert Sargent and his wife being with us this week. Lord, I pray right now for the classes that are gonna go on this week. I pray that you open your word there and open hearts to receive this information about your son. Thank you, Lord, for your son. Thank you for the salvation that we have. Lord, I pray as we go home that you bring us back tonight for further blessings. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.