I'll tell you about what Boudreaux's done lately. Now, there's Cajun people down there, Louisiana, Bayou country. Do y'all know what a zero-turn mower is? Y'all been around them things, the zero-turn? Well, he went and bought one of them things at that Lowe's, and he mowing that grass with that zero-turn. I mean, he was liking it. He got this little pet cat, and that little pet cat follows him everywhere he goes. And that little cat got to being out there, running around, you know, and Woodrow's mowing that grass. And all of a sudden, the cat's tail got cut off by that zero turn. He pulled that thing, stopped that, and he grabbed the cat and grabbed the tail. And he started running. His wife, Clotilde, said, Woodrow, where you going, son? Where you going? He said, I got to take the cat to the veterinary. She said, don't take the cat to the veterinary. Well, I got to, I want to see if he can sew, but it's just still, you know, still fresh. I want to see if he can tie the tail on there, you know, sew it up and put it back on. She said, don't go to the veterinary. He said, woman, you done gone crazy. Don't go to the veterinary, Boudreaux, go to Walmart. What woman, why you say go work? Walmart, why you say that? Because I done heard that Walmart's the biggest retailer in all the world. All right, I get back up here. Oh man, and did you have brother Thibodeaux? Yeah, yeah, Mr. Thibodeaux. We both were in his class. And he was a giant of a man. What do you think he weighed? Yeah, 300. And he wasn't a big tall man either. Well, we liked Mr. Thibodeau. We sure did. Faith promised missions. I believe in giving above and beyond the tithe. We're to be living by faith. I can hear Brother Olof singing living by faith. We're living by faith. And then we ought to be giving by faith. Now the tithe belongs to the Lord. Now I pastored a church where they didn't believe in tithing and it was evident. But the Bible teaches tithing. Tithing's important. We ought to tithe. That's a tent. and we should be doing that. But when we talk about faith promise, we're talking about above the tithe, a gift above the tithe. I want us to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter nine and verses seven and eight. 2 Corinthians chapter nine and verses seven and eight. And the Bible says here, and I want you to notice it says every man. We talk about mankind, we're talking about men and women, we're talking about each individual. Let every man according as he purposeth in his heart. Do you see that? As he purposeth in his heart. It's something you must purpose in your heart. In other words, it needs to be settled by God. It is a gift above and beyond the tithe. The tithe is commanded. Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse. And I believe that's a local visible church. Matter of fact, there is no other kind of church than a local visible church. There is no invisible church. No invisible church. Because when I was pastoring, I liked a visible salary. And I didn't want to pastor an invisible church. There is no such thing. And there's not a universal visible church. A body must be together. And so a church is a local body of baptized believers covenanted together to carry out the what? Great commission. We're to carry out the great commission. And faith promise follows that very pattern. So every man as he purposes in his heart, so let him give not grudgingly. Not grudgingly, not with a long, long pooch, or what I call a pooch mouth. But willingly, that's what it says. Not grudgingly, or of necessity. Now again, we go back to the tithe. The tithe belongs to the Lord, right? That's God's, that belongs to him. But we're giving, above, and we're giving above that, not grudgingly or of a necessity. For God loveth a cheerful giver, but he will take an offering from an old grouch. But God loves a cheerful giver. We ought to be cheerful in our giving. And then it goes on to say, and God is able to make all grace abound towards you, the giver. He's able to make all grace abound toward you that you always having all sufficiency and all things may abound to every good work. God's gonna take care of you. You know what happens sometimes, if we're not careful, and I'm not getting on anybody's toes or anything like that, but I'm human. You know we can overextend ourselves in the worldly realm. Y'all understand what I'm saying? We can get into something we know we can't pay for but we like what it looks like. Huh? Oh yeah. And so some do things grudgingly. We're not to do that. We're to purpose in our heart, and again, so let him purpose, give not grudgingly, or necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. Okay? God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. God will take care of you. And as you purpose in your heart to give, You pray about it. My wife and I, we are faith promise givers. We believe that yes, there is budgeted money that comes out. But this is above and beyond. And you know what comes off the top every month? The tithe. Some people give on what's left over. Do you think God's satisfied with leftovers? No. No. We give the tithe up top. Up top. And then it says that ye having all sufficiency in all things may abound in every good work. So those two verses there set the stage for what we're going to be talking about. Faith Promise is an exciting way to participate in missions giving. It's an exciting way to expand the outreach of a local, visible New Testament church. And it stirs my heart. and challenges my soul to think of how faith promise giving can impact the multitudes around the world by us having more as a church, and I'm talking about this church, to give to missions because people have purposed in their heart to give above and beyond so that Others can hear what we have heard. Now many in the world have never heard what we hear repeatedly. I meet people on ships. They've never heard the gospel. They don't know what, you've got to explain it. That's why the ultimate questions is such a good hand guide and a handout on the ships. Give them a Bible, give them that, and they are able to understand better. I'll say this, unless the Holy Spirit takes that word and puts it in their heart, impregnates, there won't be a birth. There's no birth without it being put in the heart. I mean, it has to be taken into the heart. And I believe that's a work of God. But faith cometh by hearing. Hearing by what? The word of God. So they've got to get the gospel. They must hear the gospel. What is the gospel? How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. and that he was buried and how he rose again the third day according to scripture. I go to conferences sometimes in different places and never hear the gospel. You say, well, a bunch of preachers, they don't need to preach the gospel to each other. I believe we ought to preach the gospel. I believe everywhere we go, we ought to preach the gospel. Some churches, you go in a regular service and never hear the gospel preached. Never hear it preached. We need to preach the gospel. Gospel. Oswald J. Smith, the great pastor, gone on to be with the Lord now, from up in Canada, said this, why should anyone hear the gospel twice before everyone has heard it once? Now again, it's the work of God, but where to get the gospel to all the world? Go ye into a part of the world Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to part of the people. No, go ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. That's what the Bible says to us. And may the Lord help us to give above and beyond so others can hear what we hear over and over again. And I rejoice in it every time. Something about it, as I get older, I just seem to rejoice more and more and more in salvation. I am so glad that God took me out of what we call Josephite Mormonism and let me hear the gospel. There was a preacher who would not leave me alone. A Baptist preacher, he would not leave me alone. I worked at A&P. And any of y'all ever heard of A&P stores? That was like a Publix or whatever back in the day. And that preacher would come and he said, boy, are you saved? I said, I'm a Mormon and I believe I'm saved. He said, you're no more saved than my bird dog. And he raised bird dogs, had good bird dogs, too. And he stayed after, he said, why don't you come to church on Sunday? I said, I'm not going to y'all's church. I go where I go. He said, then come on Wednesday night. And I started going on Wednesday nights, had to work it out with Vito Cannizzaro, the manager there. And I started going Wednesday nights. Now listen, here's what happens. You hear it with the physical ear. You hear it with the physical ear. You hear it with the physical ear. And then one night, the Lord opened my understanding and opened my ears. And I heard with a spiritual ear, the gospel being preached. Now, should we give that opportunity to all the world? Yes, yes, yes, yes. Get the gospel out. We hear it repeatedly and I'm glad we do we ought to hear it over and over we should Now I Pray the Lord to help us help me help you help us and others To give so others can hear the gospel So we can advance The gospel now in our looking But what faith promise is, which we've just talked about, you're given above and beyond, it's what you individually or as a couple feel led of God to give, feel led of God to give. And that way, more missionaries can be supported by this church to take the gospel all over the world. This is what faith promise is not, it's not a pledge. It is not a pledge. You don't sign anything. You're not making a pledge. Only you and the Lord will know what you have promised. You say, well, I don't feel led to do it. Then, you don't feel led to do it. I feel led to do it because I want people to hear the gospel. And I want them to hear it all over the world. And faith promise is not having someone to come and call on you to collect. Do any of y'all remember when the insurance companies had an insurance agent and he'd go around to your house and he had a debit book and he'd collect the insurance payment at the house? You remember it, because that's how they did it down on the coast. Maybe we were the only ones who wouldn't pay unless they kind of got it. But they had a debit book. But that's not what faith promises. Faith promises between you and God, just you and God. Just you and God. And faith promise is not taking it out of the tithe. It is not. Then what is faith promise? First of all, it's between you and God. Now you've got to settle that. That's between you and God. Only you and God will know unless you and your spouse determine what you give as a couple. My wife says, out of my food allowance and what we have agreed upon with our sending church, which is Elliott Baptist Church, I'd like to give some of that to missions. I said, well, she said, no, I want to participate. I want to get the gospel out. So one night a month we have biscuits and gravy. But it's purposing in your heart, amen? Wanting to do it, desiring to do it. Nobody's gonna come and take a whip to get you to do it. You've got to see what you can do. And the amount is between you and God. That's how it is. And that is for missions. That's for missions, for missions. That's for missions, giving to missions. We've seen what it's not. and we need to see what it is. We need to see what it is. We find that it is between you and God, only you and God. And it is looking to and waiting for God to help you know what you are to give. It's looking to God and waiting on the Lord to see what he would have you to give. It is what? Faith. Faith, and I like the word faith. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. And I believe missions is tied into the word faith, of course, but it's tied into faith giving. Giving above and beyond. Giving above and beyond. It's looking to God to help you know what that is. Faith promise, it's called that, it's faith promise, why? Because it must be discharged by faith. It's by faith. Believing God will supply you above and beyond to give to missions. The tithe is the Lord's. Some people say, well, there was an evangelist said he didn't believe in in-house storehouse tithing. Well, you know why? He had a big organization. He wanted people to give it to him. Big radio preacher, you know, and said, it's against scripture to take your tithe and send it to some radio preacher. You got it? You can't do that and be right with God. Can't do that. So it's looking to and waiting for God to direct you. That's what it is. And it is as we find in 2 Corinthians 9, verses 7 and 8, every man according as he purpose within his heart. Now whenever a couple are married, the two become what? One. Amen? The two become one. And so if God leads you to do it that way, it's two becoming one. You say, this is what we can give. This is what I believe we can give. And you settle on that. but one might want to give a little more. Okay, that's fine. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that at all. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you that you always having all sufficiency, all sufficiency. You know what? I can live on grits. That's sufficient for me. Brother Cliff knows. Man, I love grits. And down on the coast, we've got shrimp. And I like shrimp and grits. Yeah, man, amen, brother. And I live on that. So that's all sufficiency for me. If I go to the Waffle House, don't give me any hash browns. Give me grits. Why? That's good for me. And God'll take care of you, amen? God'll take care of your need. You settle on what God wants you to do and you do that. Do that, do that, do that by faith. That's how it's done. Now what's the aim of faith promise? Every time I think about aim, I think about a scar I have. I have a scar. And it's right here. It's been there since I was 12 years old. It's right there. I had a bow and arrow. First really strong bow and arrow that I had, 12 years old. And I drew that bow back, and I was going to shoot it a venture. was gonna shoot that, and I pulled back too far, didn't have all that safety stuff on them back in the old days, and I pulled back and shot myself in the hand. You've heard of people shooting yourself in the foot and things like that? I shot myself in the hand with the arrow. That scar reminds me that how stupid I was. to do that, but it's there to remind me. We need to remember what the Lord has done for us. I am reminded of all that the Lord did for me, day after day, how that he took my heart and made it afresh, made it new. The Bible says he'll put a new heart in you. He did that for me, And I want others to hear that message. I do. I do. I do. So what is the aim? And we don't want to miss it, do we? What is the aim? Its aim is never to elevate you. It's not about you. It's all about him. It's never to elevate you, and it's never to elevate an organization. It's not for that. It's to glorify God. And that's why you're not gonna sign anything. You're gonna make a promise between you and God, and the church will take that promise and be able to take on missionaries. and the church will be living by faith in that which is promised. That's a blessing. That is a blessing. A blessing. The sole purpose of this giving, faith promise, is to support the work of preaching the word all around the world, reaching the world. And that's what I say about ship to shore. It's reaching the world one ship at a time. And because of churches like this church, I'm able to reach, and I love it. Cliff's been with me. You can ask him. I'm like a child, kid in a candy store when I go out on the ships and go up there. I love it. because I see the hunger, I see the need. And there are people all around the world that need the word of God. What do we, I know Jesus, he is the bread of life, but how do we get that to the people? We give them the word. We give them the word, we get the word to them. That's what we do. Mark 16, 15 says, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to some of the creatures. Doesn't say it, does it? Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. We are to preach the gospel to every creature. How can we do that? By faith promise, by getting more in for missions. Doing more for missions. I love Acts 1.8. But ye shall receive power. Now that's the church that was gonna be empowered. Amen? Now you say, where did the church start? That's a big question. Church started before Pentecost. It started on the seashores of Galilee. But now the Lord is telling that church, ye shall receive power After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Now how in the world can we do that? By faith. By faith! By faith. These commands are given to the church. The power of God would come to empower the church to get the work done. Now, faith promise is in agreement with the spirit of the New Testament. The New Testament, we're New Testament Christians. We're New Testament. I like reading in the Old Testament, the church we go to, we read through the Bible, I mean, verse by verse. Read every service, we're reading through the Bible. Reading through the Bible. And this mission giving is in agreement with the spirit of the New Testament. It is scriptural and Paul practiced it. The apostle Paul practiced it. Paul would ask the churches to pray about a certain amount to give, to promise, to missions. That's what Paul would do. Paul asked this so that churches could be established and souls Saved and scripturally baptized He wanted to see churches started I Believe in deep water baptism. I don't believe and listen I was baptizing a lady in Humboldt, Tennessee, and I Don't want anybody to raise their hand if they ever had one But I remember back in the 70s and early 80s that women wore wigs, not because they didn't have any hair, but they wanted some different style and they wanted to wear a wig. So I was baptizing this lady because I believe in getting the whole body under the water. I believe in deep water. So I was baptizing this lady and I said what preachers say, what the Bible says, and I put her under and I knew I had her under, and when I brought her up, there was something over there, and I thought I might have taken, I didn't know why I thought I had taken her head off of her, I didn't know. This wig's floating in the baptistry. So I took the wig and split it under. Oh, we ought to get the gospel out so folks can believe it. and receive it. That's what we are to do. That's what the Bible says. Listen to this. The church at Philippi sent support to Paul regularly. And we see that in Philippians chapter four in verses 15 and following. Philippians 4, 15. Now ye Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, so he's not there. When I departed from Macedonia, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. They were the ones that were giving. They were giving. He was there, but they were giving. They were giving. And then it says, for even in Thessalonica, ye sent once and again unto my necessity. They gave above and beyond. Not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit. that may abound to your account. So when we support missions, we'll have fruit that will abound to the account of this body. Of this body. But he said, but I have all and abound. I am full, having received of Epaphroditus. Here's the mailman. Here's the mailman. of a papyrus, the things which were sent from you, an odor of sweet smell. And sometimes we find out a need and we're able to send whatever that particular item is as well. But that's different in a way, but it's still giving my faith. It's a sacrifice, a sweet odor, a sweet smell, the Bible says, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. And then Paul, understanding as a missionary, missionaries go on the field by faith. Paul said, concerning this, but my God shall supply all whose need, your need. He shall supply all your need. He's gonna take care of you. You're taking care of me. He's gonna take care of you according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. So each person or each couple, I believe that when there is marriage there, two become what? One, okay? So the two of you would make up your mind what you do or don't do. 2 Corinthians 8, verses four and five. It says there, praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering of the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. First of all, they gave themselves. They were saved people and they committed themselves unto the Lord. And then they gave to Paul. He went all over the place. And he did it by faith. How was he supported? By faith. by people who believed in what Paul was doing, and they sent to him. How's it to be carried out? How do we carry it out? You've been given a card or an envelope or whatever, and you'll indicate it. Nobody is to know who that is from. You indicate it. You indicate what you give weekly or monthly to missions. And you do this without putting your name on the card. Now, money that's given to faith promise will not go to other causes. Is the church agreed on that? Of course. It doesn't go to other needs. It goes to missions. You say, what if a need comes up? You take care of missions. The Lord takes care of you through tithes and offerings. Amen? God will take care of it. He will. The faith promised missionary money can be placed in the offering plate in just a way that it doesn't have a name on it or whatever. on the envelope and it's placed or given in a box. Some people like that. But the offer plate is passed here and you use that. And during the service. And I believe it can be done in any of the services and put it in the plate. Put it in the plate. But it has to be marked, faith promise. Faith promise. Faith promise. I believe in giving above and beyond. And one of the best ways, and I think the best way to give above and beyond is to give to missions. We're gonna talk about God's sovereignty and God's will in all this after the meal. It's between you and God. What I've said is out of the word of God. Did Paul depend on others? Yeah, but he did do some tent making, didn't he? There were times when it was lean and folks didn't, he had things that came up that needed to be taken care of. I'm not against that. But when you make a promise, you keep it, don't you? You keep it. So you pray about it. You see what God would have you to do above and beyond, above and beyond, above and beyond. If you've sat them out that you gave last year, you might want to put more with it, but you do what God would have you to do. I'm going to turn the service back over to Brother Brandon and let him close this part as he pleases. But consider those things that one preached.