Amen. Our speaker today is Brian Mort. For those who don't know Brian well yet, he's a son of the church, which is a privilege to have him come. He is married to Megan Roth, a daughter of the church. And he was the youth pastor here before going to Germany. Together, they serve as missionaries to Germany with their four children, who are, I think, seven, three, five, and one, basically. Got it, okay. But we're glad to have Brian speaking this morning, and then again tonight as we come back for worship at 6.30 this evening. So urge you to be here again tonight as we worship the Lord together. Brian, would you come and bring the Word? Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you all for the unique blessing and privilege it is to be with you this morning. If you would, open your copy of God's Word to 2 Corinthians chapter 9. We're going to be continuing what we've been hearing about for several weeks now, actually, as we consider engaging until he comes. The last few weeks, Pastor John has been casting a vision for us about what missions truly is. And last night, Dee cast a vision for us of what partnerships were. Among many things, you probably saw that not only do partnerships yield great things, but youth ministry tends to steal the hair from the youth pastor. So, Travis, look out. But it's been a wonderful weekend. I do hope that you've been able to be a part of it and able to be blessed as a result. I know that my family and I certainly have been. But this morning we're gonna continue and we're gonna cast a vision for giving, giving to missions. So with that, let's approach God's word and let's hear what the Lord himself says to us. This is 2 Corinthians 9, verses one through eight, and this is the word of God. Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them. But I'm sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be. Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, We would be humiliated, to say nothing of you, for being so confident. So I thought it was necessary to urge brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift that you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency and all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. Say with me please, the grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God will stand forever. Let's pray. Father, as we hear from you now, truly we could sit down and be done. We have heard your word. I pray that as that word goes out, it would accomplish the exact purposes for which you've sent it this morning. I pray namely, Lord, that it would convict us, each one of us individually, in the unique ways that you know we need conviction. All of us, Lord, are blind to the certain ways of worldliness within our hearts. All of us, Lord, have blind spots this morning that we're allowing to persist. I pray that you would convict us by your word, pierce us with the word of life, and bring us to life. At the same time, Lord, give us grace. Many of us this morning are discouraged or frustrated or life is overwhelming. Many of us this morning, even as we already heard the word give, are overwhelmed or frustrated at the idea. Encourage us with the gospel this morning. Remind us of yourself. And I pray that in both things and in more, you would be glorified. I ask this in your name. Amen. Master, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? This was the question that Elisha's servant came to Elisha with on a morning where he caught a very unexpected sight. Some of you may remember the story in 2 Kings 6. If you don't, I encourage you to read it. It's one of my favorites. Elisha and his servant have spent the night in Dothan. And unbeknownst to them, the king of Aram has sent his army to surround the city in the midst of the night. Chariots, soldiers, bows and arrows, swords, everything. And they intend to kill Elisha and his servant. There's no escape, none whatsoever. And so, rightly so, Elisha's servant, having woken up first, sees the city surrounded, sees there's no escape, says, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? Elisha, though, has a different response. His first response is, don't be afraid. Those who are with them are less than those who are with us. Those who are with us are more. Now, I don't know how much time passes between that verse and the next verse. I like to think that Elisha's servant stared at Elisha and said, what are you talking about? It's just the two of us. How could you possibly say there's more people with us than with these guys? Have you seen the army surrounding the city? Have you seen what they've come to do? But then we read in verse 17 that Elisha prayed and said, Lord, open his eyes. Open his eyes that he may see. And we were told the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold, even though the city was surrounded by an army on the mountains surrounding the city, there are armies and chariots of fire. I put this to you today because far too often I think this story can characterize the modern church, particularly as we engage in missions. We are surrounded, no doubt. We are challenged. The world, Satan, and our flesh are seemingly always launching sneak attacks on us. And we know this. This isn't just true for missionaries or even in missions. This is generally true of the Christian life. They come at us in the ways we least expect, right? They attack our families. They attack our health. They attack our minds, or even our security and our confidence in the Lord. And their tactics are endless. They're never routine. Satan can attack in the name of evil, but he can also disguise himself as an angel of light. And far too often when we see the challenges put before us, we fret. We ask, what are we going to do? My call to you this morning from God's word is to open your eyes. Open your eyes and see things as God sees them. As we've heard about the vision for missions, as we've heard about partnership in missions, and as we approach giving in missions this morning, may we see things as God sees them. Because imagine with me, just for a moment, dear friends, what would this church look like? What would the churches abroad that many of you represent look like if we just opened our eyes to the chariots of fire? If we, with eyes of faith, viewed the challenges of our life and confronted the challenge of life with this same calling, through these same lenses of scripture, through the lenses of God's glory and God's power and God's majesty, God's might and God's riches, well, how different would our homes, our families, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our churches, or even the nations look if we open our eyes? Far too often we set our eyes on the trouble before us and fail to acknowledge or let alone trust in the Lord. Far too often we walk by sight and not by faith. Far too often we set our minds on the things of earth rather than the things above. This is a recurring biblical theme though, is it not? It's certainly persistent and important in Paul's message to the Corinthians that we're set before today. Throughout both letters, Paul is urging the church to rethink their values and to rethink their priorities, putting on the mind of Christ. He's constantly calling them to look at what is unseen rather than what is seen. And this is most certainly true here in 2 Corinthians 9. Today, I wish we could preach a whole sermon series on just this chapter alone. It's such an extraordinary chapter. Please read it and consider it yourself. We will hopelessly just glance the surface today. But nevertheless, we jump right into the middle of Paul's discussion with the Corinthian church about giving. And in particular, in this context, he's speaking to them about a gift that they've promised, a faith promise, if you will. about a gift that they intend to give to the church in Jerusalem for the sake of the poor. And consistent with Paul's call for the church to remember and to fix their eyes upon the things that are most valuable, Paul's premise here is simply, you guys are going to give to the things that you think are valuable. You're going to give to the things you think are valuable. Just for reference, just so we have an idea of where we are in the text today. 2 Corinthians 9, rather, breaks down really simply like this. The first five verses that we read are the need to give. Paul's reminding the Corinthian church of their need to give. Verses 6 through 9 are why they give. Why should they give? And verses 10 through 15 are the benefits that would come from giving. And for our time today, I believe it's most important for us to focus on why. And that's for several good reasons, but the most important of which is because I believe there's a lot of parallels, particularly in the first five verses, between the church in Corinth and the church at Chestnut Mountain. Let me give you the context. Paul's invested a lot in this church. 2 Corinthians is actually his fourth letter to the Corinthian church, and it's preparing them for his third visit. This is not how Paul spends his time with all the churches. Paul is speaking to a group of people that he knows very well and that he loves very much. He knows their strengths, he knows their weaknesses, he knows their inclinations and their tendencies, and he has seen their sin and he's seen their triumphs, their sanctification. And so, among all the things he knows, he knows that Corinth is a giving church. This is why he says in verse 1 with confidence, It's superfluous for me to write this to you. In other words, it's pointless. It's redundant. It's totally unnecessary to say what I'm about to say because he knows them. And in addition to knowing and loving this church, he also has already talked about giving. If you read First Corinthians 16, he's already sent Titus and a group of brothers to collect the gift. So it's kind of a moot point. And he's seen progressive sanctification in the life of Corinth and giving coming alongside that. And so we have to ask the question, why does Paul still talk about it then? Why write, it's superfluous for me to say this, but then still talk about it? I believe it's because Paul, in his love for the church, also knows that there's danger lurking around the corner, as there is any time we talk about giving. And the danger is not robbers or thieves, it's not a financial meltdown or a stock market collapse. It's far more sinister and subtle than that. It's the danger of worldliness. of seeing church, or even in this case, the specific opportunity to give, wrongly. And while Paul sure is a little concerned that they might not actually follow through with the gift that they've promised, and he certainly is a little concerned that that would have an effect on the regional churches, namely Macedonia, Paul here, as any good pastor, is far more concerned with the way in which they give, not the giving itself. Paul is cautioning them and caring for them, helping them to avoid any possible worldly reason for giving. And I stand here with you because, to me, this is an incredible parallel to Chestnut Mountain. Far be it from me this morning that I would stand up here and tell you, in the name of God, to give. Dear brothers and sisters, I know this church. I love this church. I've been attending this church for 25 years. I've been a member here for almost 22. I met my wife in this church. We were married in this church. Our family still attend this church. All four of my children were baptized in this church. That corner back there was my fourth grade classroom when I first began to attend here. Sarah Booker helped teach me in the kitchen in fifth grade because we didn't have any other classroom space until we built the new wing, which initially, the door by Ben's office was to go outside. My first youth group meeting, as Dee mentioned last night, was with Dee and Emma Booker in the loft. Some of you might not even know we have a loft. We do. It's up there. There was only about eight of us at that time. And this church helped raise me. This church has invested in its children's and youth ministries for a long time. Not just money, but time and energy. And that has had a profound impact. It changed my life. This church has spent thousands of dollars to send my wife and I on short-term mission trips around the world. Because of this church, Megan and I combined have had a chance to go on 33 combined mission trips. This church invested in me when I was just a young guy considering a call to seminary and even paying most of my expenses to go to seminary. You allowed me to work here and work with your kids. Just throw that out there. And even now, this church is our backbone. It is our foundation for support. In addition to your tithe, in addition to your faith promised general giving, this church and its congregants, individuals over and above those two things, form roughly 33% of our support. Not only that, something like 300 of you pray for us. It's extraordinary to me that in addition to your regular service, all the other things you do, you generously do this for my family. And what's even more amazing, it's not just us. You do this for all the sons and daughters of CNPC. And I'm sure many of the other missionaries who didn't have the privilege to go up here would still say you do it for them. Who am I to stand up here and say, you need to give? You are a giving and generous church. You are a giving and generous church, and I commend you in the name of the Lord. It's okay to talk about good things sometimes in a sermon, right? I commend you in the name of the Lord for your giving and for your generosity. That being said, the call of scripture today, though, like what Paul is concerned about for the church, is a call to do it rightly. And here, brothers and sisters, is where I think we need to spend the rest of our time. You know to give. And I have a good reason to believe that you know the benefits of giving, if we were to spend time with that. But my burden for you today, as it is for myself, is that we would take a moment to fix our eyes on why. Why are we giving? Why are we doing all of the things that we do as a church? In other words, the question today is not if we should engage until He comes, but how. And for that, we're going to pull three principles from the text. Our first principle is probably no surprise to you. It's that we are always tempted with worldliness. Make no mistake, worldliness is a form of eyesight. Very often the Bible contrasts believers with unbelievers based on the things they fix their eyes upon. But not just fix their eyes upon, the things that they set value upon, the things that they prioritize. This is what happened to Eve in Garden of Eden, is it not? She heard God's word, she knew what God had said, but then she saw, she looked upon the fruit and saw, quote, that it was a delight to one's eyes. She saw that the tree had become desirable. Satan had successfully tempted her to fix her eyes on the things of earth and not above. This is what happens to Achan in Joshua 7. If you don't know that story, I also encourage you to read it. God has specifically said not to take a single piece of plunder from Jericho. Achan does, and when he's found out, he describes his process of falling into worldliness like this. He says, I looked, and I saw, and I coveted, and I took. That is the essence of worldliness. That is the temptation that whether we realize it or not, we are faced with every single day. We see, we look, We may covet and we may take the things of the Lord. Paul is a good shepherd, warns his flock to fight the good fight, to fight this temptation. May I be very clear, we all will be tempted to view our money, our possessions, and the very act of giving itself through worldly eyes. And this is why Paul says things like he does, for example, in verse 5, where he says, I want this to be a willing gift, not an exaction. If you have the NASB, at least, it says, I don't want this to be out of covetousness. There's a lot to be said for that. But in effect, Paul says, I don't want giving to be a tax. I don't want you to feel like every time I show up, you got to fork over some money. That's not what this is about. This isn't us imposing a church tax on you. This is something entirely different. In the same way, your tithes shouldn't be just a rote 10% without thinking about it. Paul goes on in verse 70, he says, you shouldn't give reluctantly. Some of your translations will say with grief or begrudgingly. You shouldn't give reluctantly. I dare say to you, if there's a moment where you say, man, you know, this faith promise, that's great, but if I could have so used that to do X, Y, or Z, if that's your heart, don't do that next week. Don't give next week. Paul also says that we shouldn't give under compulsion. Don't be caught off guard next week and just say, oh, we've got to fill up this card really quick. Don't be caught off guard by the faith promise. Consider it. Do what you have purposed in your heart, what the Lord has laid upon you. Because this list is by no means exhaustive, but what Paul is getting to, in effect, is the heart behind giving. How do we consider missions giving? It's certainly the Spirit's question to us as well. Equally applicable, we could really extend it to our attitude of missions on the whole. Is this a tax? Is the missions conference just a routine thing that we have to do because we're conditioned to obedience in it? Are we simply trying to please missionaries and gain favor with other people? Is it something that you feel frustrated by or regret or feel forced into? Paul is preparing the Corinthians to give, and these questions are necessary in our own preparation as we approach giving Sunday next week. But I also think that it's very important for us to go even further. We can't stop here. Right now we're at the small branches on a very large tree, and we've got to get to the root. We've got to ask questions such as, is my participation in missions or ministry really an attempt to earn something from the Lord? Is my participation in missions just a consequence of actually something that's superstitious? Me believing that if I do participate, if I do give to the faith promise, well, God will care about me more. God will bless me more. Or worse, believing that if I don't, He's going to be mad at me. One of the most basic biblical principles that we find covering virtually every page of scripture is that it's irrelevant how things appear on the outside. We see that constantly. What matters always in scripture is the heart. And so it is with giving. Just to give you one example, in Matthew 6, what does Jesus tell the Pharisees about their fasting, about their giving, and about their praying? He said, don't stand on the street corner and do it. Don't act this way and super spiritual in front of all these people so that you'll get your treasure. No, what does he say to do? How should we give? You should go into your room, you should go into the closet, and what you do in secret, you do unto me. Paul in verse 6 says, the point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. He obviously has in mind here verses such as Proverbs 11, 24, which says, one gives freely and yet grows richer. One withholds what he should give and only suffers want. What's the message? Well, it's simple, church. And it's a message you've heard, but it's a message I nevertheless urge you to consider. Giving exposes our hearts. A joyful and generous person never lacks an opportunity to express their joyfulness and generosity. And a covetous person will never have enough. Our attitude towards money is little more than a revelation of our hearts. Generosity and joy beget joy. Withholding and hoarding beget lacking and wanting. God doesn't just want a giving person because any number of sinful and bad motives can lead us to give. God wants our hearts. He wants a people gripped by the gospel, a people who have set their eyes upon Him. I was so blessed by the choir. I love how God always does this. It's the perfect verse for us to consider as we approach this. God wants a people fixed upon Him. To be clear, we're not dealing with commands here, chiefly with commands here. Your participation in the faith promise or missions in any capacity isn't first a matter of obedience. Often we hear we've got to give or we've got to go or we're disobedient. But this is true for Christians. And this morning, let us fix our eyes first to that Christian side of it before we get into the obedient side of it. Here's what I mean. We'll take two examples, a positive and a negative. A couple weeks ago, Pastor John preached on Zacchaeus, so I won't belabor it. But just recall with me the story of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus hears that Jesus is coming. He's excited to see who this guy is. But we remember he's a little dude, so he runs ahead, climbs up a sycamore tree, and waits for a view, waits to see Jesus. And what happens? Jesus comes, and rather than Zacchaeus just seeing Jesus, Jesus sees Zacchaeus, and he knows him. And he says, Zacchaeus, come down. I'm going to eat with you today. And what does Zacchaeus do? In his joy, he comes down and then voluntarily gives up half of his wealth. And in addition to voluntarily giving up his half of his wealth, he says, I'm going to pay back fourfold anybody that I've defrauded. In other words, he's going to do the law times four voluntarily. Why does he do that? Because he knows or rather is known by the Lord. The same is true but negatively in the story of the rich young ruler, is it not? We in the same story have a man who is so eager to see Jesus, so eager to get to Jesus. He's heard about Jesus, he wants to get to him. And he runs up to him and he bows down and he says, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And you remember the story. Well, Jesus first says, well, follow the law. He particularly names the last set of commandments. And the ritual ruler, may this never be true of us, looks at Jesus in the eye and says, yeah, I've done that. But what does Jesus do? He doesn't, I know that we would laugh or we would just, oh my goodness, this guy. Jesus looks at him and he loves him. And what does he say? Again, we bring in possessions, we bring in wealth. He says, give everything that you have to the poor and then come follow me. And what happens? Does he in his joy do that? No. That day, at least, it was too great of a cost. And he walks away. He turns his back on Jesus, grieving, shell-shocked, bewildered. This man ran to Jesus, looked him in the face, and if you believe passages like John 17, you'll know that Jesus says that this is eternal life. That you know the Lord God, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom he sent. In other words, the rich young ruler looked eternal life in the face and said, where's eternal life? He had no idea who he was looking at. No clue. These are not passages first about obedience. These are passages that demonstrate perfectly, both positively and negatively, the essence of our text today. These men both saw Jesus, but they saw two totally different people, based upon their faith and based upon their relationship to God. Knowing God bears the fruit of joy and joyful giving. Not knowing God leads to withholding and to grief. This is what Paul means for his people in verses 6 through 8, and this is what he means to us today. And that leads us to our second principle. In verse 8, we're told that God loves a cheerful giver. Our second principle is that joy and giving express our faith. We must fight worldliness, but joy and giving are what express our faith. God loves a cheerful giver, and really, in effect, this is just the positive alternative to worldly giving. And in the original text, God says that he literally wants a hilarious giver. Now think about that for a minute, what that would actually mean. If you have the impression that I have, you probably think this guy or this person that Jesus or God envisions here is probably a little weird, probably a bit odd. A hilarious giver? How many of you have seen somebody just dying laughing as the tithe plate comes around? What's God talking about here? Well, let's take a step back and see where do we see joy in the Bible? Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, but in what circumstances is that fruit of the Spirit born? When do we see that fruit of joy in people's lives? When do we see cheerful givers? Well, consider just a few examples with me. In Matthew 13, in one of the parables about the kingdom, Jesus describes a man who's digging in a field. We don't know why. He's digging in a field. And he stumbles upon treasure. And what does that man do upon seeing the treasure? He joyfully sells all that he has and buys the field. We got to hear a bit from Philippians last night, but what's the essence of Philippians? Philippians is a letter calling us to rejoice. It's a mission support letter saying, here's why we should rejoice. But remember, where's Paul when he's writing this? He tells us in verse 12, we're going to hear a little more about that tonight, he's rotting in prison. He's rotting in prison, but he's still saying, be joyful. I'm joyful because I've realized that even as I sit here wallowing in this cell, God's still using me to advance the gospel. And because I'm here, so many others have been inspired to join the ministry. Not only that, I rejoice because I first found the surpassing treasure of Christ. I used to think it was all these worldly things, of being the greatest Hebrew I could be, being the greatest Pharisee I could be. But now I've seen that all that's garbage, not because it's necessarily bad unto itself, but because compared to the surpassing glory of Christ, that's worthless. I count everything as lost so that I can gain Christ, so that I may know Him. In Hebrews 10, we hear about the church being persecuted, and we hear that they joyfully, joyfully accepted the plundering of their property. Their houses are being pillaged and burned, and they're joyful. Why? Because they know that they have a better possession, an abiding one. All through Hebrews 11, we see this. We see people behaving in weirdly radical ways. We get two examples in Abraham. Abraham leaves his city, his culture, his security, his identity, everything. Why? Because he sees a city whose foundation and builder and designer is God. Abraham is willing to give up Isaac, his one son whom he had at a very old age when he was as good as dead. Why? Because he sees that God is even able to resurrect him from the dead. We're told that Moses gives up the riches and the prestige of Egypt for the reproach of Christ. Why? Because he was looking to the reward and seeing him who was unseen. Brothers and sisters, that's faith. It's always accompanied by joy and it expresses itself very often in voluntary sacrifice and generosity. Because did you notice a pattern? These people aren't just crazy. They're not just weirdos. They're not people who just have some weird natural disposition to these things. Or they're not just people that have a lower standard of life. Not at all. These people are not blind. They don't have a problem. These people have eyesight. These people are beholding the true glory of God and His power and His majesty and His riches. And these people behold that God is able to do all of the things that He said He would do. These people are beholding that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. These people are beholding that no weapon formed against the church shall ever prevail. Why? Because they see King Jesus risen and they see that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. And not only do they see that, they also see and know that He has said and is with them always to the very end of the age. That He will never leave them nor forsake them. John tells us this, the way that we overcome the world is what? Our faith. Through eyes fixed on Christ. Jesus himself is the perfect example, go figure, of this. In Hebrews 12 we're told that for the joy set before him. In other words, because of what he saw ahead and all the joy that it would bring, he did what? He scorned the shame. He took injustice and humiliation and abandonment, the loss of all things, the pain, the brutality, the evil, and eventually the death of a cross. And because he saw that he would sit down at the right hand of God, because he knew God, because he saw the power and the plan of God unto salvation, in joy he endured all of these things. This is how we should approach giving, and this is how we should approach missions. There's really only one thing left to ask this morning, and I hope already you're asking it. How do I see those things? How do I look at life in this way? How do I see the real Jesus so that I too may share in the joys and the blessings with this confidence? Well, that's our last principle from the text, and it's simply this. Our eyes have to be made new. We must fix our eyes on Jesus. We must look to the Jesus of Scripture, look to him through the words of God, look to him through prayer, taking off the worldly blinders, praying that they would fall off as the scales fell from Paul's eyes. praying and crying out that the worldliness must be removed from us. We must be a people first repentant and a people who know God before we could ever approach giving. As Ezekiel describes, we have set up idols in our hearts and put up stumbling blocks before our eyes. Our vision of God is blocked, and it's blocked by the things that we have put there. We must remember that Psalm 146 tells us that it's God who gives us sight. Our response must be as that of the blind beggar in Luke 18. You may remember this man. He hears, he's blind, he's sitting along the road, he has no hope. But he hears that Jesus is coming. And so what can he do? How can he get Jesus' attention? Well, he shouts, he screams, son of man, son of man, have mercy on me. Have mercy on me. People scolded him. People told him to shut up. People said, get out of the way. But what does he do? He doesn't give up. He persists. Son of man, son of David, have mercy on me. Finally, Jesus says to him, what would you have me do? What does he say? Do you remember? Lord, I want to see. I want to see. This must be our hearts. Shout to the Lord, I want to see. Not only do I want to see the gospel go forward to the nations, not only do I want to see the church victoriously triumph, I want to see you, God. I want to see your face. I want to see. As the great hymn says, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Cry out for this amazing grace and you'll see it, brothers and sisters. You will see the grace of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You will see, as Paul says in verse 8, that God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you will abound in every good work. You will see the unstoppable armies of fire vanquishing the forces of hell. You will see the treasure buried just below your feet, and you will joyfully sell all you have to buy it. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. Imagine with me once more. What praying, what giving, what going could look like if we truly behold the glorious greatness of our God and Father, if we truly behold the glory of the gospel in the face of Christ. Imagine what it'll look like one day for the nations to gather before the throne of God and say, glory, glory, glory unto the highest. Imagine what that will look like. I was blind, but now I see. Can you say this today? And if you can, do you have that same joy in the things that you see? Do you participate in missions as one who sees? Do you give as one who has seen? Each of us examine our hearts this morning unto the glory of God. Let's pray. Father, we cry out with the beggars. Lord, I want to see. Sure, we want to give. We want to offer up all that we have because of your name. But I pray this morning that our chief motivation as a church and as individuals would be because of your face. We've seen a glimpse of who you are, your glory, your greatness, your power and sufficiency. I pray this morning that you would do what only you can do peel off the scales from our eyes, and give each of us a vision of yourself this morning. Lord, I pray that that would be our preparation as we consider praying for missionaries, as we consider becoming missionaries, and Lord, particularly as we consider giving unto missions. May we do so joyfully. because of the things that we've seen in the gospel through the light of the face of Jesus Christ. May that be true of each of us, and may we give and pray and go unto the glory of your name. I pray this in that name, amen.