Well, I feel like we should just give an invitation right now. There's no better topic to sing about than to sing about our Savior. And what a wonderful song that was, and wonderfully done as well. We're going to be in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 this evening, 2 Corinthians chapter 8. And we'll get to verse 9 as well, or chapter 9 as well, Lord willing. And so you say, you're going to preach through two chapters tonight? I'm going to try. And we'll see how far we get this evening. I know a couple weeks ago that right before we started March for Missions, I brought a message on giving. It just happened to be where we were in Proverbs chapter 3 about our giving. But with this in mind, that next Sunday, And with that in mind, I wanted to bring a message on faith promise giving. And just remind us about what we're going to do next Sunday. And so 2 Corinthians chapter 8, we're going to begin in verses 1 through 5, and quite frankly, it'll be a little bit of review from a few weeks ago. It's really the second half of the message that I shared a few weeks ago, but we'll look at that and then we'll get further along into this passage and talk about this idea of faith promise. It's interesting if you look for the term faith promise in the Bible, you won't find it. And you say, well, it must not be a biblical concept then. Well, I'll tell you, there's a lot of things that aren't found in the Bible. Theology is not found in the Bible. Now, there's theology found in the Bible, but you're not going to find that word in the Bible. The Trinity is not found in the Bible. But we believe in a triune God, don't we? And while the words faith, promise are not used consecutively in the Bible, I believe that this passage really teaches the principle. While it may not be a biblical word, it's a biblical principle I believe. And we'll see that as we look at this passage hopefully together this evening. 2 Corinthians 8 1-5 is where we're going to begin. Moreover, brethren, we do you the 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 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 this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord. and unto us by the will of God. We said a few weeks ago that our giving starts with the tithe. I do believe that the tithe is a biblical principle and I know that there are many today who would argue that it was Jewish law and that it's not found in the New Testament and that we don't have to observe tithing today, but I would argue that tithing started before the law. It started with Abraham tithing to Melchizedek. And it started with Jacob giving a tithe to the Lord. And even back to the Garden of Eden, I heard one person explain it this way. God gave Adam and Eve all the trees of the garden, but did he not hold back one for himself? You see, that principle's been there all along. It's the same when Joshua went into Jericho. They were going to be able to spoil all the cities, but the first city, They weren't to touch, they belonged to God. That was God's spoils. You see, that principle is carried all throughout the Bible. I believe that tithing is taught in the Scripture. And I say that because sometimes we can get this idea, well, I'm going to give some of this to benevolence, and I'm going to give some of this to somebody over here in need, I'm going to give some of this over here to missions, and I'm going to give some of this, and that all adds up to 10%. Personally, my conviction is you give 10% to God, And then above and beyond that, you give what the Lord leads you to give towards missions, or the building project, or benevolence, or whatever else it is that God leads you to give towards. It starts with the tithe, and here Paul is talking to them not about the tithe. He's talking to them about an offering. It's an offering that He was taking up for the believers in Jerusalem primarily. He had talked to them about it a year prior. And a year earlier, He had challenged the church at Corinth to give to this great need. They made a commitment, but they didn't keep their commitment. And it's a shame when we make a commitment to God and we don't keep that commitment. You know, God has made a commitment to us and He always keeps His word. And it should be our desire, as much as humanly possible, by the grace of God, if we make a commitment to God, that we're going to do everything we can to follow through with it. They made a commitment, but they didn't follow through. So Paul tells them about the churches at Macedonia because the Macedonians also made a commitment. And it's interesting, their commitment was based in part on the example of the Corinthians. The Corinthians had already committed to give. The Corinthians were excited about the project. And Paul was sharing that with the churches at Macedonia. And they said, yeah, we'll join in that as well. And while the Corinthians didn't keep their commitment, The Macedonians did, even though it was, you could perceive, to their own hurts. And we see that they gave, and God gave grace to the Macedonians, and they kept their promise, and in spite of great affliction, we're told here in this passage, and we're told in spite of deep poverty. Now, it's one thing to be in poverty. What does an adjective do? it describes, and sometimes it makes it even bigger, right? And so it's saying, they're not just in trouble, they're in deep trouble. They're in big time poverty here. You know what that means? That means the poor people, we're calling these people poor. They were in deep poverty. History proves this about these Macedonian churches. You say, what is Macedonia? Well, it's parts of the old Greek empire. And the old Greek empire was broken into two different parts by Rome. You have Macedonia and Achaia. And so Macedonia, you have Philippi and Berea and Thessalonica. These are churches that we've heard of before. And these are the churches that we're talking about. And so the Romans took most of their wealth in this area when they conquered this former homeland of Alexander the Great. They wanted to make sure they didn't have the power to rise up again. In addition to that, they suffered horrible years of civil war between Caesar and Pompeii, and their country was, their region was left in ruins. In fact, they were so poor in Macedonia and Achaia that they petitioned for a diminution. They wanted their taxes to be smaller. They petitioned to have their burdens lightened during the reign of Tiberius. And they were considered so deserving of compassion that they were transferred for a time from the jurisdiction of the Senate to that of the emperor. You say, well, what does that mean? That means they got to pay less taxes because the Roman government, the Roman emperor, looked at them and said, they're so poor, they can't afford to pay what other people pay. So even the Roman emperor said, these people are needy. And in the midst of a great affliction and in the midst of deep poverty, what did they do? Well, they gave what they could, didn't they? In fact, it says not only did they give what they could, it says that they gave beyond what they could give. that which was humanly reasonable to expect them to give, that which was beyond what you would think they would be able to give. You would look at their lives, you would look at the money they make, you would look at the bills that they have, and you would say, how does that person give that much? That makes no sense whatsoever. They gave beyond what you would think they could give. You know, there's some people who have this mindset, if I had more money, then I would start to tithe. My argument is, no, if you had more money, you probably wouldn't. It's actually easier to give when you only got $20 and you only have to put two in the offering plate. You make a million dollars a month, how much do you have to put in the offering plate? At least $100,000. That's a much bigger check, isn't it? You say, yeah, but I got a million. That's not how our fleshly mind works most of the time, is it? You see, there was a study that said that back in 2007, according to Forbes, there were 946 billionaires. And you would think billionaires, they would give large sums of money, right? A huge percentage of what they make. How much do you think they gave to charity? 1.2% of their earnings. Now let me ask you a question. Is 1.2% sacrificial? I don't think so. These people gave what they could give, and they gave beyond what they could give. We would call this sacrificial giving. Some people give out of their abundance. Some people have to give sacrificially. Mark 12, 41 through 44, that story of the widow and Jesus sat over against the treasury and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury. And many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he, Jesus, called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury. Now I want you to think about this for a second. You know those scribes and Pharisees who like to make a show out of what they gave? They like to make a show out of their prayers. They wanted all the applause of their fellow man. Could you imagine if they would have overheard what Jesus said? They may have just put a ton in there to impress everybody. And all of a sudden this lady comes and she drops two mites in there. And Jesus says to his disciples, she gave more than anybody else here today. Could you imagine if the scribes and Pharisees heard that? How they would have scoffed. They would have almost choked. Like, what is he talking about? Did he see how much I gave? What was he saying? He was saying she made such a much larger sacrifice than anybody else in the building. Because he went on to say this, for all they did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. She wanted to give her all to Jesus. That's what we see in this passage. They gave. They gave beyond what you would expect them to give. Why? Because they had already given their own selves to the Lord. We know that verse, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Now here's the truth of the matter. If you have a heart for God, you won't find it hard to give to God. Think about what God did because he had a heart for you. For God so loved the world that he, now let me ask you this question. Did he give his second best? Did he give something that was easy to give? No, he gave us his best when he sent his son, didn't he? Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. He gave His Son for our sins. He didn't hold back. Because He loved us, He gave. We understand that that's not a hard concept. That when you love someone, it's not hard to give for them, is it? I love that little song, What Can I Give Him, Poor As I Am? If I were a shepherd, I would give him a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would do my part. Yet what can I give him? I'll give him my heart." And here's the truth of the matter. If he has your heart, then he has that too. It's not hard to give this when he already has this. Look further along, that was all reviewed, believe it or not, from a few weeks ago, but it's been a few weeks, so I thought we'd go over that again, so we'd understand the context of the passage. You say, is that the whole message? No, that was the introduction. Verse number seven. He goes on in the thought here. He uses these Macedonians as an illustration, and he says to these Corinthians, listen, God has blessed you in so many ways, and you made a commitment to the Lord, and you haven't kept your commitment, and these people over here, they have nothing, and they've done all that they could for the Lord, because their heart belongs to God. Would you join in and keep your commitment to the Lord? That's what he's challenging them about. And you come to 2 Corinthians 8, verses 7 through 11. 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 rich. 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. For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted, according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. As we look at this, we see the message. What is the message? It's back in verse number 7. Therefore, as ye abound in everything. In other words, he doesn't come to them and rebuke them and say, you don't do anything for the Lord. That's not what he says. He says, listen, you already abound in faith, and you abound in your speech and your utterance. You abound in your knowledge of the Word and God's will, and you abound in diligence and in service, and you abound in your love to us. Listen, you abound in a lot of good Christian qualities and character traits. You are abounding in a lot of ways that God wants you to abound, but would you abound in this grace also? Well, what grace is he talking about? He's talking about the grace of giving, isn't he? He said, listen, you've demonstrated faith and you've demonstrated a walk with God. You've demonstrated the knowledge of his word and you've demonstrated that you're diligent in all that you do for God. You've demonstrated that you love us and you love God's children. Now would you follow through with the commitment that you made to the Lord? Would you abound also in this area of giving? The message is, abound in this grace also. Now we could look at this and we could say, listen, this really doesn't have anything to do with faith promise. You said at the beginning, you said at the beginning that they're giving to these people in Jerusalem, these Christians who are in greater need, and so they're not even giving necessarily to missions work. But what churches are we talking about again? What churches did Paul use as a positive example? The churches at Macedonia, right? And that was the Philippian church and the Thessalonican church, the church at Thessalonica. And so that's who he's talking about. So go with me if you would to Philippians chapter four and see if they only gave to the believers at Jerusalem. Philippians chapter four. In verse number 10. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of once, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things. I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Now, I think there's a verse that can apply to anything. I do. I think we use that and say, I can do all things through Christ, and I think it's a true statement. But what is he specifically talking about here when he says, I can do all things through Christ? He says, I can be content in any state that God puts me in. If God wants me to be rich, I can be content. If God wants me to be poor, I can be content. If God wants me to have freedom, I can be content. And if God wants me to be in prison, I can be content. I can be content in whatever God has called me to do through Christ, I can do this. That's the context of the passage. Verse 14, notwithstanding ye have well done that ye did communicate with my affliction. Now you 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. In other words, yeah, they gave money to the people at Jerusalem, but they didn't stop there, did they? They were given money to support a missionary, weren't they? In fact, they were the first supporting church. Paul said, when nobody else would take me on for support, even when I was ministering in Thessalonica and they weren't giving me squawk, you were sending offerings to meet my needs. That looks like modern day missions to me, doesn't it to you? Is that not what we're desiring to do this month with Brother Ortiz and Brother Cart and these gentlemen who've come through? Isn't that what the desire is, to help them get the gospel around the world and we support them so that they can go and teach others about Jesus Christ? That's exactly what the Church of Philippi was doing here. I love this part of it. He says, verse 17, not because I desire a gift. He said, listen, I'm grateful that you gave, but it's not because I want your money. He said, I'm grateful that you gave because I desire fruit that may abound to your account. I think one day there are going to be people who walk up to you in heaven. And I think they might even thank you for giving to support a missionary who brought them the gospel. And because you supported that missionary, that missionary went to the foreign field and shared the gospel with that individual, and that individual came to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. And you've never met them here on this earth, but you're going to meet them in glory. What a wonderful privilege it is to be a part of God's plan. Man, His plan is the best plan. It's not just here in Philippians that we see this, but in 2 Corinthians, you don't have to turn there, but in chapter 11, verses 7 and 8, he says, Have I committed an offense in abasing myself, that ye may be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? He goes on to say something here that sounds a little bit weird to us. I robbed other churches. You didn't know that about Paul, did you? He's going in. Give me your money or else. No, he says, I robbed other churches taking wages of them to do you service. You know what he's saying? He's saying there were other churches who sacrificed and they gave beyond their share so that I could minister to you. They gave above and beyond what we would think they were able so that you could get the gospel and so that I could be a help to you. We see the message here, the message to abound in this area of giving, this grace of giving. And next we see the motive for giving in verse number eight. We'll go back to 2 Corinthians chapter eight and verse number eight. It says there, I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others and to prove the sincerity of your love. Now I want you to think about this for a second because if you don't have a desire to give, this is your verse right here. What does it say in that first line? I speak not by... Nobody's there. Verse 8, first line, I speak not, we're in 2 Corinthians 8 and verse 8. I speak not by commandment. Paul just lets you off the hook. You know you don't have to give demissions if you don't want to. You realize that? He said, Preacher, are you really preaching this? Are you expecting a good offering for Faith Promise next week, preaching we don't have to give money? I'm telling you what the Bible says. The Bible says it is not a command of God that you have to give the missions. He said, I speak not by commandment. I'm not mandating that you have to get on board with this. I'm not telling you that God commands this. He's just being frank. He's being honest with them. But he goes on to give the motive. for getting involved in faith promise. Verse number eight, he said, why don't you follow the example of other committed believers who have trusted God and stepped out by faith and enjoyed the benefits of it? Oh, we could bring people up here one after one and have story after story of people who got involved in faith promise at a young age, and God tested their faith, and God stretched their faith, and God strengthened their faith, and all of a sudden they could tell you miraculous stories of what they got to be involved in just because they obeyed what God told them to do. He said, why don't you get involved with that? God took care of them, he'll take care of you. He gives another motive. And this is the one that pierces right to the heart. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, what they've done, and to prove the sincerity of your love. I got to this a little bit early, but let me ask you this question. Do you know that God loves you? How many of you know God loves you? How do you know? He gave His Son, didn't He? You know He loves you because you know what was given on that cross. And every time you see that empty cross, and we're glad it's empty because we serve a risen Savior, But every time you look at that cross, and you think of the blood that was shed, and you see that Savior who became sin for us, and you see Him separated from the Holy Father crying out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And you see all that He went through for us, the bitter cup that He was willing to drink. When you see all of that, you realize there's no argument. You can't debate it. God loves you. End of story. Because it was demonstrated, wasn't it? Okay, the Apostle Paul says underneath the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he says this. He proved his sincerity to you on the cross. He said, you wanna know one of the ways you can prove your sincerity of love for him? Give. Give what he leads you to give. He gave his all. I'm not saying you should give your all financially. I'm not saying write down everything that's in your bank account. I'm not telling anybody to do that. But what I am saying is, He said He gave His all, and if you love Him, you should be willing to give back some to Him. In fact, he goes on and continues that thought when he says, 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 rich. He said follow the example of other committed believers and see the enjoyment and the satisfaction that they get to have and the benefits that they enjoy from getting to be a part of God's plan and give out of a love for God and give out of an appreciation for what Jesus has done for you. He was rich and made himself poor for you. And if you truly appreciate that, why don't you give so other people can learn that He did the same for them? We see the message abound in this grace of giving. We see the motive for giving. Then we see the manner in which we're to give in chapter 9. Look at verse 6. But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. And here we see the principle of sowing and reaping. If I want to fill a whole field, if I want to fill 100 acres with corn, should I probably plant more than one kernel? If I plant one kernel, will it multiply? It does multiply. I get more than one kernel. If I plant one kernel, it does multiply. But if I plant thousands of kernels, I'm going to have way more corn, aren't I? And here God gives this principle, and I think it applies to giving out the gospel, to be honest with you. You want to see souls saved, but you only witness once a year, you're probably not going to see a whole lot of souls saved. It's just a fact. You carry tracks everywhere you go with you. You pray every morning for lost souls. And you keep a prayer list of contacts. And you talk to people about Jesus Christ. And you show up for organized visitation. And you go and tell people as you go to the store and Walmart and everywhere you go. You get busy about this thing. And all of a sudden, you'll start to see there are people out there who will get saved. But if you're doing it very sparingly, what's going to be the result? Not much fruit, right? And if you do it bountifully, what's going to be the result? You might get to see a lot of fruit. It's not just giving the gospel, it's giving financially. I believe God takes every penny that we give to Him and He multiplies it as it goes out around the world. I really do. He said, well, you don't know how money works very well, because when you go over to Europe, you actually lose some in the exchange. No, no. I'm saying that God can do. Look, first of all, God owns a cattle on 1,000 hills. Does he really need your money? He doesn't need your money. He doesn't need my money. The truth of the matter is, I want to get involved in this thing because I want to be in God's plan. I want to be a part of this. He don't need my money, but I want to do what God's called me to do. And so he says, listen, if you want to follow a principle here, give bountifully. And then he says, give cheerfully. Here, once again, Paul gives you a way to get off the hook if you want. If you say, I don't really want to give to that, he gives you a way out again. He says, every man according as he purposeth in his heart. So let him give, verse seven, not grudgingly or of necessity. He says, listen, if you're only doing it because you feel like you have to and you're only doing it because somebody's gonna look down on you or you're gonna feel guilty and you're gonna do it with a poor spirit and you're gonna do it with a clenched fist and you don't really want to give, he says, listen, don't give. Don't give. He said, give bountifully. and give cheerfully. Give with a smile on your face rejoicing that you have an opportunity to give back to Him. You have an opportunity to invest in eternity. You have an opportunity to help souls get saved around the world. He said give bountifully and give cheerfully. Last we see the multiplication to the giver, and I expressed that a minute ago, 2 Corinthians 9 verses 8-11. Read it with me if you will, and we won't take time to break it all down, but you'll see the overarching thought as we read it. God is able. We say Amen right there, right? God is able. He's able to make all grace abound toward you. that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. You know what he's saying here? He said, you may feel like if you give, you won't have what you need. He says, what's the answer to that? God is. God is able. God is able to make all grace abound to you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work, as it is written. He hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness remaineth forever. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown. In other words, you're giving to somebody else and who gets the multiplication? Let's read it again, verse 10. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness. He said, you're giving out to others, and who gets multiplied? You do. He goes on in verse number 11, being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. Luke 6, 38, give and it shall be given unto you, good measure pressed down and shaken together, and running over shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye meet withal, it shall be measured to you again. I read this quote not too long ago, but I'll read it again. J.L. Craft, who was the head of Craft Cheese Corporation said, the only investment I ever made which has paid consistently increasing dividends is the money that I have given to the Lord. Robert Arlington lived in a single room. He cooked his own meals and he shared friendship with students who were in need. Yet he gave tremendous amounts of money during his lifetime to Christian missions. When he died, his estate was worth about $5 million, which he willed to missions. There are some people sitting here right now and saying, if I had $5 million, I'd give to missions. Here's a man who said, I'll give to God no matter what I have. I'm gonna give to the Lord what he leads me to give, and God continued to bless him. After his death, a letter he had received from a missionary was found in his belongings. It said, were I in England again, I would gladly live in one room, make the floor my bed, a box my chair, another my table, rather than the heathen should perish for the lack of knowledge of Jesus Christ. Robert Arlington was determined to make that kind of self-denial the pattern for his life. I want to make this very clear. Don't walk out of here thinking that I'm saying, Hey, listen, you write down the biggest check you can write down. You write down the biggest commitment you can write down. And if you don't even have enough money to pay your bills, by golly, you just do what you can for God. I am not saying that. I'm not saying that. Some of these people gave out their abundance. Some people had to make a sacrifice. Some gave what they had and others had to give by faith what the Lord led them to give. But bottom line, they all said, I'm gonna obey and cheerfully give what God leads me to give. So what is the real prayer? The real prayer is not even that we'll have the biggest commitment level for faith promise that we've ever had. I don't know what that is. And I don't know that we're necessarily even aiming to beat that. The prayer is, Lord, what do you want me to give? What do you want me to give to faith-promised missions above and beyond my tithe? You may say, well, I can't give that much. Let me ask you this question. Did the widow give much? Jesus said she gave more than anybody else. I'm not telling you to give everything that you have. I'm telling you to ask God sincerely, Lord, What is it that you wanna do through me this year in missions? What is it that you want me to give? And Lord, whatever number you tell me, I'm gonna trust you by faith, and I'm gonna follow through with the commitment that you lead me to give. That's all that the Lord expects. And if we will step out by faith, here is Paul's message. God is able. He's able to multiply what you give. He's able to take care of your needs. And God is able. You say, do you want the largest commitment that we've ever had for faith promise? Well, I'll tell you this. From the human side of it, could we send out more missionaries? Could we take on more missionaries if we have more money given? The answer is yes. We're going to take on missionaries one way or the other by faith. No matter what's given. I'm just being honest with you. You know what would be bigger to me than having the number be huge? What would be big to me is if every believer in this room said, Lord, what do you want me to give? And everybody got involved. If we had 100% participation and 100% obedience to the Lord, who cares what the number is? That's up to God. May the Lord just help us to be obedient.