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Thank you, thank you. Good morning and good morning to those online watching now or later.

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I know that there are times where I watch online either during service or after and

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a lot of times it shows that someone else is watching too. So I'm glad that we have

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that. It lets us stay connected to other folks and on days like today that I preach my mom

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posts it and all her friends watch on Facebook. So it's a great resource for us to have.

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My name is Scott and I get to help with the teaching here at the house which I very much

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enjoy. I have a hard time staying warm so I stay pretty bundled up and today I actually

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have an excuse to be bundled up and to whine about it being cold. Sometimes I comment at

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72 degrees and I'm still bundled up and whining but today I have a better excuse. I do take

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sips of water pretty often because my mouth gets dry so just heads up on that as well.

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I'll take my first sip. I always forget to take the lid off before I come up. The question,

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what's something that irritates you? I'd love to hear a couple answers. Something that irritates

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you. Bad drivers. Oh yes sometimes our loved ones can bug us a little. Any others? Things

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that irritate you. Hair in the hair brush. I have my own drawer for my own brush because

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I don't like hair in the hair brush and I know as soon as I pull out of the drawer if

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someone couldn't find their brush and went for mine. And it's like it's one of those

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things it's irritating because it's one of those things, okay my spouse used my brush

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no big deal but that's not what's going through my head. Someone else's hair is in my brush.

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I need one more that one was fun how about one more. Roommates definitely. J.C. Talking

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on the phone in a movie or talking in the theater yeah definitely. Have you ever done

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a yell like stay off your cell phone. I've been in the theater where someone's on their

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phone and you know it's dark in there so nobody can see so somebody will just yell hey be

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good stay off your cell phone and all of a sudden it turns off real quick. And then I

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heard loud chewing. Chewing can definitely be one thing. We weren't super strict at my

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house but you know there were some expectations for dinner so when people don't have those

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it can be a little challenging and yeah I'll take that as a last one messy eaters and we

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have a two year old. You say Scott you can't judge a two year old for being a messy eater.

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Yes I can. Yes I can. When that food is all over it's on my shoes it's on my chair it's

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on my sweatshirt it's on the floor it is everywhere. So yes messy eaters that's a thing for sure.

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One thing that that I can find irritating is when someone is trying to manipulate me.

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I really don't like that especially with false flattery. I would have thought door to door

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sales would have been out in 2024 but believe me they're alive and well. Someone came to

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my door trying to sell a security system the other day and for some reason I thought I

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need to be nice I need to listen to the pitch. So I listened to the pitch and it was actually

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it was a really good pitch. Even though I already had a security system installed in

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the last year he wasn't done he was trying to switch that one out for another one and

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he was trying to say he could integrate his into this one even though it was a different

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company and I knew that probably wasn't true but he was making a good case for it. And

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so he said next time I come to your neighbor's house since I put one in for them can I stop

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by and talk to you a little more and partially get rid of him partially out of respect that

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he had given a good pitch. I said sure oops knock knock knock and each time he would knock

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and I would answer he would say I don't want to bother you I don't want to bother you but

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and I'm thinking in my mind if you don't want to bother me there's a very simple solution

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to this don't come to my door anymore. But he was he was good at what he did but I did

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feel like he was trying to he was working the angle of your neighbors are getting this

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system and you know all the different angles on it. So that definitely could be there.

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Sometimes someone could invite you to something and there could be a little manipulation behind

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it you know like hey I'm having a party and I don't really care if you come or not it

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doesn't matter. All of my really good friends are going to be there and I think we're pretty

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good friends so I'm sure you'll come but if you can't make it that's fine but Jenny and

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David and Phil are going to be there. They can all make it. So sometimes people they

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like to mess with us a little bit and now we're going to switch for a minute we're going

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to switch to the Apostle Paul and Second Corinthians chapter 8. If you want to go there you can.

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You don't have to. I'm going to do a summary as I'm known to do and as I always say when

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I when I do a summary please feel free to ask later how did you come up with that or

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why did you interpret it that way. That will never offend me. I respect that and appreciate

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that. I do my very best to study and make sure that when I'm when I'm using scripture

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especially when I'm summarizing it that I do so faithfully but I make mistakes and I'm

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always usually a lot of times if if somebody's upset by something it's because they didn't

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understand where you were coming from. And so I always prefer to be able to address it

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that way. Now Paul starts by talking about a group of people called the Macedonians.

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He's talking about their neighbors. He's writing to a church in Corinth that he knows really

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well and he starts it off this way. You won't believe how much the Macedonians are giving

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to the other churches. It's amazing. They're giving so much and you guys gave a lot last

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time too and you guys are really good at like everything else. You help people you're kind

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to each other. So I'm sure you're going to give for the offering this year for those

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who need it in other churches. And if I were sitting there and I were listening to the

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letter by Paul I would be a little frustrated because it sounds like there's some false

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flattery in there. And it sounds like there's a little bit of manipulation in there and

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a little bit of pressure in there. Let's go ahead and look at I'm going to I am going

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to read a little bit from it. Second Corinthians chapter 8. Make it a little bigger. And chapter

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8 verse one in second Corinthians he says and now brothers and sisters we want you to

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know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches in the midst of a very

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severe trial. Their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.

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So you say look they gave a lot. They exceeded our expectations. And then he says down in

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verse seven but since you excel in everything in faith and speech and knowledge and complete

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earnestness and the love we have kindled in you see that you also excel in this grace

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of giving. And then he goes on in verse eight to say I am not commanding you but I want

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to test the sincerity. I'm not telling you you have to but if you don't I've already

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told people how generous you are and it'll make me look really bad. And if you don't

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it'll make you look bad too. But you don't have to. No pressure. No pressure. And I wonder

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how they felt about that. They had a history of Paul had a history of writing them some

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pretty tough letters sometimes. He could be a little aggressive. And so he's writing this

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to them and up to this point in the letter I can imagine that some of them may have felt

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frustrated. Some of them may have felt pressured. Some of them may have thought we've given

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before. Why wasn't that enough. Why is Paul asking this of us. And I think a lot of us

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have had experiences where we have felt pressured or especially in the church setting or in

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a faith setting felt shame maybe when it came to giving. And the sermon as you can see the

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series up there is fully and what we're going to talk about is joyfully giving going from

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a place of shame or a place of pressure to a place of being able to give joyfully. A

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lot of us have been in situations or seen situations where giving in the church was

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abused. I was in a church where it was my first time there. Beautiful church. Nice suburb

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of Chicago. And the car the parking lot was full of brands of cars I didn't know existed.

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There were infinities. There were there was Lexus Acura all kinds of vehicles that I didn't

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even know about yet. And they were beautiful and we walked in and there were columns and

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there were books sitting out in and bookshelves and we got in and the person who was doing

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the offering said everybody hold up your wallet. And so we were expected to stand up take out

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our wallet and hold it up. And he said if your money if you still have room in your

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wallet for more money then God wants to fill it. If your groceries aren't overflowing with

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food then you're not receiving God's full blessing. And what was the key to receiving

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God's full blessing? Give that money. Hey and what does that shirt say today? It's only

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money. As soon as I saw that today I was like okay. You know so yeah exactly exactly. You

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know so they're they're saying there at the church it's only it's only money. So give

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some to us. I've seen it before on TV so many times and sometimes I stop and watch just

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at the audacity for one thing. When someone is saying hey send me this one of my favorite

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sayings and it says a joke is the check is in the mail. And if you ever watch those you've

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heard that phrase you know if you if you send something in today the check is already in

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the mail. God's blessings are coming back to you tenfold. You know then they have the

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people on there you say you know I sent five hundred dollars to such and such ministry even

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though I didn't have money for rent and someone gave me two thousand dollars because of blah

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blah blah blah blah blah. Another pitch that we've seen before is I got I got this letter

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in the mail and it was specifically addressed to me as if this person really knew me. And

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it made me do a double take even though I see him. Scott I haven't talked to you in

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a long time. I know you're a generous person and I really need to ask for your help. And

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it went on to describe this orphanage in Chicago that was going to close down in the next two

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weeks if they didn't receive a certain sum of money. And then I tried to figure out how

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did they get my information. I have no idea. I wasn't connected with them in any way anything

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like that. We've probably maybe been in that situation too where we were pressured or shamed

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being told if you don't give this bad thing is going to happen. We've been in those situations

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manipulation guilt shame. It's not good. But if we go back and look a little further into

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what Paul has to say the apostle Paul. He goes down further. And he says if the willingness

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and this is chapter I think it's 912. No I think it's 812. I can look it up for you later.

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I put the verse number not the chapter number here. It says for if the willingness is there

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the gift is acceptable according to what one has not according to one what one does not

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have. When it comes to giving joyfully. It's not based on what we do or do not have. Joyful

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giving is not giving a certain amount or a certain percentage. Joyful giving is giving

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from what God has already blessed us with. He goes on to say each of you should give

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what you have decided in your heart to give not reluctantly or under compulsion for God

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loves a cheerful giver. And that's where I like the word joyful joyfully giving. And

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God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times having all that

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you need you will abound in every good work. Now I hesitated to put that last verse in

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because it's been misused and abused so many times that it's almost scary for someone in

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my situation to talk about God's blessing because it could be turned and used so easily

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and so quickly for manipulation. But I think it helps if we think about who we're listening

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to here. The apostle Paul he did not walk around with money bags. He was beaten. He

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was jailed. He was shipwrecked. He listed off all of those things. And in fact he made

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it a point wherever he went that he didn't take a salary from the church or money from

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the church that he was working at because he preferred to work with his hands and provide

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his own. So the idea that Paul was thinking that if you give God's going to fill up your

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cupboards and fill up your wallet we know is not what he meant. What he meant is that

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God would fill up their hearts and God would be able to use that gift to bless others.

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Joyfully giving. I think of Jesus in Mark and in Luke. He tells a story about a widow.

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Mark 12 verses 41 through 44 says Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings

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were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple. So the money was in

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a place where you could watch people going up to put it in and you could see what they

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were giving. And so Jesus was sitting watching what people were giving. So I'm assuming other

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people were doing that too. Many rich people do in large amounts. I imagine somebody saying

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hey could somebody help me back here. I've got a bag of money I'm going to put in the

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offering and it's huge. I can't pull it up by myself. It's really hurting my back because

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I brought so much money. I imagine someone else maybe exchanging their their five dollar

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coins to nickel coins so that they'd have a bigger bag to put in. When you put it in

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there it drops and it sounds heavy. Calling us to say OK but a poor widow came and put

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in two very small copper coins worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him

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Jesus said truly I tell you this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the

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others. They all gave out of their wealth but she out of her poverty put in everything

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all she had to live on. And when Paul preaches to the Corinthians when he's writing to them

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he's writing to them about I don't want you to not have what you need. I want there to

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be equity. I want us to be able to share our blessings with those in need. Paul wanted

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for the Corinthians whatever it was they were able to give to be able to participate in

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what God was doing. Because he knew that would be a blessing to them. He wasn't looking for

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a certain amount but he didn't want them to mess that mess out on being a part of what

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God was doing. Now I want to transition here and share since we are here at the house.

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And I am preaching about giving joyfully at the house. Why I choose to give joyfully to

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the house. I choose to give joyfully because I appreciate and I'm excited about the things

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that happen here. And sometimes when we think about giving we feel like we're we imagine

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these big goals of things that need contributed to. And I think about how giving from a joyful

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heart provides somebody with a cup of coffee for us to serve in the lobby. Name tags to

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know who each other are. Markers for kids to draw with. Those little things that aren't

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about being able to give a large gift but being able to give joyfully in what God is

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doing here at the house. Now I also want to mention something else and this worked out

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in my favor. I'm so sorry that Pastor Greg isn't feeling well Cindy. But. I'm sure he's

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watching. We love you Pastor Greg. But I texted him earlier this week and I said I think I

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need to talk to you about you a little bit and I know you won't like that. But here's

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why. And so he agreed. The reality is that when we talk about a church in our situation

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where we have a pastor a large part of the budget does go to the pastor. And so it raises

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the question of who is our lead church who is our lead pastor that is at the church that

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we give to when we give to the house when I choose to give to the house. First of all

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I believe that he is a man of character and that matters to me. His wife and his children

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from what I have seen in his home and in the community love him very much. That is not

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true of every pastor's family. I grew up amidst my grandpa's a pastor my uncles are pastors.

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I grew up in a lot of that. We grew up enjoying church that wasn't true for all of them. Not

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all of them were there on Sunday morning singing and enjoying especially if their dad was leading

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worship. And I think that speaks a lot. I also wanted to mention some of the things

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that I know that by giving joyfully. My pastor is able to do. And some of the things that

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we might not think of immediately creating the graphics. Not only singing songs but writing

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songs. The books that we use for our community tables those materials are written by Pastor

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Greg a lot of things. There's a book out there that you can ask for that explains the different

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things that we do. He goes to buy cups of coffee with folks and that's paid for by the giving

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of the church. And so I think about how many cups of coffee people have gotten to have

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in the community. Through Pastor Greg and through Pastor Jen. Can you wave at us Pastor

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Jen. You might not know this but it's Pastor appreciation weekend. And so I'd love to just

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take a second since she is here to say thank you to Pastor Jen for all of the things that

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you do. This singing the loving the preaching the hugs opening your home meeting people

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in the community. And so these are some of the ways that help me to give joyfully at

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the house. I will yeah I think I'm closing. I'll close with this. There are things that

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there are people that I've met here at the house that I wouldn't meet at any other church

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I've been a part of. And there are people that I've gotten to talk to and hear their

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perspective. That I wouldn't hear any other church that I've been a part of. And there

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are parts of my story that I've been able to share that I haven't been able to felt

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comfortable sharing. At any other church that I've been a part of. A lot of those churches

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just they had a pretty narrow set of what they a checklist of what you needed to believe

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and especially if you were a leader in that church. And a lot of times I didn't fit that

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checklist very well. And so I appreciate that I'm able to be a part of a community where

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that happens. And so what if you're new. First of all I'm sorry that you're hearing. I invited

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a friend for the first time to hear a giving message. Sorry Amanda. It wasn't on purpose

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it was just opportune. But for those of us that get to be a part or wherever you're a

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part of whether you be online or whether you're visiting from somewhere else. I want to invite

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you to pray about being in a place where you can give joyfully. We can participate in what

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God is doing here. And it in a tangible way. And I hope that Paul and Jesus and I clearly

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ranking third in that list have made it clear that God is not looking for amounts. He's

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not looking for percentages. Those can be good goals. It can be part of the church tradition.

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But that is not what we are measured by. There is not shame for what we're not able to bring.

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There is joy and celebration in the kingdom for what we are able to. And if you've been

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hurt in the past by a leader who was dishonest or is manipulative. I'm sorry for that. I'm

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sorry that you experienced that. And if your experience has been hearing about those things

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from others and that's made you uncomfortable. I'm sorry for that. And we work really hard

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here at the church to make it as low pressure of an environment as possible. We reference

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that you can bring something up after service or before service if you'd like to. We try

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to make it as low pressure as possible so that people don't have to have that feeling

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of being pressured or having that be put on you. But every once in a while I think we

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do need to be reminded that giving is a part of our tradition. It is part of scripture

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and it is part of what makes our church able to do what it does. Let's pray Pastor Jen

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if you come up. Father we thank you for inviting us to be a part of what you are doing. A special

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place like this can't exist outside of you. I don't think people can be brought together

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in this way. I don't think you can happen. I don't think love can be shown without your

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spirit and your love leading and guiding us. And I pray that you would help us to set aside

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some of the guilt trips we've heard. And I pray that no one would feel that in their

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heart today. I pray that you protect anyone from hearing anything other than grace and

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love and invitation. I pray that you would help us to continue to show love and do that

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increasingly because we know that there are others in our community who need the G be

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a chance to be a part of someplace special in Jesus name. Amen.