Thank you, thank you. Good morning and good morning to those online watching now or later.
I know that there are times where I watch online either during service or after and
a lot of times it shows that someone else is watching too. So I'm glad that we have
that. It lets us stay connected to other folks and on days like today that I preach my mom
posts it and all her friends watch on Facebook. So it's a great resource for us to have.
My name is Scott and I get to help with the teaching here at the house which I very much
enjoy. I have a hard time staying warm so I stay pretty bundled up and today I actually
have an excuse to be bundled up and to whine about it being cold. Sometimes I comment at
72 degrees and I'm still bundled up and whining but today I have a better excuse. I do take
sips of water pretty often because my mouth gets dry so just heads up on that as well.
I'll take my first sip. I always forget to take the lid off before I come up. The question,
what's something that irritates you? I'd love to hear a couple answers. Something that irritates
you. Bad drivers. Oh yes sometimes our loved ones can bug us a little. Any others? Things
that irritate you. Hair in the hair brush. I have my own drawer for my own brush because
I don't like hair in the hair brush and I know as soon as I pull out of the drawer if
someone couldn't find their brush and went for mine. And it's like it's one of those
things it's irritating because it's one of those things, okay my spouse used my brush
no big deal but that's not what's going through my head. Someone else's hair is in my brush.
I need one more that one was fun how about one more. Roommates definitely. J.C. Talking
on the phone in a movie or talking in the theater yeah definitely. Have you ever done
a yell like stay off your cell phone. I've been in the theater where someone's on their
phone and you know it's dark in there so nobody can see so somebody will just yell hey be
good stay off your cell phone and all of a sudden it turns off real quick. And then I
heard loud chewing. Chewing can definitely be one thing. We weren't super strict at my
house but you know there were some expectations for dinner so when people don't have those
it can be a little challenging and yeah I'll take that as a last one messy eaters and we
have a two year old. You say Scott you can't judge a two year old for being a messy eater.
Yes I can. Yes I can. When that food is all over it's on my shoes it's on my chair it's
on my sweatshirt it's on the floor it is everywhere. So yes messy eaters that's a thing for sure.
One thing that that I can find irritating is when someone is trying to manipulate me.
I really don't like that especially with false flattery. I would have thought door to door
sales would have been out in 2024 but believe me they're alive and well. Someone came to
my door trying to sell a security system the other day and for some reason I thought I
need to be nice I need to listen to the pitch. So I listened to the pitch and it was actually
it was a really good pitch. Even though I already had a security system installed in
the last year he wasn't done he was trying to switch that one out for another one and
he was trying to say he could integrate his into this one even though it was a different
company and I knew that probably wasn't true but he was making a good case for it. And
so he said next time I come to your neighbor's house since I put one in for them can I stop
by and talk to you a little more and partially get rid of him partially out of respect that
he had given a good pitch. I said sure oops knock knock knock and each time he would knock
and I would answer he would say I don't want to bother you I don't want to bother you but
and I'm thinking in my mind if you don't want to bother me there's a very simple solution
to this don't come to my door anymore. But he was he was good at what he did but I did
feel like he was trying to he was working the angle of your neighbors are getting this
system and you know all the different angles on it. So that definitely could be there.
Sometimes someone could invite you to something and there could be a little manipulation behind
it you know like hey I'm having a party and I don't really care if you come or not it
doesn't matter. All of my really good friends are going to be there and I think we're pretty
good friends so I'm sure you'll come but if you can't make it that's fine but Jenny and
David and Phil are going to be there. They can all make it. So sometimes people they
like to mess with us a little bit and now we're going to switch for a minute we're going
to switch to the Apostle Paul and Second Corinthians chapter 8. If you want to go there you can.
You don't have to. I'm going to do a summary as I'm known to do and as I always say when
I when I do a summary please feel free to ask later how did you come up with that or
why did you interpret it that way. That will never offend me. I respect that and appreciate
that. I do my very best to study and make sure that when I'm when I'm using scripture
especially when I'm summarizing it that I do so faithfully but I make mistakes and I'm
always usually a lot of times if if somebody's upset by something it's because they didn't
understand where you were coming from. And so I always prefer to be able to address it
that way. Now Paul starts by talking about a group of people called the Macedonians.
He's talking about their neighbors. He's writing to a church in Corinth that he knows really
well and he starts it off this way. You won't believe how much the Macedonians are giving
to the other churches. It's amazing. They're giving so much and you guys gave a lot last
time too and you guys are really good at like everything else. You help people you're kind
to each other. So I'm sure you're going to give for the offering this year for those
who need it in other churches. And if I were sitting there and I were listening to the
letter by Paul I would be a little frustrated because it sounds like there's some false
flattery in there. And it sounds like there's a little bit of manipulation in there and
a little bit of pressure in there. Let's go ahead and look at I'm going to I am going
to read a little bit from it. Second Corinthians chapter 8. Make it a little bigger. And chapter
8 verse one in second Corinthians he says and now brothers and sisters we want you to
know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches in the midst of a very
severe trial. Their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
So you say look they gave a lot. They exceeded our expectations. And then he says down in
verse seven but since you excel in everything in faith and speech and knowledge and complete
earnestness and the love we have kindled in you see that you also excel in this grace
of giving. And then he goes on in verse eight to say I am not commanding you but I want
to test the sincerity. I'm not telling you you have to but if you don't I've already
told people how generous you are and it'll make me look really bad. And if you don't
it'll make you look bad too. But you don't have to. No pressure. No pressure. And I wonder
how they felt about that. They had a history of Paul had a history of writing them some
pretty tough letters sometimes. He could be a little aggressive. And so he's writing this
to them and up to this point in the letter I can imagine that some of them may have felt
frustrated. Some of them may have felt pressured. Some of them may have thought we've given
before. Why wasn't that enough. Why is Paul asking this of us. And I think a lot of us
have had experiences where we have felt pressured or especially in the church setting or in
a faith setting felt shame maybe when it came to giving. And the sermon as you can see the
series up there is fully and what we're going to talk about is joyfully giving going from
a place of shame or a place of pressure to a place of being able to give joyfully. A
lot of us have been in situations or seen situations where giving in the church was
abused. I was in a church where it was my first time there. Beautiful church. Nice suburb
of Chicago. And the car the parking lot was full of brands of cars I didn't know existed.
There were infinities. There were there was Lexus Acura all kinds of vehicles that I didn't
even know about yet. And they were beautiful and we walked in and there were columns and
there were books sitting out in and bookshelves and we got in and the person who was doing
the offering said everybody hold up your wallet. And so we were expected to stand up take out
our wallet and hold it up. And he said if your money if you still have room in your
wallet for more money then God wants to fill it. If your groceries aren't overflowing with
food then you're not receiving God's full blessing. And what was the key to receiving
God's full blessing? Give that money. Hey and what does that shirt say today? It's only
money. As soon as I saw that today I was like okay. You know so yeah exactly exactly. You
know so they're they're saying there at the church it's only it's only money. So give
some to us. I've seen it before on TV so many times and sometimes I stop and watch just
at the audacity for one thing. When someone is saying hey send me this one of my favorite
sayings and it says a joke is the check is in the mail. And if you ever watch those you've
heard that phrase you know if you if you send something in today the check is already in
the mail. God's blessings are coming back to you tenfold. You know then they have the
people on there you say you know I sent five hundred dollars to such and such ministry even
though I didn't have money for rent and someone gave me two thousand dollars because of blah
blah blah blah blah blah. Another pitch that we've seen before is I got I got this letter
in the mail and it was specifically addressed to me as if this person really knew me. And
it made me do a double take even though I see him. Scott I haven't talked to you in
a long time. I know you're a generous person and I really need to ask for your help. And
it went on to describe this orphanage in Chicago that was going to close down in the next two
weeks if they didn't receive a certain sum of money. And then I tried to figure out how
did they get my information. I have no idea. I wasn't connected with them in any way anything
like that. We've probably maybe been in that situation too where we were pressured or shamed
being told if you don't give this bad thing is going to happen. We've been in those situations
manipulation guilt shame. It's not good. But if we go back and look a little further into
what Paul has to say the apostle Paul. He goes down further. And he says if the willingness
and this is chapter I think it's 912. No I think it's 812. I can look it up for you later.
I put the verse number not the chapter number here. It says for if the willingness is there
the gift is acceptable according to what one has not according to one what one does not
have. When it comes to giving joyfully. It's not based on what we do or do not have. Joyful
giving is not giving a certain amount or a certain percentage. Joyful giving is giving
from what God has already blessed us with. He goes on to say each of you should give
what you have decided in your heart to give not reluctantly or under compulsion for God
loves a cheerful giver. And that's where I like the word joyful joyfully giving. And
God is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times having all that
you need you will abound in every good work. Now I hesitated to put that last verse in
because it's been misused and abused so many times that it's almost scary for someone in
my situation to talk about God's blessing because it could be turned and used so easily
and so quickly for manipulation. But I think it helps if we think about who we're listening
to here. The apostle Paul he did not walk around with money bags. He was beaten. He
was jailed. He was shipwrecked. He listed off all of those things. And in fact he made
it a point wherever he went that he didn't take a salary from the church or money from
the church that he was working at because he preferred to work with his hands and provide
his own. So the idea that Paul was thinking that if you give God's going to fill up your
cupboards and fill up your wallet we know is not what he meant. What he meant is that
God would fill up their hearts and God would be able to use that gift to bless others.
Joyfully giving. I think of Jesus in Mark and in Luke. He tells a story about a widow.
Mark 12 verses 41 through 44 says Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings
were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple. So the money was in
a place where you could watch people going up to put it in and you could see what they
were giving. And so Jesus was sitting watching what people were giving. So I'm assuming other
people were doing that too. Many rich people do in large amounts. I imagine somebody saying
hey could somebody help me back here. I've got a bag of money I'm going to put in the
offering and it's huge. I can't pull it up by myself. It's really hurting my back because
I brought so much money. I imagine someone else maybe exchanging their their five dollar
coins to nickel coins so that they'd have a bigger bag to put in. When you put it in
there it drops and it sounds heavy. Calling us to say OK but a poor widow came and put
in two very small copper coins worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him
Jesus said truly I tell you this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the
others. They all gave out of their wealth but she out of her poverty put in everything
all she had to live on. And when Paul preaches to the Corinthians when he's writing to them
he's writing to them about I don't want you to not have what you need. I want there to
be equity. I want us to be able to share our blessings with those in need. Paul wanted
for the Corinthians whatever it was they were able to give to be able to participate in
what God was doing. Because he knew that would be a blessing to them. He wasn't looking for
a certain amount but he didn't want them to mess that mess out on being a part of what
God was doing. Now I want to transition here and share since we are here at the house.
And I am preaching about giving joyfully at the house. Why I choose to give joyfully to
the house. I choose to give joyfully because I appreciate and I'm excited about the things
that happen here. And sometimes when we think about giving we feel like we're we imagine
these big goals of things that need contributed to. And I think about how giving from a joyful
heart provides somebody with a cup of coffee for us to serve in the lobby. Name tags to
know who each other are. Markers for kids to draw with. Those little things that aren't
about being able to give a large gift but being able to give joyfully in what God is
doing here at the house. Now I also want to mention something else and this worked out
in my favor. I'm so sorry that Pastor Greg isn't feeling well Cindy. But. I'm sure he's
watching. We love you Pastor Greg. But I texted him earlier this week and I said I think I
need to talk to you about you a little bit and I know you won't like that. But here's
why. And so he agreed. The reality is that when we talk about a church in our situation
where we have a pastor a large part of the budget does go to the pastor. And so it raises
the question of who is our lead church who is our lead pastor that is at the church that
we give to when we give to the house when I choose to give to the house. First of all
I believe that he is a man of character and that matters to me. His wife and his children
from what I have seen in his home and in the community love him very much. That is not
true of every pastor's family. I grew up amidst my grandpa's a pastor my uncles are pastors.
I grew up in a lot of that. We grew up enjoying church that wasn't true for all of them. Not
all of them were there on Sunday morning singing and enjoying especially if their dad was leading
worship. And I think that speaks a lot. I also wanted to mention some of the things
that I know that by giving joyfully. My pastor is able to do. And some of the things that
we might not think of immediately creating the graphics. Not only singing songs but writing
songs. The books that we use for our community tables those materials are written by Pastor
Greg a lot of things. There's a book out there that you can ask for that explains the different
things that we do. He goes to buy cups of coffee with folks and that's paid for by the giving
of the church. And so I think about how many cups of coffee people have gotten to have
in the community. Through Pastor Greg and through Pastor Jen. Can you wave at us Pastor
Jen. You might not know this but it's Pastor appreciation weekend. And so I'd love to just
take a second since she is here to say thank you to Pastor Jen for all of the things that
you do. This singing the loving the preaching the hugs opening your home meeting people
in the community. And so these are some of the ways that help me to give joyfully at
the house. I will yeah I think I'm closing. I'll close with this. There are things that
there are people that I've met here at the house that I wouldn't meet at any other church
I've been a part of. And there are people that I've gotten to talk to and hear their
perspective. That I wouldn't hear any other church that I've been a part of. And there
are parts of my story that I've been able to share that I haven't been able to felt
comfortable sharing. At any other church that I've been a part of. A lot of those churches
just they had a pretty narrow set of what they a checklist of what you needed to believe
and especially if you were a leader in that church. And a lot of times I didn't fit that
checklist very well. And so I appreciate that I'm able to be a part of a community where
that happens. And so what if you're new. First of all I'm sorry that you're hearing. I invited
a friend for the first time to hear a giving message. Sorry Amanda. It wasn't on purpose
it was just opportune. But for those of us that get to be a part or wherever you're a
part of whether you be online or whether you're visiting from somewhere else. I want to invite
you to pray about being in a place where you can give joyfully. We can participate in what
God is doing here. And it in a tangible way. And I hope that Paul and Jesus and I clearly
ranking third in that list have made it clear that God is not looking for amounts. He's
not looking for percentages. Those can be good goals. It can be part of the church tradition.
But that is not what we are measured by. There is not shame for what we're not able to bring.
There is joy and celebration in the kingdom for what we are able to. And if you've been
hurt in the past by a leader who was dishonest or is manipulative. I'm sorry for that. I'm
sorry that you experienced that. And if your experience has been hearing about those things
from others and that's made you uncomfortable. I'm sorry for that. And we work really hard
here at the church to make it as low pressure of an environment as possible. We reference
that you can bring something up after service or before service if you'd like to. We try
to make it as low pressure as possible so that people don't have to have that feeling
of being pressured or having that be put on you. But every once in a while I think we
do need to be reminded that giving is a part of our tradition. It is part of scripture
and it is part of what makes our church able to do what it does. Let's pray Pastor Jen
if you come up. Father we thank you for inviting us to be a part of what you are doing. A special
place like this can't exist outside of you. I don't think people can be brought together
in this way. I don't think you can happen. I don't think love can be shown without your
spirit and your love leading and guiding us. And I pray that you would help us to set aside
some of the guilt trips we've heard. And I pray that no one would feel that in their
heart today. I pray that you protect anyone from hearing anything other than grace and
love and invitation. I pray that you would help us to continue to show love and do that
increasingly because we know that there are others in our community who need the G be
a chance to be a part of someplace special in Jesus name. Amen.