Praise on speak the name when those of every nation glory to God, cry out when they shall sing. That's unread, rejoicing in salvation, shout hallelujah, the Lord is King. All might unto thee, all might give unto me. Going into all the love and praise God, thus over and with you, all praise.
Well, today is the day that we have. designated as Harvest Day at Beacon. We've been doing that actually since the third Sunday in November 1973. When we were Six months old. as a congregation.
Harvest Day is a time of preparatory praise for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is about harvest. That's the original idea, the original concept of Thanksgiving. was to thank the Lord for the harvest that had been received. The timing of that particular holiday comes at the end of harvest in most parts.
of our country, and that's how it began, going all the way back to the time of the pilgrims. Over the years, it has become the day that we begin to collect faith promise cards for. our missions budget for the new year. And you'll find one of those cards in the pew in front of you if you haven't already. Received one.
They look like this. And we hope you will. want to participate with us, we certainly invite you to do so. Our missions budget for nine or for twenty twenty-six. Do you ever still say 19?
Yeah. Been a long time since we said 19, but I still find myself saying that occasionally, but anyway. Our missions budget for 2026 Will be determined by what comes in on these faith promise cards and.
So the question is, will we sustain the budget that we had the year before. Will we increase the budget that we had? the year before, that is the year we are in now. Will we shrink the budget? from this year.
As far as I can recall, that's only happened one time. In all of our history, but nevertheless. If the Response indicates that, then we'll have to do that as well. We cannot. disperse money that we do not receive.
And so That is what will be necessary, we trust not. And what we would long to see is to be able to add, to increase, and to add additional missionaries perhaps. to our present missionary family. And many of you were here last Sunday to hear the presentation from on Landon and Hannah Jones, and they will be under consideration. For partnership, that we would love to take them into partnership in the work of missions if.
The funds that come in are sufficient to allow us to do that. I do remind you, if you aren't familiar with this, that on this card there's no place for your name. We're not asking to know who is making the promise that by God's help and grace they will give So of many dollars, X number of dollars in the new year. It's an agreement between you and God. It's a partnership with you and God.
It's an adventure between you and God. It is you looking to God for direction and for what. you believe he would be pleased with you to give. And then Trusting him, casting yourself upon him week by week and month by month. to make it possible for you to do Exactly that.
So, we do not ask for your name, but we do ask for you to fill in an amount because. We can't constitute a budget without the figures, and so we are. counting upon you. For that. And then Harvest Day is also the day traditionally.
that we turn our attention in the Word of God to the text. that is always chosen each year for Missions Month, a different text each year. And this year, we chose Psalm 113, verse 3. Which says from the rising of the sun To its going down, the Lord's name is to be praised. And we have taken from that the The um Title of our mission's emphasis this year.
Praise him. among the nations. And now we will examine that text. Psalm 113, 3. To examine the text, we begin.
with a context, which is always a good idea. And of course, in a very real sense, the context is the entire Bible. We won't do that today. But we will make reference to at least one or two places beyond Psalm 113, but the primary context is this particular psalm. nine verses in length.
Psalm 113 does not have a human author identified, as the majority of the Psalms do. The greatest number of them are identified as Psalms of David, composed by David. But there are others. There's at least one psalm composed by Moses. There's at least, I think, one psalm composed, maybe more than one, by Solomon.
A number of psalms that are attributed to Asaph and to the sons of Korah. But there are, nevertheless, a a a significant number of psalms to which no Particular human author is attached, and this is one of those. It is clearly a psalm of praise.
Some psalms are psalms of lament.
Some are Psalms of cries for help and so forth. But this one is a psalm of praise, clearly. In fact, so you don't miss that, it begins and ends with the same. Phrase Verse 1. Praise the Lord.
Verse 9. At the end of the verse, praise the Lord. Both at the beginning and at the end, we are reminded that this particular psalm is a psalm of praise to the Lord. In the Hebrew language, praise the Lord, is hallujah. Ya Bing.
The name of God, Yahweh. And hallu, meaning praise. And so every time you say, Hallelujah. Or hallelujah. You are saying Praise the Lord.
Praise Yahweh. And that's what is being indicated here.
Furthermore, I can tell you that Psalm 113 is the first of a group of six Psalms, 113 through 113. 118. that are commonly called the Hallelujah. Hallel. Hallelujah.
A group of Psalms of Praise. Leading up to that long one, Psalm 119. Takes you a while to get through that one, but there are six Psalms. of more modest length. that lead us up to the 119th Psalm, and these are known as the Hallelujah.
And they were customarily sung throughout Jewish history at the three annual festivals. Namely Passover. Pentecost. And tabernacles. And others as well, but those three in particular, and of those three, most prominently was Passover.
And these six psalms constituted the songs or hymns of worship that were sung in the homes. where the Passover meal was being observed. The first two before the meal the last four after the meal. Psalm 113, 114 would be sung before partaking of the Passover meal. And then when it was concluded, Psalm 115, 116, 117, 118.
Undoubtedly, Jesus and his disciples, when they gathered in the upper room and observed the Passover meal, sang these very psalms. Beginning with the one that we are studying this morning. And when the Bible tells us, I think in Matthew's gospel, That when they completed their time together, it says, when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. That surely must have been the last one, Psalm 118.
So you are When you sing the Psalms, and it is important to sing the Psalms along with hymns and spiritual songs, the Bible tells us to. But when you are singing the Psalms, you are singing along with Jesus and his disciples in Our What should I say? Universal worship over the centuries. We sing these psalms together as the people. of God.
Jesus undoubtedly saying on more than one occasion the psalm that we are looking at this morning.
Now continuing in our examination of the entire Psalm, Psalm 113. Let's break it down and see what's involved. And it divides rather easily into two parts. Number one. A call to praise.
And number two, causes for praise. The call to praise. is verses 1, 2, and 3, calling upon people to praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise, O servants of the Lord.
Praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and evermore, from the rising of the sun to its going down, the Lord's name is to be praised. A call to praise the Lord. And then, beginning with verse 4.
Some reasons, just a couple really. There could be dozens, there could be scores, there could be hundreds, but the psalmist was directed by the Spirit of God. to select two in particular and look for them as I read that section. The Lord is high above all nations, his glory above the heavens, who is like the Lord our God, who dwells on high, who humbled himself to behold the things that are in the the things that are in heavens and in the earth, in the heavens and in the earth. He raises the poor out of the dust.
and lifts the needy out of the ash sheep. that he may seat him with princes, with the princes of his people. He grants the barren woman a home. like a joyful mother of children. Call to praise.
Verses one, two, and three. And this identifies five things about our praise: the people who praise, the object of praise, the duration of praise, the extent of praise, the mandate of praise. Who is called upon, we could make it stronger than called upon, who is commanded to praise the Lord? the people of God. Praise the Lord.
Praise Oh. Servants of the Lord. In the Old Testament, Israel was called a servant of the Lord. And of course, this Psalm was written originally for the people of God identified as Israel. But beyond that, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
And this is calling upon those who have experienced that wonderful miracle of the new birth. to praise God with your lips. the people of God. The object of praise. Verse 2, blessed be the name of the Lord.
Obviously We're praising God. But when you find the name of the Lord, and that sometimes causes Confusion among people. What exactly does that mean? Which name are we talking about here? And an eye.
Yahweh, etc.
Well, actually, the name of the Lord is a more comprehensive term. It really. involves everything that God has revealed about himself. His character. His attributes.
Now it's hard to get our mind around All of those at one time, but that can be condensed and summarized by saying the name of the Lord. It is. In effect, the same as saying, praise God. Praise the name of the Lord. Praise God for who He is.
For who he has revealed himself to be, For the Amazing. attributes that belong to him. Many of whom belong to him alone, but some whom he communicates, at least in some measure. to his people. The character of God.
That is beyond anything that we can experience as human beings upon the earth. but which we rely upon. Knowing that God is Faithful. That God is righteous and holy, that God is just, these things about God, all of that is rolled up in this idea of the name. of the Lord.
And so, who is the object of our praise? It is the Lord. It is God. It is the one true God. It is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Thinking about his greatness of attributes, the greatness of his character, of who he is. But what about the duration of praise? Verse 2 tells us, From this time forth and Forever. More. From this time forth and forevermore.
Those who praise him are to praise him forever.
Now as I thought about that, I thought, well, why did he start Did the psalmist, by the direction of the Spirit of God, Start with Now and forward into eternity. Why doesn't he say, God is to be praised from everlasting to everlasting? In other words, from forever past to forever future, but He didn't say it that way. I'm not saying that that wouldn't be appropriate. Or at least thinking in terms of human beings praising God, why didn't the psalmist say, He is to be praised from the beginning of creation?
From the time that Adam and Eve were placed in the garden until, well, forevermore. But again, he didn't say that either. He's directing it to the people who are reading it, who are hearing it, who are singing it, the ones who are living at the time that he tells them to praise him forevermore. But here's what. struck me as I thought about it that way.
Those who truly from their hearts praise the Lord will Praise Him forever. This is another way of saying those who praise God from their hearts have eternal life. Those who praise God from their hearts will live and praise Him forevermore. Praise the Lord. Yeah.
Wonderful thought. What a wonderful thought. the duration of praise. But number four, we are pointed to the extent of praise, that is, who all should be praising him. We have already noted that God calls upon his people to praise him.
They're the only ones who truly know him. They're the only ones who truly are able to praise him from their hearts and not just mumble. praise from their lips in a external and ceremonial way. But he also indicates here that all people in the world ought to be in that category to praise him from their hearts and to be able to do so. Not only those who are now servants of the Lord, but.
From the rising of the sun. Let's see, I guess that would actually be. More in this direction, wouldn't it? But see, where am I? I don't know.
Maybe that direction. that direction from the rising of the sun. That seems to be a long ways off, and to the going down of the same, the setting of the sun, which is just a figure of speech that is saying, from the farthest east to the farthest west, and everything in between, in other words, the whole earth. That's the extent. The whole world.
Should praise the Lord, but how Will they do so if they don't know him? And that we'll get to that. In due time. And then finally, the mandate of praise. Notice the phrasing, the wording.
Of Verse 3. From the rising of the sun to its going down, the Lord's name. He doesn't say should be praised, though it should. It said the Lord's name is Two They Praised. It is a mandate, isn't it?
The call to praise. But now we move on to the causes. for praise. And The first cause is the greatness of God. bound up in that concept of the name.
of the Lord. And how great is God?
Well, verses 4 and 5, the Lord is high above all nations. His glory above the heavens, who is like the Lord our God, who dwells on high. That's how great he is. That's how high he is. He is above all nations, far above all nations, and supreme over all nations.
In that day, most Nations Who had pagan notions about God that were far, far lower than the truth about God Himself? Had particular gods that were assigned to different Kingdoms. In this country, we serve this God because He's the God of our nation. And in this country we worship this God because he's the God of our nation. But the God we're talking about in Psalm 113.
Transcends all that. He's high above all the nations. He rules over all the nations. There is only one true God. And he is the God of all nations and needs to be acknowledged as such.
And that's. what we are told. And that's a cause to praise him because he's above all nations. He is supreme. He is supreme in the universe, not just above the nations of the earth, but in all the universe.
Who is like the Lord our God who Whose glory is above the heavens. The Lord is high above the nations, verse 4. His glory above the heavens. Not only is he above the nations, but he's above the heavens.
Now, When we look out into A starry sky. Once in a while, we'll hear a description from somebody who lives in a place. Where there isn't any light pollution. I think Larry Bunyan made reference to this when he was with us recently. Out there in Wyoming, you get out on the Prairie and the and the sun goes down and you're far away from any artificial light.
And the starry sky is just amazing. And you gaze up into that sky, and you realize that every one of those stars is. Comparable to our sun, some smaller, some larger, some way larger. And you begin to look into that sky a little more carefully. Maybe take a telescope and begin to examine it, and you realize.
that there are Whole constellations made up of thousands and thousands of stars, and there are actually, as it turns out, thousands of constellations. We haven't seen them all, but at least. Very few people have, nobody's seen them all, and even those with the greatest telescopes have only seen some of them and seen enough to know that they haven't gotten to the end of it yet. There's more universe out there than what has ever been seen by man with the Biggest and strongest telescope. And God's above all that.
He made it all. Oh, that men would acknowledge that. Oh, that men would bow to that reality, that obvious reality. There really is no. No Proper or possible explanation for what is in this universe, except that there is a God greater than the universe who Himself created this universe.
All other explanations just don't. don't pass the test of logic. They are Purported because of some other reason that people are trying somehow to avoid the obvious. God is the creator of the universe, and God, therefore, is bigger than the universe He created. God is higher than the heavens.
God is above, way above, this great universe which goes on for so far that our eyes can't see it, and we don't have enough ability to travel fast enough to get to the end of it in millenniums of travel. And this is another way of saying that God is. Transcendent. He's above and beyond all creation, and the technical word for that is transcendent. God is.
Above God is separate from, God is apart from, Greater than? What he made. We all understand that.
Some of you are craftsman of some kind or another. You make We know we have a lady here who makes quilts, beautiful handmade quilts. And I want to tell you Lady? You know who you are, and there may be others. And I don't need to tell you this, it's so obvious.
You who can make a quilt are greater than the quilt you make.
Some of you Are workmen in workshops, and you create things out of wood. And that's some things are beautifully created. They're really, really marvelous to look at. But it's obvious that the one who can make a product like that is greater than the thing that is made. And Donna, I could go with illustrations, but you get the point.
This universe, which is so vast, it is so complex, it is so big, it is so.
So beyond our comprehension, it's so large. And yet it was made by God Almighty, and that means that the one who made it is greater than the universe that was made. He is so great, He is so exalted, He is so different other than There are only two cases. Categories of things that are in this universe. The things that are made and the things that are unmade, the things that are made, are virtually everything.
And there's only one thing that is unmade. That's God Almighty, the triune God. And He has no beginning and no end. He was not created. Nobody made Him.
He is eternal. And He is therefore in a whole separate category from things that are made. Even though He made it all. He And rules it all and sustains it all. He is above it all.
He is different from it all. He is transcendent above it. We can't really describe God adequately, can we? But this psalm is trying to help us to get some understanding of how great God is. and therefore worthy to be praised.
He is transcendent. He is incomparable. It says in verse 5, who is like the Lord our God? Who do you compare him to? When you Try to describe human greatness, it's always in comparison with other human beings.
He is a great home run hitter. Why? Because he hit more home runs than the other guy. He is a fast runner. Why?
Because he runs faster than the other guy. He has a brilliant mind. Why? Because his intellect exceeds that of other people. It's always in comparison with other human beings, because that's the only way we can describe human greatness.
That's it's it's great because of its comparison with others. That are They don't quite reach that standard. But God is incomparable There's nothing to compare him to. He is in a different category because he is unmade and everything else is made. He's in a different category because he's the creator and everything else is created.
He's in a different category because there's nothing to compare him to. He's incomparable. And so, in talking about causes for praise, we begin with the greatness of God. But then we move in the last part of the psalm. to the grace of God.
And the psalmist wants us to understand that as great and mighty as God is, he does not. Ignore the creation he made. Far from it, he involves himself in the smallest details of it. And though there is Transcendence with God. He is above all and separate from all and removed from all.
He's not the great clock maker and clockwinder of the deist God who did all this and then disappears into the universe and lets it run on its own. But the God of the Bible is the God who made all this and is so high above the heavens that we couldn't even begin to get near to him. But he can, if he chooses, get near to us, and that's exactly what he chooses to do. He is transcendent, but he is condescending. And he comes right down here where we are, and he.
involves himself in a detailed way with Men and women, boys and girls, with people like you and me. Isn't that what it's telling us? Verse 6: This God who dwells on high, who humbles himself. To behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth.
Well, what do you mean by that, psalmist? He raises the poor out of the dust. and lifts the needy out of the eye sheep. That he may seat him with princes, with the princes of his people. He grants the barren woman a home like a joyful mother of children.
Phrase The Lord. The grace of God. Though he is so high above, all creation He condescends to be near to us whom he has created. He draws close to us. In this condescension, he's fully concerned with the creation that he made.
and particularly with the human beings on planet Earth that he made in his image. I'm debating whether to. Throw out a speculation here, but I think I will at this point. From time to time, I will hear someone say, As vast as the universe is, And as many constellations and as many stars that are all suns. There must be, there's got to be millions of worlds out there that are orbiting around suns that we haven't even seen yet.
And considering that there undoubtedly are millions of worlds, there must be some other. planet out there that has life on it like this one does. And Since the Bible doesn't tell us, I can't be dogmatic about it, but my Opinion is no. There's not another one anywhere. God made this one for a special purpose.
And God made people on this earth in his image. And God has special concern for those who live here. I'm not going to waste my time searching for aliens. The only aliens out there are the fallen angels, the demons. And don't be deceived by them.
I mean, that's my opinion. I get back to my I I leave opinion and get back to text now.
So, the grace of God, in that He condescends, He He is concerned about all that he created, beginning with the poor and needy, verses 7 and 8. He exalts to prosperity and prominence those who currently live in abject poverty and misery and degradation. He raises the poor out of the dust. He lifts the needy out of the ash sheep. The ash sheep is where people sat when they were in the utmost misery, like Job who sat upon the ash sheep in his great misery.
But God raises the poor out of the dust. He lifts the needy out of the ash heap. And what does he do with them? He seats them with princes. That's the highest of the high in earthly society, right?
With the princes of his people, people who before were so poor that they were living in the dust and on the ash heap and in the greatest misery, God lifts them up and places them in the palace. with the king, with the princes. He elevates them in their prominence. He elevates them in their prosperity. Here's what H.
C. Lupold said. Oh, I've got to ask one question before I read this quote now that I look at it and realize. what I put it here for. The question is, does he do this for all poor people?
And our observation would say, well, no. But it does for some.
Well, for whom? That's the question. Who are the ones? That God does this for, raising the poor out of the dust and seeding them with princes. All right, here's the answer that Leupold gave, and I think it's the right one.
He who humbles himself Because the Almighty has humbled him. will find that same Lord will raise him out of his distress. Who does God do this for? The humble who acknowledge their humility. The miserable who acknowledged their misery and submitted to God.
sinful who acknowledge their sinfulness And r and Confess it and cry out to God for relief because this has a spiritual as well as a physical dimension. God raises the Spiritually miserable out of the dust and the ash heap. And he sits them with princes. Children of the king. I'm a child of the king.
A child of the king. With Jesus my Savior, I'm a child of the King. He lifts every. poor miserable sinner out of the Dust of sin and the ashes of sin, and raises them into palaces, in royal places when they acknowledge their sinfulness, when they confess it, when they humble themselves before the mighty hand of God, and when they cry out to God for mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are the ones.
That God does this for, and He will do it for everyone who will humble himself in that way. How many proud? People are wallowing In degradation, because they're too proud to say. I have sinned. I admit it.
I acknowledge it. I confess my sin. Please forgive me. And so the poor and needy are a good example of how God condescends to raise people up. And how How concerned God is for The needs of mankind.
And the second one is the example in verse 9: the barren woman. He grants the barren woman a home like a joyful mother of children. That's another type of of pain and and misery, isn't it? Not so apparent. In that particular society, a a wife who could not bear children, was truly looked down upon in a much stronger way.
than I think is likely to take place in our society. But Women Wives, women. Who desire to have children and can't, that's a painful. Trial. that really weighs upon The soul.
We have examples in the Bible of a number of people like that who God. Took pity upon and miraculously allowed them to conceive. Think of Sarah, who conceived a child at 90 years of age. Impossible, says Mr. Scientist.
Yes, humanly it is impossible. Impossible, says the doctor. Yes, humanly impossible. Impossible, says everybody else. We've never seen that happen before.
Of course, you haven't seen that happen before. It only happens by the enabling power of God moving into a situation where humanity is unable. And that's just a, what should I say? A Great example of this, but there are smaller ones. All around us, some of you have been in that category.
You longed to have children and couldn't have them, and finally you gave up and cast yourself upon the Lord, and probably were casting yourself upon the Lord all along. And then, in God's time and sometimes way past the time you were expecting it. Bingo. God gave you a child. That's the way the mother of John the Baptist, Elizabeth, was.
She and her husband had prayed. For a child for years and finally Had stopped praying. It's never going to happen. They're too old, too old to happen now. Yeah, now when it's to the place where it's humanly impossible, now when God does it, He gets the glory, right?
And sure enough, now comes the hand of God and. Baron Elizabeth bears John the Baptist the greatest prophet who ever lived, according to the words of Jesus. And again, some of you have experienced things just like that. A similar testimony. In our family, don't we, with our oldest daughter, and what a wonderful thing that is.
God's able to do that, obviously. He who created the womb can make the womb barren and he can make it fruitful. And by the way, when it's barren, it's because he has designed it so. And when he makes it fruitful, it's because he designed it so. Likewise, when someone is poor, it's because God has designed it that way.
Perhaps for a time, perhaps for a long time, perhaps for a lifetime. It's always God's God's purpose, God's design, God's wisdom, which is Greater than our wisdom. We don't know why he does these things, but he always has wise and gracious purposes. But then when he designs to bring that to an end, it happens. Because who can stay the hand of Almighty God?
And so when he touches the life of a barren woman to have a child, she'll have one. And when he touches the life of someone, Who has been in some form of misery, whatever it may be, and says, Now I elevate you out of that. It happens just like that. And the point is this. That this God who is so high and mighty that he is So much greater than his creation is not absent from it.
He is intricately involved in it. He is intricately involved in your life and mine. And we praise him for that. Many have seen in these words a. A parallel to the incarnation of Christ.
Who Left. Heaven's glory. Above the highest heavens, And condescended down to earth to become a man. And that's the way it's presented to us in Philippians chapter 2. Who being in the form of God thought Equality with God, not a prize to be grasped at all.
Oh measures but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man. and became in fashion as a man and humbled himself. And became obedient unto death, the death of the cross. The one who is the highest above all, transcended above all, who condescended to the lowest of the low. Your sake and for mine.
Is that not reason to praise the Lord? Praise ye. The Lord. Ellen Ross said, God's people are called upon. Called upon the praise to praise God because even though he is exalted on high, He lowers himself.
to exalt the oppressed. And Lupold again says, so high that none can match him. Yet, so low that none can escape his loving concern.
So high that none can match him, yet so low. that none can escape his loving concern. Praise the Lord. Now, that's just the background, the context. I don't know if I'm not going to have time to get into the text in detail.
The text is verse 3. From the rising of the sun to the going down, The Lord's name is to be praised. All the people of the earth are to praise the Lord. And yet, most of the people on the earth don't know the Lord. But there is an obligation.
He is worthy of praise. He is to be praised from. The farthest east to the farthest west, and we could throw in north and south in all the world. And that praise, which obviously begins with the people of God, those who do know Him, praise Him, you servants of the Lord. Expands in some way to all the peoples of the earth.
There is a requirement that all shall praise him, but how shall they praise him whom they do not know? How shall they praise him that they have never heard the truth about? And yet, it is a fact. He is to be praised. He will be praised in all the earth.
Eventually, in some way, All the world. will join the chorus of praise. And the implication for that is that those who know him must make him known. Those who know him must proclaim him to the world, Those who know him now must proclaim him that all may come to know him. that all may praise him.
And that brings me, therefore, to the applications, which are pretty evident at this point.
Okay. But it's simply this, some must go. to make him known. There are places in this world where he is not known. And so there are some called of God.
Prepared by God, Commissioned by God. and sent by God but also all of this in cooperation with the people of God.
Some must go to make him known.
Some must stand behind those who go. Remember William Carey? He said, Okay, I'll go to India to the people of that day. That was like I guess going to Mars. I mean, it was so foreign to their existence and understanding.
But Carrie said there are people there who need the Lord and. If you'll hold the ropes, I'll go down. It was like going down into the well.
Somebody had to go down there. Carrie said, I'll do it. If you'll hold the ropes. I'll go. If you'll stand behind me.
And so, in all of these areas, I don't have time to deal with all of them. but in the call to go and in the preparation to go and in the commissioning to go. And in the sending to go, all of God's people are involved with this. God doesn't call everybody to go. In years gone by, heard missionaries and missions emphases say The call of the Great Commission is for everybody to go.
You can only stay if you have a special call not to go. No, that's not what it's saying when it says, Go ye into all the world. The actual language is: as you are going into all the world, Make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Some of that is just as God moves you around from place to place. You have a mandate there. To be a witness for the Lord. And as God calls you to go to special places, you have a mandate to go. As you are going into all the world, but it's obvious if from the rising of the sun till the going down of the same, his name is going to be praised, and somebody's got to go where his name is not now praised.
and tell those people about him. And about his greatness and his graciousness. How high and lofty he is. and how loving and kind and tender. And saving he is in the giving of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And finally, some must give. financially that others may go. financial support to do this. And that's why in our church We have a system so that everybody can participate at whatever level. When you give to the general fund of the church, when you give your tithes, or just give to the general fund, 10% goes immediately at the end of every month into the emissions account.
You can't give to the ministry of Beacon Baptist Church without giving to missions. But years ago, we decided that if God would help us, we would like to do more. 10% of our Total income was a nice What was that? A nice amount, a nice beginning, but we felt like we wanted to do more. And so we launched into this faith promise.
Program To allow people to have a vehicle by which people could give more, and it's turned out to be a wonderful thing. And the faith promise is an additional giving on top of the 10% of the general fund. It expands our involvement. And for those who desire to give more, here's... the vehicle to do that.
To those who desire to learn to give more, than you're learning now. Then you're giving now. You know you need to learn to give more. This is a. Very well-planned program to help you do that in baby steps, a little bit at a time.
I would suggest, if you're not now tithing, Just make that your goal. By God's help and grace, I'm going to tithe. If I can't get all the way there this year, I'm going to get farther this year than I did last year and trust the Lord until I get to that place. Wonderful. But then, don't stop there.
I wish I could explain to you, and some of you could give testimony to this. I wish I could explain to you. How that those who really get into this concept With a desire to honor and glorify God. get so much more blessing from him in return. That it really is true you can't out give good.
Those Who sows sparingly, reap sparingly. That's talking about giving. It's in two whole chapters about giving. Those who sow sparingly reap also sparingly. But those who sow bountifully reap also bountifully.
That's God's promise. Do you want to reap bountifully? And so Bountifully. And if you're not ready, To go from one acre to a thousand acres in one year. I doubt that you are, I wouldn't recommend it.
Go from one acre To two acres, or one acre to one and a half acres in one year. And just keep sow a little bit more, a little bit more. See what God will do. It's a pact. Between you and God.
God, I'm doing this because I believe this is what your word indicates, and there are promises to encourage me to do that. I'm not quite sure. how this is all going to work out, but I'm going to trust you and See what happens. And I wish I could tell you. I can't tell you in detail what God's going to do in your life, but I can sure tell you what God's done in the lives of some people, and it's astonishing.
So? Mm-hmm.
