Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world.
so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church. Located in Kernersville, North Carolina. I wanted to show you, Brother John has these pictures. One of the churches that you voted to take on for support that we purchased the electric piano for that I purchased by faith and you voted to do it after I got back.
Thank God or it would have cost me $1,500. But this, they just sent me last week. This says, I want you to see the amount of people they cram. into this room. Ederic sends me a picture every Sunday.
and because we are personally investing in this church.
Now I understand this pastor lives on about $85 a month. And we're supporting them an extra hundred a month. They're blown away by our generosity. And this was there. And so today I met a pastor when I was over there.
His name is Sonny, let me see. Bundia, I think that's how I say it. Do you know Sonny? Randy, you know Sonny.
Okay.
So I met Sonny.
Sonny's a pastor, a Filipino pastor.
Sonny. is on dialysis. I think he's up to five times a week now. And I think recently it's now every day.
Now listen, this morning he is preaching for Ederick. Ederick said that, Sonny, if you'll come preach for me, I will buy speakers. for your church. Our church is giving to Ederick's church. And Ederic has taken what little extra money they have now, and he's buying speakers for another church.
In the Philippines.
Okay.
And so Sonny has come to preach there today, and he has to take the analysis before he preaches.
So here they are in this one-room church and Edric, that's the pastor that's standing up that you and I support. He is holding the dialysis bag for Sonny, and Sonny's doing it this morning so he can have enough energy to preach at Edric's service. Anybody else got an excuse? You know.
Now Sonny is praying. I think he has now made it to the list. He is praying for a kidney donor. And he is praying for a million pesos, which is $20,000. He's going to have to pay to have this kidney transplant.
And so he's praying by faith. But I just want you to see.
Now, here's a man. has every excuse. And just not to even come to church. Let alone come preach at church. And yet he's bringing dialysis with him.
so he can serve God. It's just a reminder why your faith, promise, grace, missions, giving is so important. important. And I want you to know that already the churches you're giving to are trying to give to others. That's how giving these Filipino people are.
Faith, promise, grace, missions, giving. Let me explain just to give you a couple of statements, not going to be long today. Faith promise giving is a biblical method of giving money. To support world missions.
Now, I'm going to make some statements. It's going to be on the screen because many of you, this is new.
Some of you are like, well, preacher, we know some of this.
Well, many doesn't. I want everybody to be on the same page on this, okay?
So when we say faith, promise, grace, missions, giving, this is a way that our church supports world missions. We don't just Pick a budget item. You control. how much we're able to support missions. Your faith, promise, grace, missions, giving is not for us.
It goes straight to missions.
Now, we believe that, I believe biblically that you and I should tithe out of the first fruits of our income. That is to the local church. The Bible makes that very clear. And I have people say, well, that's an Old Testament principle. You're absolutely right.
It is an Old Testament principle. Under law, they gave 10%. We're under grace now, so it should be way more than 10%. I will tell you what doesn't change, the percentage you might think, but let me tell you the principle doesn't change in Scripture. We're to honor God out of the first fruits of what we get.
Now, I know it's mean because you say, well, preacher, you're trying to talk people into faith, promise, grace, missions giving that don't even tithe. Faith, promise, missions, grace giving should be above your tithe.
Some of you are like preacher. This is a miracle that I even tithed.
Now you want me to give more. Oh, no, no, no. I don't want you to give more. God asked you to.
Now, I want to show you the scriptural principle because you can personally invest. Let me just put it this way: let's just say God lays on your heart that you're going to commit $100 a month above your tithe to faith, promise, grace, missions giving. That is an entire missionary we can take on for support. You can make that kind of difference. I just want you to understand that, okay?
Statement number two is this: faith, promise, giving is simply a promise. To give a certain amount of money on a consistent basis over and above your tithe. You need to understand what this means. I'm going to show you the scripture for it, but I want you to understand what this actually is: it is a commitment. or a vow that we personally make to the Lord Jesus Christ through his local church.
Everybody understand that? Christ operates through his local church.
Now notice this. We make a commitment by faith. And we trust God's grace. to provide the need. for that commitment.
This is a way for you to engage your faith. The Bible says, without faith, it's impossible to please God. If you just budget your giving out of the excess that you have, that doesn't require faith. Faith is, God, what do you want me to give above the resources you're in that? This is above, hey, preacher, I have a salary and I tithe off this salary so much and I give to the church.
That's what we believe is reasonable service. And trust me, nobody's getting wealthy here, but it keeps the church, everything that we do through the church that obviously supports that. But faith means that these are my resources. This is how I tithe. But I believe God has laid an amount on my heart that I can give above my tithe each month, once, or four times a year, or one time in the year, whatever.
And I believe that God is going to miraculously provide that for me to give. Everybody understand that. Say amen. I just want you to understand, you don't have to agree or accept the challenge yet. You just need to understand what it means.
Faith, promise, grace, giving. Elevates the church's missions program to a place of prominence. It's not just another thing. The missions program at a church should be prominent. It should be at the top.
Listen, because the Great Commission deserves. that the missions program is the priority. God has given us the great commission. If you at least agree with that, say amen. Go ye into all the world.
Preacher, how can I go into all the world? I can't be here and there at the same time.
Well, while you're here, your money can be there. Everybody got that.
So the only way, listen to me. Hey, Kerwin, listen to me. The only way you can possibly fulfill the great commission is to give admissions. Yes. Or you would have to be able to be at 10,000 places at one time, or you're saying, God, you asked me to do something that I can't do.
The only way that we can go into all the world. is either in our body or through support of those that do. And you're to work through your church here. And we all are to jump in through our giving the resources that God has given. By faith, we are to send people to the places in the world that we can't be at.
It's a way that we fulfill the great commission. Let me say this: faith promised grace giving, what it does in a church, and this is what we found here: it fosters a more direct and personal connection between the church, members, and missions.
Now, when I first came here, most people hadn't even met many of our missionaries unless they were missionaries that at one point had gone to our church, came out of our church. And now, listen, through missions conferences and things, you know, people are getting to know our missionaries. Many people connect with them, keep up with them, and these different things. This is why we do missions conference. We want you to meet some new missionaries that we're taking on.
We want you to get to know the some missionaries that we already have on support. We're doing updates each, you know, each service this month. We want you to know their faces. We want you to know who they are. We don't want this just to be, oh, that's on no budget.
We want you to know how to pray for them. This is a personal thing. And when you personally invest in missions, it makes you interested. Why? Because the Bible says where your treasure is.
There will your heart be also. You're like, well, preacher, I'm already given treasure here. I understand. Your heart should be here. But guess what?
Our heart shouldn't just be at this church or in this area. Our heart is to fulfill the great commission. And the way our heart gets there is through. giving.
Alright. Let me just say this. I'm going to give you the meat and we'll let you go. I have found that since we really got involved in Faith Promise, our members are more eager to participate in missions-related things and conferences. We have missions trips of planned that we want to start doing regular missions trips each year, not just with our teens, with our men, with couples, with our whole church.
This is where we're going. And this is something that's always been on my heart, but you have to grow one step at a time. Listen, I can't take a whole church on missions trips if we're not even giving to missions.
So we gotta start with faith promise, and we've done that. Our missions program has grown. And so now we wanna begin to have a heart where not only we're giving, but we're going. But it's got to start giving first or we can't afford to go. Everybody understand it?
Okay.
And I believe that when a church is mission-minded, more young people will surrender the mission field. All right, let me ask you something. Have you ever said to yourself, any of you ever said to yourself this? If I only had the money. I would love to give thousands of dollars to the needs of missionaries all over the world.
Have you ever thought that? And sometimes you hear a missionary or you hear a mission story, whatever, and you've ever thought, I wish I had thousands of dollars to send to missionaries all over the world. Although you might not have those resources right now, listen to me, God does have those resources. Although you don't personally control some of those resources, God does. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
Now listen to me. Please get this. All God wants is for us to be the channel. through which he gets those resources. to the ones that need it.
We're to be a conduit, okay? God is not willing, the Bible says, that any should perish.
So he has a plan for the world to be evangelized, and it is through the local church. Yeah. Let me give you the best definition I think I've ever heard of faith promise missions. And I want you to see this today, okay? Brother Don's gonna put it up.
A faith promise offering. is money that God will give through you which he might have never given to you. If he saw He could not trust you. to pass it on. Look at me.
Please get me this morning. What we're asking is for you, biblically, I'm going to show you the verses here in a minute, by faith to say, God, what do you want me to commit above what I'm able to do? And I'm going to trust by your grace. that you're gonna provide this. Faith promise giving means that there is money.
that God might not ever give to you just to go waste. but he will give it through you if you exercise by faith to get to missions. A lot of people say, well, if I commit to this, I'm giving my money. No, no, it's not your money. When you're committing by faith to do this, it means I am asking God to give money that He wasn't probably going to even give me, but He'll give it through me now because He knows where I'm going to put it.
This will open up a door to your walk with Christ that you've never experienced if you've never done this. If you've never been involved in faith promise missions giving. You don't understand the faith that's involved, and you don't understand when God miraculously provides it. And you follow that commitment. And here's what I have found: most people that commit a certain amount during the year or during the month or whatever it is, I have found that God normally provides enough that they're able to do more than they've even committed.
Because God is an over and above. God. He rewards. faith. 2 Corinthians 8, where we just read, this is one of many.
Faith, promise, grace, missions, giving. Passages, but this is one that really has the most in a concise area that I want to give you the principles today. You say, Preacher, this is a little bit different on a Sunday morning. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. There's a lot of things I can preach on this Sunday morning.
This can change your life. Yeah. can change your entire life. And we have enough people at this church now. Listen to me, we have quadrupled our missions.
But if some of you get involved in this that have not been involved in this, there's no telling. what our church Can do. My goal as a pastor, I've always told you, is that somehow, someway, eventually, we're going to have a missionary in every one of these flags. That we as a church are going to diversify, and we're going to be able to support somebody from every one of these countries. That's our goal.
Okay?
Now, let me give you principle number one. It's in chapter 8, verse 5. You're open to it. And the verses will be on the screen for you. The principle number one is this: the prerequisite is that we first give ourselves To the Lord.
Before you can commit to faith, promise, grace, missions, giving, before you give money, you've got to give yourself.
Okay, look at verse 5. 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.
Now listen, Paul is literally writing to the Corinthians here and they had made a commitment to help a group of people, but now he was worried they were going to slack on this commitment.
So he's writing to them and he notes the churches at Macedonia. And he tells the church at Corinth, these churches at Macedonia, they went through great trial, great affliction, they had great poverty, and yet, even in their poverty, they by faith gave and supported and helped. And this is what he said. It starts with first giving yourself. Notice this, and unto us.
So notice this verse. They gave theirselves to the Lord first. and unto us. They helped us financially. Picture, if you would, a missionary on a foreign field saying this verse to you.
You gave yourselves to the Lord first, which is why now you're willing to give missions money to my mission. Everybody understand that? Before we can give to missions, we've got to give ourselves to the Lord. Let me put, without this step, you won't do the rest of the steps. If you don't do this, you won't do the rest of it.
Most Christians never make it past this step.
Now listen to me, if God gets you, then he gets your body. If God gets you, then he gets your time. If God gets you, then He gets your talent. If God gets you, then He gets your wallet. But many times we're trying to give him stuff, and we've never really given ourselves to him.
And that's what I'm challenging you with today. Listen, it's not just that people are not answering the call to the mission field. God can't even get his people that won't go to the mission field to even give. to those that are going to the mission field. I mean, it's hard enough for God to get somebody to surrender to go.
God can't even get his people to support those that will go.
So, you got to first give yourself to the Lord. Principle number two: look at chapter nine, verse seven. The verses are up on the screen for you. The attitude of our giving must be cheerful. Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver.
No, listen. I've heard preachers say, listen, God wants a cheerful giver, but he'll take it from a grouch. Maybe so. I don't know. But I'll be honest with you.
Nobody ought to be grouchy. about giving to the Lord who saved you. Faith promise missions giving is not a guilt driven program. We're not even going to know your name. Faith, promise, missions, grace, giving is about you.
being cheerful. to give back to God. Notice principle number three. Our willingness to give demonstrates our desire to further the work of God. You can say, I want God's work to go further.
You can say, I want the gospel to get to the world. You can say, I believe everybody ought to have a chance to be saved. But you show it by your action.
Okay, look at chapter 8, verse 3. For to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, notice this, they were willing. Of themselves, willing. Look at verse 8: I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others. And to notice this, to prove the sincerity of your love.
The way you've given proves that you're sincere. about your love to Christ. Look at verse 12. For if there first be a, here we go, willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath. And not according to that he hath not.
You say, preacher, I don't know how I could get extra. Listen, I'm not saying how much. That's between you and God, how much, but I believe that every person can do something, and every person should do something. God says it's not about how much, it's about your heart. It's about that.
Okay?
Look at chapter 9, verse 7. Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give not grudgingly or of necessity. But God loveth the cheerful giver.
Okay, number principle number four. Our giving demonstrates our debt of gratitude. For all that Christ has done for us. This chapter teaches these principles. The way that the churches of Macedonia gave proved that they were grateful.
For what God had done. Look at verse 8, chapter 8. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others. Notice this, 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 he through his poverty might be rich.
What did he say? They gave sacrificially, and they did it to show how grateful they were to God because God gave everything to us, and everything we have, He gave to us. And so we want to show our gratitude to God by giving back. You show me a Christian that doesn't give. I don't give offerings.
I don't whatever. I don't believe in it. You can say whatever you want, but that shows you don't love Christ. I didn't say it. He said it.
It's biblical. That's how you show the sincerity of your love. By giving to God.
Okay, I'm not saying that you don't love God if you don't. participate in faith promise missions. I'm saying if you don't give it all, And I've met him. They don't give it all.
Now they show up, enjoy the air conditioning, enjoy the toilets. They enjoy everything else we have to offer. They'll take a free pumpkin today. But they don't ever give one thing to the church, but they're gonna complain about ten things Let me tell you something. God says, listen, if you want to prove you love me.
You prove it. By your action.
Okay.
Principle number five, now get this. And by the way, I don't even think I read all the verses. Notice, look at chapter 8, verse 24. I need to show you that one. Wherefore, show ye to them and before the churches, notice.
The proof. of your love. The proof of your love. and of our boasting on your behalf. The proof of your love.
Wow. I want you to notice, number five, God promises the power to abound. In giving, just as he promises the power to abound in other graces. Please get this. Now, look at this verse.
Now, you've got to get this.
Now we're cooking with peanut oil here.
Now, listen to this. Therefore, as ye abound in everything, why do we abound in everything? Because Christ makes us abound in everything. Are you with me? Everything we have, everything we do is through Christ.
Notice what he says. In everything, in faith. Listen, we abound in faith because He helps us. In utterance, because He helps us. Notice this.
In knowledge, because He teaches us, and in all diligence, because He strengthens us, and in Your love to us. Us. Why do we love? Because he first loved us. Notice what it says: see that ye abound in this grace also.
What grace? Yeah. The churches of Macedonia were in poverty, but they were still giving. God says, Listen, I can make that happen by my grace. Just like my grace helps your faith, helps your work, helps your diligence, helps your knowledge, every area of your life.
Even in our giving, it is dependent upon the grace of God. Number six. Faith giving allows believers to give beyond their power. to the cause. of world missions.
Now this is big. Look at verse 2. How that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty, notice this. abounded. Instead of making them depressed, In their deep poverty and all the things they were going through, notice this, abounded under the riches of their liberality, they became more generous.
The less they had, the more they gave. What? Notice this. For to their power I bear record. In other words, they're good people and they work hard.
Notice this. and beyond their power. They were willing of themselves. What does this mean? It means God is able to allow you to give beyond what you're able to do.
You can look at your budget and say, How can I do more for missions? What we're saying is, by faith in God's grace. We believe God can make that happen. You say, What do you mean? Let me ask you a question.
How can you give beyond the limits of your own resources?
Now, this says that they were able to give beyond the limits of their resources. How can you, sitting here at Kirwan, how can you give beyond the limits of your resources? I mean, all you have is what you have.
So how can you give more than that? The only way is through faith promise. It's the only way. The only way is by praying. God, you lay on my heart.
This is what I believe you want to do through me. And I'm going to make this commitment. And the church is going to establish a missions budget off of that. And we're going to start taking on missionaries and supporting missionaries. And God, I believe that this is what you've laid on my heart.
And I believe that you're able to let me somehow give beyond my power. If I give out of what I see, I have, that's one thing. But I'm saying I can give beyond what I see. Through faith. And that'll change your Christian life.
Number seven. We are to give out of our need rather than out of our excess. Faith promised missions giving isn't just about, well, I'm going to give out of the excess money I have. Most of us don't have excess money. Listen, my kid's been in the hospital a total of six, seven weeks in just a matter of months.
Let me tell you something, I got no excess money right now. Most of you don't have excess money. But these people did not give out of their excess. They gave out of their need. They had nothing and then got even more poor in poverty, and yet they gave more.
How could they do that? Through God. Through grace. That's the whole principle.
Okay.
Look at chapter 8, verse 2. How that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. This is how God's word defines sacrificial giving. when you give out of need. not just give out of excess.
Okay.
Look at number eight. We're almost done. No one is exempt. from Faith Promise Giving. You're like, preacher, this isn't for me.
Well, personally, I'm not the one that's asked you to. Right. But I want you to look at verse 7. Therefore, as ye abound in everything. In faith, in utterance, knowledge, diligence, and your love to us.
So, God's done all the rest of this stuff for you. C that ye pray about abounding in this grace too. See that you consider. Getting involved in this grace to give. No, no, no, no.
He says, see that you abound in this grace also. God expects everyone to. to give this way. Because God said you can't please him without faith. Number nine.
We will never reap. Unless we sew.
Now, chapter 9, verse 6, look at this principle. He says, But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Hey, you want to reap in your life? You're going to have to sow. You don't sow, you're not going to reap.
I don't know about you. I want our church to reap. We have enough resources here now. We can reap. We can make a big difference.
Listen, I'm just showing you a couple of churches we made a huge difference in. Right. And we didn't even scratch the surface. There's such a great need out there. Listen, our missionary is Pat and Vicki.
This is the only established church with the building in the entire country of Iceland. and the 1300 year history. This is in our lap. Listen, we can reap. Yeah.
But we're going to have to sell. Let me give you this last one. God's grace is only limited by our faith. God's grace is only limited by our lack of faith. Look at verse 8.
And God, this is the whole principle of everything. God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always having sufficiency in all things may abound, grow. Too f The greatest news that anyone can receive is the news of the free gift of salvation found in Jesus Christ. It is our desire for you to know him personally. Would you take a moment to hear this today?
Every man is born with the sin nature, Romans 3.23 says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. No matter how hard we try, We're not good enough to obtain God's glory. or to get to heaven. Because of that, sin carries the penalty of death. Romans 6.23 says, For the wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of our sin, or the payment of our sin, only equals death and separation from God. But it's only through God's Gift. salvation through Jesus Christ that we can accept him as our Saviour. Jesus Christ paid for your sin debt.
The Bible says in Romans 5:8, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. All you have to do is receive Christ. by faith as your Saviour. Romans ten nine says That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Verse 13 continues, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
It's as simple as admitting that you're a sinner believing that Jesus is the only way. and calling upon his name. Bible says whosoever, that's any one. can call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Have you accepted Christ as your personal Savior?
There is no greater day than today to take care of this. Would you accept Christ as your Savior? If you have any questions, please give us a call at 336-993-5192 or visit our website at Curlin Baptist Church. Dot com. or visits that person at one of our three service times.
We hope you have a great rest of your day. God bless you. Mm-hmm.
