["Pomp and Circumstance"]
You
Good morning and welcome. Let's find our seats taker song 167
One six seven
167 this morning sing it out on the first
Oh
Amen good morning. We want to welcome you to verity baptist church this morning. We're glad you're with us
We have a wonderful service lined up for you, of course today and tonight
And we want to begin the service with a word of prayer
So let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer heavenly father lord
We do thank you and we allow you
We thank you for allowing us to be able to gather together lord
We pray that you would bless the service today the preaching the fellowship the music
But we ask that you would meet with us that you speak to our hearts in jesus name. We pray. Amen
Turn to song 215
Two one five
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul 215. Let's sing it out on the first
Oh
Today
Just
Okay
Where
Is
Me
Is
Me
Today
Is
Amen, all right. Well, let's take our bulletins this morning
We'll go through some announcements real quickly
If you do not have a bulletin just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you
if you need a bulletin just put your hand up and we will
Get one for you the verse this week first chronicles 29 14
But who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort?
For all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee and that's a good verse there
We like that if you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time sunday morning service 10 30 a.m
We're glad you're with us on sunday morning. Of course on the lord's day for church
We do invite you to be back tonight at 6 p.m
For the evening service the evening service is different than the morning service different songs that are sung different sermon that's preached
Just one more opportunity to be in god's house with god's people under the preaching of the word of god
And of course, we'd love you to join us tonight for the sunday night service
And then of course our wednesday evening bible study at 7 p.m
And it's our midweek service. We call it the most encouraging service of the week and
You can be back in church and in our bible study at 7 p.m
on wednesday night
If you look at our so many times our main so many times on saturday mornings at 10 a.m
And then we have additional so many times on thursdays fridays and sundays at 2 p.m
So we'd love for you to join us for any of those if you're a first-time guest
We're glad you're with us
We have a gift we'd like to give you as you walk out of the church building this morning as you go through the foyer
You'll see a little table set up
And on that table, you'll see these little gift bags
Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest this morning
And we also ask if you're a first-time guest
That you fill out the communication card, which is inserted in your bulletin
If you need a pen just raise your hand one of our ushers can bring you by a pen
We'd love to have a record of your attendance. We'd like to
Also send you a little gift, but we need your info to do that
So please take a moment to fill the card out when we're done with the announcements
We're going to sing a song when we're done singing
We're going to receive the offering and as the offering plate goes by you can drop this card in the offering plate
If you look at the announcements there, we of course are a family integrated church
What that means is that children and infants are always welcome in the church service
We do not separate children from their parents for any reason
However, we do have mother baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience
All of the rooms have comfortable seating. They've got monitors set up so you can watch the service and listen to it
So if you have a child that's been distracting during the service or if you need some privacy
We would encourage you to use those rooms as needed if you need to be baptized
Please let us know we'd love to baptize you and you can let us know on your communication card on the back of the card
There's a place for you to check off that you'd like information about baptism and we'll follow up with you
In regards to that if you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course
The big announcement we have right now is the vision offering and our vision offering is a special offering
We take every spring here at verity baptist church
And it allows us to do some special things and our vision offering is next sunday march 26
So we want you to be thinking about praying about it
Um, we've got a lot of information there in the bulletin for you
You'll see the goals the things we're saving money for raising money for and then the giving opportunities how you can give
I'm, not going to go into all these details right now
Because we'll talk about it a little later on in the in the service
We're actually going to show a video after the offerings that'll explain the vision offering and all those things. So be ready for that
After we receive the offering if you continue there in the announcements, of course
We have the lord's supper coming up and easter is just all right around the corner
So we want you to be aware of that first of all the lord's supper
And we partake of the lord's supper here at verity baptist church once a year and we do it the wednesday before easter
And it's always a very special service and I want to encourage you to just save the date put on your calendar
Even if you don't normally come to church on wednesday nights
we would encourage you to make the effort to be here on this wednesday night and the lord's supper is one of the
Ordinances that god the bible has given us to do like baptism is something that believers should partake in
And we want to encourage you to be a part of it on wednesday april 5th at 7 p.m
And then of course the following sunday april 9th is easter sunday. You should have one of these cards
I realize you've got a lot of stuff in your bulletin
You've got stuff regarding the vision offering there's a card and a commitment card and an envelope and we'll talk about those things
Uh here in a little bit
But uh, you should have one of these easter cards in the bulletin as well
And we want to just encourage you to be thinking about easter
Make sure you're in church on easter sunday
and then we want you to be thinking about who you could invite to church on easter the
The the easiest service to invite somebody to church is on easter service and you might have a co-worker or friend
Or a neighbor or someone you've been thinking about inviting to church and I want to encourage you to use this easter card
To invite them to church and bring them to church on easter sunday
Of course, there's choir practice at 5 p.m
Today and the choir is practicing for easter upcoming cleaning crew. You can check for your name there
There's other things there for you to look at
Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service that they're not a distraction to anybody
And if you look at the back of the bulletin birthdays and anniversaries
For the month of march this week. We have one birthday zuri02. She has a birthday on march 23rd
Praise report money matters all those things are there
for you to look at
And I would ask that you would be in prayer of course for our church family
And it looks like we've got a little bit of a sickness going around
It seems to only be affecting the little ones the children
But we've got a couple families out. My wife had to stay home actually with one of our daughters. I wasn't feeling well
So just be in prayer for the kids that they all get better soon
And of course we're going to go ahead and sing the course of the week and we're going to receive the offering
And then we've got a video we want to show you so just be ready for that
Let's go ahead and take the chorus of the week and we'll sing I
Stand amazed as we prepare to receive the offering this morning sing it out on the first
when I examine
That old rugged cross
The mighty gold
Brings
The love
Me
On the second
Oh
Me
Amen good singing we'll have the guys come up and help us
With the offering at this time
And then we will go ahead and get set up
Uh to watch a video here about our upcoming vision offering. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly father
Lord, we do. Thank you for allowing us to gather today. Lord
We pray that you bless the offering the gift and the giver and lord
We do pray for this upcoming vision offering that you would work in the hearts of our church people
That we would all be willing to give to sacrifice to stretch ourselves
To partake in this special offering in jesus name. We pray amen
So
Me
So
Hi, this is pastor roger Jimenez from verity baptist church in sacramento california i'm making a video for our church family
And for all of our friends out there who generously support our ministry financially
First of all, let me begin by saying thank you
The lord has allowed us to do some great things here at verity baptist church
And much of that has to do with the fact that you support our ministry and we appreciate that
I'm making a video to let you know about our upcoming vision offering
Our vision offering is a special offering that we take here at verity baptist church every spring
And it allows us to do some special things and accomplish some things that we believe the lord has laid on our hearts as a vision
For our church our vision offering this year is scheduled for sunday, march 26
And i'd like to let you know about some of the things that we are raising money for at this year's vision offering first
Our biggest goal is to continue to save money towards the down payment of a future building
As many of you know churches like ours will often have problems with landlords
Who fight against us because of the positions of our church we ourselves at verity baptist church
Have had issues with our landlords in the past after we had protests and sermons went viral for that reason
We've decided that we would like to purchase our own building over the last several years
We have faithfully put away towards the down payment of a future building and this vision offering
Like other vision offerings is going to help us to get closer to that goal
Secondly, we're going to continue to support our missions work
We're going to support our church satellites in the philippines in manila pampanga and bicole
And we're going to continue to support our missionaries
Our evangelist brother matthew stuckey who's doing a great job in the philippines
And also our other missionary support in the philippines
Dave kabuntala lastly the vision offering is going to go towards helping us host the eighth annual
Red hot preaching conference. The red hot preaching conference is an amazing event every year where we bring in preachers from the new ifb
And people come from all over the country and different parts of the world to be part of this conference
Of course
Every conference has expenses associated with it and the vision offering allows us to put on the red hot preaching conference every year
Last year. I set a big goal for the vision offering. I asked our church family to raise
100,000 in one special offering and our church family along with those of you who support our ministry financially online
Blew that goal out of the water
This year i'm asking the lord to help us do it again
I'm asking you to consider participating in the vision offering and helping us raise a hundred thousand dollars in this year's
Vision offering if you would like to participate in this year's vision offering and you're part of the verdi baptist church family
You can of course bring a one-time offering on the day of the vision offering which is sunday, march 26
You can also if you prefer make a commitment to give towards the vision offering over the next three months
You can commit to give in april in may or june or commit to give at all three months
And of course if you'd like you can do both you can give it a one-time offering on the day of the vision offering
And make a commitment towards the next several months if you're not part of our church family
But you'd like to participate in this year's vision offering you can do that a couple of ways
First you can go to our website verdi baptist.com hit the donate now button and you're able to give online through our website
If you give online
Please make sure to write vision offering in the memo so that we know that this donation is going towards this year's vision offering
If you'd like to mail in a check you can do that at our address 320 harris avenue suite a
sacramental california
95838 I appreciate you taking the time to watch this video and I simply ask that you would pray and consider
Whether the lord would have you to participate in this year's vision offering. Thanks for watching
So
You
I
14
If you do not have a bible, please raise your hand and an usher will bring you one exodus chapter 14
We will read the entire chapter as our custom
Exodus chapter 14
Just keep your hands up and an usher will bring you a bible
Exodus 14 the bible reads and the lord spake unto moses saying
speak unto the children of israel that they turn and encamp before pi haraweth between migdal and the sea
over against bales ephon
Before it shall ye encamp by the sea
For pharaoh will say of the children of israel
They are entangled in the land the wilderness hath shut them in
And I will harden pharaoh's heart that he shall follow after them
And I will be honored upon pharaoh and upon all his hosts that the egyptians may know that I am the lord
And they did so
And it was told the king of egypt that the people fled
And the heart of pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people and they said why have we done this?
That we have let israel go from serving us
And he made ready his chariot and took his people with him
And he took 600 chosen chariots and all the chariots of egypt and captains over every one of them
And the lord hardened the heart of pharaoh king of egypt and he pursued after the children of israel
And the children of israel went out with a high hand
But the egyptians pursued after them all the horses and chariots of pharaoh and his horsemen and his army
And overtook them in camping by the sea beside pi
Heiroth
before bale zephon
and when pharaoh drew nigh the children of israel lifted up their eyes and
behold
The egyptians marched after them and they were so afraid and the children of israel cried out unto the lord and they said unto moses
Because there were no graves in egypt has thou taken us away to die in the wilderness
Wherefore has thou dealt thus with us to carry us forth out of egypt
Is not this the word that we did tell thee in egypt saying let us alone that we may serve the egyptians
For it had been better for us to serve the egyptians than that. We should die in the wilderness
And moses said unto the people fear ye not
Stand still and see the salvation of the lord, which he will show to you today
For the egyptians whom ye have seen today. Ye shall see them again no more forever
The lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace
And the lord said unto moses wherefore cryest thou unto me speak unto the children of israel that they go forward
But lift thou up thy rod and stretch out that hand over the sea
And divide it
And the children of israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea
And I behold I will harden the hearts of the egyptians and they shall follow them
And I will get me honor upon pharaoh and upon all his hosts upon his chariots and upon his horsemen
And the egyptians shall know that I am the lord when I have gotten me honor upon pharaoh upon his chariots and upon his horsemen
And the angel of god which went before the camp of israel
Removed and went behind them and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face
And stood behind them and it came between the camp of the egyptians and the camp of israel
And it was a cloud and darkness to them
But it gave light by night to these so that the one came not near the other all the night
And moses stretched out his hand over the sea
And the lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night and made the sea dry land
And the waters were divided and the children of israel went unto the midst of the sea upon the dry ground
And the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left
And the egyptians pursued and went in after them to the midst of the sea even all pharaoh's horses his chariots and his horsemen
And it came to pass that in the morning watch the lord looked unto the host of the egyptians through the pillar of fire
and of the cloud
And troubled the host of the egyptians and took off their chariot wheels that they draped them heavily so that the egyptians said
Let us flee from the face of israel the lord fighted for them against the egyptians and the lord said unto moses
Stretch out that hand over the sea that the waters may come again upon the egyptians upon their chariots and upon their horsemen
And moses stretched forth his hand over the sea and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared
And the egyptians fled against it and the lord overthrew the egyptians in the midst of the sea
And the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the hosts of pharaoh that came into the sea after them
There remained not so much as one of them
But the children of israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea
And the waters were wall unto them on their right hand and on their left
Thus the lord saved israel that day out of the hand of the egyptians
And israel saw the egyptians dead upon the seashore
And israel saw that great work which the lord did upon the egyptians
And the people feared the lord and believed the lord and his servant moses. Let us pray
Father god, thank you for this day. Thank you for this opportunity to come together
Please bless the message bless pastor. Let it bring glory and honor to you in the name of jesus christ. I pray amen
Amen
All right, we're there in numbers chapter 14
And uh this morning, of course i'm preaching a special
sermon and I i'm
Entitling the sermon do it again lord. I want to speak on the subject of
Something that you may or may not have noticed in the bible
It's a characteristic of god that you may have seen in scripture. You maybe you haven't but it is god's
ability to perform a great work to do
Uh an amazing thing and then his willingness to do it again
And you'll see throughout the bible if you haven't seen it already
You'll see it lord willing by the end of the sermon that god is always able and willing to
Do great works once and again and I want to begin this morning here in excess chapter 14
And I want to use this miracle in excess 14 as an example
And when you talk about miracles in the bible, obviously the bible is full of accounts of miracles
And many miracles are famous and well known one of the most famous miracles in the bible and for sure
Probably the most famous miracle in the old testament is the miracle of the parting of the red sea
And that's what we read about here in excess chapter 14
And I want you to look down at verse number nine excess chapter 14 and verse 9
Notice what the bible says, but the bible says but the egyptians pursued after them and this is of course after
The 10 plagues of egypt moses has successfully delivered the children of israel out of egypt
They have came out of egypt
But pharaoh had a change of heart and decided to pursue
After the children of israel verse 9 and the egyptians pursued after them
All the horses and chariots of pharaoh and his horsemen and his army and overtook them in camping by the sea beside
pihai high rock before baal ziphon
So of course when you get the picture here the children of israel have came out of egypt
They have left egypt after being in bondage for hundreds of years
And now they are encamped by the sea as they left egypt
They came across this natural barrier, which is the red sea. Of course, the the the sea was in their way
And as they are encamped by the sea the egyptians decide to pursue after them look down at verse 10 and when pharaoh
And when pharaoh drew nigh the children of israel lifted up their eyes and behold egyptians marched after them
And they were so afraid and the children of israel cried out
Unto the lord and we could go through a lot of different things here in the story
I'm, not specifically preaching on this story this morning
But let's just skip some of this and look down at verse 15
And the lord said unto moses wherefore christ that one to me speak unto the children of israel and I love this little phrase
He says that they go forward and it's interesting because god tells moses. Why are you crying out to me?
Why are you praying about this? He said tell the children of israel to go forward
And I just think that's kind of interesting and maybe a little funny because of the fact that right before them is the red sea
I mean right before them is this huge body of water and god is telling them just tell them to go forward look at verse 16
He says but lift thou up thy rod and stretch out thine hand over the sea and divide it
And the children of israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea look verse 21
And moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind
All that night and made the sea
Dry land and the waters were divided and the children of israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground
and the waters were
A wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. And of course, this is a well-known miracle
You've heard the story of the parting of the red sea and it's an amazing
Event that took place the children of israel coming out of bondage up against the red sea. They are
Entangled in the wilderness pharaoh is coming after them to bring them back into egypt and god miraculously
parts the red sea moses stretched out his hand and his rod over the sea and it divided the bible says that the sea
Divided and they went through on dry ground
It says that the waters were a wall on either side
So a pathway was literally divided through the red sea with dry ground on which they walked on
And they walked over to the other side look at verse 29
But the children of israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea and the waters were a wall unto them
On their right hand and on their left and again i'm not going to take the time to go through the whole story
But you know that pharaoh decides to pursue after them into the red sea
God keeps the sea open and for whatever reason because of the fact that he's a reprobate pharaoh decides to take his entire army
Through the pathway as well and when they get to the midst, of course
God brings back the waters not only delivers the children of israel through the red sea but uses the red sea to
Take care of their enemies and of course, this is one of the most well-known
miracles one of the most well-known supernatural events that happen in the bible and again if you were to stop just the
secular person on the street someone that's maybe not a christian or doesn't go to church a lot and just ask them to name
A supernatural event in the bible the red sea parting of the red sea is probably something
That they're going to bring up in the old testament it is something that is an amazing feat and something that is
Seen as the great power of god now you're there in exodus chapter 14
I'd like you to go with me to the book of joshua joshua chapter 3 if you turn over past leviticus past numbers past
Deuteronomy into the book of joshua joshua chapter 3 you're there in exodus called past leviticus numbers deuteronomy in joshua and again
I'm preaching on the subject of do it again lord
And if you're taking notes this morning, and I always encourage you to take notes
I want to give you three thoughts this morning
And the first thought is this you can jot this down if you'd like number one god can do it again
God can do it again. And though the parting of the red sea was an amazing
Miracle and it was an amazing event in the lives of the children of israel
What's interesting to me and something that I know you know this but maybe you haven't thought about it
This way is that it is one of the most if not the most for sure in the old testament amazing miracles in the bible
I mean, of course, we have the walls of generical coming down
We have the sun standing still we have a lot of great miracles in the old testament
But I would say the part of the red sea is the most well-known
Most popular one of them all but what's interesting is that god actually did it again
He pretty much did the same miracle
Two different places two different leaders two different times, but he did it again
Let me let me show it to you joshua chapter three and I know you know this but I want you to
Consider it from this perspective joshua chapter three and verse seven
The bible says and the lord said unto joshua this day. I will begin to magnify thee in the sight of all israel
This is after moses who led the children of israel out of out of the out of egypt led them through the red sea
Led them in the wilderness for 40 years. He has now
Died and the next generation joshua has taken over and the bible says here in verse seven
That and the lord said unto joshua this day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all israel?
I want you to notice the context
In which we see the next event
Nothing in the bible is in there by coincidence
Nothing is insignificant
It's all in there for a reason and the context in which we get
This miracle that we're going to see in joshua chapter three is this that they may know referring to the children of israel
That as I was with moses, so I will be with thee
This is what god tells joshua god tells joshua i'm getting ready to do something
And and the purpose of what i'm going to do is that the children of israel who you are now the leader of?
I want them to know that in the same way that I was with moses
I will be with you. Look at verse eight. He says and thou shalt this is god speaking to joshua
Thou shalt command the priests that bear the ark of the covenant saying when ye come to the brink of the waters
Of jordan you shall stand still in jordan here again
We see the children of israel getting ready for a new phase
We saw them in exodus 14 coming out of bondage and we saw them up against the red sea
Getting ready for a new phase in their history
But they have to cross the red sea in order to get there here
We have 40 years later the children of israel again getting ready for a new phase in their history
They're about to enter the promised land. They're about to enter Canaan land
They're about to begin the conquest of the land, but they find themselves again with a barrier of water before them
They are standing verse eight at the brink of the water of jordan and notice what god says verse 13
And it shall come to pass
as soon
as the souls
The souls is referring to the bottoms of the feet the souls of the feet of the priests
That bear the ark of the lord the lord of all the earth notice again
That's not there for no reason either. He is the lord of all the earth. He controls everything on this earth
He says as soon as the souls of the feet of the priest that bear the ark of the lord
The lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of jordan that the waters of jordan shall be cut off
From the waters that come down from above and they shall stand upon and heap. I want you to understand what god is saying here
God is telling joshua that i'm going to do something similar to what I did with moses
Remember that they may know that as I was with moses
So I will be with thee now with moses
They were standing before a sea and god parted the sea
Walls of water on both sides as they crossed through a path that he made of dry land through the red sea
With joshua, it's pretty much the same miracle, but it's a little different
This is the jordan river and since it is a river it is flowing on one side
So god does not part the jordan river what he does is he stops the flow of the water
Look at it again verse 13
And it came to pass as soon as the souls of the feet of the priest
That bear the ark of the lord the lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of jordan
That the waters of jordan shall be cut off meaning he's going to stop the flowing from the waters that came down from above
Notice and they shall stand upon and heat the word heat means a gathering or a pile
They're going instead of having two walls of water on either side
They're going to have one wall of water where god stops the flowing of the jordan river and he drives the river
That they might cross through it
Look at verse 14 and it came to pass when the people were removed from their tents to pass over jordan
And the priest bearing the ark the covenant before the people and as they bear the ark
Uh, and as they that bear the ark were come unto jordan notice and the feet of the priest that bear the ark were dipped
In the brim of the water you've heard people talking in the past. You've heard this phrase stepping out by faith
These people were stepping out by faith
Literally stepping onto the water believing that god would part the the what would would stop the flow of the river
When they were coming to jordan and the feet of the priests that bear the ark were dipped in the brim of the water
For jordan overflowed all his banks at the times of the harvest and what that little parentheses there
Is telling you this is not just a little stream
This was a flowing river a large river and not only was it a large river. It was at its highest it was overflowing
All its banks at this time of the harvest verse 16 that the waters which came down from above
Stood and rose up upon in heat they stood and they gathered as a pile as a wall
Very far from the city adam that is beside zarithan and those that came down toward the sea of the plain
Even the salt sea failed and were cut off and the people passed over right against
Jericho verse 17 and the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the lord stood firm on dry ground
In the midst of the jordan and all israel passed over on dry ground until all the people were passed clean
over jordan and
The point that I want to make and what I want you to notice
Is that though the parting of the red sea was an amazing miracle?
And it definitely takes the title as the probably the most well-known most popular miracle the old testament
What's interesting to me is that god did it again?
It wasn't this one-time act and god says it's going to take all my strength going to take all my power
I'm going to do this one time. Moses. You better get it right because I can only do this one. No
No, god is not only able but he is willing to repeat himself over and over and we serve a god
Who can do it again?
He's not limited to uh, a limited strength like a human
He's not limited to a certain amount of resources if he can do it once he can do it again
He did it for moses and then he did it for joshua
Go to second kings if you would second kings
You're there in the book of joshua go to judges you're gonna go past judges ruth first samuel second samuel first king second king
joshua
Judges ruth first samuel second samuel first king second king second kings, please
And while you go there, let me just explain to you
Why it is that i'm preaching this sermon?
Obviously for those of you that have been part of our church for years now
You know that on the sunday before the vision offering I usually preach a sermon on the subject of giving
And on the subject of of of the vision offering specifically
Now if you're new to our church of your first-time guests
Let me just say this and you'll have to just take me at my word. I really do not preach sermons about money very often
Now i'm not i'm not afraid to preach those sermons because the bible talks a lot about giving
It's not something that we emphasize around here
In fact, you could come to our church for weeks and weeks and months and months and never hear one thing about giving or money
Or anything like that
But this is a time that we set aside in the calendar every year to focus on this idea of giving and of course
regarding our vision offering so
Uh, if you if you're new here
I just want to say give us a few weeks and let me prove to you that this is not something we talk about a lot
But it is something the bible does talk about
And usually the sunday before the vision offering I preach on the subject of giving I preach on the subject of of sacrificial giving
And and and and all those things this year I was I felt that the lord was leading me
To kind of preach maybe a little bit of a different sermon at our vision offering
And the reason is because last year as you already know and we saw in the video
When we took our vision offering last year, I did something that i'd never done before
And I gave our church family a goal now in the past
We've done vision offerings where we just tried to raise money and there was no real specific goal
We're just trying to see what the lord would do and we will definitely probably go back to that at some point
But last year I felt moved of the lord to uh, step out a little bit by faith and ask our family
Our church family to raise a hundred thousand dollars in one special offering and to be honest with you
I felt like I was really putting myself out there and thinking good night
You know that we might fail this thing and it might it might look bad and and whatever but I just thought
That it would be something that god I felt like god
I'd lay that on my heart and I came to you and I know that many of you god bless you. Uh, you know
Gouted to you know, too whether our church could do that and of course
our church along with the
Generous online supporters people that support our ministry online that that don't even come to our church
I mean completely blew that challenge out of the water
And I came to you last year and asked you to raise a hundred thousand dollars, let me just give you some some
Remind you of what it is that happened last year last year the total given at our church
Meaning on the special day of the special offering. I mean i'm talking about a church with 200 people in it
Uh total given at our church was eighty four thousand nine hundred eight dollars eighty seven cents
total given online was seventy six thousand five hundred sixty six dollars
Total committed to come in over three months april may and june was three nine thousand three hundred seventeen thousand
Seventeen dollars the total vision offering last year. I challenged our church family to raise a hundred thousand dollars in one special offering
We raised two hundred thousand seven hundred ninety one dollars and eighty seven cents in one offering
We doubled that
Now a few months later
of uh
A church that it was a friend
needed a hundred thousand dollars
And we gave it to them
And I and I believe that maybe this is why god, you know
I asked for a hundred thousand god said i'm gonna give you two but you're gonna have to give one of it away
And um, and and we're happy to do that. We're happy to to to help wherever we can and to keep churches alive and keep
churches going
this morning i'm coming to you and
Asking or telling you that i'm asking the lord to help us do it again
Amen and i'm preaching on this subject of do it again lord because I want you to understand that god is not limited
God is not limited to one-time events. God is not limited. Now. I'm not asking that we raise two hundred thousand dollars
I'm, just saying that original goal of a hundred thousand dollars. We we tried to do it one time
We thought it was an impossible task and god did it and i'm just here to tell you that I believe that god can do
It again and what you'll notice in the bible is that god is the god and you may have not noticed this
And and and maybe you'll notice it today
But god he's this repetitive god where he not only does it but he wants to do it again
He parted the red sea and then he parts the jordan river, but I want you to notice that that's not the only time that happened
Let me give you another example go to second kings chapter number two
Second kings chapter number two. We saw the story of moses and joshua
Now let's look at the story of elijah and elisha
second kings chapter number two
And verse number seven
second kings 2 7
The bible says in 50 men of the sons of the prophet went and stood to veo afar off and they too
stood by notice jordan when the bible says they too the two there that are being referred to is elijah
And elijah and of course elijah and elijah are a beautiful. Uh, uh, uh picture of the first generation and the second generation
Just like moses and joshua and joshua was taken over for moses
elijah is going to be taken over for the prophet elijah and but this is right before elijah is taken from
elijah and the bible says that as they were traveling that day because elijah knew that
That elijah would be taken from him as they were traveling that day one of the uh places that he had to go
Was on the other side of the jordan river and the jordan river stood as a barrier between them
Look at it again second kings 2 7 and 50 men of the sons of the prophets went and stood to veo far off
And they too
stood by jordan verse 8
And elijah took his mantle and wrapped it together. This is the man of god elijah
He took his mantle and wrapped it together and notice what the bible says and smote the waters
He takes his mantle and he hits the water
We're talking about the jordan river and the bible says and they were divided
Hither and thither so that they too went over on notice it dry ground
Not only does god part the red sea for moses
Not only does he stop the flow of the jordan river for joshua
But then many years later we have elijah the man of god who takes his mantle
He smote the water and god does it again
He does the same thing the same river the same miracle they too went over on dry ground
But that's not it
Look at verse 11
And it came to pass as they still went on
And talked that behold there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire
And parted them both this is elijah and elijah they're going about their day and these chariots of fire appear and divide
Elijah and elijah they they parted them asunder and elijah went up by a world went into heaven
And elijah saw it and he cried my father my father
The chariots of israel and the horsemen thereof and he saw him no more and he took all of his own clothes
And rent them in two pieces verse 13 he took up also the mantle of elijah that fell from him
So elijah and elijah cross the jordan river together elijah takes his mantle
He smoked the water and god does it again. He did it for moses. He did it for joshua. He does it for elijah
He stops the flowing of the jordan river elijah and elijah cross over on dry ground as they continue their day
Chariots of fire appear depart that they they they divide them asunder
Elijah is taken up by a whirlwind in the chariot of fire as he's going on. He drops his mantle
And elijah the second generation picks it up
You know, we need the second generation to pick up the mantle
He took up also the mantle verse 13 of elijah that fell from him
and went back
and stood
by the bank
You would have never guessed the right of jordan
He stood by the bank of jordan
and he elijah
Took the mantle of elijah that fell from him knows what he does and smote the waters and said now
I want you to notice what he said
Because this is not just some sort of preacher talk where he's just trying to be dramatic. He says this for a reason
He says where is the lord god of elijah
And what elijah is saying as he takes the mantle that has fell from elijah
And he walks back up to that jordan river and he smote the jordan river and he cries out and says
Where is the lord god of elijah?
What elijah is saying is that I know elijah did not part the jordan river by his own power
I know that elijah parted the jordan river by the power of god
And if god can do it for moses and if god can do it for joshua and if god can do it for elijah
Elijah says then god can do it for me. He says where is the god of elijah?
Where is the lord god of elijah and when he had also when he also had smitten the waters notice what the bible says?
They parted hither and thither
So what does that mean here's what it means that god delights in doing it again
God is not a one-trick pony
He's not he doesn't just do it one time at the red sea
He could do it at the jordan river for joshua and the entire nation of israel
He can do it at the jordan river for two men elijah and elijah. He can do it for one man elijah
Why because god is the god that can do it again?
Can do it again
The bible says they parted hither and thither and elijah went over verse 15
And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at jericho saw him
They said notice what they identified when they saw elijah
Doing what elijah had just done
They identified that the spirit of elijah the thrust on elijah and they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground
before him
I want to give you three statements. And the first one is this that god can do it again
And
This isn't just about the vision offering
I believe that god can do it again
God can do it for moses. God can do it for joshua. God did it for elijah. God can do it for elijah
And it doesn't matter what it is you're talking about. If god has done a great work. God can do it again
Let me tell some of you who are getting a little cold in your christian walk
Some of you who used to be excited about the things of god used to be excited for sunday morning church
Used to be excited for sunday night church used to be excited for wednesday night church
Used to be excited for so when you say things have changed a little bit. I've got a little cold
I've got a little back. So let me tell you something god can do it again
God can do it in your life. God can do it in my life. God is no respect to a person
He doesn't bless one church and refuse to bless all other churches. He can do what he's done for other churches. He can do for us
What he's done for other christians he can do for you
You say well god has used verity baptist church over the years to see lives transformed
Let me tell you something
We're going to keep going soul winning you say why because god can do it again
Because we can find more people who need to be saved and more people who need their marriages restored and more people
Who have children that they need help raising and we can see god do it again. See god is no respecter of persons
He's the god who delights
I'm doing it again
They say god had a special relationship with moses. Yes, he did but you know, he did it for joshua again
God got a special relationship with elijah. Yes, he did but he did it for elisha again
Why don't you be convinced this morning?
That god can do it again
I I realize look every time I stand up here and make any sort of challenge people
I remember the very first vision offering we ever had the very first vision offering we ever had we were still in our house
We were still meeting in the living room
And some of you were there and I stood up and I said we're gonna raise three thousand dollars
I mean that's it seems like a joke now, but at the time that seemed like an immense amount
We're gonna raise three thousand dollars to buy a ten-year-old church van
So that we can pick people up for church
And I remember a little old lady. I was coming to our church at the time. She's no longer
Alive, you know, she's she's no longer with us
But I remember after you know, we we we I preached and we prayed and we raised the money praise the lord
And at that time not only did we raise the three thousand we needed for the for the for the van
We raised more than we needed we bought the van and we had enough money to put a down payment on our first building
by god's grace
I remember this little old lady
Looking at me after the success of the vision offering and saying to me. I didn't think you could do it pastor
When you said that I didn't say anything out loud
But when you said that I thought to myself you can't do that
And I remember I remember this was 12 years ago. I remember being really hurt
And I mean, I really took it personally. I mean, I I love the lady and I wasn't upset with her
But I thought to myself I thought everyone was on board with what we were doing
She's like I didn't think we were gonna do it. I didn't think there was any way
This little church was gonna raise three thousand and you guys raised more than praise god
But you know what i've learned over the years is almost every year someone comes up to me and says the same thing
I mean last year several of you said that to me and now I just chuckle and think to myself. Oh ye of little faith
And I know that some of you are thinking right now
I don't know you think we can do it and here's what i'm not telling you. We will do it. I'm not god
But I can tell you god can do it
God can do it again
He's the god that delights
in performing great works
He's the god that delights in doing great miracles and then doing it again
And doing it again
And doing it again. He did it for moses and he did it for joshua. He did it for elijah and he did it for elijah
Go to matthew chapter 14 if you would
Matthew chapter 14
I said, I want to give you three statements this morning. The first one is this god can do it again
I hope you've seen that in the bible
He can do it again
He delights in doing it again over and over again
In matthew chapter 14 we find another miracle and again
If we were to take a survey
Of unchurched people secular people maybe people that aren't christians or people that don't go to church
And ask them what is the most famous miracle in the new testament?
What is the most famous miracle of the lord? Jesus christ, I mean there's there's
Debate and it could be up in the air
But definitely one of the ones that would be named if not the most well-known miracle
Of the lord jesus christ and the new testament would be the feeding of the five thousand
In matthew chapter 14 and verse 16 the bible says but jesus said unto them
They need not depart remember he'd been teaching
This crowd this massive crowd of people we call it the feeding of the five thousand
But the bible tells us that it was five thousand men not counting women and children
It might have been a crowd of we don't know. It might have been ten thousand people might have been fifteen thousand people
Might have been twenty thousand people
But jesus said unto them they need not depart
Give you them to eat
And they say unto him we have here but five loaves and two fishes
He says you need to feed the crowd and the disciples say to jesus what some of you say to me
Well, how can a little church of 200 people?
Raise a hundred thousand dollars
How all we have is is five loaves and two fishes
And let me tell you something
It doesn't matter what you have whatever you have the response is always the same from the lord jesus christ verse 4 18
He said bring them hither to me
God says just bring me what you've got. I don't have much just bring it anyway
I don't have anything impressive
We don't have a lot of resources all we have is five loaves and two fishes and he said bring them hither to me
Look at verse 19
And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass
And took the five loaves. I want I want you to remember this. All right took the five loaves and two fishes
How many loaves five loaves how many fishes two fishes?
And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and he took the five loaves and two fishes and looking up to heaven
He blessed by the way, that's why we should pray before we eat
I mean if jesus did it it's good enough. Jesus is good enough for us
Looking up to heaven
He blessed and break and gave loaves to the disciples and disciples to the multitude and they did all eat
And were filled
They didn't just they didn't just have a a sample
They ate till they were filled
You said what happened here? Jesus takes five loaves
two fishes
He he prays and blesses it and thanks god for it and he begins to break it
and as he rips it apart
He gives a piece to the disciples and then he rips and he gives a piece and he rips and he gives a piece
And he ripped and he just never stops ripping
Never stopped breaking
He takes the five loaves and two fishes and he multiplies them
Let me tell you something god can take our our meagerness and multiply him
And he and he divided it and they all did eat and were filled and they took up the fragments
What are the fragments the leftovers?
Remember
5000 men
Not counting women and children might have been 15 000 might have been 20 000 people there
He takes five loaves and two fishes begins to break it and when it's all said and done
And everybody has ate until they are full
They go through and they pick up the fragment and the bible says that there remained 12
baskets full
It's interesting to me there were 12 disciples who were helping him
The disciples I said when are we going to have lunch? Hey god always take care of you
12 baskets full full of what bread and fishes
It started with five loaves and two fishes
They feed
Notice verse 21 and they that had eaten
were about
5 000 men
beside
women and children
And they had 12 baskets full
They had five loaves two fishes five thousand men beside women and children
If most of the men there had wives and children, I mean there could have been 20 000 people there
So
Five loaves and two fishes
They break it and when everyone's ate to their full, they've got 12 baskets left over
You know, what's interesting?
kind of like
the most famous miracle of the old testament the parting of the red sea
God did it again
At the jordan river and god did it again at the jordan river and god did it again
At the jordan river when you look at the feeding of the five thousand which is arguably the most famous miracle of the new testament
What's really interesting is that god did it again?
In matthew chapter 14
We see the fi of the feeding of the five thousand
But if you flip over one page to matthew chapter 15, you see the feeding of the four thousand
You may or may not have noticed it
I don't know how you could have noticed that it's literally in the same book one chapter after the other but I get sometimes
People are reading and they're not paying attention
This miracle was repeated again
Matthew 15 32 then jesus called his disciples unto him and said
I have compassion on the multitude because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat
And I will not send them away fast unless they faint in the way and his disciples say unto him
When should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill so great a multitude
And when you read that you think to yourself, are you serious?
You just fought five thousand men beside women and children with five loves and two visions just the previous chapter
And now you've got four thousand people in front of you and jesus saying hey, let's do it again
Amen
And your response is when should we feed so when when should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to feel so great
A multitude sounds like some of you every vision offering
How are we going to raise 100 000 are you serious we just raised 200 000 last year
I'm not saying that was our might or our power
But you think you said but things have changed we're going to talk about that things have changed but you know, what hasn't changed is gone
Right
And they and they respond with this question the cynical question
When should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill so great a multitude and jesus say it unto them
Don't you love it?
How many loaves have you?
And they said I want you to notice a different event
Chapter 14 we had five thousand men
Beside women and children chapter 15 we have four thousand men beside women and children chapter 14 we had five thousand loaves
Excuse me, five loaves and not five thousand loaves. I mean there probably was five thousand loaves at some point
But we had five loaves two fishes
and twelve baskets
Here verse 34 matthew 1534 and jesus said unto them how many loaves have ye and they said seven
We have seven
loaves
And a few little fishes
When he says a few there, we're not given the number but here's what we know. It's more than two
Because if it would have been only two he would they would have said we have a couple of fishes
The fact that he said a few fishes a few little fishes means there was more than two how many were there?
We don't know, but we know that there was at least three
Now here's what's interesting
Verse 35 and he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground
And he took the seven loaves and the few
fishes at least three
And gave thanks
And break them and gave to his disciples and disciples to the multitude and they did all eat and were filled
And they took up the broken meat that was left seven baskets full and they did eat
They that did eat were four thousand men beside women and children and he sent them away
Sent away the multitude and took ship and came into the coast of magdala
Now
I told you that i've got three statements for you
The first one is that god can do it again and this story in the new testament
Exemplifies that same thing that god can do it again
He fed the five thousand in one chapter and he feeds four thousand in the next chapter
What does that tell us is that god can do it again?
It's not just the parting of the red seats whatever god wants to do
He can do it again
But that's actually not the point that I want to make
From the feeding of the five thousand to feeding the four thousand
It definitely helps the first point that god can do it again
We saw that with the red sea in the jordan river
We see that with the feeding of five thousand feeding four thousand, but the point that I want to make to you is this
That not only can god
Do it again
Here's statement number two. God can do more with less
God can do more with less
You say what do you mean? Well, look look at the numbers that we have here
Matthew chapter 14 5 000 men beside women and children five loaves two fishes
12 baskets left over
Matthew chapter 15 we have 4 000 men beside women and children less people
And we start with more seven loaves as opposed to five
A few fishes at least three fishes as opposed to ten
We had more to start with
in chapter 15
seven loaves and a few fishes at least three
We have less to feed
four thousand men as opposed to five thousand men
But we end up with less
seven baskets full
Now here's the thing
All of it is a miracle
All of it is amazing
All of it is impossible
You say why would god put these two stories side by side in chapter 14 chapter 15 and give us these numbers
And I think that there's a lot that we can learn
But I think that one of the things that god is trying to teach us is that god can do more with less
He fed more with five loaves and two fishes and had more left over 12 baskets
Than he did with the seven loaves and three fishes and though all of it is a miracle and none of it makes sense
You and I would think well if you got to start with something
What would you rather start with five loaves or seven loaves two fishes or a few fishes and god is telling us?
Hey, he's not only not limited to not doing it again. He can do it again
He's also the god that can do more with less
He can do more with less
You say why does this matter?
Here's why it matters because things have changed
Last year by god's grace
I challenged you to give a hundred thousand dollars in one offering
And we ended up giving two hundred thousand dollars
And we gave a hundred thousand dollars of it away
To save a church to help a church and praise god for that
But can I just be honest with you?
Things have changed since last year
For one the economy is different
Inflation has risen I get it
You're struggling we're struggling it's expensive. Look i've got we're a family of eight. I've got a wife that
Praise the lord stays home with the kids
And and we've got six children and I get it. It's hard to it's it's difficult to feed children and all the
Everything's gone up in price
Things have changed
Not only that but things have changed for our church
Last year at the vision offering we had a youtube channel that had 20 000 subscribers
And i'll just be very honest with you
a lot
Of what was coming in?
Was coming in
through the giving of people that were
Not part of our church people that our church had helped and touched and blessed and praised the world for that
Of course youtube kicked us off of youtube they shut down our 20 000 subscriber channel and i'll just be very honest with you
It's affected our finances
Now, please please don't misunderstand me and i'm not up here trying to make you feel bad or anything
Our church is fine as far as our church being a self-supporting self-sufficient church. We
Are fine. We don't have any problems there
But what we had been doing for a long time is this extra donations that were coming in from the online was being spent
on putting money in the savings
And helping us to get to our goal of purchasing a building and that has dried up and i'm only bringing that up to say this
I realize that things have changed and if you look at the numbers just on paper
It might look like we actually have less and here's the thing
It's not that it looks like we have less we do have less but i'm just here to tell you something
That god is a god that can do more with less
Not only can he do it again, but he can do more with less. He's not limited to our resources
It doesn't matter if you got five loaves and two fishes or seven loaves and three fishes
If you just bring what you have to god and god says let me deal with it
What's highlighted here
Is that god
Can do more with less
Go to matthew chapter 19
matthew chapter 19
Let me take a minute to speak to you about the vision offering
You go to matthew chapter 19 and while you turn there, let me just
Ask you also, maybe you can grab your bulletin and just talk to you
And again, if you're here this morning and you're new to our church, this is very unusual
This is not something we do every week. And if you came here for any length of time, you know, that's true
But I also don't think it's unbiblical what we're doing
Bible talks a lot about special offerings and giving and it's part of
It's part of christian discipleship
You know, the bible says where your where your treasure is there where your heart be also
And whenever whenever people are whenever people are upset about a preacher preaching on money it always
Puts up a red flag for me because where your treasure is there where your heart be also
And when a preacher literally does it once a year and it bothers you then there's a major problem
But i'd like you to look at this this vision offering
And look at the goals
Our goal
Is to continue to save for a down payment for a future building. I'm going to give you some specific
Numbers
Later on this morning. I'm i'm going to do that off
live stream
So when i'm done with the sermon i'm going to give you just some more thoughts and I don't want to do that on the live
Stream, but we are continuing we are saving our goal is to purchase a property of our own
I I don't know that we will do that. I believe we will do that. I don't see why we can't do it. But um,
But if god doesn't want us to do that, then we won't do that. But that is the goal that we are moving towards
many of you know that in 2016 we had problems with landlords and not being able to find
buildings because of our stance on the word of god and by god's grace we want to try to
Protect our church from ever being in a position like that again again if god chooses not to let us do that
I just ask god to let us allow us to do things and we start working that direction if he closes the doors
Then then then he's the boss but up to this point
He has not closed his doors and god has allowed us to to save and we are well our way towards our goal
And that is our main that's probably our main focus for the vision offering is to save
For a down payment of a future building. Of course. That's not the only thing we want to continue
We want to continue to do that. We want to continue to do that. We want to continue to do that
Of course, it's not the only thing we want to continue to support our missions work
We've got our evangelist brother stucky in the philippines who we support full-time
We've got another missionary dave kabum talla. We've been praying for his wife who recently was diagnosed with breast cancer
And we we don't we do not support him full-time, but we support him with a good amount
Every month and then of course we've got three churches in manila and pampanga and bikol
That are verdi baptist church manila verdi baptist church pampanga verdi baptist church bikol
They are part of our verdi baptist church family they are ran well by brother stucky and ms
Tanu I appreciate that we want to continue to work and do the work that's being done there
In the philippines and that's not it. We want by god's grace
We will expand that and one day we'll have more evangelists and more missionaries and more churches that we're starting throughout the world
Of course, we have the red hot preaching conference
And one of the reasons that we started the red hot preaching conference
We did not need to start the red hot preaching conference and sometimes i'll be honest with you. I regret starting
Especially if you especially if you ask me the monday right after you know
People always want to ask me the monday right after what are we going to do next year?
And I tell them give me two weeks before you talk to me about
The red hot preaching conference, but you know, one of the reasons we started the red hot preaching conference was to promote fundamentalism
And was to promote fundamental baptist churches
And I think it's definitely done that the red hot preaching conference has taken on a life of its own
I mean literally we will have here from people that come to this conference from every state and from different parts of the country
And it's it's it's amazing
But obviously there are costs to that
And it cost us money to put that on and we don't charge for conferences
We don't charge for anything and our church family has been able to do this now
for seven years this year will be our eighth annual red hot preaching conference as
because of the vision offering
And of course, we just had the next generation youth rally and the next generation was a was a youth rally was a huge success
And and to be very honest with you and I don't mean this in any sort of way other than just
I think the next year youth rally is possibly more important than the red hot preaching conference
Because if we can if we can make sure that the next generation
Like elisha grabs that mantle and continues the work
There is no you've heard me say it a million times, but there is no success without succession
And and you know, the youth rally was a huge success and the youth rally was amazing and everything was great
But i'll be honest with you. There was a lot of costs associated with that as well
And i'm not complaining up here. I hope you understand my heart
I'm, just being very honest with you that though we serve god and there's a spiritual work for some of you that are
Ultra-spiritual, let me help you out a little bit. We don't pay for these lights with prayers
We don't turn on the air conditioning with fasting now we pray and we fast but smud wants checks that cash
So we've got goals
And we're saving to
pay for a down payment we're saving for
for we're continuing to support our missions work and we are
uh
Going to continue the red hot preaching conference. We will continue the next generation youth rally and look this is the most generous church i've ever known
I'll be honest. I've been part of lots of churches and I know a lot of churches and i'm not
Taking a dig on any other church. I'm just telling you i've never known of a more generous church than verity baptist church
And i'm asking you to consider to give and I realize that things have changed in your life and things are maybe are a little
More hectic and a little more difficult
But i'm just telling you this and i'm hoping that I can express this properly is that god can do it again
God can do it again
And god can do more with less now next week is our vision offering and in your bulletin
You've got several things there. Of course
You've got the card that we want you to read and i'm going to ask you some of you
And i'm going to ask that that you would pray about the vision offering and i'm going to ask that you would take this home
And that between now and next sunday you would pray every day for the vision offering
I'm, not saying you need to spend 30 minutes on your knees praying you can do a quick prayer, but if you would pray
Every day, let me just ask who would commit right now to say pastor
I'll pray every day for the vision offering and i'm not trying to put you on the spot
I'm, just but I am trying to I appreciate that. Thank you very much. I see that hand. All right, don't have to come down the aisle
but um
Would you pray every day?
I've always wanted to say that i've never had the opportunity
Pray every day that god
Would do it again
And that god would do more with less and that's the purpose of the card
Please take the card home. Look at it. Read it get acquainted with it and pray
Just spend a few minutes every day. Just pray a few seconds
Just praying for the vision offering that god would do more with less and that god would do it again
Of course
You've got the envelope and this is the envelope that we're going to ask you to put your vision offering in next year
We're giving this to you now so you can take it home and pray and ask the lord
What he would ask you what he would guide you what he would have you
Uh to give for the vision offering and of course, we'd prefer that you give next week
Now if you're not ready to give that's okay. You've got a commitment card here
And again, you can take this home think about it pray about it, but you can make a commitment to give
Uh, maybe you can't do it next week, but you can do it in april. Maybe you can do it in may
Maybe you can do it in june
Maybe you'd like to give next week and give in april and give in may and give in june
Whatever the lord lays on your heart
All we're asking is that you would consider
And that you would pray and that you would realize that god can do more with less and that you would ask god
That he would do it again
Now here's the thing you're there in matthew 19
I said I wanted to give you three statements
The first statement is this god can do it again
The second statement is this god can do more with less
Here's the third statement
You say what if what if sunday night next week
You get up there and you say we brought in
79 000 84 000 87 000
What are you gonna say i'm gonna say praise the lord
You know, i'm it's not
It's i'm not god
And all I can do is pray and ask god
And you can pray and ask god that he would help us do something
But here's what I do want you to understand
That though god is the god that can do it again
And though god is the god that can do more with less
There is one limit to god and that is this that god here statement number three. God is only limited by our lack of faith
God is limited by our god our our lack of faith. God can do anything. Nothing is impossible with god
You're there in matthew 19 look at verse 26 matthew 19 26, but jesus beheld them and said unto them with man
This is impossible, but with god all things are possible
Do you believe that that with god all things are possible that god can do anything look at luke chapter one
You're there in matthew go past mark into the book of luke luke chapter one in verse 37 luke 137 the bible says for with god
Nothing shall be impossible
With god all things are possible impossible with god. Nothing shall be impossible
You don't have to turn here, but i'll just read this for you. Genesis 18 14
Is anything too hard for the lord?
And the answer is no
God can do anything. Nothing is impossible for god
But god is limited
Because god chooses you say how can you say god is limited and here's what I want you to understand
And i'm not being irreverent when I say that go back to matthew if you would matthew 13
Because god chooses to work through us
Say pastor, do you believe that god has a hundred thousand dollars variety baptist church
In the vision offering next week and the answer to that question is yes, I do
Say, where is it in your bank account?
And in my bank account
I believe that god has the resources. You said what's the problem? The problem is that god chooses to work through us
And we are the ones that can lack faith
matthew 13 58
Matthew 13 58 and he did not many mighty works. This is jesus
And he did not many mighty works there. Why because of their unbelief
Here's what I know
If we do not reach our goal next week
And first of all, let me just say this if we don't reach our goal next week
I'm, not gonna be mad at you. I'm not gonna be mad at anybody
But I can tell you this if we don't reach our goal next week. I I will tell you this
It's not because god couldn't do it
Is because we failed
Maybe because I failed
To have the proper faith
That god is the god
That can do it again
and that god
can do more
with less
Let me just take a few minutes and for some of you you
You've been with us for years and you've seen me do this year after year and I appreciate your patience
But every year at the vision offering
I announce to our church family what my wife and I are going to give to the vision offering
I do this because it was advised of us to do this by a pastor when we first started
And I realized that you're not supposed to talk about how much you gave and the bible actually teaches against that and you can lose
Your rewards for doing that and i'm not advising and i'm not asking that any of you do that
And in fact that you shouldn't do that
The reason that I do that for our church families because I want you to know that we are in this with you
And that we i'm putting my my money where my mouth is as well
And you know, maybe we lose rewards for that in heaven and that's okay
I'd rather motivate you and let you know that we're in this with you
last year my wife and I
stretched ourselves and we've definitely stretched ourselves in sacrifice because
We
We didn't know that we could do a hundred thousand dollars. So we we stretched ourselves and we
committed to
Double or last last year what we had been given and last year we gave two thousand five hundred dollars to the vision offering
And this year my wife and I are trusting the lord to do it again
We're committing to give two thousand five hundred dollars now
Let me just say this and I always need to give all these disclaimers
because we've got two hundred and some odd people here this morning and some of you hear that and you think
We must be millionaires and other of you hear that and you think
That's it, you know, that's just that's just how it is and and it's it's it's it's how it goes for some of you
That might sound like a lot of money for some of you. That's nothing
You and and and all i'm saying is this
We're stretching ourselves
We don't just have twenty five hundred dollars laying around and we definitely have enough broken things throughout our house that we could use it
somewhere
But we believe in this and we believe in what god is doing
And and some of you are in a better financial position some of you are not in a better financial position
And i'm not asking you to give what we're giving but I am asking you to stretch yourself into sacrifice
And i'm asking this that you would for those of you that gave last year that you would at least consider giving what you gave last
year
And asking the lord to do it again
For some of you you've been living in goshen
While the economy has been going crazy around you and and and those ten plagues of egypt have been going around
You've been the children of israel living in goshen under god's protection and you're actually doing fine
And I would consider that I would ask you to consider that maybe god can use you to help us do more with less
And you say what's going to happen? Will we reach it? I don't know that we'll reach it but
I'm, I believe we can
And we're going to do our part to stretch ourselves and i'm asking that you
Uh would do your part to stretch yourself as well. Let me just end real quick
I don't have a lot of a lot of uh time to go through this
But let me just give you some characteristics on biblical giving i'm actually going to go into detail about this tonight
But let me just give this to you real quickly when it comes to biblical giving the bible teaches several characteristics five number one
It should be done willingly
You can just jot this down if you'd like. We're not going to look at it right now second corinthians 8
Verse 3 and verses 11 to 12 second corinthians 8 verse 3 verse 11 to 12. It should be done willingly
I I I I don't like churches that try to
Manipulate people into giving and I hope you don't feel like we're manipulating you in any way shape or form
I don't think it's wrong for me to just tell you
Hey, here's what we're trying to do and here's what we're doing and and and and you pray about that
um
But it should be willing and and here's the thing if you say I don't like just preaching
I don't like you talking about the vision offering i'm greedy and covet says, okay, whatever
Um, don't give honestly and I don't and I don't mean that in any rude way
But we don't we don't want your money if if your heart's not willing so it should be done willingly
Um, it should be done sacrificially second corinthians 8 verses 2 to 3
It should be done sacrificially and say it doesn't it doesn't mean anything to god
If you just give of your abundance and it doesn't hurt, you know
The widow's might she gave all she had and i'm just asking that you would stretch and that you would give yourself
It should be done purposefully and this is this is where I often see problems with the vision offering
Is that people just they just come to church and they're like, I don't know i'll just give this much
Don't do that. Pray about it. Honestly pray about it and it should be something to do purposefully second corinthians 9 verse 7
It should be done cheerfully second corinthians 9 and verse 7 as well
It should be cheerful and again if you're not look I don't we don't want if you're if you're gonna give
Even if you're gonna give a big amount, but you're gonna be all bitter and angry about it. Please keep your money
Please keep your money. We don't need it. God doesn't need it
It should be done cheerfully and it should be done
Proportionally first corinthians 16 verses 1 through 2 you say what does that mean?
It should be done in proportion to god's blessing as god has blessed you as god has
Has prospered you we should give in proportion to the blessing that god has given us
So we're not looking for everyone to give twenty five hundred dollars
But we're giving to we're looking for everybody to sacrifice equally
And for some of you you you couldn't give twenty five hundred dollars if you tried if you wanted to and that's okay
Do what you can for some of you twenty five hundred dollars is a joke
And I would just say you should stretch yourself to where you say I am giving to my power and above
my power
Look at matthew 1358 again
I gave you three statements this evening this morning
Number one god can do it again number two god can do more with less. I hope you believe that
But if you don't
Just know
The statement number three is also true. God is only limited by our lack of faith
And he did not many mighty works there
because
Of their unbelief I believe that god can do it again
God can do it again, but it requires faith and it requires you and I to step out by faith to put our feet on
That jordan river and to press the soles of our feet on that water
And if we do that if we do that and I believe that we can watch god
Do it again. That's why our heads in that water prayer. Heavenly father
Lord, we love you and we thank you. Thank you for our church