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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] And we will open the service with Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, song number 147. Join us on that first verse, song number 147, loud. Let's do it loudly, as loud as I can, alright? Loud as we can, song number 147, sing it out on that first now. What a fellowship What a joy you might be On the everlasting arms What a fellowship What a joy you might be On the everlasting arms On the everlasting arms What a blessed place What a blessed place My heart and soul On the everlasting arms Leaning Leaning Safe and strong From all your arms Leaning Leaning Leaning On the everlasting arms Song number 447 Let's go ahead and sing it out. We're gonna sing it out on that second song, 147. Sing it out on that second note. O thou sweet one, in this good way, We sing of thee everlasting arms, O thou bright man, who shall obey today, We sing of thee everlasting arms, Leaning on Jesus, Leaning on Jesus, Taking to the Lord of all other Leaning, Leaning, Leaning, And blessing him. That was good, but I think you guys can do a little bit better. Alright. Song number 147. The Bible says that we ought to make a joyful noise. But to the Lord, are you guys joyful this morning? Okay. Song number 147. Sing it out as loud as we can. Alright. Song number 147. Sing it out on that last note. What have I to fear? Leaning on the everlasting arms. I have a secret with my own spirit. Leaning on the everlasting heart. Leaning, Leaning, And to the Lord of all the gods. Leaning on Jesus, Leaning on Jesus, Leaning on the everlasting heart. Amen. And we want to welcome you to Verity Baptist Church this morning. We're so glad that you are with us. And we are expecting that the Lord will speak to us this morning. We want to begin the service, of course, with a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads together. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. We thank you for allowing us to be here today. Lord, we pray that you'd bless the time that we have set aside for singing and preaching and fellowship. We ask that you meet with us this morning, Lord, as we open up your word and as we study the Bible together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Turn to page number 334. We're going to sing an epic song. All right, song number 334, Make Me a Blessing. Now this requires a little bit of singing out. All right, song number 334. Ayatbi, Make Me a Blessing. Song number 334, sing it out on that first now. Out in the highways and byways of high May the medium set Carry the sunshine where darkness is bright Making the sorrow make glad Make me a blessing Make me a blessing Out of my life May Jesus shine Make me a blessing Sing, Lord, I pray Make me a blessing To someone today Song number 334, sing it out on that second now. Let's read this. It says, Tell the sweet story of Christ and His love. All right, and it says, Tell of His power to forgive. Amen to that. Song number 334, sing it out on that second now. Tell the sweet story of Christ and His love Tell of His power to forgive. Amen. Others will trust Him if we leave To every moment to believe Make me a blessing Make me a blessing Out of my life May Jesus shine Make me a blessing I'll say, Lord, I pray Make me a blessing To someone today We're going to ask you guys to squeeze out a little bit more from you guys. All right, song number 334, give it the best as you can. All right, song number 334, spin it strong on that last now. Give us what's given to you in your hand The last one, last one, the last one Be to a helpless, a helping being Unto a wishing machine Make me a blessing Make me a blessing Out of my life May Jesus shine Make me a blessing I'll say, Lord, I pray Make me a blessing To someone today Amen. All right, well, let's take our bulletins. We'll look at some announcements real quickly. If you do not have a bulletin, you can raise your hand. One of our ushers will 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, Acts 2035, I have showed you all things, how that's so laboring. You ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, as Yahweh said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. 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 that you're with us, of course, on Sunday morning 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. Then, of course, we'd love you to join us for our midweek service on Wednesday night. We call it the most encouraging service of the week. We hope you'll join us for that. If you look at our soil winning times, our main soil winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. and we have additional soil winning times on Thursdays and on Sundays at 2 p.m. If you'd like to go soil winning this afternoon, there'll be an opportunity for you to be able to do that. If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course, we've got our vision offering coming up this next Sunday, March 23rd. You should have one of these little handouts there in your bulletin and we've already talked about it, but if you haven't read through it, if you're not familiar with it, please make sure you look at that and be praying this week for the vision offering next week and pray about how the Lord might use you and how the Lord might want to use you in regards to that. If you look at the announcements, we want you to just be aware of several things. First of all, there's a youth activity coming up, a bowling youth activity. This is for the teenagers 13 to 19 years old and that is on Friday, March 28th at 3 p.m. That's not this Friday, but next Friday. It's just a couple of weeks away. So teenagers, make sure you sign up and sign up today if you can, if you want to come. If you're planning on coming, of course, talk to your parents, but sign up on your communication card. The address is there for you and we cover the cost of bowling for all teens and also for one parent. Dinner will be provided and it is on Friday, March 23rd. It's at 3 p.m. So why don't you just be aware of that 3 p.m. We realize some of you might be in school and maybe you need to make arrangements to go straight from school to the bowling alley. You might be a little late. We understand that. But we want you to come and any teenagers are welcome to be a part of that. So make sure that you sign up for that. We also have a family fun night coming up on Sunday, March 30th at 6 p.m. And of course, we've had several of these already and they've been a great hit. We just want you to know that we have another one coming up. And I want to remind the children that the Bible memorization for family fun night is Ephesians 6, 1 and 2. So you've got to be ready to quote those verses so that you can get a prize. Also, we have the Biblical Leadership Institute starting back up this Tuesday, March 18th. So just be ready for that choir practice today at 5 p.m. They've got homeschool group. They've got PE class this Thursday, March 20th. There's other things there for you to look at. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of March. Today is Miss Adriana Goncharoff's birthday, March 16th. Happy birthday to her. Also today is Noah Mendoza's birthday. So happy birthday to him. And then this week we have Caleb Urquiza's birthday. Tomorrow, March 17th. Madison Pendleton has a birthday, March 19th. And Valentina Zuniga has a birthday, March 19th as well. Praise Report, Money Matters, all of those things are there for you to look at. And I want to say thank you to those of you that were praying for me. I was very sick this week and I'm feeling better now. But I was probably the most sick I've ever been. I wasn't able to go soul winning yesterday. I can't recall in the last 14 years of ministry that I've ever missed soul winning due to sickness. Sometimes I miss soul winning because I'm out of town. But I appreciate you guys praying for me. Let's see. If you're a first-time guest, we've got a gift we'd like to give you. We appreciate you being here. As you walk out of the church building this morning as you go out the main foyer, see a little table set up. And on the 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 if you are a guest, we'd ask that you please take a moment to fill out the communication card, which is inserted in your bulletin. And we'd love to have a record of your attendance. We also would like to send you a little gift in the mail. 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. And then also we've got a baptism certificate to hand out real quickly this morning. Let me go ahead and read this. It says certificate of baptism. This certificate is awarded to Ms. Linda Duran in recognition of her baptism on the 12th day of March of the year 2025, presented by Verity Baptist Church. Romans 6, 4 says, Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. And we've got pictures here for Ms. Cricket to remember the day of her baptism. And let's go ahead and give her a round of applause. And we actually have a couple of baptisms lined up for today after the service, so we're excited about that. I think that's it for all of the announcements. So we're going to go ahead and sing the chorus of the week, which is the insert there in your bulletin. And we're going to sing I'd Rather Have Jesus as we prepare to receive the offering this morning. Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. Let's sing it out together. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. Let's sing it out together. Let's sing it out one more second. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. Let's sing it out one more second. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. Let's sing it out together. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. Let's sing it out together. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. Let's sing it out together. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. Let's sing it out together. I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold. Let's sing it out together. Amen. Before we have the men come up, just a quick reminder that we, of course, are a family integrated church. What that means is that children and infants are always welcome in the service. Do not separate children from their parents for any reason. We do have mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience. All of the rooms have comfortable seating. They've got monitors or windows set up so you can watch the service and listen to it. You're not sure where those rooms are at. You can look at the back of the bulletin. You'll see a layout of our church building. I'll show you where the mother-baby rooms are, where the daddy room is. Also, please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent in the service so that they don't go off as a distraction. We'd appreciate your help with that. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. We thank you for allowing us together today. Lord, we pray that you bless the offering, the gift and the giver. We ask that you would just continue to meet our financial needs, Lord, and we pray for this upcoming vision offering that your would be done with it. Lord, we ask that you would meet with us this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Turn your Bibles to 1 Chronicles chapter 21. 1 Chronicles chapter 21. If you do not have a Bible, please raise your hand and an usher will bring you one. 1 Chronicles chapter 21. We will read the entire chapter as our custom. 1 Chronicles chapter 21. Just keep your hands up and an usher will bring you a Bible. 1 Chronicles chapter 21. The Bible reads, And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan, and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it. And Joab answered, The Lord make his people and hundred times so many more as they be. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? Why then doth my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel? Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem. And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men that drew sword. And Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword. But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them, for the king's word was abominable to Joab. And God was displeased with this thing. Therefore he smote Israel. And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing. But now I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly. And the Lord spake unto Gad, David's seer, saying, Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things. Choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee either three years famine, or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee. Or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait. Let me fall now into the hand of the Lord, for very great are his mercies, but let me not fall into the hand of man. So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel, and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it. And as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough. Stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed. But as for these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me and on my father's house, but not on thy people, that they should be plagued. Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to stay to David, that David should go up and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the Lord. And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel, and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground. Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar therein unto the Lord. Thou shalt grant it me for the full price, that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my Lord the king do that which is good in his eyes. Lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering. I give it all. And King David said to Ornan, Nay, but I will verily buy it for the full price. For I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost. So David gave to Ornan the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight. And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord. And he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. And the Lord commanded the angel, and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof. At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon. But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord. Let's pray. Father God, thank you for this day and for this opportunity to come to church. Please bless pastor, please bless the message, please let it edify us and bring glory and honor to you. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen. Amen. Alright, well we're there in 1 Chronicles chapter 21. And as we've been talking about, next week we're going to be taking our annual vision offering. And as I do every year, today I'm preaching a sermon on the subject of the vision offering, about participating and giving for our vision offering. And in this chapter we have the story of David purchasing the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And if you were here on Wednesday night you might have noticed that we actually looked at the story on Wednesday night in our Wednesday night Bible study in Psalm 30. And to be honest with you, I'd actually already chosen this story and this passage for this sermon for this Sunday before I had begun to study Psalm 30, not realizing that Psalm 30 correlated with the same story. And when I realized that I thought to myself, well then I took that as an indication of the Lord. That's where the Lord wanted us to be. So we actually looked at the story in detail on Wednesday night. And this morning we're going to continue the story as we see some principles with regards to giving. Now for some of you that were not here on Wednesday night, let me just quickly catch you up if that's okay. And we just read it, but I just want you to be aware of the context that leads us to this place. If you look down at verse number 1, in verse 1 we see Satan's provocation of David. The Bible says therein Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel. And in verse 2 we see David's command for a census. The Bible says go number, David says, go number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan and bring the number of them to me that I may know it. You remember this was a pride thing for David. He was not supposed to number the people, but he wanted to number the people for his own ego. And in verse 3 we see Joab's objection. Why then does my Lord require this thing, Joab says. Why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel. It was a known thing that this was not something they were to do. In verses 4 through 5 we see the census is completed. You'll notice there the Bible says and Joab gave the sum of the number of the people. And to David and all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men. That's one million one hundred thousand that drew sword. And Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand that's four hundred and seventy thousand men that drew sword. In verse 7 we see God's displeasure and judgment and God was displeased with this thing. Therefore he smote Israel. In verse 8 we see David's confession of sin and David said unto God I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. But now I beseech thee do away the iniquity of thy servant for I have done very foolishly. In verses 9 to 12 we see God gives David three choices of judgment. Remember we talked about that on Wednesday night. We see there where the Bible says the Lord choose thee either three years famine or three months to be destroyed before thy foes. Or else three days the sword of the Lord even the pestilence in the land. In verse 13 we see that David chooses to fall into God's hand. He says let me fall now into the hand of the Lord for very great are his mercies but let me not fall into the hand of man. If you remember we talked about the fact that David probably had a little bit of PTSD from the fact that he'd already been chased by man for a long time. He ran from Saul and he ran from his own son Absalom. And he chooses here to fall into the hands of the Lord and he's banking on the fact that great are his mercies. In verse 14 we see that God sends a plague upon Israel. So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. In verse 15 we see that the angel approaches Jerusalem and God shows mercy. It says there and God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it and as he was destroying the Lord beheld and he repented him of the evil and said to the angel that destroyed and it is enough stay now thine hand. And then in verses 16 and 17 we see that David takes responsibility for the sin for his sin and David said unto God is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered even I it is that have sinned and then evil indeed. But as for these sheep what have they done let thine hand I pray thee O Lord my God be on me and on my father's house but not on my people that they should be played. So this is the context and I hope it makes sense. This is the story and we actually talked in detail about those that story on Wednesday night. But this morning we're going to continue from where we left off and I just want you to understand kind of the context and the setup. David of course due to his own pride orders for the people to be numbered this was something that was not to be done. God sends judgment a plague comes a pestilence comes and David manages to stop the pestilence at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And Ornan of course is a man he owns this land he owns this property and he's using this plan to thresh wheat. It's a place where he works and this is where the plague the pestilence happens to end. What we're going to see now and what we did not see on Wednesday night was that David will now purchase the land where the threshing floor of Ornan is located and he's going to purchase it so that he can sacrifice on it. And David is going to also eventually donate this land to be a place where the future temple will be built by Solomon. This will be the location where the temple is built by Solomon and David is going to use his money to purchase to make this purchase to make this donation to give so that the house of God and that the work of God can continue. And I believe there's some lessons we can learn about giving and again we're talking about giving because next week we are taking our annual vision offering and I don't preach a lot of sermons about giving but I don't apologize for it either. The Bible talks about it and I think it's good for us to learn some of these things. If you're taking notes this morning and I always encourage you to take notes on the back of your course the week there's a place for you maybe jot down some things. I'd like to quickly just give you five thoughts just as quickly as we can this morning from this story with regards to giving. We'll jump into the story here in verse 18. I think we've caught up sufficiently in 1 Chronicles 21 and verse 18 the Bible says this. And the angel Lord commanded Gad, this is the prophet that's speaking to David, the angel Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should, here's the command, go up and set up an altar unto the Lord. So remember that the angel has been destroying 70,000 men have now, people have been killed as a result of this episode. And the angel of the Lord, the angel that's bringing this pestilence with his sword drawn the Bible tells us comes to Jerusalem to destroy and actually comes to where David is. We talked about that on Wednesday night. David sees the angel between heaven and earth and God has mercy. God tells the angel to stay his hand and now there's a command. He's being told what to do in order to stop this pestilence. And he's commanded that he should go up and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. He's told what to do, he's told where to do it. I want you to notice in verse 19, in verse 18 we see the command to David. The command that God gives to David through the prophet Gad and the command is this, go up and set up an altar unto the Lord. In verse 19 we see the obedience of David. Notice it there, it says and David went up at the saying of Gad which he spake in the name of the Lord. In verse 18 we see the command to David, go up and set up. In verse 19 we see the obedience of David. David went up at the saying of Gad. And here we see the first lesson that we learn about giving and it is this, that we should give obediently. And what we learn from this story is that we should give obediently unto the Lord. I'd like you to keep your place there in 1 Chronicles 21, that's our text for this morning. But if you would quickly find the book of Malachi, just real quickly, Malachi chapter number 3. It's the last book in the Old Testament so it shouldn't be too hard to find. Malachi chapter 3, and I'd like you to look at verse number 8. Malachi chapter number 3 and verse 8. And we've seen this verse before but I just want you to see it again. Malachi chapter 3 and verse 8, of course Malachi is a famous passage on the subject of tithing. Usually when we preach about tithing or think about tithing we go to Malachi chapter 3. I'm not preaching on tithing this morning but I want you to notice something that I think sometimes we don't highlight from this verse. Malachi chapter 3 and verse 8, the Bible says, Will a man rob God? And the word rob means to steal. And the Bible says, Will a man rob God? And the question is asked by Malachi the prophet here, Will a man rob God? And the answer is given, Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein and what have we robbed thee? We might respond back to God. And God says this, In tithes, and of course a tithe is a predetermined amount by God that God has given us, ordered us, commanded us to give. And again I'm not preaching on the subject of tithing but God has told us that we are to tithe from our increase, that it is to be the first fruits, that it's the first thing that we give. And it is a percentage, it is 10% of the increase that we receive. And God says, If you and I don't tithe, that we are robbing him, we owe it to him. The Bible uses the terminology that we are to pay our tithe. So he says, Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have ye robbed me? And the answer is, In tithes. But I want you to notice that's not where the answer ends. It doesn't say, In tithes, period. It says, In tithes and. The word and there is a word that shows sequence and addition. He says, In tithes and offerings. I want you to notice that in Malachi chapter 3 and verse 8 there is an expectation from God that we are to both give tithes and offerings. Tides and offerings. In fact, God says that if you don't tithe and you don't give offerings, you're robbing God from what God has commanded you to do. So you say, Well, I don't tithe, but I give offerings. Then you're robbing God of his tithe. And if you say, Well, I tithe, but I don't give offerings. Then you're robbing God of his offerings. You say, I don't do either one. Then you need to get right with God. You know, but the idea is this, that God expects us to both give tithes and offerings. Now, when the Bible uses the word offerings, often the word associated with the word offering is a free will offering. And I think sometimes people confuse this, maybe by mistake or maybe on purpose. I think people often think that because a free will offering, because it uses this phrase free will, that that means that it's up to you. And free will does mean that it's up to you. The question is, what is up to you? And people often get this idea that a free will offering is up to you. Meaning, well, you can do it or you don't have to do it if you don't want to. I would submit to you that Malachi chapter 3 and verse 8 shows us that the free will aspect of the offering is not that you have free will, whether or not you will or will not give an offering. God here tells us that he expects an offering. In fact, he says, you're robbing me if you don't both tithe and give offerings. You say, then what is the free will aspect of the offering? The free will aspect of the offering is not whether you will give an offering. The free will aspect of the offering is the amount and the frequency in which you will do it. I hope that makes sense. This is not teaching us that you decide. You don't have to give an offering if you don't want to. This is teaching us that God expects an offering. Now, the free will aspect of it is that he lets you decide. He tells you how much to give for the tithe. That's not up for debate. He says you give of your increase and you give 10% and you give it to begin with. He says, when it comes to the offering, I'm not going to tell you what to give or how much to give or when to give it. The amount and frequency, he said, that's up to you. But I do expect a tithe. Will a man rob God, excuse me, an offering? He says, will a man rob God? He says, ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have ye robbed me? He says, in tithes and both offerings. So we see that there is a command given that we should give, that we should both tithe and give offerings. So we learn, like we see here from David, that we should give obediently. You say, why should I give an offering unto the Lord? One reason should be to do it out of obedience. Go back to 1 Chronicles 21, if you would. That's what we learn from David. He's told, he's commanded, the angel Lord commanded God to say to David, verse 18, that David should go up and set up an altar unto the Lord. Verse 19, David went up at the saying of God. Why did David do this? He primarily did it. It wasn't his idea. He primarily did it because he was doing it out of obedience. And what you and I can learn from is that we should give obediently. Now let me just say this to be clear. I'm not saying to you that you are commanded to give at the vision offering next week. I'm not saying that. What I am saying to you is that you are commanded to give. And what I'm saying to you is that since you and I are commanded to give, the vision offering is an opportunity for you and I to do so. The free will aspect of it is you decide how much and the frequency. You decide when and where. You decide how to do that. But there is a command for us to both tithe and give. And we learn from David that we should give obediently. Now let's get back to our story here. If you notice in verse number 20, we have David obeying the command of the Lord through the prophet God. God told him you need to go up and you need to set up and you need to sacrifice at the threshing floor of Ornan. And the Bible tells us that David went up. He obeys and we can learn from him that we should give obediently. And I want you to notice secondly we see in the story as David approaches this threshing floor. In verse 20 the Bible says, And Ornan turned back and saw the angel. Ornan sees the same angel that David sees, bringing destruction and pestilence. And his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. And threshing wheat of course is a reference to the fact that he's separating the chaff from the wheat. He's preparing the wheat to be able to use it. Verse 21, And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David and went out of the threshing floor and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground. Now of course David is a king of the nation and Ornan even with all the chaos and mayhem going on acknowledges this. And he sees David. David came to Ornan, the Bible says, and Ornan went out there, it says in verse 21, out of the threshing floor. He bowed himself to David with his face to the ground. And David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshing floor that I may build an altar therein. He said, I want you, I need you to grant me this threshing floor. I need to build an altar on this threshing floor unto the Lord. But I want you to notice what David says there at the end of verse 22. He says, thou shalt grant it me, notice these words, for the full price. For the full price. I want you to notice that David doesn't come to Ornan here and says, due to a national emergency we are going to take your property from you. David doesn't leverage his position. His position is understood. Ornan meets him and bows himself to him. Ornan understands who this is. Ornan understands who David is. Ornan understands David's position. He bowed himself to David because David is the king. Ornan also saw the angel, the Bible says in verse 20. So he understands the national emergency that they find themselves in. It would not have been out of logic for David to say, look, you can see the angel, I'm here, we need this, we're going to take it from you now. David says, grant me the place of this threshing floor. But he says, thou shalt grant it me for a full price. He says that the plague may be stayed from the people. And what we learn here is not only that we should give like David gave obediently. But I want you to notice that there wasn't just an obedience here. There wasn't this attitude from David that says, God said I need this, God said we need to do this. Yes, he did it because God told him to do it. There was an obedience there. But I want you to notice that there was also a willingness. He wasn't just going to take it from Ornan. He wasn't just going to ask Ornan to do it for him. He said, I'm going to purchase this from you. Thou shalt grant it me for the full price. He said, I want to pay for this. So what we see is that there's an obedience that's coupled with a willingness. David was obeying the command that came to him from Gad. But it was coupled with this willingness that David wanted to do it. He wanted to do it and he wanted to pay the full price. Now, where did this willingness come from? And usually when we talk about the vision offering every year, I emphasize this idea. And it's emphasized throughout scripture that when we give, we are to give of a willing heart. That it should be done willingly. But where does that motivation come from? What would make somebody willing to want to give? And we can ask the question to David, what makes him willing to want to pay? David all of a sudden is in the market for a threshing floor. And all of a sudden he's willing to pay full price. It's not something that he was thinking about before. It's not something that he'd been thinking about purchasing. It's not something that he'd been mulling over in his mind. But now, all of a sudden, whether he has the money or not, he's going to come up with the money. He says, thou shall grant it me for the full price. He's motivated, his willingness is there coupled with his obedience to give. What is that motivation? I think if you understand the context of the story, we see that the willingness comes from a realization. From a gratitude of his forgiveness. Remember, David was moments away. We talked about this on Wednesday night, but he was moments away from death. In fact, if you go back to the chapter, verse 15, in the same chapter, 1 Chronicles 21, 15, we have this dramatic image giving for us here. 1 Chronicles 21, 15, and God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it. And as he was destroying, the Lord beheld and he repented him of the evil and said to the angel that destroyed, it is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite and David, notice the words here, lifted up his eyes. The idea is that as this angel of the Lord was approaching with this sword in his hand, with this pestilence in his hand, and the proximity is enough for David when God says, it is enough. When God says, stay now thine hand. When God says, stop, pause, let's wait, don't go any further, don't destroy anymore, don't take anymore life. When this happened, verse 16, David was close enough that the Bible says that he lifted up, David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel Lord stand between the earth and heaven. And we read in Psalm 30 that David said, thou hast kept me alive, thou hast healed me. And I think that the context seems to indicate and David seems to believe based on Psalm 30 that he was moments away from being a casualty of this pestilence that was coming upon Jerusalem. The Bible says that David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel Lord stand between the earth and heaven having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel who were clothed in sackcloth fell upon their faces and David said unto God, is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even it is I, he says, even I it is, excuse me, that have sinned and done evil indeed, but as for these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me and on my Father's house, but not on my people that they should be playing. And I think it is this realization that David understood that he was just moments away from being killed himself from this pestilence, that God stopped it and God paused it, that these words came out of the mouth of the Lord when the Lord said it is enough, stay now thine hand, that it happened as the angel Lord is approaching David. David comes with his sword drawn approaching David, David lifts up his eyes and sees the angel standing between earth and heaven as this angel is approaching that God says it is enough, stay thou thine hand, a realization from David that he was moments away from the judgment of God, from death coming upon him. I think that gratitude is what not only made David obedient, but made him willing to say, I need this land out of obedience, but out of willingness, I want you to grant it me for the full price. I think when it comes to giving, if your heart is hard towards giving, that's between you and the Lord, but I think when it comes towards giving in a way that we can soften our hearts towards giving and make our hearts willing is to realize and to have a gratitude for the forgiveness that God has given us. I think when you and I become aware of the forgiveness that God has given to us, it opens us up to want to give, to want to do, to want to sacrifice. I'd like you to take your Bibles and go with me if you would to the book of Luke in the New Testament, Luke chapter 7, the Gospel according to Luke, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Luke chapter 7. I want to read a portion of scripture for you. It's a little lengthy, but I think it makes the point. I'd like to just read it for you. I don't know that I'll even give any commentary. I just think it's good for us to hear it. I want you to hear this with this attitude of willingness, a willing heart, gratitude for forgiveness. In Luke chapter 7 and verse 36, we have a story of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says this. And one of the Pharisees desired him, this is Jesus, that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house and sat down to meet. And behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, we're not told what sin, probably immorality. When she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment. And stood at his feet, behind him weeping. And began to wash his feet with tears. And did wipe them with the hairs of her head. And kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him. For she is a sinner. And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he said, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors. The one owed five hundred pence and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore which of them will love him the most. Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave the most. And he said unto him, Thou has rightly judged. And he turned to the woman and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet. But she hath washed my feet with tears. And wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins which are many are forgiven. Notice these words, he says, for she loveth much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. Thy sins are forgiven. I think the story highlights for us that when you and I have a realization of the amount of forgiveness that we've been given from God. It should open our hearts to be willing to give. And when Jesus says here in verse 47, to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little, I think that we should acknowledge that that is a perception. You and I might perceive that little is forgiven. But the truth of the matter is that, like he says in verse 42, no matter how much you think you have or haven't sinned, he frankly forgave them both. You and I did not deserve forgiveness, but he gave it. And I think what we can learn from the story is that we should, number one, give obedience. You say, why should I give? You should give because God tells you to. Because he says that we've robbed him. Wherein have we robbed him? In tithes and offerings. But we should also give from a heart of willingness, with an understanding that we've been forgiven. David understood that he'd been forgiven. David understood that he was just moments away from death. And I think that made him willing to give. You're there in Luke. I'd like you to find 2 Corinthians chapter 9 just real quickly. If you go past John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians. Do me a favor when you get to 2 Corinthians, put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it. I'd like for you to get to it quickly. 2 Corinthians chapter 9, these are verses we look at a lot when we talk about giving, but I think it's worth seeing again. 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 7, the Bible says this, every man according as he purposeth, that's the willing. That's the free will aspect of it. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart. But notice it's a command, so let him give. The command is so let him give. You say, well how much? Well as he purposeth in his heart, that's the free will part. How much should I give? Well I don't know, how much have you been forgiven? Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give. But notice the attitude here, the willingness not grudgingly or of necessity for God loveth a cheerful giver. And look what I would say to you is this, you don't have to give a vision offering next week and you can come here next week and not put a dime in the vision offering and no one's going to know the difference and no one's going to judge you for it. You say well then what should I do? I think that this week you should consider, have I been obedient in my giving? And if I haven't, should I take this opportunity to be obedient in giving? And you should consider, how willing am I? How much do I love due to the amount of forgiveness that I've been given? Because if you're saved and I hope you're saved, he frankly forgave them both. And I think that should motivate us. Jesus said where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. I'd like you to go back to 1 Chronicles. This time go to chapter 29, just real quick let me show you something and we'll get back to our story. 1 Chronicles 29. In 1 Chronicles 21 we see the purchasing of the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. In 1 Chronicles 29 we actually see an offering that's being taken by David for the future temple. And I don't want to spend a lot of time on this but I just want you to notice the emphasis here. 1 Chronicles 29 verse 6, the Bible says, Then the chief of the fathers and the princes of the tribes of Israel and the captains of thousands and of hundreds with the rulers of the king's work. I just want you to notice these words, it says offered willingly, offered willingly. Look at verse 9 the same chapter, 1 Chronicles 29 verse 9. Then the people rejoiced for that they, notice these words, offered willingly. Because with perfect heart they, notice the words, offered willingly to the Lord. And David the king also rejoiced with great joy. I want this vision offering to be something if you participate in it, I want it to be something you do willingly. Out of a love for the Lord and gratitude for his forgiveness. Go back to 1 Chronicles 21, let's get back to our story. We're learning some lessons about giving from the story of David. We learned that we should give obediently. It wasn't David's idea, it was God's idea. He said I want you to go and I want you to go up and set up in the place of Ornan where he's threshing wheat. I want you to sacrifice and David did it not while mumbling and complaining, he did it willingly. He said I'm willing, I understand that I was moments from death and I understand my forgiveness and that makes my heart open and willing. And he says I want to pay the full price. I want you to notice if you look at verse 23 as we get back into our story. I want you to see Ornan's response to David's offer because David shows up and he makes an offer. He says grant me this threshing floor and he said I want to pay for it full price. But notice Ornan, the man who owns the property, notice his response in verse 23. And Ornan said unto David, take it to thee. And that's not said in some sort of attitude, not like take it to thee. David says, Ornan says to David, take it, take it to thee. He said this place where I'm threshing wheat, you can have it. He says take it to thee and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes. And I want you to notice he takes it a step further. He not only says, because David shows up and David says, I grant me this threshing floor. I want to purchase this threshing floor and I want to purchase it for the full price. But Ornan says, you can have it. Take it to thee and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes. And then Ornan takes it a step further. He says lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offering. He says, you want to purchase this place to sacrifice the lord? Not only can you have the land, he said these oxen that I'm using to thresh the wheat, you can use these oxen to sacrifice the lord. He said, you can take the land and he said, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offering. And then he takes it a step further. He says, and the threshing instruments for what? He said, you see these threshing tools we have here? They're made out of wood. You can use this wood to build the altar. You can have the land and you can have the oxen and you can have the instruments. He says, he takes it a step further. He says, and the wheat for the meat offering. He says, you can have it. David says, I want the land. I want to purchase the land and I want to purchase it for the full price. And Ornan says, you can have the land. He said, you can have the oxen. You can have the threshing instrument. You can have the wheat. He said, you can have the land to sacrifice on. You can have the oxen and use them for burnt offerings. You can take the threshing instruments to build the altar. He said, you can have the wheat to offer a meat offering. Notice in the last part of verse 23, Ornan says, I give it all. And here we see the third lesson. And it is this, not only that we should give obediently, not only that we should give willingly, but we see that we should give generously. Here Ornan doesn't hold back. He says, you want the land? You can have the land. He said, and you can have the oxen, and you can have the instruments for wood, and you can have the wheat. He says, I give it all. He said, I give it all. And we see here that we should give with an attitude of generosity. We don't hold back. We say, Lord, all to Jesus I surrender. All to him I freely give. Did you keep your place in 2 Corinthians 9? We read verse 7, but I'd like you to look at verse 6. In 2 Corinthians 9, verse 7, we read these words, Every man according as he purposed in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. But in verse 6, I want you to notice this promise is given in verse 6. And it is the context of verse 7. In verse 6, the Bible says, but this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. And that is the context in which Paul says, every man according as he purposed in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. So what does that mean? What that means is this, you and I cannot outgive God. And if we sow sparingly, we'll reap sparingly. And if we sow bountifully, we'll reap bountifully. And Paul tells us, look, he that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. And in that context, he says, so let me advise you, every man according as he purposed in his heart, so let him give. And the idea is this, you say, I'm afraid of being generous with God. You can't be too generous with God because you can't outgive God. David says, I want the threshing floor, and Ornan says, you can have the threshing floor, and you can have the oxen, and you can have the wood, and you can have the wheat. He says, I give it all. We learn that we can be generous with God because we cannot outgive God. R.G. Latourneau was a Christian businessman. He was an inventor of earth-moving machinery. At one point, he decided to reverse his tithe. Instead of giving 10 percent and keeping 90 percent, he gave 90 percent of his income to God and lived on the remaining 10 percent. Despite this radical generosity, his business flourished, and he became one of the most successful industrialists of his time. He often said this, I shovel it out, and God shovels it back, but God has a bigger shovel. And the understanding is this, that you and I cannot outgive God. We cannot be too generous with God. He that sowed sparingly shall reap also sparingly. He that sowed bountifully shall reap also bountifully. So keep that in mind when you pray about how to give. I'd like you to look at this verse in Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter 6, if you don't mind just real quickly, Matthew, Mark, Luke. Luke chapter 6. Look at verse number 38. Luke chapter 6 and verse 38. I like the quote from this R.G. Latourneau, I shovel it out, and God shovels it back, but God has a bigger shovel. I think we understand what he means by that, but to be honest with you, it's not theologically correct, because the Bible actually says this in Luke 6.38, give and it shall be given unto you. That's a promise from God. I don't know what that means. I'm not going to sit here and be a prosperity preacher and tell you that God's going to make you rich. I know that there are some things that are more important than money. I know that there are some things that God can give us that are more important than money. But here's what God says, give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over shall men give unto your bosom. Here's what God actually says, and I like Latourneau's quote, but this is what the Bible actually says. The Bible says, for with the same measure ye meet with all that shall be measured to you. Again, God says when you decide what measuring cup to choose to take out of your resources to give to the house of God, to the work of God, God says I will pick up that same measuring cup with the same measure that ye meet with all that shall be measured to you again. He says the difference is that when you scoop in, you're going to try to make sure that it's not higher than it needs to be. God says when I scoop in, I'll press it down. I'll get the air bubbles out of it. I'll fill it up. In fact, when I scoop it out, it'll be running over. He says good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over for with the same measure that you meet with all that shall be measured to you again. So we see that we should give obediently and we see that we should give willingly. We see that we should give generously. I want you to notice this morning. I've got to hurry up. Go back to 1 Chronicles 21 if you would. Let's get back to our story. Look at verse 24. We saw David approach Ornan. Ornan bows himself. David says grant me the threshing floor. We see David gives obediently. He says the Lord commanded this. I want to pay full price. We see that he does it willingly. We see from Ornan this idea of generosity where Ornan says you can have the land, you can have the oxen, you can have the wood, you can have the wheat. He says I give it all. I want you to notice David's response to Ornan's offer. Ornan says you can have it all. What does David say to that? Look at verse 24. And King David said to Ornan nay. That's his response. Ornan says you can have the land, you can have the oxen, you can have the wood instruments, you can have the wheat. He says I give it all and David says nay but I will barely buy it for the full price for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord nor offer burnt offerings. Notice the words here, without cost. What we see here is that not only should we give obediently, not only should we give willingly, not only should we give generously, but we should give sacrificially. David says I'm not going to take what's yours and give it to the Lord. He said I'm not going to give to the Lord that which is without cost. Now this same story is found in 2 Samuel 24. I'd like you to turn there real quickly. You're there in 1 Chronicles. If you go backwards you have 2 Kings, 1 Kings, 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, 2 Kings, 1 Kings, 2 Samuel. We actually saw this story from 2 Samuel on Wednesday night if you remember. We were in 2 Samuel 24 on Wednesday night. We've been looking at 1 Chronicles 21 this morning. Same story, just a different book that has the same story. These are parallel passages. We can compare them sometimes and it gives us insight. I just want you to notice how it's worded here in 2 Samuel 24 in verse 24. It's the same story, 2 Samuel 24, 24. The Bible says, And the king said unto Aronah, Aronah is just a different name for Ornan, the Jebusite, same guy. And the king said unto Aronah, Nay, this is after Ornan, Aronah, makes the offer, it says you can have the land, you can have the ox, you can have the tools, you can have the wheat, I give it all. And the king said unto Aronah, Nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price. Notice how it's worded here. I like how it's worded in 2 Samuel 24, 24. He says, Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. David said, I'm not going to offer to the Lord that which doth cost me nothing. And isn't it true that that's the kind of Christianity we want? We want the kind of Christianity that doesn't cost us anything. But David said, I'm not going to offer the Lord that which doesn't cost me anything. He said, I don't want to just give obediently and I don't want to just give willingly, I don't want to just give generously. He said, I want it to cost me something. I want to give sacrificially. And I think that this is the type of attitude that you and I should have. We want to go to church that doesn't ask anything of us. We want to serve a God that doesn't ask anything of us. We want to live a Christian life that doesn't ask anything of us. David said, neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. He said, I want to sacrifice. I want it to cost me something. Go back to 1 Chronicles 21. Let's end the story. Look at verse 25. We've seen that we should give obediently and we should give willingly. We should give generously and sacrificially. Why don't you notice lastly this morning that we should give expectantly. Notice what happens in the story. So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by way. And David built there an altar unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And called upon the Lord. And he, that's the Lord, answered him. So David built there an altar unto the Lord. Notice up to this point God has not been speaking to David. Now that's not unusual for you and I. God doesn't speak to us and if God does speak to you audibly that's not God. But David remember was the sweet psalmist of Israel. David wrote most of the psalms. David was one of the men that the Bible says that holy men of God speak as they are removed by the Holy Ghost. David had had God speak to him at times. But here God is speaking to David through this prophet Gad. Gad comes and says God wants you to go to the threshing floor of Ornan. He wants you to go up and he wants you to set up. And David is moving along being led by his spiritual leader Gad. But here the Bible says that David built there an altar unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings and called unto the Lord. And he, the Lord, answered him from heaven. How did God answer him? How did God tell David I've accepted this. I'm fine with this. This is what I want. I'm happy with this. He answered him from heaven. Notice the words here. By fire upon the altar of burnt offering. This is not something that happens often in the Bible but it does happen. It actually happened when they set up the tabernacle. It happened with Elisha. And here when God, when David sets up this altar at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sets up the altar. He purchases the land. He purchases the oxen. He purchases the wood. He sets up the altar. He gives the burnt. He sets it all up and before they can set the thing on fire, the Bible says that fire came from the Lord. Fire upon the altar of burnt offering. The Lord answered from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. And the Lord commanded the angel and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof. Isn't that interesting? The angels didn't leave. He was standing there the whole time with his sword watching this interaction. At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. And I think that's easy to overlook but there's a theological implication there that when this happened, it became clear this is now the place. This is where God wants sacrifices done. Then he sacrificed there. This is how God indicated. And to be honest with you, I believe that oftentimes in the Bible some of the great stories we have in Scripture we think are there for our admonition and they are there for our admonition and they're interesting and we can learn from them. But there's actually a storyline to Scripture and the storyline to Scripture is here that this whole reason the story is in the Bible, obviously everything we've learned from it is there for us to learn. But one of the main reasons why we even have this story in the Bible because God is telling us this is how this location was chosen for Solomon to build the temple. Solomon didn't just look at a map one day and decide well this looks good and built it there. It was chosen by God when God answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar, the burnt offering. So in verse 28 the Bible says then he sacrificed there. And that's where the sacrifice of the Lord took place. But what we can learn from it is this that David gave expecting God to accept it and God did. And what you and I can learn is that we can give expectantly. We should give expectantly. Next week like we've been talking about we're taking our vision offering. You should have one of these flyers in your bulletin if you haven't taken a look at it. I just want to remind you if you wouldn't mind just real quickly that next week you'll have an opportunity to bring a one-time offering on the day of the vision offering which is next Sunday. You can give a one-time offering. If you say I won't be ready to give next week then you can make a commitment to give towards the vision offering in either April, May, and June. Or you can do any combination of those. You can give and give in one of those months. You can give in all of those months. You can do whatever you want. It's a free will offering. The free will is not whether you and I give but how we do it, it's up to you. You can bring a one-time offering and make a commitment. You can do it however you'd like. What I ask is that you spend this week praying and asking the Lord if He would have you to give and how He would have you to give. Over the years on a day like today I've announced how much my wife and I will give. And I often do that to express to you that my wife and I are in this with you. This year I've decided to do things a little different with the vision offering. Usually for the vision offering I also set a goal. I'll say something like we're going to raise $100,000. And by God's grace we've always succeeded it. We've never had a year where we failed to meet the goal. This year I've decided to change the vision offering a little bit. I want it to be low pressure. For that reason I haven't set a goal. You've not heard me say our goal is to save this much money. And for that reason I'm also not going to announce this year how much my wife and I are going to give. I can assure you that we will give. And I can assure you that we will sacrifice. We'll be in it with you. But I don't want this vision offering to be in any way shape or form felt like the expectation is not to be done based off of what can be produced by human effort or guilt or manipulation. All I ask is this, that if your heart is obedient due to a love for God's word, that if your heart is willing due to gratitude for your forgiveness of sins, if your heart is generous due to a realization that you cannot out give God, if your heart is willing to sacrifice due to, like David, not wanting to give that which does cost me nothing, then I just ask that you give. And we'll just give expectantly and we'll see what the Lord can do through us. And if we fail, I know that it won't be because God failed, because God doesn't fail. I'll just end with this verse, Ephesians 3 and verse 20, the Bible says this, Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. And we thank you for this great story of giving. And Lord, I pray you'd help us to consider what you'd have us to do. And Lord, I pray that there'd be no pressure, no human pressure. No one would show up tomorrow and give or show up next week and give grudgingly or out of some felt need of necessity. Lord, I pray you'd open our hearts. And Lord, I pray you'd help us to consider what we would purpose to give, that we would consider the things we've learned about today. In the matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. We're going to have Brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song. We've got a couple of baptisms this morning and we're going to prepare for those as we sing these final songs. Amen. Let's grab our psalm books and turn to page number 324. Song number 324, I am thine, O Lord, I have heard thy voice. And some of us heard the voice of the Lord this morning. And this is a prayer. It says, draw me near. And that's always going to be our prayer, right? Every single week of our lives. We ought to pray to God to draw us near. Song number 324, sing it out on that verse now. I am thine, O Lord, I have heard thy voice. And it shows thy love to me. That I long to rise in the arms of thee. And be closer drawn to thee. Sing it out. Draw me near, O Lord, in a decimal. To the land that has died. Draw me near, O Lord, in a decimal. To thy passion's cleaning side. Consecrate me now to thy soul. This room is formed by the power of the Lord. Let my soul look up, let us stand as one. Let my will be lost and blind. Draw me near, O Lord, in a decimal. To the land that has died. Draw me near, O Lord, in a decimal. To thy passion's cleaning side. Consecrate me now, O Lord, in a decimal. To thy passion's cleaning side. Consecrate me now, O Lord, in a decimal. Draw me near, O Lord, in a decimal. Draw me near, O Lord, in a decimal. To the cross that now has died. Draw me near, O Lord, in a decimal. To thy passion's cleaning side. Come out on that last. There are tests of thought that I cannot know. To the cross that now has died. There are heights of truth that I may not reach. To the cross that now has died. Draw me near, O Lord, in a decimal. To the cross that now has died. Draw me near, O Lord, in a decimal. Draw me near, O Lord, to thy passion's cleaning side. Let's sing that 325. We don't have to go far. We're going to sing trust and faith. When we walk with the Lord, the light of His will. Sing it out on that verse now. When we walk with the Lord, in the light of His will. But only His hands are the way. When we do His good will, He abides with us still. And with all who thou trust in the way. Trust in the way. Trust in the way. To be happy in Jesus. Don't you trust in Him? Not a shadow can rise. Not a cloud in the sky. Not a cloud in the sky. Not a doubt He will free. Not a shadow of a dream. Any path that we trust in Him. Trust in the way. Trust in the way. To be happy in Jesus. Don't you trust in the way. Alright, this morning we have Caleb Urquiza coming for baptism. Caleb has a birthday tomorrow, so it's a good day for him to get baptized. Caleb, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior? Alright, by your profession of faith, I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, buried in the likeness of His death, raised to walk in newness of life. God bless you. Okay, and we have a second baptism this morning as well. We'll go ahead and get that going. Okay, and this morning we have Jacob Scrambler coming for baptism, and Jacob is brother J's nephew. Is that correct? Nephew? Alright, and it's good to have brother J with us this morning as well. And Jacob got saved at our church a while ago, and he wants to get baptized, and we're happy for him to be here. Jacob, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior? Alright, by your profession of faith, I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Why don't you spin up just a little bit. Buried in the likeness of His death, raised to walk in newness of life. God bless you. Alright, well thank you very much for being here this morning. We appreciate you being here, and I just want to ask you to, of course, be back tonight, 6 p.m. for the evening service. Just another opportunity to be in God's house. We'd love for you to join us, and be in prayer about this vision offering. Pray that the Lord will do a great work. If there's anything that we can do for you, please let us know. I'm going to ask brother R.J. to dismiss us with a word of prayer. Amen. Let's close in the word of prayer. Lord, we love you. We thank you, Lord, for that sermon, and we thank you for the great that you've given us, that these dear people, Lord, would come this morning because they love you. We pray that this sermon would speak to us. Help us, Lord, to pray this week, and put in our hearts, Lord, to be humble, to be obedient to you, Lord, and to love you with all our hearts. Lord, we pray that you bless the day, and pray that you bring us back to church tonight, and pray that you would dismiss us with your grace. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. You