(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

1 Corinthians 16, verse number 3. Paul writes to the Corinthian church, and when I come, whomsoever you shall approve by your letters, then will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. Title for the sermon tonight is, bring your liberality. Bring your liberality. Now, very quickly, the context of what we're reading here is this liberality means, what liberality means as a general term is generosity, okay? You're being liberal with what you have, with the resources. And in this context, it's finances, okay? In this context, it's finances. So what happened was, there was the brethren in Jerusalem, and they were going through a drought. In fact, let's read that. Keep your finger there in 1 Corinthians 16, and come with me to Acts 11. I just want to show you. Come with me to Acts 11, Acts 11. But what we have here is Paul is encouraging the Corinthian church to support and help the brethren in Judea, or in Jerusalem, okay? And so Acts 11, verse number 27, Acts 11, verse number 27 reads, And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. So there was a church in Jerusalem, there was a church in Antioch, okay? So there are certain preachers coming from one church to the other church. And they stood up one of them, named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be a great dearth throughout all the world. And it came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, look at this, this is so important, Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwell in Judea, which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. Okay, so Acts 11 tells us the problem, okay? There's a great dearth, there's a great drought, okay, coming onto the earth. And here it says the disciples, those that are in Antioch, you know, they're moved with compassion for the brethren in Jerusalem and in Judea. And so they say, you know what, we're going to get a collection together. We're going to help the brethren there. How can we support them as they're going to go through this great drought, this great need? And so, you know, and this is what I wanted to really preach about today, and the fact that I appreciate this church so much for being able to say, Pastor, what are some great needs? You know, how can I help brethren in other places? Whether that's brethren in Melbourne, whether that's brethren in Port Macquarie, whether that's brethren on the sunny coast or wherever, you know, we interact, or, you know, if it's a mission strip to Fiji or other missions work that we're trying to do and reach people, you know, the fact that I have a church here as well on the sunny coast that are willing to give of themselves to support and help other brethren, you know, it just fills me with so much encouragement. And it makes me want to do more. As people are like, yeah, let's do more for the Lord, let's do more for His kingdom. You know, even though we're two small churches, one here in the city, one on the sunny coast, we've been able to accomplish some great works for the Lord. And I want you to notice, though, it's so important, you know, and again, I'm not trying to make this about money. I'm trying to, you know, make this about taking the principles of the need of brethren and being able to support where we can and how we can. And so a great example, of course, of Port Macquarie, as I said, is when some of you were like, yes, Pastor, I'll go. You know, I'll travel, you know. It's not so much the money, it's, you know, I'll use my time, my resources, my abilities, you know, my voice to go there and preach and help and support the brethren. Remember what it says in Verse 29, then the disciples, every man according to his ability, every man according to his ability. And I want to make this very clear that we all have different abilities, okay? We all have different ways that we can help. You know, some can travel to a place like Fiji. Some can travel to a place like Melbourne. But then there are other times when you will not be able to do the same things that others can. You know, like there's an example with, let's say, families, all right? Families that are married with children. You know, these men may not be able to do as much as men who are single, you know, and have more time on their hands because, of course, when it comes to marriage and family, your priority is your household. But, you know, when you're not married, you're able to do so much more for the kingdom of God and so your abilities are different at different points in your life. So I want to drive that home because I don't want anyone to feel like, oh, man, you know, I've not been able to go to like a Fiji or I've not been able to go to a Melbourne or I've not been able to go to WA for soul winning, you know, and maybe I feel, you know, inadequate. Don't be that way because when we choose to support the brethren, we look at what abilities we have and some have more ability than others and that's fine. You know, that's good. That's fine. But we look at the abilities we have and we say, hey, how can we support and help the brethren? And I really, I want that to be your mindset here tonight. I say, pastor, I don't have the ability to go to place A or place B and what have you, but what I can do, pastor, is to pray. We need prayers, right, to further the work of this church and to do something great. You know, we need people praying for us. We need, you know, to be brought before the throne of grace and if you can lower yourself and bow your knees and bow your head to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm not able to do much as a person, but I can definitely bring this need or I can definitely bring Port Macquarie, I can definitely bring Mervin, I can definitely bring the missions conference up in prayer and, Lord, I want to ask that you would equip the people that are able to get out there. That's within your abilities and that's a blessing when you're able to help one another. So I just want to give you the context of where this takes place, the great dearth, the great need in Jerusalem and the fact that the Corinthian Church are being asked to help. The Antioch Church was willing to help and then you've got the Corinthian Church being asked to help. So come back with me to 1 Corinthians 16, please. Come back with me to 1 Corinthians 16 and verse number 1. 1 Corinthians 16. 1 Corinthians 16 and verse number 1. Let's read it from there. So Paul says this. Now concerning the collection for the saints. Now I want to stop there for a moment. So this collection for the saints, this is not your regular collection that takes place in the house of the Lord. Like the tithe in and the given that comes from within the church for church operations and church business. That's not what this is talking about. This is for a collection for the saints. And again, if you follow the chronology of things, this is again referring to the brethren going through great doubts in Jerusalem. Paul is saying, look, I've expressed to you the need, the financial need, the financial aid of the brethren need down in Jerusalem. So he's going to address this thing. He says, As I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. He goes to all the churches. I'm not just asking you guys. I'm asking all the churches in Galatia for this collection for the saints. Then he says in verse number 2, And to the first day of the week, sorry, upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, look at this, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. It's the same idea. As God have prospered him is the same idea as according to his ability. Okay? Because our ability, our resources, our time is something that God may prosper with you in different areas of your life. Okay? So as God has prospered you, as God has allowed you to be blessed, he says with what God has given you, lay this collection together upon the first day of the week. So he goes that there be no gatherings when I come. He goes I don't want you to start collecting when I arrive. When I finally arrive there, that's not when it's time to start collecting for the saints. Do that before I come. Okay? So it's ready to be delivered to Jerusalem. And then he says this in verse number 3, And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, then will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. There it is. Okay? The collection for the saints is for the brethren in Jerusalem because of this drought. Okay? Now, again, I'm not here saying hey, guys, start flooding the church with money. That's not my point. I'm taking the application here. Okay? According to our abilities, we have brethren across Australia with needs. We have brethren even that are without a church. You know, one of the blessings of going to Port Macquarie on the Sunday was that, you know, even though Brother Rams, what a blessing for him to pick me up and drive me there. I mean, that's support. That's been a blessing, right? I mean, he wasn't there preaching, but he was there doing the driving. Okay? That's a way that God has prospered him, right? That's something that he could look at his ability and say, you know, how can I help my pastor help the brethren there in Port Macquarie? We also had, you know, you guys know, of course, Sister Diane and Little Carol. You know, they came from Raymond Terrace, right? They drove two hours to support me and to support the church there and just their presence, you know, and if the ladies are listening tonight, I just say thank you for coming. You know, it was a real blessing. Just the presence and the support and the love. I mean, this is how we can support our brothers and sisters in the Lord. You know, I don't think this church knows the Hobbins family, but they drove two and a half hours north. They drove south, you know, they're more north, and they visit our church at New Life Baptist Church on a semi-regular basis, maybe every couple of months, because it's a long drive, like some six hours to get there, and they were there as well in Port Macquarie and, again, just seeing their faces, the friendship, right, the support, the love, it goes a long way, you know? And so when I think about this and I think about, you know, our church and our friends that we have out there in different places that love our church, you know, it's so important that we determine what our abilities are and how can we help? How can we help? You know, even regarding Port Macquarie, you say, Pastor, I can't preach, I can't... Yeah, but maybe, maybe, you know, once a year, you're able to get out there, for example, and just turn up to a service and be a friend and be a support, and if you're a soul winner, you're able to get out there and maybe go and knock some doors, grab some from that church, and say, you know what, let's go out door to door soul winning, I'll show you how it's done, or something like that. There are so many ways that we can be a blessing and support to the brethren that have needs, all right? So I really want us to always have this outward focus on others. You know, I do have a focus, obviously, within our church and the need for our church to grow and to learn God's word and for our fellowship and our service to help this local body, but as we're edified and we support and love one another, we need to also have an outward view, okay? Of course, the soul winning, go out, you know, preach the gospel to every creature, obviously very important that we do that, but we must also recognise there are brethren that have needs, and the question is, how can I support? How has God prospered me to be a help and support to other brethren? Now, you're there in 1 Corinthians 16, let's drop down to verse number 7, drop down to verse number 7, because, you know, when it comes to supporting and doing work and I don't get a lot of pushback, most of you guys are like, yeah, pastor, if you want to do it, I'm behind you. Every now and again, there might be some, you know, some concerns, but we try to work through those concerns, obviously, and see if there's a solution or see if it's going to damage our ministry or damage our testimony and, you know, we're often asking ourselves those kinds of questions, but I want you to understand that, like, generally speaking, people are on board to do more for the Lord, okay? And to utilise whatever, again, resources and abilities and even financials that the Lord God has given our churches to do a work for him, there is a reality that we read here in verse number 7 that I really want you to be aware of, okay? And this is not just, like, airy-fairy stuff, this is, what we're about to read here is real, okay? And I want this church to be prepared, you know, as we have men here that say, pastor, I'm willing to go to Port Macquarie, I want you to understand there are going to be some complications. There are going to be some difficulties, all right? And it's not just going to be this wonderful, perfect thing that takes place all the time. Because when we're trying to do something great for God, when we're trying to encourage brethren, when we're trying to be a help to other churches, this is what happens in 1 Corinthians 16, verse number 7. Paul says, for I will not see you now by the way, but I trust to tarry awhile with you if the Lord permits. But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. So he's saying, look, I want to visit you, Corinthian church, but right now he's in Ephesus. And he's waiting in Ephesus until Pentecost, and this is why, he says in verse number 9, for a great door and effectual is opened unto me. So he says, the reason I'm staying in Ephesus for a while longer is because a great door and effectual, an effectual door has been opened unto him. He said, look, there's a great chance of ministry. There are souls getting saved here. We're planting a church. We're furthering the kingdom of God here in Ephesus. So as much as I want to go and be with you, Corinthian church, right now there's an open door and I've got to use this ability that God has opened to do a work for him. But then he says these words, and there are many adversaries. There are many adversaries. I want this church to be aware. I want you to be sober and vigilant, okay, because our adversary, the devil, okay, he is our enemy. And do you think, do you think the devil is happy with Blessed Hope Baptist Church? Do you think the devil wants us meeting here this Thursday night? No, the devil's going to throw whatever distractions, whatever problems, whatever turmoils, you know, he'll try to create problems on the outward to inward. He'll try to create issues even within us, conflicts and whatever it is, criticisms and unnecessary judgements. The devil's going to try anything to try to stop the work of Blessed Hope Baptist Church. He is our adversary. That verse that I was trying to quote was 1 Peter 5a. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Now, I don't know about you, brethren, but I look at Port Macquarie and I say, look, the Lord has opened a great door and effectually has opened unto us. It's not like, you know, Pastor Kevin, when did you set your heart to go to Port Macquarie? Never. I did not go and, like, bang down some door. Lord, make this happen. It's opened. You know, and it's the Lord's business and, you know, when the Lord opens a door, we have a choice to, you know, say, well, does the door open here? And again, you know, like Paul, he's got a heart to visit the Corinthian church, but he goes, I'm in Ephesus, though. There's a door that's opened. And now I know what that means. Like, I wanted to be here on Sunday to preach for you guys. Like, sit in church, I want to be here, but a door's been opened in Port Macquarie. Like, I can't come this Sunday. Look, thank God I've got planes, though, and drivers, and Paul didn't have, you know, the modern conveniences that we have today. And we have Internet and we have Skype and we've got, you know, WhatsApp and we've got Facebook and we've got everything under the sun. God's equipped us with a great ability to be a blessing, not just nationally, but even internationally, if the Lord opens such a door for us. And so when the Lord opens our door, regardless of how small our church is, we need to ask ourselves, look, are we forcing this door open or is the Lord opening the door? And if the Lord's opening the door, I think we need to step through and say, Lord, what do you have us to do? But I want you to understand that the door's been opened. What a blessing! But the adversaries, there are many adversaries. And without question, every time our church, and what I mean by our church, I mean New Life, but also, of course, many of the work that we've done, we've done together as the two churches. Any time we've done some type of, like, soul-winning marathon in other cities, for example, we've gone to Fiji or we've done something that is not the usual, something different, there's always, always, always been an attack of the enemy. Always, Reverend. You know, like, to me, I read these verses, and like, I guess when I'm, sometimes I'm wondering about, who are we? Like, I think about the devil, I think about adversaries, like, why would they bother us? But they do. Because this is why, because we're doing a great work for God. And it really bothers the forces of darkness. Look, I believe the devil wants that church in Port Macquarie to close down. You know, the devil will do whatever he can do to try to destroy another great church. And for us to go, you know what, no, the Lord's opened a door, let's go be a support. Lord, what ability have you given me? What resources have you given me? How can I be of help? And that's why, like, I'm a little concerned, because there's a lot going on. We've just done the Fiji, and there's the Port Macquarie, there's the Melbourne, there's the trip to, in November, to the U.S. for the conference, and I think, oh man, when are the adversaries going to start popping up? Because they do. They do. And I'm just saying this for everyone, be prepared. Prepare your hearts for difficulties. Okay? And you know what happens when difficulties come? When the difficulties come, you'll be like, I knew it was a bad decision to go to Port Macquarie. I knew it was a bad decision to go to Melbourne. I knew it was a bad decision. I knew, because that's what the devil wants you to think. Even though the Lord opens the door, the devil's going to try to bring in whatever doubts and confusion and conflict that he can create. The devil's so smart at doing this. So brethren, there's a lot going on, and I know, like, obviously a lot going on with me, specifically, but I'm your pastor at your church, and I want you to pray for me. And I want you to pray for each other. And I want you to pray for the men that said I'm willing to go to Port Macquarie and preach, because they're going to face adversaries. I'm just being honest, and I want you to be ready. And when things get difficult, and things get hard, I don't want you to go, ah, just quit blessing about this church. No, look, the devil's going to attack the churches that are doing something great for God. You know, the churches that are just not doing much, maybe they're just gathering every now and again, but they're not really doing anything to further the kingdom. They're not really doing anything to support and help other churches. The devil's going to leave them alone. Like, there's not going to be much action as far as adversaries go, but the ones that try to do something for the Lord, there are many adversaries, and the devil's just one. Adversaries can even come within, you know, even within the brethren. Adversaries means enemies. You know, and people are going to knock you down for trying to be a help. And, you know, like, I hope you guys know me by now. It's been six years that I've been pastoring this church. I hope you know by now that I don't do this role for power or prestige or wealth. I do because I have a love for the people of God. I have a love for God's kingdom. I want to do what I can. The Lord's blessed me growing up in a Christian home. He's blessed me with the Bible. He's blessed me with good churches growing up, good doctrines that I've learned over the years, and I want to be able to utilize what God has given me to be a blessing to others. And I hope you can see that because that truly is my heart. But I'm telling you, there are enemies. I want to stop our work. If you can, come with me to Philippians chapter 1. Come with me to Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1 and verse number 27. Let me give you another idea of how to identify an adversary here in Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1, verse number 27. It says, Only let your conversation... I remember the word in the Bible, like, your lifestyle, okay? Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be present, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Okay. So Paul is telling the Philippian church, I want your life, I want your behavior to line up with the gospel of Christ. We know that you've been saved by the gospel, praise God. And so we should live out that gospel. We should be willing to see other people get saved. We should be willing to share that same gospel that saved us, you know, to others. That means, like, the gospel's real to you. Like, not only have you been saved, but now you say, well, Lord, how can you utilize me to reach other people? Philippians chapter 1 has a lot to do with preaching the gospel. But then he says this in verse number 28. I want you to be terrified by your adversaries. He goes, I don't want you to be terrified by your adversaries. Don't be afraid when the enemies come. And so I want to preach this sermon because we've got a lot of work coming up for us as a church. This has been the busiest year of Blessed Up Baptist Church and New Life Baptist Church combined. There's a lot of work going on. Praise God for it. Maybe next year's not going to be so busy, this year's been very busy, and I want you to understand when the enemies come, don't be terrified. Don't be afraid of the enemies. Look at this. Which is to them an evident token of petition, but to you of salvation and that of God. So what we have here, the adversaries are trying to stop the Philippian church from preaching the gospel. They're trying to stop them. Trying to discourage. Trying to, you know, throw a wet blanket on the work of the Philippian church. And when you have somebody that is trying to stop the preaching of the gospel, the Bible tells us, this is an evident token, evident, evident, like evidence. This is evidence, okay, of petition. What does petition mean? Damnation. This is evidence that this man or this person is unsaved. If they're trying to stop the preaching of the gospel as we go out and knock doors or whatever it is or go to public places and we try to do a work for God, anyone that tries to criticize and downplay and try to stop you and mock you, the Bible says this is an evident token of petition. They are damned. They're not saved is what they are. These are adversaries. I want you to think about this because I don't know what the future holds. Is this church volunteers and gets out there and helps the church in Port Macquarie and maybe we do some soul winning marathons up there, Lord willing, you know, that people start to, ah, what are you, what are you doing? Trying to throw a wet blanket, what are you? What kind of church are you and what kind of gospel and they try to stop you. Those are adversaries. They seek to discourage. But this is token evidence of their damnation, of their petition. They're not saved. And look, I tell you now, if you're someone in this church that hates soul winning, I'm not saying you don't do soul winning. I'm just saying you hate it and you try to discourage and you try to criticize, you know, then I don't want you in this church because you're an adversary. You're an enemy to the work that we're trying to do here at Blessed Hope Baptist Church. Again, I'm not saying if you don't go soul winning adversary, I'm saying if you're trying to stop it and trying to discourage, you hate it. It bothers you. That's an adversary. And brethren, I just want you to be aware that there are going to be adversaries that pop up and they're going to be friends and they're going to be family they're going to be people that you think well of and before you know it, you realize, wow, the evident token's been manifest. I realize now that we're never saved to begin with. There are adversaries all over the place. And but hey, don't be terrified. Alright, like I'm not saying this to, oh man, what's going to happen? Just to be aware that things will happen and then I'm not going to be fearful because I know what God's word says and if we're doing a good work, there's going to be persecution. There's going to be criticism. There's going to be adversaries that are going to try to stop the work. But for us, that's an evident token of our salvation because we're doing what is right. We're doing what the Lord commands of us. Come back with me to 1 Corinthians 16, the main passage for the sermon tonight, 1 Corinthians 16, 1 Corinthians 16 and verse number 10. 1 Corinthians 16 and verse number 10. So, you know, just for now, I'm just telling church, we need your prayers. We need your prayers. Please remember, you know, it might sound good, you know, a pastor must have a really good life traveling back and forth and going to open and going to Fiji and going to the United States and going to Philippines early this year. It's full of Lord. It's full of Lord. I'd rather just be at home comfortably in my bedroom, talking to the kids, spending time with my wife. I'd much rather be doing that really, honestly. You know, it's not, but I need your prayers. You know, many of you have said to me, pastor, you know, we don't want you to burn out. I am burnt out. I am stretched. That's why we need the Lord. You know, like, if it's in our own strength, we can't be done. We need the Lord's strength to make it a reality. And I need your help. I need your support. I need your love. I need your prayers. I need you to realize, well, what abilities has God given me? You know, it's not that you're nobody. Your soul is giving you gifts of the Spirit. You've got something that you can contribute to help this church. You know, I love, I really appreciate Brother Lez. You know, I get off out of the airport and I walk for ten minutes and there it is, that wonderful car. And Brother Lez, this is my ability. This is what I can do to help you, pastor. Instead of you catching the train and being stuck there in public transport and maybe delayed train lines or whatever it is that happens. You know, any way that we can help, there's so many different ways. You know, I don't want you to limit yourself. Think about, you know, think about yourself. Say, what abilities has God given me? What resources has God given me? How can I be a help to the ministry here at Blessed Baptist Church? The 1 Corinthians 16 verse number 10. So, we saw earlier that Paul could not come yet to Corinth because he's in Ephesus. So instead of him coming, he sends Timotheus to Timothy. In 1 Corinthians 16 verse number 10. Like, I want verse number 10 to be a reality one day where I'm like the Paul Macquarie church. I'm like, I'm sending Timotheus. I'm sending Brother Tim. Alright, he's going there and, you know, he's come to do the work of the Lord, you know, as also as I also do, right? And so I believe that's going to be a reality very soon. But then he says this. Let no man therefore despise him. I'm sure you like to, I'm sure that's important for Brother Tim. Don't despise Brother Tim, please. Let no man therefore despise him. But conduct him forth in peace that he may come unto me for I look for him with the brethren. So, I want you to notice that Timothy here, Timotheus, has the ability to be sent by Paul to be a blessing to the Corinthian church. But then he says this in verse number 12. So here's another brother, okay? This is Brother Apollos. I greatly desire him to come unto you with the brethren but his will was not at all to come at this time. But he will come when he shall have convenient time. I like that Paul, like, you kind of read that maybe, I don't know, I don't know, you might read that as a young believer that's kind of you might say, well, I mean why is that in the Bible? Timothy can come but Apollos according to his will he can't come right now. He's busy, he's got other things on his plate. But he said if time opens up and he's available he'll come when he can. He'll help when he can. But Timothy can help right now. And the reason I wanted to read those verses to you is because I don't want you to ever compare yourself with one to another. Timothy should not compare himself to Apollos. And Apollos should not compare himself to Timothy. Right? Like, if Timothy can go, Apollos should not be at a point, oh man I've really let down the brethren, I can't come right now. It's not his time. And I recognize and, so when I say don't compare I don't want you to put pressure on yourself. And if I ever put pressure on you, I'm usually being sarcastic. Okay? If I'm like when are you going to go to Port Macquarie? Or when are you going to go to Fiji? Or when are you going to go to the Philippines? I'm probably, I am joking. I'm just throwing out there for a bit of a laugh. I'm not trying to put pressure on you. Because I realize our lives are all busy and our lives are all different. Okay? And we have different measures and times and resources and different responsibilities that God has put over us. And right now Timotheus has the opportunity to go to visit the Corinthian church. But Apollos has other things on and he can't make it right now. And I think that is so important when it comes to service. I never want anybody here to feel inferior because Timothy can go to the Philippines and Apollos can't. Or whatever it is, right? Whatever scenario plays out. And I never want you to say, oh man I must be a lesser of a church member because I can't go to Melbourne this weekend or something like that. I don't want that to ever be your mindset. Well, like we saw earlier, you need to determine what is my ability? What has God given me? How am I able to help? Yeah, I can't get out there and preach a sermon. Like I said. But I can get on my knees and pray to the Lord. Or I can put a little bit of extra finances in an envelope and say this is for Melbourne or something like that. If that's what God has blessed you with. If that's what God's put on your heart. Or you can say I can't go but I can be your chauffeur like Brother Ramson was for me on Sunday. Whatever it is, right? How can I help? What do I have? Don't compare yourself one to another, please. It's going to destroy your joy. It's going to destroy your walk with the Lord. Our eyes are on Christ. I always want you to remember, our eyes are on Jesus Christ. Not on another man and not on another family. Christ alone. And when we compare ourselves to Christ, we always come short of his standard. And so there's no like pride. There's no like oh look what I'm doing and you can't do that. You're not comparing yourself to that man. You're comparing yourself to Christ and we still have a long way to go. I still have a long way to go. There's so much more work that God has laid out for me and to further his kingdom. And when all our eyes are on Christ, we realize hey, we're all trying to serve and help one another in the work that God has given us to do. Please never become envious of another brother in the church. You know, if they have the ability to do something great for God, rejoice in that. Get behind them. Rather than thinking oh woe is me, I can't do this. Well what can you do? That's my question to this church. What can you do? Maybe you can just keep your eyes open for the adversaries. I'll keep a watch out. Like who's going to criticize and I'll defend. Blessed are Baptist Church when the adversaries come and they try to criticize us. You know, I never want you to compare and I never want you to feel pressure because somebody can do something and you can't. We're all at different stages of our Christian walk. And not just different stages, we all have different abilities with what God has given us. Let's continue there in verse number 14. 1 Corinthians 16 verse number 14 It says let all your things be done with charity. So when we come to serve, whatever your ability is, do it with charity. Do it with love. Okay? Don't do it to show off. I don't think this church doesn't like that. I appreciate you guys. I really do. I'm glad I've got nobody here who's just high and mighty and looks down on others. At least I don't know. I don't think so there is. But we do it with charity, our service. You know, and we talk about going to like a Melbourne for soul winning. We do it with charity. We do it for love. You know, we do it to support brethren, to encourage brethren. And it continues in verse number 15. I beseech you, brethren, you know the name of, sorry, you know the house of Stephanus, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia and that they may have, sorry I can't read properly, and they sorry, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. Alright? So the ministry of the saints, they've addicted themselves this house, this family, are like how can I serve the saints? Verse number 16 says that you submit yourselves unto such and to everyone that helpeth with us and labereth. Brethren, you know we're all fellow laborers. You know, just the fact that you attend church tonight, again I say this all the time, but I know what it's like living in Sydney. I've lived here most of my life. I know how bad the traffic gets. You know, it's during peak hour traffic and then Thursday night shopping and to be able to come to the house of the Lord and you're here. You know what that encourages me? I feel encouraged. When you're here physically, and I know it's not going to be the same as Sunday, Sunday's obviously easier to get to for church, but when you turn up I feel encouraged. And it doesn't matter if it's one person, well we want two or three gathered, at least. It doesn't matter if it's two people or a hundred people. I'm going to preach the same sermon. I'm going to preach with the same passion. I'm going to preach with the same love because you deserve it. For being a support to me, I want to be a support back to you with preaching God's word. So we're laborers. We labor together. It continues in verse number 17. I am glad of the coming of Stephanus and for and You know when you come to church on a Thursday you refresh my spirit. I feel excited. I get tired on the trips. But when I get to meet the brethren and your loving and your smile on your face and thanks for coming pastor and whatever it is, that sermon was a good sermon that helped me. You just refresh my spirit. I feel like, man, what a great job, what a great honor God's given me to be able to serve the brethren. You know we had brother Kyle from New Zealand turn up for a week here. You know what, his words before he left was, man, it was such a good trip coming to Australia for the I think it was two and a half or three weeks, whatever it was. He felt refreshed. And I don't know about you, but I believe the people that got to spend time with him felt refreshed as well. Just having a brother from another country want to come and visit a church like us even though we're a small church once again but just, there's love in New Zealand. Doesn't that refresh like you come or those that were able to go to Fiji and you got to meet brethren from the sunny coast or from other places of Australia brother Kyle was there again from New Zealand or brethren from America and from Canada and Korea and where else, Papua New Guinea and you get to meet the brethren and it's refreshing, it's exciting to see other brethren and say, hey, we come from all places of the world but somehow we're all strangers, somehow we come together for one purpose, to labour together to serve one another and it's like we know each other because we're brothers and sisters in the Lord we're working together. I've never met you before, but I love you. We're here striving together for the Kingdom of God's sake. There's nothing better than being a Christian. There's nothing better than serving the Lord, brethren I'm telling the truth because we've got brothers and sisters all across this world and you know what if there's ever a need and there was a need six years ago for a church here in Fairfield and the brethren at New Life said, pastor, go down. Go and help the brethren down there in Sydney. They saw the need and when it comes to Port Macquarie you guys are like, pastor unless someone's got a hidden grudge or something I was like, pastor, if we can if God's able to use us, let's do it. There's a need, let's do it. It just shows me growth Christian maturity the charity the love the desire to refresh the spirits of brethren all across this world. I want to keep this up as the Lord opens the doors but don't forget the adversaries don't forget the devil and when those attacks come, don't be surprised don't be fearful, just be ready to combat them with the full armor of God put on, ready to fight these forces of wickedness that comes our way. So you know we've got this weekend coming up, soul winning in Melbourne, pray for it. Pray. Every now and again I have someone say to me and I know they mean well, but I have someone say to me, what's the point of going to say Melbourne, what's the point of going to whatever, right? We can just go soul winning in our backyard and yes, we can. We can. But I always want you to understand when I set my heart to go somewhere the Lord opens a door and we say, let's go there it's to refresh the spirit of the brethren. That's really what it's about. To encourage, to motivate to show them they're loved that you know, they've got a friend here in Sydney, they've got a friend on the sunny coast, you know you can come and visit, we'll take care of you we'll encourage you, whatever it is and that makes such a difference. And sometimes these people they don't know each other, they live in the same city and they're like minded and they get excited but they don't know each other and sometimes these trips allow brethren to meet one another and then they can form their own little soul winning groups and do something great for God themselves and if God willing, who knows, maybe one day he decides to plan a church in a place like Melbourne, I don't know what the Lord wants, I don't know what, but I want to be flexible I want to be open, I want to be ready for God to utilise me to be a blessing to others. Can you come with me to 2 Corinthians 2 Corinthians now, we've been going looking at 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians obviously it's a letter that comes later and just a reminder the Corinthian church was a really bad church that was a really messed up church and so what happens is in the first letter 1 Corinthians, which is actually the second letter Paul's reminding them look, get your collections together and get it ready so we can send it to Jerusalem well by the time he's writing 2 Corinthians they haven't done it they have not done it and so we get to this point here in 2 Corinthians 9 and verse number 6 and you can read this chapter in the New York Times so you can see how Paul's addressing their laziness he says in 2 Corinthians 9 6 this is in connection of giving to the saints in Jerusalem he says in verse number 7 this is not your tithing this is, again, helping the brethren in Jerusalem they're not doing it they're lazy, whatever it is, they're digging the hills in and he's trying to tell them, look if you sow bountifully you're going to reap bountifully however you serve and I want you to remember this because obviously serving the brethren and serving in God's work requires a lot of sacrifice requires giving of your time and your resources your abilities understand this great promise that God will cause you to reap bountifully if you do much for his kingdom he's going to give you much in return I'm not talking charismatic, Pentecostal here you know the TV preachers put your hands on the TV and send a check for a thousand dollars and receive this prayer and by the end of the week God's going to give you a million dollars send a seed so you can be blessed I'm obviously not talking like that you know that God can bless bountifully in so many different ways of our life but this is a true doctrine it's just that the Pentecostals corrupt God's word and make it all about their love of money but he says you know if you give God loveth for the chief forgiver look at this, verse number 8 and God is able to make all grace abound towards you that ye always have all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work so I guess this church is having a problem they're like I can't give because I just don't have the God's going to bless you stop digging your heels in God's going to bless you and again I'm not trying to make this about finances what is your ability to serve what has God given you what knowledge you know do it with charity not grudgingly oh man Pastor Kevin made me want to think oh man I've got to serve now not lovingly cheerfully with charity I lost my place verse number 9 as it is written he has dispersed abroad he has given to the poor his righteousness remaineth forever now hear that minister of seed to the sower both minister bread for your food and multiply your seed sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness see that increase the fruits of your righteousness and this is a financial setting right here but sometimes God will see how you support and help and give and is able to increase fruits in your righteousness in your ability to do more to be more holy, to be more productive for the kingdom of God's sake verse number 11 which causeeth through us thanksgiving to God he says you know what if you give of your abilities of your resources cheerfully God will make sure that you bountifully receive and as you bountifully receive you're able to give more thanksgiving to God say God I've given this I've given my time, I've given my 8 and a half hours driving to Port Macquarie God's going to give you that back and return bountifully and then whatever it is, however it is that he blesses you, thank you Lord thank you Lord for your blessings cause at the end of the day we want to glory it's all about the Lord isn't it we don't want to be like God's given me stability I'm able to go to the Philippines and Fiji that's pride if you're able to do those things you give glory to God, say God thank you for allowing me to labor in your work and many times that labor in of itself is the blessing like I said, going to Fiji was very tiring okay and some people struggled to sleep, it wasn't always the best but I think those that went would say man that was a really good time I really enjoyed that, even though maybe I didn't have the best bedroom you know I didn't even always get to eat the best food and like the first day they were there brother, it was just bones wasn't it? remember that, it was just sauce and bones what is this brother Ash? anyway but overall it was a great time I'll never take it back, what a blessing it was many times the blessings are just in the service itself it opens your heart to rejoice and to realize boy I might not think of myself as much but as I'm gathered together with the brethren they're so thankful that I'm there with them supporting them, praying with them, helping them loving them, fellowshipping with them these things many times are just self rewarding so the reason I wanted to end on this, the reward, is because there is great reward, I want you to understand there is great reward in serving the Lord there's great reward in serving the church, there's great reward in serving the brethren and look I'm not trying to say don't focus on our lives, I do I've shared so many times I've shared with you that my family comes first my wife, my children they're so important to me I'm not going to sacrifice my family for ministry if I'm only able to be a pastor or a good dad, I'm going to choose being a good dad and drop the pastor if that's the choice that I had to make but so far God's allowed me to be a good dad and a good husband and hopefully a good pastor hopefully, hopefully and by the way, if you've contacted me recently, I've got so many messages I've fallen behind, it's been a busy week I just say, if there's something important, like an emergency, just call me, if you call me and maybe call me twice and then I know if I see two missed calls in the same number, it must be really important, so just saying that but you know, there's a reward in serving the Lord and it's the best job I've ever had and I really appreciate the church I really appreciate you guys, you're not a burden to me you know, it's a burden on the flesh to travel, but you're not a burden I come and my spirit's refreshed it's exciting to be able to serve God in this way and I want us to be excited to say, you know what, yes we want to grow our church locally we want to do many things here but there are brethren out there that don't have a church or they feel alone you know, and maybe we've got online listeners and if they're listening online and you haven't got a church, we love you here you know, and you're not a church member because church means congregation means assembly, but you're definitely a friend to this ministry and we appreciate you we've got brethren all across Australia and we're blessed to be able to even have church you know, on Thursday here and hear some sound doctrine being taught and like I said, there are brethren across Australia that just wish they had a church a decent church not even the best church, just a decent church that they can get themselves plugged into and serve in so brethren, the title for the sermon tonight bring your liberality bring your liberality, this has to do with generosity figure out how you can serve what can I do? you know, even if it's just tidy up after the service you know, it's just making sure that is there sufficient toilet papers and sufficient resources are there tracks, are there just the regular things that need to be done just whatever it is, just figure it out how can I serve and say pastor, right now I'm too busy, I'm like a polis I can't do much, but if you can turn up to church that just encourages me, that's a great blessing to see you face to face alright brethren, let's pray bring your liberality, let's pray