God's Generosity

[0:00] Well, everybody, we've been in Philippians for several months.! Today is the last day. We're going to finish up Philippians today. We're going to be looking at a somewhat famous passage.

[0:16] He says that he rejoices in the Lord because of their generosity.

[0:39] And then he shares his contentment regardless of whether he receives any gift from them or not. But despite that, he says whether you give to me or not, I'm good.

[0:53] But he says I rejoice because it's good for you to give. Your giving is a sacrifice to the Lord that is well-pleasing to him.

[1:05] Today, we're going to focus primarily on one verse. It's Philippians 4.19. It's a famous passage that many people use as an encouragement that God will provide for your needs.

[1:21] And then kind of to wrap things up, Paul gives some final greetings and we'll look briefly at those. But let's start. We're just going to read. We're going to go back just a few verses to get a little bit of context as we read here in Philippians.

[1:36] We're going to start Philippians 4.17 and we'll read through verse 20. Philippians 4.17. Philippians 4.17.

[1:46] He says, Before we dig into these verses, I want to ask a question and then tell a couple, a few stories here.

[2:27] One question is, has there ever been a time in your life where you were in somewhat dire straits? Maybe it was a bill that you just could not pay, some other need that you had. And through some kind of means, maybe it was at the last minute, maybe it was through someone, maybe it even seemed miraculous in nature, that need was provided for.

[2:51] Anybody think of any stories or times in their life like that? There was a man named George Mueller who was, I'm not sure, sometime in the 1800s, lived in the country of England and decided to start an orphanage.

[3:12] He saw a need for orphans, those who did not have parents to take care of them, who were mostly just living on the streets at the time. And he saw a need to help take care of these orphans and so started a ministry to orphans there in England.

[3:29] One of the things that he had been inspired to do was to never ask, as he started his ministry, never ask for donations, but to just trust the Lord for his provision, for his ministry.

[3:43] And as you read his account, and he wrote an autobiography about his life, he tells some pretty amazing stories about the provision that him and the children and his staff received during that time of growing a small ministry into quite a large one.

[4:05] I remember one story in particular, and there are actually probably many stories that are very similar, in which they had completely run out of supplies, food supplies.

[4:17] I'm not sure exactly how many children they had at the time. I think this was earlier on in his ministry. But they went ahead and they set the tables. They didn't have anything, any food to put on the plates.

[4:30] But they went ahead and set the tables. And they sat down and they prayed and thanked God for his supply for them.

[4:42] And as they sat down and after they prayed, there was a knock on the door. And they opened up the door and there was the bread man who was going out and doing deliveries.

[4:54] And he said, you know what? I was passing by and the Lord just spoke to me and said, you know what? I need you to take a delivery there to Mueller's Orphan House.

[5:06] And so here I am and here's the bread that I have to give you. And what an incredible and amazing story. Many, many of those kinds of stories in that book.

[5:16] I know in my own life, I can remember times where I've had needs and I've had them provided for and thank God for things.

[5:27] I remember one specific time I was out in California going to a Bible college. Didn't have, went down there without a job.

[5:39] And had a little bit of savings but not much. And was really struggling to find one. I had worked as a teller before that. And when I moved down there, I was promised by the bank, oh, we have plenty of branches down there.

[5:51] They'll hire you in a heartbeat. Well, they didn't. I don't know why people didn't want to hire a kid out of high school without much experience. But that's how things kind of worked back then.

[6:04] I think they work that way now too. And so I prayed and I was really looking for a job. And so I prayed and I even had a specific hourly rate that I was looking for that would really, I think, I thought would kind of meet my needs there.

[6:22] A part-time job that would allow me to go to school and work and provide for all of my needs. And just a few weeks, a few weeks later, there was a guy at our church I had done some work for.

[6:34] Some computer work. And he asked me a few weeks later, he said, you know what, would you like to work for me kind of regularly?

[6:46] And he said, I'm willing to pay you this much. And it was that exact amount that I had been praying about. And so I gave testimony during one of the Bible college classes about the Lord's provision in my life.

[7:01] And so we read here in Philippians, Paul is telling the Philippians about his gratitude for their generosity and the fruit that will come from it.

[7:17] And then he, in verse 19 here, he says this, And like I said, many people will take this first, right?

[7:33] And they'll put it up on their refrigerator or on their wall or have a note card maybe on their desk that reminds them of this promise.

[7:45] But how should we understand this passage? Is this a promise that for the Christian, every single one of our material needs will always be met?

[7:58] Is that what Paul is saying? Well, let's consider that. Some people do take this as an unconditional promise that the Christian should expect that every need they have in life, they can expect that as a Christian, because they are a Christian, they can expect that every material need will always be met.

[8:22] Now there's others who say, Well, hold on a second. There's a little bit of context here to this passage. Paul was just talking to the Philippians about their generous giving.

[8:35] And so in the context here, really the point is, is that if you are a generous Christian, if you help to meet the needs of others, then you can expect that God will always meet your needs with his rich supply.

[8:56] Just like the Philippians could expect, as Paul said, that God would supply their needs, so all Christians, those who are generous anyway, can expect God to meet all of their material needs.

[9:12] Now, there is a truth to that. The Bible teaches a general principle of sowing and reaping, right?

[9:24] That when you are a generous person, you tend to have a more prosperous life. In fact, the Proverbs teach this. In Proverbs 3, 9, it says this, Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the firstfruits of all of your increase, so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.

[9:45] In Proverbs 11, 24, it says this, There is one who scatters, who gives, who's generous, yet increases more. And there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty.

[9:59] So you have a generous person and a stingy person. The generous person actually ends up building more wealth than the stingy person. And then verse 20, it continues on, The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself.

[10:16] This is just a general principle of life based on God, how designed things to work. Even Jesus himself spoke to this principle.

[10:29] He said this, Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.

[10:46] There's another verse in Malachi that speaks to the Jews about their tithes and their giving. It says this, Malachi 3.10, Bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and try me now in this, says the Lord of hosts.

[11:05] If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. If you are generous, if you give to the Lord, if you give to the temple, to the Levites, God will in turn bless you.

[11:24] There's a phrase that I've heard. I don't know if any of you have heard it. It, a lot of times, gets brought up when a church is taking up an offering.

[11:37] And it goes like this, You can't outgive God. You ever heard that? You can't outgive God. If you are generous, God will also be generous to you.

[11:50] You can't outgive Him. Today, we're going to be taking up a benevolence collection. And I might take an opportunity to teach that exact same thing.

[12:04] And you know what? If I did, I would probably get a bigger collection. Because, hey, if, if you teach people that they will get something when they give, more people would be inclined to do that.

[12:18] But I'm not going to say that today. Even though we have a passage, a verse here, that seems to say exactly that. Why is that not the case?

[12:32] Well, I want to go back to some of these stories. Looking at the life of George Mueller, if you read his autobiography, you read lots of accounts of seemingly even miraculous provision where God was obviously working in His life and in His ministry.

[12:54] But what a lot of times doesn't get brought up about His life and His ministry is the times where God did not provide for the needs of Him and His ministry.

[13:07] I have a few quotes here from his journals. Here's one where he says, Twice we sat down with bowls and spoons and there was no food to cut or pour.

[13:19] We ate nothing and I bowed my head to thank God for what we did, for what we did not have in faith that we would have it soon. There were times where they sat down and that knock on the door didn't come.

[13:35] They just had to go hungry for that meal. Another one, there were times when the Lord gave us nothing but we were not poor rather we were rich in having the privilege of waiting on Him.

[13:50] Another one, I was fatigued without sufficient rest often ill clothed and at times I had no money for food yet I was rich in faith.

[14:03] And then this last one, he says this, to see God answer in plenty is sweet. He said, when I see God provide for our needs with plenty, with abundance, it is very sweet.

[14:21] But to see Him sustain us when there seems to be no answer is sweeter still. Because there was times in Mueller's life and in his ministry when those needs did not get met at least for the moment.

[14:39] You know, I think of times in my own life. I was a missionary out in Cambodia for a while and hadn't done the greatest job of preparing for that by asking people to support me.

[14:53] I had a few people, a few people who supported me and in the very beginning in the first few months did okay. but then the giving kind of struggled.

[15:07] Didn't always come in. I found myself in a position where it was getting really hard to pay the rent where we were at and even buy more than just basic supplies.

[15:21] And so I prayed and I asked God, hey, I need some help here. You know what? I ended up having to get a job. Have you ever heard of missionaries getting a job? I actually highly recommend it.

[15:33] It's okay to get a job as a missionary. In fact, I think, looking back, that was good for me to have some opportunity to work, to pay my way even though I was serving the Lord, you know, trying to do it full time but just didn't have the resources to do that.

[15:49] And what about you? Can you think of any times in your life where you had a need and you prayed about it and you just didn't see the provision or maybe it just wasn't adequate enough?

[16:02] I think many of us have that experience. Well, if in the context of this passage here that we're reading where Paul says, my God will supply all your needs, what about Paul himself?

[16:18] Was all of Paul's needs supplied? Well, he had just thanked them for the abundance that the Philippians gave them but then he had just told them, you know what?

[16:30] I'm content even when I have abundance or when I lack, when I'm abounding or when I suffer need. You know why he said that? Because there were many times throughout his ministry in which he suffered need.

[16:44] He didn't have everything that he needed. He speaks to the Corinthians. This is in 1 Corinthians 4.11. He says this, to the present hour we both hunger and thirst and we are poorly clothed and we're beaten and we're homeless.

[17:02] That was the condition of a large portion of his ministry. And when he says we, he's talking about not just him but all the people that were part of his ministry. They really, really struggled.

[17:15] In his second letter to the Corinthians chapter 11 verse 24 he says this describing his ministry. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.

[17:28] Three times I was beaten with rods once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I have been in the deep in journeys often in perils of water in perils of robbers in perils of my own countrymen in perils of the Gentiles in perils in the city in perils in the wilderness in perils in the sea and in perils among false brethren in weariness in toil in sleeplessness often in hunger and in thirst in fastings often in cold and in nakedness.

[17:58] That was Paul's ministry. I think as Christians it is important that we do not set up false expectations.

[18:11] One for ourselves but then second for other people maybe new believers or those who might be interested in Christianity and they read this verse that somebody has on their refrigerator or they hear from other Christians and they think hey if I become a Christian God will meet all of my material needs.

[18:33] You know what? The Bible does not promise that. And so we can set up young believers new believers for disappointment and disillusionment disillusionment.

[18:48] You know what? God does not promise us a bed of roses at least not here and now in this mortal life. In fact over and over and over again as we read through the scriptures we find promises of suffering and pain and trouble in life.

[19:10] The ordinary troubles that everybody in life goes through the Christian has promised that they will experience the same things. And not only that but as Christians we have very specific troubles that we get to experience based on our Christian faith because of our values because of our faith.

[19:28] the persecutions that come because of that. So we need to make sure right as we are proclaiming God's word that we proclaim God's word in such a way that applies to and works for all people everywhere.

[19:51] Not just the prosperous in America America or in the nicer areas of the country but for everyone. Our theology needs to work not just for those living in Palo Alto or Vail, Colorado or here in Ridgewood or down in Oakwood or over in New Albany and Columbus.

[20:20] Our theology needs to work for believers who live in Compton or Detroit or those who are being terrorized by Muslims out in Nigeria or oppressed by the communists in China.

[20:36] And so we can and I think it is good right to be hopeful and to pray for all of our needs. We just read that right in Philippians be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication make all of your needs known to God.

[20:52] Let God know about all of your needs. Pray in all things yet regardless of whether those needs are met at least in the way that we want them to be met we can glorify him through it all.

[21:11] I think about the three of Daniel's friends and you know they were in big trouble. The king had set up an order about bowing down to a false god and they refused to do it and they got into big trouble for it.

[21:31] In fact their lives were on the line and they really needed God to pull through for them. They said this Our God whom we serve this is Daniel 317 by the way Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us from your hand O king There was a confidence there that God was going to deliver them from this trial But then they said this But if not let it be known to you O king that we do not serve your gods nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up We're confident God's going to pull us through here but you know what if he doesn't that's fine too because either way we are going to honor him and honor the

[22:32] Lord in everything that we do in Hebrews chapter 11 there is a the whole chapter is about the heroes of the faith people the great cloud of witnesses people that we should look to for inspiration people who serve the Lord with great faith and it lists lots of people and all of the things that they overcomed or overcame in life I'll read here a passage this is starting in verse 32 Hebrews 11 32 and what more shall I say for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthath and also of David and Samuel and the prophets who through faith they subdued kingdoms they worked righteousness they obtained promises they stopped the mouths of lions they quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness were made strong became valiant women received their dead raised to life again many people through their prayer and their faith received many of these amazing miracles but then it continues on others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection still others had trial of mockings and scourgings yes and of chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were sawn in two they were tempted they were slain with the sword they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute afflicted tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandered in deserts and mountains in dens and caves of the earth these are the people that

[24:21] God really likes some of his favorite people in the world he was really proud of them considers them to be heroes these are people that ultimately did not receive the material supply the rescue that I'm sure they were looking for so with all of this in mind what is Paul talking about here when he says my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus well I like to consider actually two interpretations!

[25:04] two ways that we should look at this verse and to be honest I'm not sure which one is the right one but I think both of them are legitimate the first way to look at this passage is to look at it as Paul's prayer or maybe a blessing to these Philippians where we could read it as this may my God supply all of your needs where Paul is saying hey I am praying for you that just as you were generous to me and you know what I don't have the means to repay you I am destitute you are giving to me because I don't have what you are giving me and so I can't repay you as much as I would like to I am not able to do it but you know what I am going to pray that my God would supply your needs because if you remember these Philippians did not give necessarily out of their abundance many of them gave out of their need even though they were needy they gave sacrificially to

[26:15] Paul and the ministry of the gospel and so it's possible that what Paul here is saying is that I'm praying for you that God would be generous towards you and bless you materially just as you have blessed me in fact none of the English translations that we have today translate this passage that way but there are some ancient translations the Latin Vulgate and there's a Syriac translation and also an Arabic one from over a thousand years ago all of these three translations they actually translate this passage in that way may God may my God supply all your needs according to his riches glory!

[27:01] it's a prayer and we see similar types of blessings or prayers in the Bible in the book of 3 John just the second verse there the book of 3 John John says this God has prospered your soul and I am praying that also your physical body and your finances would also prosper because those are good things the second way I think we can look at this passage is that what Paul is promising to these Philippian believers is not material blessing but that they will receive the reward of a spiritual blessing according to the grace that has been given to them in

[28:05] Christ in fact isn't that what this says is that my God shall supply all of your needs according to his riches and glory by or it really should be in Christ Jesus because you are in Christ Jesus and this really gets at a big difference that I think we need to recognize as Christians today between the old covenant to Israel and the grace of God given to us today that we enjoy and when you look especially at the Old Testament you see many different promises of actual material blessing to the people of God to the Jews I'm going to read just some portions of a passage here in Deuteronomy 28 verse 1 now it shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all of his commandments which I command you today that the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations in the earth and all of these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the

[29:10] Lord your God blessed blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl and it just goes on and on and on talking about all the material blessings that they will enjoy as believers now there is one caveat what did he say at the beginning is this unconditional or is this conditioned this is a conditional blessing if they will dutifully follow diligently obey the voice of God and the commandments that he gave them now if you read further he continues with the curses that will follow if you do not diligently obey the voice of your

[30:10] God and keep his commandments! But something changed and in this day and age in which we live we call the age of grace God has actually done something different for us in which we are no longer under the law not under the old covenant in which there are blessings if you obey and cursings if you do not what God had found was people tended to be cursed because they failed over and over and over again to keep the commandments and so in Galatians Paul says that you have been freed as Christians from the curse of the law now in a sense that also means we've been freed from the blessings of the law at least these material ones we can't claim the blessings and we can't claim the cursings either

[31:12] God has done something different for us and it's described in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3 and this is what God has done for us it says this blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ as grace believers we have been blessed with every single spiritual blessing that you can possibly imagine God has done that in and for us so that we enjoy forgiveness and God's mercy and his love and we we have a promise of a hope of heaven new bodies to come after this mortal life and we see references to this same phrase that Paul uses here that my

[32:18] God will supply all of your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus we see that described throughout many of Paul's epistles talking about the spiritual blessings that we all enjoy so Ephesians 3 14 for this reason I bow my knees to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named that he would grant to you according to the riches of his glory there's that same phrase to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man that we might be strengthened in our hearts with God's might that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and the length and the depth and the height to know the love of Christ which passes all knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God that is the blessing that we receive from God's riches in glory Ephesians 3 16 or excuse me

[33:21] Ephesians 2 4 but God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us Ephesians 1 7 in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace and in Colossians 1 27 to them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is what is it abundance of food and material possessions he says it's this which is Christ in you the hope of glory that is the riches that we are promised without fail when we trust in Christ every believer for all of eternity that is what we are promised to enjoy there are no guarantees of material wealth or blessing in this life but we are guaranteed a spiritual wealth and blessing that is beyond what we can even imagine

[34:34] I'm going to go ahead and go to the next verse Philippians 4 20 he ends it with this he ends it with an amen but actually you'll notice that there's two amens so he kind of has two endings Philippians 4 20 now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever amen Paul wraps up with a praise to the Lord one of the words in here I think that is usually misunderstood not really understood well even though we just sang two songs with this word glory we will glorify the king of kings right what does that mean to glorify what is glory anyway sometimes we'll say glory hallelujah what do we mean when we say that sometimes people talk about someone going on to glory and that's a reference to heaven today you know in our modern vernacular somebody might talk about the glory days when I was you know the football quarterback in my football team in the dictionary the word glory actually means honor or splendor magnificence praise worship brightness so it's really talking about splendor

[35:53] I think is probably one of the best synonyms for that word Jesus in talking about the splendor that Solomon experienced talked about how the flowers of the field in fact he says this consider the lilies how they grow they neither toil nor spin and yet I say to you even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these in this Christmas season we think about there's the time when the angels came to the shepherds by night remember that it says this in Luke 2 9 and behold an angel of the Lord stood before them before the shepherds and the glory of the Lord shone around them there was this glory that was as the glory of the Lord like a light shining down on these shepherds glory of the Lord is many times illustrated as light and then the angels saying this glory to

[36:54] God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill towards men they were there was glory shining around them and then they were saying glory to the Lord and so glory is this idea of splendor it's like a light you think about somebody who is in the spotlight that being in the spotlight that is their glory the light is shining on them people are praising them people are clapping for them and so here Paul says now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever we want our praise our glory our gratitude to go to him we want to reflect all good things towards our God that's what it means to glorify him and you know what we do it with the praise of our lips as we did this morning we also do it with a life that honors him let's wrap up these last few verses says this greet every saint in

[38:03] Christ Jesus the brethren who are with me greet you and all the saints greet you but especially those who are of Caesar's household and this is just a final greeting both from Paul from all the workers that are with him but also all the believers that are around him he's saying hey the church here in Rome everybody greets you even those of Caesar's household by the way there were believers among Caesar's household whether it be servants or maybe even leaders in Caesar's household we don't know exactly who he's talking about but just one thing to keep in mind here you know what there are believers all over the world here this Christian thing was just growing but even then in just one generation it had grown to all of the Roman Empire or huge swaths of the Roman Empire but today we have believers in every single patch of the globe just about we are all part of!

[39:01] God's family to consider one another as brothers and sisters in Christ and he says this he ends with this passage or this verse the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all amen and this is just a prayer about God's grace now why is he asking for God's grace to be with them aren't they already saved by grace aren't they already in Christ and so experiencing God's grace well that is true but you know what just because you are in Christ and you have been given all these promises of spiritual blessing for you to enjoy a confidence that you can have in Christ does everybody actually experience that many Christians do not because they don't understand what's been given to them so I think Paul's prayer here his final prayer is that these believers would grow in understanding

[40:01] God's grace they might live a full and abundant Christian life not necessarily with material blessings even though those are good when we have them but to grow in the grace of God that we might enjoy knowing God which is the greatest riches and blessing that we can have and we thank God for it I'm going to end there let's end with a word of prayer and then we're going to go ahead and take the Lord's supper!

[40:32] together Father we're grateful to you even though sometimes we have needs and it just seems like they're not met but I'm sure many of us have testimonies in which we have seen you provide for us materially in tremendous ways but as Daniel's friend said regardless we are going to honor you in our lives we know that you know best you know when it is good to provide for our needs you know when it is best to withhold that blessing but you have given us every spiritual blessing for us to enjoy and we thank you for that we ask you father to work in us that we as Paul said would be content in those spiritual blessings and we thank you for all that in

[41:33] Jesus name amen all right so if I can have the elders come up or our volunteers to help take up or help pass out the elements here just a few things instruction wise the way that we do the Lord's supper here anyone who is a believer in the Lord Jesus is welcome to take with us you don't have to be a member of our church or anything like that but what we're going to do is we're going to start with the bread we're going to pass that out and then we'll take it together so just hold on to it and we're going to do the same thing with the little cups we'll pass those out just hold on to them and then we'll take it all together as I read a portion of the scripture and I think that's good as far as instructions I'm looking out there I don't see anybody like well we have if you want your child to take that with you we're totally!

[42:42] And then just one thing this is not something that you have to be worthy to take some churches teach that you have to make sure you confess all your sins don't forget anything this is an opportunity for us to remember what Jesus did for us even when we fail so regardless of how your week went and whether you were faithful to the Lord all week or not and!

[43:08] hopefully we were regardless of those things we can take this as a remembrance that regardless of how well we've done or how much we've failed God's blood Jesus Christ's blood covers our sins and that we belong to him so let's go ahead and we'll pass out the first one here let me take one John one of the things that the

[44:12] Bible says that Paul himself says about what Jesus about his death on the cross he puts it in this way and I think it applies fits in with what we've been talking about today this is 2nd Corinthians 8 9 he says for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich you know Jesus came down from heaven there's a lot of riches up there that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty might become rich that by becoming poor by coming this Christmas season we remember he came as a little babe in a stable born born in a stable you guys got that let's go ahead and read this read this passage and then we'll take this together this is

[45:37] Paul for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed he took the bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me let's remember the Lord we'll do the same thing with the cup you know as we take the elements here in remembering the

[46:39] Lord you know it's somewhat of a sober time remembering that the Lord died it's not a it's not like a really a happy event when someone dies but did you know that we talked about this as we looked at Philippians Philippians is a book all about joy the joy of the Lord that the scripture says that for the joy that was set before him Jesus endured the cross the cross is something that Jesus was joyful about now it doesn't mean that he didn't have turmoil but it was something that he was happy to do and so when we remember what the Lord did for us it's somewhat of a mixture right wow he accomplished something so tremendous for us that was so devastating painful and horrid but at the same time he accomplished something for us that we can rejoice in because one of the reasons is because he himself rejoiced in it okay and in the same manner he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood this do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat the bread and drink the cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes so we're not only remembering the Lord but proclaiming his death we want others to know that

[48:38] Jesus died not only for our sins but for theirs as well and all they have to do is trust in him put their trust in what he accomplished for them and they can be part of God's family until God returns Jesus returns once again and gathers all of his children to himself we're going to go ahead and take up that benevolence offering if you guys want to grab those plates we'll take up this collection and while we're doing that we'll end in a song and so if you know it we'll do the song oh how he loves you and me see if I can get the key right oh how he loves you and me oh how he loves you and me he gave his life what more could he give oh how he loves you oh how he loves me oh how he loves you and me amen are you glad that the lord loves you this morning all right let's let's be sure to love him back each and every day amen so we're having some kind of meeting afterwards for the christmas service okay so don't forget that if you'd like to be a part of that go ahead and and we'll meet in the back otherwise everybody's dismissed thanks everybody do you

[50:14] Thank you.