In this sermon, Pastor Steve Hopkins discusses spiritual gifts, focusing on the gift of giving. He emphasizes that every believer has been given spiritual gifts and should seek to identify, develop, and use their gifts for the benefit of Christ's church. The gift of giving is twofold, involving sacrificial imparting of one's goods and generous use of one's own wealth and resources to equip the saints and support those in need within the body of Christ. Paul encourages believers to give with simplicity, graciously, and without expectation of return. The sermon emphasizes that everything we have is from God and should be used for His glory, and that we should be attentive to the needs of others, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Welcome to Bernababble Church. This week, Pastor Hopkins takes a break from a series on the book of Romans to take a look at the person and work of the Holy Spirit. If you would, turn with me in your Bibles once again to the book of Romans the 12th chapter in verses four through eight. Let's all stand. Let's read verses four through eight together.

For as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office. So we being many are one body in Christ and everyone members one of another having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us Whether prophecy let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith or ministry Let us wait on our ministering or he that teaches on teaching or he that exhorteth on exhortation He that giveth let him do it with simplicity He that ruleth with diligence he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness Let's pray Father Once again, we ask Lord that you might be pleased to bring glory to your name by giving the Spirit in a special way this afternoon to open the understanding of our hearts and illuminate the text before us, and give us understanding, and change us more into the image of Christ who suffered and died for our sins and rose again the third day. For we ask it in his holy name, amen. Let's be seated. So we've been looking at spiritual gifts for several weeks now.

And in Romans 12 and verse six, which we just read, we saw that every believer has been given spiritual gifts. Every believer has been given a gift or gifts of the Spirit, and as these gifts are differing according to the grace given to each of us, every one of us should be seeking to identify, to develop, and to use his or her gift or gifts for the benefit of Christ's church. And we've looked at the gift of prophecy already or preaching as it continues in the church today, and we've looked at the gift of ministry or service, and in our last session we looked at the gifts of teaching and the gift of exhortation. And though I had intended to complete a series on spiritual gifts this week, as I considered the gift of giving and prayed and searched the scriptures and saw how much the Bible has to say about giving and about the gift of giving. It became clear to me that time would fail me to go any further, that the gift of giving should be our singular topic this afternoon.

And again, as we continue, we need to each be asking ourselves what spiritual gift or gifts has God given me? What spiritual gift or gifts has God given me? And what is my place in the body? And how can I use the gifts God has given me for the service and benefit of Christ's church? Paul says, and I've read it before in Ephesians 4 12, that the gifts of the Spirit are given for, quote, the perfecting or equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry and for the edifying or building up of the body of Christ.

And so it is with the gift of giving. It's twofold. It's twofold. The gift of giving has to do with a sacrificial imparting of one's goods and generous use of one's own wealth and resources to both equip the saints for the work of the ministry as well as the building up of the body of Christ through sacrificial giving to those who are in need within the body. In verse eight of our text this afternoon, we read he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity.

If your gift is giving, then give with simplicity. That is, better modern English word would be with graciousness. Give with graciousness, graciously, bountifully. Your version might render it, if it's giving, if that's your gift, give generously. Or, he who gives, let him give with generosity or liberality.

And what Paul is saying is if your gift is giving, go all out. If your gift is giving, go all out. If your gift is giving, go for it. Go all out. Give sincerely.

Give generously. Give liberally. Don't hold back. Whether you're giving of your wealth and resources to equip the Saints for the work of the ministry Or giving to those in need within the body or both don't hold back just give just give Whether you're you're giving to advance the kingdom of Christ or lifting a financial burden from the back of a brother or sister in need, be sincere. Give graciously.

Give generously. And give expecting nothing in return. Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary of the American language defines give, says to give is quote, to pass or transfer The title or property of a thing or one thing to another without an equivalent or compensation. You're not getting something back. It's giving without expectation of return.

If you're getting or expecting something in return for a gift, then it isn't a gift. Then it isn't a gift. Giving means there are no strings attached. Giving means there are no strings attached. And something I think we all need to remember before we go on is that everything that we have in our possession at any given time in our life that we could transfer to another person that we could deliver from our hand to another person belongs to God and everything we've been given has been given to us by God.

1 Chronicles chapter 29 says, all that is in the heaven and in the earth is dying. It's all God's. And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4, 7, what do you have that you weren't given? What hast thou that thou hast not received? Anything?

No. Everything we have we received from God. It all belongs to God and he distributes as he sees fit to his people. Everything we have has been given to us from God's hand. What do you have that you haven't received from God's hand?

James puts it this way, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights. Everything in heaven and earth belongs to God, and everything we have has been given to us by God. Our job is to be good stewards of all God has given us, and to ask him how we can use all that he has given us for his glory. And I think the church in America got away from this a long, long time ago. I think it helps us not to, in our efforts, not to hold so tightly to the things God has given us when we have a biblical understanding of how wealth is gained.

In Deuteronomy chapter eight, verses 17 and 18, Moses says to the children of Israel that they might be tempted, after having received so much from God to say to themselves, my power and my strength of my hands has gotten me this wealth. Moses said God's given you so much the time might come where you're tempted is to think You got it out of your own ingenuity your own wise dealings your own strength your own Whatever, but in the next verse Moses sets them straight, But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth. It is God that gives a man or a woman power to gain wealth. Calvin comments here that this kind of mindset where men ascribe their prosperity to their own industry and ingenuity is based in pride, solely in pride. Quote, when men attribute to their own industry, labor, or foresight what they ought to refer to the blessing of God, this is the principal ground of pride.

To assume and assign to ourselves what belongs to God. That's an end quote. Whatever wealth a man possesses, God gave him the power to gain it. Calvin says it's all it's all of God's grace and madness to think otherwise. Just madness.

Quote, rightly then does Moses reprove the pride of the human heart, which arises from forgetfulness of God. If men think that they have gained by their own exertions, what God has given them of his own pleasure, to lay them under obligation to himself. When God gives to us, He lays us under obligation to Himself to use all that we have given Him for His glory. And it have no other view in mind but the glory of God. We owe ourselves to God.

We owe ourselves and all we possess to God. He does not, this is going on with the quote, he does not therefore only require the outward expression of the lips, whereby men profess that they're grateful to God's bounty, right, where they say, thank you God, I'm so grateful that you gave this to me. No, it's not all that he requires. For there is in this often nothing more than hypocrisy and vanity, But he would also have them seriously persuaded that whatever they possess is derived from his sheer. It's all grace, God.

It's all of your grace. It's all of your grace, God. I mean, think about it. If our justification and God's sight, the very salvation of our souls, is all of God's grace, and it is, then how could we ever be so prideful as to think that anything we have or own or that has been placed under our power or control has come to us in any other way than by the gracious provision of God? How could we?

Salvation, justification, reconciliation with God, eternal redemption and forgiveness of sins all by the grace of God, but I got all this on my own. It's madness. And we need to understand that our wealth could evaporate overnight. And it happens to many. A man's kite may be flying high one day and the next day find there's not enough wind for him to even get it off the ground.

It's all of God. It is God who'd given the manpower to gain wealth. And Proverbs 23 five warns us not to set our eyes on them. Don't set your eyes on wealth. Don't set your eyes on your stuff.

For riches certainly make themselves wings And they fly away like an eagle toward heaven Don't set your don't set your eyes on them Calvin goes on to say that this thing of God giving men the power to gain wealth isn't something that was just applicable to the children of Israel back in Moses' day, but quote, he extends this to the whole course of human life. That men obtain nothing by their own vigilance and diligence Except in so far as God blesses them from above If anyone's ever been really sick I mean, you know, it's God's grace that you can get out of bed and stand on your feet in the morning Let alone exert any effort to procure anything in this world through your labors. We have what we have because God has been gracious to us. We have what we have because God has been gracious to us. And we are under obligation to God to put everything that he has put under our hand at his disposal.

Every one of us should take inventory of all God has given us and say, it's all yours, God. Men have a hard time doing that. It's all yours, God. We clutch things so tightly. We don't want to let go.

We should be praying, God, how can I use what you have given me for your glory and the advancement of Christ's kingdom? Oh, we have so little time on this earth. And how can I use the bounty that you have given me, graciously given me, undeservedly given me, for the good of Christ's church? Just show me, Lord. Just show me.

Yes, Calvin says, although the scriptures assure us that God reproves lazy men, slothful men, and punishes their sloth with lack and hunger, still, Calvin says, men who are active in labor don't get wealth by their own diligence, but by the blessing of God alone. Yeah, this is what you've got to do. Don't be a sloth, or you're going to be paid for it. But anything that you have, anything you've got, anything you're able to do, it's all because of the blessing of God and the blessing of God alone. Paul tells us, that's an end quote, but by the blessing of God alone.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter three that he planted, that Apollos watered, but it was God who gave the increase. So it is with everything. That's the way it is with everything. Not just increase in the kingdom of God, not just increase in farm life and agriculture, in everything. There's never a time when we quit praying, our Father who art in heaven, give us day by day our daily bread.

We're dependent upon God for everything. Everything, We're completely dependent on God for everything every day. I hope that everyone believes that because it's true. And only one life will soon be past. And only what's done for Christ is going to last.

First Samuel 2, 7 says, the Lord makes one poor and another rich. The King James, it says, the Lord maketh the poor and maketh the rich. He brings low and he lifts high. Do you believe that? So we need to humble ourselves before God and understand that all we have, no matter our lot, rich or poor, is from Him, our very selves and all God has given us, and we should place it all willingly at his disposal.

Maybe you're one who is to hold the rope while others go down into the mission well, as Someone once put it. Or maybe you have a special interest, God's giving you a special interest in meeting the needs of the poor within the body of Christ. Or both. When we began I said, the gift of giving has to do with the sacrificial and party of one's goods and generous use of one's own wealth and resources to equip the saints for the work of the ministry as well as the building up of the body of Christ through sacrificial giving to those in need within the body. And it's that second part that I want to focus on for the remainder of our time this afternoon.

Because every member of Christ's body, though we are to be concerned with the needs of all our neighbors and love our neighbors as ourselves, we are to be especially attentive to the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Galatians chapter six and verse 10 says, as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, but especially to them that are of the household of faith, close quote. They're set apart, but especially those who are of the household of faith. Yes, you're supposed to do good to everyone. Yes, we should be caring about our poor neighbors.

Yes, we should be attending to the needs of everyone who's out there in the world that God gives us opportunity to help in some way, but especially, especially those who are of the household of faith, were a family. Jesus told his disciples, even as you have been freely given, freely give. Again, Calvin writes, whatever we obtain from the Lord is granted on the condition of us employing it for the common good of the church." Where are we here preaching and talking and writing like that anymore? Everything you've been given, says Calvin in the 1500s, everything that you've been given, you've been given, okay, on the condition that you use it for the good of Christ's church. He's not talking about dropping it all in the basket.

That's not what he was talking about. In James chapter two we read, and I'll paraphrase, suppose a brother or sister is poorly clothed or in need of food. And one of you tells him, go in peace, hope you can get warm and get a meal. Go and be warm and well fed. And yet he has to provide for his physical needs.

What good is that? What good has he done? Faith that doesn't result in action is dead. That's what James said. Show me your faith apart from your works, James says, and I'll show you my faith by my works.

True faith is evidenced by works. Our works don't save us. We're saved by the grace of God, By grace through faith in Christ alone. Grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone. Our works don't save us, but our works give proof that we're saved.

And one of those proofs is found in the manner in which we give of what God has given unto us, to others in need, and especially those within the body of Christ. Calvin again says that every one of us should consider the only limit to our charity toward others to be the failure of our means. Oh, that hurt. If we're holding on super tight, that hurts. In other words, I didn't help them because I couldn't help them is the only excuse.

God didn't give you the means. Our only limitation in helping others should be our financial inability to do so. That's what Calvin taught. Not because we are holding with an iron grip in our hands everything God has so graciously given us the power to gain But only because we're limited I'm not able to do this So I'm not gonna do it not because I'm clutching it like a infant clutches that toy and won't let go. We need to give.

Whether we have the gift or not, as I said earlier, every one of us is commanded to give. 1 Corinthians 9, 7 says, God loves a cheerful giver. Not just the one who gives, but one who gives cheerfully. A cheerful giver. That brother or sister knows if we're giving reluctantly.

That brother or sister knows if it's being given grudgingly or reluctantly. We need to put ourselves in the place of those in need. Give graciously, give cheerfully, and never hold those we help under any sort of obligation to ourselves by making them feel like they owe us anything. You don't owe me nothing. Well, how can I ever repay you?

You don't owe me nothing. Please. Denava. It's nothing. It's nothing.

I'm just transferring to you Something that God graciously gave me. I'm just transferring for my hand something to you that God graciously Gave me put in my hand One of our problems is that we're so self-focused and self-absorbed that we don't even notice when others are suffering under a heavy burden. We may walk right past a brother or sister bearing a heavy load, not even glance in their direction. My wife gave me a quote this morning a quote from I think it was a wife of one of the Puritans she was talking about that very thing that picture of passing somebody and they're carrying this heavy load. What should be our natural reaction?

We should run over and let me help you with that. Take some of the burden on our own shoulders off of theirs. But we can walk right past a brother or sister bearing a heavy load and not ever notice me many times. Philippians chapter two, verses four through five says, look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. That's the mind of Christ.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Paul isn't saying that we shouldn't be concerned with our own stuff, our own things, only that we should also look on the things of others. To look in this passage means to focus. And we have this tendency to focus only on our own things. We are by nature nearsighted with regards to the needs of others.

We have 20-20 vision with regards to everything that's right in front of us, our family, our home, our things, our finances. We can see everything that is near and dear to us very clearly, but the needs of those outside our little circle of family and friends is many times just a blur. But that isn't the way that it's supposed to be in the family of God. We need to be concerned not only with our own things but also the things of others. We need the mind that was also in Christ Jesus.

Jesus said in John chapter 12 verse eight that you're always going to have the poor with you. Poor will always have with us. There's no time in our lives when there will not be someone we can be opening our hand to. Deuteronomy 15, 11 says, for the poor shall never cease out of the land. Therefore I command thee, oh it's a commandment, thou shalt open thy hand wide unto thy brother to thy poor and to thy needy in your land.

Again, every Christian is to give to others, but some are especially gifted in this area. And I've known many Christians who seem to be especially gifted with a heart for their brothers and sisters in need, and they just give, and give, and give, and give. One of them told me once that he's never been able to give it all away. He said, I've tried. He said, I can't give it all away.

Because the more he gives, the more God gives him and so he seems to be on the getting end more than he's on the giving end. And I've noticed that God seems to do that so often. The heart of the giver, of course, is not to get more by giving. It just seems to be the way God causes things to fall out. Proverbs 28, 27 says, whoever gives to the poor shall not lack.

Whosoever give it to the poor shall not want, that is lack. What a promise. You give to the poor, you're not going to lack. And then the second part of it, because you know Proverbs always has this positive negative thing going. Whoever gives to the poor isn't going to lack, but whoever hides his eyes to the poor is going to have many a curse.

We should never ignore those in need, and if we do, it will be to our detriment. Proverbs 11, 24 talks about a kind of irony with regards to giving liberally to others as opposed to withholding. It says there's one who scatters and yet he increases all the more. He's scattering all of his stuff. He's just here, oh, I just want to give it.

And he's scattering out and he's just getting more and more and then there's another who withholds more than that's right, and he suffers lack as a result. One version says he comes to poverty. The one ends up gaining more, while the other ends up suffering financially. Proverbs 19, 17 says, he that has pity on the poor lends to the Lord. What?

You mean if I give to this poor person, I'm lending to the Lord, I'm giving to God? Yeah. And that which he has given, God will repay him again. That's a promise. Acts 20 35 says, remember the words of the Lord Jesus.

It is more blessed to give than to receive I know a brother who was about to give to a family in need in in his church and he was just about to hand off something that God had put under his power to give and and he stopped and Thought to himself. I'm not even gonna feel that That's not even gonna I'm not even gonna feel that's not gonna hurt at all And so he increased the size of his gift Who was it that says give till it hurts Jesus tells us of a poor widow in Luke 21 who cast everything she had to live on into the temple treasury from the temple treasury was the fun that they used to take care of the temple and also the needs of the poor. She cast in everything she has into the temple treasury that's gonna be used to take care of poor people, and she gave up everything, and she's the poorest of all of them. In Luke 19, eight, a man named Zacchaeus repents, and the scripture says he gave away half of his goods to the poor. The scripture's just full of these, lifting up.

I mean, Zacchaeus, Jesus said salvation has come to his house. It was evidence that this guy, he's really a Christian now. You notice how Jesus talks about money so much? I read somewhere that Jesus talks about finances and money more than any other topic. That's not true, but It's close to true.

In Luke 16, 13, Jesus said, you can't serve both God and money. You can't. You're gonna love the one, hate the other, despise the one. The rich young ruler in Mark chapter 11 served his money. He was a slave to his money.

And so when Jesus invited him to take up his cross and follow him, he said, give sell and give to the poor, take up your cross and follow me, he declined and went away grieved because he had a lot of stuff he just didn't want to part with. The picture of John Bunyan's, from Pilgrim's Progress, the man with the muck rake just came into my mind. He spends his whole life with a rake, just raking all of his muddy sticks into a pile. All these little pebbles and sticks and he spends his whole life. And then there's the rich man in Luke chapter 12 that Jesus talked about in one of his parables that wanted to tear down his barns and build bigger ones to stockpile all of his stuff, all his goods that he had laid up for himself for years to come, but on the day he determined to do so, he died.

He didn't even live through the night. Jesus talked a lot about money and finances and our attitude towards the poor because, you know, Jesus was always getting to the heart of man. You start talking about money, you're treading on some ground there. I'm talking about my stuff, I'm talking about my money. Don't put any focus on me.

Jesus gets to the heart, right? In Matthew six, Jesus said, when you give alms, by the way, he didn't say if. He said, when you give alms, When you give alms, it's like this is just the normal thing that Christians do, right? We just, we give to the poor. When you give alms, don't blow a trumpet in the street to bring attention to yourself like the hypocrites do, but when you give to those in need, don't even let your left hand know what your right hand's doing.

Give in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you openly. Don't bring attention to your giving. I've always liked that scene in the Little House on the Prairie series where this man, he's an expert woodworker and this elderly neighbor who has nothing but a stick to use for a cane. He makes this beautiful cane, and he asks the man, goes by his house one day while he's sitting on the porch, and he asks the man in need if he'd be willing to trade an old bucket, an old beat-up bucket that was laying in his front yard for this new cane that he bought. The man just looks at him and goes, you mean you want to trade?

That's not letting your left hand know what your right hand is doing. That's giving so the person who gets doesn't know they're getting something. Jesus said don't lay up treasures for yourself on earth where the elements, you know, bugs and thieves and all this sort of thing can affect it, but lay up your treasure in heaven where it can't be destroyed. And remember that where your treasure is, that's where your heart's going to be also. It's always stood out to me that Jesus said, commands us to lend to our enemies.

He says that in Luke 6.35. Not only to our friends and brothers and sisters who can return the favor but also lend to our enemies give to our enemies Lend to them he says it don't expect anything in return you talk about heaping coals of hot fire on a person's head? They've just done you this terrible disservice or evil, and then you go and you give them a gift, or you say, you know, they've just done this horrible thing to you, and next thing you know, they hear you saying, need a loan? Can I lend you some money? No wonder the Pharisees didn't like Jesus.

Paul reminds the members of the church in Galatia, the church of Galatia in Galatians 2.10, to remember the poor. He says, remember the poor. Remember the poor, he says, which was the very thing I was eager to do, or I'm eager to do. He's not saying go do something I'm not doing, following my footsteps. I'm eager to remember the poor and care for the poor.

You also remember the poor. Remember how I said in our last session that there are these people, maybe it was two sessions ago, that are kind of like the behind the scenes servants. There's these servant-hearted Christians who are on the front lines, but they aren't on the front page. They rarely get any, if ever, get any recognition. That's the way they like it.

They almost operate under cover at times. They're doing things repetitively for the church and for the church's members and no one knows about it. Or if they do, they hardly say thank you. But they don't care because they're doing all that they do because they love you and because their gratitude for all that Christ has done for them and saving their souls. Not because you notice.

Not because they get any praise or recognition from you for it. The same thing here. But let me tell you something God notices. God notices. He sees.

And the scripture says he will reward that all that is given in secret. He will reward you. And remember, when we're talking about service and ministry to others, I said, you know, some just suffer in silence. And we have to seek them out. Well, some in the body may be in a financial Predicament or have financial needs but never say anything about it also, and you have to seek them out you have to just kind of get outside your own four walls and outside of yourself a little bit If you have a heart to give to others in need, a lot of times you have to go to them, you have to be more attentive, you have to ask God, show me Lord where the pain is and go to it, to where the pain is.

You have to seek them out because many times they're too humble to come to you and bear their plight. Anyone ever been there? God help us to be a church filled with members attentive to the needs of our brothers and sisters of the body and able to discern a need where one is not presented. Just remember that time. Maybe you've had a silver spoon in your mouth your whole life, I don't know.

Most of us haven't. Have you ever been in need, have you ever been in a situation of need where you didn't know where to turn for help? Then you know what it feels like. And when someone extends a helping hand, when someone extended a helping hand, what did that feel like? It breaks your heart.

There are those who help others, and when they do, they make the recipient of their gift feel indebted to them. And then there's those from whom love just flows with no strings attached. Fathers and mothers, teach your children to be givers at a young age. Did you know that you could teach them at a very young age to begin to give? Teach them to give at a young age.

And from the time that they first start earning money, teach them to tithe also. And so that belongs to God. But teach them to give above that. Teach them to give to others. Teach them to give to give their time.

Teach them to give their labors to help others. Teach them to give their money. We should prefer that our children learn to give to others sacrificially above having their academics in perfect order. We've all been given so much. Sometimes we may think to ourselves, well that brother doesn't deserve my help.

In fact, he deserves just the opposite. What do I deserve? From God. Our family's been helped so many times. Many, many years ago, we couldn't pay our property taxes, and a family in the church found out and went and paid them for us.

I can also remember a time when we were in a church that back before I was a pastor of this church, we were in our 20s, having to sell the furniture in our house one month to pay the rent. And the People in the church we attended that time didn't know and it wasn't the kind of church where people were involved in each other's lives. And we really have to be attentive to the needs of those in our church body. And we have to get outside our own world. And I know the members of this church are doing it.

I hear stories all the time. I hear stories often. It brings joy to my heart. Some Christians fall into depression because they get way too self-focused. I'm not saying that that's the only cause of depression.

That's not what I'm trying to say. I'm not saying all depression is because a believer is too self-focused, but it does happen. You can get your eyes on yourself and your problems and your trials and your needs and your situation and it just gets dark. Like someone turned the light switch off on you. And you're just sitting in the dark alone.

And I'm not sure it applies perfectly, but Isaiah 58 10 says, if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noonday. I know a man who suffers with depression and he's got the gift of giving and he just gives and gives and gives and gives I don't know maybe it's like a relief valve for I don't know what it is but he just he confessed to me I suffer with great depression and he's just a giver he just gives all the time Whether you're thinking you have the gift of giving or not, I would encourage every member in this congregation to pray. Pray, God, who can I help? Show me, God, I want to bring you glory. I love your people like you love them.

Help me God, just show me what I can do. I want to put everything I have, myself and all that I own at your disposal. It's all at your disposal God. And then get up and go. And if you don't have money, maybe you can give some time.

If you don't have time, maybe you can pray. Maybe you're feeling a tugging on your heart, you know, to become a giver. Tell God, tell God, and ask him to show you what you can do, and he will, he will. And remember, Jesus gave his life's blood for these people. Jesus gave his life's blood for these people.

Jesus gave his life's blood for these people. What will you give? What will you give for them? To whom so ever much is given of him, much should be required. And as we close, remember that our love for one another is a witness to the world that we belong to Jesus.

Jesus said in John 1335, by this shall all men know that you're my disciples by the size of your church building not by your Programs in your church or what have you? By the size of the steeple on your building They'll know that you're my disciples by the love that you show one for another by the love you have one toward another Let's pray father we are grateful for your word And Father we recognize that we've been given the greatest gift ever given in the history of mankind the gift of your son and your son is a sacrifice for our sins a Substitutionary sacrifice in our place. Oh God how we thank you for our Lord Jesus and his sacrifice for our sins and the reconciliation that we have through him and the peace we have with you God through Christ. Oh Lord, help us to be givers. Give us a heart, Lord, of giving, if not the gift of giving, a heart to give, for we ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen. You