God Gives Grace So We Can Give.

Question: Are we just showing up?

going through the motions?

just doing the right thing/ what we should be doing.

because it's good?

Or are we here to truely experience God?

here to build our relationship with God the creator of the universe, maker of all things.

the God who sent His son to die so he can have intimacy with you.

we can be very good at showing up and doing the right things.

setting up chairs

participating in the discussion

throwing a few buck in the bucket or sending a quick text.

but How is our relationship with our Father?

David in the Psalms had an authentic experiential relationship with God.

i see that and I want that.

I know a lot of you want that too.

we can teach and explain and talk about how having a relationship with God enabels us to do what we can't in ourselves.

but I don't want it to be a lesson. (Experience it)

“taste and See”

*menu

can explain the menu but I can't make you taste and experience the cheesecake.

*bible themes.

i actually brought some cheesecake.

I can take it and experience it up here and show you how good it is. *that what David and Paul and many others in the Bible are doing.

they are experiencing the grace and goodness of God while telling us how good it is.

i can't make you experience how good this cake is until you grab hold of the spoon and taste it.

Proverbs 26:15

Proverbs 26:15 CSB

The slacker buries his hand in the bowl; he is too weary to bring it to his mouth!

we can bury our lives in the Bible and come and do all the right things,

but until we bring our hand to our mouth and feed on the word and have that real experiential relationship with God we can't taste and see just how good Our God is.

pastor Brian every Sunday.

he can't make you experience the goodness of what comes from giving.

ONLY GOD CAN! when we decide To lift our hand out of the bowl and taste and experience He is So Good.

2 Corinthians 8:1-7

2 Corinthians 8:1–7 (CSB)

We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that was given to the churches of Macedonia: During a severe trial brought about by affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. I can testify that, according to their ability and even beyond their ability, of their own accord, they begged us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints, and not just as we had hoped. Instead, they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us by God’s will. So we urged Titus that just as he had begun, so he should also complete among you this act of grace.

Now as you excel in everything—in faith, speech, knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love for us—excel also in this act of grace.

My prayer tonight Isnt that you would give and that God would bless what you give.

God doesn't need what you give.

my prayer is that we would come expecting to experience God move and do a work in our lives. That we would taste and see that He is GOOD! And we can boast in the Grace that he gives to us that enabels us to do what is impossible if we tried to do it in ourselves. Weather that be in our financial giving, giving of our time, or giving of our hearts and love to build each other up. As we excel in everything, in Faith, in our speech, in our knowledg, our diligence, and our love or one another. I pray that we also excel in this act of Grace that God has given us.