Pastor Paul Chappell: Jesus Can Provide

second Corinthians chapter eight and we're gonna read in just a moment and then you're gonna also need the little brochure that was in the bulletin so we're gonna kind of have to be ambidextrous here today as we look at some of this material moreover brethren we do you to wit and that simply means we remind you we remind you of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality for to their power I bear record yay and beyond their power they were willing of themselves praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the Fellowship of the ministering to the Saints and this they did not as we hoped but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God let us pray father thank you for the privilege of knowing you and thank you for this wonderful church family and for the joy that is given to me to open your infallible Word and teach eternal truth we ask that your Holy Spirit would bless and guide us this morning and we ask that you would make us conformable to the image of your son and that you would show us that Jesus can do all things and Lord may this be applied to families may be applied to our church and we ask it all in Jesus name Amen you may be seated well it was 33 years ago this summer that Terry and I loaded up a Ryder truck and we began traveling from Northern California traveling down here to the desert I was driving the Ryder truck I had a friend behind me in his car we had CB radios that was cool back then you know breaker breaker you know and all that kind of stuff you know we're driving along and we came here by faith many of you know the story 12 people had invited at me to come and be the pastor and they said we can't really pay you and we don't have medical insurance but we do need a preacher and for some strange reason God just got all over my heart and called us to come to Lancaster California and I remember my friend that was driving with me he was a police officer and I had let him to the Lord in our previous Church and and he got on the CB as we came into highway 138 coming into Lancaster he said brother Chapel you have made a great mistake he said nobody lives here except rabbits and rattlesnakes and he was kind of teasing me along the way you know as we moved in and we arrived at our apartment there on spearman Avenue downtown Lancaster and there was no welcome committee there was nothing like that it was just a small apartment in fact it was so small we couldn't set up our bed in the apartment and we just were kind of we put the mattresses down and we did what we could to make it feel like home and this is this is me on the upper right with all the hair you'll notice that now I look more like Christine in the bottom of the picture but time does change certain things we understand that you know so but you know when I came here 33 years ago I was full of vision and I believe it was godly vision because I had vision to see people saved I had a vision to see a sunday-school established I had a vision to preach books of the Bible I had a vision to start ministering the teenagers and to start music ministry and and what I want you to know this morning is that I still have great vision for the future of Lancaster Baptist Church I'm excited about in fact I believe the best days of this church are still just ahead of us so if you're a new member it's just getting going folks I want you to know that there are great things in store for Lancaster Baptist Church and what I have learned over the years is that God often matches resources to vision that God is able to do wonderful and miraculous things for people who really believe that he can and that he will and by way of introduction I want to give you two verses as we introduce this series Jesus can I want you to notice first of all Ephesians 3:20 the Bible says now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us notice that phrase exceeding abundantly above all that we asked her thing now there's a few people here that were in the church way back when I came nearly 33 years ago brother get us I see them right over here Jack and Tina stand up over here they were here when I came 33 years ago they're still being faithful would you give them a round of applause this morning her brother Jack just just let me tell you how this church has been blessed here's a man that for two years has his work ran out I think at Boeing or Northrop wherever he worked at the time he got another job in Arizona kept his family here worked that job came home on the weekends still ran his bus route still kept giving still kept loving his pastor until he could get a job back here that's the kind of dedication that has been used of God to build this church and I praise the Lord for it so god bless you brother mrs. Gatos thank you so very much but for Jack I think you would agree with me that we've been able to see God do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think I remain I remember when I first became Jack's pastor my big prayer request for Jack was Lord could he just come to church on time and that has been a great work of grace in his own life you know it and so many other things and I mean we have seen God do so many wonderful miracles we have seen tens of thousands of people come to Christ we have seen buildings raised up and missionaries sent and all of that began with 12 people who didn't have a lot who didn't really know a lot but they believed that God was able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think God is looking for people of faith today people that he can fill with vision and we're going to learn that Jesus can provide the vision and the provision and I want you to see a verse that teaches us that also by way of introduction notice in your notes there Philippians 2:13 it says for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure now let's read that verse together then we're gonna break it down just a little bit all right let's read it together ready begin for it is God which worketh in you now think of this phrase to will and to do let's say that together to will and to do the will is the vision God says I'm gonna put the will in you how many of you want to live according to the will of God I do God says I'm gonna give you the will and then I'm gonna give you the how - I'm gonna give you the will and the do I'm gonna do it through you the Bible is very clear that Jesus Christ wants to do his work through us now when Paul the Apostle wrote this second epistle to the Corinthians there were several things he was addressing but what he is dealing with here in Chapter eight is a very special offering that was being taken by all of the churches for the church at Jerusalem now we understand most of us that are Christians that there is something in the Bible called the tie that's the 10% the tithe is the Lord's in the New Testament era that's sort of a beginning point for giving but there also were times in the New Testament when special offerings were taken and the special offering that was being taken was being taken for the church at Jerusalem and here the Corinthians were being challenged and it's interesting because as Paul was challenging them he was using as an example some other churches in the region so on the map here I want you to notice Corinth right not far from Athens maybe a hundred and fifty miles from Athens modern-day Athens but to the north you'll see Macedonia and those were the cities of Philippi Thessalonica Berea and so forth and as the Apostle Paul is writing to the Corinthian church he is telling them about the grace of God in the other churches he's saying God did a great work in Macedonia where the people are very poor they were involved in this special offering and now Corinthians I want you to get involved so he was using the good works of the church at the north to really motivate the church at Corinth because the Macedonians had been visionary Jesus had given them vision and he had not only given them the will but he had done something very special through them in fact on your notes I want you to notice 2nd Corinthians 9 and 1 which says for as touching the ministering to the Saints it is superfluous or unnecessary for me to write to you for I know the forward nosov your mind for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia and Achaia which was ready a year ago and your zeal hath provoked very many so here he's challenging the Corinthians he's saying I want you to prepare the offering that you started one year ago now someone might say well how could these churches without very much themselves give to the special offering and sometimes we might consider how can I be involved in certain faith projects either for my family or for the church and this morning I want to teach you that Jesus can provide and he can provide the vision that is right for your life right for the church and he can provide the provision or the ability to do his work in and through us so let's learn how that happens if you're taking notes this morning I want you to notice first of all the source of this vision because we're not here today to talk about pastor chapels vision or your vision or my idea or your idea we want God's mind in the matter now where does that desire and that vision come from well verse number one tells us moreover brethren we do you to wit or we remind you of thee notice the next word grace the grace of God bestowed on the churches now God wants to work in my heart and yours by grace now this is very important grace is the inner working of the Holy Spirit all right let's say that together grace is the so when someone says God's grace moved on me they're saying that they were changed from the inside out so we're not trying to motivate people externally and you know beat them over the head with something but what we're praying for is Lord would you work in my heart transformational ii by your grace would you help me to live the life you've called me to live in matthew chapter five and verse eight says blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God I believe God is looking for pure hearted people in whom he can do a work of grace so that the world can hear the gospel of Jesus Christ I believe someone once asked Helen Keller this question Helen what would be worse than being born blind to which she answered being born with sight and having no vision many of us have sight but we have no vision and today is about lifting up our eyes and looking to the fields that are white already unto harvest and asking God to increase our vision and it happens by the grace of God so the source of vision letter a is the grace of God the way that we're gonna get vision is as God works on our heart now God has been working on my heart and I'm praying that he will work on your heart as well 2nd Corinthians 8 and 7 the Bible says therefore as ye abound in everything in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence and in your love to us see that ye abound in this grace also so God says you've been doing good in Sunday School you've been doing good in faith and witnessing or utterance but I want you to grow in this grace also I want you to have this vision to be involved in fact 2nd Peter 3:18 says but grow in the Grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so grace is the working of the Holy Spirit in my heart God wants me to grow in that grace the grace of God but notice also in verse 1 please turn in your Bible or look in your notes it says the grace of God notice the next word bestowed would you say that word with me please bestowed all right so where does vision come from it is the grace of God bestowed the word bestowed means to give or to present I believe that God bestows grace upon his people I believe that God wants to give you grace for your marriage grace for your children he wants to give us grace for this church that God bestows upon us a gracious desire to see a difference in the future that is honoring to him and Jesus Christ has to bestowed grace upon us when he saved us and the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 8 and 9 for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty might be rich the greatest exam full of grace in the world's history is when Jesus Christ left heavens glory and came down and died on the cross for our sin how many of you know we didn't deserve that that was grace that did that God's grace to us but then we see the grace of God bestowed on the Macedonians because it says in verse one the grace of God bestowed now think of this we'll see more in a moment this was a poor church this was a needy church but they're giving an offering for people that were also very needy that's just not normal human tendency to do that the normal human tendency said lookit I got my problems right I'm gonna take care of us but the grace of God got involved and they said how can we help them you see that's the grace of God bestowed it's one thing to know about the grace of God in our head it's another thing to let the grace of God come and change our heart and so I want you to think about the grace of God the grace of God has bestowed it was bestowed on Macedonia but I want to take the next 10 minutes and we're gonna give a complete Bible message this morning but in the next few moments I want to talk to you about the grace of God bestowed at Lancaster Baptist Church and I want to tell you that everything you see around here has happened in and by and through and because of the grace of God working on our hearts as we said a moment ago see that you grow in this grace also sometimes people drive by and they might see these buildings and the buses then I go man they've had everything handed them on a silver platter and they must have a lot of money do you know that Lancaster Baptist Church is just a bunch of common people with a wonderful God and what we have seen here is just God touching hearts for 32 years now last year in March we actually had our offering last year in March and this year it's a little later because Easter was a little later but I just wanted to take a minute to tell you some of the great things God has done besides many people being saved and baptized these last several weeks and months I want you to take your booklet out if you would and turn to page three alright and we want to just review since the giving last March what are some of the things that have been accomplished and some of these will be in the in the notebook some of them may not be in the notebook but let me just mention the South Campus child care space has been completely finished now we're so thankful for that hundreds of young people in our Spanish ministry are hearing the Bible out of the South Campus everything's now been carpeted and painted and landscape we completed the campus library the bulk of the monies for that came from different guests gifts rather through the college relationships but the church was able to help furnish some of the library and a beautiful 100,000 volume library is over there in the walther Center any of you are welcome to use it anytime we were able this past year to take our kids city renderings and have the design work for the new North Building that we're gonna talk about the renovation of the North Building which is a multi-million dollar children's building the drawings are nearing completion on that we've been through some plans check for that the bus barn we're very excited about our bus barn we'll talk about that more in just a moment not only have we finished the engineering and not only have we finished the drawings but we've actually submitted to the city and we're about finished with cheque plans checked for the bus barn project very thankful for that we were able this last year to upgrade to energy efficient LED parking lot lighting that wasn't a major major thing but we were able to take and replace all of our parking lot lighting we're gonna see a real savings on that and the years to come of course we were able to do some principal reduction this past year not only from the Gideon 300 soldiers gifts that come in on a weekly basis but some from our giving last year to do some principal reduction on the projects prior and then of course we were able to place several hundred dollars into savings several hundred thousand dollars into savings I should say for the upcoming children's buildings so this has been a little bit of a year of transitioning finishing some project saving for some future projects doing some things in the way of architectural drawings and it's been a wonderful year of planning and revving up and getting ready for what is about ready to happen and what's going to happen in the next year or two is all about children at Lancaster Baptist Church and reaching children in our community and I want to tell you why and just give you a little an introduction to why we're focusing on the children and if you want to notice this on page four there are several things listed here first of all 72% of believers came to faith before they were twenty years old now I'd like to ask you how many of you accepted Jesus as your Savior before you were twenty years old let me just see your hands all right hold him up there okay everybody look around for just a moment all right that's why we're emphasizing the children's ministry building by the way for those of you that were older than twenty and you got saved you ought to just say extra amen and thank the Lord that he saved your soul but most people get saved at a very early age right secondly there is a 10-year window of opportunity between the ages of four and fourteen that studies show us people are most open to the gospel and this is why we we've we've never in our 32 years we've built auditoriums gymnasiums adult classrooms we've never had a completely dedicated children's building and we just believe in light of these statistics that is the priority for the next building project here there is also a statistic I find very interesting 20% of formerly unchurched parents said children influenced them to attend church one of the things we want to do with this new children's building is make it so awesome and the lessons so wonderful that the kids drag their parents back to church until the parents come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior interesting statistic four out of five of today's church leaders grew up in church can I just say say to some of you some of you are newer Christians some of you have four and five-year-olds you just trying to figure out what to do let me just tell you how can it could work if you would stay in love with God stay in love with each other stay faithful in church you might be raising a pastor in your home right now you might be raising a youth pastor an evangelist you just don't know what God has going on in your family right now so I just encourage you keep a right spirit stay out of sin stay in love with Jesus and you just never know what God might do in your home and in this church with your children by age nine a child's basic moral foundation has already been formed now we know what the world is making a play for the children they got MTV they've got all kinds of wickedness the world's constantly trying to tell the kids all these terrible messages and so we want to provide a place that's counter-attacking that now the primary place is your family your family devotions your leadership as a dad but we want the church to come right in there with you and training up the children for the Lord and then by age 13 a person has already formed the majority of their beliefs about the reliability of the Bible the nature of God heaven and all of these eternal things and so this is a little bit of the why that we're heading into the children's ministry emphasis so what is our vision to accomplish some of this let me share some of this with you you'd like to turn to page number 6 on your booklet there we're going to be focusing first of all and I believe in the next several weeks we should be able to break ground on the bus barn and publications warehouse and fundamentally the bus barn is where we're going to take care of many many needs for our transportation ministry now some of you may or may not be aware that lancaster baptist church every sunday brings in five to six hundred boys and girls every single sunday to lancaster baptist church my wife terry was a bus kid her dad was an alcoholic her mom worked on Sunday there's no way my wife would have ever been saved had a church not brought her in by the way I love the bus ministry now I like live stream and TV ministry and all of that but those ministries keep people at their house right but the bus ministry brings them in to the church house and so the bus ministry is needed and a wonderful ministry now many churches have changed their philosophies in recent years and often times the services resemble more of a rock and roll concert there's no Sunday night preaching and many of those same churches have long quit the bus ministry they just don't they don't have people that are even dedicated enough to work with those children and I just want to say I'm very thankful that Lancaster Baptist Church has a bus ministry to bring in boys and girls whose parents sometimes are hungover who sometimes parents wouldn't come themselves but that people from our church knock on those doors and hope those children to come and teach them that God loves them how many of you know some of those kids - no God loves them and they teach them that that God created male and female how many of you know sometimes that needs to be taught these days - and and they teach them how to pay young ladies and young gentlemen I love the bus ministry you know the Highway Patrol comes by every month or so and they inspect our buses but we want to have a place where the records are kept and the tools are kept and we have a church fleet and a college fleet and a school fleet and we're trying to provide transportation this week we'll have teenagers here from over a hundred different churches and we'll be taking dozens of buses down to Magic Mountain as a part of their event we want those buses to be in tip-top shape and so this is part of what our goal is this year to provide this bus barn we're gonna have lit parking for twenty buses indoor mechanic shops 6000 square feet of storage two bays for shipping and receiving one pull in place where they can change the oil from underneath it's going to meet many many needs and I want you to pray as you pray about the offering remember the children that we're bringing in on the bus ministry and then after that building is completed on the east side of our campus the drawings are now underway and partially submitted for the north building for the children's building we spent a lot of time studying where to put the building and how to do the building and we've come back to putting it at the North building a complete renovation new air conditioning system all new bathrooms this will be a several million dollar project I'm sure and the budgets being formed right now but let me talk to you about the children's building here on pages 8 & 9 you'll notice the centralized location for checking in the children you'll notice the technology and the classrooms we're going to have PowerPoint and a lot of high-tech things for the classrooms improve first impressions with theming we're going to have larger class rate classrooms we're going to have a beautiful breezeway between the two buildings that's kid and family friendly we're excited about that we're also going to add a an entirely new playground on the east side of the north building so that before and after services the kids can have a place to kind of get off some energy and have some fun their moms and dads can be out there together as well if you'll notice there on page 10 you'll see the theme of our Sunday school is called kids city you'll some of the floorplan including a beautiful auditorium with a puppet stage for the children in large classrooms throughout on pages 12 and 13 you get a little more of an idea of some of the breezeway we're gonna actually put some nicely landscaped wind blocks and also we're going to have the the coverings there from the Sun as well as some of the playground area for the boys and girls and so we believe that the time has come jesus said suffer the little children to come unto me we want Lancaster Baptist Church to be a beacon of hope for boys and girls we want them to be able to come to a place where they're not going to be mistreated they're not gonna hear cursing there's no alcohol they're going to be treated with respect and they're going to learn the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and I want you to pray that this will be provided as a part of our vision how's it gonna work it's gonna be the grace of God showing us and giving us the will and then the ability the vision and the provision that's what God will do in our church now how can we have a part in this I want you to look on page 14 some of you are newer members and this is something that each year we just believe God can do these things and so we begin praying and on the 29th of April we're going to have our cash offering and this is going to be a time where normally our church family comes and we all try to give our largest offering of the year the single largest offering right there on April the 29th Terry and I have been saving for this for many months setting things aside along the way and we make that special offering then we also will have on that day an opportunity to make a commitment you can see on the right the little card there and you can give something once a week or once a month you total that for the total in the year that you'd like to give and we present that into the offering and I just this morning gave just a little bit more I'm just finishing up my commitment from last year and this is a wonderful way to be able to give the cash offering and then just a little bit each week it's kind of like our missionary offering except it's for the building other people do different things you see the words their estate planning some people have appreciated stock some people have given land some people have done different things you could call the stewardship office and and talk to them about that if you would like I just want to ask you to to start praying that God would show you the vision and that he would give you the provision now next Sunday night after church we're going to be having our home fellowships and all of you are invited to the home of one of our members normally that's someone in your connection group it may be that you're not yet in the connection group just stop by the guest services and tell them I'm not in a connection group yet but I'd like to go to one of the home fellowships there'll be a video in the home next Sunday night telling you more about this vision there'll be a great time of eating and fellowshipping and praying together and I want to ask you to take this revive vision Sunday brochure put it somewhere this week where you can just pray Lord give me the vision and give me the provision to have a part in this so the source of our vision is the grace of God and the churches at Macedonia they were growing in grace go back to your outline now let's notice secondly not only the source of the vision but let's talk about the strength of the vision some people get a vision but they never follow through some people kind of wanted to be a part but they just never get involved now how can God help us to have a vision that is sustainable well look at verse 2 now of our text it says how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality now notice how strong the Macedonian vision was first of all in letter a I want you to jot down despite the afflictions they had financial affliction but they still were able to give in fact just look at verse 2 it's kind of an amazing verse it says two things here it says even though they had affliction they had abundance of joy and even though they had deep poverty they gave liberally I'll just think of that how could they with all of their affliction have joy I mean with their problems they had joy and how could they with all of their poverty give liberally how many of you understand that doesn't really make sense humanly speaking people that are afflicted are not usually very happy and people that are in poverty are not usually giving liberally there's one way that it was possible and that was by the grace of God working in their heart sustaining the vision keeping the desire alive in their heart they had much affliction but God was doing a great work in their life I remember back in 1999 we were building this building and it was obviously a major undertaking about a five million dollar building we had ground breaking we lifted up the steel things seemed like they were going fine but suddenly boy the economy twisted those of you that have lived here long enough we've seen the ups and the downs haven't way it's been quite a roller coaster ride I was preaching one Monday down in San Diego I picked up the newspaper I was getting ready to go preach at a pastors meeting and it said on the front page of USA Today it said these words Palmdale and Lancaster leading the nation in foreclosures now when you're in a building program it's a blessing if people come up and say pastor were praying for a victory God gave me a raise God gave me a bonus it's coming together but that year people were saying pastor we lost our house we lost our job would you pray for us our savings is gone I'll tell you what when I saw that on the newspaper the devil jumped up on my shoulder and he said something like this you are an idiot you are never gonna get that building bill it's just never gonna get done why did you lead the people into doing this and you know what God was teaching me God was showing me that His grace is sufficient that even in the difficult times we serve a recession-proof God and it doesn't matter what the economy's doing what matters is what is God doing in your heart and God was working in our heart and God was showing us that despite financial affliction he could still do a great work and despite personal affliction he could still do a great work I remember our first week in Lancaster and I was doing all the preaching I was also the song leader and the music was great it really was we we just sang hymns and sang them wow that's how I that's how we did it I couldn't read notes but I just I had a lot of energy and we were having fun I preached that first Sunday morning we had the singing and we had a good group of folks there maybe 22 or so but then that first week that's the week when some folks broke into the church they stole the microphone they stole the speakers they broke into my little study I'd made downstairs in the basement of the old building and and poured kool-aid on my ordination certificate and my college diploma and and stole some stuff out of my desk and we had put a sign out front that the the old sign said Lancaster Church Center because the folks before me were like renting rooms to make money I said this church this city is going to know one thing before we're done that there's an old-fashioned Baptist Church in there myths and so I changed the sign and it said Lancaster Baptist and I was so proud of that sign and somebody came by and threw rocks and broke it up I went home one day to see my wife at lunch that was my routine for the first many months every day peanut butter and jelly and top ramen soup you cannot beat that for lunch I'm telling you and I walked in and Terri was crying I said what's wrong she said honey some lady just came in here and screaming and cussing and had some kind of a fit maybe demon-possessed I don't know and then the next night is when they had the shooting across the street and the bullet came into our living room wall it was a wonderful first week really it really was and I was learning from the very beginning that Satan did not want a soul winning church that would rescue the perishing and care for the dying Satan was alive and well and he was pushing against us and there was much in the way of affliction and again some people might say oh boy they just have it made I'm just here to tell you I'm not poor mouthing I'm just here to tell you that for 32 years Satan has socked us in the gut and softest in the gut and discouragement is common sometimes people are mean sometimes situations are difficult sometimes finances are stressful all of these different things but what I want you to know is that through all of the affliction God has sustained the vision by His grace His grace has continually helped us every step of the way and so despite the afflictions and then let her be power was provided God provided the or God gave power to the Macedonian churches and he's giving it to us as well look at verse three these are amazing verses I hope you'll read them this week it says of the Macedonian churches for to their power I bear record yay and beyond their power they were willing of themselves now how many of you in your lifetime would like to see something so great that you would say we didn't do that God did that that was not our power that was beyond our power God got into that and folks what you're seeing at Lancaster Baptist Church is not what people can do you are seeing what God has done and how many times have we said well this is the Lord's doing it is marvelous in our eyes what God is doing Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me so the source of the vision is the grace of God he wills it within you and he accomplishes it he gives the vision and the provision and the strength of the vision no matter how difficult the time no matter how great the affliction no matter how deep the poverty God's grace is sufficient that's for your life as well as this church we serve a great God who can provide in every need of our life but then I want you to see not only the source of the vision not only the strength of the vision but finally this morning the supply of the vision so says well how our needs gonna be met I mean children's building bus barn how is that going to happen well look at verse 4 this church at Macedonia the Bible says praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the Fellowship of the ministering to the Saints so Paul is writing to the Corinthians and he's telling him about the Macedonians and he's using them as an illustration if you're with me on that part say Amen and he's telling the Corinthians the Macedonians were praying us with much intreaty that means they were begging him they were begging him Paul take this gift and I don't know what the Apostle was saying he might have been saying look at you guys are on hard times you've got a lot of poverty you've got a lot of difficulty I could imagine him saying I can't take it from you but I can hear them saying no no no we don't want to be robbed of this we want to help with that special offering please take this like the widow who gave the Widow's mite they were saying don't rob us of the blessing we know we don't have a lot but we want we don't want to just do what we can we want to be a part of this beyond our own power and God was supplying for them and I want you to know something you can be a person that gives without loving but you cannot love without giving and when you love God there's a desire to give because a cold heart and a stingy hand always go together but when God's warming your heart by grace internally there's a great desire to give and to have a part I read an illustration in the newspaper the other day a little story about a lady that was trying to get her son ready for Easter last Sunday morning you may have seen the story and and he wasn't waking up and so she got a stun gun and she shot him literally shot him now how many of you'd agree with me that is child abuse how many of you agree with me and how many of you would say I would have loved to have done it to one of my teenagers just one time I be honest with me huh I mean the lady literally was put in jail for a few days for shooting the boy now I got to tell you something when it comes to giving toward the vision Lancaster Baptist doesn't believe in external motivation you're not gonna hear a ton of sad stories and guilt trips you know what we believe in praying that God just touches a lot of hearts that God transforms people and puts love in our hearts so that there's a vision to be a part of what God is doing and so the supply comes through the gifts that come from the heart I had a friend years ago he's a pastor and he took his son to McDonald's and you know they ordered a little happy meal for his son and they're sitting there and they're chit-chatting and and all of a sudden the dad reached over and he's kind of taken a few french fries how many of you have ever stolen your children's french fries okay there will be an ultra call right after this service video and he said he said I'm taking the french fries and he said my son slaps my hand and says those are my french fries and he said suddenly theologically I began to consider the ramifications of what my son was saying he said first of all my son forgot that I am the source of his french fries he forgot secondly I control the French fries I can take the french fries away and thirdly I don't really need his french fries I can get my own french fries and sometimes you know God gives us a job and he gives us a paycheck and he provides and then God says I'd like to have some of those french fries to help the children at the church and we say those are my french fries now the Bible says that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights how many of you understand that everything that's in your possession it's not yours it's God's your children the cars all these things God says I'm the owner you're the steward and it's required of a steward that a man be found faithful and God says sometime I want you to take some of my stuff and use it for other things that I have in mind and the Bible teaches this and I think of even David as he built that the temple and the Bible says there in 1st chronicles 29 3 moreover because I have set my affection to the house of my god I have of my own proper good of gold and silver which I have given to the house of God over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house if sometime if you do a little study of 1st chronicles 29 you'll find that David gave 40 billion dollars worth of modern-day gold and 120 million dollars worth of silver for the building of the temple why because of his love for God because of his heart you see the vision was provided and and the supply was made through the gifts that were given but then I want to say this as we close the supply will be made not only by gifts given but by growth in the life of the Christian through growth you see this matter of building has really come down to growing as a Christian at Lancaster Baptist Church it's a testimony to Christians that still grow in grace look at verse 6 it says in so much that we desire Titus that as he had begun so he would also finish in you the same grace also therefore as ye abound in everything and faith and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence and in your love to us see that ye abound in this grace also you see grace is God's internal motivator and he said you've been growing in a lot of other areas in witnessing and Bible study but make sure you grow in the grace of giving also let God work in your heart inwardly and notice also in verse 7 it says as you abound in faith God says I want you to grow in faith you see these buildings are not a testimony to an earthly architect these buildings are a testimony to the heavenly architect the Lord Jesus Christ who has written in our hearts and he has grown us in love and in mercy towards a lost and a dying world and you remember when you got saved Ephesians 2:8 for by grace are you saved through faith I only remember that verse for by grace are you saved through faith well that's how we live the Christian life by grace and by faith God move on my heart by grace and show me how to give and then God give me the faith to do it just like I had faith to believe on you as my savior give me the faith to be involved and to do what you have called me to do and I don't know about you but when it comes to vision and when it comes to grace I don't ever want to stop growing I want to keep having vision and keep growing in grace I don't want to become an old crusty Baptist that used to do stuff and used to have a heart and used to give and used to witness I want God to continually work in my heart that we might reach our city with the gospel of Jesus Christ and so that no honest history of Lancaster is ever written without mentioning the impact of the Lancaster Baptist Church and we will all know that it that that impact was not because of us it because God moved on our hearts and he gave us the vision and then he gave us the provision and we did what God had called us to do now the source of the vision that's the grace of God the strength of the vision is greater than our affliction and our poverty and the supply of the vision comes through the gifts that God's people give as they grow in the Grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ I want to encourage every one of you who are members and friends of Lancaster Baptist to pray that on April the 29th God's grace is manifested once again but let me say this as I close because there may be somebody here and you do not know Jesus Christ in your heart personally and you may not really understand all of this about the Lord and Grace and growing and giving and I want to tell you friend if you're here and not sure that you're saved you know a man can go to heaven without health a man can go to heaven without riches a man can go to heaven without honour and without friends but no one goes to heaven without Jesus Christ and more importantly than giving something to the church or having a great vision for your business or your family the most important decision in your life is to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and there might be someone here today and you say I just I don't have a lot of vision I don't quite understand that let me encourage you with this simple thought for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God if you here this morning and you've never received Christ as Savior I want to encourage you today open your heart open your heart to Jesus Christ and confess to him that you are a sinner and ask him to come in and be your Savior and be saved by His grace and be saved by putting your faith in him and if you've already been saved then I'm encouraging you to keep growing in grace and keep growing in faith that the work of God be done for his glory

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

Views: 1,755

Rating: 4.8666668 out of 5

Keywords: lancaster baptist church, lancaster baptist, baptist church, paul, chappell, paul chappell, pastor paul chappell

Id: hwtggYw1oaw

Length: 44min 45sec (2685 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 09 2018