Bulletins - Whitehall Baptist Church

- - Hebrews 10:24–25KJV1900
- - Romans 15:13KJV1900
- - Romans 5:8KJV1900
At Calvary
- - Revelation 5:9KJV1900
Let The Nations Be Glad
Jesus Loves Even Me
- - Ephesians 2:4–5KJV1900
Living Hope
TEXT: 2 CORINTHIANS 9:10-15 | THE MISSIONS MOTIVATION
ILLUSTRATION: When you play sports, you get to sit through a lot of motivational speeches.
Sometimes it was before a big game
Other times it was at halftime after we hadn’t played so well.
I can remember coaches getting angry and throwing things
Once I remember a coach launches one of the big orange gatorade coolers across the locker room
The goal behind all of those actions was simple… they wanted to motivate us!
To give more
To play harder
To not quit!
EXPLANATION: Over the past month we have looked at various aspects and challenges that Paul gave to the believers at Corinth.
When he had passed through on his previous visit he had shared his burden with them for the believers back in Jerusalem.
The people in Corinth had been so moved by this burden of Paul’s that they had committed to get involved and give to meet the need.
Paul then travelled over the next year and would tell of the willingness of those in Corinth to step in and meet the needs of the believers in Jerusalem.
But as time passed by, they got further and further away from their commitment, and the church at Corinth hadn’t done anything to live up to the promises they had made.
We talked the first week of how Paul reminded them of the believers at Macedonia, who demonstrated that it wasn’t just a burden to help that mattered, but it was the actions that showed the heart.
He testified of those in Macedonia: 2 Corinthians 8:5
2 Corinthians 8:5 KJV 1900
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.
Before those believers ever gave a penny to missions, they first put their heart in that offering plate.
They gave themselves to the Lord!
And then Paul walked through the beginning of chapter 9, as he challenged them that everyone who had received the Gospel had first been a Getter.
Then they were challenge to become a Giver and ultimately a Goer.
And yet so many had received the Gospel and became a Getter and then they became a Taker.
And now, as Paul finishes this chapter, he gives them a motivation for missions.
Now, their love for God should have been all they needed, but Paul gives them some tangible examples to show how, “Everyone as they purposed in their heart” could give.
He makes it practical how they could “prove their love”
APPLICATION: Friend, we were reminded in the message last week by Morris Gleiser, that we must choose to be “all in”
Today I’m not looking to motivate you, because the problem with motivation is it eventually wears off.
But I hope there will be a Holy Spirit stirring in your heart that will last longer than the end of the service!
I hope you’ve commited to put your heart in the offering plate, and be all in for the Lord!
If you haven’t yet, you might struggle with some of the things we are going to talk about today.
But if you’ll be all in for the Lord, you will find incredible truth in the words we are going to see this morning.
V.10, A REQUIRED DISCERNMENT
2 Corinthians 9:10 KJV 1900
Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
EXPLANATION: Paul tells the Corinthian believers that God has given each of them two things:
Bread and Seed
Bread - For them
This was what they needed to live off of.
Philippians 4:19 KJV 1900
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Matthew 6:31–32 KJV 1900
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
God promised that He would take care of those Corinthian believers, and He will take care of your need to!
1 Peter 5:7 KJV 1900
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
When the Bible says, “casting all your care” it literally means, don’t worry!
Why?
Because God cares for you.
APPLICATION: Friend, God cares about you and He knows every need that you have and every need you are going to have.
And God promises to take care of you!
Psalm 55:22 KJV 1900
Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 23:1 KJV 1900
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
The word “want” means to lack.
Now, we think it means what it means for us today.
God needs to give me all the things I want.
I want a new car
I want a bigger house
I want a better job
And since I “want” it, the Lord my Shepherd should give it to me.
That’s not what the Psalmist is saying.
He is saying, God will take care of your needs.
One of the great problems that we have here in America, is we are blessed with so much, that we think we “need” a lot of things that are really just “want” things.
Now, is it wrong to want something?
Is it wrong to want to have a car that actually runs
Or to have a house that all of your family fits in
Or a job that you don’t dread going to every day
NO!
But we can’t forget that their are some things that are wants and not needs.
God promises to meet our needs, or time give the grace we need to continue without them.
He promises to provide your bread for you.
EXPLANATION: And then He says He also gives seed.
Seed - For others
Seed is made to be cast out.
Seed is made to be planted.
ILLUSTRATION: In our garage on a shelf, we had two big bags full of grass seed.
That grass seed has sat on the shelf in there for close to 10 years.
Just a few days ago, we took that grass seed off the shelf and we went out to our yard by our garage, and we put the seed in a little pull behind spreader and we began to sow the seed.
We’ve been watering the grass and fertilizing the grass.
Our goal is for those seeds to find good soil and to sprout up more grass.
You know, I learned a lesson after 10 years of that seed sitting on the shelf… the grass doesn’t grow, unless the seed gets sown.
It sat there for 10 years, and not one single blade of grass sprang up outside from that seed.
APPLICATION: Friend, God has given you the responsibility help sow seeds so the Gospel can go forward.
Sometimes it’s through inviting someone to church
Sometimes it’s through talking about Jesus
And sometimes it’s through giving so others can go with the Gospel.
1 Corinthians 9:14 KJV 1900
Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians that it was the duty of the church to supply for the needs of those preaching the Gospel financially.
And that is one way that we as a church can be involved in missions.
But I wonder, how many Christians have taken the seed that God has given them, and they have just put it on a shelf.
Or maybe they’ve taken the seed God has given them and they have used it on themselves.
EXPLANATION: That is the point Paul is making here.
God has provided enough bread for you, and He has given you seed for your to sow.
And now we need to ask God for the discernment to know which is which.
APPLICATION: Could it be that in an attempt to get a few more “wants” we are dipping into the bag of “seed” that God intended for others?
I can’t help but wonder if the church at Corinth had good intentions to give and to sow more seeds, but when the rubber met the road, they decided to set aside their commitment and promise for some wants that they had.
Because they just didn’t have enough to be able to give and to get at the same time.
EXPLANATION: Now this is so cool, look at what the Bible says there in v.10 again:
2 Corinthians 9:10 KJV 1900
Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
God says, if you are faithful to sow the seed He has given you, he will “multiply your seed sown and increase the fruit.”
If you are faithful with your giving, God has a way of “multiplying your seed”
He says I will give you more and I will do more with what you give!
He says, “It may only seem like a little in your eyes, or it may seem like a lot to you, but when you are faithful to give, God takes it and makes it more!”
You say, “that doesn’t make sense!”
I know… but don’t ask me to explain how it works, ask the little boy that gave 5 loaves and 2 small fish… ask him how it works when you give it to God.
As Peter to explain it, as he cast his net in on the other side, and God filled it so much that the boat began to sink.
Ask the little widow woman at Zeraphath who was going to make one final meal for her and her son and then die, and God told her through the Prophet Elijah to give the little that she had to the Lord first, and God filled every pot she brought into the house with enough oil to feed her family and pay off her debts.
APPLICATION: Friend, I don’t know exactly how it works, I just know that when you are faithful to plant the seeds, God is faithful to multiply and do more with it than you could have ever imagined!
And he says there at the end that he will increase your fruit.
EXPLANATION: Paul said it this way in 1 Corinthians 3:6-7
1 Corinthians 3:6–7 KJV 1900
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
Galatians 6:9 KJV 1900
And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
John 15:8 KJV 1900
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
God is glorified when there is much fruit in our lives!
And it’s the greatest investment you can make… because it’s banking in heaven… and God promises to increase your investment!
APPLICATION: Friend, don’t be guilty of having an early bank account that is full and a heavenly account that is sitting empty!
Ask God to help you to have the discernment to determine what is the Bread for your life, and what is the Seed He wants you to sow.
And then get busy sowing and watch as God blesses and multiplies!
Paul tells them there is a Required Discernment… What is bread and what is seed.
V.11-13, A DIRECTED PRAISE
2 Corinthians 9:11–13 KJV 1900
Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;
EXPLANATION: Did you catch the common theme through those verses?
Paul tells them, when you sow the seeds God gave you, it leads to God being glorified!
Our purpose on earth is to bring God praise, and here He tells us we can do this by joining in ministry through giving to missions!
I love what Paul writes in v.13, “liberal distribution”
Distribution - “koinonia” - Fellowship, joining together.
He says, when you give to missions, it’s like you are climbing into the yoke along with that missionary and joining in their work!
That means when I give to missions at WBC, it’s like I’m right there beside the Gerosin Family in Columbia giving the Gospel
I’m right there with the Brouwer family training people for the ministry in East Africa
I’m right there with Jeff Grosse as he preaches and teaches the Gospel in Thailand
I’m right there with the Davis family serving in ministry in Myanmar
I’m right there with the Minion family, as people come to Christ in Labrador
I’m over in Anaconda serving along with Caleb and Alyssa Greiner as they press forward at Valley Point BC!
I’m fulfilling the command from Jesus in Acts 1:8
Acts 1:8 KJV 1900
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
APPLICATION: And as we join in ministry along with these missionaries, all the praise and the glory goes exactly where it belongs: To God!
When people receive the Gospel they, Praise God!
When the missionary receives that offering, they Praise God!
When a life is changed, they Praise God.
And you and I have the privilege to be a part of it, as we give to missions!
A REQUIRED DISCERNMENT, A DIRECTED PRAISE
V.14, A RECEIVER’S REQUEST
2 Corinthians 9:14 KJV 1900
And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.
EXPLANATION: Now, don’t miss this… The Bible says, those that the missionary will take the money that enables them to go.
They will share the Gospel, and people will accept Jesus as Savior!
That’s fruit to your account!
But it doesn’t stop there!
Then that person that accepts Christ, prays and thanks God for those who gave so that missionary could come, and the Bible says they pray for the person that gave.
And they ask God for something specific… “For the exceeding grace of God in you.”
Do you remember what Paul said back in v.8,
2 Corinthians 9:8 KJV 1900
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
APPLICATION: Now friend, don’t forget, you need God’s grace to be saved.
Ephesians 2:8–9 KJV 1900
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
But God’s grace and your need for it doesn’t end with salvation!
You and I need God’s grace every day!
I need grace in my marriage
I need grace as a parent
I need grace as a pastor
I need grace as a business owner
I need grace to deal with people in daily life!
I need God’s grace… and you do to!
And the Bible tells us here that when you give to missions, there is someone around this world that you will likely never meet this side of eternity who is praying for you to have the grace of God in your life!
I can’t help but wonder just how often I experience the grace of God in my life, because someone in Columbia or East Africa prayed, and now God is answering their prayer in my life… because I gave to missions!
Friend, don’t miss the blessing of God as you faithful give to the great commission!
A REQUIRED DISCERNMENT, A DIRECTED PRAISE, A RECEIVER’S REQUEST
V.15, A MISSIONS MOTIVATION
2 Corinthians 9:15 KJV 1900
Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
ILLUSTRATION: 27 years ago, a young man named Tracy Jones and his wife Martha, surrendered to be a stateside missionary and to plant a church.
And they made their way to a little town in southwest Montana and planted a little church they called Whitehall Baptist Church.
As I think about missions, I can’t help but be thankful that God burdened that man 27 years ago to step out as a missionary to plant this church.
Now, I know today we don’t view our church as a missions work… but that was how it started.
An man do I think God that God sent Tracy to this valley to plant this church.
And you know… I think that’s truly where a heart for missions leads us to… gratefulness.
EXPLANATION: As Paul is wrapping up his writing to the Corinthians about giving to missions, he writes something that almost seems out of place at first.
Here he has been reminding them of their promise, encouraging them to prove their love, telling them of the blessings of giving to missions, and then he writes v.15
I think what happened is Paul became so overwhelmed talking about missions that he couldn’t help but point to the greatest missionary that every lived: Jesus Christ!
He left the glories of heaven and came to this sin cursed earth.He could have lived as a king with all the riches any could have imagine, but instead he humbled himself.
He didn’t even have a place to lay His head.
He was worshiped by some and cursed by others
His life was threatened on numerous occasions, yet He never retaliated.
Then He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
He was mocked and rejected.
Beaten and scourged.
He came and He gave everything and just before He died He cried, “It is finished”
“Mission Complete”
And as Paul writes this final line and he thinks back on Christ’s sacrifice, on Christ’s missions journey, and all he can’t even find the words…
You can almost hear the emotion in his voice as he’s so overcome.
And finally all he can get out is “Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!”
APPLICATION: Friend, have you received that unspeakable gift?
When was the time that you stop trusting in your way to heaven and put your full faith and trust in Christ.
A great fear of mine is that I could pastor this church for coming up on 7 years, and there could be people in this congregation who come week after week and you’ve never accepted Christ as your Savior.
Friend, this morning, you are the mission field.
And the Gospel is for you today!
As we close the service, won’t you pray and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior!
And if you have received that unspeakable gift, wont you be more than motivated!
Let’s be stirred by the Spirit of God this morning!
And let’s ask God for discernment, so that all praise will be to God, and you can experience God’s grace because of the request from those who received the Gospel because of you!
- - 2 Corinthians 9:10–15KJV1900
- - 2 Corinthians 8:5KJV1900
- - 2 Corinthians 9:10KJV1900
- - Philippians 4:19KJV1900
- - Matthew 6:31–32KJV1900
- - 1 Peter 5:7KJV1900
- - Psalm 55:22KJV1900
- - Psalm 23:1KJV1900
- - 1 Corinthians 9:14KJV1900
- - 2 Corinthians 9:10KJV1900
- - 1 Corinthians 3:6–7KJV1900
- - Galatians 6:9KJV1900
- - John 15:8KJV1900
- - 2 Corinthians 9:11–13KJV1900
- - Acts 1:8KJV1900
- - 2 Corinthians 9:14KJV1900
- - 2 Corinthians 9:8KJV1900
- - Ephesians 2:8–9KJV1900
- - 2 Corinthians 9:15KJV1900

Hebrews 10:24–25KJV1900

Romans 15:13KJV1900

Romans 5:8KJV1900

Revelation 5:9KJV1900

Ephesians 2:4–5KJV1900

TEXT: 2 CORINTHIANS 9:10-15 | THE MISSIONS MOTIVATION

V.10, A REQUIRED DISCERNMENT

V.11-13, A DIRECTED PRAISE

V.14, A RECEIVER’S REQUEST

V.15, A MISSIONS MOTIVATION

2 Corinthians 9:10–15KJV1900

2 Corinthians 8:5KJV1900

2 Corinthians 9:10KJV1900

Philippians 4:19KJV1900

Matthew 6:31–32KJV1900

1 Peter 5:7KJV1900

Psalm 55:22KJV1900

Psalm 23:1KJV1900

1 Corinthians 9:14KJV1900

2 Corinthians 9:10KJV1900

1 Corinthians 3:6–7KJV1900

Galatians 6:9KJV1900

John 15:8KJV1900

2 Corinthians 9:11–13KJV1900

Acts 1:8KJV1900

2 Corinthians 9:14KJV1900

2 Corinthians 9:8KJV1900

Ephesians 2:8–9KJV1900

2 Corinthians 9:15KJV1900