Embracing Love, Generosity, and Spiritual Growth in Christ

1) "Since you excel in so many ways in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love for us, I want you to excel also in the gracious act of giving. It's amazing that Paul puts that kind of importance on the idea of giving. It's as important as faith, as the gifted speakers, the knowledge, enthusiasm, and your love. But that it's all a part of it. Giving is a part of that process. Of walking this thing called Christianity or your faith, walking it out." [28:42] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "If giving to others, if giving away of what you have in the right times, in the right reasons, for the right purposes, if that's not a part of your life, then you're missing something. Because when you don't give, it literally stops the flow through you. As you, you know, we are given supplies. We're given blessings. You know, we're given seed. God gives us seed. And we know that, you know, a wheat seed has two, well, I mean, you could say all kinds of purposes, but two purposes. One is for nutrition or to make food. You could make something, make bread so that you can eat it. That's for you. But it's also, seed is also can be used for sowing and creating a bigger crop." [31:31] (50 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "When you give into someone's situation, then you're sowing seeds that will reap a harvest. Thank you for that delayed response. I know you were just like thinking about it, you know, and letting it, you know, you're allowing it to soak in here. But there are different situations to give into. There's tithes, there's offerings, there's alms, there's times of when there are other people who are in need, and I'm leading up to something here. There's times when people are in need that when you sow into their life, you may not be in need right now, but there very well could be in your future a time when you are in need." [32:26] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "We don't have to be, we don't, we're not subject to that circumstance. What you do in those circumstances reveal what's in here. What's in here. And what, what's in here affects what's in here. What's in your spirit. If you let your spirit react, and I know I'm hitting this a lot, but I think it's, it's really absolutely paramount to walking in these days because these days are treacherous. These days are dark. And if you're going to spend all your time freaking out, you're not going to spend a lot of time walking in, in victory. And God wants you to walk in victory. I want you to walk in victory." [01:00:44] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "Patience requires toughness. We need to be tough in these days. And I had the, the definition of patience last week, the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry. Let it sink in. Let it sink in. The, the, or angry or upset the ability to endure difficult situations and can involve or, and can involve perseverance in the face of delay, tolerating provocation without responding with anger or disrespect. When somebody provokes you, you don't, you don't have to react in like, in like kind." [01:02:25] (55 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. Really? Count it all joy. I'm supposed to count it all joy when I experience trials, when I experience hardship, when I experience problems. Yes, you are. You're supposed to count it all joy. Now that doesn't mean you're going to wake up in the morning going, boy, I can hardly wait until some problems come along. That's weird. You don't have to want problems to come along. Problems will come along. I'm speaking right to Jason this morning. I can tell her, problems come. We live in a world that's fallen and it's full of problems. It's full of situations. It's full of opportunities, trials of all kinds. You're going to be tested." [01:02:25] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "You can't control people. You can't control the people out there that are going to try your faith. It's going to be a relational situation, or it's going to be a result of someone doing something that puts a delay in your life. Now, we've been walking through this process for decades, decades with this building. Yeah, it started to click here. Decades. You know, we're going to buy your building. We're not going to buy your building. We're going to buy a building. We're going to build. No, we're not going to build. We're going to, oh, you want to trust, you want, you want to test my faith, you want to put a trial in front of me, send me an email about this project. I just immediately start thinking of words that I haven't said in decades, but count it all joy." [01:05:37] (59 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8) "What if the trials that you're going through right now, are only there to test your faith, not to test you? Think about that. That is a profound statement. I mean, it's testing you, but it's not there to hurt you. It's there to put pressure. That word test is like, well, I'm going to take a test. I'm going to, you know, I have a right answer and a wrong answer. No, it's a process. The word test there is really about working out. It's where I'm going to end up today, because it's still summer outside, and I want to get you, even though it might be raining a little bit. But that testing is like getting barbells and putting that pressure on you, that when you push against it, when you resist it, you actually build strength." [01:10:48] (65 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)