In today's gathering, we celebrated the joy and creativity of our children, who delighted us with their costumes, reminding us of the importance of community and the joy of shared experiences. This spirit of togetherness extends beyond our festivities, as we reflect on the transformative power of generosity in our lives and our community. Generosity is not merely an act of giving but a profound expression of our spiritual journey, deeply intertwined with our faith and discipleship.

We explored the concept of generosity through the lens of scripture, beginning with Malachi 4:10, which calls us to bring our tithes to the storehouse. This Old Testament principle, though rooted in a different time, underscores the importance of supporting those who serve the spiritual needs of the community. In the New Testament, the early church in Acts exemplifies this by sharing their resources, ensuring no one was in need, and experiencing growth and transformation as a result. This sharing was not just a duty but a joyful act of worship that brought them closer to God and each other.

Generosity, as we discussed, is a two-way street. It transforms both the giver and the receiver, creating a ripple effect that extends beyond the immediate act. It is about trusting God with what we have, whether it is a little or a lot, and opening our hearts and hands to others. This trust is not about testing God but about embracing His promise to care for us and our community.

As we continue to grow as a church, we are called to reflect on how we can contribute to this mission of generosity. Whether through financial support, volunteering, or simply being present, each act of generosity helps us fulfill our mission of bringing people to Jesus and transforming lives. We are reminded that our community's strength lies in our collective efforts, and as we give, we are also transformed, becoming more like Christ.

**Key Takeaways:**

- Generosity is a transformative act that impacts both the giver and the receiver. It is not just about the quantity of what we give but the spirit in which we give, trusting God to use our contributions for His purposes. [28:19]

- The early church in Acts demonstrated the power of communal generosity, where sharing resources was an integral part of their worship and mission. This model challenges us to consider how we can support each other in our spiritual journeys. [34:23]

- God's promise in Malachi to "open the windows of heaven" when we bring our tithes is a reminder that our generosity is met with divine provision. This is not a test of God but an invitation to trust in His faithfulness. [37:20]

- Generosity is about more than financial giving; it involves opening our hearts and lives to others, welcoming them into our community with open arms, and being willing to let go of our attachments for the sake of the greater good. [39:57]

- Our church's mission is to bring people to Jesus and transform lives through acts of generosity. Each member's contribution, whether big or small, plays a vital role in this mission, and together, we can make a significant impact. [42:25]

**Youtube Chapters:**

- [0:00] - Welcome
- [0:30] - Children's Costume Parade
- [2:00] - Community Impact and Gratitude
- [4:00] - Prayer and Worship
- [6:00] - Introduction to Generosity
- [8:00] - Reflecting on Generosity
- [10:00] - Malachi and Old Testament Giving
- [12:00] - New Testament Generosity in Acts
- [14:00] - The Mission of the Church
- [16:00] - Trusting God with Our Resources
- [18:00] - Community and Transformation
- [20:00] - Invitation to Participate
- [22:00] - Communion and Confession
- [24:00] - Closing Prayer and Invitation

### Bible Study Discussion Guide

#### Bible Reading
1. **Malachi 3:10** - "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my temple. If you do, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in. Try it! Put me to the test!"
2. **Acts 2:42-47** - "All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved."

#### Observation Questions
1. What are some of the creative costumes mentioned during the children's parade, and how did this event contribute to the sense of community? [24:58]
2. According to the sermon, what are some words often associated with generosity, and why is the element of "unexpected" significant? [28:19]
3. How did the early church in Acts demonstrate generosity, and what was the result of their communal sharing? [34:23]
4. What promise does God make in Malachi 3:10 regarding tithes, and how does this relate to the concept of testing God? [37:20]

#### Interpretation Questions
1. How does the act of generosity transform both the giver and the receiver, according to the sermon? [28:19]
2. In what ways does the early church's practice of sharing resources challenge modern-day believers to support each other in their spiritual journeys? [34:23]
3. What does the sermon suggest about the relationship between trusting God with our resources and experiencing divine provision? [37:20]
4. How does the sermon describe the role of generosity in fulfilling the church's mission to bring people to Jesus and transform lives? [42:25]

#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a time when you experienced unexpected generosity. How did it impact you, and how can you replicate that experience for someone else? [28:19]
2. The early church shared everything they had to ensure no one was in need. What practical steps can you take to support someone in your community who might be in need? [34:23]
3. How can you trust God more with your resources, whether they are financial, time, or talents, and what steps can you take to act on this trust? [37:20]
4. Consider the ways you currently contribute to your church's mission. Are there new or different ways you feel called to participate in acts of generosity? [42:25]
5. How can you involve your family or friends in acts of generosity, and what impact do you hope this will have on your community?
6. Think about a personal attachment or possession you hold tightly. How might letting go of this attachment open you up to new opportunities for generosity? [39:57]
7. What is one specific action you can take this week to welcome someone new into your community with open arms, reflecting the spirit of generosity discussed in the sermon? [39:57]

Day 1: Generosity as a Transformative Journey
Generosity is a profound act that transforms both the giver and the receiver. It is not merely about the quantity of what is given but the spirit in which it is offered. When individuals trust God with their resources, they open themselves to His divine purposes. This act of giving is a reflection of one's spiritual journey, where faith and discipleship are deeply intertwined. The act of generosity creates a ripple effect, extending beyond the immediate act and impacting the broader community. It is an invitation to trust in God's faithfulness and to embrace His promise to care for us and our community. [28:19]

"One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered." (Proverbs 11:24-25, ESV)

Reflection: Think of a recent opportunity you had to give, whether time, resources, or encouragement. How did it impact you and the person you gave to? How can you cultivate a spirit of generosity in your daily life?


Day 2: The Power of Communal Generosity
The early church in Acts provides a powerful model of communal generosity, where sharing resources was an integral part of their worship and mission. This community ensured that no one was in need, and as a result, they experienced growth and transformation. This model challenges modern believers to consider how they can support each other in their spiritual journeys. By sharing what they have, individuals can create a community that reflects the love and generosity of God, drawing them closer to Him and to each other. [34:23]

"And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need." (Acts 2:44-45, ESV)

Reflection: Reflect on your community or church group. How can you contribute to a culture of sharing and support? What practical steps can you take this week to help someone in need within your community?


Day 3: Trusting in God's Provision
God's promise in Malachi to "open the windows of heaven" when tithes are brought to the storehouse is a reminder of divine provision. This promise is not a test of God but an invitation to trust in His faithfulness. When individuals give generously, they are not only supporting those who serve the spiritual needs of the community but also participating in a divine exchange where God's provision is experienced. This trust in God's provision encourages believers to let go of their attachments and embrace a life of faith and generosity. [37:20]

"Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need." (Malachi 3:10, ESV)

Reflection: Consider an area of your life where you struggle to trust God with your resources. What steps can you take to surrender this area to Him and experience His provision?


Day 4: Generosity Beyond Financial Giving
Generosity is about more than financial giving; it involves opening one's heart and life to others. It is about welcoming others into the community with open arms and being willing to let go of personal attachments for the sake of the greater good. This broader understanding of generosity challenges individuals to consider how they can be generous with their time, talents, and love. By doing so, they reflect the heart of Christ and contribute to a community that is marked by love and selflessness. [39:57]

"Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality." (Romans 12:13, ESV)

Reflection: Identify one non-financial way you can be generous this week. How can you use your time, talents, or presence to bless someone in your community?


Day 5: The Mission of Generosity in the Church
The mission of the church is to bring people to Jesus and transform lives through acts of generosity. Each member's contribution, whether big or small, plays a vital role in this mission. The strength of the community lies in collective efforts, and as individuals give, they are also transformed, becoming more like Christ. This mission challenges believers to reflect on how they can contribute to the church's mission of generosity, whether through financial support, volunteering, or simply being present. [42:25]

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace." (1 Peter 4:10, ESV)

Reflection: Reflect on your role in your church's mission. What is one specific way you can contribute to the mission of generosity this month? How can your unique gifts and talents be used to serve others and bring them closer to Jesus?

1) "This morning's message is about how generosity changes our lives. And I just want to start with a question. And that is, what comes to your mind? What images or messages? Memories? What do you think about when you hear the word generosity? Do you have a person? A memory? A scripture verse, an event, maybe a season in your life. Do you have something that bubbles up when you hear the word generosity? Well, I thought of some words that often get associated with generosity, so see if these words help you. Selfless, kind, sacrificial, godly, no expectations, loving, and unexpected." [28:19] (63 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "Well, for this morning, I want us to think about how generosity has transformed us, whether it be us giving generosity to others or generosity being shown to us. It's a two-way street. And think about that in the same sense when it comes to the life of the church. If you were with us previously when we were talking, talking about what it means to be United Methodist, one of the things we talked about is our founder said that it's important for us to do things for others because it transforms us when we do them. Amen? We just talked about Bannerman. The hand-on act of doing things for other people is the transformation when we serve others. And in the same way of generosity, when we show generosity to others, it changes. It changes us." [29:50] (51 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "Friends, sharing their resources as they worship and ensuring other people have what they need is what was transforming them in the community. It's right there in the same passage. It's not that they were transformed and then checked what was extra. The two are linked together. They were sharing and being transformed, and then sharing and being transformed, and people were coming in and adding to the sharing. Because as they shared, they were making sure that they kept the people of God as the center, the community's needs, God's needs. church's needs became their focus." [34:23] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "Generosity, the truth of generosity is that it's not about what quantity we have. It's about trusting whatever we have to God. And some of us, we, have a small little pot and we're very protective of it. And we have a right to be. But sometimes once we get our pot bigger, we don't remember that God has helped us with resources and he's helped us with skills and he's helped us in lots of ways. And we have to open our arms and open our hands." [39:57] (44 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "And we're just opening ourselves up to receive new people and new children and new families and new Christians. And it's okay if we get a whole bunch of rowdy people and they accidentally break something. Y 'all know, y 'all can understand where this metaphor is going, right? Or are we going to be so afraid of everything we have in our personal life and our church life that we don't let anyone in because we want to protect our stuff? Because the truth is, you can make a difference." [41:38] (29 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "You have changed the lives of people. You have changed the lives in the community. You have fed the church. You have fed the needy. You have transformed children. You have transformed teachers. You have made differences in families' lives. That's you. And you go back to that idea of us making an impact ourselves, not watching other people do it, but you doing it. When you commit to saying, I'm going to be a part of the generosity of this church, what you're doing is saying, I did that." [42:25] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "So I really hope that you'll pray about where God is leading you. To continue to allow our church to make a difference in our community for next year. To make a difference. To bring more people to Jesus. To continue to change the lives of children. To continue to impact families. To continue to find people who haven't found a church home to know they are loved and accepted here. And if that's where you're at, you can go ahead and tell us that you're ready to do that." [43:46] (26 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Amen, amen.

Hey friends, as you're taking your seats, because we have so many of our beautiful children that have come in such wonderful creative costumes, we want to celebrate them. To all of our kids, whether you're in a kids club or not, we want to see all your costumes.

So if you would like, we're going to have a little costume parade. If you’d like to show us, even if you're not in costume, you can still join the parade. Miss Katie's starting a line; you can join Miss Katie's line.

Can we give them a celebration, friends, for all these costumes? Oh my goodness, we've got a Minecraft man right over here! Oh, the Mandalorian! The Mandalorian is here! I think we got an entire family of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs! We got a car, we got Lightning McQueen, a banana, we got a Greek goddess, and a cow. All the dinosaurs are together! We got a princess, and we got a Gryffindor Hermione Granger, hot dog and hamburger—you gotta have them both together, right?

The kids will have a special lesson today about candy corn connecting to Jesus, so ask them when they get home, all right? Y'all have fun! To all my adults, you look fantastic too! If you need a parade, we'll do it at the end.

So, I just want to say thank you to all of you for being here and worshiping with us. This is one of the Sundays, if you ask people who are new, if you ask those in the life of the church, we just enjoy because we get to kind of tap into our kid at heart and have fun.

But I just want to take a moment and thank you for all that you do to give to our church because giving of your time and your finances allows us to impact our community. One of the things I celebrated at our EMAC this week is that our women's ministry and our boomer ministry came together to do a service project for Bannerman, and they also learned how to make charcuterie boards, which is a really fun thing to learn.

But they each took one home and donated one to Bannerman. So I want to just say thank you to all those who participated, but also your continued giving helps us to impact the community in this way.

So, it was a joint event; there were men present. I want to say that if you ask the gentlemen there, I think they had fun learning it too. If you want to read more about it, you can find it on our website. If you want to read more about what they did and see pictures, you can find that on the website.

I would love, if you want to learn more about what we do with our finances and how we impact the community, come and have a chat with me. But if you'd like to support the church today, you'll see the ways you can give on the screen in front of you. We do collect the physical offering at communion; we don't pass the plate. We have the plates here at the kneeling rail.

So if you'd like to respond in that way, you can do so at the end of the service when we come up for communion.

I'd like to offer the Lord a word of prayer. If you have a prayer request that we can join with you, you can put that on a piece of paper and drop it in the offering basket. You can send us an email, and you can come tell me, please. Know that if you tell me, I'm going to do my very best to write it down. If you tell Val, who's not in here right now but will be here at the end of the service, she's greeting our online worshipers. Good morning, online!

We want to make sure we get those there. But Val will be more consistent than me. I have to write it down to remember. But I do want to pray for you.

So let me pray for us now.

Almighty God, we celebrate that in the life of the church, you value us all equally—from the newborn all the way to the very last breath in this life. And in this day, as we celebrate every moment in worship, and we get to enjoy a little bit of fun, I pray that you speak to us. You speak through us. You bless the studying of your scriptures. You allow us to enjoy the laughter of our children.

But most importantly, God, that you unite the people of your church so that we may experience renewal and upliftment, and the uplifting and joy that comes only from you. We pray this in your holy and powerful name. Amen.

Amen.

All right. All right. So last week we started a new series called Overflow, and we're talking about the connection of our spiritual life and generosity. If this is your first Sunday with us, I just want to start by saying that this is how we, as Fleming Island United Methodist, talk about spiritual growth and discipleship with God. This is kind of something that's connected to our church community, and we're completely open about how we talk about these things.

So you'll kind of see what this means for us as a community. And we do not expect anyone who is not a part of our community to help support our community because that's not something we would imagine a person who is new to us to participate in. But we do feel comfortable and open for people to hear how we talk about generosity.

So this morning's message is about how generosity changes our lives. And I just want to start with a question. And that is, what comes to your mind? What images or messages? Memories? What do you think about when you hear the word generosity? Do you have a person? A memory? A scripture verse, an event, maybe a season in your life? Do you have something that bubbles up when you hear the word generosity?

Well, I thought of some words that often get associated with generosity, so see if these words help you: selfless, kind, sacrificial, godly, no expectations, loving, and unexpected. In my life, these are some of the things that most often, when I reflect on memories of generosity, they have been what wraps those around the most, especially that last one—unexpected.

It's the moments that I was not anticipating anything when generosity has been shown to me that have been the most formative in my life.

Well, for this morning, I want us to think about how generosity has transformed us, whether it be us giving generosity to others or generosity being shown to us. It's a two-way street. And think about that in the same sense when it comes to the life of the church.

If you were with us previously when we were talking about what it means to be United Methodist, one of the things we talked about is our founder said that it's important for us to do things for others because it transforms us when we do them. Amen?

We just talked about Bannerman. The hands-on act of doing things for other people is the transformation when we serve others. And in the same way of generosity, when we show generosity to others, it changes us.

So I want to look at some scriptures about this today. And I would love, at the end of the service, if you're talking at lunch or other things, to just share some experiences that you might have in regards to friends about generosity because I think we all have unique things. Some are positive and some are not. But as we talk about it, and especially with our children, friends, especially with our children, it helps form what we want to carry forward and maybe what we don't.

But I'm going to start this morning in the book of Malachi. If you brought your Bible and you have a physical Bible, Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament, and it's small, so it's very hard to find because you pass it easily.

But the book of Malachi, chapter 4, verse 10: "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my temple." This is the first half. We're going to come back to the second half.

So this is one of those verses that often gets thrown out there, and then people go, "Oh, that's the Old Testament. We don't have to pay attention to that anymore. We don't have a temple; we don't have storehouses. This is back then." So let's break this down for a second.

Why did God tell the people of Israel to bring the tithe to fill the storehouses so there was enough? Well, to begin with, it was just practical. When we, over the summer, studied the Old Testament and in the structure of Israel, every tribe had a job except the tribe that maintained the temple. Their job was to maintain the temple, and somehow they had to eat.

Y'all like to eat, right? I think us Fleming Islanders really like to eat. I've never seen so many restaurants in a single small space, and we keep getting more. Like, every new place is a new restaurant. It's insane! But I like to eat, y'all, so I understand. Every time we get something new, I'm like, "Oh, what's that going to be like?" I'm right there on grand opening day to try out some new food.

So I understand in the Old Testament when God’s saying, "Y'all, please make sure your pastors and your priests get to eat." And by the way, make sure their families get to eat. So I'm a little thankful that God put this one in. You know, well, I like to eat.

God's saying the people who maintain your temple, their job is to make sure the temple is taken care of, that the spirituality of the community is taken care of. So you let them do their job; you do your job, and you give them a portion so they're taken care of. So that one kind of makes sense, right?

But we're not in that world today; it's quite a different world than we used to be. So let's look at what the New Testament has to say. We're going to go into the book of Acts, and the book of Acts is the account of the New Testament church.

We're in the book of Acts, chapter 2, verse 42: "All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, and to the sharing of meals, including the Lord's Supper, and to prayer." Sounds like church, right?

"A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need."

So what they're saying is they gathered together, they did church, and then they shared everything they had to make sure nobody went without. They worshiped together at the temple each day and met at homes for the Lord's Supper and shared their meals with great joy and generosity, all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all people.

And listen to this, friends: "Each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved."

Now, this is the part that I get excited about. I can love the fact that they were taking care of each other, and they were taking care of the poor and needy, and those things make me warm and fuzzy. But this last verse, that as they did all of those things, the Lord was adding those who were being saved each day. That's the mission, right? Right?

Thank you. Make sure we're on the same page that we are in the mission of bringing people to Jesus, right?

Okay. Friends, sharing their resources as they worship and ensuring other people have what they need is what was transforming them in the community. It's right there in the same passage.

It's not that they were transformed and then checked what was extra. The two are linked together. They were sharing and being transformed, and then sharing and being transformed, and people were coming in and adding to the sharing. Because as they shared, they were making sure that they kept the people of God as the center—the community's needs, God's needs, the church's needs became their focus.

Now, the reason I point this out is because oftentimes we think about the passages in the Old Testament as not applicable to us anymore. And sometimes we look at the New Testament and say, "Ah, the New Testament doesn't talk about giving and stewardship and generosity in regards to my spiritual faith."

But when we look at this together, and we talked last week that the goal of the church is to help you grow closer to Jesus. And I have one goal for you as your pastor, and that's to help you become more like Jesus. And the early church did that and multiplied the believers of Jesus by looking after each other.

And if you note, the looking after of each other was done by the community, not the apostles. Friends, that's the most United Methodist thing in the world—that we look after each other as a community.

Now, I want to go back to the Malachi passage for one more second and finish the verse I started.

So he had said, "Bring your tithes to the storehouse." And it continues, "If you do," says the Lord of heaven's armies, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you have enough room to take it in. Try it and put me to the test."

Now, how many of you grew up hearing that you don't test God? Any of you? I heard that in church all the time: we don't test God; we don't put God on trial. You don't do like they did in the Old Testament and say, "God, I need you to do this right now." Like, we are not the prophets of old; we don't test Him.

But right here, God is saying you can test me in that. If you trust me in what you have, if you trust me by taking care of the community of faith, then I will take care of you. See, that's the promise. God promises to take care of us. He promises to not only take care of us individually, but He promises to take care of the community of believers.

And the blessings—we talked about this last week—sometimes blessings don't always look like we expect them to look. Sometimes the blessings are the growth that we run through and the growth that we receive. Sometimes the blessings are the people's lives that we change. Sometimes the blessings are seeing baptisms and confirmations and people who are growing in their faith.

Sometimes the blessings are hearing the fact that our children's ministry is overflowing right now with children. And friends, when I got here, we could fit all of our children in nursery into a single room. And we're overflowing with children. Amen?

By the way, I just want to pause for a second. Our children's ministry on Wednesday night did over half the decorations for today as the leaders of our church. Amen? Is that not amazing?

They had so much fun being leaders in their own ministry to prepare their space for the children's ministry. And I just want to pause for a second. For their friends today, teaching stewardship and leadership to our children hands-on. They loved it.

The truth of generosity is that it's not about what quantity we have. It's about trusting whatever we have to God. And some of us have a small little pot, and we're very protective of it. And we have a right to be.

But sometimes once we get our pot bigger, we don't remember that God has helped us with resources, and He's helped us with skills, and He's helped us in lots of ways. And we have to open our arms and open our hands.

One of the images we used earlier in a different series is how when the father whose son was lost welcomed his son home, he did so with open arms. And that is a beautiful sign of generosity because we can't open people into the community without open arms.

But oftentimes we hold on to what's ours like this. It's interesting for me because I am not a person connected to things. And so, we have this conversation in our home about if something breaks, what happens if something breaks? And my response is like, "Well, it broke. Okay. Oh, well. It broke."

We ask, "Did we really love it?" If we really love it, we replace it. If we didn't, then, oh well. It broke. But there's some who, I want to honor in my family—I'm not going to name them out of respect—don't have a hard time with the fact that, you know, something we have broke.

So, my question to us is this: Which piece in our community are we holding so tight to? Are we opening ourselves up to be like, "It's okay if something breaks," and we just need to say, "Do we need to replace it within the church community?"

And we're just opening ourselves up to receive new people and new children and new families and new Christians. And it's okay if we get a whole bunch of rowdy people and they accidentally break something. Y'all know, y'all can understand where this metaphor is going, right?

Or are we going to be so afraid of everything we have in our personal life and our church life that we don't let anyone in because we want to protect our stuff?

Because the truth is, you can make a difference. And if you haven't seen our e-news, I encourage you to do so. Every week in e-news, we are sharing stories of how you, church, have made a difference. You have. You have changed the lives of people. You have changed the lives in the community. You have fed the church. You have fed the needy. You have transformed children. You have transformed teachers. You have made differences in families' lives. That's you.

And you go back to that idea of us making an impact ourselves, not watching other people do it, but you doing it. When you commit to saying, "I'm going to be a part of the generosity of this church," what you're doing is saying, "I did that."

Many, many, many of you sitting in this room have, in some way, financially contributed to this church. And I hope when you read these celebrations on our website, you know that you helped make these things happen. Friends, you helped change our community. You deserve, friends, a clap of praise for that.

I can't do these things. Y'all do these things. So I really hope that you'll pray about where God is leading you to continue to allow our church to make a difference in our community for next year. To make a difference. To bring more people to Jesus. To continue to change the lives of children. To continue to impact families. To continue to find people who haven't found a church home to know they are loved and accepted here.

And if that's where you're at, you can go ahead and tell us that you're ready to do that. You can commit right now on your phone. You can open up your phone in the church app. Right on the home page, there's a commit button. And you can tell us what you'd like to help. To commit to make these ministries happen. To make these impacts in the community.

If you're not there yet, it's fine. You can still keep praying about it. You can come talk to me, and we'll talk about how we manage the money and where our checks and balances are and all those things. I'll hit you up with Chip, our finance chair, and he can answer questions. We'll let you talk to whoever you want to talk to. We're an open book.

But we want you to be a part of the ministries for more than anything so that you can be transformed as we transform other people. That's why those of us who do this work stay in it year after year after year. Because seeing lives change makes everything easier.

I'll tell y'all, church work isn't easy. Not easy. Sometimes, y'all aren't easy. I love you. I love you. But sometimes, some weeks, it's just not. But when I get stories like the ones I get of how we transform people's lives, those are the stories that keep me doing what I do every day.

Would you pray with me?

God, I am so thankful for the people in this church who have committed to help us change the lives of those who are in need, those who are hungry, those who are lonely, those who are seeking you. People who have committed to help raise our children with an understanding of your love and your grace in the Scriptures.

People who have made a point to help us ensure that worship is joyful and impactful. And all these things, God, I just ask that you speak to us on what our role is for next year. How we can continue to serve you, but continue to grow with you and through you and grow in our generosity.

As we come to your table, Father, I just ask that you challenge us to step forward. And wherever we are spiritually, so we may make a difference—one more step.

We pray this in your holy and powerful name. Amen.

Friends, this is your time with God. All are invited to His table. If this is your first Sunday in our church or any church, it doesn't matter because this is God's table, and He invites all people. If you're watching online, you're invited to come to this table as well. We extend it from us to you virtually, and we ask you to grab something from your kitchen so you can participate with us.

The only requirement is that we confess our sins, which we'll do in just a moment. But know that if you need to stop and pray, the rails are open for you. If you'd like someone to talk with you, I'll be right up here in the front. I'll be happy to stop and pray with you. Just let me know.

But God sees you fully for who you are. And He receives you fully for who you are and redeems you as His beloved child.

So would you join me now as we confess our sins together? We'll say this confession in unison.

"Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed by what we have done and what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve your judgment. For our sake and the sake of your son, Jesus Christ, have mercy. Have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways that lead to glory." Amen.

Take a moment of silent prayer to lift anything to God in your heart you'd like to confess to Him.

Father God, we thank you for hearing the confessions we lift and for receiving them for forgiveness. And we praise you now for this word of forgiveness that I share with you, friends.

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. Would you join me?

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. Glory to God. Amen. Amen.

On the night that Christ sat with His friends, His disciples around the table sharing the meal, just like the early church in Acts did as they continued the tradition, He took the bread and He broke it. And He said, "This is my body, which has been broken for you. Eat in remembrance of me."

He also took a cup and He said, "This is the blood of the new covenant, shared for the sins of all people. Drink just as you eat in remembrance of me."

Almighty God, send your Holy Spirit upon this bread and juice and upon us in this room so that we may be filled by your Holy Spirit, redeemed by Christ's blood, and as His body in the world to shine His light and share His love. We pray this in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Those that are going to help me with communion, if they would come forward. As they do, a word of instruction: we will start in the back, come up the center, and then out the outside. You'll receive a small piece of bread to dip into the cup. If you would like your bread not to be touched by anyone, we have prepackaged communion, and we also have gluten-free. Those stations will be here in the center.

And if you would like us to serve you at the seat, we can do that as well. After I serve my helpers, I will invite everyone forward.

We'll be right back. Friends, the Lord's table is open, and we invite all to come. We'll start in the very back and come up the center.

I surrender all, I surrender all, all to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.

I surrender all, I surrender all, all to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.