Today’s THEME:
Regifting Treasure
(published 8.23.20)
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Part 1 | Treasure & Your Heart
Pastor: The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. (Psalm 24:1)
Group: Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. (Psalm 145:3)
Pastor: The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. (Psalm 24:1)
Group: One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts. (Psalm 145:4)
Pastor: The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. (Psalm 24:1)
Group: Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. (Psalm 145:13)
Pastor: The LORD is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. (Psalm 145:13)
Group: Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
Pastor: where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. (Matthew 6:19)
Group: But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
Pastor: where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Matthew 6:20)
Group: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)
Song | he’s always been faithful
Part 2 | treasure given
1 Corinthians 15:50-16:4
50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
16:1Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 3 Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.
2 Corinthians 9:1-11
1 There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the Lord’s people. 2 For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action. 3 But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. 4 For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—not to say anything about you—would be ashamed of having been so confident. 5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:
“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
children’s message
song | lord, you i love with all my heart
Part 3 | treasure & might
Mark 12:41-44
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
part 4 | closing
faith’s response | Explanation of the apostles’ creed
I believe that God created me and all that exists, and that he gave me my body and soul, eyes, ears and all my members, my mind and all my abilities.
And I believe that God still preserves me by richly and daily providing clothing and shoes, food and drink, property and home, spouse and children, land, cattle and all I own, and all I need to keep my body and life. God also preserves me by defending me against all danger, guarding and protecting me from all evil.
All this God does only because he is my good and merciful Father in heaven, and not because I have earned or deserved it.
For all this I ought to thank and praise, to serve and obey him.
This is most certainly true.
I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord.
He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death.
All this he did that I should be his own, and live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, just as he has risen from death and lives and rules eternally.
This is most certainly true.
I believe that I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him.
But the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.
In this Christian church he daily and fully forgives all sins to me and all believers.
On the Last Day he will raise me and all the dead and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.
This is most certainly true.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever.
Amen.
THANKSGIVING
We don’t primarily gather offerings to simply keep ministry going or even to expand ministry (though those are certainly both blessings of our offerings).
Primarily, we gather offerings to glorify God. We consider what God has given us to manage (everything we have), and we offer a portion of what he has given us back to him. Giving an offering is one of our ways of regifting what God has given to you!
You can do just that by mailing a check or clicking the button below.
Illumine Church
1262 Riverchase Blvd.
Rock Hill, SC 29732
THANK YOU!