We welcome you to Stone's Hill today!

A typical Stone's Hill service has:

* music (so feel free to sing out);

* some announcements (things that are upcoming that you can be a part of);

* a message out of the Bible (God speaks to us through his Word);

* and an opportunity for you to respond to the message (either immediately in the case of a decision that needs to be made OR in the future as you live out the message in your daily life.)

So relax and enjoy your morning! We're so glad you are here!

MESSAGE TEXT
2 Corinthians 8:1-12
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INTRODUCTION
The unexpected gift. The message today really emphasizes the joy of facilitating God’s grace. Paul understands this in 2 Corinthians 8:1-12 and gives to us THREE MOTIVATIONS to be generous in facilitating God’s grace. While I will touch on all three, I am going to focus on one primary reason why you want to facilitate God’s grace.
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MESSAGE
There are THREE MOTIVATIONS for generosity given by Paul in 2 Corinthians 8:1-12:
The Earnestness of Others (2 Cor. 8:1-8)
The Emptiness of Good Intentions (2 Cor 8:10-12)
The Example of Christ (2 Cor. 8:9)
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APPLICATION
Sometimes, the question will come up in churches, in families, in our hearts. How much should I give? How much time, money, attention, focus do I give? I’ll say it to you this way: “Give no more than Christ. Don’t give a penny more than he gave.” So the real question for us then is “How much did Jesus give?” Everything. The example of Jesus’ self-giving informs our standard of giving. All that He had was available should the Father call upon Him to offer it. In light of these motivations for giving and generosity, would you offer your life to Christ today? Maybe it’s been your intention of really living for Him and doing the unexpected so God can do for the undeserving. Maybe you want to change. Today is the day.
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CONCLUSION
Artist Kevin Carden shows the first and last breath of Jesus in this piece – the crying scream of a baby just born and the crying of victory on the cross. From the splendor of heaven Christ came to the squalor of earth - for your sake. This is the story of Christ, from riches to poverty. This is the story of every believer, from poverty to riches. Christ is here, in this verse, revealed, and so are we. We discern a twofold application of our great Christmas text, 2 Corinthians 8:9.
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First, we need gladly to receive the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts, thankful for his sacrificial saving work on our behalf. After Christmas and incarnation, we can never accuse God of being stingy ever again. He lavished on us Jesus.
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Secondly, in all matters related to giving and gifts we can imitate his generosity. So take what you have and use it for good. That’s why it’s been given to you; so you can lift up the Lord Jesus Christ with it. We each have something of value that can be leveraged for the Kingdom.