 Amen, amen, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want Psalm 231, isn't that good? His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. Second Peter chapter one, verse three. He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Romans chapter eight, verse 32. So I began with David. David, a man after God's own heart, writes that God is the one who ultimately owns his life. He's the king, he's the owner. King David compares himself to a sheep by calling God his shepherd and declares that he lacks nothing, nothing at all. And because God is his shepherd, because God owns him, he knows the one who owns everything. And then the apostle Peter speaks of this God and the shepherd and says this, that his power grants us. His power grants you, the church, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, everything you need for life and for godliness to live and to live for God. And he also says that God created us so and called us so that we can know him and experience him and to live for his glory and his excellence. And then finally, the apostle Paul speaks about this God and the shepherd and his power in a very intimate way. Paul calls the God of the universe father. And if you're a believer, so do you. What a privilege. He calls him father and says, hey, let me tell you about my heavenly father. He is so dope. And I know some of you don't know that word, but that's okay, it's good. He is so good that I know he wouldn't withhold a good thing from his children because he's already given us the greatest gift he can ever give us, which is his own son, Jesus. The father didn't save his son so that we could be sons and daughters. The father gave his child so that we could be called the children of God. So when thinking of all of this about who God is and what he does, could there be one attribute of God, one characteristic that if we actually begin to know and feel and experience and live out, could unlock the potential and the power to pursuing God for who he really is, to encounter, as Pastor Zach said earlier, the true and living God. Could there be one characteristic, one attribute of who he is, his character, his nature, that if we get that in our heads and in our hearts and lived out in our lives, may our lives forever be changed. I believe there is. If you have your Bibles and I hope that you do, open up to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. We're gonna read one verse together, verse six. Hebrews 11, verse six. Hebrews 11, verse six. This is the word of God. The word of God says, and without faith it is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and everyone say and. So pay attention and that he rewards those who seek him and that he rewards those who seek him. The title of my message this weekend is this, the God who gives, the God who gives. Hey, pray with me, father, we love you. Jesus, we adore you, Holy Spirit, we desperately need you. God, what we know not teach us, what we have not, please give us and what we are not, please make us for your glory in Jesus' name. And the church said, amen, amen. Here we go, Hebrews 11, verse six. I'll read it again. And without faith it is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards. Everyone say rewards. Now say rewards like you want one. Rewards, okay, rewards those who seek him. How beautiful is God that the requirement to seeking him is to believe yes that he exists but actually he wants to hook you up. That's a good deal. To believe the prerequisite and being a follower, a pursuer, a passionate believer of Jesus Christ is to believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. The writer of Hebrews is trying to focus our attention in this passage to see how generous our God is that you and I serve the God who gives. What if this is the one attribute, the one key characteristic that unlocks the power to pursue God and is to truly know him and to know what about him, how generous he really is that he is the God who gives. My mind naturally goes to this. If Tim, if you're gonna pursue me, you need to know that I exist and that I'm holy. Check. Well, Tim, if you wanna pursue me, if you wanna follow me, if you wanna diligently seek me, you need to believe that I exist and that I'm all powerful. Check. But when you think about God, what comes to your mind? Do you see like this old distant person that's just on a throne like you better seek me or else? Or do you see someone who the psalm says in his presence there's fullness of joy? When you imagine the Father, do you really see and sense a smile on his face? He says, oh, if you are seeking me, you have no idea what I'm about to do to you in a good way. I am about to hook you up. I have a reward for you, Caleb. As you pursue me, I have something prepared for you. I have something prepared for you. I mean, we serve the God who gives. Is he holy? Yes. Is he righteous? Yes. Is he all powerful? Yes. Is he all knowing? Yes. But is he generous? Oh, yeah. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. And before we go any further, we gotta really examine this verse. Because Hebrews 11.6 actually says, it starts off by saying, and without faith, it's impossible to please him, okay? So there is a requirement to this. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. And so the question becomes, well, what does one do to obtain the faith in order to please God? We serve a big God. So how big must our faith be in order to please him, okay? Well, this what the Bible says in Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine, it says, for by grace you have been saved through faith. Listen, and this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. Hebrews 12.2 starts off by saying, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Did you see how generous God is to us? Let me break it down. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Where am I gonna get the faith? I'm gonna give it to you. Did you see that? Right, without faith, it's impossible to please God. But it's not even in you. It's a gift. It's a gift from grace. Jesus is the one who started your faith and Jesus is the one who's gonna finish your faith. Can I get an amen for that? Did you hear how generous God is that without faith it's impossible to please God but thank God that he gives us the faith required to please him. Hallelujah, hallelujah back somebody. Here we go. This gift of faith we did not deserve but we can't lose because we didn't deserve it. Because we didn't earn it, we don't have to keep it because Jesus is keeping us. God, is he that good? Yes he is. He's really that good. This grace is amazing. We serve the God that gives. Why? Because the generosity of God should grab our hearts, demand our attention, win our affections and empower our actions. Say that again, the generosity of God, understanding that we serve the God that gives should grab our hearts, demand our attention, win our affection and empower our actions. You don't get too far in scripture if you open up your Bible, this beautiful story of God redeeming all that was lost in a garden and one day making it all new. You get to Genesis and the authors of scripture shout, this is the God who gives, right? God creates everything. We agree on that, right? God, you're not an accident, right? Not just the divine intellectual being, no. God created the earth and he creates everything and then he creates Adam and Eve and what does he do? He gives this good and very good creation away. He shares his power with them. He even allows Adam to be a part of naming the animals. He gives them ownership and ruler and says, hey, come help me steward this. He gives it away. So what else does God give if we serve the God who is generous? If we serve the God that gives, what else does he give? We'll have a couple of things I wanna brag about God tonight. One, what does God give? Hebrews begins by saying this in chapter one, long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke. Can everyone say spoke? Spoke to our fathers by the prophets. Number one, what does God give? God is generous with his words. God is generous with his words. The author of Hebrews starts off by saying long ago at many times and in many ways, meaning when God speaks, he speaks constantly, consistently, and creatively. And creatively. Well Tim, when you see this in scripture, whether it's through the prophets or an angel or a burning bush or a still small voice, our God knows how to speak to his children. Don't you love that God doesn't just have one way of communication? Some of you are like, yeah, I'm so happy he doesn't just yell at me the way you do. Exactly. He knows, everyone has different styles and different ways. He knows how he knit you and formed you in his mother's womb, in your mother's womb. So he will come to you. The spirit of God will speak to you in a way that he knows will capture your attention. How beautiful, he's God. He doesn't have to like flex in that way. He doesn't have to work that hard. He can say, I only speak to you this way, come to me. But instead he says, hey, I know you need this. Some of you, I know you need this kind act of generosity from a believer. Some of you actually know you need this trial for you to hear my voice. He knows, he knows how to speak to his children. Why should this matter to us today? Well, imagine if you knew that there was a God, that he was real and that he was generous, all powerful, but he was silent. How could you serve? A God that was silent. How could you trust someone with your life? Better yet, how can you trust someone for eternal life if they wouldn't speak to you on a consistent basis? Be very hard to. Well, praise God, we serve the guy who gives and he is generous with his words. John chapter 15, verse 15, Jesus says this, no longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends. For all that I've heard from my father, I've made known to you. Man, I know that song, I am a friend of God, like it's on my nerves at least. I mean, it's just over and over, but that truth still speaks. We're friends of God? When I feel lonely, even this week, I had moments of loneliness. God was like, am I not your friend? Do you not hear my voice? Are we not on a first name basis? Well, Jesus, I don't know his last name. It's not Christ, by the way. That's a title, but. Man, we know God and he wants to speak to us through his word, through his spirit, through his people. He's generous. We serve the God who gives. Our father is generous with his words and knowing this, what are we supposed to do? What do we, we should do and what we should want to do even? Well, if God speaks, we should listen. Hebrews chapter five says this, about this we have much to say and it's hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk. That's funny. That's funny. You need milk. Not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness. Since he's a child, but solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of the sermon trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Why that long passage? Well, the author of Hebrews is communicating that our spiritual maturity, our effectiveness in the kingdom of God is connected not just to our ability to do things but our ability to listen. Our ability to listen. God is constantly speaking. He said, please listen, listen, listen. Sometimes Jesus when he would teach, he would in his teachings by saying, he who has ears, let them what? Here, here. Imagine this, there actually came up a point in time in human history where people were hungry for the word of God. Jesus came who is the word of God, taught the word of God and they wouldn't listen to him. How much more should we listen? What does that look like practically? It's not because I'm preaching and teaching on this weekend, no. Whoever opens up the word of God and begins to share it, whether it's from a pulpit or in your room, you should prepare yourself to hear from God. Like seriously prepare, like I am about to meet with God. I'm about to hear from God. That's just something I think we can practice. I know I need to practice. God is generous with his words. Point number two, God is generous with his works. God is generous with his works. Psalm 121 verses one through four says, I lift my eyes to the hills from where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord. Some of you should have danced right there, right there. My help comes from the Lord who made the heaven and the earth. He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will never slumber or sleep. Growing up, what I will play, my coaches taught me a very valuable lesson that I think applies not just to sports, but to life. They said, Tim, never sleep on your opponent. Never sleep on your opponent. What they mean by that is never underestimate how good your opponent really is. Because if you do, we've been praying and singing, wake up, wake up. Well, there've been moments when I'm playing in a game and I'm sleeping on my opponent. I don't think they're as good as they are. And by halftime, the game is done. I can't even recover. And I believe sometimes, at least in my life, that I sleep on how good God is. I underestimate the God who never sleeps. I know he created heaven and his earth, but he can't help me with this. And it sounds weird to say out loud, but that's what I do. I don't know about you. I don't know if you doubt or have doubt sometimes, but for me, I believe God. I believe in Jesus. He is my Lord. He is my savior. My eternity is secure because of the blood of Jesus. But then I doubt if he's gonna take care of my family. But then I doubt if he's gonna give me wisdom about how to handle a budget. But then I'm fearful to return an email that I may have to say some things that, come on. It's almost like our fear comes off irrational when we put it in those terms. So the Psalmist says, look to the hills. Where did my helps come from? Hey, you see that hill? I know that guy. The guy who told the son to rise? I know him. Man, a little bit in my life, we lived in Colorado for a short step. We lived in Westminster. It was right in between Denver and Boulder. And on my way to work, I would drive on Sheridan Boulevard. I would drive and look to my left. And I would see this beautiful mountain range. Longs Peak over 14,000 feet in the air just shining. And I would see under Longs Peak are flat irons. It's as if God took his ironing, like just like, and just carved it into the rock. And the reason why I use that story is at times I would go into work and I don't have a hard day or have to have hard conversations. And the Holy Spirit would say, look to the hills. Hey, if you live in Richland, look to the deer. I don't know, like, look at the field, right? Look at something. But, oh, God speaking, you better listen. But seriously, like creation, right? What was the last time when you just went outside and you were just amazed at all this work and you have nothing to do with it? Right? Like the way your kids just run. I love going to the park with my kids and they just run and have a good time in the breeze. And my little boy, he's just so small, like a breeze can take a mountain. He's like running, you know? Like when's the last time you allow creation to just encourage you to say, man, if I can do that, I can do this, whatever this is. The kids, hey, I got your kids. Your marriage, hey, I can help you in your marriage. Your job, yeah, I can help you with your job. That hard conversation you have to have this upcoming week, I can't help you with that. Look to the hills. God is generous with his word, God is generous with his works. Last but not least, God is generous with his love. God is so generous with his love. For God, so what? Love the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, have everlasting life, eternal life. For while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one, would scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one wouldn't even dare to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we're still sinners, Christ died for us. And you, don't get mad at me, this is what the Bible says about you. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins. And once you once walked, following the course of the world, following the prince and the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passion of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he has loved us, even we're dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We serve the God who gives and he is generous with his love. Generous with his love. I know that God is generous with his love because he saved a center like me. I didn't earn it, I didn't deserve it. He still gave his love. Hear me, man, woman of God. If God loved you and gave to you before you believed in Jesus, how much more would he give to you now that you belong to Jesus? I'm gonna say that again. Michael, if God loved you and gave to you and served you when you were a sinner, an enemy of God, how much more would he take care of you now that you're his son? Your daughter, his daughter. Think about that. We serve the God who gives. I wanna give you a promise and this promise is going to hopefully maybe be new to some of you, but for the rest of us, it may just be a reminder of the goodness of God. This is promise that the apostle Paul gives us in Philippians 4, 19 and this is what it says and you know it. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Is that good, church? I'm gonna read that again and my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. A pastor by the name of H.B. Charles Jr. breaks down this verse masterfully, beautifully. And my hope is as I spend some time zeroing in on this promise that the generosity of God as you see how big it is and how beautiful it is, it will just impact your heart. That you just walk away, honestly just smiling. You just walk away from church just like, and when you go out to eat, you're like, what's wrong with you? Jesus, I just went to church. I'm just happy, I'm just happy. And he breaks down this promise in the four ways, the source of the promise, the scope of the promise, the sufficiency of the promise and the surety of promise. And listen, warning, I'm about to preach this. Are you ready? Here we go. The verse begins with Paul speaking of God the Father in the most personal terms. And my God, can you say my God? God is not just a God and God is not just the God. God is so personal that Paul spoke of him possessively. Yet every Christian can call God father. Can I get an amen? The scope of the promise. This verse says, and my God will supply every need of yours. This is an all what? All inclusive promise. The sufficiency of the promise. How is God able to meet every need? And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory. God's glorious riches are inexhaustible. There is no limit to God's riches. He is totally sufficient to meet every need that arises in your life. My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4 and 19 is the cashier's check to the generous Christian always carries in the wallet of faith. Let me break this down. Some of you are gonna holl after this. The sovereign banker, my God, the insurance policy will supply the check amount, every need of yours, the account balance according to his riches and glory, the check signatory in Christ Jesus. Amen, church. You lack nothing. The Lord is your shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, I shall not lack. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. What, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for his all. How will he not also with him graciously give you all things? Man, woman of God, don't doubt the generosity of God. Walk by faith and demonstrate how good God is for the world conceit. Do that. He is generous. You lack nothing. Now some of you may be thinking and you're thinking and that's good to think in church. But Tim, I don't have everything that I need. Well, maybe what you call a need, you don't need it. Someone told me this, they said this, they said, you know, I've prayed to God and sometimes he answers prayers and sometimes he doesn't. And I hear that and I wanna be insensitive to people who have different needs and things you believe in God for. But hear me church. No is an answer. Now I supposed by faith go, no just means not yet. Ha, but I'm not gonna do that. Sometimes God does answer. Listen, hear me. God answers every prayer. We just don't like the no's. I'm not even looking for a reaction. When you say, oh, God answered my prayer. Yes, you got what you want. But when you don't get what you want, do you still say God answered my prayer? Hmm, all right. Do you? Like think about it. Think about how selfish that is of us sometimes that I do that. I'm like, oh, God answered my prayer. Oh, Tim, when you got what you want, what if I just said no to that? And maybe Tim, in your life, things that you think are a need is actually just greed. And I love you so much. I'm gonna say no to that because what I have for you is so much better. And sometimes the better is, I'm not even gonna give you that. Listen, parents, you have kids. They ask you for stuff all the time. What would happen if you said yes to every request? What? They will be messed up. You love them so much, you say. No. Mm-mm, never. Right? If we do that because we love and care for our children, shouldn't the father have the right to do that? He loves us. He answers every prayer. I believe, just sometimes he says, no. At times he says, wait, sure. But sometimes he just says, mm-mm. And he loves you enough to do that. Come on, we all seen those children. You're like, man, you need to know in a spanking. All right, all right. We all know that. We all know. Some, yeah, no. We serve the God who gives. He's generous with his words. He's generous with his works. And he's generous with his love. Now, pop quiz. If God were to be the greatest giver of all time, what must he give you? Think on that. If God was to be the greatest giver of all time, what must he give you? The only answer to that is this, himself. He cannot give anything better than himself. Well, Tim, when did God give himself? We're gonna partake in communion this weekend. Isn't that a reminder that God gave himself? Isn't that what communion is? Shouldn't remind us, yes, of the forgiveness of God, of course, of the love of God yet, but shouldn't communion remind the body of Christ of the generosity of God? That God left heaven, put on flesh, and said, here's my body, here's my blood, given for you, given for you. Hey, would you stand with me as we go into communion and reflect on the generosity of God? We serve the God who gives. We serve the God who is generous, generous with his words. Generous with his works, generous with his love. So generous that he didn't withhold the greatest thing he can give anyone, which is himself. Paul instructs us when we come to the table, when we come to the body and blood of Christ that we should spend some time just examining our hearts. And I want us to just have some time to do that. So whether that's your eyes closed, open, whichever way you have to do it, could we just pause and take time and let the word of God that we've listened to and just wash over us and begin to think about the generosity of God, take some time. I don't want us to go into communion lightly. It's a joyful moment, but it's also a powerful moment, a sacred moment. I just want you to begin to think about how generous God has been to you. Reflect on those times where he's been there when no one else was there. Reflect on those times where he did things that no one else could do. Ask God, ask the Father to give you faith to believe again, how big his heart is towards his sons and daughters. Ask God to give you the joy that he has even now as we as his bride is seeking him. Church, sense his smile, feel the love that's in his eyes. Allow the gospel to remind you that you're no longer under the wrath of God because Jesus absorbed all of it. Find rest and find peace and find hope knowing that Jesus came and offered the greatest gift himself. If you can have the elements, stay in this spirit of worship, just read a couple of passages and pray for us as we receive communion and remind ourselves of the generosity of God. Now, as they were eating, Jesus took bread and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. Let me pray, Jesus, thank you. Hmm, thank you so much for how generous you are. Thank you for laying down your life. No man took your life, you laid it down freely. Thank you, so as we have your body, we remember, we reflect on the sacrifice, the price that you pay so that we can be in relationship with you. Thank you for breaking your body so that you can build us up. God, thank you for breaking your body so that you can bring us back into right relationships so that we could know and never doubt the love of God. God, we thank you for your body today. It's in Jesus' name, church taken eating. And he took the cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which has poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Something just stood out to me really for the very first time, this is crazy. We know what Jesus was about to do. We know that when he says, takes this blood, like it represents, I mean, take this cup, that represents my blood. We know that the shedding of his blood is why we have forgiveness of sins. And the scripture said that before he gave that cup to the disciples, he gave thanks. Think about that. He gave thanks, knowing the pain, the suffering, the him being forsaken, like he, everything that was about to transpire, he didn't say, oh, I don't want you. He gave thanks to the father, maybe because he knew this was the moment that the world would see and remember how generous my father really is, how good my father really is. And for over 2,000 years, men and women of all ages, of all races, from all classes, come to this table and remember, I may not have enough, but in Jesus I have all that I need. Think about how special this moment is. He gave thanks, knowing that it was the cross that he was headed to. So right now, Jesus, we give thanks. We give thanks. We say thank you, Jesus, for the cross. We say thank you, Jesus, for your blood. We say thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice. We give thanks with grateful hearts, with joyful hearts. And we say thank you. That is because of your blood. You have washed away every sin. Every sin, you've covered our shame. Oh God, you've paid the price. God, we are forgiven. Lord God, we are loved. We are redeemed. You have chosen us. You have adopted us. And it's your blood. So we don't take this cup lightly. This isn't just a gesture that we do as a tradition. God, this is life-giving because it's your blood that the life and the love of God flow to us. And so we give thanks. We pause and say thank you. Thank you, oh God, for who you are. And we take of this cup remembering your love in Jesus' name. Let's take the cup. Let's take the cup together.