First Baptist Church of El Dorado - Sermons

Transformed Life: Giving, Hospitality, And The Heart Of Romans 12:13

• FBC El Dorado

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We focus on Romans 12:13 and how a generous, hospitable church turns resources into real ministry. From the tithe as a baseline to a culture of welcome, we trace how open hands fuel missions, benevolence, and lasting impact across generations.

• giving as a command and a joy
• tithe as baseline not ceiling
• Jesus’ teaching on treasure and idols
• needs of the saints met locally and globally
• cooperative program and missions sending
• benevolence stories and quiet aid
• legacy giving and planting for future generations
• hospitality pursued, not passive
• practical outcomes from small consistent gifts
• invitation to commit, belong and be baptized

We would love to see you any Sunday morning at First Baptist El Dorado


SPEAKER_00:

Hello and welcome to the FBC El Doredo Sermon Podcast. My name is Taylor Gare, and I have the privilege of being the pastor here at First Baptist, and I want to thank you for listening into our sermon this week. And I want to tell you this if you're in our area and you don't have a church home, we would love to see you any Sunday morning at First Baptist El Doredo. Would you join me now in listening to our sermon from this week? You'll open God's word to Romans chapter 12. We'll be in one verse towards the end of that chapter today. Allow me to pray for us as we begin. Lord Jesus, by your Spirit, truly, through the Holy Spirit, would you speak this morning to our hearts? Lord, we need to hear from you. We need to be moved and transformed by your word. And so, Lord, would you do it now, Lord? We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. Romans chapter 12. We began two weeks ago in verses 1 through 2, and we really saw the goal for every Christian, what new life looks like. It looks like this by offering your bodies as a living sacrifice, laying down the old, taking on the new, being transformed by the renewal of your mind. Then last week we saw what it looks like to live out that life, that Christian life, to live in service. We talked about the gifts of the Spirit and all week up to this morning, and I hope it continues. I've been receiving emails from you all with uh after your spiritual gift assessment, and I've had the greatest time looking through those, the greatest time reading those, and and knowing so many of you like I do. It's been fun to get those emails and just see how clear it is that the Holy Spirit has gifted you in that way. And so uh we saw you know our call as believers and then the gifts we've been given. And now in the last half of Romans chapter 12, we see marks of a true Christian. So, what is the Christian life supposed to look like? Well, quite literally for us, what what are we supposed to look like day in and day out? And I want to begin in verse nine, and then I want to stop at the one verse we're going to cover today. Uh, one singular verse, because it's a verse this week that just stopped me in my tracks. It starts right here, verse nine. Let love be genuine. Abor what is evil, hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord, rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. And then here's the verse for today, verse 13. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Again, contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. First of all, you say this, Pastor, why did that verse stop you in your tracks? Verse 13, or maybe more accurately, you're saying this. What do you know? Uh Pastor's looking at what to preach through, and it just happens to be the verse on giving that stops him in his tracks. That we've got to take a Sunday and talk about, what do you know? Giving. Or you might even ask this, Pastor, if you're gonna take a Sunday and talk about giving, why in the world are you gonna do it right now? Because, Pastor, the reality is things are good right now. I'm Pastor, the reality is I I sit in those meetings and Rodney Landis gives us the summary and he usually has good things to say and things are going well, and I would echo that. Things are fantastic. You're a generous church, a giving church. I mean, we look at our budget even now, and we're tracking it. I think uh lately it's 98% of where we need to be to meet budget by the end of the year. Pastor, why in the world would you talk about giving when things are going well? Well, let me answer some of those questions. First of all, why now? The why now is simply this. As we think of preaching, expository preaching as we walk through a book of the Bible and as best we can walk through verse by verse, really, the timing is up to the Lord. Uh, one pastor said it like this: expository preaching really is topical preaching, it's just letting God choose the topic. That we walk through Scripture and the Lord takes us where he wants us to be, and here we are in the second half of Romans chapter 12 as we look at verse 13. But also, why now in the sense of, you're right, we're we're in a good spot right now, so why now? Here's what I would rather do. I I'd rather us kind of define our terms and talk about giving at a time like this right now when we are in such a generous church. And if we talk about it now, here's the deal. I don't think we'll ever have to come to a time where we talk about it when things aren't good. That's the beauty of a generous church. And so I want to take today and just look at verse 13, and it begins right here again: contribute to the needs of the saints. First of all, that word contribute, it is a command. And so, as Paul is looking at the church at Rome, he is commanding them, contribute to the needs of the saints. This is not a suggestion, this is not just an idea, see if it works. No, he says, contribute to the needs of the saints. And the reality is, this didn't just start with Paul at the church at Rome. That from the very beginning, the church has called to be generous in how they give. Give to the needs of the saints, give to the needs of those outside the church from the very beginning. We see it here to the church at Rome in Romans chapter 12 from Paul. If you go to Acts chapter 2, you see the early church, literally the earliest church. This is later in the chapter 2 that Pentecost has just occurred. The spirit has come upon these believers. The church has begun. And as you look at the picture of the church, what are they doing? They're giving. They can't stop giving. They can't stop meeting together in their homes, they're having meals together, but also they're providing for any needs that show themselves. This is generous gifting of if there's any in need, if there's any inside the church, outside the church, we just want to be there to give and to provide. So, from the earliest days of the church, empowered by the Holy Spirit, guess what? The giving from the people of God was a massive part of that. Contribute to the needs of the saints. But really, as you look at the family of God, you can go back much further than just Acts chapter 2. We see, really, from the beginning of God calling out Abraham and a family, a people of God to be his own people, that contributing, that giving was a part of it. Throughout the Old Testament, we see this term called the tithe, giving of the tithe. What does that mean? That word tithe literally just means tenth, giving of a tenth. And this was really the agenda uh that was given throughout the law and throughout the Old Testament. This is what the people of God practice. If you go all the way back, and I can turn there quickly, Leviticus 27. This is just one example, it's all throughout the Old Testament. Verse 30 every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, it is the Lord's. It is holy to the Lord. Two verses later, and every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman's staff, shall be holy to the Lord. So from the earliest days of the people of God, the idea of the tithe was big in the heart of the people of God, instituted by God Himself in His law. Now, we could ask this question. But Taylor, we are New Testament, New Covenant believers. And this idea of the tithe was given way back then in Leviticus in the law. Do we still hold to the tithe? As a new covenant believer, do I still have to hold to that to give that strict 10% number? Am I still bound by the tithe? Because I'm now under the new covenant. And the old covenant is gone, the new covenant is here. Do I still hold to the tithe? Now, first of all, I'd answer that like this, and please know I'm I say this with a smile on my face. I'm having good fun with this, but it's interesting we we ask that of the tithe. Does that still carry over? But there's other matters of the law that we don't ask that with. We could easily say, Taylor, uh, the within the old covenant it said, do not murder. Am I still held to that today? In the old covenant, it talked about don't commit adultery. Are we all still held to that today? We don't ask that about that. And you say this, here's why, because Jesus came back, and I can think of the Sermon of the Mount, he doubled down on do not murder, doubled down on do not commit adultery. But then you open up the Gospels, and all you see so often is Jesus talking about giving. And so we could also say he doubles down on all of these matters of giving generously. In fact, if we look at Jesus in the Gospels, he actually talks about a much more extreme level of giving than just the tithe. There's a rich young man who comes to Jesus one day and he wants to follow him, but Jesus knows quickly that all he's doing right now is following the idols of his heart. And Jesus wants to tear down that idol before this man can follow Jesus. And he tells this young man, before you follow me, go sell everything you have and follow me. Don't give 10%, don't give twenty, go sell everything you have and follow. And we kind of end on a cliffhanger. We don't know what happens to that man, but he goes away sorrowful. There's a story that Jesus tells about storing up for yourself treasures in heaven instead of treasures on earth. How often do people store and store, and when they have too much, they don't give away, they build bigger barns to store more and more? Don't store up treasures on earth, but treasures in heaven. All throughout the New Testament, Jesus is talking about giving. As we think about the tithe, as we think about giving of that 10%, giving sacrificially to the things of God, I think what we need to realize is this that this moral principle, this giving principle that existed within the old covenant, if that was the reality, if that was the standard and the thought that the people of God should be these kind of givers under the old covenant, the old covenant that was secured by the blood of goats and rams. Here's my question. How much more, as people of the new covenant, should we be eager to give of ourselves because we have a covenant secured by something far greater, the blood of Jesus Christ? How much more? And so the question is not, Taylor, do I have to live up to the tithe? Do I have to get to that 10% mark? That's not the question. The question is, how much can I show my thankfulness to the Lord to give as He's called me to give, because He has given me all things in Christ Jesus? Lord, how more and more could you just make me a more generous giver, more free with my tithes and my offerings? So here's my personal conviction that for me and my family, uh, do we do we follow the tithe? We do, but the tithe is the baseline. It's the starting line. We give of our tithe, but we're not gonna end there. We give, if there's certain sacrificial offerings over and above that, we want to be able to do that. I think many of you think the same way. You give of your tithes and offerings, but there's certainly things that are over and above that, and you desire to give, and it's the most beautiful thing. Next month, as we begin our global missions emphasis, last year as a church, we set a goal for a hundred thousand, and we've reached a hundred and four thousand. This year, our missions team called us to take the next step to a hundred and ten thousand. And I believe by the Lord's grace, we are going to meet and exceed that. Why? Because you are a people that not only give of your tithes, but you give over and above. Many of you have many uh different ministries and organizations outside of this church that aren't affiliated with this church that you give to. And I say, praise God for that. Praise God. As you give to your tithes and offerings, that tithe which is the baseline, and then over and above in all kinds of ways. You are an unbelievably generous church, and it's just amazing to watch what you do. And so the reality is this: as we think about our giving, we come to the Lord as people who have been given all things in Christ Jesus, and now we get to respond and say, Lord Jesus, how can you use what I have? Because it was yours from the start, and it's still yours even now. Verse 13 again, contribute to the needs, look at this of the saints. Contribute to the needs of the saints. Paul lives this out, Romans 15. This is exactly what he's talking about. Look what he talks about in verse 25 and 26 of Romans 15. At present, however, I'm going to Jerusalem, bringing aid to the saints, for Macedonia and Achaiah have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. He's telling the church at Rome that he's heading to Jerusalem next to drop off some gifts that these two other churches have given to the saints in Jerusalem. One uh church, two churches have more, one church needs more, and so Paul is gonna help make that happen, meeting the needs of the saints. We know the one reason Romans was written in general was written to the church at Rome because Paul had a vision of them being really uh a headquarters, a home base for missions further away in Spain, a place where the gospel had never gone before, that Rome could be both home base, a sending agency, but also uh in some way a financial backing for the the church going further into Spain. Again, a place the gospel has never been. This church uh so often, in so many ways, contributes to the needs of the saints. As we talk about our contribution to the cooperative program, you say, what in the world is the cooperative program? Well, Southern Baptist churches all come together to give towards what called what is called the cooperative program, and from that fund, saints are sent all over the world. Uh in our country, to the ends of the earth, missionaries are sent out, and every time you give, a portion of that goes to the cooperative program. And so, quite literally, when you give to this church, missionaries are being sent out. The saints are being provided what they need to do the work of ministry. Institutions are being built up. Uh, that even helps fund seminaries that raise up pastors and missionaries and leaders. Every time you give, uh, the saints are being built up. And how do you give towards the cooperative program? Well, in this calendar year, you're going to give to the and already are giving to the tune of$118,927.64. That's you. That's not a number from someone else. That's a number that you've given, that you've been a part of. Those are missionaries that you have sent out. I'm certain of this. That as you give towards the work of ministry, that one day uh you you'll get uh to the presence of the Lord and you'll be in heaven, and someone will come up to you and say, Thank you so much for giving and allowing me to do what I did. And you'll probably say something like, I've never met you in my life, I don't know who you are. Tell me about who you are. And they'll say, I'm just a missionary, and you gave, and guess what? Because of that, I was able to go, people were saved, people came to know the Lord, the church expanded. There's a group over there that they know the Lord because you helped give. Like, these are the kind of conversations I'm just imagining we're gonna have when we're with the Lord. Why? Because you gave. Think about meeting the needs of the saints. I think about our benevolence program at this church. Certainly, many who are lost come here to receive aid. They just need help in some kind of way, but we even offer benevolence for church members. I'm I'm making this up. This is a hypothetical, but let's say there's an elderly widow among us in our community, and uh a washing machine breaks down. She's on a fixed income, and it is very, very fixed, and in a certain place, and that budget is where it needs to be, and$500 to fix that thing or replace that thing, that's gonna, that's gonna alter her month, maybe half of a year. And these kind of things have happened where she's been able to reach out to us, and in just some kind of way, whether that's replacing the thing or helping part of it, whatever that looks like, we can just help it. We can help her in just the smallest ways, and it seems like a small thing, but for her it's a massive thing. I think of a pastor in our town, their family went through a great tragedy losing a child, and whether you know it or not, you as individuals, you gave them a$500 Walmart gift card so that in uh the aftermath of all that, they didn't have to worry about where groceries were coming from. That wasn't even a thought on their mind. Just use the card, get what you need. These kinds of things you do every day. I want you to think about this as well, contributing to the needs of the saints. I just want you to look around where you're at right now. Look at this glorious building. Think about anywhere you have been, you have stepped foot into this morning on this campus. I want you to know without a doubt that that everything you've done this morning is is the result and the product of someone who gave. Everything. The pew you sit on, somebody gave so that you could sit on that pew. This building, someone gave so that we could sit in this building. The ministries we enjoy, the everything. I you may know the name Andy Westmoreland. He was the president of Washington for years, then at Sanford University. During my I kind of knew him back when, but during my time at Sanford, I got to be with him again. And every convocation, every graduation, he he we could almost recite it with him. He'd all he'd always give the same old quote, but it was a good one. I know why he did it. It wasn't his, it's very old, but he he said this that we sit in the shade of trees we did not plant. We enjoy the shade of trees that we did not plant. That every day we walk in this room, obviously, our ongoing giving is a big part of it too. I'm not discounting that. We'll talk more about that in a minute. But every day we walk into this room or on this campus or even outside of this church, so much in our community, every time we're here, we are enjoying the shade of what generations before us did for us. How they gave for us. And now we have the privilege, think about this, of giving in such a way that this ministry can go forward and continue so that generations from now, when they won't know our name and they won't know our faces, but they would get to experience the fruit of what we do even now. I I I think about the year 1894, it was a big year in the life of First Baptist El Dorado, 1894, about a quarter mile down the road from here, we had a church building. It was really our first church building. We started in a log cabin courthouse that we borrowed on Sundays. We even borrowed pastors on Sunday. We didn't have anybody. If you if you can preach, just come on. We need somebody. But we'd meet in that log house and then and then we'd move we moved to a a property, and in uh 1894 there were discussions. This this property is it needs a lot of work and renovation, and there were some that said it's time to build something brand new. They had selected a spot right off the square, downtown. It's right where we stand, but not in this room, right on that corner, right out here, they had a spot where they wanted to build a church. But there was a deacon's meeting, and there was a lot of discussion about should we renovate the old place or should we build a new place right on that corner, right out there. There was a lot of argument back and forth among the deacons. Uh, you know, uh there were some beautiful things said, there were probably some things said that I may uh delete from the history books. Um but there was a lot of back and forth, and then something interesting happened. There was one man who was quiet during the whole meeting, and towards the end of the meeting, they look at this man, and they may have known right where he was going because this man lived right across uh from the old location. Surely he'd want to stay right there, walk across the street to church. Well, this man, his name was Brother Hugh Goodwin. Hugh Goodwin speaks up and he says, This I read in Proverbs that you don't put new wine in old wineskins. And so if my family has to walk a little bit further to get to church, I'll do it for the Lord. And they did it for the Lord, and they gave to the Lord, and they built a church right on this corner right here, and it served them beautifully for about 35 years, 30 years, and then they built this structure right here, and these these generations before us, they are a church family, but they've gone before us. They gave and gave and gave, and now uh a few folks here in 2025 sit in this room and enjoy the fruits of all of their giving. And now we have the privilege to contribute to the needs of the saints, even now, once again, so that generations to come, uh going forward, that that the ministry could continue to happen and continue to unfold. Listen, I I know we're talking uh about some renovations right now. I want to be clear. This sermon, there's not some big thing at the end about renovations. This has nothing to do with any future renovations. This just is every day giving to the life of this church so that ministry can go forward. They did it then, and praise God, we have the privilege of doing it now. Verse 13 again. Contribute to the needs of the saints, and I love how it ends, and seek to show hospitality. And seek to show hospitality. That word, hospitality. I know for a fact a lot of you are gifted with it because I've watched all week as your spiritual gifts have come in, and there's a lot of hospitality in this room. But hospitality really doesn't have to have anything to do with financial giving. It's it's really a posture. Being hospitable, allowing anyone to come into this place and know instantly you are among family. I love what Paul says. He says this, seek to show hospitality. Seek it. Sometimes we think in terms of, I'll show hospitality when maybe the opportunity falls into my lap, when uh maybe no one signs up for it. I I'll jump in and do it. Sure. No, no, Paul says, seek to show hospitality. Go find ways to do it. Go make a new way to show hospitality, that this church would be a hospitable place, that when anybody walks through these doors, they know this, that you're home now. I may say this, but but Pastor, you you don't know where I've been, you don't know where I've done. You're home now. That this is a big building. I don't know if I'm a First Baptist church kind of person. No, no, you are your home now. That that I don't know what I really bring to the table, but you you bring yourself that you are home now, that this is a place for you. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. And I think the question of all this, of Romans 12 13, is this is this do we view our gifts, our finances? Do are they ours or are they the Lord's? That's the question. Imagine with me if in the coming weeks I take my son James to a El Dorado football game and and and we get out there and you know, we walk in the stadium, and uh, you know, we we we put our harness on so we can go up that ramp and in the concourse up to the stadium. We get to our seat, and I just tell I tell James, buddy, I want you to have the best night at this football game. And so, hey, I I I hand them over just a crisp$20 bill, buddy. And it's like, you know, if you want something, you don't have to ask about it. If you want the popcorn, go get it, the drink. If the snow cone stands there, just go get it. It's all yours, spend it all, don't need any change, all that. Just do whatever you want. Go, go get it. And midway through the first quarter, he looks and says, It's time. I'm making my run now. And and as he's heading down, I just I look at him, I say, Hey buddy, one thing, would you just grab me a Diet Coke while you're down there? And he looks up at me. Now, James Lewis Guerin wouldn't do this, but he looks up at me and he says, Dad, not with my money. Not with my money. By your laughter, I can tell you see the silliness of that statement. The the money that I gave to him suddenly he says, surely you're not wanting this. But it's it's funny until I see it in my own life that everything I have is from him. That everything I have, financial and otherwise, is from him, and yet how often do I have the opportunity to give and to bless and to be part of something bigger than me, and instead I just look and say, Hey, not with my money. Don't you know I've worked hard for this? Don't you know what I could do if I just had that extra little bit each month instead of just giving it away from the start? Surely you don't want this. Whose is it? Not just our finances, not just our gifts, not just our talents, our very lives, the breath in our lungs. Who's is it? Who does it belong to? And so thinking about that, I want to turn the page a little bit. I don't I want to talk less about what is required, what is commanded. It is a command, but I want to talk about this about what is possible. What's possible? What's possible if we give? And I know many of you give at an unbelievable level. I I wonder if there's anyone in the room who would just say, Taylor, I've been here for years, but really we haven't taken that step of saying, you know what, I'm in, I want to give towards the mission, or or we haven't taken the step of really doing it consistently, being that consistent giver that that gives uh uh at the very beginning, and and God, this is yours, and and I want to take that step. What could happen and what is possible in the ministry of this church if every single one of us just said this, God, I'm all in. And by the way, I'm with you in this, okay? I am one of those members of this church, and we all said, I'm all in. What's possible? I want to preface this with I I don't have a clue about ties, okay? I don't see a thing, I don't see a name attached to anything. I see some a 30,000 foot view of some numbers. I if you gave a dollar, if you gave 10 million. I don't know. But think about something with me. Right now in this church, at this point in the year, this is a beautiful thing. We have 147 giving units. What in the world does that mean? 147 giving units. What is a giving unit? It could be an individual or it could be a household. Okay? So we have 147 giving units. First of all, praise God. That is unbelievable. Praise God. 147 giving units. I do want to ask a question. If there were those in this room, like I mentioned, that just said, hey, we've been here, we're members, but we're just not in yet. We're not fully on board the mission yet in our giving, and we want to be a part of it, and it starts now. If we added two giving units, and so if at the end of 2025, instead of 147 units, we had 149 units, what is possible if we just added two giving units? Every weekend, you know, we feed 15 kids from Yokum Primary, and a bag of food gets placed into their backpack. You all give generously to it, and I hope you will continue giving generously to it. Even this morning I saw people putting food in the box. But we ran the numbers on that. What it costs to put a bag of food in 15 students' uh backpack each weekend. They're covered during the summer, but what would it look like to cover them all the way through Christmas break? And what would it even look like on Thanksgiving to just send something extra home so their family, maybe for the first time, can have a Thanksgiving meal all to themselves? What would that look like? Well, I'll I'll tell you this. If we had two more giving units, we could look at that ministry and just say this it's fully funded. That 15 kids in our community, right then and there, it's fully funded. That for the whole year, all of their food is taken care of, it's a done deal. Thanksgiving meal, it's on the table, Christmas meal, you've already got it, and that we could do bigger and we could even go beyond just yoke and start meeting other needs at other schools and other kids that are hungry on the weekend. But think about this: if we just added those two more giving units, there would be 15 kids in our community that food insecurity would be a thing of the past. That when they graduate high school and they go to college or the workforce or wherever they may be next, when they graduate from high school, they would not be able to look back and have memories of food insecurity and wondering on the weekends, is food gonna be on the table? Why? Because First Baptist Church just decided for these 15 kids at first, but Lord willing more, we're just gonna take care of it. What if we added 10 giving units? What if there were 10 among us who just said, I just want to dive all in. I haven't been faithful in my giving, but I want to go all in. Every year, the FBC or foundation uh has the unique opportunity to give towards 10 to 12 various missions organizations that we've been doing work with for some time. This helps uh various church planters, um, this helps uh tons of missions agencies in our area. This helps different missionaries. We get to do uh unbelievable work, and just like I did with the last time and this time, I just said 10 more giving units, and I listen, I just did the math based on the uh uh a tithe based on the Arkansas average household income. And I just looked at this and said, if we added 10 more giving units, what would be possible? We could take everything we do with the El Dorado Foundation, we could just say two words, double it. Double it. Right then and there. Just double every dollar. And let's double what we do for every one of these organizations. You may be saying this morning, Taylor, I'm I'm here, I want to give, but I don't what what difference can I make? Maybe you're a child in the room and you're eight years old, you're nine years old, and you say, Pastor, I'm I'm I'm a member here, I love being here, and I I think giving is important, but the reality is all I've got is is you know, maybe a portion of the allowance I'm given and the coins I find in the couch cushion. Like I don't know what's possible. Let's say this. Let's say all throughout 2025, you give a portion of that allowance and you give a few of those coins you find in the couch cushion, and at the end of the year uh you get your contribution statement and you've given$45. You're an eight-year-old and you've given$45. Let me tell you what you've done. That in August of every year, about 10 or 12 first graders walk into this room and they receive a Bible. For some, they may have a different Bible at home. For some, it may be the first Bible they've ever received. But let me tell you something to the eight-year-old who gave their$45 in this calendar year based off of allowance and coins in the couch cushion. Three of those Bibles are given because you gave. That there are three first graders now that have Bibles that have started a trajectory of a life that is built on the Word of God. Why? Because you gave. Let's say you're a high school student. You've never thought much about giving, but now you say, I want to be all in. I don't know how much I have. I mow some lawns in the summer. I um I got an interview next week at the new Chick-fil-a in town. We'll see how it goes. And you say, you say, but I want to I want to be all in. And so all throughout the 2026 calendar year, you say, you know what? I want to take this seriously. I want to give a portion of what I receive to the work of the church. I want to dive into this. And through those lawns or the Chick-fil-A money, and trust me, I'll give you plenty of business through all those things. At the end of the year, you look back, and I know this sounds like a crazy number, but you look back and say, I've given$500 at the end of 2026 to the work of the church.$50 here,$40 there, whatever it is,$500 at the end of the year. Let me tell you what you've done. We've got a line item in our budget called Kitchen Maintenance. What do you know? It's$500. What does it do? It takes the kitchen over in the fellowship hall and just makes sure it's in good working order year-round. If Miss Sue needs a new spatula, we'll get a new spatula. If something breaks and we need it fixed, we're gonna do it. Whatever is needed, paper goods, whatever, we're just gonna provide it. Let me tell you what your$500 did. That you gave that, and over the course of the year, and I did the math this week, looking at the number of kids we have every day that Miss Sue makes a meal for. By giving that$500 and keeping up just that line item, kitchen maintenance, you provided lunch for over$1,700. You've provided 1,700 meals for little children so that we can minister to them throughout the year. You did that. Your giving made that possible. If you're in your 20s and you're saying, listen, it's my first job. Trust me, it's an entry-level position. I don't know how much I really have to give. Let's say you give, uh, we get to the end of the 2026 year and you've given and your offering is able to cover, let's say, half of the church's water bill. You say this, you lost me there. Pastor, that was a tactical error because you had us excited, and then you brought up the water bill. No one gets excited about the water bill. I get excited about the water bill. If it were up to me, Miss Kay would hand me just cash money and I would walk it down to El Dorado water and with a smile on my face every month hand it right over and say, you can have that, and then there'll be more next month. Why? Because 16 times throughout this year, I've sat here on a Thursday afternoon and heard water running in that baptistry to fill that up all the way, and 16 times, and I got another one, you've got another one coming up in a couple weeks, 16 times we've watched as children and adults have been baptized because they've made the declaration that they know Jesus. Why does that happen? Well, it happens because you've prayed for it and you've prayed that this would happen, and the Lord has moved. It happened because you gave towards events like Bible school where kids heard the gospel, you gave towards 252 camps, you provided a scholarship where someone came to know Christ and was baptized just a few weeks later. It happened for a million reasons, but it also happened because of this, because someone just paid the water bill. And 16 times on a Thursday afternoon, I heard the sound of the baptistry being filled up. As you give, the Lord just keeps moving. We've got 13 kids signed up right now for New Believers Class. We've got, think about this, on Wednesday nights in 2025, 2,800 slices of pizza have been served. We have filled the tummies of little ones so that they can then hear the gospel message. We've had a high point this year over in Midweek just among kids. We had 86 children there at Midweek. We had 110 at Bible school. We've had more involved holistically with leading worship than ever before because of choir and tech team and the guys down in the basement right now and all that kind of stuff. We've had uh adults and kids choirs that absolutely love the new choir room that you have provided. Our two fifty-two building, it turns 25 years old in March, of 25 years that we've had it. Uh, it's older than that. Uh, we've had continual growth in the children's ministry. Just in September and October, we've seen 22 first-time folks come on Wednesday nights. We've had this new live group curriculum that, my goodness, I love every day when my children come home and we talk about what's going on because they're in the same lesson we are. And guess what? That curriculum saved us money. We want to be good stewards. We've got Living Well Counseling that we've been able to house for some time now and still does amazing ministry. Why is all that possible? It's just because a group of people just said, we're on board. And we'll do it. And we'll give of our tithes and our offerings, and we'll be about the business that God has called us to be about. Listen, you just say this, Pastor, you just want my money. Here's the thing outside of a few line items, I hope your money stays in our possession as short of a time as possible, because I want it to go out. I want it to go out and make much of Jesus and his kingdom. And I want to do great things, not so that first Baptist can look up and say, Aren't we something? But that so that Jesus, that his name can be lifted up. What I'm most excited for is for the dreams that you and I don't even know to dream yet. That as we all say, I'm on board, and as we see the resources the Lord has blessed us with, that we would be able to see and do things that we've never even imagined. That maybe God would lay something on our hearts that we never thought possible. Because we're a people that just say this. I'm on board. And so if you faithfully give to the work of ministry at First Baptist Church of El Dorado, let me just tell you, I I praise God for you. I praise God for you. If you're someone who, again, just says, I'm I haven't been on board, I want to tell you, today's not a guilt trip. Today's not a time of judgment. What today is, is just an invitation for you to say this, to say, hey, I'm on board. Because I believe this, as you are on board and giving towards the work of ministry, there's gonna come a day when you are gonna see the Lord do amazing things as he does every day around here. And I can't wait for you to experience the joy of just getting able to set be to be able to say, Hey, I just got to be a part of that. I just got to be a part of what Jesus is doing here. And church family, you are a part of that in so many ways, far outside of financials. Please know that. Your time, your energy, your gifts. But for all of us, could we just say, even with our finances, Lord, I'm all in. I want to see what's possible as we all come together. No one person doing everything, every one of us doing what we can for the sake of the gospel. Would you bow your heads with me? Maybe you say this, I want to be a part of this church family. I'll be right down front, I'd love to talk to you. Maybe you say, I want to be baptized. It sounds like you've paid the water bill and I want to get in it. I want to let people know that I follow Jesus. Come talk to me. I'll be right down front at the end. Maybe you just want a pastor to pray over you. I'd love nothing more than to do that. But however, you need to respond, now is the time to respond as we continue in worship. Let me pray for us and we'll do just that. Lord Jesus. All that we have belongs to you from start to finish. And so, Lord, let us live with open hands and open hearts. Let us live with joy. Not giving out of some idea that this is what I have to do, a burden. No, no, no. This is a delight to be a part, Lord, of what you're doing here. And so, Lord, even now, would we respond, however that looks, whatever that response needs to be, would we do it now, Lord, in Christ's name? Amen. I'll be down front. Would you stand?