When Grace is Multiplied | Claude Houde |

How to multiply the grace of God over your life and over your family?

We often limit the grace of God to salvation, the grace to forgive, or the grace to endure through trials, etc. And while the
grace of God is all of that, it is also so much more. 

The good news is God wants to teach you how you can multiply His grace in abundance over your family and every aspect of your life.

In this message, Pastor Claude Houde, senior pastor of Nouvelle Vie, reminds you how you can experience a greater measure of the fullness of God's grace in you and through you.

Enjoy! 

Reference : 2 Corinthians 9:8

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What a joy to be with you at New Life Church. It makes you feel old when they keep saying you're father of and the father of. But I can't deny it. The worship leader today, Sem, I was his youth pastor when he was 12. And the Julie's in charge of PowerPoint right now. I actually dedicated her as a baby. So look at the person next to you and say, he's 90 years old, but he looks good. Say that somebody. So what a joy to be here. What a joy to see what God is doing. We are amazed. We are rejoicing. We are grateful. We are so blessed. We're proud and uh of what God has done at New Life Church in such a short time, in the first two years, uh, to see uh what God has brought together, to see this great this amazing group uh already uh only two years into this church plant. So can we, before we do anything else, uh, can we give Jesus a shout for what he's doing at New Life Church? Let me hear a sustained shout. We love and esteem your pastor so much, uh, so highly, uh, Pastor Selvin and Kelly, uh and your family, and also the team, the amazing dream team. Uh, thank God for uh uh uh Jonathan's with the our kids and Joshua and Music, Lori and Fred, uh pioneers and pillars, Michael, Simon, Renee, Iris. Where's Iris? She's doing something, she's working somewhere. Uh Iris is holding this whole thing together. Uh, and we're so what a dream team. It's some uh it's amazing to see how many people are are coming into New Life Church, but the core of the church, the the leaders are amazing. So the Bible warns us against flattering lips, but but admonishes us to give honor to whom honor is due. So could we honor our leaders today and say, Wow, Lord, thank you for this team. I want to speak a very uh special message uh tonight. Um we are in the in a series on my family and me. Uh, and uh I want to speak a foundational message. This is uh I'm speaking portion of this message on all our sites, and it's a special message. Well, it's within the our series, the message that is in our series, my family and me. Uh, but I want to to share a foundational principle, both for our natural family, but also for us together as a spiritual family. Paul speaks of a special grace that is calling, uh uh that is called that is our calling and our destiny together uh as families, but also as the family of God. In Ephesians chapter 3, he speaks of this grace this way uh to me who am less than the least of all the saints. This grace, would you say out loud, this grace? This grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church. Stop here and understand what we what we are doing here, what we with this church plan, and and as we gather in church, it is never only we're not only uh gathering to worship and sing songs and and hear the word and have fellowship. We are actually gathered together to make known the church. We we're called by God to make known to this world, yes, but also every Sunday when you come in, you come in to receive. But come in as a warrior, come in in spiritual warfare because we are here to make known to hell itself, to make known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, the eternal purposes which he has accomplished in Christ Jesus. Every Sunday we gather together and we worship and we pray and we sing and we uh serve and we sow together and we stand in intercession and we say to darkness, This is the plan. Jesus Christ has overcome every works of the devil, and we are here to proclaim his purposes. Would you please shout amen and give him praise? It's for this reason that we bow our knees. For this reason I bow my knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family, uh, the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man. I want to teach you, uh uh I want to teach you tonight a kingdom principle that is uh supernatural to multiply grace in your life. The title of my message uh to multiply grace in your family. And this principle I'm teaching you tonight is to be taught to every family, it's a foundation for every family from generation to generation. It a principle that will multiply grace. My title tonight is when grace is multiplied, when grace is multiplied, it will multiply grace in our in our natural family, but also in our spiritual family to reach multitudes together for him. And and the Holy Spirit inspired uh uh Paul to to uh actually uh enlarge our heart announcing and describing the power and the impact when grace is multiplied. Are you ready out to him who is able to do exceedingly abundant above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to him be the glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, all the way to 2026 for New Life Church forever and ever and all of God's people shout amen. I want to speak to you uh tonight on grace being the uh grace being multiplied when grace is multiplied. I could have I could have subtitled this message when uh how to multiply the grace of God in your life. So say to your neighbor, say to the person next to you, big smile, and say to the person next to you, neighbor, get ready to be multiplied. Say that to somebody next to you. We're going to study two chapters, um uh two chapters. Paul, the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, chapter eight and nine of the second epistle to the Corinthian, uh, about this multiplying. There's so many facets of grace, but tonight this multiplying grace that are so important that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to mention grace seven times in these two chapters. Uh, too many believers and uh and churches and movements have reduced uh the grace of God to to uh being saved by grace, or the grace to be forgiven, or to forgive others, or the grace to make it through, to be sustained uh through trials, and all of that is the magnificent grace of God. But God wants so much more of his grace in our lives that he inspires and presses Paul to teach us the full revelation of what he calls multiplying grace. 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, we'll study tonight, begin with these words, 2 Corinthians 8 1. Moreover, brethren, we make known to you what he wants to he wants to teach us, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed, manifested on the churches uh of Macedonia. The apostle Paul wants to make known to teach us the full dimension of the manifestation of the acts of God, the blessing, the interventions, the favor bestowed and directly related to the grace of generosity. The foundational grace. I'm gonna share some testimonies tonight because this church, this portion of our church, it's it's one church, it's two years old. But there are but there's foundational uh testimony. This church is founded on some principles that that are that are needed to be. This is the our DNA that needs to be shared and owned uh by all of us. The the the incredible uh blessings related to the grace of generosity to bring the blessing, the protection, the renewing of his divine favor on your natural family, but also together uh as a family of God. Some of you, as soon as I said generosity, you've decided you tightened up. I see you, you're you're all tightened up. Lean to the person next to you and say, smile, Jesus loves you. Say that somebody next to you. Some of you owe generosity. Where's the exit? Um, the the word grace, the word grace in the original Greek uh is the word caris. It's the divine influence upon a believer's heart, and it's reflection and result in our lives. Unmerited favor, forgiveness, and blessing, God's abundant generosity towards us, in us, and through us. The the grace, the grace of God, the multiplied grace. There, there's a law of hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is the uh interpretation of scriptures, and there's a law in hermeneutics that is called the law of frequency or the law of proportionality. And it simply explains, it just means to the frequent frequency in which a theme is found in scripture is determining of its uh importance for God. So it's a it's significant for us to realize that there are 2,350 verses in the Bible on on stewardship, on generosity, on money, on the spiritual dangers of materialism, on the love of money being the root of all evil, on the mandate to be generous. There's actually two two times more verses on generosity uh than on prayer and faith combined. Jesus taught more on generosity and on stewardship or the handling of our resources for the kingdom of God than on heaven and hell put together. The only subject that Jesus taught more on than generosity uh is this kingdom, the kingdom of God. Actually, 16 of the 38 parables of Jesus are on generosity, on material possession. So on the grace and quality of generosity that must be characteristics of a Jesus follower. So, so think about it. Uh, 16 out of 38 parables. If Jesus was the pastor preacher of New Life Church, you would get 22 messages out of 52 on generosity. We're gonna get one tonight. And I'm I make this promise because I want to come back to preach and I want to make sure that when I'm announced to come back, you're not gonna think I'm coming in to preach every time. So I promise uh in this year 2026 to come back to preach and not preach on generosity. I've said it in front of hundreds, and everyone say amen. But say to the person to your right, but you have to listen to this one. Say not somebody next. I understand, I understand, and there's uh there's many older Christians here, but this is a message that we uh after two years, uh, it's uh it's a lot more than just giving and about about finances, it's a spirit of generosity that's and and I understand how shocking uh sometimes, especially for new believers. When I when I came to the Lord, I had no Christian background whatsoever. And the first time I heard a message on generosity was actually a message on tithing, on giving a tenth of your first fruit to God. And I was I was shocked. And it was uh I was uh 17, 18 years old, just beginning, just uh my first steps in a in a Christian faith, and I had this this find my first legit job, and I was making $153 a week. And I remember when I made that first check for $15.30, I thought it was this is a fortune, this is gonna ruin me. And I and I I would give it and just you know, uh, and God would bless. And and in the months that followed, I was preparing to I felt a calling to the ministry and preparing to go through to the US to Bible school. And the Bible school that I went to uh uh it had a very strict dress code. You needed to wear a suit seven days a week. We were wearing suit and ties seven days a week, and I never wore a suit in my life. I so I had this old suit uh that a Christian, uh nice Christian man in a family uh gave me, and then I bought myself one nice jacket. So I'm sitting in church a few weeks before leaving for Bible school, and the um the the there was a missionary that Sunday morning, and and and he looked he looked worse than my worst suit. He just looked so, and he was preaching, and while I was listening to him, this thought came into my mind, you should give him your suit. You should give him, you should give him your jacket. And I thought, oh yeah, wow, I'm only I've gonna have my nice suit, my nice jacket left, but okay, I'll give him my old suit. And then then then the thought uh became more precise. Wasn't the voice of uh uh audible voice, but just just in my spirit, this thought, no, no, give him your nice jacket. And I and Miss might be nothing to you, but uh uh I was struggling with it, and I oh man, I'm gonna all I'm gonna have is my old uh dirty suit. And so, but but I I I obeyed, and after the service, I put it in a nice bag, and I and I was taught that you don't you don't uh show what you give without. Uh he didn't know who gave it. So, and right away that Sunday night, he was wearing my jacket, my nice jacket on stage. And I sat there miserable, but in the just few days that followed, my mom calls me. My mom's unsaved, and she's an accountant, she works in downtown in the buildings in Montreal back then. And her boss I he doesn't know anything, I've never met him in my life. And the boss said that to my mom, hey, your son is going to away to school, to college. Would he need some clothes? And she said, Yeah, well, let me call him. Would you need some clothes? I said, What kind of clothes? So, well, yeah, suits and stuff. He he can bring it to you. And I'm okay. The next day, somebody from the office came in, racks, racks of suits, Yugo boss suits, leather shoes, belts, everything perfectly fitted, not perfectly fitting. I was the poorest student there, but I look good. And this is where it began for me. I want you to know, I want you to know that that there's that God, God wants to open the heaven upon the generous heart. Somebody should say, Yes. Uh come on, come on. You can clap on a generosity message. We are going to establish a base to have uh for you to have a theology of this multiplying grace. It's my responsibility as a pastor because he uh this is the the means that God has chosen uh to bless every aspect, every family, every aspect of your life. Not only it's not only about money getting and getting money, it's about receiving the blessing of God. This you you receive this grace and you respond in generosity and then to this grace, and then you release this the grace of generosity, and God reproduces the grace of generosity, the the kingdom of God in second uh second chronicle, uh Corinthians chapter eight and nine. Uh we're at the center of the chapter are these words. But this I say nine chapter nine, verse six He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully. So let each one give as the per as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly, out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver, and God is able to make all watch this, to make all grace abound towards you, that you always have all sufficiency in all things and may have abundance for every good work. Say yes, please. That's multiplication, that's God's multiplication. The kingdom of God is uh uh the kingdom of God, uh in the mind of God, an authentic Christian, a mature Christian, is giving, uh is is sowing abundantly to uh to reap abundantly. He gives with a resolute heart, with a joyful heart, a purposeful heart. Not not but because God loves a cheerful giver, and God then uh in his bountiful promises makes the grace to abound towards you in every aspect of your life. The blessing of God, the multiplication of the blessing of God. And Jesus taught this continually, he taught this throughout the scriptures. I'm gonna look at two verses of Jesus uh as an introduction. The first one, you many of you have heard of in Luke chapter 6, 38, Jesus says, Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, and we you will put in your bosom, and for with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. Now, this was this expression, uh, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, was very well known. It was it was frequently used in everyday life. It was actually a term they would use at the marketplace. You would go to the marketplace, and Jesus uses the image of a merchant filling an apron with grain. In the ancient marketplace, a generous seller would not simply pour the grain carelessly, he would just press it down, shake it together, make room for even more. The picture is intentional. God is not stingy in the way he responds to generosity. His blessing is not measured with reluctance, he gives abundantly, fully, and overflowing. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, reveals the heart of God towards those who live with an open hand. Uh, the emphasis is not on material return, but on the abundance of God's favor, provision, and grace being multiplied. Because I only got half an amen. I don't think you got the full picture. So though, so so I'm gonna ask David to come and help me. Uh, David, uh come please. So give him a hand. He says, Pastor uh Sullivan's son, good looking son, single celibate, good good looking son. He asked me to say that. So, so he's right, say right there. So he's coming to the market, and and and and and uh he wants to have a good measure and and and a good measure that will be uh pressed down, shaken together, and running over, good measure. So, so so the merchant would put and then you press it down, you say, you press it down, shake it together, and the Bible says, press down, shaking together, and running over. How many of you believe that his cup should run over? How many of you believe his re his cup should run over? Bless down, shake down, and running over. I'm speaking of the heart of God to bless. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, David. Give him a hand so that he still loves his pastor. The principle is simple, you can never out give God. I said you can never outgive God because his hand is bigger than yours, his hand is bigger than yours. I love the story. The little boy's in the is watching, uh, isn't he in front of the the most expensive candy store in Montreal, and he's just outside the window looking in, and all these candies and chocolates, and he doesn't think he can't afford any of it. He's just looking through the window, and the merchant is fleeing cleaning up his stuff, says, Go away, go away. And the little boy's not saying anything, just big eyes looking, and the merchant is mumbling to himself, I can't be giving free candy to every kid that comes by with big eyes. Come on, go away, go away. And after a few minutes, he just surrends. He says, Okay, come on in. And he opens the big pot, the most expensive child. He says, Come on, take some. And the boy doesn't do anything, just looking at him. Come on, take some before I said I changed my mind. He doesn't do anything, and finally, the man picks up a big and he gives it to him. He says, Why didn't you take any? He says, Your hand is bigger than mine. I am here to tell you, and those of you that know this is true because you've lived it, God's hand is bigger than yours and mine. Say yes, please. So in grace mother, one more verse by Jesus. This is the these two verses should be enough. But Jesus said, and this is uh this is very particular because it's it's in Paul's last message to the church of Ephesus, it's in the book of Acts, chapter 20, verse 35. This is foundational to everything, the reason, the the the secret of God, if I can say that, of all the blessing over Novel V over 33 years. I have Paul said to his last words to the to his uh to the church he loves so much, I've shown you in every way by laboring like this that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. There's more blessing, there's more favor, there's more grace. If you fill your family with this, it will change everything. There's more blessing, favor, and grace in giving than in receiving. It's a lifestyle. Understand something. This is the only quote. This is how important this is. This is the only quote, the only words of Jesus in the New Testament outside of the gospels and his last pronouncements in Revelation. Only words of Jesus and in the book of Acts and the 21 epistles to the churches of the New Testament. John said, uh, in all the books in the uh of the world could not contain uh all that Jesus said and did. But the Holy Spirit, God, God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit said these words, these words are to be, are to be uh uh to permanent permeate and transform our hearts because we are called to become the model to this world. This is this is what churches that Christians on this earth are called to be together, the model to the world, the reflection of God's generous, compassionate heart, uh, by living lives that prove that they are more blessings and favor and love and happiness and joy and peace and purpose and fulfillment in the life that is walking in generosity and multiplying grace of generosity rather than the pursuit, passions, priorities to receive and focalize on ourselves. It is not actually our calling to become that that expression. Now, this is what we we look at in in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and 9. It's a very particular passage, these principles that will multiply the grace. Uh Paul teaches them, and he gives a uh the that he gives to them as an example, the Christians of the churches in Macedonia. Uh Macedonia was one of the multi-site church that Paul had had had founded. Now, the context of 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, Paul writes to the Corinthians with a message, he's actually doing a tour of his sites, of the multi sites to call every church. To uh to take responsibility, to take their part, to take their place in building the kingdom of God together. That's what I'm doing tonight. I've come to call you and to call the hundreds that come to this church, to say, This is my church. We've been here two years and we are we're gonna take our place. He passionately calls them to give uh, he is doing a speaking tour uh uh to for all of them to rise and begin to give, uh in their case to the central church, which was in Jerusalem, going through uh a season of famine. It was a famine in Jerusalem. Historians uh confirmed this. Uh, they they were many, uh, many of them, the Christians were immigrants, refugees trying to build lives uh coming from hostile countries. Uh, I read this and I smiled. I actually said in the commentaries, the Roman taxation and tariff system was the cruelest in the world. Some things have not changed. Uh, cruelest in the world, uh, with the rich in Rome being richer and richer, but the people in the empire being being poorer and poorer. And Paul gives this amazing model of grace multiplied. We look to we begin by looking at the model in chapter 8 and verse 1 to 5. Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God. This is how it manifested on the church of Macedonia, that in great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their and even in their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their generosity or liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, but even beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministry to the saints. And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and then to us by the will of God. Paul's basic premise is this generosity is the defining mark of an authentic Christian, it is the direct expression of his faith, of our faith and obedience in the promises of God. It's taught throughout the word, the entire word of God. And he gives us this uh the Christian uh this amazing model. You see, the model of the Macedonians is that that grace that multiplies is a grace of generosity that's motivated and rooted in the grace of God, the grace of God, the charis of God bestowed and manifested. The divine influence of the Spirit of God upon a believer that has received so much from God and is touched by the heart of God that he begins, it's motivated by grace. Generosity is never uh best scriptural, the it's it's not emotional, it's not impulsive, it's not feeling guilty, it's not out of greed, it's not giving to get. It is the communication of the nature of God. You are never more like God than when you are generous. That's when God communicates his heart and you you respond. And it's a generosity that was in spite of their own needs, in the midst of great trials and affliction that and and their own struggles, they gave. Please understand that thousands of people uh that are that that are serving in Velv, we uh two Sundays ago were almost 10,000 people uh in on site on our 10th site. So we we belong to this this one church all over the province and in France. But if this church even exists, it is because believers for 33 years are giving just like that. Believers that uh everyone that people that have needs themselves, we all have needs, all have have seasons of needs, and and and some some of us say harder times and harder times, but but the kingdom of God of God advances when people are touched by the grace of God and they say, I have needs, but there's people that have more needs than me, and I'm gonna give because I trust in the faithfulness of God to bless, and also because I want to give them Jesus who will change their lives. So it's a it's a it's amazing, it's very moving to me. It's magnificent generosity because uh our joy is always towards helping more people and and and never in a mindset of what's the least that I can release or least that uh that I can give, according to their capacity and even beyond their capacity. They became filled with the grace of God and the compassion of God. And this is this is the foundation of everything that, as Pastor Selman said, this is the foundation that that when we were just a hundred people, uh uh we began gathering some food. This is the foundation of giving so much to Axon Nouvel V and now bringing food and help to over 20,000 people a month. It's the foundation for every mission that we do, it's the foundation uh for schools and orphanages and everything that we are supporting together. It's a foundation for every church plan, it's the foundation, it is the heart of God communicated to us that people that even that are far from us, but they are close to the heart of God and they become close to us. Now, let me say this. Uh, let me explain, uh, and I've not shared this many times, and I I I really felt that there needs that tonight would be there's an impartation that needs to take place. That many people that have come now in the first two years, and you have you're building this is your church, but you are you're you're part of it, you're receiving, you're you're looking, and but that that you need to understand our DNA. There are some moments in the history of our church that became very, very significant, that when you are touched by the grace of God, sometimes you will be tested, and out of your own needs, you will be called to give. The Nouvelle V is built on that. Uh let me share this testimony with you. In January 2010, uh, we were fasting and praying where an earth an earthquake hit the country of Haiti. 300,000 people died. Every school we had, uh the churches, everything, people were dying on the street, and we were prepared that January. We had worked, we had prepared it for months. We had prepared uh a big, a big uh uh church, uh a big fundraiser to do renovations. It was 10 years in this building, so we were gonna renovate, beautify the place. And when Haiti hit, it became so clear to us we're putting aside our own renovations, we're going full blast to help people that can't do anything for us, that are uh thousands of miles away, but uh they're our brothers, our sisters, and they need us. So we began to, and I remember being in a board meeting, and it was significant because God was shaping us and testing us. I remember being in a board meeting, and one board member, and humanly speaking, he was right. One board member said, Pastor, you know, if you go bigger like that on Haiti, people are gonna give up all kinds of money to Haiti, and we're gonna hurt, we're not gonna make our own budget. And I said, Come on, if we go towards the poor, if we go towards the people that can't, God will always provide for us, okay, but be careful. And one board, good man said to me, Well, you've been warned. So we went full blast helping Haiti. And when October came by, this is January to October, and we rebuilt schools and hundreds of thousands of dollars, and we we rebuilt uh houses for people that we we just pouring poured it on on on the uh and we believe we were doing it in the will and according to the grace and the heart of God. We have needs, but they have greater needs. And as we we got we turned around through the month of September, October, for the first time of our history, we were hundreds of thousands of dollars in deficit. That never happened, never before or since. And I was I was carrying this as a pastor and walking, and and and one third, very significant. One Thursday, we had the board meeting that night, not the other week, not the other day. That Thursday, we had a board meeting that night. And for the first time in our history, I had to come to the board in October and say, we have this deficit. And and I was so heavy laden about it. And this is Thursday afternoon, the board meeting is like six o'clock at night, three o'clock in the afternoon. I get a phone call. It's David Wilkerson's assistant, Barbara. And and uh he didn't know anything about our situation, not not a word, nothing. But but she she calls a yes. Uh, brother Dave wants to talk to you. Never called me like that on my on my cell. He wants to talk to me when now, right now. Okay, and I I hello, Brother Dave, on the phone. And he doesn't say no introduction, no small talk. He says, Uh, Claude, the Lord spoke to me. You have a great need, but God has heard you and God has seen your heart. So God has put on my heart to give a gift to your church. I said, Well, thank you. So we're giving a gift of one million dollars. I only get two woos. I'm like, I'm crying, I'm weeping. He said, No, no, no, no, this is from the Lord. He says, This is uh for you to to this is to remind you that uh that uh that God has heard you, you're on the right path, and then this is my heart. So so God bless you. And he hangs up. I'm crying. I call Pastor Mark, I call the other pastors, I'm uh I'm crying. They think somebody died. So I said, No, no, this is David Walker, a gift, one million dollars said somebody next to you, US. So I'm oh one million dollars, and all just looking at me, man. Pastor Marcus just stunned everybody. And Luke Party, the treasurer, said, Oh, yeah, great. Um, do you have anything in writing? They thought I was losing it. They said, Are you okay? Are you sure that no, no, no, no? So that night I stood at the board meeting, and this was our best. Don't, don't, that meeting's gone a long time ago. This is 20 years ago, but it it was a moment I didn't just do a board meeting, I stood in front of our board and I said, Please let's never forget this moment. We will never go lacking if we are the expression of God's grace and God's heart. I want you to clap with all your heart. That's the model of this grace, and then God calls us to to a movement towards maturity in this grace. I always say this way: there's the example, and then he calls us to be excellent in this grace. Is that we read it in verse, continue in verse six of chapter eight. So we urge Titus that as he had begun, that he would also complete this grace in you as well. But as you abound in every, and that the French translated excel, and the Greek is much, it's more close, excel. As you excel in everything, you seek to grow in everything in faith and speech and knowledge and diligence and zeal and in your love for us, see that you abound, see that you grow, see that you mature, see that you excel also in this grace of generosity and this caress of generosity. Did you know, did you ever wonder how come this passage uh gives us the name? This is the uh we urge Titus. Did you ever notice how many times in scripture in the New Testament there's just a name of so many names of individuals? At this moment uh of the writing of this epistle, there's thousands of Christians, but the Holy Spirit wants us, wants to know, wants to show underline a name. This is Titus, this is Claude, this is Fred. The uh one in one chapter in Romans chapter 16, there's 30 different names. Why all these names? The Old Testament chapters of names, because God is personal, he's a personal God, and we live every part of our Christian life before him first, and we will one day appear before him for ourselves. You will not, I will you you will not be able to appear before God and say, Hey God, I was at New Life Church. Look at everything we did at New Life Church. God's gonna say, Well, what about your portion? What about your name? He calls our name, Titus, Clone, Salvan, uh the Spirit of God calls my name, you, yeah, your name, and uh you and me and Titus. Are you just just the loving voice of God? Are you continuing in what you had begun in the grace of generosity? Are you growing in faith and in faithfulness? It's the only reason we can plant, uh, we can have a love in church. It's the only reason we're sitting in this building, it's the only reason uh we we can um uh mobilize and we can develop as we do, is because there are believers all over our churches that are seeking to grow in generosity, so to to excel, to move towards maturity. The grace to be generous is a spiritual spiritual discipline, it's a pursuit for every every Christian, just like uh every normal Christian would look at this passage and say, Of course, if I if you're a sincere Christian, I want to grow in faith. I need to grow in faith. Yes, I need to grow in words and how I speak. Uh to just to be better, I speak to my wife and my kids. I need to grow in the knowledge of God, I need to grow in zeal, I need to grow in faith. But a a the question is, are we am I preoccupied and passionate in the pursuit of growing and maturing in giving? Am I a a more excellent giver? Many times when a church like this begins, there's people that went through woundedness, went through hurt, disappointments, and they come in for sea uh and join a church in their seasons of healings and their season, and God is all love and grace. But the Holy Spirit calls your name, calls Titus' name, calls my name, and says, I'm calling you to grow. Was there a season in your life where you gave generously and with joy and with purpose? But things that have happened, uh, are you semi-retired in terms of giving? Are you seeking to excel in the grace of giving? God is speaking to all of us, he's speaking to all of us that have been saved, transformed, set free, forgiven, restored. Now, in my notes, it said, Once I would go from saved, transformed, forgiven, restored, there would be some reaction in this group. So I'm gonna say it again. He's speaking to us who have been saved and transformed and restored and blessed. Come on, and set free by his love. Hallelujah. The amazing grace of John 3.16. Oh, we love it. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish and have everlasting life. If you love John 3.16, shout Amen. That's my story. This is my story. But God says, Have you forgotten uh or minimized or neglected the calling not only of John 3.16, but of 1 John 3.16. Not as many Christians know 1 John 3.16, because it says, By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren, and whosoever has this world's goods and see his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him. In the Greek, it speaks of he shuts up his bowels. It's literally the same Greek word where in Luke he announces the Messiah and he says, From the bowels of mercy of our God, he came to bring light to those that are in darkness and to set them free. It's literally the the splagi is only the the inside of God that are moved. And he says, if he he speaks to us, he says, Hey, whoever has this world's good, you have you have means, and you see your brother in need, and you shut your heart from him. How does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth, and it's amazing, and by this we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. But it's impossible to love without giving. We also have to lay down our lives, and we do it in a very, very holy spiritual way. When we give portions of our livelihood, of our the work of our hands, it becomes a worship, it becomes a seed, it becomes literally the laying of our lives for one another. If someone has this good, the the the the goods of this life and sees his brother and shuts up his heart. Let me tell you a secret. Let me tell you the reason I believe in this is why I'm here tonight, and this is why I'm speaking this, and I I am praying to I am the call to protect it, to be the protector, to protect this DNA, to protect this vision. The reason why for 33 years of unstopped growth and and and blessing and protection and favor and multiplication is that we never stopped opening our hearts. As a church, we never say enough. Do you know that as I'm getting older, do you know how many times people say to me, ooh, another church, oh no, oh, more and uh more, more for the food bank, more for the uh more on missions, another church, France, English, Spanish, Drummondville, Montpellier, another, we never the secret of the flow and of the blessing, we never shut our heart. We open our heart again and again, and God fills it and blesses it. Say yes, please. So there's this this model and then this moving towards maturity. And notice what John said. John said, This is how we assure our own hearts before Him. This is how you know that you are you love it, and then that your heart is right, that you are that you're not just love loving in speech, that you're you're not just a Christian in name. So, so that's that that the same theme uh is taken by by Paul in 2 Corinthians 8. It continues from the model to the movement to maturing in this grace to what I would call the monitoring of measuring of it. Oh, you have the example, you have the excellence of grace, and then you have the examination. It's exam time, it's examination time, chapter 8 and verse 8 to 12. I speak not this by commandment, but I'm testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others. He says you're surrounded with people that are faithful, and I'm testing the diligence of your heart as you look at people, Christians all around you that are sowing and are and are so faithful. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus, that though he was rich that he was for the sake he became poor, for you through his poverty might become rich. And in this I give advice is it to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago, but now you must also complete the doing, continue, fulfill the doing of it. That as it was a readiness to desire it, so there was also be a completion out of what you have. And this is an amazing sentence, verse 12, a principle. For if there is a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has and not according to what one doesn't have. So there's a question here, he's actually saying, What uh what is the test, the proof, the measure of the love and grace of God? And I want to tell you something. The grace of gener Christian generosity is different than any other human generosity, it transcends human generosity because our model is the grace of the sacrifice and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he says, literally the testing of your sincerity, and then he he uses the simple words but that pierce my heart, and year after year, in 2 Corinthians 8, uh verse 24, just a bit further further down, therefore show to them and before the churches the proof of your love and our boasting on on your behalf, the liter literally the testing of your sincerity, the proof of your love. They first, the Bible says they generous grace and sincere love is spiritual response to the Savior's love. They first gave themselves to the Lord and then they gave to his work. How many of you are proud to say, I gave my heart to Jesus? I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you hear and you say, I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ, give him praise. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. When I was in Africa, I'm not gonna name the country, but I was in an African country, and Africans know how to celebrate and they know how to do offerings. We we're we're just we're sticking the muds here. Uh in Africa, they just so I was just amazed, they're doing this offering and it's music, and people are dancing and they're bringing their offering, and they're dancing, it's so joyful, and it's so rich, and it's so amazing. And they had these huge baskets that the men were carrying big baskets, dancing, and people were putting in their money. And there was this skinny guy, and he was he was dancing and he had an offering, but he got so enthusiastic that he ran, he put the money in, and then he jumped in the basket himself. He uh they offered themselves to the Lord and then they gave hallelujah. Say to somebody next to you, time to jump in the basket. Say that to somebody next to you. Gave myself to God. You know why? Gave myself to God because everything I gave myself to God and I belong to Him, and everything I have, He gave me first. None of you are owners of anything. We are just we we we are just uh stewards of what God. Everything I have, everything I have, God gave me. Everything I have, God gave me. So when you're returning, that's the actual defense, it's not a legalistic thing. It's the principle of tithing in the old testament was the first fruit. God bless gave you all this, and you gave back a tenth because everything David said it many times, everything I have, I give back to you. Many years ago, when I my my boy, my my son was a hockey high, high level, especially very high expensive hockey player because the equipment was so crazy. And we're playing he's playing hockey, and and and and uh Saturday morning, and we're going to a hockey practice with him, and we're coming back. And I mean it was insane. This is this is 15, 20 years ago. But this kid, 10 years old, 11 years old, $300 skates, $250 sticks, it's just crazy. Just the whole thing was crazy. I love soccer. Give me a ball and shoes. This is what I like. So, so, but he's playing hockey, so we're coming back from the the rink. He's oh dad, can we stop at McDonald's? And and I'm not allowed to go to McDonald's anymore for many years, but with him, I I would sneak away from Chantal to get McDonald's. And I so so we're at we're at the drive thru at McDonald's, and and he orders back then. They had super size. It's like a barrel of fries. I mean, the thing was as big as he was, just a huge barrel of fries. He gets it on and puts ketchup on it, and so I'm Just looking at him. I'm driving away. And I reached like that to get one fry. And he goes, Mine. No, no, this is mine. Mine? Listen to me, boy. Everything you are, I gave birth to. Your little shoes and skates, and this, this truck, this fries. I am the Lord of the fries. I can cover you with fries and I can take them away. Anything you give to me already gave to you, say yes, please. This is this is why we we come and we the generous grace and sincere love is always sacrificial. It's always with sacrifice. He says it's it's according to the spirit, according to the spirit of Christ. Because we we've seen the grace. He says, I'm talking about this offering, you've seen the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's much generosity in this world that is without sacrifice. But David in the Old Testament even said when somebody was to give wanted to give him a piece of land for build for the temple, he said, I'm not I'm not gonna offer anything to God that costs me nothing. I'm walk walking with Christ. So that's why it's proportional, it's not about amounts. Somebody can give uh uh ten dollars and it's an amazing offering before God, and somebody next to to him or her gives a thousand dollars and it's not in sacrifice. The the spirit of of of giving and generosity that opens the heaven is sacrificial. In the beginning of uh of the church, the first um telling you these stories of beginnings because we're in a beginning in a way. We had uh just a couple of hundred people in the small room that we were in, Fred was there, and um and and we we took offerings with baskets back then, and and I never checked the the offerings, but they one Sunday they came and said, Pastor, this strange thing in the in this this this basket, offering basket, somebody put in put in a wedding ring. And then there was next in the same basket, there was a set of keys with a note on it. And so, this we don't know what to do with this. It was a small church back. We were just beginning. So I I just asked asked people to ask around who who would give. And I find out this man, this widower in our church, is great, the great man loves the Lord. He has very, very small, very uh uh meager means, he loved God. And and and we were talking about a project uh for Axonov L V or something, and he he didn't have much to give, and he just felt I'm gonna give my ring. So I said, Wow, that's amazing. Bring him to me next Sunday. I want to talk to him. So when he came back the next Sunday, I said, Hey, his name was Charles. So he's with the Lord now. I said, Charles, thank you. This was great, but take the ring back. I God saw your heart, take the ring back. And he looked at me, he says, You can't give it give it back to me. I said, Yeah, I'm giving it back to you. God saw your sacrifice. So just take it back. He says, I didn't give it to you, I gave it to the Lord. So I convinced him to take his ring back, but I never forgot this the sacrifice. And in that same offering, it just happened, it was a message to me. In that same offering, we found out what was the key, the key set was about. It was a key set with with a note, and this was this couple in our church of better means, people that had some money. And they were sitting in church, and while we were presenting this project for to help for the needy in our in our community, uh, he had this thought in his mind. He had this cottage by a lake that he had tried with three different uh um real estate agents to sell, and it was never selling. So he was without an agent now, and and grass was growing, and he sat there in church and and he just had this thought. So he says to his wife, If the if the cottage sells, I'm gonna give it to the church. And she goes, Wow, man of faith, this is this thing hasn't sold in years, and there's no not even an agent. So I I think I am sincere in my heart. And and by Wednesday, somebody called and said, Are you the guy with the cot the cottage to sell? He said, Yeah, well, there's no agent, but somebody told me about it. I'd love to buy it. What's your price? He said, he told me after, hey, he said, I thought of the highest possible price. That this price, okay, I'm buying it. So he came. So his wife said, Hmm, okay. So he came and he you see, both of them have different means, different capacities, but both in a spirit of sacrifice. You come with what you have, and that is what what's uh the grace of giving is it's not it's not sporadic, it's not sentimental, it's not situational. In the text that we just read, there's different kinds of people that were there that are still here today. You had people here, we just read the verses. You had some people that a year before said, Oh yes, I will, but stopped on the way. Others that said, I will, but never began. Others that thank God that said, I will, and they did, and they fulfilled. But spiritual giving is never sentimental, it's not, it's not situational, it's not sporadic. It's actually very spiritual when it's systematic and steady. I got one amen. Thank you. Don't don't don't leave me alone, brother. And at this point in the message, I can amen myself. I can go in the front room and amen myself. I'm coming to the end of it, but please, please hear this. Apostle Paul says, let everyone, this is a spiritual act. This is so so reverent, it is so beautiful. Apostle Paul says, let everyone, the first day of the week, first Corinthians 16, uh, concerning the offerings that I've given, let everyone, first day of the week, set aside each according to their means. It's a very systematic. I come and I offer it to God in faith, I offer it to God with joy, I offer it to God for the multiplication of his kingdom, and God's people say amen and amen. It's it's proportional. And it I want to close with this. I'm gonna ask the musicians to come. And when sacrificial and systematic and starting now and according to thee, the grace of God giving is released, we become literally his people of the open hands. We become the open hands of God in our community. We become the open hands of God. And want to close with this verse in Deuteronomy 15 that says this if there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly give him sufficiently to for his need. Whatever he needs, you shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing, get ready, the Lord your God will bless you in all of your works, and in all of which you put your hand to. For the poor will never cease from the land. But therefore I command to you, saying, You shall open your hand. Would you everybody would you do this with me? Would you just open your hand to your brother, to the poor, to the needy in your land? I want to close with this. We are called to be his people of the open hands, called to be his people of the open hands. We the people of the open his open hands, we see the needy in our city, in our society, and in our nation, and in the nations far away but close to his heart, and we open our hearts and dedicate ourselves to meeting their needs, and as we release, God multiplies, and as we release, God multiplies. We the people of his open hands will walk in the blessing of God in all our works, and all to which we put our hands because we believe in all our hearts that open hands will always open to heaven. We the people of the open hands declare that we give with joy and faith and expectancy and thanksgiving, an amazing deep sense of privilege that we are called to partner with God for the salvation of man, for the transformation of lives, for families to be healed, as pastor Pastor said so well, for people to go from death to life and for the kingdom of God to advance. We, the people of his open hands, we declare that the reality that that the poor will always be with us, as we just read, is not an excuse to do nothing. We know we will not eradicate poverty on the earth, but we will feed and we will clothe and we will protect and we will educate and we will lift up and we will comfort and we will be his open hands to men and women and young people that need him in Jesus' name. Please, if you are the people of the open hands, say yes. We, the people of his open hands, know full well. And there's millions of people of Quebecers that don't know God, and hundreds of towns where there's no life-giving churches, but it is not an excuse for us to stay among ourselves in a corner and just say, Oh, one day, one day revival will come. No, we the people of the open hands will plant churches and support churches and and and train messengers and pastors and leaders and win souls, and God will give us a great handtime harvest until he comes, because we're the people of his open hands, we the people of his open of his open hands. We'll be the messengers of his miraculous multiplication, one person at a time. You know, I've been pastoring the church here for 33 years. We've we've had growth every year, but I have the privilege, I'm gonna be 64 in a few weeks. I have the privilege with you, we have the privilege together. I have the privilege of seeing more people coming to Christ now than at any time in our history. Do you understand? Please, please, we when we meet on Sunday morning, when you meet here on every side, we're one church. So when you're in the province of Quebec and you say, by the grace of God, last weekend it was almost 10,000 people in the last two years, 2024, 2025, each year over a thousand people joined in. And oh we are believing God for 1,000 baptism in the next year. We are living in a season of divine, divine harvest and multiplication together. So we say, Oh God, we are for ourselves, it's one person at a time. I was at the I have a lot of I go to a gym where I could do a home group that there's like 50 new life, New Valley people at that gym. So, and some of them even say, Hey, uh, you don't come very often. I say, Hey, I'm doing my best here. And I I I was on the elliptic, and many times they come and I love it. But this one recently, a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago, I'm on the elliptic and I got my my my I'm listening, I'm watching something on my phone, and and and and this guy comes, he's muscle above muscle, he's just just a moose of a guy, and and tattoos everywhere. And the elliptic are a bit higher, and and he there's people all around, and I'm not shy, but it's just surprising. He stands there and he goes, Pastor Claude, dude. I said, hi, hey, hi. And he goes, uh he tells me to take it off. I'm just thinking to you, okay. So I go, and he goes, it starts like that. He says, Mwelo, I'm gonna translate. I'll say it in English, but he said in French, he said, Muela, Stephen. If it wasn't well beyond, I'd be dead. He's speaking loud, people are in the machine, they're looking at him. He said, Mwelo, j'étais dans cocaine, I was this, I tried to kill myself. My friend uh brought me, and God did something in my life. It's been three years, I'm sober, I'm baptized, I work. He said, and he kept repeating. If I wasn't about it, hey, Pastor Claude, and I'm just oh praise God. By then a lot of people are just watching. He's like, Hey, it's my fiancée, she put to present. Sure. So he runs, she comes back, she has as many tattoos as he does, and she's covered also. And it's hey, Ellen accepted ça, on se marie cet été, on est dans le core enriched, on he's got all the nouvel V language. She fit my coup de nouveau, she's deveni mom, etc. etc. And I I went home that day with that fit with his with him, with his face, and he says, Come on, on putt fire uh uh we may fix that. So he's got this picture circulating, you might have seen it. It uh some people tell me, I got see this picture on social media, you're there with a tattoo man, and you're just like this, and I'm sweating and I'm just trying to survive the moment, you know. But I'm uh I got this ringing in my heart. He said, if it wasn't for he was not saying about what he's really saying, if it wasn't for Jesus Christ, I would not even be alive. But if it wasn't for people of his open hands, I would not even be alive. Now, if people can go crazy, and some of you have, if people can go crazy at the Bell Center tomorrow night for Suzuki and the others, and clap and do ovations before the game even begins. I want you to stand to your feet, please, and can we give God glory and ovation for what he's doing in our midst? I would like to hear a sustained praise. Hallelujah. No, no, no, come on. I know you're English, I know you're reserved, but can you please, please, please, please, please hallelujah, multiplied grace, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. I just want to speak the name of Jesus. So, this is what I had in my mind in my spirit to close this service tonight. Would you please flow with me in this? I had this in my mind in prayer. I want you to know that all all the sites we pray for new life, all the pastors we pray, we stand with you. We're believing for God to do a mighty work in your life, church. We're standing with you. But tonight I felt we would come and finish the service in prayer. I would like I had this picture in my spiritual last few weeks, knowing I was coming tonight, uh, of all of us coming forward. Would you uh would you please, even if you never come forward usually, can I ask you to come? I would like for all of us to come. We're coming for two things. There we began with this word, with this verse that says, This for this reason I bow my knee. So tonight, can we come, all of us come close. Can you come and we bow our knee for our own families and calling on the name of Jesus of our on our own family? Come close, please. But we also bow our knee for the calling of God, for the for the purposes of God, for the mission of God, the vision of God that that He's called us together for all the families of the earth to bring people into the family of God. Thank you for coming from all over this place. And as you come forward, make your way. And when you begin, when you get here, would you begin to pray? Would you begin to pray out loud? Pray, begin to pray. We're bowing this for this reason. We bow our knee. Oh God, thank you for the grace that you gave us, that we are called to make known, make known to the gates of hell, make known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places your eternal purpose that you so loved the world and you gave your son, and now we can be messengers of your grace, and we can see men and women set free and and free from darkness and bondages, and have an abundant life and an eternal life. So today we lift our voice. I would like for us to have in Acts chapter four moments where the Bible says they lifted their voices together. Lift your voice for your own family. You have sons, you have daughters, grandsons, great-grandsons and daughters, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, lift your voice. For this reason, I bow my knee to God the Father. Uh, I bow my knee to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the whole family in heaven and earth. And God, we we lift our voices for our own families, my family and me, but also for my Christian family, my spiritual family for the work of God you put in our hands in the name of Jesus. Begin begin to pray. Even before we sing, this song is a prayer, it's an intercession. I just want to speak the name of Jesus. But before we do, before we sing, I want us to pray, not even get lost in a song. I want us to pray. The musicians continue playing. And I want you to be uh very, very um be at ease and be uh be uh delicate and be uh be careful. But I men with men and women with women, I would like for you to put your hand on somebody's shoulder and we all begin to pray for one another. Pray for one another in Jesus' name, one body, one church together. And let me hear voices even before we sing, let me hear voices crying out to God. There's moments when we put our reserve aside. There's moments when we say, God, capture my heart again. Lord, if I've closed the bowels of my heart, if I close my hand and if I close my heart, forgive me. Lord, enlarge my heart, enlarge our hearts and our vision, baptize us in your heart, baptize us in your compassion, baptize us, oh God, multiply your grace. Your grace changed us, but come and multiply your grace in us. We want to be like the Macedonians, even from our own needs, to have a heart enlarged by you and to just offer ourselves to you in the name of Jesus. Lord God, we did not, we did not maybe, maybe we slipped away, maybe we we were shying away from our purpose and our our calling and authority in you. We are called to declare the purposes of God to the very gates of hell, to the very principalities and power, and the one that is in us is greater, the one that is in us is greater, and Jesus is gonna build new life church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. In the name of Jesus, begin to speak the name of Jesus over families, my family and me, my church family and me, my city and me, my nation and me. The backsliders I know in me, in the name of Jesus. I just want to speak the name of Jesus.