Freely You Have Received, Freely Give - Manny Dokyi

Sunday sermon recorded on March 2, 2026 

Part of the "Be a Blessing" series.   

Slides used in the sermon: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E3PF75rVEwgVG1WS3GGW8vnu9USwzxqx/view?usp=drive_link 

https://linktr.ee/northpointema

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:01

Getting your food. The food was very, very good. Also, just to let you guys know, if you guys want to go for seconds, feel free to do that. This is very much family style, so feel free to just get up, get another bite to eat as well. But but good to see you guys. My name is Manny Dochi. If you guys don't know me, so uh me and the campus ministry are visiting from the northeast of Boston. Uh we're we're serving in the campus ministry in Salem State, primarily. Uh so I lead the campus ministry alongside Vanessa Wu. And we're just here for our campus swap, like Mateo was saying. And it's just been so amazing to be a part of the North Point Church. So thank you guys so much just for allowing us to be here, to be able to worship along you side, um, alongside you guys and just be here. You know, we've we felt super, super poured into by you guys in so many different ways. You know, I I to today's the title of today's sermon is gonna be Freely You Have Received, Freely Give. And to be honest, like we came here to give, but to be honest, we felt so given to by you guys like tremendously. You know, like on Monday we went to the gossip's place and we got to hear amazing stories from them about the time that they went to Alcatraz and even the time that they got to literally walk beside lions, which was kind of crazy to hear about. Um and just yeah, being able to hear like their story was amazing. Uh, to go into the the the the Ganju's place, even the the next day after that, and being able to hear their story too, hear wisdom from them too. I was not expecting to see goats and peacocks, but I did, which was which was amazing. You know, that was a pleasant surprise. So that was great too. And then even going to the the Pelegins place too. I uh sorry if I butchered your name, but I'm trying. But yeah, so it was amazing just being able to just go to different houses and being able to even just be fed by you guys. So the Maldonados also feeding us, and of course, especially even to the Sabads as well, just for hosting us this whole week, you know. So we just felt super given to by you guys tremendously. So I just want to say thank you for that. And like I said, today we're gonna be going through uh Matthew chapter 10. Um, you guys have been going through this this series called Be a Blessing, and again, you guys have been such a blessing to us uh like tremendously. And today we're gonna be looking at Matthew chapter 10. We're gonna read verse 1 to 8. And the title of today's sermon, uh today's lesson is Freely You Have Received, Freely Give. You know, so it's kind of funny as we're as you guys are turning there, right? So Matthew chapter 10, we're gonna read 1 to 8. It's kind of funny because when Jesus calls his first disciples, in some ways he they kind of do a campus swap to some extent. Like they they like go out to different towns and they're just basically spreading the word uh to different people and reaching out to different people and spreading the word um about the good news about Jesus to different people. So, right now we're gonna kind of read a little bit of the instructions that Jesus gives to his his disciples, and then and then kind of like when he says, freely you ever see, freely give. So let's go to verse one. I'm gonna read verse one to eight. Oh yeah, I forgot I forgot to say this is a picture of us, actually. This picture of us right here. You know that that was the first day in the middle, and then though those are two other days with some different families. So yeah, yeah, just wholesome pictures right there. Well, awesome. So, yeah, let's go to Matthew chapter 10, and we're gonna go to verse 1 to 8. So Jesus says, it says, Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles. First Simon, who was called Peter, his brother Andrew, James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector, James, son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus, Simon the zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message. The kingdom of heaven has come near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. So, like I was saying, the disciples, in some ways, they kind of did this campus swap of type of vibe. They went out to different places and they were staying at people's houses, eating people's food, sleeping in people's beds, like me and the campus did this week. Right? They were kind of doing a similar thing. And Jesus gives them instructions to go and reach out. Of course, he says first to the people of Israel, because that was the plan before the word would then spread out to non-Jewish people. But he gives them these specific instructions, and then he tells them, freely you have received, freely give. And I really want to encourage all of us today to kind of have this same mindset, to adopt this mindset of we received a lot, but we also got to also freely give as well. And my first point for us is for us to be able to do that, we first need to acknowledge what we have received. First acknowledge what you have received. You know, to freely give, you first need to acknowledge that. You know, what did the disciples receive? In the scriptures, in this scripture right here, even kind of says it a little bit. In verse 1, it says, Jesus called his 12 disciples to him and gave him, gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. You know, the disciples, what they received was a calling on their life, a powerful calling on their life from Jesus Himself. Right? If you guys know the scriptures of when they're first called, right? These people are just they're they're random people just kind of fishing and doing other things, and then Jesus sees them and then he calls out to them, right, to be their disciples. They received a powerful calling on their life to then go to be with Jesus and then to go and also make disciples of all nations. That's what they received, this powerful calling. And then, of course, they also received a relationship with Jesus Himself, the Son of God. Imagine how special that is, that they get to have a powerful relationship with God Himself. Right? That's what they received. They also receive authority, right? Jesus gave them authority to be able to drive out impure spirits, like the scripture says, and to heal every disease and sickness. You know, I I very much want that. I very much want that, want that gift to be able to like have the authority to drive out demons and to heal people, you know, it's crazy, but that's that's what they they got, right? That's what they received from Jesus, from God Himself, right? And then of course, it goes on to say that they they they go on to proclaim the message, right? So they received a powerful message of salvation, a powerful message that the kingdom of heaven is near, right? Again, all amazing things. They were more than prepared to go and spread the message to all the towns around Jerusalem, they were more than ready to do that because of how much they received from Jesus Himself, right? And it makes me think, what about us? You know what? That's not what about us? What about us? You know, what have we received in our lives? Right? What have you received from God or other people in your life? Right? So for us to be able to be a blessing and to give to other people, we first need to remember that. You know, even for us, I mean, sometimes you gotta even keep it simple. This is the the idea that we we got to wake up this morning, yeah. Right, we we received life, right? We received breath in our lungs, amazing food to eat today, right? And an amazing, an amazing church that we get to be a part of. Right? If you're visiting here today, like somebody brought you here to be able to hear the amazing message about God, right? To be able to also eat together with an amazing church, right? We've we received a lot, right? A lot of us we we have amazing families that God allowed us to be a part of, right? A roof over our heads, a job, maybe you just got a new job, but a job that you get to work to be able to provide for your needs, right? There's so much that if you just take the time to reflect, you can realize that you received in your life. We received so much in our lives. Right? The same thing with the disciples, they received more than they than than they could comprehend. Imagine walking with Jesus every day, waking up and Jesus right there with you, telling you that the the next food spot to eat. You know, imagine that. Just imagine that the jokes that Jesus Jesus was probably cracking to the disciples. That's such a blessing that they got to have. And Jesus telling them, Freely, you guys have received. So now I'm sending you guys out. Now go freely, freely give. You know, we live in a very like self-focused world, right? Before before we go to Melanie, okay, where's the where's it at? Oh, it's all right, not here yet. We live in a very self-focused world. You know, we we live in a world that is is so me, me, me, I, I, I. Right? It's it's only it's only focused on when they enter into rooms, what what can I gain? What can I gain from being in this room instead of what can I give? Right, and sometimes if we're not careful, that same mentality can then seep into the church if we're not careful. That's true. Right, it can be easy to come into services and just think about all right, how how can I be given to instead of thinking, how can I give? All right, how can I be a blessing to to this church and to everybody else?

SPEAKER_04 9:28

Yeah, amen.

SPEAKER_03 9:28

Right. At this time, I'm I'm gonna have Melanie come up. She's part of she's part of our campus swap, and she's gonna share uh ways that she's felt received too. So let's give it up for Melanie at this time.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Hi, thank you, thank you. Um, Mani, what a great first point. Um Well, my name is Melanie. I'm coming from the church in Boston, the downtown ministry, and I'm just so thankful for allowing me for you guys letting me share about how Matthew 10.8 has like impacted my life and how I've received so much from God and the people around me. Um, when I first decided to be intentional with God and go to church, my prayers were simple. I just wanted to find a community. Um, and right away, someone came up to me and asked if I wanted to study the Bible. I studied with them for three months, and even though I wasn't very intentional at first, they never gave up on me. God kept putting in on their hearts to invest in me to help me grow spiritually. Um, through that, God opened my eyes and softened my heart. I began to understand the steps I needed to take to follow Him more closely, and being part of the ministry gave me so many opportunities. Um, serving in worship, helping with Bible studies, assisting with baptisms and more. But beyond the activities, I gain a family. We may not be perfect and we may not have everything in common, but what unites us is the most important thing: our love for Jesus. I've received so much love from God, from my brothers and sisters in Christ, from Patti and Birac who have poured into us and showed me how to grow in my relationship with God, and from the people from the Northeast region, and even my host family who welcomed me into their home and gave me space to rest and grow. Um, all of this has shown me that God's blessings are bigger than just serving. I came wanting to serve, but I've been the one who is so deeply blessed. Um, every interaction, every conversation, every opportunity to learn and grow has reminded me that God freely gives his love, his grace, and his care to us. When I think about Matthew 10:8, I see how freely I've received God's love and guidance, and that naturally overflows into the desire to share it with others. Um, even when it's uncomfortable or challenging, I try to remember my dad's words. Um, what would Jesus do in your place? And that helped me love the person in front of me in real ways. I'm so grateful for the North Point Church for everyone who made this experience possible for my host family and for all the brothers and sisters I've met. Um, each one has shown me love and taught me more about Jesus. I live here with a heart full of gratitude and memories I'll carry forever. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 12:21

Awesome. Thank you so much, Melanie, for sharing that. You know, again, we gotta acknowledge what we've received in our lives. You know, the picture I wanted to show was this is me actually when I got baptized my freshman year in college. Okay, this was February 22nd, 2020. And if you guys notice on the bottom right, Vanessa Wu is actually right there. If you guys see that, she was a third year when I was a freshman in college. And yeah, like this, this was my community when I was in college. Right? Every every one of those people, every one of those disciples in that picture, you know, poured a lot into me. And I and I felt super, super indebted to them in so many ways. The the guy on the on the very, I believe it's you guys left, um, is Billy Thurlow. He's the one that reached out to me. So I was a I was a track and field athlete in college, and I was going to my athletic center, and he just met me randomly and invited me out to a Bible discussion, invited me out to study the Bible, and it took it took six six long months, but um, you know, I decided to give make Jesus Lord of my life on that day. You know, and and like I said, this was my community, right? I just feel I feel like for me, every time I think about my baptism, I just feel super grateful. Right, in some ways, that's kind of even what motivated me to then be a campus minister, to allow myself to allow my life to then be a light to other people, right? To reach out to other people. And it's been good, it's been so cool to be able to do that with with Javier and Nate and Jacob and and and Petsy and Viraq being able to kind of just spread the message out to Fitzburg State even this week, you know, and just being able to be a part of their campus ministry this week, you know. So I feel super indebted just to just for my community around me.

unknown 13:53

Right.

SPEAKER_03 13:53

So I really want to encourage you guys this week to just reflect on ways that you've received from God. How has God given to you and or even from other people? How have other people poured into your life this week? You know, take time to journal, right? Sometimes it just takes a little bit of slowing down to reflect, to notice how many ways that God has poured into you, how many ways the church has poured into you, other people have poured into you. And then it leads me to my next point to then be able to freely give. We first need to acknowledge, we first need to acknowledge what we've what we've received to then be able to then freely give. Right now, how the disciples, what do the disciples do to give? Right, it goes on to say in this scripture that in verse 7 it says, as you go, proclaim this message. Proclaim this message. The kingdom of heaven has come near. Verse 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons, freely you have received, freely give. So they first have to understand how much they've been how much they've received from Jesus. And then Jesus tells them to go give in these ways. First, proclaim the message. The message of that the kingdom of heaven is at is at hand. Go and heal the sick, go and raise the dead, cleanse people of their diseases. Leprosy was a skin disease, right? Drive out demons. Again, very cool ways to give, to be a blessing to the community and to the towns around them. Right? In the same way, we've got to ask ourselves the question of what can we give? What ways can we also give after realizing how much we've received in our lives?

unknown 15:32

Right?

SPEAKER_03 15:33

The Christian life is not what can we get, but but what can we give? Right? How can we give? Realizing how much we've already received. Right. And what I was trying to say was we live in a very self-focused world, right? I jumped my point. Right, it's very easy at times, you know. You go on social media, everybody wants to kind of focus on themselves. Everybody wants to kind of just show what they're doing in life and or even bring the attention to towards themselves only, only seeking to gain from from places, instead of thinking, all right, how can I be a blessing instead? Right? And for us, we got to ask ourselves the question of what can we give? You know, everybody can give in different ways. Everybody has different gifts, also, that God has given them too. For some people, they can stand up on stage like I'm doing right now and be able to share a sermon to be able to encourage a lot of people. For some people, it's like one-on-one. It's one-on-one time, you know, being able to actually get to know somebody else on a personal note. For some people, you guys are probably very, very artsy, very, very crafty. You could probably make something for somebody, right? Write a card for somebody.

unknown 16:40

Right?

SPEAKER_03 16:41

There's so many ways to give, right? You can you can give up your time, like I like, like it says there, you can give encouragement towards some of the people, some people, energy, like your energy, gifts, even sharing your faith. Like me and the campus are doing this week, maybe even your money to God. Right? I mean, the Bible even calls us to do that too. Right, there's so many ways to give after realizing how much you've received in your life. Yeah, but I want to encourage you guys. You guys are a church that already does that. You guys are a church that gives in so many ways. And I want to encourage you guys to keep doing that. Right, even this week, like I was saying, just from being from all the campus, sleeping in you guys' house, sleeping in you guys' bed, right, eating you guys' food. Just I just feel super grateful for you guys in so many ways. You guys are truly a church that is already a blessing. Right? You guys already have this mindset of freely giving. Even today, I was I came into church and I was talking to Mateo, and I was telling Mateo about how everybody comes into church already deciding to give, from like vacuuming to setting up the tables to just helping out in so many ways. And and I it's just it's super inspiring to me. It's very, very inspiring to me to be honest. Because I'm like, wow, this is a church that I want to be a part of, right? A family like this where everybody just wants to freely give of their time, of their energy, you know, of their gifts. And I want to encourage you guys to just keep on doing that, right? I'm excited to kind of see and hear more stories of Fitzburg and the ways that God continues to move in you guys' life just because of this attitude that you guys have.

SPEAKER_04 18:05

Amen.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

Right. You know, and now this time I'm gonna ask Mateo to actually come up too. He was part of the campus swap, and he's gonna share a little bit of ways that he also strives to give as well. So let's give him Matthew.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

Hi, yeah, I just want to go a little bit off what Manny was saying uh in the scripture, Matthew 10, 8, which says, Freely you have received, freely give, right? And for me, I think in my life, uh the Lord has overly blessed me. I think, especially just being a kingdom kid, uh, myself having the privilege to receive God's word since a child, always hearing it and having the opportunity to accept it, right? Uh growing up in the Spanish uh Spanish region, uh going through the children's ministry, going through the teen's ministry, time after time, the chances. Um, so I think this is my chance and responsibility to reciprocate that and spread that message and the good news to everyone, right? And that's why I'm here today, spending the entire week using my spring break towards God, the message that has to be spread. And meeting people like Javier, Nate, and the Zavads has made that so much easier to spread the gospels, right, to the other students. And I just want to thank them for the hospitality as well. But not only my spring break, but from June to July, I will be spending the first month of the summer to go to Albania to spread the gospel over there. And I've been trying to raise and save money for this mission trip. So these are just uh a few ways I'm really trying to freely give back myself. Thank you for letting me share.

SPEAKER_03 19:35

Good stuff, Mateo. Good stuff. Great stuff. Yeah, so there's so many ways that we can give, right? It just takes us being just taking time to reflect on that. It's not always gonna be easy, right? But but for my for myself included and for Mateo, it makes it easy when we reflect first on how we've how we've been received, how we we've received in our lives, right? When I think about the time I always reached out to, it motivates me to then do the same for other people as well. Right, and now as we start to reflect on even Jesus, right? Of course, Jesus Himself gave of his whole life, as you guys know. Leaving his his throne in heaven, deciding that all right, I'm gonna leave my throne in heaven to become just like a human being, a human being, to be able to identify with sinful humanity, yeah, right, imperfect humanity. Right, he he came in the lowly form of a of a baby, as you guys know the story. Right, it wasn't glamorous at all. And then he he was a carpenter for like 30 years of his life. Again, not a glamorous job either. My dad's a carpenter, so I so I know it. Right, it's not glamorous, it's it's it's not perfect. And then, you know, from 30 to 33 years, he was doing his ministry, and the whole point of his ministry was Mark 10:45, basically, right? For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. That was his mentality, pretty much his whole life. I'm not coming so that to force people to worship me, to force people to serve me, I'm coming to strictly serve other people. And you guys know the story. Some I mean, he he would bow down and and and wash the feet of his disciples. That will some some of them were would go on to betray him and to deny him. But he had this mentality I'm just gonna serve those that may or may not follow me.

SPEAKER_04 21:18

Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

I was even doing a Bible study recently this week, and I was talking about that idea of like Jesus literally gave his whole life for us with the with the mentality that some people might not follow me. Because his home, his whole mentality was, I'm just gonna come to serve. I'm gonna give my life as a ransom for many, many people. I mean, John 3 16, you guys knew this one too. For God so loved the world that the whole for God so loved the world that he gave his only one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Right? God loved us, God loved the world, each and every one of you individually, that he gave his son freely, knowing that we would basically kill him too, because of our sin. Right, it's humbling to Think about right and if you got if you guys are visiting visiting here today, again, this is this is the hope that God wants to give you, right? God wants to save your life, and he and he and the way he did that was was first dying for you, right? He's by first dying for you for your sins, right? You don't have to remember your sin anymore, or you can just follow him. Right, so as we're as we're taking communion today, I want you guys to reflect on this idea how much you receive from God. If you don't believe it, read the scriptures. He gave his whole life for you. Right, and then this week I want you guys to think about all right from that, how can I now give and be a blessing to other people as well? All right, at this time, Javier's gonna come and pray for communion.

SPEAKER_04 22:38

Come on, Javier.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

So bow your head and prayer, please. Dear Heavenly Father, I'm so grateful for this day. You know, we all we are all sinners, Father. We still are. You know, we come every week to give you our all and gather for today. Father, I just pray as I pray for this communion that as we break this bread and as we drink this juice, that it's representing you in the most amazing ways that Manny just described. Father, I just pray that you can bless this week that we're going into, that you can please forgive us for everything that we've done to do against you and not for you. And I pray that as we learn and as we keep walking, young or old, that we keep becoming better daily. As we get to that angle of heaven. I pray this all in your son's name. Amen.