Grace, mercy and peace through Jesus Christ, who encourages us in generous giving. Amen.

2 Corinthians 9:6-14 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷ Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." ¹⁰ Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹ You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. ¹² This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. ¹³ Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. ¹⁴ And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.

Lord God, you are our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sanctifier. You want us to give to you out of thankfulness for everything we have received from you. You want us to give to you to support your ministries of salvation in this church. You want us to give and trust we will receive. Today we see that you are challenging us. You tell us to open our hands and let you take what you want, and you promise that we won’t be able to hold all the blessings you will shower upon us in return. Lord, grant that we accept your challenge this day and step out in faith with generous giving, all in your name and to your glory. Amen.

In the 1800’s there was a tightrope walker by the name of Blondin. He walked across Niagara Falls many times on a tight rope suspended above the falls. He did back flips, rode a bike, sitting down midway while he made and ate an omelet, and he even crossed on stilts. You could say that Blondin stepped out in faith. There was no doubt in his mind that he could make it across. And there was no doubt from the crowds that he could make it across, too. He would ask the crowd, "Do you think I can make it across?" They would always cheer, "YES!" But when he asked if anyone wanted jump on his back as he crossed the falls, no one said a word. Did they really trust Blondin?

Over the past three weeks we have been talking about treasures. Every soul is a treasure to God. Jesus is our greatest treasure. He sends us on a mission to treasure the souls that he treasures with the sweet message of the gospel. It is easy for us to talk, but not so easy to boldly act. So today we vow to back up our talk with actions. We step out in faith with our treasures. First we will listen to God’s practical advice on giving. Then we will hear God’s encouragement to give generously. We will accept God’s challenge and step out in faith with our treasures.

John gives $20 a week at church because he knows this is enough to keep the pastor off his back. Kate’s church is in financial difficulties. She thinks the church should just divide up all its expenses among its members and send each of them a bill for services received. Tom always gives whatever is left in his wallet on Sunday morning as an offering. He thinks this is God-pleasing because, like the widow who gave al she had, he is putting all he has into the plate.

Because we have so many questions and difficulties with proper Christian giving of our money, like John, Kate, and Tom, God gives us some practical advice on giving throughout the pages of Scripture. Paul gives us this advice in 1 Corinthians 16:2: "On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made."

"On the first day…" What does that teach us about the priority of our offerings? Before you pay for your housing or vehicle, or before you pay off your tuition or credit card bill, and even before you take care of your groceries, you set aside your gift to God. What happens if you wait until the end of the week to give to God? There will be very little that’s left. You will be giving God the leftovers. No one really enjoys leftovers, and God certainly doesn’t want to be thought of last. We are cheating God with our leftovers, just as the Old Testament Israelites did by bringing diseased cattle and crippled sheep to God for their offerings and keeping the best animals for themselves. God responds to this by asking, "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse-- the whole nation of you-- because you are robbing me." (Malachi 3:8-9)

Do you ever think God gets ticked off at us when we spend more on a family vacation than we give to him in a year of offerings? Or we spend more on cell phones, DSL internet, cable TV or even gas and electricity than we spend on him – our Creator and Savior? Put God first. Set that money aside on the first day of the week.

"Every week…" What does this say about how often we should bring an offering? Every week. Regular giving. But what if you miss church because of work or an illness or vacation? Double your offering the next week. You’ve already set that money aside. Now give it double the next week. Even if you aren’t always able to be in church, God’s grace still took care of you during the week. You still received God’s forgiveness, love, and salvation. You still received the blessings of family, health, heat, and more. God didn’t take time off from taking care of you. You shouldn’t take time off from thanking him with your offerings. Every week. If everyone was faithful every week in offerings, our offerings would increase by one to two thousand dollars or more a week.

"In keeping with his income …" What does this say about the size of the offering we bring? It should be proportionate or a percentage of what we earn. The average WELS member gives 3% of his or her income to the church. The Old Testament believer gave 10% plus. Yet we find it hard to give 3%. Even if we are making the bare minimum in salary, we enjoy far more physical blessings than these Old Testament Israelites ever dreamed of. In confirmation class, I asked the students what would be a good percentage to give of their income? Without hesitation they said 10%. If they make $20 a week in babysitting or shoveling snow, that’s only $2 in an offering. If they made $200 babysitting or shoveling, that’s $20 in an offering, but they still have $180 to spend on themselves. 90% is a tremendous blessing. If we can’t live off 90%, maybe we just need to do with less. Smaller homes, smaller meals, less expensive vehicles, fewer channels on TV, buying generic instead of name brands, turning down the thermostat, etc. I don’t know a single person who has boldly trusted God with 10% or more of their incomes as an offering and regretted it.

Some might respond, "I’d love to give more, but… That "but" always seems to get in the way of stepping out in faith, doesn’t it? "But I have to pay for tuition." "But I have to buy groceries." "But I don’t make that much." "But I live off Social Security." "But, but, but." Every single one of those "buts" takes trust away from God. That "but" always puts something ahead of God. That "but" keeps us from the real challenge God wants us to pursue – and the thrill of having God work out the miracle of his mysterious ways through it. Like leaving the line waiting for a Six Flags roller coaster because of fear, we miss the thrill of what God wants us to experience through Christian giving.

"Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; ¹⁰ then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine." (Proverbs 3:9-10) "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷ Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." (2 Corinthians 9:6-7) Putting just a little seed into the field will insure a small harvest. But the farmer who puts out a lot of seed can expect a large harvest. God promises to bless your Christian giving. Not only will you make your life "richer," but you will make a greater impact on people’s lives.

"Whoever sows generously will also reap generously." God gives encouragement to give generously. "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. ¹¹ I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. ¹² "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty. (Malachi 3:10-12) God promises that if we put him first in our lives and show it in our offerings, he will bless that honor and trust in ways far beyond our wildest expectations. The Lord wants us to step out in boldness to test his great love for us and the blessings will come out of it. He challenges us to outgive him.

The Bible is filled with many people who stepped out with bold faith. Abraham stepped out in faith when God tested him to see if he was willing to follow orders to sacrifice his son. Caleb and Joshua stepped out in faith as they encouraged the children of Israel to enter the Promised Land even though the obstacles seemed to be heavily stacked against them. David boldly stepped out in faith to take on Goliath because Goliath had challenged the honor of the true God. The Apostle Paul boldly marched into new mission fields even when he was often rejected and brutally beaten.

Today God is challenging you to step out in faith with your treasures. I believe you can and will do it. You’ve done it in the past and God has blessed this congregation because of it. There are many WELS congregations like ours who are struggling financially. What do many of them have in common? A school. Our church and school buildings and the pastor and teachers’ salaries make up about 90% of our budget. Our school is our mission field. When you started this school and by continually supporting it, you are challenging yourselves to make a difference in people’s lives. There aren’t too many churches this size that can fund half a school. We are!

Through giving generously, God has blessed us. This past year 6 children and 1 adult were marked as children of God and washed in the cleansing waters of baptism. More and more people are receiving the Lord’s Supper often. We had 8 souls who called this their church home until God called them to their heavenly home this past year. We are offering more Bible classes and averaging more people attending. Two years ago we averaged 124 in church. Now we average 170 on a Sunday. Jesus has said to us, "Well done, my good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things." We have been faithful to the Lord and so he has blessed us with 6 youth confirmands and 23 adults who have joined our congregation this past year.

God is challenging us to step out in faith with our treasures. In accepting that challenge, our offerings have increased significantly every year. We have already received $210 in our C.U.P. program. That means we could raise well over $2000 in six months to give to debt retirement. Think about what we could accomplish if every family challenged themselves to increase their offerings by increasing their percentage of giving. Think about what God could accomplish through Epiphany if each family gave just $10 more every week. $10 more from 100 families would mean $52,000 extra in offerings – that is basically paying for a teacher with what we would spend on a DVD or a meal for two at McDonald’s!

Stepping out in faith we are going to Trinity in Union Grove, Mt. Zion in Kenosha, and New Hope in Racine to promote our school in their congregations. We are making a concerted effort to start year-round early childhood development for 2-4 year-olds in 2007. For example, Friedens in Kenosha uses their early childhood development – Christian daycare – to send 30 children into preschool and then into their school. It is a leap of faith for us to do it, but we can do it. Rather than cutting ministries when money is tight, that is the time to refocus our energy on increasing our efforts and stepping out in faith by increasing our ministries. The more we do, the more we give, the more God promises to bless!

You obviously weren’t planning on sitting back and keeping the status quo when you called a mission pastor from Kentucky. And we aren’t going to become depressed or sit still when money is tight and ministry is difficult. That is exactly the time that God is challenging us to act!

Think about it. When it was difficult in the Garden of Eden, God acted. He promised to send his Son as the world’s Savior. When it was darkest on Good Friday, that’s when Jesus gained our salvation. When it was the most depressing for Christ’s followers on that Passover weekend, that is when Jesus accomplished his resurrection. When people were suffering with prostitution, leprosy, demon possession, even death, that’s when Jesus decided to act. When difficult times came, that’s when God accomplished his greatest miracles.

When difficult times come, that is when God is challenging us to do our best. Jesus stepped out for us. Now he is challenging us to step out in faith for him. Look at what Jesus has accomplished through us so far. Who knows where he will take us in the future. Accept God’s challenge. Step out in faith with your treasures. Amen.