Sermon Series

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Pastor Ryan’s Fall 2023 sermon series “Generosity” is inspired by a series of videos put out by the CBWC Foundation on that topic. You can watch the videos there.

The key verse for the series, chosen by the Foundation, is the words of Jesus in Luke 6:38: “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

路 加 福 音 6:38: ” 你 们 要 给 人 ， 就 必 有 给 你 们 的 ， 并 且 用 十 足 的 升 斗 ， 连 摇 带 按 ， 上 尖 下 流 的 倒 在 你 们 怀 里 ； 因 为 你 们 用 甚 麽 量 器 量 给 人 ， 也 必 用 甚 麽 量 器 量 给 你 们 。”

(Pastor Ryan notes that this is not an invitation to bargain with God by giving with the expectation of getting more financial return. It is an attitude of the heart and part of the larger principle of treating others with compassion, the way God treats us.)

  1. Why Give?
  2. How Should We Give?
  3. Where Should We Give?
  4. How Much Should We Give?
  5. Giving: A Transformation of the Heart

He also did some other sermons on the general topic of Giving:

Pastor Ryan recommends these three books as good resources on the topic of giving and generosity:

  • God and Your Stuff (The Vital Link Between Your Possessions and Your Soul) – Wesley K. Willmer
  • Your Money Counts (now more than ever) – Howard Dayton
  • How to be Rich (It’s not what you have…it’s what you do with what you have) – Andy Stanley

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

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“Why Give?” by Pastor Ryan Emmons. This is the first in a series of five sermons on the topic of Generosity.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 (NLT) ; 提 摩 太 前 書 6:17-19 (CUVS)
Luke 6:35-38 (NLT) ; 路 加 福 音 6:35-38 (CUVS)

Introduction to Sermon

The introduction to the sermon is not on the recording, so here is the introduction from Pastor Ryan’s sermon notes:

This morning we are starting a new sermon series on a topic that is not often preached about in many churches, and when it is, it has a bit of an awkward feel to it. The series is on generosity. The idea is taken from a series of short videos that has been provided by a branch of our denomination that helps our churches in a variety of ways that have to do with finances. This group is known as the CBWC Foundation. (CBWC is the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada.) If you want to know more about what the Foundation does, you can go to their website.

Yes, we will be talking about Money and what Bible has to say about it, how those truths intersect with our own financial experiences, and how we can grow in obedience and faithfulness as stewards of the resources that God has given to us.

The obvious challenge is that when a pastor gets up and lets people know that this will be a sermon on giving, it can seem a wee bit self serving, especially is any part of that message has to do with giving to the church specifically (we will get to that in future message) because it is the church that pays my salary.

This is not a sermon series to increase my salary. This is a sermon series to help grow and develop in the area of God’s desire for His people to be generous people.

As I said, the Foundation has provided a series of short videos to help start the conversation around generosity and money in churches, and so we are going to take a moment to watch the first video now. You can watch it on the Foundation website’s Generosity page.

Sermon Notes

Here is a PDF of Pastor Ryan’s full sermon notes (not a transcript) from the sermon.

Pastor Ryan recommends these three books as good resources on the topic of giving and generosity:

  • God and Your Stuff (The Vital Link Between Your Possessions and Your Soul) – Wesley K. Willmer
  • Your Money Counts (now more than ever) – Howard Dayton
  • How to be Rich (It’s not what you have…it’s what you do with what you have) – Andy Stanley

Sermon Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

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Pastor Ryan’s sermon series “The Flawed Yet Faithful” looks at a few of the people on the list of the “faithful” in chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews. Sometimes this list is called “The Heroes of the Faith”. Each of them was flawed but used by God in mighty ways. What can we learn from them so that God can also use us in spite of our flaws?  

  1. Flawed, but NOT Faithful (Rehoboam)
  2. Abraham
  3. Moses
  4. Rahab
  5. Samson

Photo by Danny Nee on Unsplash

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This is the fifth sermon in Pastor Ryan’s series “The Flawed Yet Faithful”, which looks at some of the imperfect but faithful people listed in chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews. God used them in spite of their flaws, and he can use us in spite of ours as well — if only we are faithful.

Hebrews 11:32-34 (NLT) ; 希 伯 來 書 11:32-34 (CUVS)

The story of Samson is found in Judges 13-16 (NLT) ; 士 師 記 13-16 (CUVS).

The requirements of being a Nazarite are found in Numbers 6:1-21 (NLT) ; 民 數 記 6:1-21 (CUVS)

    You can download the PDF of Pastor Ryan’s sermon “Samson” if you would like to read it. Note that this is the outline he used to preach from, not a word-for-word transcript of the sermon.

    Sermon Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash

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    This is the fourth sermon in Pastor Ryan’s series “The Flawed Yet Faithful”, which looks at some of the imperfect but faithful people listed in chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews. God used them in spite of their flaws, and he can use us in spite of ours as well — if only we are faithful.

    Hebrews 11:30-31 (NLT) ; 希 伯 來 書 11:30-31 (CUVS)

    The story of Rahab is found in Joshua 2 (NLT) ; 約 書 亞 記 2 (CUVS).

      You can download the PDF of Pastor Ryan’s sermon “Rahab” if you would like to read it. Note that this is the outline he used to preach from, not a word-for-word transcript of the sermon.

      Sermon Photo by Alexandru Zdrobău on Unsplash