Why don't we head back in our Bibles this morning to 2 Corinthians, Paul's second letter, or possibly fourth letter to the Corinthians. Two we know for sure that we have, there are two others that some believe he might have written as well. But we have it labeled 2 Corinthians in our Bibles, so 2 Corinthians chapter 11 is where we will be this morning. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. If you remember, this is where the Apostle Paul has been appealing to the Corinthian church to reject the influence of the false teachers and the false leaders who are leading them astray with a message about, and he addresses this in verse four, about another Jesus, another spirit, and even another gospel. Which, of course, according to Galatians, there is no other gospel. And so, picking up in verse five of 2 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul's appeal to these believers in this church continues. He writes, For I suppose, I reckon, that I was not a wit behind the very chiefest apostles, or the super apostles. But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge, but we have been throughly and thoroughly made manifest among you in all things. Have I committed an offense in abasing myself, humbling myself, that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service. And when I was present with you, referring to in Acts chapter 18, when I was present with you and I wanted, I had a need, I was chargeable to no man there, for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supply. And in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself as the truth of Christ is in me. No man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia in Greece there. Wherefore, because I love you not, God knoweth. Now, I'm sure you're all familiar with that old adage. You get what you pay for. You get what you pay for. A lot of times, when you pay a bargain price, you're going to get bargain quality. A few years ago, I discovered a brand new store to me called Harbor Freight. At the time, there was one up in Castleton. That was the only one I knew about. And I thought I hit jackpot, because I like to shop bargains. And I would buy bargain tools. Well, I've found that when you go to Harbor Freight, there are times when you buy a bargain tool, you will find that it is also bargain quality. There have been things that have broken on me, but there are some good things as well. But everyone will say, sometimes you get something good, sometimes it's a throwaway tool. You've probably experienced something like that yourself. Probably times in your life when you buy something to get a good bargain, you get bargain quality as well. Well, here in ancient Greece, there was a similar principle at work in cities like Athens and Corinth. Of course, Athens was that great center of philosophy where if you were a young and up and coming philosopher and you wanted to share your insights with others, you would charge people to hear your words. He would gather a few pupils together and have them pay for the privilege of hearing his wit and hearing about his wisdom. This became a well-known practice by the time Paul visited Greece with the gospel. In fact, the practice became so widespread that if a teacher or a philosopher did not charge for their instruction, and they did not charge for their insight, it wasn't considered to be of much value. They believed that when it came to teaching or wisdom or virtue, that you really got what you paid for. Well, this seems to have been another accusation against the Apostle Paul by the false apostles that we've been learning about in these chapters. Because as we just read in verse 7 of chapter 11, he says, I preached the gospel of God freely. Freely. The idea is that he preached without money and without price. And so in that culture, in that ancient Greece, this would have been one reason why Paul's message would have been considered foolish and without value, because he was doing something altogether different than all of the other leaders and all of the other teachers and philosophers of that day. Paul even recognized this in 1 Corinthians 1.18, when he said to the Corinthians earlier, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." And so these false teachers came into Corinth and said, how much did you have to pay Paul in order to hear his message of the gospel, to hear his story about Jesus? And they would say, he didn't charge us anything. And they would look at them and say, well, you got what you paid for. You need to listen to us. And you need to pay us. Because our wit and our wisdom is far greater than the Apostle Paul's, and we will give you the truth. And it's valuable. It's so valuable, in fact, that you will want the privilege of paying for us and to hear from us. But for Paul, it was different. His pattern of ministry and sharing the gospel freely and without charge really was a living illustration and a living example of the gospel itself. Wherever Paul would go to start preaching the gospel in a new city like Ephesus, in Thessalonica, in Corinth, you can actually read and act and see what took place in these cities, Paul would go there, first of all, as a tent maker. That means he would work with his own hands as a leather worker to basically get the money that he needed to provide for his own personal needs. He would also use whatever else he had to minister to the needs of others. He really was a tent-making missionary. He was someone that would go into a place not expecting them to pay for what they would hear from him, but he was wanting to go and share with them freely what God had provided to him. So every once in a while, Paul would also receive love gifts from other churches that he had already established. He talks about the Macedonian churches here. The church of Philippi many times gave them some support gifts because they loved him. And even though Paul believed that the labor is worthy of his hire in the church, and that ministers of the gospel have the right to be paid and provided for by those they minister to, Paul chose not to exercise that right. He could have. He could have said, the churches should continue to support me, but he chose instead to live out what Jesus told his disciples to do in Matthew 10, verse 8. When Jesus said, freely ye have received, freely what? Give. Freely ye have received, freely give. And for Paul, this was one of the greatest privileges that he had as an apostle. He was given the gospel. He was given new life. He was given new hope through Jesus Christ. And he wanted to go around and share that just as freely to those people that God had called him to. This was a mark of a true apostle, he said. This also was the mark of a true follower of Jesus Christ, and so it remains. Freely ye have received, freely give. And this morning, I would like for you to see, from Paul's own life and ministry, just what this means in your life and in your ministry for Christ. True followers of Jesus Christ, like Paul, will freely give. freely give what Christ himself has given so freely to them. And so the first thing that we see from the life of the Apostle Paul is that we need to freely give God's truth. freely give God's truth. This is what Paul gave to the Corinthians in verse 6 of chapter 11 when he said, but though I be rude or relatively untrained and unprofessional in speech, he didn't attend all of the different schools of oratory that Corinth and Athens and all of ancient Greece was known for. He said, though I was untrained in speech like those other professional philosophers, yet not, he says, in knowledge, not in knowledge." Now, for Paul, this is not a statement of pride. Rather, it is a statement of truth. God had graciously provided Paul knowledge of the truth. Truth that he did not know before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Even though Paul was a very smart man. He knew the word of God. He knew the law of God. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, he said. But the knowledge that God gave him was a knowledge of the truth of what Jesus Christ came to do for him. And since he had freely received God's truth, he was going to freely give God's truth to others who were in that same plight. And he wasn't going to expect anything in return. And as we see in verses five and six, Paul gave out God's truth after careful examination. In verse five, Paul writes, for I suppose, I reckon, that I was not a wit behind the very chiefest apostles. Now there is some debate as to who Paul is talking about in these verses, about these super apostles or these chiefest apostles. Who are they? It may refer to the false apostles and what they thought of themselves. They might have said, you know, Paul may have considered himself to be an apostle, but you gotta listen to us. We have been given great gifts of speech and great knowledge. We are super apostles. Some translations put it that way. It may also refer to the true apostles. And instead of the false apostles thinking this of themselves, the Corinthian church might have really held these other apostles up as legendary. They may not have ever met Peter or James, and they thought, boy, these are great apostles. And then when Paul comes along, they wonder, well, how does he measure up to these other apostles? This is kind of how I take it. But either way, the point Paul is making is not about who these apostles are. He's making the point that whenever someone made an accusation against him, he took it very personally and seriously. He didn't want there to be any truth in that statement. He already felt at times that he did not deserve to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. He considered this to be one of the greatest privileges of his life. Remember, in first Corinthians 15 verse nine, Paul says, I am the least of the apostles. I'm the least that I'm not even meet to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But he adds, by the grace of God, I am what I am. He may have not thought himself worthy to be an apostle, but he was. That was the truth. And so even if someone were to say he's not like these super apostles, he's not like these legendary apostles, yet Paul said, I've examined myself. I have searched deeply in my heart and my relationship with God, and I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded that not only did he save me, but he called me and he's given me the grace and the authority to be an apostle, a true, genuine apostle of Jesus Christ. And so he gave out God's truth after a careful examination about who he really was. And that's why in verse five, he could make that truthful claim. It's not a brag. It's not a boast. It is a truthful claim that he was not a wit behind any of the apostles in both his authenticity as an apostle and even his authority as an apostle. And so he gave out God's truth, always examining the truth in his own heart. But he also gave out God's truth through complete transparency. He goes on in verse 6 and says, But though I be rude or unskilled in speech, yet not in knowledge, not in the knowledge of the truth that God has given me. But instead, we, and I especially, have been thoroughly made manifest. I have thoroughly showed myself to you in all things. You see, because of the truth freely given to him by God, Paul never wanted to veer from the truth in any way, shape, or form. Sometimes when you watch a TV show about a courtroom or laws, you're familiar with that phrase that they swear people in, are you going to be prepared to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Well, there's a reason for that. Some people just do it because they don't want to get in trouble. But here, Paul says, I am going to stick to the truth because of the truth that God has given me. So not only did Paul speak the truth, he sought to live out the truth in complete transparency. He didn't want there to be any contradiction in his life. In Acts 24, 16, he said, I do exercise myself to always have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. That's transparent. That's living a life so that what people see is what people get. And if you are a Christian this morning, you too have been given God's truth. It is a truth that has made you free. Remember what Jesus said in John 8, 32? You shall know the truth. Know the truth and that truth shall make you free. So what truth do you know today that you didn't know before you were saved? Well, today, by the grace of God, you know the truth about Him. You know about His holy nature. You know about His character. You know about His righteousness. You also know the truth about yourself. You now know that you were separated from a relationship with God because of your sin. Before you were saved, you didn't know that. But now, by God's grace, through His Spirit, you understand these things. You understand this truth. You also know the truth about salvation, that according to Acts 4.12, there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. And of course, that name and person is Jesus Christ himself. Now, how do you know these things? How do you know these truths? Well, as Peter was told by Jesus, flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you. but the Father who is in heaven. We referred to this in our Sunday School lesson earlier. What's the difference between someone who doesn't know the truth of the Gospel and someone who does? Is it because we're smarter? We're more logical? We have a greater understanding? Well, we may have a greater understanding, but where did that come from? It wasn't through flesh and blood. It wasn't through my might or power, but it was through God and His Spirit, says the Lord. You only know these truths because God Himself revealed them to you. Freely you have received. Freely you've received the truth from God's Word. Now, what will you do with His truth today? What do you do with His truth today? Again, Jesus said, freely you have received. What should you do? Freely give. Freely give. Now, how can you do that? Well, you give the truth to those who need the truth. It might be your child. It might be your grandchildren. It might be students that you have the privilege of teaching in Sunday school or the Good News Club. Wherever you are, you have the privilege and the opportunity to freely give out the truth that you so freely received by God and his grace. But second, we also see that we need to freely give out God's hope, as Paul did, to freely give God's hope. This is what Paul shares with the Corinthians in the second half of verse seven, when he wrote, I have preached to you, what? The gospel of God. The gospel of God. The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ as your Savior from sin and death. And it's very interesting in this verse because he uses the word gospel as both a noun and a verb. He says, I have gospeled you the gospel of God. That's the idea. And what is the importance of using that word twice in both a noun and a verb form? It's to show that what he received in the gospel is what he gave. It was never changed. When Jesus met him there on the road to Damascus, the gospel that he received from Christ's own word is the same gospel that he shared to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Thessalonians, to the Philippians, to all of these people. This was the reason why Paul, when he went to the city of Corinth, gave them the good news of Christ in the first place. And so there in the first part of verse seven, Paul asked them a question. Have I committed an offense against you? Have I sinned against you? Here, Paul wants the Corinthians to examine him and his motives and what he did among them. In verse 5, Paul examined himself. And here in verse 7, Paul wants the Corinthians to examine him. And he asked them, did I fail you as an apostle? That word, offense, is translated sin. It's from the same word that has the idea of missing someone's mark. If you've ever shot a bow and arrow, sometimes you miss your mark, you miss your target. It might go way over or it might fall really short. And that's the idea. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, the Bible says. And so Paul is asking, have I fallen short? Have I sinned against you? Have I offended you? Have I failed you as your spiritual father? Have I failed to lead you and to teach you and to love you to the point that you need to look for another leader and another spiritual father? Of course, it's absurd, because the answer to Paul's question is clear. He has not failed them. He has not failed them. Instead, he had freely received God's gospel, and now he was going to freely give God's gospel to them. How did he do this? As we read in verse seven again, Paul gave out God's gospel with Christ-like grace. Christ-like grace. Again, verse seven, Paul asked, have I committed an offense, a sin, a failure in abasing myself that ye might be exalted? Paul took his call as a minister of the gospel so seriously. And when Jesus washed the disciples' feet there in that upper room and he said, as I've done to you, you need to do to others. Of course, Paul wasn't there, but I'm sure he heard about it. And so he understood the importance of humbling himself, not so that he would be exalted, but that others would be exalted. He humbled himself in many ways in different times all throughout his ministry so that others might be lifted up. And so instead of lifting himself up with pride as the false leaders did, expecting and even requiring payment for the services that they rendered, Paul sought to lift others up by pointing them to Christ. And he, Paul, was willing to pay any price for them to receive the gospel. This is the difference between a church and a business out in the world. A business out in the world is all out to make money. Even if it's a non-profit organization, they are really out to still make money. To make money for a good cause, perhaps, but they have to pay their employees, they have to pay overhead, and they have to pay the rent and the heat and all of those things for the church. Our number one ministry is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to our families, to our friends, to our neighbors, people all throughout the world through our missionaries, and yet we work to give to that cause. We don't expect people to pay to hear these words. We expect our own selves to give so people can hear these words. Paul put it this way in chapter 12, verse 15, when he said, I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. Now, I think there he's talking about his life. You know, he was burning the midnight oil over and over again. But in a literal sense, He was also spending and being spent for them. He worked His fingers to the knob working with that leather in order to minister the gospel to them, not expecting anything in return. A Christ-like grace. Isn't that what Jesus did for us? Remember back in verse 9 of chapter 8, the same letter? Paul says, you know, Corinthian church, you know, Christian, you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor so that you through his poverty might be rich. That was the pattern of Christ's ministry. That became the pattern of Paul's ministry. That really should be the pattern of our ministry because that shows humility and grace. Paul gave out God's gospel with Christ-like grace. But Paul also gave out God's gospel with Christ-like generosity. Again in verse 7, Paul states, I have preached to you the gospel of God freely. That word freely comes from a word that simply means gift. It was a gift. He preached to the gospel, to the Corinthians, and to all of these churches as a gift, and as a true gift. Now, we all are familiar with gifts that are not true gifts, right? Some gifts are given with the understanding that something should be given in return. Maybe you've experienced this in your family. Well, let's see here. I know so-and-so is going to give something to our family, so I need to give something to that family. Is that really a true gift? To give something with no expectation of return or rather to give something with no expectation that they're going to give anything to you. That's a true gift. And that's how Paul gave. The gospel is to be given without expectation of anything in return. And once again, isn't that how Jesus Christ offered himself to us? Romans 3 24 says that we were justified freely. That's the same word. freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Because the gospel is the good news about the grace and generosity of Jesus Christ. And that's how we ought to present it. It's about God's grace and about God's generous love for us as sinners. And if you are trusting in this kind of gospel today, you too have been given God's gospel as Paul did. A gospel that you have bought without money and without price. Of course, a price was paid, we know that. It just wasn't paid by you. It was paid with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, Peter says. But since you have received that gift of the gospel so freely, I remember when I sat on the lap of my mother and asked her about the gospel, she didn't say, okay, son, I'll tell you if you clean your room today. Or I'll tell you if you take out the trash today. I'll tell you if you set the table today, no? She said, here, let me tell you about the grace and generosity of Jesus Christ in coming into this world to die on the cross for your sin. Freely my mom had received, and freely she gave it to me. You too have been given that gospel. Freely you've received, so freely give. Freely give God's hope to others. A third thing that we need to give is to freely give also God's service. God's service, which is what Paul offers to the Corinthians in the second half of verse 8, when he says, I robbed other churches, taking wages of them. Why? To do you, the Corinthians, what? Service, ministry. ministry for their benefit and for their blessing. It wasn't all about Paul. It wasn't so that he could have a following, he could establish a little school of philosophy where people would come from all over to hear his words of wit and wisdom. No. He went there for their benefit, for their service, and for their ministry. He went there to wash their feet. Even as Jesus came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many, that was the pattern of Paul's ministry as well. For Paul, he looked at their service as an opportunity. It was, first of all, an opportunity to repay a debt that he owed to God and to the world around him. To repay a debt. 1 Corinthians 9.16, Paul says, For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to Gloria, for necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. He never saw himself worthy to have been saved, sanctified, or called by Jesus Christ to be his apostle. Why? Because I, Paul said, persecuted the church of Christ. I'm the one who was standing there. Remember you were reading this week? I was standing there when all of these people came and stoned Stephen, who was preaching the gospel that now I am preaching. And they laid down their coats right before me. I was a witness. I was the instigator of this. And yet Paul recognized his great, great debt to Christ. And so when other churches decided to offer Paul some financial support, like we do, missionaries, to help him serve the Corinthians, Paul was grateful. So yes, he worked with his hands. He also received love gifts. But he didn't want people to think that he was taking advantage of, or in the word of this verse, or robbing those churches. Because he wasn't. In fact, even those other churches wanted to repay their own debt to the Lord and to Paul, and so they gave, and they gave graciously and generously and cheerfully. It was no robbery to them, but Paul is saying this to the Corinthians to realize the kind of debt that they owe to Christ and to those other churches, because they helped support Paul reach them with the gospel of Christ. Paul also saw his service to the Corinthians as an opportunity to realize a special desire of his. Now, there are some people that God has given this desire as well. These are those tent-making missionaries that do not receive support from others. These are people that go on the field or perhaps have enough means so they don't require service from others. But in verse 9, his desire as an apostle was to be chargeable to no man. as well as, later on in verse 9, to keep himself from being burdensome. Again, verse 9, Paul says, When I was present with you in Acts chapter 18, and wanted, I was in need, I was chargeable to no man there. For that which was lacking to me, the brethren, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied. And in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself. Again, Paul's desire throughout his ministry was not to be a burden on the churches that he establishes, but to trust in the Lord for his provision and for God's blessing. But once again, look how God provided for Paul's needs. It was through the other churches. And if you remember when we were looking at chapters 8 and chapters 9, the churches in Macedonia were not that wealthy. The Christians there were poor. They had problems of their own. In fact, in chapter 8, verse 3, Paul said that it seemed like they even gave beyond their means, beyond their ability. They just kept pouring money out to this collection for the Jerusalem saints. Paul even talks about here a time when he was in Corinth and wanted. There was a point where he couldn't make the ends meet and he came up short financially. Because Corinth was a very expensive place to live, you know. We enjoy living in central Indiana, where the cost of living is relatively good for us. But think about some of the other high cost of living states and cities that people live in. Think of Chicago and New York and out west in California, the higher taxes and the higher things that you have to buy just to make ends meet and your food and your clothes and all of these things. Corinth was that kind of city. Now, Paul's not complaining here. He's just merely explaining that even though this need might have gone unnoticed by that young and small Corinthian church, it did not go unnoticed by God. In fact, God is the one who put it on the heart of those other churches, even in Macedonia, to help Paul. What an example of grace and giving, grace and generosity in those Macedonian Christians. Even though they were still in poverty, they wanted to follow the grace and generosity of Christ. And so Paul remained free to freely give the gospel in the city of Corn. I still remember the time just out of college. had the opportunity to serve as a youth pastor in Northwest Illinois. And I became very sick. I don't know if it was a sinus infection or what it was, but I was sick for a number of weeks. And I needed to see a doctor, but I had no money. I think the church was paying me just a small stipend of like $50 a week. I stayed with a family in the church. So I didn't really have any needs. didn't have any money, didn't have any insurance, and the pastor there told me to make an appointment with a Christian doctor in a nearby town, and I did that. And of course he checked me over, gave me prescriptions for antibiotics, and actually he gave me the antibiotics that I needed right there in the office, and I never saw a bill. Never saw a bill. What grace. What generosity. This doctor was known for freely giving his services. in order to keep others in the service of the Lord. I didn't know that at the time. But what grace, what generosity. He freely received and therefore freely gave. When you are part of God's family, you too have been given countless opportunities to serve. To serve the Lord and to serve others with your time, with your talents, with your gifts. Now, what will you do with this service that God has provided you? Again, as Jesus said, freely you have received, freely Again, freely give God's service to others. But then we also need to freely give out God's love. This is what Paul alludes to in verse 11 when he asks them, wherefore, because I love you not? Of course, he has a hint of sarcasm in his voice really all throughout this chapter. But he asks them, you really don't think I love you? Just look at how I served you. I served you freely. I serve you faithfully. I love you. Get that. And so Paul's love, according to verse 10, was a dependable love, a dependable love. He says, as the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. Paul wanted the Corinthians to know without any doubt his love for them. So he tells them that no one should question him and his relationship with them because the truth of Christ was in him. In other words, Jesus Christ himself could vouch for Paul's veracity. Christ himself knows, I love you. In fact, no one is going to ever try to quiet me and shut me up from sharing my love for you. No one will quiet him as he shares and shows that love by freely giving all that he had freely received. His love was a dependable love, and the Corinthians knew it. If they looked deep down and they saw that relationship, they knew Paul loved them. And those false leaders, those false apostles, they really didn't. They were in it for themselves. They were in it for the money. They were in it for their own esteem. Paul's love was dependable, like Christ's. But it was also, according to verse 11, a deep love, a deep love that God himself knew. Wherefore, he asks again, because I love you not, God knoweth. Paul wants the Corinthians to see that the primary motivation of his ministry was not money. It was love. It was love. Love for God and love for them. And though they cannot see inside Paul's heart, to really know his motive, to really know his love, the omniscient God can. And so he appeals to God. God sees all, knows all, perceives all, and God himself could vouch for Paul's love. What have you freely received from the Lord this morning? What have you received? As you go through the message guide this morning, I think you can agree with Paul. You too have received God's truth and God's gospel. You too have received God's service and God's love freely. freely you've received. And in truth, you've received so much more than these. You go on. But the question is now, what will you do with what you've been given? What will you do with what you've been given? As Jesus says again in Matthew 10a, freely you have received, graciously, generously you've received, freely give. Just last week, my wife had the opportunity to help a lady at the rehab hospital. And this lady, even though she was in that hospital to be served, she obviously had some concerns, physical needs. She actually gave my wife these two gospel tracts, one in paper form and one in card form, which actually is color shifting. I don't know if you can see that. Isn't that cool? And I looked at the back of those, and I'm familiar with a publisher of these tracts. And in fact, it's the same publisher as most of our tracts in the tract rack, Moments with a Book. I'm probably going to get some of these, by the way. But she gave them these tracts. And as I told my wife later, you know, that lady was not just a patient of yours. She was a sister, a sister in Christ. And as my wife looked at her bedside table, she didn't really have a whole lot of time to converse with her, but she noticed that she had stacks of these tracts there. And so she was ready, willing, and able to hand them out to anyone and everyone who might come into her room. Doctors? Nurses, like her, aides, visitors, just passers-by. And another thing I noticed about these tracts is that there's no church information on the back. Most of ours do, has our information on them. It's likely that this lady, this dear sister in Christ, had purchased these tracts with her own money. But why would she do that? Why would anyone do that? Because freely she had received, and so freely she gave. She was willing to spend and be spent for others. to know Christ. She had freely received God's truth and God's gospel and God's service opportunities and God's love, and so she freely gave. Won't you do the same this morning? Won't you do the same? Freely ye have received. Freely give. Freely give. Let's close in prayer. Our gracious Father in heaven, we thank you for the grace and generosity that you displayed in sending the Lord Jesus Christ into our life to save us from our sin. Oh Father, that was a free gift to be received by faith and faith alone. Nothing in my hands I can bring but simply to thy cross I must claim. Oh Father, we have been given freely so many things by your hand through Christ. Truth, good news and hope, ministry, service opportunities and gifts, but also Lord, that deep, deep love of Jesus, a love that surrounds us, it's above us, it's everywhere. No one can separate us from that grace and love. Freely we've received, O Lord, all these things at your hand. Not deserving. But now, Lord, I pray that we will recognize in Paul's life and ministry what it was given to us for. Freely we've received so that we might freely give. O Father, I pray that we might have that same gracious and generous heart as Paul did. Ultimately, the grace and generous heart of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And so, Father, help us to realize that there really is no expense too great to freely give the grace and the gospel to others. And perhaps, Lord, people might look at us and say, I don't know why you're spending your money on this, or why are you serving in this way, and you give us that heart because freely we've received, now freely we give. So, Father, I pray that our hearts might reflect the heart of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and that as we leave this place, that Lord, we will freely give to others your love, your gospel, your good news, your hope, your truth, your light and help us to do so in service for you. We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.