I hope everyone is having a good week so far!  Over the past two months we have been doing a sermon series on First Things and have covered topics ranging from “First Inquire” to “First Love” to “First Know.” I hope you have enjoyed learning about these and other Biblical “Firsts” as much as I have.   I was kind of hoping that with my turn coming up to deliver a message to you that we would get to something like “First Eat Dessert” or “First Sleep In An Extra Hour” since I feel very qualified to discuss these topics but sadly, it was not to be. Those somehow were left off the list.  Still, this Sunday I am pleased to announce that we will be in the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, and we will be hearing about what he had to say on the topic “First Give.”

Now if your days are anything like mine it seems that we are constantly being hit up to “give” to something.  Maybe it is an advertisement in our mailbox asking us to donate to someone’s political campaign or it is unsolicited email wondering if we would be willing to give to some charitable cause.  Maybe it is one of our own children asking if we could give them an advance on their allowance or even one of those impossible to say “no” to children belonging to other people who are wanting to sell us cookies or school raffle tickets at our door. Shockingly, I even hear that sometimes churches will ask people to give…

 It seems like most of us are always having to make decisions about “who, what, when, where, why, and how” to give.  I think all of these can be answered when we consider another often-neglected question, which is “what does the Bible say about giving?” Please join me this Sunday where, Lord willing, this question and others will be answered.  I look forward to seeing you then!