Good morning, and a blessed Thursday morning to you.
Would you please open your Bibles to Luke, the 21st chapter—Luke chapter 21—for our time in God’s Word today.

One of the great hymns that we sing is Take My Life. Beautiful, beautiful lyrics: Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. When you look at the various verses in that hymn, this life wholly consecrated to the Lord touches so many areas—it affects our life, our moments, our hands, our feet, our voice, our lips, our silver and gold, our intellect, our will, our heart, our love, our very selves. It is such an all-encompassing, beautiful hymn.

One of the lyrics says, Not a mite would I withhold. That line harkens back to the King James Version of Luke chapter 21.

We read in verse one:

“He looked up and saw the rich people putting their gifts into the treasury. He also saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins.”

Or, as translated in the King James Version, “two mites.”

Jesus said,

“Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, has put in all she had to live on.”

Jesus’ words commending this woman are beautiful, aren’t they? What she was doing reflected a life wholly consecrated to the Lord. She lived under the lordship of God Almighty, trusting that the Lord would provide.

This coming Sunday is an important one in the life of our congregation—Response Sunday—when we will receive our pledges of time, talent, and treasure for 2026. What we are able to do in ministry is directly linked to these pledges. It’s an important day.

You’ve received those pledge materials in the mail if you’re a member of this congregation. You can also complete them online, or pick up additional materials in the narthex.

May it be a wonderful, heartfelt response that reflects our lives lived under the lordship of Jesus Christ—and our trust in His provision.

God always empowers what He desires.

I think of what He says regarding our time in 1 Peter 4:

“Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.”

The Lord gifts each one of us and gives us the time to use those gifts. Whatever He calls us to do, He will provide the time to do it. And as we live out those gifts—using our time under His lordship—He uses them for His glory, as the seed of the Gospel is cast.

Scripture also speaks about our treasure. In Malachi chapter 3 we read:

“Bring the full tithe”—in other words, the first 10% of what the Lord has blessed you with financially—“into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house; and thus put Me to the test,” says the Lord of hosts, “see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.”

As we’ve been talking about in worship, that’s a divine dare, isn’t it? When God dares us to do something—take Him up on it! For indeed, He is true to His promises.

This Sunday—this important day—may we be able to do even more in 2026 than we were able to do in 2025. And 2025 has already been a great year of casting the seed of the Gospel—from our missionaries to our missions, from our free preschool to the community, to the wealth of programs that serve others. It’s all linked to our stewardship.

May we live our lives—every part of them—consecrated to the Lord, under His lordship, and trusting in His provision.

Let’s pray.

Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word—Your Word is truth.
We ask, O Lord, for Your rich blessing upon this Response Sunday. Empower us not to compartmentalize our lives, but to live them wholly under Your lordship, trusting in Your provision.

In Jesus’ strong and holy name we pray. Amen.

God bless you today—and encourage someone.