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Wouldn’t it be a remarkable world if everyone tried to out-give one another? If we saw someone in need, we automatically took care of it. We were always looking for ways to help. But we don’t live in a culture of givers, it seems like we live in a culture of takers. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us see how a spirit of generosity is part of the prescription for living a more meaningful life. We’re considering the Apostle Paul’s counsel about living in a way that honors God.

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Women have played a vital role in advancing the gospel from the very beginning.

In Romans 16, the Apostle Paul introduces us to Phoebe—a trusted partner whose generosity, influence, and service helped further his ministry. Her story offers a compelling picture of what it means to use the resources God has entrusted to us to advance the gospel.

John Rinehart, founder and CEO of Gospel Patrons, has spent years studying and telling the stories of men and women who have supported gospel ministry throughout history. He says Phoebe is one of the clearest biblical examples of what he calls a gospel patron.

A gospel patron is someone who comes alongside those proclaiming the gospel and supports their work through relationships, influence, financial resources, and other practical means.

These partnerships have existed since the earliest days of Christianity.

Luke 8 tells us that Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, and other women supported Jesus and His disciples “out of their means.” They were using what God had given them to help make ministry possible.

Throughout church history, the names of gospel patrons have often appeared in the background. They may not have been the ones preaching sermons, translating Bibles, planting churches, or leading missionary movements, but their generosity helped make those ministries possible.

As Rinehart explains, behind many gospel proclaimers throughout history have been faithful men and women helping fuel the work.

Phoebe was one of them.

Romans is one of the most significant theological writings in the New Testament. Yet when Paul reaches the final chapter, the first person he mentions is Phoebe. Paul writes:

“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself.” —Romans 16:1–2

Phoebe was apparently someone Paul trusted deeply. She is widely understood to have carried Paul’s letter to the believers in Rome—a significant responsibility involving a long and difficult journey.

Paul also describes her as his own patron.

We do not know exactly what Phoebe's financial support provided. She may have helped cover Paul's travel, living expenses, ministry costs, or even expenses associated with producing and distributing letters. Scripture does not tell us.

What it does tell us is significant enough: Phoebe was an important partner in Paul's ministry, and her resources were being used in service to the gospel.

Her example reminds us that faith and finances were never intended to occupy separate parts of our lives.

Christians can sometimes struggle with how to think about money. We may begin to view wealth as something inherently worldly while treating faith as something private and spiritual.

Scripture gives us a much more integrated picture.

What we do with the resources God entrusts to us can itself become an act of worship. Money can be used to care for people in need, support missionaries, serve widows and orphans, strengthen ministries, and help spread the gospel.

The important question is not merely, “How much wealth do I have?” It is, “How can I faithfully use what God has entrusted to me?”

Phoebe understood that her resources carried Kingdom possibilities.

That lesson may be particularly significant in the years ahead as enormous amounts of wealth change hands and women become increasingly influential stewards of financial resources. Phoebe offers a biblical picture of what can happen when financial influence is placed at God's disposal.

You joined a family hoping to love your stepkids well. But what if they don’t exactly love you back? Cheryl Shumake, author of Waiting to Be Wanted, gets painfully practical about how to be a good stepparent without auditioning for acceptance—and maybe when those kids don't love you back. How do you stop competing for your place, love without keeping score, and know what’s actually yours to do when the blended-family dream gets decidedly less dreamy?

Show Notes and Resources

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As a secret service agent, Darin Kinder was trained to handle emergencies. As a Christian, he was gifted with compassion for others. Hear his eyewitness account of the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York City on 9/11/2001 and how he was able to serve other people and make it out alive.

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Nothing has caused more animosity between the Church and the culture than issues surrounding sexual freedom, gay rights, and transgenderism. Guest teacher Aaron Pierce explores how we can engage people on these sensitive subjects with unconditional love, without compromising the truth.

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Guest Speaker Bio

Aaron Pierce is the International Mission Director of Steiger International, a rapidly-growing, worldwide mission organization that is called to reach and disciple the Global Youth Culture for Jesus. Steiger is active in over 100 cities around the world within the regions of Europe, Eurasia, Central Asia, the Middle East, East Asia, South America, Australasia, and North America.

I happened to be there when my friend, Rick, tried a jet ski for the first time. Now, you may have seen those little water machines that look kind of like a baby snowmobile, and they’re a lot of fun. But it takes some skill to stay balanced on them as they start to take off across the water. Rick actually handled it pretty well for a while; he’s a good water skier, and that didn’t surprise me. But it was inevitable that he would eventually fall off. I expected that when he hit the water, that jet ski was going to take right off without him across the water. I wondered how he’d ever get back! It didn’t happen. That jet ski is designed to start going in a circle near you, and it did, and it circles until you can get back on. Well, that’s exactly what you need when you fall off.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “There When You Fall.”

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Lamentations 3, and we’re going to begin reading at verse 19. Now, you probably were not discussing Lamentations over breakfast this morning, but Jeremiah wrote it. It follows this long book that’s named after him. Of course, he’s a great man of God, but he’s a great man of God who knew about failure too. In fact, here’s what he says; maybe some things you and I can relate to. I’m sure we can. Beginning with Lamentations 3:19 and then ending with a phrase that you may have sung in church many times.

“I remember my affliction in my wandering…” Can you relate to that? He says, “the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them.” See, his mind is playing back failures. “My soul is downcast within me,” he says. “This really gets me depressed,” in other words. “Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope.” Okay, the sun’s coming up now. “Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.”

Jeremiah is reflecting on times when even the most committed of us believers fall off, so to speak, as my friend fell off that jet ski. And he captures the feelings very well. “When I fail my Lord I feel discouraged, I feel depressed, sometimes like, ‘What’s the use?’ But every new day, every morning His compassions do not fail, His mercies are new every morning. Every new day I find my Lord circling near me to pick me up even though I fell off.”

The prophet Zephaniah says, “Every new day, He does not fail.” Yes, when I looked at how that jet ski operated, I couldn’t help but think of how our Lord deals with us. It could be that even now you’re feeling crushed by a feeling of failure; you’ve let your Lord down, you’ve let yourself down, and you’ve let other people down. And maybe you feel like you’re just going to stay down. In fact, at times like these your feelings are telling you, “Hey, you fell off! And you know what? The Lord’s going on without you, buddy!” Wrong. “His mercies are new every morning.”

Jeremiah said, “My hope is every new day is a new start. Great," he says of God, "is Your faithfulness.” Not great is our faithfulness; great is His faithfulness. So, no failure needs to last more than 24 hours. Because there’s a new day, and there’s new mercies.

Today your Lord is there, circling faithfully. See, He stopped when you fell off, and He’s been lovingly waiting to pick you up and to get you off to a fresh new start.