The Grace of Giving

Sermon Topic: The Grace of Giving

Sermon Date: January 25, 2015

Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 9:6, 1 Corinthians 2:19, Psalm 16:4, 1 Chronicles 29, Jeremiah 17:7, Luke 6:38, 2 Chronicles 31, Galatians 6:7-8, Proverbs 3, Ecclesiastes 11:1, Proverbs 19:17

Sermon Notes:

2 Corinthians 9:6 - But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. We are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ. With discipleship comes responsibilities. We have an assignment with the kingdom of God, so there must be a commitment.

Time, talent and treasure should be given. We own nothing. We are managers but not owners. We are only stewards. We don’t own anything. God owns everything. Even with our children we give them back to God. We train them in the way to go so when they are old they will not depart.

Giving is a command. Your giving is required to prosper in God’s kingdom. We as God’s people are under God’s rule.

Our mind must be transformed. The carnal mind won’t allow you to give. The carnal mind sees everything as if it belongs to you. “I worked for this money. It belongs to me.” But it really belongs to God.

We must move away from the world’s system of mine, mine, mine.
When we became Christians we left the world and came to God.

Reception and Appreciation – we must receive the word by faith and then apply it to all areas of our lives. When I do that I become a doer of the word, not just a hearer.

1 Corinthians 6:19 – What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? Your body is a temple. You are not your own; you’ve been bought with a price.

Our possessions are not ours. 1 Chronicles 29 – All things come of thee and of thine own. God of yours, we give back to you.

The kingdom of God must be my first priority. If the kingdom of God isn’t first, I become carnal in my thinking. I become selfish and selfish-serving. Success becomes another form of failure. We’re never satisfied.

Your tithe is your seed. It does you no good in your pocket. You can’t reap the harvest because you have not planted the seed.

We must walk in the word or we will end up somewhere we shouldn’t be. I must trust God with my possessions as I do with my salvation.

All to Jesus, I surrender. All to him I freely give. Jeremiah 17:7 – Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. Happy is he who trust in the Lord.

Luke 6:38 – Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Benefits come through obedience. If you obey and serve him; you will eat the good of the land. There should be no struggling, lacking or poor saints. If you follow in his word. Let God be truth and every man, a lie. What is your attitude when you give to the kingdom?

Trust in the Lord and do good; don’t give grudgingly.
If God loves a cheerful giver, what of those who grudgingly give?

2 Chronicles 31:
Once you release what’s in your hands, what’s in heaven will be released to you.

Galatians 6:7-8 – Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. You will reap what you sow. You must sow bountifully. Giving should be a persistent joy to give.

Every opposition against giving should be cast down.

Don’t become prideful about materials. When you become prideful about your possessions they become your God.

Your abilities aren’t responsible for what you have.

Every check given to you is from God. It must come into his storehouse.
You can’t give your tithes to anyone. When you do something else with your tithes, you’re stealing from God. Proverbs 3 – trust in the Lord. Your seed is the only influence you have over your future.

Ecclesiastes 11:1- The seed that leaves you hand, never leaves your life. It enters your future and it multiplies.

When we sow a seed we agree with God’s word that it will increase in our life.
We must wait for it to grow.

When God blesses us we must remember the poor.
Our outward circumstances shouldn’t inhibit our giving.
When pleasing God is our goal, God will flood our lives with the blessing.