Sermon Central
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Hilarious Giving Series
Contributed by Anthony Zibolski on Feb 19, 2013 (message contributor)
Summary: Looking at giving can be an exciting way for people to see in God's word that giving is a part of sowing and reaping. Seeing that generosity is more than money, and giving originates from the heart of God
Hilarious giving
Introduction-
We are in our third week of the series “Lessons learned from Apostle Paul.”
We have looked at the importance of (1 ) Unity in the body of Christ (2)The comfort of God that is available even when we are in the middle of a crisis to those who would keep their eyes on Him.
This morning, we are going to look at giving!
Not only giving, but what the Bible calls hilarious giving! Yeah!
I see all your excitement.
I sparked some people’s attention, some because as soon as you talk about giving, there are some people who conclude, “There goes the pastor.” He is after money again, and then they tune me out.
Another group, all they heard was hilarious giving. They said to themselves, that’s right, if you think I am giving one more penny, that is hilarious!
But what does God say about giving! Is He only talking about money?
Whew! This is not a tithing message. This is a message about sowing and throwing seed- sowing and reaping!
Sow sparingly- reap sparingly.
Sow generously- reap generously.
This is the law of planting!
You don’t plant anything- don’t go looking in your garden for a harvest when you did not plant anything.
(7) “Each man (women) should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or compulsive, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
In God’s law of planting, if you do not plant, don’t look for a harvest.
What you sow you reap. If you plant bad things, you will reap what you sow.
You don’t plant things in the kingdom of God, you will not harvest anything for the kingdom of God.
Paul tells us, give what we have decided in your heart.
You are going to do what you want.
Don’t do it under guilt, don’t do it reluctantly, don’t do it with attitude.
Don’t do it just because the pastor said you should.
Do it because God loves a cheerful giver and it is the right thing to do.
In fact, the Greek word for cheerful here means hilarious.
God is looking for people who want to give not only cheerfully but hilariously.
There are People who have heart attacks every time the offering is taken.
Oh, no, it is offering time again.
Some come late to avoid offering time
Some gone for weeks and don’t catch up
Not oh, no, but praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord I have a chance to give back to the Lord a portion of what He has given me.
Praise the Lord, I cannot wait!
I see some you guys sitting on your wallets and some of you ladies closing up and holding your purses for dear life.
Listen, it is more than that! If that is all you heard, you are missing it.
God’s word says that we are to give back to God 10 % of what he gives us.
He gives you 100%, you keep 90% and you give back 10 % cheerfully back to Him.
That is not a suggestion, it is instruction on what we are to do with our money.
Generosity is more than money, you are not off the hook, but it is more than money.
You get some of the other things right and you will not have as much trouble with the money.
Examples
Generosity defined in the dictionary is:
“The habit of giving without expecting anything in return, It can involve an offering, assets of talents, to aid in helping.”
Generosity is not based upon our economical statue, but instead is based upon one’s pure intentions for common good and giving is from the heart.
Our tithe does not go to God out of our abundance. (repeat) It is based upon God’s Word.
Our generosity to others is not based upon our abundance.
We don’t help others only out of abundance.
We do not only help other people with our money.
Words of generosity include:
Charity
Goodness
Hospitality
Kindness
Compassion
Good will
Sympathy
Friendliness
Spirit of giving
I have not even used the word money yet.
If we do not have a right perspective of money, it affects every avenue of our generosity.
“If anyone has material processions and sees his brother in need but has not pity on him, how can the love of God be in Him.”
James tells us that faith in God will cause us to do good deeds
Jesus himself tells us “Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men.”
