The Execution of Faith Promise

This month we have seen the example of faith promise in the Macedonian believers, the exhortation of faith promise - to selflessly give as they did, the expediency of faith promise - how God has promised to pour out His blessing on those who give to His work, and today, in our final message, we will see the execution of Faith Promise...

Read 2 Cor. 8:11

2 Corinthians 8:11 KJV 1900

11 Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.

Paul encouraged the Corinthians to “perform” - meaning to fulfill, to execute, to accomplish their promised offering. In other words he was saying, “Enough talk, now do it!”

Today church we are calling on you to move in faith, to promise today to God what you will give to the faith promise missions program of our church. John Halsey in his book on Faith Promise giving offers this warning to Christians who promise to give to missions:

Christians who make Faith Promises can anticipate a visitor. He may sit on the side of the bed and mock, or he may ride beside them in the car as they travel home from the missions conference. He will tell them how foolish they were to make such promises. He will suggest that they were duped or moved emotionally. At that time the Christian should remember some things about the way the promise was made.

By now you have settled in your heart what you are willing to give, your cards are filled out and ready to be turned in, but before we do that, I want to remind you of two truths to remember. Remember first...

The Promise

The Corinthians had forgotten the importance of their promise, but God had not. 2 Cor. 9:2

2 Corinthians 9:2 KJV 1900

2 For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.

Your promise is...

To God.

I don’t know what you have promised to give, I don’t want to know, and I will never ask.

You did not make your promise to me, to this church, or to anyone else, you made it to God.

When the mocking visitor stops by you are tempted to slack off, think of what your failure will do to your testimony

Failure to fulfill your promise is a statement of your lack of faith.

Other believers

2 Corinthians 9:3–4 “3 Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready: 4 Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.”

Once again Paul uses the Macedonians as the example for the Corinthians

In this case he asks a question - What if the Macedonians come with me only to find out you have not kept your word?

How embarrassing?

Imagine if another church nearby heard about our FP month and that we were planning to increase our giving to missions. What if our commitment to missions inspired them to try the same thing next year.

How embarrassing would it be if the pastor contacted me and asked if they could bring their deacons by and observe the process of FP giving, only for me to say, “Well brother, this is embarrassing to say, but that was over a year ago and, well, we just kinda let it slip.”

Our promise is to God, to inspire other believers, and to reach

Unbelievers.

I want to be true to the context of 2 Cor. The offering was to the hurting SAINTS in Jerusalem, not to unbelievers

However, when we give to missions, we give to faithful believers who are serving on foreign fields giving the gospel to unbelievers and who also have responsibility to the churches in their area.

We must remember to whom our promise is made, and we must consider the impact it will have on both believers and unbelievers. On that note, let me share with you my last point for today, we must remember...

The Potential

There are nearly 8 billion people living on earth right now. The overwhelming majority have never even heard of Jesus. Through FP giving you and I have the potential to reach many of these with the gospel. How important is missions giving? Paul reminded the Corinthians that it was missions giving that sent him to them in the first place and allowed him to plant the church in their city.

2 Corinthians 11:7–9 KJV 1900

7 Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? 8 I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service. 9 And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.

It was the faithful giving of the poor saints in Macedonian that allowed Paul to serve in Corinth. Church it is our faithful giving in Ramseur that will allow others to give the gospel and plant churches across our country and around the world.

I can stand here all day and preach about the need, I could show videos and testimonies, I could read passage after passage about God’s faithfulness, but I won’t. The time for speaking is finished. The time for action is now.

Conclusion: God does not need your money. God does not want your money. God wants you. All of you, nothing held back, nothing in reserve. You.

Faith Promise giving is a sacrifice. To give the amount you have promised you will have to give something else up. May I remind you before we pray that before you could be forgiven, a sacrifice had to be made. Jesus, because He loved you, had to die for. Let me ask, if you saw an apartment building on fire wouldn’t you say something? Wouldn’t you call 911? Shout for help? Warn the residents to get out? FP is your way of helping to rescue the lost from around the world from the fires of hell.