The Heart Behind The Gift

Introduction

[Start recording]

George Muller once said, “It is the Lord’s order, that, in whatever way He is pleased to make us His stewards, whether as to temporal or spiritual things, if we are indeed acting as stewards and not as owners, He will make us stewards over more.”

As we continue our study today on the subject of giving, we remember that last week we discussed at length the meaning of giving ourselves to the Lord. Romans 12:1 “1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

This verse teaches us that the very basic principle of being a Christian is to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice. One that is holy and acceptable unto God.

The victim of a sacrifice, we learned, never walked away from the altar on which it was sacrificed. It died. And yet, we are not called to end our lives, but rather to put an end to our flesh. We are to die to self - self-interests, self-preservation, self-reliance, self-esteem, self-love.

Instead, we are to die to all of that, and be born again, to live our lives through the power of Jesus Christ in us. It is no accident that what we have been learning throughout the Sermon on the Mount is that the Christian life is absolutely impossible to live without the the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and that now, as we enter this series on giving, we see that we must die to self and let Jesus live through us. Paul explains this aspect in Galatians 2:20 “20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

So, the Ultimate Sacrifice, we saw last week, was not dying a physical death. We looked at the deaths of five missionaries - Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Flemming and Roger Youderian - that died as they tried to make peaceful contact with the Waodani tribes of Ecuador to give them the Gospel. We often think that these men and other people like them who have died as martyrs for the sake of the Gospel have paid the ultimate price, given the ultimate sacrifice.

But their deaths on January 8th, 1956 did not mark the day that they gave the ultimate sacrifice. No, the ultimate sacrifice was given many years before when they died to their own goals and decided to let Jesus live through them. It was high school when that happened for Jim Elliot. It was as a teen that he began obsessing over this people group who lived in the stone age and every contact that had occured with them from the outside world had resulted in the deaths of those that had made the attempt. In fact, by the time that Jim Elliot and his four other friends died, the government of Ecuador was about to send in the army to deal with this group of people that did nothing more than kill each other and anyone who dared approach them.

We discussed the reality that few Christians ever give the Ultimate Sacrifice thinking that it is for pastors, missionaries, evangelists, and other very serious Christians to give. But we also saw that Romans 12:1 was written for all believers. And not only that, this Ultimate Sacrifice that we are called to make is the only reasonable way to operate as a Christian.

The only reasonable thing for all Christians to do is to give themselves fully and completely with no reserves to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Does that mean that everyone’s lives will look the same? No. It means that whenever God moves me to do something, I do it. When he calls me to go somewhere, I go. When he directs me to serve in an area or in areas, I do it and I do it out of love, without comparing myself to others, without being offended, without worrying if I am capable. I obey, I follow because I love Jesus, because I have died to my own desires and goals, because He is worthy of all obedience, honor, praise, and glory.

Easy things to say, but not easy things to follow through. I recently read a book about a girl named Rachel Scott. Does this name ring a bell to anyone? It might not, but the events surrounding her death will be. Rachel Scott was born in a Christian home. She went to church and participated regularly in church events, but it was n’t until she was 12 that she accepted Jesus as her savior. By the age of 16, Rachel had achieved what many Christians never do in a lifetime - she had truly died to herself. Despite the fact that she was not treated well by many because of her faith in the school she attended, she remained steadfast in her life given over completely to the Lord. She prayed and read her Bible openly; she shared the Gospel and wisdom from God’s word with other classmates. She made it a point to reach out to classmates that were having a hard time in order to pray with them or offer encouragement.

This is not to say that Rachel was perfect. She fought with her brother, she struggled with fear and anxiety over things, she battled sin like anyone else, but she was fully given over to God. She exemplified the Beatitudes. This teenage girl wept and mourned over her sin like few Christians do. She lived in gratitude to the God that saved her soul and adopted her. She poured out her heart to God regularly, confessing sin, thanking Him, interceding for others, asking for strength for the day.

Though her parents and others that knew her understood that Rachel was a good girl and loved God, the true depth of her walk with God was not uncovered until months after her death. Oddly enough, it was her death that revealed this deep relationship that Rachel had with God to the world.

On Tuesday April 20, 1999, Rachel was sitting outside on the grass with a friend eating her lunch with a friend when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold pulled arrived with various firearms and began what was up until then, the deadliest school shooting the United States had ever experienced.

Rachel Scott was one of the first victims, and possibly the first to be killed.

The Columbine High School shootings sent shock waves through the country. In the aftermath, Rachel’s parents began finding and reading her journals. Page after page they read prayers that Rachel had written to the Lord. She called them her letters to God, and this seems to be her preferred method of communication with her heavenly Father.

Among the pages of her journals was found this entry dated April 20th, 1998, exactly one year before her death.

“It’s like I have a heavy heart and this burden upon my back… but I don’t know what it is. Things have definitely changed. Last week was so hard… I lost all of my friends at school. Now that I have begun to walk my talk, they make fun of me. I don’t even know what I have done. I don’t really have to say anything, and they turn me away. I have no more personal friends at school. But you know what… It’s all worth it to me. I am not going to apologize for speaking the name of Jesus… and I am not going to hide the light that God has put into me. If I have to sacrifice everything… I will. I will take it. If my friends have to become my enemies for me to be with my best friend Jesus, then that’s fine with me.

You know, I always knew that part of being a Christian is having enemies… but I never thought that my ‘friends’ were going to be those enemies. It’s all good, I’m just a loner now at school.”

This is from the pen of a 16 year-old. This is from the journals of a girl who understood that basic Christianity meant giving everything up for the Lord. But this is also from a girl who understood that it was worth it. That no true joy could ever be experienced without full sacrifice.

Rachel Scott was not killed because of her faith. She was a target of opportunity. But in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, it was found that Rachel had died to herself over a year before that tragedy.

Oh that we would all give up and sacrifice to the Lord the only thing that we could reasonably give in worship to Him - all of ourselves.

So this principle is where we left off last week, as we started this series on giving. If you want to be fulfilled in your Christian life, give yourself to God fully.

God calls us to give to him in other specific areas of our lives as well, and over the course of the today and the next two weeks, we will be talking about these areas commonly alliterated in the form of Time, Talents, and Treasures.

Let’s talk about treasures today. I know, this is everybody’s favorite subject! Honestly, for many pastors, preaching about money is something that is many times shied away from. But the Bible tells us that we are supposed to give the whole counsel of the word of God, and God has quite a bit to say about giving. Mainly, what I want to show is this: Making our possessions available for God’s service in the way the He directs is a practical way of recognizing that all our possessions come from Him. And when we give ourselves first, money, time, abilities, and possessions come naturally.

2 Corinthians 8:1–5 (KJV 1900)

1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit [want you to know] of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;

2 How that in a great trial of affliction [pastor and theologian Warren Wiersbe described this as ‘rock-bottom destitution; like a beggar who has nothing and has no hope of getting anything.’] the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality [generosity].

3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;

4 Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. [The Macedonian Christians begged Paul to take their gifts for the ministering to other Christians that were in need also.]

5 And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.

Notice that their generosity and joyfulness in giving started with them giving themselves to the Lord. So that is where we started yesterday. Now we move into the giving of possessions, whether that be financial or non-financial gifts.

Why Should I Give?

Before we jump into the motivation for giving, let’s talk a bit about Why we should give.

We should give because there are ministries that require the giving of material possessions. Last week I introduced this series as an annual topic that we will dive into called Faith Forward: Investing in Our Mission. How many of you got a letter this week describing this faith commitment giving we will be starting?

If you have not gotten one of those letters, please take a copy of it. They are sitting on the table in the fireplace room. We will take time to discuss more about this and answer questions during Life Groups today.

If you did not get a letter, it is simply because of one of two things: 1) you might not be a member, or 2) we do not have your current address in the church directory. Now, if you did not get a letter, please fill out the sheet with your current address and I will make sure that gets updated this week. Also, if you are not a member but would like to be in on this as well, you are welcome to give too and can pick up one of those letters as well. Or maybe you’re just curious about what it is. Grab one of those letters and hopefully it explains it well.

Our Faith Commitment giving is designed to be able to better project our next year’s income. We need to do that as well as we can as a church because there are ministries, as we stated before, that require financial giving. There are other ministries that require giving in kind, or the giving of goods or services.

Here at Good News we have several ministries that require the giving of our treasures, of our possessions.

The Deacon’s Fund - The Deacon’s Fund is a fund that is specifically for the relief of the poor. The Bible tells us that we are to not turn our eyes or stop our ears at the cry of those in need. Proverbs 28:27

Proverbs 28:27 (KJV 1900)

27 He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: But he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.

Over the course of studying through the Sermon on the Mount, when we have dealt with the topics of anger and forgiveness and bitterness, we have repeatedly turned to Romans chapter 12 that tells us that Christians are not to repay evil with evil, but we are to do goo to our enemies and pray for them and bless them.

In that same context of Christian duties to our enemies, we find other Christian duties starting in verse 1 and 2 that we discussed at length last week.

And when we come to Romans 12:13 we find this

Romans 12:13 (KJV 1900)

13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.

This is in the context of the church being united and gifted with spiritual gifts. So this is a responsibility that we have as a church to do. Further, Paul and Barnabas, when they left Jerusalem to preach the Gospel and start churches among the Gentiles, were instructed by the apostles James, John, and Peter that the churches they planted would not forget the ministering to the poor and needy.

Pastors - Part of the money that is given goes to pay your your pastor’s salary. It is something that every once in a while you hear debated among Christian circles - even among pastors - “Should pastors be paid by the church?” If the church is able to do so, then the Bible teaches that they should.

1 Timothy 5:17–18 (KJV 1900)

17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

18 For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.

Galatians 6:6

Galatians 6:6 (KJV 1900)

6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.

The communicate means “to share.” Let the person who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher.

Someday, I would love to be able to bring in somebody that can help me as an associate pastor, as another person that can come and help with different area the ministry as we grow. To do that well, he will also need to be paid. And that will come from our giving as well.

But we also support missionaries around the world that are also working to make disciples. Paul commended the Philippian church for supporting him during one of his missionary journeys. As many of you may know, my parents are missionaries. For 35 years, they were missionaries in Mexico, and for the last 11 or so years, my dad has been pastoring a church he planted in McAllen, Texas, right across from the Mexican-American border. I remember when I was growing up that the church in Mexico that my dad pastored got large enough to support my dad with a wage, however, my father was not able to take a wage from the church because of legal issues. In Mexico, for a long time, it was illegal to be a foreign missionary of any religion but the Catholic church. Freedom of religion existed, but foreign missionaries were not welcome. God used a very corrupt president to put an end to that, however. He opened the doors for foreign missionaries to legally get work visas and to minister openly without repercussions. However, those foreign missionaries could not accept wages from their congregation.

So, for the first time, my dad could go into a government office and openly say that he was a missionary. He no longer had to maintain a tourist visa, and he and my mom were able to get resident papers in Mexico. But still, our family depended on the support of churches here in the United States to continue living and working for the Gospel in Mexico.

We as a church participate in giving to missions as well. I would love to see our budget grow so that we could give even more to our missionaries in the field.

The Care of Widows and Orphans. This is a ministry focus that we do not have at the moment, but we need to as a church. The Bible tells us in James 1:27 that

James 1:27 (KJV 1900)

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

We have the deacon’s fund, yes, and we have the beginnings of a food pantry, but i would love to see us as a church, have a ministry that specifically takes care of whatever widows and orphans walk through these doors.

The church is to minister to those that have lost parents and husbands with intentionality. Marriage physical is a picture of Jesus’ relationship to His church. Can you imagine a church without Jesus? What a farce! What emptiness! And emptiness is what is felt when wives lose their husbands. The church needs to step in with intentionality in these cases to show the love of Jesus to a person that has suffered the loss of a spouse.

The church is supposed to minister to the orphans with the same intentionality. Parents, specifically dads, are supposed to be a representation of God the Father, a picture of God to their kids. When in the horrible event that a child looses his father, he has lost the picture of God the Father in his life, and we as a church must be the example of who the Father is in that child’s life.

These ministries along with all the other ministries here, require funds and goods. Because of that, we should be willing to give to our church.

What Should Motivate Me to Give?

Motivated by Gratitude for God’s Generosity

I hope that our primary motivation for giving is love. Love for God and love for the things that he loves. Jesus instituted the church; He loves it, and He gave His life for the church. Warren Wiersbe once wrote, “It seems strange that we Christians need encouragement to give, when God has given so much to us.”

The book of 1 Chronicles 29 tells us about the preparations that David made for the building of the temple. As the king, he was able to give of the countries treasury gold, silver, and building materials. He had been collecting these things for this purpose for a long time, even though he was not going to be the one that built it; it would be his son Solomon. But not only that, David gave a lot of his own wealth and possessions to fund the building of the temple. And listen to how he describes his reasoning for giving of his own possessions. 1 Chronicles 29:3

1 Chronicles 29:3

3 Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house.

He then goes on to say exactly what amounts of gold and silver he gave. But do you see his motivation? It is affection. This word could well be translated as loving devotion. Why was he so devoted and affectionate to the work of the Temple? Why did David and the Israelites want to give so badly to the building of the Temple? Because they had gratitude in their hearts for all that God had done for them. So they offered willingly to God out of gratitude for Him.

1 Chronicles 29:9–14 (KJV 1900)

9 Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.

10 Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel our father, for ever and ever.

11 Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.

12 Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.

13 Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.

14 But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.

Can you see that the praise that comes out of their mouths has originated in their hearts and it manifests itself in the act of giving willingly to God’s work? We ought to be motivated to give to the church out of gratitude for God and a desire to further His work. Listen, most of you were saved because of a church. Maybe it wasn’t necessarily at church, though many of your testimonies are that you were saved while attending church, but maybe it was because of a ministry of a church. Perhaps a church had a soul-winning ministry and someone knocked on your door an gave you the good news of salvation. Maybe it was because of a VBS. Maybe you got saved at a camp that your church sent teens to. Whatever might be the case, for many of us here today, we were saved because of a local church that was being used by God to expand His kingdom.

Motivated by Obedience

But the Bible tells us, as a church, to give to the ministries of the church. So we should be motivated by Obedience.

1 Corinthians 16:1–2 (KJV 1900)

1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.

2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

Paul was collecting funds for something he later called the ‘ministry to the saints.’ These were funds gathered by the congregations to minister to needy Christians, and we know from the Philippian church, that they were funds also given so that Paul and Barnabas could continue to travel and preach the Gospel.

So Paul lays out a command for them. On the first day of the week, give as God has prospered you that week.

Once again we read in 2 Corinthians 9:7

2 Corinthians 9:7 (KJV 1900)

7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Another instruction to give. This instruction, once again, is given to the church.

Motivated by Love for Others

Not only should we be motivated by obedience to God and gratitude toward Him, but we should also be motivated by our love toward others. Giving to ministries of the church helps spread the Gospel and make disciples, which is our primary mission, and it helps us be able to help others in need.

Giving to the church is one way we are able to fulfill 1 John 3:17

1 John 3:17 (KJV 1900)

17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

When we help others in their need, it shows the love of God in us. This verse is specifically dealing with fellow Christians in need, but we also have passages that deal with being kind to those that are not members of the our faith family.

We won’t read it today, but Luke 10:30-37 gives us the parable of the Good Samaritan, a man who ministered generously to a Jew who would have considered him an enemy.

We should be motivated by love for God, but also love for others. If we remember, all of the law and prophets hang on these two commandments.

How Should I Give?

So now we are motivated to give, we know that giving to the church allows the church to fulfill its mission and to fund the ministries that allow us to make disciples around the world and provide for those in need. So now the big question - how should we give?

Well, we all know that cash is king, but checks, money orders, Visa, and MasterCard, are also acceptable...

Just kidding! Let’s look at what the Bible says about how we should be giving our offerings.

We Should Give Willingly and Cheerfully

When Jesus was sending out his disciples to preach and do miracles, this is what he said to them: Matthew 10:7-8

Matthew 10:7–8 (KJV 1900)

7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

“Freely give,” Jesus said. We received without deserving it, we have received blessings of the Lord, we should freely and willingly give in the same manner.

In Exodus 25:2 when God was instructing the Israelites on how to give their offerings and sacrifices, He emphasized the heart.

Exodus 25:2 (KJV 1900)

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.

If you read the verses that follow that you will see that these were offerings for the Tabernacle that would be built so that the Israelites would have a place to worship God, hear from Him, and make their sacrifices. This whole “heart thing” was NOT something new that Jesus was introducing. From the very beginning of the nation of Israel, God had been focusing on the attitude of the heart. It is not enough to give, but it needs to be a willing offering. Look at what 2 Corinthians 9:7 says:

2 Corinthians 9:7 (KJV 1900)

7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

“As he purposed,” not “as he was coerced or forced.” “Not grudgingly.” This means, not with a “Well, I guess I better give it because that is what I have to do,” kind of attitude.

“Not of necessity.” We know that God blesses those that give by what He says in His word, but giving to receive is the wrong motivation for giving; we should be giving out of a heart of worship. And we should be giving cheerfully.

We Should Give Humbly

Matthew 6:1–2 (KJV 1900)

1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

What do we learn from this passage? That we should not give for the purpose of being seen by others. If that is our purpose, we have no reward from the Father because it is not pleasing to the Father.

We Should Give Regularly

1 Corinthians 16:2 (KJV 1900)

2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

Paul likely encouraged the Corinthians to do this because there is evidence that people got paid on the first day of the week. Whatever your pay schedule is, in that time where God has prospered you, give regularly. If you get paid weekly, give weekly; if every-other-week, then give then, and so forth.

We Should Give Generously

We already noted how the Macedonian Christians were commended because they gave generously even when they didn’t have much to give. And Luke 6:38 tells us this:

Luke 6:38 (KJV 1900)

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.

The measure with which we give is the measure that will be used to give back. But again, this is so that a fact is known, not for our primary motivation.

Our primary motivation is that we have learned from Christ what it means to give generously. God Gave the most important person to die for us. Jesus gave His blood and His life generously for us. It should make sense that we, as having been given salvation with all of its benefits at no cost to us, we should be willing to be generous as we give to the Lord also.

God’s Measure and Model

As we get to a close hear, you might wonder what it means to give generously, what that looks like. You may be tempted to compare yourself with others and their ability to give more than you can.

When we are tempted to think this way, we must remember that “others” are never our standard of comparison. Our standard of comparison is Jesus Christ.

It is important that we remember how God measures things, because Satan will measure things in a way that will always find you lacking. You could sell all your goods and give all your money to the church, living naked on the streets, and somehow, Satan would still make you feel that what you did was not enough.

So how does God measure?

God Measures Differently from the World

Matthew 12 tells the story of Jesus watching as people gave their Temple offerings. Some came and gave large sums of money, but others gave all they had, even though it was just a little bit. Jesus watched a poor widow cast in the collection area just a few cents, but declared that she had given more than the people that were placing whole money bags in the offering collection. He said, “This woman gave more than anyone else, because the others gave of their abundance, of their left overs. What they could afford to give. But this woman has given all she has.”

God measure differently than the world does because he knows our capacity to give.

2 Corinthians 8:12 (KJV 1900)

12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.

The offering is accepted by God based on what you have and can give, not on what your don’t have.

God Modeled How We Should Give

Remember, even Jesus told His disciples, “Freely you have received.” From whom had they received? From Jesus! So, “freely give.” In the same way you received from me, give. Take into account what 2 Corinthians 8:9 says

2 Corinthians 8:9 (KJV 1900)

9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

and 2 Corinthians 9:15 says

2 Corinthians 9:15 (KJV 1900)

15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable [inexpressible] gift.

The gift of God is so generous and huge that it is unfathomable, inexpressible.

This is our model for giving.

I started the sermon off with this quote from George Muller.

“It is the Lord’s order, that, in whatever way He is pleased to make us His stewards, whether as to temporal or spiritual things, if we are indeed acting as stewards and not as owners, He will make us stewards over more.

Though we do not and should not give for the sake of receiving rewards, God does reward faithfulness. He has promised to do so, and God is a debtor to no one. What He promises, he keeps.

I am not going to stand here and tell you that if you give 300 dollars to the church, you’re going to be wealthy and have a new car and a well-paying job.

But I will tell you this, when you obey God in the area of giving and giving willingly and cheerfully, God will give you peace and joy, just like He does when we live for Him in every other area of our lives.

On the other side of the coin, if we decide to live selfishly and disobediently, we will find nothing but misery.

Invitation:

I’ll ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes. I know this sermon has been generally directed at Christians, and particularly to those that are members here or regular attenders.

But I want you to know something: If you are here and you do not know Jesus as your personal savior, this is the day that you can accept the most generous gift ever given.

The Bible tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

See, God desires us to have a relationship with him, but sin separates us from God. If we die without those sins being forgiven, then we are doomed to a separation from God for all eternity. This is the perishing that John 3:16 talks about and it happens in a lake of fire.

There is nothing you can possibly do to erase your sin, nothing at all. But God loves you so much that He sent Jesus Christ His Son to take the payment for sin on your behalf. It is through Him and Him only that you can be saved and become a child of God. It takes repentance - turning from your sinful life to follow Jesus and to believe in Him as your savior. It takes faith in Jesus that He is able and willing to save you if you just call out to him to do so.

With heads bowed and eyes closed, I would like to ask today, ‘Is there anyone here that does not know Jesus as their savior, but would like to?’

Christians - Money can be a hard topic to face. Giving material possessions is a difficult thing to embrace for many, but it is a command. Is there anyone here that would say, “Mike, I know God wants me to give, would you pray that I would seek Him and trust Him about what to give and that I would be obedient to Him out of love?”

Life Groups

Who has not received a copy of the Faith Commitment Letter in the mail yet? Who does not have one? (pass them out)

[read the letter and open up the time for questions]

Are there any questions about this giving system we are starting?

1. How does generosity reflect the character of God, and how should that shape the way we approach giving?

2. What does it mean to give with a "cheerful heart," and how can we cultivate that attitude in our own lives?

750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers 139: Depression

In his sermon “Overcoming Discouragement,” John Yates says:

Dr. Karl Menninger, the famous psychiatrist, once gave a lecture on mental health and was answering questions from the audience. Someone said, “What would you advise a person to do if that person felt a nervous breakdown coming on?”

Most people thought he would say, “Go see a psychiatrist immediately,” but he didn’t. To their astonishment, Dr. Menninger replied, “Lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find somebody in need, and help that person.”

To overcome discouragement, “Don’t focus on yourself,” concluded Yates. “Get involved in the lives of other people.”

The effects of charitable giving on the giver

3. In what ways do you think God challenges us to trust Him more deeply through financial stewardship?

4. How do we balance the tension between being wise with our resources and living generously?

5. What are some practical ways we can give beyond just financial contributions?

6. How can giving shape our faith and spiritual growth, both individually and as a church community?

7. What are some obstacles that prevent us from being generous, and how can we overcome them?

8. In what ways does generosity extend beyond our financial resources to our time, talents, and relationships?

9. How does Jesus’ teaching on storing treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21) change the way we view our possessions?

10. How can we align our personal financial goals with God's kingdom priorities?