Dare of make a Difference - 4 Faith Promise offering
Intro: humour
The apostle Peter writes, But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” (2 Peter 3:8 NRSV). An economist who read this verse was quite amazed and talked to God about it. “Lord, is it true that a thousand years for us is like one minute to you?” The Lord said, “Yes.” The economist said, “Then a million dollars to us must be like one penny to you.” Again the Lord said, “Yes.” The economist thought for a moment and then asked, “Will you give me one of those pennies?” And the Lord replied, “Yes, I will…in a minute.”
Today is a great day for our church – our first structured FAITH PROMISE OFFERING for “the Mission”.
Reminder: What’s the Mission again?
Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV) 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
Why must we do all we can, while we can? Finish the job? Because Jesus will not return until the job is done!
Matthew 24:14 (NKJV) "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Who wants King Jesus to return? YES – we all do!
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We have numerous missionaries all working in this part of the world from our own congregation. We want to be able to support them the best we can.
PROJECTS and NEW FOCUSES – INDIA & SRI LANKA next year.
Let me tell you 4 reasons why this is a great day for our church:
1. We are using our money and resources the way God has always intended.
One of the most misunderstood areas of life is the area of giving, particularly the question of how God wants us to handle our money. The Bible is very clear about this:
Tell people to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them. By doing this they will be storing up real treasure for themselves in heaven—it is the only safe investment for eternity! And they will be living a fruitful Christian life down here as well” (1 Timothy 6:18-19). NLT
These verses make it clear that money is to be used, not loved. You are to use money, and you are to love people. If you get that reversed, you are in trouble because if you start loving money, you will start using people to get more money. Money has a tremendous potential for good if you use it as God intended. It is a tool that the Bible tells us to use for good in order to fulfil God’s purposes for our lives.
This life is a preparation for the next: Eternity. You can’t take your money with you, but you can send it on ahead by investing in people who are going there.
I will only get to use money I have here on earth for 60 or 80 years. On the other hand, I will get to use money that I store up in heaven for all of eternity. There is no greater investment strategy than to invest what I have now in a place that I know is going to last forever, instead of a place where I only get to use it for 100 years at the most.
IMAGINE this scenario: You have focused most of your spending and attention on material things of THIS WORLD instead of investing your resources in “the MISSION”. On that great LAST DAY you are standing before Jesus Christ giving an account of your life and you say to Jesus “Did you see my nice new carpet?” “How about my new Ferrari – you should see how it handles the corners Jesus!”
Does this sound a little HOLLOW to you today?
Friends none of us need to lack confidence on that great last day as we learn to USE our MONEY for God’s PURPOSES.
Second reason this is a great day for our church:
2. You are getting ready to INCREASE your faith by making a FAITH PROMISE.
Why is that so impressive?
PERSONALLY: Through learning to give by faith, I have increased my faith, grown closer to Jesus Christ, and my heart has been changed more than any other discipline in my life has accomplished. Giving is the fundamental issue of life.
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
As you write down a figure of money today that you are going to TRUST God’s power to deliver into your hands – you are putting a smile on God’s face and causing Him great PLEASURE! Amen!
He loves FAITH. HE loves it when we trust Him as a DAD to provide for us. REMEMBER - only two things ever amazed Jesus Christ – GREAT FAITH and LITTLE FAITH!
When you learn to trust God for finance in order to channel it into His global cause – he will make you into a river of His blessing. He passes it onto you and you pass it on downstream right into families living in poverty, micro-enterprise schemes, lifting people above the poverty line – giving them dignity and self-worth perhaps for the first time in their life, MOST OF ALL – bringing the message of the GOSPEL into their lives.
3. When you give to God’s global cause you are becoming more like God in your character
John 3:16 (NKJV) "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
The Bible is a book about giving. In fact, the Bible talks more about giving than it does heaven and hell, and there are more promises in the Bible about giving than any other subject. Why? It is because God wants us to be generous like him. God gave us literally everything we have. Everything you have is yours only because of God’s generosity.
There is one group in the world that God especially wants us to give to, the poor. There are over 2,000 verses in the Bible about the poor, and some are accompanied by promises.
“He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses” (Proverbs 28:27).
Proverbs 19:17 tells us, “If you help the poor, you are lending to the LORD—and he will repay you!.”
Faith that doesn't show itself by good deeds is no faith at all— it is dead and useless.”
A Faith Promise is displaying a FAITH that WORKS!
4. When you invest in God’s Global Fund you are investing in ETERNAL Outcomes!
Investing in this fund means using your money to take the good news of the gospel around the whole world. If you want to know how much God loves the world, look at the cross. With arms outstretched and nail pierced hands, Jesus says, I love the world this much. I would rather die than live without them. God says that if you are going to be like him, you must care about the whole world. You must not be solely concerned with your community and your family. You must also care about the global glory of God.
Luke 16:9 is probably one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible. It says, “Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” This means that God wants you to invest your money in bringing the good news of Jesus to people, and then those who become Christians will be eternally grateful to you. When you get to heaven, they will be there to welcome you and say, “Thank you, I am in heaven because of you.” You will be friends for all of eternity. The most important thing you will ever do with your lives is to get involved in ministry and mission to the world, because bringing people the gospel is far more important than anything else. What you do for Jesus Christ with your time and your money is going to far outlast your career and your hobbies. It will far outlast everything else, including your own family, because the only family that is eternal is God’s eternal family.
Jesus said: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-20a). If your treasure is on earth, then every day you are getting further and further away from it. You are not staying on this planet. If your treasure is in heaven and that is where you are investing, then every day you are getting closer and closer to it. Do you want to be moving away from your treasure, or do you want to be moving toward it? It is up to you.
John Mickan is here today – Missionary to Chile for 15 years. Travelled the length and breadth of Chile ministering to Pastors and their wives – tirelessly with great fruit to their account.
John has an amazing story of how God led him into FAITH PROMISE giving before he even really knew what it was all about:
CONCLUSION
Music team to come.
PRAYER: God speak to our hearts today - grant us a financial figure by faith that you want to entrust to us as a channel of blessing into nations of the world and mission work into our own community.
INSTRUCTIONS: You have two sections to fill out. One for you to fill out and remind yourself regularly over the next 12 months in prayer to pray in the figure that God has spoken to your heart about.
The second side is for the church to record your FAITH PROMISE so we can plan and begin to budget by faith God’s provision into the nations. You can remain completely anonymous if that is your desire. However, if you decide to place your name or tithe number we can store the information for you over the year and anytime you want to find out what you’ve given you are able.
This record will also help us to see how much came in over the 12 months versus what was faith promised.
The music team are going to minister to us in song and give you an opportunity to write down what God speaks into your heart. I will then ask you to come forward and place your faith promise card as an offering before the Lord.
PRAYER & CLOSE: If anyone would like to receive prayer for healing, ministry or comfort – please come forward and our ministry team will be happy to join with you and believe God with you.
AMEN!