Sermon Tone Analysis

8-25-96 am

*Faith for Finances*

/Was Jesus Poor?/

*Giving is better than receiving because giving starts the receiving process.*

*It's best to start the discipline of generosity when the amounts are small.

It's easy to give ten cents out of a dollar; it's a little harder to give a hundred thousand out of a million.*

*Giving is better than receiving because giving starts the receiving process.*

*Nothing teaches character better than generosity.*

*Here's what is exciting about sharing ideas with others: If you share a new idea with ten people, they get to hear it once and you get to hear it ten times.*

*Sharing makes you bigger than you are.

The more you pour out, the more life will be able to pour in.*

*Somebody says, "Well, I can't be concerned about other people.

About the best I can do is to take care of myself."

Well, then you will always be poor.*

*What you give becomes an investment that will return to you multiplied at some point in the future.*

*When somebody shares, everybody wins.*

*The amount you give isn't important.

What matters is what that amount represents in terms of your life.*

*Only by giving are you able to receive more than you already have.*

Many times we are religiously brainwashed rather than Bible taught.

*/2 Cor 8:9/*

/9       For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

(NKJ)/

 

*/Matt 8:20/*

/20     And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

/

 

*/John 1:35-39/*

/35     Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.

/

/36     And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!" /

/37     The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

/

/38     Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, "What do you seek?"

They said to Him, "Rabbi" (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), "where are You staying?" /

/39     He said to them, "Come and see."

They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).

/

 

*/Mark 6:33-39/*

/33     But the multitudes saw them departing, and many knew Him and ran there on foot from all the cities.

They arrived before them and came together to Him. /

/34     And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like/ /sheep not having a shepherd.

So He began to teach them many things.

/

/35     When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, "This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late.

/

/36     "Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat." /

/37     But He answered and said to them, "You give them something to eat."

And they said to Him, "Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?" /

/38     But He said to them, "How many loaves do you have?

Go and see."

And when they found out they said, "Five, and two fish."

/

/39     Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass.

/

 

*/John 12:1-8/*/ /

/Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead.

2There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him.

3Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair.

And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

4Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who would betray Him, said, 5"Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" 6This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.

7But Jesus said, "Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial.

8For the poor you have with you always, *but Me you do not have always."

*/

 

You will always have the poor with you but you won’t always have me – I’m not poor!

/God has ways of meeting your need you don’t even know about./

You think about money the most when you don’t have enough.

The more you hear the Word concerning finances the stronger your faith will be.

Many folks think they are working for a living

Eph 4:

*/Ephes.

4:27-28 (NLT) /*/ /

/for anger gives a mighty foothold to the Devil.

/

/28//If you are a thief, stop stealing.

Begin using your hands for honest work, and then *give* generously to others in need.

/

 

We should be working for a giving not for a living.

John 14:

\\ 8-18-96 am

8.11.02

Faith for Finances

 

*/Phil 4:10/*

/10     But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity.

(NKJ)/

 

*The greatest expression of love is giving unconditionally.**

*

 

What did God say in John?

For God so loved the world that He yelled from heaven “I love you.”

NO!

You can say I love you all day and it may mean very little.

If you love then you give.

Don’t even expect a thank you.

You want something.

What some folks mean when they say “I love you” is “you make me feel good.”

Watch out when you don’t make them feel good anymore.

God didn’t say I love you so much I have a special feeling for you.

What is the chief expression of love?

GIVING.

Know who your source is.

Your care of me has flourished again.

Many people give wanting something.

If you are really giving you don’t expect anything in return, not even a thank you.

Their support slid for a while.

We do that at times and we need to get back to giving.

God hasn’t changed His mind.

*/Philip.

4:10-13/*/ /

/But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity.

11Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound.

Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

13I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

/

 

I can love God and stick with Him even when things don’t seem to be working out & when they are going great I don’t forget Him who made it all possible.

A poverty test & prosperity test.

A poverty test is if you keep your faith during a period of lack.