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Giving
Contributed by Brad Beaman on Jan 1, 2023 (message contributor)
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1. The Purpose Of Giving
Contributed on Apr 17, 2022
The goal of the Christian life is to be more like Christ. God gave us the most precious gift possible in sending Jesus Christ. If we want to become Christ-like it will involve learning to freely and generously give our financial resources.
Henry Parsons Crowell contracted tuberculosis when a boy and couldn't go to school. His Father and brother died of tuberculosis, and he should have died of it too. He made a contract with God. If he were spared he would use his abilities to amass large sums of money for evangelism. For the next ...read more
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2. Giving Wisely
Contributed on Apr 20, 2022
If any man builds on the foundation of Jesus Christ using gold, silver he is wise. The wise giver will see the work of God changing lives. Having a part of that through financial investment is more exciting than acquiring possessions.
There is the story of three college friends from Harvard. The first of the three was a financial wizard. He graduated top of his class. He became an executive for a large financial institution. The second was a brilliant scientist working on cutting edge science technology. The third one dropped ...read more
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3. A Giving Attitude
Contributed on Jan 8, 2023
The reason that your giving is about more than dollars and cents is because the bigger issue is your heart in giving. To have the right attitude in giving we must first put God as our number one priority in our lives.
When we study giving in scripture, we quickly see that giving is more than dollars and cents. It is about a proper attitude and right relationship with God. Your attitude in giving can make a difference in how your giving impacts kingdom work and glorifies God. A giving attitude means putting ...read more
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4. Giving Generously
Contributed on Jan 14, 2023
You cannot out give God. You will never be able to match his matchless giving. But we can respond to his perfect gift of salvation in Jesus Christ by generous giving.
How do we transform our lives in the area of prayer and spiritual awakening? Well, the answer is found from a thorough study of revival in the Bible. When you do this study, you will find a connection between spiritual awaking of God’s people and giving. I want to point to examples in the Bible ...read more
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5. Giving Obediently
Contributed on Jan 20, 2023
Our obedience in giving equates to our love for God. We are to acknowledge God’s ownership of everything. This requires faith because we believe that God will provide our needs. We give a tithe to God and he will supply with the remaining ninety percent.
This is a very serious look at giving since the opposite of obedience to God is disobedience. There is no neutral ground between obedience to God and disobedience to God. “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you ...read more
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6. Giving By Faith
Contributed on Mar 8, 2023
Our giving, when in the right attitude brings us closer to God. We worship when we give our gifts to God.
God desires us to give our best. This is called giving the first fruits. This means the first agricultural produce of a season, especially when given as an offering to God. It applies to more than agriculture but giving our first and best to God. The idea that God wants us to give Him our best ...read more
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7. Kingdom Giving
Contributed on Mar 21, 2023
How people respond to Jesus whether they accept of reject Christ is the most important thing of all. When the eyes of our heart are enlightened, we care about the eternal destiny of the lost without Christ.
Baker James Cauthen is most famous for serving in China and then being president of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. When he was 25 years old, he became pastor of Polytechnic Baptist Church one of the largest churches in Ft Worth. The year was 1933 and the country ...read more
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8. Motives For Giving
Contributed on Apr 13, 2023
It is important for us not just to give to the Lord, but to give with the right motives. Jesus rebukes those who gave with the wrong motives, so we need to carefully consider our motives and how our motives align with God’s purposes and glorify God.
What motivates people to give? You could read about results of research on this topic about what part of giving is motivated by self interest and what part is motivated by serving others. Our interest here is not the human psychology side of giving motivation, but the biblical motivation. What do ...read more
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9. The Joy Of Giving
Contributed on Apr 29, 2023
The book of Philippians is, to a large extent, a thank you note from Paul to the church for their financial gift. We find that it is not only the one who receives the gift who is blessed, but the ones who gives the gift are greatly blessed.
Philippians is considered the epistle of joy. That is because there are so many references to joy and rejoicing (over 15). There are so many references that are so prominent that Joy is considered the theme of the letter. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice. (Philippians ...read more
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10. Giving And The Prophets
Contributed on Nov 15, 2023
If we ask, what is the minimum standard we can give to the Lord and still be OK? then it reveals a problem in our relationship with the Lord. We find joy in giving abundantly.
In many areas of life, we find minimum standards. There are minimum daily requirements of vitamins. There are minimum speed limits on the interstate. You probably remember a time in your student life when a paper was assigned and the first question a student asked was, what is the minimum number ...read more