The Stewardship Of Giving Series

SERMON BRIEF

Date Written: November 21, 2010

Date Preached: November 21, 2010

Church: OPBC (AM)

FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS

Series: Stewardship Series

Title: The Stewardship of Giving

Text: Mark 8:1-9

1 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away. 4 And his disciples answered him, How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place? 5 And he asked them, How many loaves do you have? They said, Seven. 6 And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8 And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.

9 And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.

ETS: In this passage we can see that Jesus desired to teach His disciples on how they should give of themselves to the needs of those around them, even when it was not convenient.

ESS: This passage today tells us that Jesus will reveal needs to us… and Jesus expects us to follow thru on our commitment to those in need and then act on that commitment, and when we do this…He will give results that blow our mind!

Introduction:

Last week we saw how we are all stewards of God’s gift of time! We must always use our time for the best…because we all get the same amount of time, and it is a gift from God that we are responsible to use in a wise and productive manner for the Kingdom.

This morning I want to speak to you about the stewardship of giving… First the tithe and then the offering… which are 2 separate things! Now, I know how it goes, when the preacher steps up and starts talking about money… people have a tendency to shut down and NOT listen!

Well, the fact of the matter is… is that Jesus spoke about money FAR more than He did about heaven or hell… Jesus understands that our money come directly from the outflow of our hearts.

And I am not going to sugar coat this subject… our church has to have money to operate… money is a necessary things for our church to function. We need money for everything we do here in this church.

What I have found as a pastor over the past 13 yrs is that it is NOT the money that is the issue we must deal with, but it is the attitude of the one with the money! This is because many believers sit in these pews Sunday after Sunday with an attitude that is focused on themselves, their selfish thoughts and their self-centered ways. Their heart is NOT about the Gospel of Christ! Their heart is NOT about honoring God in ALL they do…

So this morning I bring you a passage of Scripture that may not seem to speak specifically about the giving money; but what it does speak about is the overall biblical and godly principle of giving… which applies to EVERY believer!

This morning I can see 4 points I want to address in this message:

First, we can see where a need is exposed,

Then we can see where a commitment is understood and,

Then there is an action that was taken, and

Finally we can see results are realized.

When we look at those 4 points I can see that is the progression of any ministry that we are going to tackle in this world today. We must first see a need, then understand our Christian commitment to meet that need, we then MUST take action toward that commitment, and finally we will see how God will use our obedience to further His kingdom.

Identify the need… listen to God: v.1:

I want us to go first to v. 1 where we can see the need is exposed to the disciples. [read v.1]

1 In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them,

Jesus saw the need laid out before Him. Jesus brought the attention of His disciples to this need. That is really how it works today as well. God always sees the need and knows of the need before we do, and it is God who points out these needs to US… His disciples!