#6understanding Love: Giving

#6 UNDERSTANDING LOVE: LOVE HAS NO SACRIFICES! GIVING!

PASS THE BISCUIT! I COULD HAVE DONE MORE... REGRET

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I SET AROUND THE DEATH BED OF AN INDIVIDUAL

AND THE DISCUSS SEEMS TO ALWAYS END UP IN REGRET...

I HAVE NEVER HEARD ANYONE SAY: I GAVE TOO MUCH?

TEXT: LOVE GIVES:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that

whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

GOD IS LOVE --- GOD SO LOVES!

IF WE REALLY UNDERSTAND LOVE WE LEARN THAT NOT EVERYTHING IS

ABOUT VISTORY... LOVE NEVER QUITS...

Why do we know BABE RUTH?

He was the HOME RUN KING --- 714 HOME RUNS...

Did you know he was also the STRIKE OUT KING? 1330 strike outs...

Almost 2 strike outs to every home run.

YOU EVER HEAR OF MICHAEL JACKSON?

WHO WE CALL HIM A SUCCESS?

In his career Michael Jordan missed more than 9,000 baskets?

He lost around 300 games games?

26 times Jackson was trusted by his team to make the winning shot and he missed it

and they lost?

JACKSON FAILED OVER AND OVER AGAIN, BUT HE NEVER QUIT.

ASK ANYONE MICHAEL JACKSON IS ONE OF THE GREATST COLLEGE AND PRO

BASKETBALL PLAYERS EVER...

LOVE NEVER FAILS.

UNDERSTANDING LOVE REQUIRES THE LOVE OF GIVING---

GRUDINGLY GIVING... REVEALS A SELFISH MOTIVE...

GRUDGE: a place where a hill-billy parks his car.

Ever heard of GRUDE GIVING? To give or do something reluctantly, unwilling, to dislike

doing, a feeling of anger, resentment, ill will.

Have you ever watched children at play?

A child has many toys. Some the child has not touched a certain toy for months.

The little brother finds the old toy and starts playing with it.

INSTANTLY THAT OLD TOY BECOMES HIS FAVORITE TOY EVEN THOUGH

HE HAS NOT PLAYED WITH IT IN MONTHS.

The Mother orders the older brother: YOU LET YOUR LITTLE BROTHER PLAY WITH

THAT TRUCK.

The lad says to his mother: THAT IS MY TRUCK! IT'S MINE!!! I want to play with it.

IT'S MY TRUCK!

The mother rebukes the older son and says: I TOLD YOU, LET YOUR LITTLE BROTHER

PLAY WITH IT!

The boy in anger says: ARE YOU KIDDING ME? IT IS MINE! I TELL YOU THE

TRUCK IS MINE.

The older son grabs the truck and refuses to allow his little brother to play with it.

The boy refuses to heed his mothers command and she has to PLY THE TRUCK

away from a angry, SELFISH SON.

THE SELFISH BOY RUNS INTO THE OTHER ROOM POUTING AND CRYING:

IT'S MINE. HE GRUDGINGLY ALLOWS HIS BROTHER TO PLAY WITH "HIS TRUCK!"

2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not

grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:7 (NLT) You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t

give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.”

REAL LOVE, UNDERSTANDING REAL LOVE ACCEPTS AS FAITH IT IS BETTER

TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE...

Acts 20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and

to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

RECENTLY, I WAS STANDING IN THE GRAVE YARD VISITING SOME GRAVES OF FRIENDS

THAT HAVE FINISHED THEIR COURSE. I CAME TO A GRAVE OF A SPECIAL MAN AND

RECALLED THE LESSON ON UNDERSTANDING LOVE---ONE MUST GIVE.

Often times I have worried: HOW ARE LINDA AND I GOING TO MAKE IT WHEN WE ARE

OLD?

TWENTY YEARS AGO, my Dad is WAS IN HIS 60'S. He had been in the full ministry MANY years.

He never had a chance at a formal education. Mom or Dad never finished high school.

In 1974 I walked across the stage and received my Bachelor degree. I was the first person on

either side of the family to graduate from college.

Ten years to the day from my graduation (1984) my Dad graduated from University of Kentucky

with full honors at 53 years of age..

Dad was never the pastor of a large congregation in all of his years of experience.

The struggle has been a journey of UNDERSTANDING LOVE: A GIVING LOVE.

Dad came to my house and we drove to visited a man several years older than Dad.

The man knew that my Dad and I had devoted our adult life to PASTOR in small areas of Kentucky.

As we drove to old man's house... It was hot summer time and the man was sitting in the swing

in his front yard under a shade tree. His wife was looking out the screen door.