Blessed To Be A Blessing

BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Gen 12:1-3

1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

(KJV)

Zech 8:13-17

13 And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong.

14 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the LORD of hosts, and I repented not:

15 So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.

16 These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:

17 And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.

(KJV)

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*** Every thing we embrace must have a foundational principle behind it.

*** If it don’t it’s not truth! We can’t just come up with something and call it to work in our life.

*** Giving is such a truth, one that you can live by and grow by.

*** The subject of giving is one that I hesitate to preach on, simply because I feel uncomfortable with it.

*** I feel as though I’m coming off as unappreciative of what you give, and maybe like I’m cracking the whip to get more and more, and I shrink from that.

*** I also don’t want to be identified with the false prophets whose only goal is to bilk honest people out of their hard earned finances and pad their own pockets and fill their own coffers.

*** And, so when it comes to preaching about money, I have a hard time.

*** Yet Jesus Himself understood the importance of giving to the Kingdom of God, and never shirked his responsibility.

I.) JESUS SPOKE MORE ABOUT MONEY IN THE N.T. THAN HEAVEN, HELL, OR ADULTERY!

• 16 of the 38 parables deal with money

• 1 of every 10 verses in the Gospels deal with money and how to handle it

• There are 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 on faith, but over 2000 verses in the Bible that deal with money, possessions and how to handle them

*** Our faith is closely connected to our finances. I’ve often told people that tithing is not a financial issue, but a faith issue, because if you can’t trust God with your money, how can you trust Him with your soul?

• The problem the rich young ruler had with following Jesus was not the rules and regulations, he’d kept the law since he’d been a child.

• What kept him from following Jesus was his inability to trust Jesus with his welfare!

*** And when you see that one of the predominating factors of revival was a spirit of giving.

Acts 2:45

45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

(KJV)

*** And, so, if Jesus thought it important enough to spend the majority of his time on, and God impressed holy men of old to write over 2000 scriptures on money, then I can’t shirk my responsibility to preach on money in this pulpit.

*** And, if I’m going to preach it like Jesus did, I also must preach the benefits of giving sacrificially.

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*** Participate in the promise--

Someone wrote: Money will buy---A bed but not sleep. Books but

not brains. Food but not appetite. Finery but not beauty.

A house but not a home, Luxuries but not culture.

Medicine but not health. Amusements but not happiness.

A crucifix but not a Saviour. A church but not a heaven.

*** Giving is not one for one… God will multiply your giving!

Prov 3: 9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:

10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

*** How can I have more if I give it away? But how can it work???

ANSWER IS VERSE 10 OF 2 COR.