Corner Posts Of Our Faith- Part 3- Generous Giving Series

Corner posts

Building on a strong foundation

Part 3

Today we are going to continue with our on-going sermon series titled corner posts of our faith

As most of you know

When we build anything

We must build on a solid foundation

I like to use the illustration of a fence

Because it paints a good visual for most of this church

We know about fences

Many of us have built fences

And every one of us drove past fences on the way here

Some of those fences were nice

Tight

Straight

Others were in disrepair

And in my Cowboy mind

These fences remind me of our faith

And good fences if they are to withstand the test of time

like our faith

Must be built with strong corners

Listen

Nothing about fence building is easy

And nothing about building our faith is easy

But some parts are harder than others- right?

Sometimes

Even though we must work hard

A post is set with not a lot of extra effort

We simply dig the holes

Tamp the concrete and dirt

Set our cross braces and cross wires

And presto

A strong corner

Other times we must work a lot harder

We need the corner right here for the fence to be right

But there is a big rock

Or tree roots

Or something that gets in the way

Something that tries to keep us from setting this corner

We can improvise

Or we can put our minds and our backs into it and do it right

It won’t be easy

But it will be worth it

Today’s corner post of our faith

Is not easy

Not by a long shot

This corner post is imperative if we want to receive all God has for us

Imperative if we want to live an obedient life

We are going to use several passages of scripture this morning

but

Let’s start out with Philippians 4:19

19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

The Apostle Paul is thanking the church at Philippi for their generosity

And in the process

He gives us two of the most loved verses in all of scripture

Verses 19

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus

And verse 13

13 For I can do everything through Christ,[a] who gives me strength.

Paul in just a couple of verses gives us good

Strong principals for living an obedient life in Christ

And

Receiving strength from God through Christ to get through this life

These verses are not about our strength

Our power

But his

I can do all things through Christ – who gives me HIS strength

And

I know that the same God

Who provided for me

Will provide for you

Your needs

According to HIS riches, not our riches

So, my question for you this morning is

Do you believe this

Do you believe that with Christ all things are possible?

That through his strength and power

Not ours

We can accomplish great things

In our own lives

In the lives of others

In the church

And in the kingdom

Do you believe this?

Next question

Do you believe that God like Paul says?

Will provide

All of your needs

According to his riches

Once again

According to his His strength

According to his His power

According to his His glory

According to his His will

Do you believe this?

I am so glad to hear the amen’s

See the nods

And the smiles

We serve a God

Who loves us and gives us the strength

And the ability

To accomplish his will

And who provides for our needs

But

Always a but right

Many in this world

Many in this room

Myself included at one time in my life

Say we believe this

We print this on-t shirts

Memorize and quote Paul’s words

But we live like we don’t

Believe it

Because we don’t give

We don’t trust God with every area of our life

Generous giving is a corner post of our faith

Tithing

Offerings

Serving

All are part of the foundations of a strong

Growing

Maturing

Faith in Christ

And if you have not already figured it out

The message for today

Concerns one of the hardest topics in the church

Money

There are some that will leave here today

Saying all that Preacher talks about is money

And I urge you to be honest

All this preacher talks about is the bible

My Job is to teach

This church each of you

How to use God’s word in their lives

How to use God’s word to increase their faith