Ilife, Part 3

How many of you know God is more interested in your heart than He is your money? Oh, can I have a better amen? Listen, if your heart belongs to God then money is a non-issue. And I believe this morning, I want to talk to you...I want to make this personal. I don’t want to talk to you as a preacher, I want to talk to you as a person.

So the topic, why I give...I made this very personal today, okay. When pastor gave me this assignment I was excited and I did some inventory in my own life. I thought, why does Mike Hamon give? So this morning is going to be a discussion -- I’m just going to give you a little expose’ on why I give, and this may mean some things to you and some of you may give for a different reasons. If you have your Bibles, turn to the Book of Luke, the gospel of Luke chapter 6. This was the first scripture that came to my mind and I love this verse because this verse...I believe that giving presents us with so many opportunities. Can you say, oh yeah? Luke chapter 6 verse 38. If you have your scriptures read along with me -- if not, then you can track along on the big screen. These words are actually written in red. If you’ve got a red letter edition Bible you will recognize that those words in red are the words spoken by Jesus.

And here’s what Jesus, our Lord and Savior, had to say about giving. Luke 6:38 if you give, notice He said "if" there...if you give, in other words it’s not guilt, it’s not manipulation, I’m not forcing, but here’s an opportunity...if you give, you will receive. How many of you have found that to be true in your life? Your life is an example of that. If you give, He said, you’ll receive, your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Are you getting the picture of this? Jesus is painting a picture, and this is not just a financial principle, this is a life principle. Jesus said, hey, when you give your gift will come back to you but it doesn’t come back the same way that you give it. It will come back to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Isn’t that awesome? That’s the lifestyle ... when I think about the lifestyle God has called us to embrace, I think it’s a running over life. It’s not a life just enough to get by. Jesus paid a high price so that we could live a running over life. Do you know that basically this is the whole sowing and reaping. How many have heard that before, you reap what you sow? Do you know that to be true? But you reap after you sow. Are you with me? See, your giving..when you initiate giving, it sets something in motion. Jesus said your gift will revisit you. This thing will come back to you but not in the same way you give it. You reap what you sow, you reap after you sow, but listen, you always reap more than you sow. Isn’t that amazing? And this is what He said. He closes out this verse by saying this, whatever measure you use in giving, whether it’s large or small, it will be used to measure what’s given back to you. In other words, if you give in spoonfuls, you’ll receive in spoonfuls. If you give in bucket loads, you’ll receive in bucket loads, but if you give in truck loads, you’ll receive in truck loads. And I’ve just determined, and I think I’m not alone when I say this, but many of you see the value and benefit of this way of living and you’ve embraced it for yourself. And as we do that this morning...as we journey on why we give, I want to take you through 6 steps. These are 6 reasons, I wrote these down, and maybe they’ll connect with where you live and where you work.

But number 1, the first things I want to say, this is right off the bat, the first thought that came to my mind, why does Mike Hamon give, number. 1 because the One I surrendered to instructs me to give. The One I surrendered to instructs me to give. Now how many of you have been in church for most of your life? Lot of you, okay so this isn’t new information for you. In fact, I’ve been a churchgoer for as long as I can remember, my Daddy was a choir direction, my Mama taught Sunday School, I was in church. In fact, I tell people this all the time...I had a drug problem growing up as a kid. My Mama drug us to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, prayer meetings. Every time the doors opened, I was in church, which was a pretty good thing.