A crumbling old church building needed remodeling, so, during his sermon, the preacher made an impassioned appeal looking directly at the richest man in town. At the end of the sermon, the rich man stood up and announced, "Pastor, I will contribute $1,000."
Just then, plaster fell from the ceiling and struck the rich man on the shoulder.
He promptly stood back up and shouted, "Pastor, I will increase my donation to $5,000."
Before he could sit back down, plaster fell on him again, and again he virtually screamed, "Pastor, I will double my last pledge.” He sat down, and a larger chunk of plaster fell on his head.
He stood up once more and hollered, "Pastor, I will give $20,000!"
This prompted a church trustee to shout, "Hit him again, Lord! Hit him again!"
Today I’m going to talk about giving and the law of circulation. You might be sitting there thinking to yourself, “Oh no. This is when the preacher starts to meddle in my affairs again. This is where he starts to talk about giving more to the church.”
I’m not going to talk about that kind of giving—it’s not about giving more money to the church. I’m going to discuss giving all of yourself to life and giving of your life as a response of gratitude to what you have been blessed with in this life.
Before I do that one of our long time members Galen Dellinger is going to come his personal faith story. He is going to discuss what he has learned about giving of himself to life as a response of gratitude.
Galen’s personal Faith Story
1—First of all, what do you really get if you’re totally living a Christian life? You get a new perception that is beyond human understanding alone. You know that when you’re facing life’s struggles, that you’re not facing it alone. And you know this with an inner conviction. That is your firm foundation. You have God’s Spirit with you, and God is powerful and bigger than any of your problems.
But what is the next step? It is acting on this conviction that God is with you. It is saying, “Okay, God. Here I am. I am going to be a lighthouse for humanity. Wherever I go, I’m going to encourage people and make a difference.”
You don’t have to give your life to the ministry or stand up at a pulpit on Sunday morning. You make a difference when you go to Wal-Mart or even the grocery store, because you’re different. And you say in any given moment, “What can I give?”
I want you to look at the chart on today’s sermon outline—this is a chart of your life. On one side of the chart, look at the word “Giving.” On the other side of the chart, notice the word, “Receiving.” I want you to find out what kind of a person you are in a given moment.
Are you a vacuum cleaner? Or are you a Sprinkler? There are primarily two types of people. What we’re urging you to do in Christianity is to constantly be a sprinkler, because the world needs more sprinklers—it has enough vacuum cleaners.
I don’t believe you’re here by accident. I believe you’re here to fulfill a divine purpose in life.
I believe that you’re going to make a profound difference in the people that you touch in your life. I really do.
Do you remember the story of Ebenezer Scrooge? He kept everything and hoarded everything his whole life. Then he learned, in the last part of his life, how to give. Do you remember the end of the story how he was dancing and bouncing around? And he said, “Can this much joy be safe for one individual?”
You find that true joy is giving of yourself. As you give back to others with God’s help, you find that that you will swell up with gratitude.
So I am not just talking about giving money. Actually, that’s a very small aspect of the giving principles that we have been teaching for the past couple of Sundays here.
I want you to concentrate on the air that is in this room for a moment. Concentrate on the air. Breathe in for a moment, and then feel yourself breathing out,
What if someone gave you the mistaken idea that there wasn’t enough air in this room? You’d try to breathe in as much as you possibly could. But you’d find that you couldn’t breathe in enough. If you’d try to hoard it, you’d begin to turn blue. And you’d have to exhale.
The blessings in your life is like breathing in and breathing out. God’s blessings include two halves: giving and receiving. If we tell ourselves that there’s not enough air in this room, we’re not going to get all that we need. We’re going to panic and hoard some of the air in here.
The abundance and fullness of life that God has given you, is everywhere present. But, you and I have to have both halves. We have to have the breathing in and the breathing out in our relationships.
Listen to what Jesus says (v. 38), "Give, and it will be given to you. (Give—part one. Given to you—part two.) You will have more than enough. It can be pushed down and shaken together and it will still run over as it is given to you. The way you give to others is the way you will receive in return."
If you are willing to give first and radiate out your spiritual gifts, there will be a natural circulation that comes back to you. It is the law of all life.
Imagine that we have an old farmer’s pump right here. We begin to pump like crazy. I get tired after a little, so I ask one of you to come up. After that person gets tired, I ask another one of you to come up and pump some more. We pump and pump and pump, but there’s no water coming out.
What’s the problem—why can’t we get water out of the pump?
You have to prime the pump; you have to give first. Then, the pump will start to flow continuously and we’ll have enough water for all of’ us.
It is the same way in your life. You can read all the self-help books that you ever want to read; you can meditate on all the possible spiritual principles 24 hours a day. But until you begin to practice it, you will never be apparent it in your life.
The way to prime the pump is to begin to give, constantly giving of yourself.
I do the priming. Christ does the flowing. It cannot be turned off unless I decide to turn it off. It’s an interesting thing. I always benefit more by agreeing to the activity and allowing myself to be a channel of giving.
God’s Supply never stops; it is a circulation, just as your breathing doesn’t stop.
When things are tight, someone has to give. Give and you shall receive is the principle of circulation. When things are tight in your own life, (in whatever area it may be), find a way to give to that area.
If you don’t have very much money, give of yourself in service. Give whatever you can give. Do not hoard it. Give of yourself and you will find a new circulation, another flow of blessings.
If you are having a heart attack, you will find that the medical team comes in and pushes on your chest and creates circulation inside of you.
In the same way, we can push on that area where we are holding on tight and revive life in it by giving. Find a way to give to that area that is tight, and it will come back to life again.
This is the law of circulation. It is an expression that describes the law of giving and receiving
You ask God, How can I give? God will show you a way. God will never fail you if you ask God how you can give to this situation or this person. The answer will come.
In certain areas of the world today we see troubles because there is a lack of circulation, of people giving and buying.
It’s really what it means to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. He says, give what you can and always give something.
On your gifts, attach no strings, Give as you were giving to God. Do you ever think; “I’m going to give her something, and I can’t wait to see the wonderful thing that she will give me back!!”
That’s not a gift. That’s bartering.
If I’m going to give you something, I’m going to give it to you freely without any strings attached. That is the way to give. Give totally and completely of yourselves to others without any question of return. We give as we give to the Lord.
Have the courage, as Emerson once stated, “to withhold what you cannot give without a blessing.” What is given grudgingly blesses neither the giver nor the receiver. As you give, you shall receive.
If I breathe in constantly, (if I’m the vacuum cleaner instead of the sprinkler), I have a hard time receiving. I have to be an inlet and an outlet of all my good. And so do you.
To stay healthy, any body of water has to have an inlet and an outlet. And you do to. You have to give regularly, give all that you can as Wesley taught, and give as often as you possibly can. As you give in this manner, you will find that more and more good flows back to you.
So, what I’m inviting you to do this morning is to make a new commitment in your life. Day by day, situation by situation, ask yourself, “How can I give more in this moment? How can I really be a light into my world at this moment?” As you bring your commitment card to the altar table today you are making a commitment to give more to life—in this moment and every moment of your life with God’s help.
I want to conclude with this story:
A woman named Ruth went to her mail box and there was only one letter. She picked it up and looked at it before opening, but then she looked at the envelope again.
There was no stamp, no postmark, only her name and address. She read the letter:
Dear Ruth:
I’m going to be in your neighborhood Saturday afternoon and I’d like to
stop by for a visit.
Love Always,
Jesus
Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on the table. “Why would the Lord want to visit me? I’m nobody special. I don’t have anything to offer.”
With that thought, Ruth remembered her empty kitchen cabinets. “Oh my goodness, I really don’t have anything to offer. I’ll have to run down to the store and buy something for dinner.” She reached for her purse and counted out its contents. Five dollars and forty cents.
”Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, at least.”
She threw on her coat and hurried out the door.
A loaf of French bread, a half-pound of sliced turkey, and a carton of
milk, leaving Ruth with grand total twelve cents to last her until Monday.
Nonetheless, she felt good as she headed home, her meager offerings tucked under her arm.
”Hey lady, can you help us, lady?”
Ruth had been so absorbed in her dinner plans; she hadn’t even noticed two figures huddled in the alleyway. A man and a woman, both of them dressed in little more than rags.
”Look lady, I ain’t got a job, ya know, and my wife and I have been living out here on the street, and, well, now it’s getting cold and we’re getting kinda hungry and, well, if you could help us, Lady, we’d really appreciate it.”
Ruth looked at them both. They were dirty, they smelled bad and frankly, she was certain that they could get some kind of work if they really wanted to.
”Sir, I’d like to help you, but I’m a poor woman myself. All I have is a
few cold cuts and some bread, and I’m having an important guest for dinner tonight and I was planning on serving that to Him.”
”Yeah, well, okay lady, I understand. Thanks anyway.”
The man put his arm around the woman’s shoulders, turned and headed back into the alley.
As she watched them leave, Ruth felt a familiar twinge in her heart.
”Sir, wait!” The couple stopped and turned as she ran down the alley after them. “Look, why don’t you take this food. I’ll figure out something else to serve my guest.”
She handed the man her grocery bag.
”Thank you lady. Thank you very much!”
”Yes, thank you!” said the man’s wife.
Ruth could see now that the wife was shivering. “You know, I’ve got another coat at home. Here, why don’t you take this one?” Ruth unbuttoned her jacket and slipped it over the woman’s shoulders. Then smiling, she turned and walked back to the street...without her coat and with nothing to serve her guest.
”Thank you lady! Thank you very much!”
Ruth was chilled by the time she reached her front door, and worried too.
The Lord was coming to visit and she didn’t have anything to offer Him.
She fumbled through her purse for the door key. But as she did, she
noticed another envelope in her mailbox.
”That’s odd. The mailman doesn’t usually come twice in one day.” She took the envelope out of the box and opened it.
Dear Ruth:
It was so good to see you again. Thank you for the lovely meal. And thank you, too, for the beautiful coat.
Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Love Always,
Jesus
The air was still cold, but even without her coat, Ruth no longer noticed.
Look at the chart of your life. What are you receiving? What are you giving?
Let us pray.
Dear God, give me ideas on how I can be more of a blessing, more of a giver, in every situation. I want to give to others with unconditional love.
I want to be guided by you. I will not resist the ideas that come from your Spirit within me; I will become a profound influence in my world by allowing Your influence to come through me. I am glad to consent to this wondrous activity. Following Jesus Christ in action, I pray. . Amen.
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