Topic: The Agriculture of Giving
Text
Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
Introduction to Spiritual Agricultural dynamics
Introduction
When I received Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour, I was quick to obey what I was told to do. I did not wait to think or understand things before I started implementing concepts. I was so sure that my life had been misguided. I was hungry for the things of God. it was constant wave of change abundance overflow, peace and joy.
I was a fervent witness and soon gained the name pastor, trying to convert even my potential girlfriends. Everybody around me was Holy and good. I was also a spontaneous giver as I just followed what others deed.
I soon discovered that in order to avoid wasting seed I needed to gain a little knowledge concerning my calling.
Giving is like planting to get effective results you need to know the principles of Agriculture.
Agriculture is our first calling
Gen 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
1. You reap what you sow
a. Sow what you want to reap
2. Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
3. Gal 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
a. Sow what you need/ useful meet your needs
i. Sowing is investment (Motivated by a good return on investment)
ii. We invest to multiply
We were commissioned to multiply
Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply,
What kind of farmer are you?
• Subsistence or commercial
According to Encyclopedia Britannica
Subsistence farming: form of farming in which nearly all of the crops or livestock raised are used to maintain the farmer and the farmer’s family, leaving little, if any, surplus for sale or trade.
Seed is not Food it may be edible but it is not food, it may taste good, it may not be illegal
b. You have to sacrifice short term luxury
…………………………..let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
4. You must sow where you want to reap
Gal 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
5. You reap according to your measure
Luke 6:38b
……For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
2Co 9:6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
6. You need to know the season and who governs the seasons
Genesis 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
7. You need
Application
You seem to be struggling
You do not really believe
Through tests to your double portion
OT1
Gen 22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
Gen 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
What is the Isaac in your life?
• The son of promise
Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
• It as secret ballot today
• Plant in secret for a public reward
Mat 6:4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
• Get out of mediocrity
• Obscurity
• Stand up and be counted
Conclusion
2Co 9:10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
2Co 9:11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.
2Co 9:12 For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;
2Co 9:13 Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;
2Co 9:14 And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.
2Co 9:15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakab
