Thanks for Giving
Illus. By Todd Coget
The Giver’s Big Hands
A young boy went to the local store with his mother. The shop owner, a kindly man, passed
him a large jar of suckers and invited him to help himself to a handful. Uncharacteristically, the boy held back. So the shop owner pulled out a handful for him.
When outside, the boy’s mother asked why he had suddenly been so shy and wouldn’t take a handful of suckers when offered.
The boy replied, "Because his hand is much bigger than mine!"
It's the same with God if we will only trust Him...we should all be more like the kid in the candy store and know...
He is so much more able to deliver measure out the blessings He has
in store for us, then we could ever ask or think..or ever try
to get on our own..
Does anybody remember the movie called "mr. Holland's opus"?
It was about a man who spent his entire life teaching students about music…
and the theme of the movie, was about a man who had given..
and spent his whole life teaching who thought he had not left a legacy and made
a difference with his life..
and through out the course of the movie...found out how much he had
actually affected the world around him..
and how celebrated he was at his retirement by the difference
he had actually made in his students life...
Looking back in my own life… I have met three different types of people
The first group I want to call the "Givers"
and I can see the hand of God has always been busily
directing and bringing people who were great givers into my path..
that blessed my life and made a huge difference...and also
taught me about both giving and receiving...
The other 2 different types of people..that have come across my path
were from the other perspective and side of giving called "takers"
and let's call the other ones "The give and takers"
first the takers…
They never gave to anyone, anything, anytime their whole life long…
Never no time for real and meaningful work, because the were to busy
working their angles
Constantly on the search of someone new they could get to know and
somehow seek help and advantage from...
And second the give-and-takers...
This group always gives the impression that they are givers
and that they don't have a problem with giving and sometimes do..
But it's always to their advantage, with the intent and motive
that there is going to be something in it for them in the end
and therefore that is why they give.
Illus.
From the Wharton School of Business...Adam Grant in his book
"A revolutionary approach to success "Give-and-take" this is what
he found to be true...
At the other end of the spectrum, we have this strange breed of people that I call “givers.” It’s not about donating money or volunteering necessarily, but looking to help others by making an introduction, giving advice, providing mentoring or sharing knowledge, without any strings attached. These givers actually prefer to be on the contributing end of an interaction.
He went on to use this illus. He said....
when Mahatma Gandhi edited a magazine, he would receive all kinds of letters. One letter was from a young woman who was about to get engaged. She was going to meet her prospective fiancé for the first time. She wanted to know how she could judge this person. The advice that Mahatma Gandhi gave her, in the columns of the magazine that he edited, was, “Don’t look at how he treats you. Look at how he treats his servants.” I think that’s very, very telling because with somebody whom he was trying to impress, obviously he would be very well-behaved. But a true sign of character is how you treat people who are vulnerable.
Giving… Is a celebrated moment by some..and a delicate, highly guarded situation for others
Answers.com states that the words giving and gave is mentioned some 1305 times in the Bible...God clearly has never had a problem with Giving
The entire Bible is centered around the greatest gift of all time
and the biggest giver as well...
TBS to be more like God...so why isn't there more giving
just for the sake of giving in the world?
I believe it's because the accuser knows what would truly be
Possible if everyone got ahold Gods concept of Giving...
TBS.
Proverbs 11:24-25 NKJ
There is one who scatters, yet increases more;
And there is one who withholds more than is right,
But it leads to poverty.
25 The generous soul will be made rich,
And he who waters will also be watered himself.
"From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another"
(John 1:16, NIV).
The Fullness of God's Grace extended towards us...
Is what makes all the blessings in our life possible
Our Grace extended towards others is what makes
blessings we bestow on others possible in their lives...
Our giving to others is a godlike attribute…
All children always want to imitate their father...but
The world will tell you that when it comes to religion
and your relationship with God..makes no sense whatsoever...
If the world told you to jump off a cliff… Would you say
to yourself that sounds like a good idea, I think I'll do that
It sounds like it might benefit me greatly?
Speaking of benefits..the worlds way of thinking
concerning Giving might say "hold on here"
Wait just a minute...
You can't be a giver because...
You never know how much you might have if something should happen..
You got to look out for yourself...
Your not a ATM machine and everyone knows there's no free lunch...
You never know when you might run out...
and besides..It may never rain again...
Since when does the world know about benefits? Especially yours!
The only thing the world knows about benefits is how to take
them away from you...
The title of this messages is called "thanks for giving"
Now I want to tell you something..
the world thinks that they're in charge of the giving
and the rationing out of giving...
But I want to tell you something this morning concerning giving
That the world won't tell you and is afraid to tell you..
God is the one who is in charge of Giving...
God wrote the book on Giving...
God is the SOURCE OF ALL GOOD THINGS!! Amen??
James 1:17 NKJ
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
God is the Giver of all things...
And God Decides when and how He wants to Give them...
I want to tell you something that ought to excite every fiber of your being...
TBS God wants to pour out His blessing and favor upon you each and every day
We mentioned last Sunday the scripture Psalms 68:19
It says that He daily loads us with benefits..
and it ought to excite you!
But let's start with Psalms 68:1 NKJ and go from there
1 Let God arise,
Let His enemies be scattered;
Let those also who hate Him flee before Him.
2 As smoke is driven away,
So drive them away;
As wax melts before the fire,
So let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
3 But let the righteous be glad;
Let them rejoice before God;
Yes, let them rejoice exceedingly.
4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
Extol Him who rides on the clouds,[a]
By His name YAH,
And rejoice before Him.
11 The Lord gave the word;
Great was the company of those who proclaimed it:
19 Blessed be the Lord,
Who daily loads us with benefits,
The God of our salvation! Selah
The Lord gave the word;
Great was the company of those who proclaimed it:
Who did what? Proclaimed it...yes they proclaimed it!!
Are you in that company? You oughta be....
They knew it to be true… So they proclaimed it!
They weren't going to settle for less...
They weren't going to let anyone else tell them differently...
They weren't going to let anyone tell them they didn't qualify for it...
Gods word proclaimed it..thus it must be true..so they believed it!!
It was like the movie Groundhog Day… Every day they woke up
the same thing happened, blessings were everywhere
It didn't have anything to do with them..it was entirely Gods doing
And He doesn't mind doing it either....
TBS. God Loves to Bless His Children!!
The accuser doesn't want you to make this realization today or ever...
But if you're a child of God...REALIZE...you are blessed! Amen??
I want you to say out loud… I am blessed
I'm a child of God so therefore I am blessed
and Not only blessed today but I am blessed each and every day
and why am I blessed each and every day?
Because God's Word says that I am blessed each and every day!
Hopefully...this gives you little bit more understanding of the reasoning and realization as to why the people said what they said in verse three...
Psalms 68:3 NKJ
But let the righteous be glad;
Let them rejoice before God;
Yes, let them rejoice exceedingly.
Why wouldn't they be rejoicing?
They were Exceedingly Estatic...
My question today for all Christians Is...why aren't we rejoicing more?
We as Christians… Ought to be jumping up-and-down,
screaming and shouting, singing God's praises 24 hours a day
as to what He has given us and made available for us on a
Non stop basis!!!!........
So many people miss out on all that God has for them because they are weighted down by the world and guilt and condemnation.
That's a terrible way to be…
It doesn't have to be that way..and the good news is ITS NOT
because it's not based on what you do, or your actions, or anything about you
It's a gift from God to you if you're willing to accept it and just believe it...
That's right it's a gift..it's an amazing gift
It's God’s Great Grace...His unmerited favor
*And that means we can’t earn it.
*We can’t work for it..
*and we can’t change His mind about it..even if we tried
He's the same yesterday, today and forever...
concerning everything and every Promise He has ever made to us...
He pours out His blessing on us not because of what we do, but because of who He is....He is the biggest Giver of all time...
you know the accuser has a lot of people convinced
that they have a problem with God and giving
they think that’s all God ever wants, is for them to give...
Here's a news flash...the streets in Heaven are paved with gold
Trust me.. God doesn't need your money
What they need is Gods blessing tied to and on what they decide to give
What the bible calls cheerfully and not begrudgingly...Amen??
They clearly don’t have any idea how big of a giver God truly is.
TBS.(the bible says)
Give and it shall be giving pressed down shaken together and running over.
*Uncontainable
*Over the Top
*Immeasurably
*More than Enough
That’s the kind of Giver God is!!
The world needs to know though, He gives to His children
in so many different ways...Malachi chapter 3, talks about and tells
us how God will even rebuke the devour when you are willing
To bring your tithes and offerings into His storehouse...
And the best part of His blessings is that they are based on His goodness, Not ours.
Deuteronomy 28:2
2And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you…
God loves to bless you. He has even declared that “blessings shall come upon you and overtake you”.
This means that you can’t run fast enough..nor can you drive
fast enough to escape them!
When you turn one corner, there is a blessing waiting for you. When you turn another corner, you run smack into another blessing!
When ever you get to your destination..Gods Blessings have already
arrived to greet you before you even arrive... Praise God!!
This is what the world needs to hear and exactly
what the devil doesn’t want them to hear...
because this message would give and it does give the world a tremendous
amount of HOPE....Which it so desperately needs in this day and age.
Now, someone might think that they don’t qualify for God’s blessings
because of the prior verse which says that these blessings will come to pass only if you diligently obey God’s voice and keep all of His commandments.
But you can set them strait, you can tell them the truth...
You know that no matter how hard you try, you just cannot
keep all of God’s commandments...no one has ever kept
all the commandments except for JESUS
And the Bible says that if you fail to keep just one commandment..
you fail to keep all of them
James 2:10 NKJ
For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
Because of Grace we don't stand guilty...we stand qualified
to partake of everything God has always had for us
My friend, I have got good news for you:
Jesus is the author and finisher
The beginning, middle, ending and the rest of the story
each and every time....
Jesus is the one who qualifies us for every single blessing because,
He has kept all of God’s commandments. When He died for us on the cross, He not only fulfilled all of God’s commandments...He redeemed us
from the curse of the law...Praise God!
Galatians 3:13 NKJ
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us
Take Note: that He did not redeem us from the blessings of the law...
only the curse
That is fantastic news for all believers...because that means all
the blessings, all of them praise God are still ours today!
Everyone who doesn’t know better says...
But I don’t deserve them...your right, you don’t deserve them...
neither do I, no one does.
But that doesn't change the fact that God has made them available
and you still get them because of Jesus and His finished work on the cross.
More people need to hear the good news of the gospel, and their not going to hear it out there in the world.
Our mandate..the great commission hasn't changed
We are still under the same marching orders JESUS
gave to all of the Disciples...it's time we realized it
"From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another"
(John 1:16, NIV).
He really is able and wants to, pour out His goodness upon everyone with one blessing after another!
Illus.
A man told a story about the time his son’s sixth birthday was approaching. He had mentioned he wouldn’t mind a party, and as his son usually was very specific about the kind of presents he liked. The dad asked him what he could get him. Bill expected a well-planned reply, such as "I’d like a baseball glove; you can find it at Toys ‘R ‘Us, aisle 6, below the batting helmets, or a Parcheesi board; the games are in alphabetical order in aisle 1; it’s between the Pac Man and Pay Day."
But his son’s request was a bit different. He said, "Dad, I’d like a ball
to play with for my birthday."
Bill said "Great, what kind of ball?"
"Oh, I want don’t know, either a football or a soccer ball."
"Well, which would you want more?"
He said, "Well... and thought about it. Then he said. "If you have some time to play ball with me this year, I’d really like a football so we could throw it back and forth in the back yard. But if you’re gonna be real busy this year, maybe you just better get me a soccer ball, because I can play soccer with the rest of the kids in the neighborhood."
The dad thought about this and said, "Let me surprise you. How does that sound?"
And the little boy smiled and said, "Oh that would be great, Dad. I really love you." Then Bill went in and shared this little encounter with his wife and together they agreed, their son was not so much interested in the gift. He was interested in the giver.
(Autoillustrator.com, "WORSHIP")
But let the righteous be glad;
Let them rejoice before God;
Yes, let them rejoice exceedingly.
Let us never forget benefits that God gives to us each and every day...
But more importantly..let us never forget to give Him Thanks
And He truly alone deserves all the Glory for everything
Good that happens in our lives...
Let our prayer always be to God...Thanks For Giving!
Amen??
Amen!!
