Philippians 4:19
Faith Promise: Promised by Faith
Woodlawn Baptist Church
January 31, 2005
Introduction
I want to welcome each of you to our services today. To our guests, I want to say that it is good to have you in our presence. Today is a special day of the year for Woodlawn members, because it is a day when those who so choose will make financial commitments to the Lord for the advancement of missions. I say this because I don’t want you to think that we are all about money, or that this is what I always talk about. However, this is what we might call our “Commitment Sunday,” and I don’t want you to feel pressured at all by what we are doing or talking about. You are welcome to participate with us, but you are under no obligation or pressure to do so.
We have had a great month as we have been challenged by men from as far away as Costa Rica, and as near as Arlington, Texas. We have been challenged to see the fields white unto harvest, and to recognize that we alone are responsible to answer the call to be God’s laborers. We have our local field to work, and we can support those who work on foreign fields we will never see. We have been challenged to give, to go, to pray, to evangelize, and to look up. We have been called upon to stretch our faith, to allow God to grow us, to use us in a greater way, and we know that doing so will require a great amount of trust in a God that we know to be faithful.
I don’t know annual goals were prior to 1985, but I know that our goal for this year is one of the highest in 20 years, and I believe that according to our faith and God’s faithfulness we will reach this goal too. Two years ago we gave over $30,000. Last year almost $38,000, and now this year we will reach for $40,000.
How will we reach it? By faith! Who’s going to give it? We are! Where’s it going to come from? From God! Is it in your budget? Probably not – you may not see it, but if you have to see it, then there’s no faith involved. You say, “Brother Kevin, that’s foolishness. I’m called upon to be a good steward, and if the numbers don’t add up, then I can’t do it.” And do you know what? You’re right. You can’t, and so long as you have to see it and make sense of it, you never will.
Faith is acting on what you know to be true even when you can’t see it or make sense of it. Faith is you trusting God to do through you what you can’t do on your own. You see, faith was building a boat for a flood when it had never rained before. Faith was living in tents when Abraham had never seen his heavenly mansion before. Faith was praying in the window when death was certain. Faith is giving a dollar when you’ve not made it before. Faith says “God, I don’t know how I’m going to get it, and I don’t know where it’s going to come from, but if you tell me to give it, then I’ll give it trusting that you’re going to provide it.”
Now, let’s pull up here and talk about how Faith Promise works. Perhaps you’ve been hearing all about it, but you want to know the mechanics of it. As we talk about giving, first understand that we’re talking about giving over and above your tithe. If you’re not currently tithing, I want to begin by challenging you to be faithful in the tithe. If you will be faithful there first, not only will God supply your needs, but you will support Faith Promise with a tithe of your tithe. However, assuming that you are already tithing, here’s how Faith Promise would look. Let’s assume you make $2000 a month. Some of you make more, some make less, but we’ll use it as a standard. You first give your tithe: that’s $200 a month, or $50 per week. We all know that you live off the rest, off the other 90%. But now that you want to participate in Faith Promise, you are going to pray to God that He will lead you to give some amount of that 90% to missions. You see, your Faith Promise doesn’t come out of your tithe, it is given over and above the tithe.
As you pray, you may feel that God wants you to give $1, $5, $10, or $50 or some other amount every week or every month. The amount you give is completely between you and God, and it is an amount that you are going to trust God with. It should be an amount that you are going to give by faith. I want to even go so far that it will be an amount that might hurt. Is that logical? Is it rational? Is it foolishness? If you’re not of faith it may sound so – but that’s why we call it Faith Promise. By faith, I make a promise to give this amount of money to the Lord, trusting that God is going to provide it for me somewhere else.
Are the Scriptures true? Do you believe them? Do you really believe that if God leads you to give something that He will provide you the resources to do it? Then as the saying goes, “Put your money where your mouth is.” Now, let me share a little testimony with those of you who may think that it is easy for me to tell you how to spend your money.
I have told you before about how I started giving to Faith Promise when I joined here. I didn’t know how much to give, so I asked Martha what the average offering was, but she wouldn’t tell me. She was so vague that I didn’t know where to start. I started praying, “God, I don’t know how much to give, but as the pastor, I want to lead by example, and I want to give generously.” Now, I don’t remember what I started with, but I wanted to give more than anyone else, and I gave some amount for a little while, only to realize later that I wasn’t really exercising faith. I was giving what I thought I could sensibly give. I started giving more, and later found out there were several others giving more than me. It hurt, but I realized that God didn’t care that I gave more than others. He wanted me to give what He led me to give and allow others to give their amounts. It’s not a contest – it’s a faith commitment.
You see, the example is not in the amount – it is in the faithfulness even in hard times. Now, what I wanted to share with you is this: This month I have been challenged in my giving again. Now you know that my income has not increased, but I believed that God wanted my Faith Promise giving to increase anyway. Last weekend when Brother Bo was here, I handed him his check, and I just knew the Lord was leading me to give him some more, so I did. Then we took him to lunch, and as usual I checked my wallet for the church credit card so I could pay for lunch, and it wasn’t there. At the time, I was inwardly panicking. I was about to pay for lunch for 10 people at Golden Corral. We enjoyed our lunch, but I was having it out with the Lord. I said to Him, “No problem Lord – I can turn in my receipt to Martha and get reimbursed.” God said, “No.” The rest of the day and Monday I fussed with Him about it, and finally Tuesday I decided to give it a rest. God wanted me to give more, and it was hurting.
Now I usually try to take Monday or Tuesday off, but last week I didn’t for some reason. Do you know what happened Wednesday morning? I got a phone call from a church member who didn’t know anything about the little battle I’d been having, and he asked me if I’d like to make a little trip for their company that night after church. The pay was almost four times what I’d given to the Lord on Sunday, and the Lord worked it out so I could take the day off and make the trip Thursday morning.
What am I saying? It’s simply this: God knows what He’s doing! He knew on Sunday what was going to happen on Wednesday. He knew that I didn’t have anything to worry about, but had I trusted in what was on paper I would have missed the blessing of giving. Would I have missed the job had I not given? Maybe; maybe not – but I would have missed the blessing of giving, the blessing of learning a deeper level of trust, the blessing of watching my God provide for my every need. Am I saying that God is going to throw a job your way every time you give? Not at all! What I am saying is what the apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:19:
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Notice the key words in that verse.
My God…
Whose God is it? He’s my God! He’s not just any old god out there in the universe: cold and distant and uncaring. He’s not the god of the Baal worshippers that Elijah fought. Do you remember how Elijah made fun of their gods?
“Cry louder! For he is a god. Maybe he is talking to someone, or he is chasing something. Maybe your god is on a trip. Oh, I bet he’s asleep and needs to be awakened! They cried louder, and cut themselves as was their custom with knives and lances till their blood was gushing everywhere.”
Don’t you see it? He’s my God! The personal, all-knowing, loving, providing, supplying, protecting God who knows me, who knows my every need, who knows my heart better than I know it myself. He’s the God who sees every sparrow that falls to the ground, who knows the number of hairs on my head, who feels my deepest hurts, who rejoices with my every victory, who sent His only begotten Son for me, who looked ahead into eternity, and when I was unlovable, unworthy and unable, He adopted me into His family, made me one of His children, promised me the riches of heaven, and made me a co-heir with Christ! He’s the God of the Bible who tells me that if He is able to provide for the birds and flowers of earth that He can provide for me. He’s my God! My God! Not just a god, not just any old god, but my God!
Shall Supply...
Whether you realize it or not, there is tremendous power in the word shall. You see, God could have used any number of words there. My God might supply, can supply, could supply, has supplied…but He didn’t. He said that He shall – you can take it to the bank! He’s the God that owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He’s the God that owns the hills. He’s the God who made the hills. Your money doesn’t come from your boss. Your groceries don’t come from Kroger. Your electricity doesn’t come from TXU. Your water doesn’t come from the City of Denison. Your clothes don’t come from the mall. Your health doesn’t come from the doctor. God supplies! Behind everything you have, behind every blessing you enjoy is a God who not only sees your needs, but is acting on your behalf to supply them.
All Your Needs...
How many of your needs? All of them! Now, time won’t permit us today to talk about needs, wants and desires, but I know you’re sharp enough to figure out that we’re pretty bad about confusing our needs with our wants and wishes. God has promised to meet all your needs. He promised you food, not eating out every night. Need I go on?
According to His Riches in Glory by Christ Jesus
I love that word! I’ve met some rich people before, as I’m sure some of you have. Every year I read about the 50 richest people on earth: Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey and Ted Turner and on and on the list goes. Millionaires are popping up all around the world, and they know about riches, but compared to the God of heaven, they are but paupers and beggars. All the gold on earth is but a handful of dust to our God. He cups the waters of the sea in His hands, can open the depths of the deepest oceans with a breath from His nostrils. What do we say to our God when we moan and groan over a dollar or two? We’ll spend five bucks on a tasteless value meal at a drive in, but we fret and worry whether we’ll get by if we give to the Lord. Do we really understand the depths of God’s riches in glory? I don’t have a need in the world that God can’t meet. If God told me to give all I had to Him, I believe I could do it knowing that He’d replace it somehow. I may not know how, or from where, or when, but if God said to do it, then I know that according to His riches in glory He would meet every need I had.
Conclusion
I wondered a lot about what I should preach this morning. I thought about trying to make some emotional appeal about the needs of the lost, or about our responsibility to give to missions, or about our Great Commission, but I am convinced that you are well aware of those things. You know that the lost need the gospel. You know that it is our responsibility to financially support those people who labor on the mission field. You know that Jesus gave us a commission to reach our world with the gospel. But I am convinced that those are not the reasons we do not give.
We do not give because we lack the faith to dig deep. We lack the willingness to do without some things. We lack the commitment to stick with it. We lack the faith to believe God will supply our needs. So today I am calling on you to be people of faith, to trust God and participate as He leads you. I am challenging those of you today who have never participated before to begin – to join us in this great ministry of our church. I am challenging those of you who are faithful givers to stretch your faith, to trust God with an extra amount if He so leads. I am challenging our church to go a step farther than we’ve been in the past.
If we really believe the Bible, that God will supply all our needs according to His riches, then why should we fear? I am going to ask you to take your card right now and fill it out – to prayerfully fill in what you will trust God with. You do not have to participate, and we would rather you not fill it out if you’re not ready to make that commitment. When you are through, please drop them in the offering plate as it comes by.
I am going to lead us in a word of prayer, then we will stand and offer the invitation. Won’t you respond as God leads you? Paul said quite plainly that God was his God. Is He yours? Have you ever trusted Him as your Savior?
