What Shall I Give Him? Series

WHAT SHALL I GIVE? (This is a two part series.) Why not invest and read it?

By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com

TEXT. 2 Corinthians 9:6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully

7. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart; so let him GIVE; not grudgingly, or of necessity: FOR GOD LOVETH A CHEERFUL GIVER.

Romans 2:1 Therefore thou art excusable, O man, ----

DEFINE:

GIVE: to make a present, to yield to another, to bestow, to put in the possession of another, sacrifice, donate, ----

EXCUSE: To make apology, to try to remove the blame, to grant exemption, to justify, to release from duty or responsibility or guilt, exempt, to give explanation for a situation that appears dubious,

1. REMEMBER SOME OF THE GIFTS FROM THE PAST?

I am pondering giving. I will preface what I am going to write, by saying this very true statement. YOU CAN GIVE without LOVING BUT YOU CAN NEVER LOVE WITHOUT GIVING.

I recall some of the Christmas’ from the past. One year my older brother and I received red Western Flyer bicycles was Western Auto. They were so cool. They even had little headlights mounted in the front. We could never afford the batteries to use the headlights, but they were there.

One year I received a speedometer to go on my Western Flyer Bike, I was really up town then. My cousin and I rode it down a mountain in east Tennessee once and we buried the needle on that speedometer. I was on the handbars and he was riding, wow, what an exciting time we had when we met a bread truck coming around the curve. The bread truck ran off the road, and the driver jumped out and was hollering how nice we were at us. We couldn’t stop.

One year my Dad was interested in bows and arrows for deer hunting. So my brother and I got a bow and arrow set. Mine was a fiberglass double reverse bow and my brother got a wood "Bear" bow.

Mom taught us that if we shook a wrapped package for us under the tree, what even was in the package would turn to potato peels or coal dust. We had to be very careful.

I am pondering the to give a gift that has lasting effects, a gift that keeps on giving?

I am again pondering, giving and the gifts that are most often given?

I ponder: what is the most often gift given to God?

2. GOD WAS THE BEST EXAMPLE OF A GIVER OF GOOD GIFTS!

God gave us the church, God gave His Best ... His only son ... ,

the Son gave the Holy Spirit, and God’s gifts keep giving!

Now, that set for us a good example of love and love’s gift.

3. WHAT SHALL I GIVE HIM?

I don’t want to give the Son of God a cheap trinket that does not express my love and appreciation for Him. I love Jesus, I want to give Him a meaningful gift of my love.

4. I PONDER WHAT DO OTHERS GIVE?

I do not mean to look at others giving as a comparison, but as a spur, the birth a love gift from me.

As I ponder giving to Jesus, I think not at what our words say we give, for often men say one thing with their lips, and say another thing with their priorities and their billfold. Talk can be so cheap.

God loves a faithful, planned giving process. Most give accidental, haphazard, unplanned and unpurposed gifts. If I don’t establish a system of evaluation I might give an empty box. I don’t want to be a LAST MINUTE IN HASTE GIVER.

5. I KNOW SEVERAL ENDLESS GIFT THAT ARE PERPETUATING!

I think I know what we often lay at Jesus’ feet?

It is a gift that keeps on going? SEEMS THIS GIFT IS ENDLESS, SELF FEEDING, SELF PERPETUATING GIFT THAT MANY GIVE.

Let me share a thought about the frequent gifts we give to God.

A. UNFAITHFULNESS...

Several years ago, I was visiting door to door. I asked the man of the house, "Do you attend church faithfully?"

He replied, " Well I used to go all the time, but to be honest with you, I haven’t been to church in many years. See, years ago the preacher..."

(Does it matter what the preacher did years ago ... ?)

I replied to that with " Well, that Preacher has been gone many years. If it were your last Sunday would you go?"

He then offered an excuse ... " I am out of peanut butter, I can’t go?"

I said, "Out of peanut butter, what that’s to do with church attendance?"