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All right guys take your Bibles 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 Back to 2nd Corinthians chapter 9, and this is the second chapter about giving financially, okay? We ready if you remember last week We spoke about the need to give to a needy people You know if our brethren if there are churches that are in serious need in serious help Things outside of their control things like famines or whatever Then God's people ought to get together and put a donation and help them out financially You know it if at all possible, and we saw it doesn't take a church to necessarily be that rich You know Paul explained that the churches in Macedonia were very poor and yet they were able to give very Liberally very abundantly out of their poverty and out of their our persecution as well okay, so we're moving on to this next chapter about giving and I'll get you to look at verse number six there 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6 the Bible reads But this I say he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly and he which soweth Bountiful he shall reap also bountifully okay, so the title of the sermon this morning is he which soweth He which soweth, and this is definitely speaking about sowing Financially you know last night just in preparation for this sermon just to get me pumped up a little bit I went to YouTube and had a look at some telly evangelists. You know and I forgot the guy's name Something Tilly does anyone know who that is something till he's back from the 80s or the 90s He's pretty Robert Tilly. Yeah, he's pretty much washed up now, but I just watched him go in you know Behind that you know in the telecast saying you know the Lord wants you to give a thousand dollars And and he says you know whoa he says to the to the person be you know obviously watching that Why couldn't you say $25 he goes no a thousand dollars? I know you've got a thousand dollars to give and Look the context of giving the context of this verse is to give to people that are needy Okay, not to some telly evangelist that was bringing in ten million dollars a year at his peak That's not the context of this verse and he was using this verse in chapter number six of sowing the seed if you saw $1,000 then God's going to give you riches God's going to give you wealth Okay, and so we're going to be talking about that a little bit, but obviously talking about you know What what the bit what the biblical teaching really is okay, so um? Let's start with verse number one, and you might be saying Kevin What why are you preaching about giving money is it because we've got a building no That's just we're up to 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 and 9 you know that's just the way God saw fit You know to it's for us to get to this topic Maybe you know so we can be taught how to give and what we see in definitely in chapter 9 verses Chapter 8 chapter 9 deals with how we ought to give what your heart condition ought to be like when you give okay? So let's look at verse number 1 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 verse 1 Paul says for as touching the ministry into the Saints obviously the giving of the Saints the Donation that they give in to the churches in Judea. He says it is Superfluous for me to write to you okay now that word superfluous means it is unnecessary Okay, he says look. I shouldn't have to really write any more about you giving to the Saints He's already we know obviously written about it in chapter number 8 So it says really it is it is unnecessary for me to to write further about this But yet he does write more about this look at verse number 2 He goes why is it unnecessary for me to write about it in verse number 2 goes for I know the forwardness of your mind And if you remember the Corinthian Church were being forward mentally they were willing to give of themselves Financially and they had started a collection, but it never got around to finishing it They never got around to send in these these financial gifts to the church in Judea So Paul is saying look. I shouldn't have to really write It's unnecessary for me to write more because I know you're willing to do this Okay, and we know Paul in the previous chapter was adding a little bit of pressure on the church Hey You know make sure you give because even the church in Macedonia who was so poor and under Persecution had given very much so you who were abounding in all things He said you should be willing to give of your finances as well And so he was putting a bit of pressure on the church But obviously he knew that the church was willing he knew the church had already started this collection Okay He goes for I know that in verse number two for I know the forwardness of your mind for which I boast of you again, he's saying look I've been boasting of you of Macedonia And look at this that achaya and that's where the the Corinth church is based that achaya was ready a year ago And your zeal have provoked very many now I don't know if you picked up there with what he Paul is saying there. He goes when I went to Macedonia I told the churches there that you guys the Corinthian Church You guys were zealous you wanted to give abundantly of your wealth You know and then goes and your zeal have provoked very many So we saw in the previous chapter chapter 8 That Paul is telling the Corinthian Church had a chat the churches in Macedonia had given abundantly To get them encouraged to get them motivated to give but then how did he get the Macedonian Church to give? He said because you you know you were going to give back to me I told them that you even though you were you know you had you we we all know you had a lot of problems We know you were you you know as a church. You know you weren't the greatest church out there You had a lot of things to fix but even in your state You were going to give a lot you were going to give a lot to this to this task So the church in Macedonia were like oh man if they can do it surely we can You know and now he's saying and now he's trying to get them. You know the Corinthian church Go look Macedonia could do it surely you can okay, so there's zeal and look again Paul wasn't lying Okay, Paul's not not lying about them obviously they started a collection. He knows that he knows they were willing to do this Okay, but they just hadn't finished doing it, so It's just interesting It's kind of ironic that he uses the the zeal of the Corinthian Church to give to get the Macedonians to get encouraged and motivated to Give you know and now he's using the example of the Macedonian Church to get the Corinthians Church to to finalize that offering Okay, and I think the points I just want to drive here is don't underestimate even though we're a young church even though we're a small church Don't underestimate our ability to influence other churches You know don't underestimate You know the fact that we're meeting weekly the fact that we're going out soul winning You know the fact that we we we we preach the Bible without compromise. You know we put our sermons online There are there are I wish I had the numbers up, but there are a lot of people watching us online About 66% of the sermons that get watched are from Australia the other 44% are from from overseas in other countries You know from New Zealand America you know Europe Africa Asia People all around the world are watching our sermons and have been encouraged and so don't underestimate our influence Okay, we should always be mindful yes We're encouraging we're edifying one another but other churches are watching us other churches are curious And and hopefully we can encourage other churches to to be more zealous for the Lord More zealous for the Word of God more zealous for soul winning Okay, and maybe if we're ever lacking in that area we can look at other churches and go look look what they're doing look at The great works, they're doing it's not a competition, but it's about encouraging one another okay verse number three Yet have I sent the brethren Lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf that as I said you may be ready Okay, so the brethren that Paul II sinned if you remember the previous chapter was Titus and another brother that was Respected and well known by the other churches and Paul had said that he was very diligent. He was very diligent with finances He was going to go and help Titus You know make sure that these this money was collected remember back then they didn't have bank transfer They couldn't just f-post things across or you know go on that bank and transfer money. You know obviously they were collecting Coins and so it took you know the effort to carry it to counter and to keep a good account of all that donation So I'm he says look because of the both sin You know I've sent this brethren ahead ahead of my my visit to you so they can get this donation finalized Now why did he send Titus and his fellow brother before he arrives well he answered this in verse number four He says lest happily now that word happily is not happily that word happily means by chance Okay, it's an old word by chance. He goes Just in case or by chance if they of Macedonia come with me so just in case there are brethren in Macedonia that come with me in my journey to come and visit you and Find you unprepared find that you haven't given of your finances He says we That we say not ye should be ashamed in this same confident boasting So it's because I've posted of you that you're willing to give of your finances And that's what drove the Macedonian Church to give if by chance You know we I get some helpers from Macedonia to come and visit you. It's going to be I'll be ashamed I'll be embarrassed that you haven't yet given of your finances that you've not yet given You know of your of your abundance And he says there in verse four we and then in brackets that that we say not ye It's kind of like the idea of how we say Not to mention you so yeah, I'll be embarrassed, but not to mention you okay, you also will be embarrassed Okay, it'll be a shameful thing It'll give the church a bad reputation that we've boasted about your financial given and you've not accomplished That okay Now I guess of the thought I want to say here is Again, just just keep in mind you might say well You know maybe maybe Paul shouldn't have been boasting about this church. Maybe but Paul may maybe up Potentially that could have been a mistake of Paul potentially as a man it could have been his mistake But again Paul knew that they were willing to do this Paul knew that they had started this donation And so he was greatly encouraged remember he heard from Titus a great report that his church had improved Okay, now. I think the lesson that we should take from this and I'll just quickly read to you from Matthew 5 37 Just very quickly words of Jesus. He says, but let your communication be yay yay nay, nay For whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil I Think the point I want to drive home Especially as a church and we can apply this as individuals is that we ought to be a people or we ought to be a church Of our word okay if we say we're going to do something We better accomplish it all right, and if you think if you have doubts as to whether you can accomplish it Just be nay nay. It's better to just say no I don't think I can do that and then achieve it rather than say yes, I'll do that and not achieve it Okay, it brings a bad reputation You know if I were to say something if I were to make foolish comments like man We're going to be the biggest IV Church in Australia, and then it never comes into fruition Doesn't that look embarrassing isn't that a shameful thing you know or to just be boastful about things that I don't know of You know what and Bible tells us that when we speak about future things We should say if the Lord is willing you know and quite often we apply this You know I'll say to sometimes the guys in Sydney you know Lord willing I'll be there unless Christina gives birth you know this coming week things like that You know you want to be people and I need to be careful about this because I find that just in my own personal life I sometimes commit to things and then I realize I can't actually accomplish that and I was once told that by my last employer that I had he goes Kevin you take too much on board like we Ask are you can you do this and you're like yeah? Yeah, I can do that, and then you find that you know you got too much on your plate And you can't get it done obviously. I'm willing to do it obviously I want to accomplish those things, but I haven't sat down and thought about You know am I really able to fit this in into my schedule of my day am I really able to put some of some Other projects you know on the back burner and get this job done You know in time so be mindful you know about yourself. You know as to the things that you commit to and I mean even the question about you know can we let people know about our new church building well I would love to but I'd rather wait for the for the documentation to come I would rather wait for me to sign that lease and then say yep, it's ours We've got it. You know before we start to let everybody else know because again imagine if there doesn't come into fruition We've let all these people know that we've got this new building coming. It's gonna look embarrassing It's gonna look shameful, so we just need to be mindful that when we boast You know we boast in the Lord, but that we say yay yay of the things we definitely know You know if we're not sure we can say well Lord willing or if we're just definitely not sure just say no No, we can't do that. Okay. I mean. I think that's a lesson that we can take out of this otherwise It's embarrassing for us as a church In this case to be embarrassing for Paul right if the Macedonians that were poor Come and see a richer church not having given their finances, and that's what drove them to give abundantly from themselves You know so Let's just be mindful of that as a church. Let's go to verse number five verse number five Therefore I thought it necessary to Exhort the brethren that they would go before unto you to make up beforehand your bounty Whereof ye had noticed before that the same might be ready as amount as a matter of bounty and Not as of covetousness So guys this is why I thought it necessary To send before you know Titus and that fellow brethren just to get it all done to give you enough time to finish this donation so that Beforehand just so to save any kind of embarrassment, okay, so he's trying to you can see that. He's not trying to Embarrass the church. He's not trying to criticize the church You know it's just trying to give them ample time to finish this task They had already committed to that they had already started and what we're going to see here it from verse number five What we see change here is not so much that they ought to give they know they ought to give But you know how to give you know and that's these are the points that I want to go through With you guys just through this and I know the context is not about our ties You know our weekly tithes and offerings that we give to the church to the daily running of the church I know the context is not about that But I do believe we can take these principles and apply that to any financial giving okay including our tithes and offerings Okay, now he says that the same look at there in verse number five that the same might be ready So the reason why he sends Titus beforehand is that the same might be ready? Okay point number one about financial giving financially is Be prepared to give okay be prepared to give when you come to church Okay, and you know that it's time. You know you know the Lord has blessed you financially It's your time to give to the church be prepared to do that Don't leave it as a last minute like you know offering or because here's the thing if you leave it to the last minute more Often than not you're probably gonna forget Okay, just be prepared make it a habit to to have your finances ready to give you know that our preference Is to give you know? Cash right and at some point again. I haven't rushed into this We're gonna have a church bank account, and then you can give obviously via direct deposit or what have you But you know just have a mindset to be prepared to give again Paul had given this church ample time To prepare themselves to give and not make it a last-minute issue for them And you know this will become vital guys especially with our new building Because obviously with the new building we're going to be paying twice as much Just to meet just to have a roof over heads compared to what we're paying now So obviously when we're paying twice as much and we need to pay this this amount every month It's going to become important especially as made some of that council money and pays for things To know you know a rough idea that this is how much is coming in per week That I'll know by the end of this month We should have this much and I'll be able to you know be be able to give that and pay that to the landlord Okay, because otherwise we might go through some months if we've not prepared ourselves We might go through some months that are very poor And then I might have to give you know just out of my own pocket kind of thing to make up the cost But then the next month might be plenteous, okay But it's just much easier if we're all prepared to give we give consistently then it's easier for me to know okay This is how much is coming in by the end of the month We'll be able to pay that next month in advance and so on and so forth The next thing I want you to notice there at the end of verse number five he goes That that the same might be ready as a man matter of bounty and not as of covetousness Okay, because if he gave the church like a last-minute alright give up yourselves, you know This is the last chance it might drive the sin of covetousness in the hearts of the members there They'll be like look there's not ample time I would rather just hold on to my money myself and it could drive that so that's why it's important to give Actually, that wasn't the point that I wanted to make but anyway That's the point the reason why he's given them enough time is that they would be prepared and not leave it As a last-minute thing because if you leave it as a last-minute given Covetousness might come up in your heart and go well, you know, I actually need this for this week But if you had prepared you'd be fine You'd know this amount would be to the church and the rest that I have in my paycheck Whatever would be for my family and all my other bills that I that I have to give Okay, but the point that I wanted to make sorry the second point I wanted to make so point number one was be prepared to Give the second point. I want to say is to give generously and give or give liberally Okay, we see in the Bible that word liberally is give generously. So when he says that as a matter of bounty Okay that word bounty I know we probably think of bounty we think of pirates and we think of pirates treasures We often call that the bounty, you know, they call that bounty, but really the word bounty means generous Being generous. It's kind of like the Spanish would I don't know if you guys know this what Spanish would win or means good Okay, it means good it's kind of this idea it's the same kind of root word But it just means give generously give liberally Okay So again Paul is giving them that ample time so they can give generously and not be tight With their giving not to become greedy or covetous in their hearts as they give to the church and you know, I've um The way I've always given to church and I'm not saying this just because you know I'm now the pastor of a church, but just throughout my whole life. I've always been mindful I give my I've always been mindful just to give my tithe. I never thought about it. I just I just separated it I put it into the church bank account or I gave it to the church offering and I never thought about where that money goes And obviously the churches that I've been part of have always given sort of a breakdown This is how much we spent on this is how much we spent on that But I never really cared because I would often find certain members Getting upset with how the money was spent. Oh, we should have given it to this missionary instead of that missionary We should have done this instead of that and I realized You know once I given to the Lord, I felt like I've done my task for the Lord and if the church Misused those funds then then God will come on that that leadership whoever was made that decision, you know So I've always just been the type to pay it I'm the type to just as soon as I get a bill I know sometimes you've got 15 days or something to pay. I just pay it. I don't care You know, I remember when I first moved here wasn't aware of all the traffic Sorry of all the speed cameras and I got a like $160 speeding fine, you know, and I was like, ah, so frustrating, right? But I just I just pay it and I don't care about anymore. Just pay it I don't care right and I just like to get those things out of my mind So I'm not that I'm not there thinking about the those finances and the other thing the good the other good thing about paying your bills or paying your Tires and just getting that out of the way is because then you're left what you're left with, you know That is honestly what you can spend with your money. All right, so Anyway, point number two was to give generously or give liberally. Let's go to verse number six verse number six But this I say here which so sparingly shall reap also sparingly and here which so if bountifully shall reap also Bountifully, so the principle here is kind of like farming. Okay, obviously if a farmer wants more crops What does he have to do? He has to sow more. Okay, if he wants a greater produce He has to sow more seed than he had before. Okay, he has to till the ground He has to work the ground sow that seed Because what if he doesn't do any sowing is he going to reap? No Okay, we can apply this to numerous things in our life if you want to see souls saved Guess what? You're going to have to sow the word You're gonna go out there and knock doors and preach the gospel if you want to see souls saved in your life Okay, if you want to know the Bible more if you want to reap more Bible knowledge, what are you gonna have to do? You're gonna have to do more Bible reading. You're gonna have to sow to your Bible reading You're going to have to sow to Bible study You're going to sow to attend church and other ways that you can learn from the Word of God I mean, this is just a matter of principle Okay, if you need a higher income you need to work more hours or you need to apply for a job That's going to be paying you more. Okay, you need to sow. This is just a General concept in life you want a better marriage? You've got to sow to that marriage to reap, you know A better a better marriage a better relationship with your wife a better relationship with your kids You know, this is a basic principle, but again, we're applying this to finances Okay, so he's saying to this church. Look Again the idea of giving generously the more you give the more you're going to reap Okay, the more God is able to bless you. Okay. Now this reminds me if you guys let's see. Where can I get you to turn? I'll get you guys to turn to Luke 21 and we won't turn this right We won't read this straight away, but I'll just while you're turning there. I'm gonna read to you from Luke chapter 6 verse 38 This isn't the only time this this our principle is taught Luke 6 38 says give and it shall be given unto you good measure Press down and shaken together and running over Shall men give into your bosom for with the same measure that ye meet with all it shall be measured to you again Okay, so God says look the more you give and this isn't just given financially This might be just given of your one of your own self. This might just be being You know hospitable to other people the more you give the more God will bless you and when it comes to the concept of tithing in Malachi 3 10 the Bible reads bring you all the tithes into the storehouse That there may be meat in mine house and prove me now here with save the Lord of hosts if I would not open you the windows of heaven and Pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it So God says look if you give generously of yourself God's going to bless you so much that you can't even contain it And go well, hold on. What does that mean? and I've heard a Preaching that are against tithing Say well, hold on if tithing is still applicable today in the New Testament Then why aren't we seeing all these rich Christians? Overflowing with wealth and riches because they're given of the tithes and yet God said in Malachi 3 10 if you do that Then God will pour you out a blessing that there should not be enough room enough to receive it Okay, now this is the problem and I think this is the item this is just the greed of man This is just covetousness Okay, because and this is again the tele evangelists, you know Maybe we've been tainted by all these tele evangelists that are begging for money so they can get their own private jets Instead of just flying, you know economy or business or first class It's still so much cheaper than having to get their own jets and begging for their own jet and asking for people to give of their finances and What they promise their viewers that if you give that thousand dollars that you give that amount that God will give you riches beyond measure And then people that are I guess good godly Christians read this kind of stuff ago Well, I've been giving my tithes for this many years. Why aren't I abandoning wealth? Well, you know when God blesses you it's not always financially Yes, it could be financially. It could be okay. God may give you a job that pays better God may give you a pay rise. God may give you a bonus all those things are true I'm not saying that never happens Okay, but you being blessed by God God pouring out a blessing is more than money I mean when you think of people on the deathbed, okay people on the deathbed and and they say oh I wish I I did this with my life. I wish I did that with my life Are they saying I wish I had more money. Are they saying I wish I had more possessions Are they saying I wish I had more material wealth. No, what is it that they want? They wish they had spent more time with the family. Okay, you know when older people see me and my wife just Walking down with all our kids, you know what they often say I Wish I had more kids, you know, that's one area of my life that I kind of regret I wish I could go back and and have more children and then you have the odd people that give you the odd look as Well, you know, but but generally speaking that's what a lot of people say to us, you know They're not saying I wish I had more wealth So I wish I had more kids, you know And so when we think about how God can bless you how things can overflow, you know Don't have this mindset that it must be because God's gonna give me a paycheck a bigger paycheck And that's how I expect God to bless me No, you know God can bless you financially in other ways that you might not even be aware of You know God may be I'm holding your car together You know Maybe it would have broken down by now and would have needed expensive service and repairs and God's just holding back and Keeping your your material possessions from falling apart I mean that's one great way to save money is not spending money, but generally speaking those things You don't see you don't see how God might be looking after your health So you don't have these high medical costs coming your way Okay, so it's not just about ah, I need to see this big paycheck God may very well be sustaining your life may very well be sustaining your material possessions From you having to spend more than you have that's another way God can bless you, right? God may be blessing you with good Christian friends That's another way that he might provide for you provide company friendship a family You know the fruit of the womb is his reward the Bible says hey might just by giving you children God is blessing you so don't have this mindset that if I give my finances God must give Financially back well look first of all the principle that we read here is that you can't outgive God whatever you give God will give you more than that back. Okay, but don't again have a mindset that it's just money No, God can give you God has given us this church I mean how many before this church started, you know, how long have we been going now ten ten months, you know Think about before you had this church how much you wanted a church that was like-minded How much you wanted a church that you didn't have to tiptoe around and make sure you didn't say the wrong thing you know how much you wanted a church that were people were happy to talk about the Bible and And just have the same goals in life how much you wanted a church that would be taking you out getting you out So winning and doing the work of God, you know, that's that's another way God has blessed us right God has blessed us in many many different ways and Of course, there's the eternal rewards that we tend to forget about You know who's to say that God's not laying up treasure for you right now in heaven when you give of yourself financially You're going to prefer those rewards that are eternal then the temporary rewards that come in this life. Okay, so Just keep that and keep that in mind, you know these verses aren't like You know, they don't apply anymore they do apply Okay, but you got to think greater than just money God has given you many many blessings really, you know that that him we haven't sung it really have we count your blessings Name them one by one if you sat there and you started to name all the blessings God has given you in life boys that will bring you great joy That will bring you great humility to realize how much God has given us in our life Okay, now the biggest problem that I have with the telly evangelists that's saying look give a thousand dollars That's how God's gonna bless you. Is that it's not about Quantity so much because quantity is relative Okay, quantity is relative. You're in Luke 21, right Luke 21. Look at verse number one Luke 21 verse 1 This is speaking of Jesus He says and he looked up and saw the rich man casting their gifts into the Treasury Okay, and this doesn't impress Jesus. What impresses Jesus is the next verses verse number two And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites So this certain poor widow gives much much less Compared to the rich man Okay, and look what God Jesus says in verse number three and he said of a truth I say unto you that this poor widow have cast in more Than they all he said by Kevin. No, she only gave two mites How did she give more verse number four for all these the rich man have of their abundance? Cast in unto the offerings of God But she of her penury have cast in all the living that she had So, you know a few of you have said to me, you know Kevin I can only give this amount And I feel like you almost feel bad about it. Don't worry, you know, you're probably giving more than two mites Okay, and God knows what you're able to give Okay, so what you're able to give is relative I'm not gonna stand here behind the pulpit and say if God's gonna bless you God has a blessing right now The anointing is here. If you want to receive it. Hey, you need to you know, so a thousand dollars each. No Because you might only be able to give two mites But it's given all that you have and that's a greater price to God than the than the rich man that can give $1,000 okay, so I mean these telly evangelists are so unbiblical and Could you expect like let's say this poor widow was watching Robert Tilly on TV and she couldn't give $1,000 and she go and give two mites. How would she feel about herself? Oh, I must be you know, I must be worthless in a sight of God You know that I can't I can't even give anywhere near that amount and yet Jesus looks at her and goes well You know she gave of all she had, you know God obviously this lady I can't wait to see in heaven and she'll have one of the biggest mansions out there Right, she'll have because she gave everything that she could give she gave all that she had all the living that she had So look if you can only give a little bit and you might be thinking oh, we've got this building coming up But I can't I can't give that much I can only give so much. Hey Giving is relative. Giving is relative to what you have, you know There are times in my life where I've abounded much. I don't have a full-time work I'm not abounding all that much these days Alright, that's I can only give less I can give less than what I could give when I was abounding doesn't matter I'm giving of what I can and and God knows my heart. God knows the condition of my heart and why I'm giving Let's go back to 2nd Corinthians chapter 9. 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 verse 7 Let's see Isabel, can you get me a serviette or a tissue or something? 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 verse 7 Point number 3 about giving is give with purpose Give with purpose look at verse number 7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart So let him give Not grudgingly or of necessity for God loveth for Cheerful giver So he says look every man ought to purpose in his heart what he needs to give and again I've seen people that are against tithing use this verse and say see it's what you purpose in your heart It's not given 10% It's what you purpose if you purpose 20% if you purpose 2% if you purpose 1% It doesn't matter as long as you purpose it in your heart but again is the context of this tithing no the context of this is Giving a special offering a special donation to a needy church to a needy people But again, we can apply these principles You know you ought to I know I do believe in tithing I don't want to miss you know cause anybody to misunderstand that is That I believe in order for you to tithe you need to purpose that in your heart You need to say that within yourself hey I'm willing to give 10% of my income and it's until you make that your purpose That's when you're gonna start giving it if you don't purpose it in your heart. It's never going to happen Okay now I Sorry guys Now we already saw That God will out give you you say well, I can't give 10% God's gonna out give you all right maybe not financially, but in any in other ways God will bless your life and You need to give with purpose you know when I started to tithe I was about 20 years old I was a when wearing it will engage when we were 20 right well 20 years old. We were engaged We'll saving up to get married. I wasn't working a full-time job It took me a while, and then when I realized oh, it's we need to get married I started to work. You know find work and work a full-time job I was working kind of part-time or casual work before that and We hadn't saved up much when I put my money together and Christina put we put our money together We had about five thousand dollars, and we had a wedding to pay for right out by the way our wedding pay It was about nine thousand dollars You know we didn't spend any I think Christina's dress was the most expensive thing like two thousand dollars or something But we only had five thousand dollars And then I remember going to church and hearing about tithing for the first time well I knew we need to give financially to the church and we would do that But I didn't realize there was this principle this doctrine of tithing and I was under like great conviction I'm thinking man. You know we're trying to save up to get married. I've only got five thousand dollars You know that's half of what we need for our wedding and now you're telling me I need to give what five hundred dollars. You know ten percent of what we saved up Because obviously I couldn't go back I couldn't go back and work out exactly how much I've made and and work out what ten percent of that was all I knew Was this is how much we had saved up God wants me to tithe So you know my first tithe was about five hundred dollars. You know to the church and then and then Weekly or whenever we got a paycheck. I would I would just tithe you know once I purpose it in my heart You know initially it was very hard it was very hard to give that amount especially because I'm trying to save up for my marriage my wedding right and You know we didn't have much You know obviously you need to pay for furniture and all that kind of stuff to you know pay rents you think well I wasn't paying rent before that or anything like that But I had to make that purpose and say you know what God I believe that you're going to out give me I believe you're going to bless me So Lord if you want my five hundred dollars to start with then you're gonna have to find a way to for me to you Know pay for my wedding. You know you're gonna have to you know give me a job That's paying me sufficient for me to pay my rent and all this kind of stuff. I'm relying on you Lord to do this for me and From that day till today. I still give my ten percent now. I've said this before, but I think one of the big mistakes that Preachers talk about when they tithe when they when they preach on tithing is they say if you don't tithe that God will curse you okay, and At this stage I had that fear that if I didn't tithe God would curse me and I didn't want God's cursing upon my life because I'm trying to get married I'm trying to save up get married. I don't want to start a my married life with this curse from God. You know But eventually I figured out that no you know in the New Testament God does not curse us anymore. Yes. He can chastise us. Okay. God has a different way of Punishing his people and and I'm blessed because I'm in Christ Jesus. You know I'm perfect before God. I'm righteous before God I'm blessed because I'm in Jesus But still I had I had really purpose that in my heart, and I wasn't giving like it says here Grudgingly, but I was a cheerful giver. You know I was giving it to the church I knew that was the house of God. I knew that's where doctrine was being preached. I knew that's where that where you know So when he was getting done and being sent from so I already had purpose that in my heart And I was already giving cheerfully and again some people are against Tithing and they say look that second part God love of a chief forgiver well if you're expected to give 10% Then that's not you giving cheerfully I Don't really get that principle. Why why can't you give 10% of your income and give it cheerfully? You know it's the condition of your heart the reason why you don't give it cheerfully is because you've not applied this this teaching You know at some point. You know yes, it's hard to give your first 10%, but if you start giving of it You know it becomes part of your life, and you know that it's going towards God's work and just knowing that should drive you to give cheerfully if you're not giving cheerfully There's probably something wrong with your spiritual state you know and again Please I'm not preaching this because I need you to give necessarily more I need I need to start paying an income for myself really I don't it's just that this is what we're up to in the Bible reading right this is you know I'm gonna stop apologizing right you know this is just what the Word of God says and this is this is what I'm preaching Okay, so the third point that I wanted to make about giving is give with purpose But the fourth point is what we just saw there is give cheerfully You know make sure that when you give that to the Lord you don't give it out of a bad You know hearts, and if the Lord is going to bless you It's because he knows that you're giving in abundance with a cheerful heart that you're giving to his work Or in this case the special offering you're giving to a needful people that are God's people okay Let's go to verse number eight verse number eight And look at this and God this is a promise from God and God is able to make all grace abound towards you That ye have always have it look at this that you always have insufficiency in all things May abound to every good work. It is impossible to outgive God Okay, you will always be provided for you know do you believe the scriptures? Says ye all that ye always have in all sufficiency in all things You know if you want to be a person that has You've always have sufficient you always have enough for your life. You always have enough for your family You always have enough to pay your bills Okay, your necessities at least you always want to be in that state Then give cheerfully you know give of yourself give abundantly of yourself give generously Because God is able to make his grace abound in you, okay, that's the promise of the scriptures Verse number nine as it is written he have dispersed abroad he have given to the poor His righteousness remaineth forever Now I'll be honest with you verse number nine I'm not sure if this is about the person that's giving in the church Maybe you guys have an answer for this I'm not sure if it's referring to the the he is referring to the person that that's giving to the church Or the he is referring to God God giving like giving back, okay? And now when it says as it is written it's actually written in Psalm 112 so keep your finger there Please send to Psalm 112 Psalm 112 Verse seven some one one two one hundred and twelve verse seven I Want to get some context before it's actually verse nine that's been quoted, but let's start with verse number seven It says here He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed Trusting in the Lord and by the way, that's my point number five Give trust in the Lord Trusting that the Lord will provide for your needs. Okay verse number eight there in Psalm 112 verse eight His heart is established He shall not be afraid until he see his desire upon his enemies Verse nine he have dispersed he have given to the poor His righteousness endure forever his horn shall be exalted with honor again I'm not sure if this he is a reference to God or to the man that is trusting in God Okay, but I think either way you can apply this verse to both, you know, because it is talking about you giving But the context is that God will give back to you and God will abound his grace in you Okay So the fifth point I just wanted to bring out of this was to give trust in that the Lord will provide all your needs Okay Back to 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 verse number 10 We're still in this bracket area which started with verse number 9 Verse number 10. He now he that minister of seed to the sower both minister bread for your food and Multiply your seed sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness Yeah, this is this is a reference that I do believe is referring to God because it's talking about a sower It's talking about the farmer right the one that sows seed for grain for wheat He says now he that minister of seed to the sower So who gives seed to the farmer who provides the seed to the farmer? It's God, isn't it? It's God that gives the seed to the farmer so that he can sow that seed But it's it's the same one that says both minister bread for your food Who's the one that gives you bread? Who's the one that gives you all your necessities? It is God It is both God that gives the seed and it is God also that gives the bread Okay, that gives you your food and then it says and multiply your seed sown So the more you sow God says I'm going to multiply your seed that you can sow I mean, it's weird, right? The more you give God's gonna give you the ability to give even more and again You don't need to apply this only to finances You can apply this to other all areas of your life all areas that you need to sow in your life to reap Sufficiently and then because and increase the fruits of your righteousness increase the fruits of your righteousness And you might say, you know Kevin I can't sow of my finances I just don't have anything to sow. I don't even have two mites to sow Well, first of all, it's God that gives you that seed. It's God that's given you those finances You know, you shouldn't have a mindset. These are my finances and I can't give of them Well, hold on. Oh, the reason you have them is because they're God's finances God has given them to you in the first place and you go in over now I knew the finances to buy my daily bread. Well, it's God that gives you your daily bread It's God that provides all your needs. He gives you the finances and he gives you The fruits that you need to get through life Okay, so God is all around this, you know God gives you so you can give but then when you give God make sure that you're provided for and So you can see how someone that gives all their finances to a church or gives to some special donation That God is involved in that. God is stepping in and making sure that you're provided for God is stepping in so you can be sure that you can even sow more abundantly in future Kevin you're sounding like a tele evangelist That's what the Bible says, right? The Bible says these things. Obviously, I'm not asking for $1,000 each Okay, you give as you can as we saw that lady with the two mites, okay Look at verse number 11 verse number 11 Being enriched in everything to all bountifulness Which causeth through us Thanksgiving to God. Okay. So God is the one who enriches you to give Bountifully, okay So you see what it says being enriched who enriches you God being enriched in everything to all bountifulness Okay, so God is the one that enriches you to give of your finances, but then notice this It's not just a physical. It's not just about money Okay, it's not just the physical he goes when you give of yourself. He goes which cause of through us Thanksgiving To God the fact that you can give of yourself financially means that I can give thanks to God Hey, it works his spirits It edifies his heart He's able to give thanks to God when other churches are able to give to the work of God See Paul himself did not need the finances But seeing that you know the church we're doing this out of that their hearts we're doing it cheerfully He as an apostle of God was able to thank God was able to do this spiritual work and praise Thank God on a God for what others have been able to give Okay, and when you guys give of your tithes and offerings, let me tell you now I I'm thankful to you But I'm thankful to God knowing that he's providing for this church that we can meet every week We can have a roof over our heads that we can share in food and fellowship and we can afford our tracks We can afford out, you know, the gifts that we give, you know We can do all these things and I thank God because I know ultimately it is God that's provided for us Okay, so it's not just about money. It actually edifies your spirit It edifies that new man to thank God Look at verse number 12 For the administration of this service not only supply of the wants of the Saints So says look, it doesn't just supply the wants the physical needs of the Saints But is abundant also by many thanks givings to God just again reinforcing that fact That you know just giving financially causes others to thank the Lord I don't know if you ever thought about that Have you ever really thought about that when I give financially it causes others to thank the Lord, you know I mean again think about just meeting here in this hall the fact that you know The finances go to pay in this hall mean that we can meet here. We can sing out loud We can read the Bible. We have a place to fellowship. Don't you think that gives blessings to God? Don't you think that warms God's heart to know that New Life Baptist Church is Pleasing him is fellowshiping is edifying the believers is singing praises to God You know and it starts by giving it starts with the financial giving so we can have a place to meet and do the things that we do Verse 13 Verse 13 All Right says wiles by the experiments of this ministration They glorify God for your proof for your profess subjection unto the gospel of Christ and for your liberal Distribution unto them and unto all men so now he's pointing to the believers in Judea That are going to benefit from the giving right? He says now remember there's no Facebook. Okay. There's no internet. There's no telephones Okay, the people in Judea the Jews the Jewish believers are probably not even that aware of all the other churches That are throughout the world. Okay. They're probably not aware of all the brethren that are in the church. Yes They hear reports from Paul. Yes, they hear reports from other men that have traveled in these other areas But he goes by the experiments This is talking about the I don't know how it's an interesting word that uses experiment I I guess when you do an experiment you're trying to find Evidence or proof of something you're trying to come up with you know, I don't know I Don't know what the word I'm looking for exactly But basically what he's saying is that the financial giving that was received by the Saints in Jerusalem Ah This has caused them to glorify God. Yes, because their needs are met But also it says therefore your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ so these believers throughout the whole world that were Subjecting themselves to the gospel of Christ that being they believe the gospel they were truly saved This proved to the Judeans that there were other believers throughout the whole world That they had received this financial gift and they for them. That was their proof Wow, there are believers throughout the whole world Remember the Jews had a hard time with the Gentiles receiving the gospel even Jews that were true believers in the churches Okay, some of them were saying hey, they need to get circumcised to be right with God and all these kind of things Well when they saw the Gentile churches throughout the whole world giving of themselves financially for their needs This proved to them There were believers throughout the whole world that there were believers that had subjected themselves to the gospel of Christ You know because they themselves were the ones that were sending these missionaries to begin with and they could see the fruit of those works They could say wow, there really are believers out there They really are brethren out there that love us and now they're given of themselves so that we can be you know get through this Drought You know and he says And for your liberal distribution unto them and unto all men the liberal the generous distribution This proved that they had brethren that loved them. Okay. So again, this is just proof of love Again, if we ever need to take up a financial giving to a church need to brethren need This is our way of showing that we love them. Okay verse number 14 and By their prayer for you which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you so Paul saying look when you give you're gonna have these brethren that are benefiting from your giving They're going to be remembering you in prayer They're going to bring you before God and obviously God's going to hear their prayers and you know More people you have praying for you The more God's going to be able to answer the prayers and and make your ways easy make your ways Right provide for all your needs and so there was this benefit even to the Corinthian Church It wasn't just we give in and that's it No, they're getting a blessing in return not just by God but by the prayers of those that are receiving The donation they were put together and verse 15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift I'm not sure what that unspeakable gift you might say. Well, that must be Jesus Christ potentially But I think just in the context of this it's just that thanks be to God for this unspeakable gift the gift that was given by by the giver and Received by the receiver the gift of that donation. He's giving thanks to God, you know, and you know, we need to thank God We need to we're running 10. We're 10 months in guys Everything that we've needed to pay has been paid for you know We're slowly reimbursing my cost personal costs that's starting to be taken care of You know God has provided and it's not a lot of us But God has provided for every need our every step, you know We need to be mindful and thank God that we have Working people that we have people that can give of themselves financially and I'm very thankful for what you've been able to give just personally You know and I thank God for what you've been able to give so just keep that in mind guys That's that's the teaching from this chapter Yes, we know we ought to give but make sure that we give out of a generous heart We give out of a cheerful heart. We don't give grudgingly, you know we give trust in knowing that the Lord will give back in return and Again, be mindful. Hey, it's not always God giving you money Yes, he could do that But he gives us in many other ways that we probably won't even know until we're in heaven and we can finally You know look back at our lives and see how God, you know working in our lives in many different ways. Okay, let's pray